*Boom!*
The sound that Chu Xun heard was very faint, almost like something had lightly collided. If it weren't for the complete silence in the medicine storage and Chu Xun's sharp hearing, he might have missed it altogether.
"Who's there?" Hearing the sudden noise, Chu Xun's heart skipped a beat. His face changed drastically, and even the hairs on his body stood on end.
This medicine storage had been sealed for more than ten years. To ensure the potency of the medicines, the temperature inside was maintained below freezing, creating an artificial dead zone. Here, even mutated zombies would be frozen solid due to the prolonged cold and eventually turn into statues of ice. So, logically, there shouldn't be any life forms in here. But what could have caused that sound?
As he thought about it, Chu Xun's palms began to sweat. Taking a deep breath, he and the alien creature began walking toward the source of the sound, one ahead of the other.
The storage space was vast, at least two hundred square meters, with neatly arranged racks of medicines and various special equipment for preserving them. The shelves were densely packed, turning the storage into a maze, and Chu Xun moved cautiously, following the direction of the sound. His expression was tense, as if fearing something might jump out from the shelves.
To his surprise, when he reached the spot where the sound had come from, there was no sign of any attack.
However, when Chu Xun saw what was making the strange noise, his face suddenly lit up with joy.
The sound was coming from a strange-looking medicine preservation device. Through the transparent glass on the device's surface, Chu Xun could clearly see seven light silver vials neatly placed inside. Beneath these vials was a row of small labels.
The labels read: **Gene Modification Serum (Tyrant Type I)**.
He had found it! This was exactly the gene modification serum he had been searching for, and it was even rarer as a second-tier gene modification serum!
Gene modification serums are made by extracting and refining the evolution genes from mutated creatures or high-tier zombies using crystal cores and genetic technology, enabling them to be injected into humans for transformation.
In simpler terms, injecting this second-tier gene modification serum would cause the user's body to evolve into a "Tyrant" form. This meant the user would not only gain greatly enhanced physical strength but would also develop traits like the Tyrant's formidable resilience and sharp claws, even gaining the ability to heal by consuming blood.
Of course, such serums come with major side effects. The transformation is irreversible. Once injected, the user would permanently become a hideous monster, unable to return to their original human form.
But even with these severe side effects, the serum remained highly valuable and in high demand, because in the end, strength was more important in the apocalypse than appearance. In a world where power rules, who wouldn't want to be stronger, no matter how ugly they become?
"We've hit the jackpot!" Chu Xun never imagined that he would find seven second-tier gene modification serums at once. The high-risk, high-reward nature of being a Ruins Hunter truly paid off. Not to mention the potential profits from the future split, just these seven serums alone could be exchanged for over 2,000 standard crystal cores.
Excited, Chu Xun took a deep breath and raised his right claw, ready to tear through the glass and retrieve the serums.
But just then, he sensed something was wrong. The last vial of the serum was trembling slightly, and the liquid inside was slowly moving, as though it had a life of its own.
As the liquid shifted, the vial began swaying and lightly hitting the surrounding containers, creating the soft collision sound that Chu Xun had heard earlier.
"Something's wrong!" Seeing the vial wobbling, a sense of unease rose in Chu Xun's heart.
He hesitated. His instincts warned him that breaking the container might lead to an unknown danger, but how could he just walk away? These serums were worth over three hundred standard crystal cores each!
*Crack!*
As Chu Xun hesitated, the silver liquid inside the seventh vial began to shake violently. The vial's surface also started to show shallow cracks.
Clearly, it wouldn't be long before the vial would shatter completely!
"Fortune favors the bold!" Chu Xun wasn't greedy, but he knew that advancing his insect power would require more and more crystal cores. After a brief hesitation, he clenched his teeth, swung his right hand, and his sharp claws raked across the transparent glass.
*Screech!*
With the sound of claws scraping across the glass, a small hole appeared. Chu Xun immediately reached inside and grabbed the serums.
He had no intention of touching the seventh vial, though—it was just too strange!
*Crack!*
However, things don't always go the way you want them to. Just as Chu Xun reached in to grab the gene modification serums, the seventh vial's silver liquid suddenly boiled as though it had smelled fresh meat.
As the liquid surged, the cracks on the vial's surface deepened and multiplied.
"Damn it!" The growing sense of unease in Chu Xun became unbearable. He no longer dared to waste any more time. He grabbed three vials and sprinted out of the storage, heading for the central control room as fast as he could.
He couldn't stay in this bizarre place for another second!
*Boom!*
Chu Xun's decision was undoubtedly the right one, because as soon as he turned around, a violent explosion came from the device.
The silver liquid from the vial rushed out, devouring the other three vials, and it kept spreading, eventually engulfing the entire device.
*Gurgle gurgle!*
But that was just the beginning. Accompanied by strange swallowing sounds, the device that was engulfed by the silver liquid quickly dissolved like wax in a fire and became part of the liquid. Meanwhile, a bulge began to form at the center of the silver liquid, as if something was being born from it.
Soon, the bulge grew higher, eventually taking the vague shape of a human head. As the head formed, a torso and limbs followed, and the bizarre silver humanoid slowly began to move.
"Shit, it looks like the T-1000 from *Terminator 2*!" Seeing the strange figure emerging, which looked almost identical to the T-1000 from *Terminator 2*, Chu Xun broke out in cold sweat. He quickened his pace and ran out of the storage, heading towards the central control room.
First, the Tyrant Elite, then the baby zombies, and now this strange liquid humanoid. Was he having the worst day ever?
The silver liquid humanoid showed no reaction to Chu Xun's departure. Its body continued to form, and its once indistinct face became more defined, finally resembling the face of a young, handsome man of Asian descent.
As the face solidified, the rest of the humanoid's body also took shape. In the end, a near-perfect, naked human form appeared in the storage. The liquid color of the humanoid shifted from silver to a pale yellow, identical to that of an Asian person. Even the hair began to turn black.
A near-perfect, handsome Asian male appeared in the storage, looking almost indistinguishable from a normal human. If it weren't for his blank, emotionless eyes, he would have been completely indistinguishable from an ordinary person.
"Destruction..." After the liquid man fully formed, he stood still for a long time, as though lost in thought. Then, as if remembering something, he dryly uttered two words and began walking toward the exit of the storage.