Super Gene

Inside the Angel Gene corporation office, a man sat behind a desk. His face was gloomy. Zhao Heng and Zhao Haiyang were standing in the room, silent. With heads lowered, they could not dare look at the man before them.

The man behind the desk looked to be in his forties. He was fairly unremarkable in appearance, but his body exuded an aura of terrible power. Every faint movement he made was intimidating. Even though Zhao Heng was of the same generation, with his grandson at his side, he almost didn’t dare steal the air to breathe in that room.

He was the chairman of Angel Gene, Zhao Seventh. It was a very old-fashioned name, derived from being the seventh child of the family.

Zhao Seventh had many brothers because back when he was born, humans were encouraged to reproduce. It was common for families to have many children, and this most certainly applied to the Zhao family.

The six brothers that came before Zhao Seventh were given much better names. But each of the six prior babies died during childbirth, and only Zhao Seventh had managed to survive.

Back in that time, people were still superstitious, and the parents allowed a psychic to predict the life Zhao Seventh would lead. The prediction, however, stated Zhao Seventh would not survive the first seven days of his life.

These seven days did not begin immediately following his own birth, but seven days after his last brother died. Zhao Seventh would die seven days from that day.

The psychic foretold that the bad string of luck, which made the Zhao family’s babies die, would end following the death of Zhao Seventh. If the mother was to make any more babies, they would live.

Seven days after the sixth brother died, Zhao Seventh almost did die. Not wanting him to die, his mother did everything she could to protect him. She clutched Zhao Seventh in her arms and did not let go.

A mother, who had six dead children, would not just sit idly by and watch her seventh baby die.

On that day, his mother guarded him without rest.

And something did indeed happen; the house collapsed, with the mother and son both inside. During the rescue operation, the mother was found crushed to death beneath the rubble. Zhao Seventh, however, was safe in the bosom of his mother’s protection. She had died, but he had lived. He was fine, save for his mother’s blood that soaked him.

Upon his rescue, the baby was still licking his fingers and smiling jovially.

And just like that, Zhao Seventh outlived his seventh day. Through his efforts, Angel Gene was built from the ground up, earning great renown for the Zhao family. It originally operated out of a small research facility, but it had since grown to become the goliath entity it was on this day.

”Brother Seventh, I’m sorry. I messed it up.” Zhao Heng was old, but in front of Zhao Seventh, he looked like a small, regretful child. His head was lowered and still, he did not dare look at the man.

Everyone in the Zhao family was afraid of Zhao Seventh. They each spoke of how tough his life had been, and it was true. To develop Angel Gene into what it was, he had tread atop many corpses. The more a person of the Zhao family knew about his deeds, the greater they feared him.

They knew better than anyone how scary he was. And it was because of how scary he was, they would each do everything he told them without question.

”Failure is nothing. It is mankind’s habit to fail, and ill results are no stranger to any person. But those who do not recognize the mistakes that have led to their failure deserve a harsh response.” Zhao Seventh looked at Zhao Heng coldly and continued, ”So tell me, what led to your failure?”

Zhao Heng, stuttering and tripping over his words, responded, ”I am sorry, but it was misfortune that led to our failure this time. We did not expect the hill of the spring to contain such a foul creature. And the boy, Han Sen, was not willing to use his super pet to stay the advance of the super creature. He also led it our way, and it was that action that led to the significant losses we incurred.”

Zhao Haiyang had not said a single word yet, but he chipped in to help Zhao Heng by saying, ”Han Sen tricked us. If he hadn’t drawn the creature our way, we wouldn’t have...”

Zhao Seventh looked at him coldly, and Zhao Haiyang swallowed the words he had yet to speak.

”It is my fault.” Zhao Seventh looked at both of them when he said this. Calmly, he continued, ”It was my mistake for allowing you to tackle the foe without appropriate preparation. Leave now, but give Zhao Lian a shout. I need him.”

Zhao Heng and Zhao Haiyang breathed heavy sighs of relief. They left Zhao Seventh’s office as if they had just dodged a death sentence.

Not long after, a tall, middle-aged man knocked on the door of the office. He then entered. It was difficult for people to believe such a big and broad man, with a tanned face, had the name Zhao Lian. The name did not match the person, not by a long shot.

”Does the chairman have any requests?” Zhao Lian politely asked.

”How are the Angel Gene Fluid tests coming along?” Zhao Seventh said, with a relaxed demeanor. Families always had at least one talented individual, and Zhao Lian was one of the younger family members he had taken a great liking to. Zhao Seventh gave him a lot of important tasks.

”We’re still in the first stage of testing. Our results have highlighted the presence of a variety of issues and problems. Time is all they request, however. They’ll get it fixed in due time,” Zhao Lian answered.

”How many first stage test vials were formulated?” Zhao Seventh asked.

”There were twenty-three of them,” Zhao Lian said.

”Give them to Zhao Long and his men, and have them kill Han Sen at his shelter. I don’t care what it takes,” Zhao Seventh coldly ordered.

”But the Angel Gene Fluid is not yet stable. It has destructive results in the human body. If Zhao Long and his people use it, even if they succeed long enough to accomplish their task, they may not live very long afterwards—” Zhao Lian sought to speak more, but what was cut-off.

”The Zhao family has fed and cared for them, all for this day,” Zhao Seventh said coldly. He continued by saying, ”It’s time we attempt the fourth stage test. Observe Zhao Long and his people after they use the fluid. The data you will collect is imperative for the future success of the Angel Gene Fluid.”

”Yes.” Zhao Lian did not say anything further. He took his leave and went directly to the nineteenth sub-basement laboratory.

The lab was filled with many busy researchers. In the farthest reaches of the lab was a glass room. Inside it, a large man was chained to a z-steel platinum bed. His four limbs and torso were all securely locked-down by the z-steel chains, preventing movement.

A mechanical arm hovered over the man and injected a red fluid into him.

All over the man’s body, his blood vessels began to swell immediately. His body looked like it was wreathed with scary, blood snakes. The man’s eyes were red as he convulsed and struggled. He let out a spine-chilling shriek.

Atop his head, one strange spike forced its way out. It was strange, as if it had suddenly grown out of his brain.

Katcha! Katcha!

The man easily shattered the z-steel chains that tied him down. He stood up from the bed as all the muscles on his body swelled. His breathing was rough, and he slowly stepped towards the glass wall. With his red eyes, he stared at the researchers on the other side.

”Eight-Zero-Three, can you hear me?” Zhao Lian picked up the microphone to speak into the sealed-up, transparent room.

”Yes.” Although the man looked like a terrifying monster, he could still listen and answer. His voice was just a little bit shaky.

The professor near him was extremely happy, and he proclaimed, ”Another successful case! Our success rate has now hit ninety-five percent!”

Zhao Lian smiled at the professor and said, ”Professor, give me the rest of the Angel Gene Fluid.”