Homo Sapiens

Evening.

A torrential downpour.

Inside the magnificent villa, Bawei, who had just returned home, saw his son, who had just gotten back from school, and his wife, who was dressed to the nines.

He ordered a servant to prepare dinner and went up to the study on the second floor alone. This was Bawei’s daily routine.

After taking out his key and opening the study door, just as Bawei was about to walk in, an oil painting in the second-floor hallway fell, startling him.

He hurried over and rehung the oil painting.

After returning to the study, he quickly locked the door from the inside.

Then, he opened a safe hidden behind an oil painting in the study. Inside the safe lay glittering gold bars, no fewer than a hundred of them.

In addition, there were numerous vibrant green jadeites and rubies like drops of blood.

As if gazing at a beautiful woman, he picked up a gold bar and caressed it gently, a doting smile spreading across his face.

Suddenly, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

Behind the study’s curtains, something invisible slowly pulled them open and then slowly closed them again. Three figures appeared before Bawei.

Domino waved her hand.

A Soldier immediately laid Bawei flat on the floor, then took out a special brace and clamped it onto his head. First, they injected him with an anesthetic, followed by a special solution containing pheromone-tracking parasites.

These parasites could leave a special pheromone in the blood vessels and brain, helping a bio-computer lock onto the specific structure of the human body’s vascular system and brain.

Twenty-seven minutes later, the pheromone detection from the bio-computer had created a clear simulation of the blood vessels and brain in Bawei’s head.

Domino fine-tuned the brace on his head, then fixed a special syringe to its frame. It slowly pierced through Bawei’s eye socket until the needle reached his prefrontal lobe.

The free-floating bio-chip cells in the syringe were slowly injected.

Once the free-floating bio-chip cells finished aggregating, the bio-chip implantation was a success. Without knowing a thing, Bawei had become Domino’s pawn.

After cleaning up all traces, Domino led her people away, activating their stealth mode and swiftly leaving the study without a sound. They made their way to a roadside over five hundred meters from Bawei’s villa and, with the help of their extraction team, left in a van.

Half an hour later, Bawei woke up on the cold floor. He shook his head, feeling a slight headache and a stinging pain in his left eye.

’What happened? Am I sick? Why did I pass out just now?’

He suddenly snapped to his senses and quickly looked at the safe. He carefully counted the gold bars and jewels inside, and only relaxed after confirming that nothing was missing.

The next morning, Bawei still felt uneasy and decided to go to the hospital to get a checkup.

He called for his driver, but as soon as he sat in the car, he felt his body go out of his control.

”Lai Xiong, go to the White Orchid Restaurant.”

”Yes, Prefect.” The driver didn’t ask why they were going there; it wasn’t his place to ask.

Bawei picked up the phone and dialed his secretary. ”Secretary Meng Ya, something has come up this morning. Please reschedule my appointments.”

”Of course, Prefect. I’ll take care of it.”

Inside, however, Bawei was on the verge of a complete breakdown. None of this was his own doing. It was as if another soul had possessed his body, a thought that filled him with absolute terror.

The driver quietly brought him to the White Orchid Restaurant.

Bawei walked alone toward a private room on the third floor of the White Orchid Restaurant.

After he entered, the door was quickly locked from the inside. He saw a mixed-race woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a cheongsam.

”Mr. Bawei, it’s an honor to meet you.”

”You are... Huh?” Bawei had just realized he could speak again.

Domino smiled and said, ”I specially selected this private room. The soundproofing is the best in all of Chiang Mai. Would you like to test it, Mr. Bawei?”

”...” Bawei instantly lost the courage to shout. His lips trembling, he asked, ”Who are you?”

”You can call me Domino.” Domino lit a slim cigarette, leaned back on the sofa, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

”What do you want?” Bawei was still trembling.

”Mr. Bawei, you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your lovely son, would you? Oh! I seem to have forgotten—that little woman living in Sedow Garden also bore you a son,” Domino said with a smile.

The terror on Bawei’s face deepened. ”You... How do you know that!”

”A scumbag like you can feel fear?” Domino sneered.

’Of course I’m afraid! This damn woman... What should I do? Do I have to give in? I can’t accept this!’ A torrent of thoughts flooded Bawei’s mind.

Domino blew a puff of smoke in Bawei’s face and, smiling, continued her vivid description:

”It doesn’t matter if you don’t cooperate. There are plenty of other options, after all. It would be a shame about Madam Manli’s delicate, flower-like beauty, though. Who knows which man she’ll end up with? And that safe behind the oil painting in your study... I’ll be helping myself to that Gold and those jewels.”

Hearing this, Bawei could no longer remain seated. He cried out frantically, ”Don’t kill me! I’ll cooperate.”

”Are you sure?” Domino asked again.

”I’ll cooperate.” Bawei knew he had no other choice.

Domino snapped her fingers. A Soldier hidden nearby immediately used pheromone control to switch the manager program inside Bawei to monitoring mode.

A moment later, Bawei felt control over his body return. He let out a sigh of relief, but in his heart, he was still incredibly resentful.

”Are you thinking about secretly finding a chance to go to the hospital for a checkup?” Domino asked nonchalantly.

Bawei’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly shook his head and denied it. ”No, no! I am completely loyal to you, Ms. Domino.”

”It doesn’t matter. No one has ever been able to betray the organization. After all, you only get one chance.” Domino’s eyes were devoid of emotion, as if she were discussing something trivial.

But Bawei heard the chilling undertone.

”You only get one chance” meant that if he betrayed them and was discovered, he would never be forgiven.

And ”no one has ever been able to betray the organization” could be understood in two ways: either its control methods were so powerful that no one dared, or all who had tried were now dead.

Either way, it wasn’t something Bawei was willing to test. After all, he only had one chance.

Before Bawei could pledge his loyalty again, Domino dismissed him. ”Alright, you can go. Take the next few days to adjust. When something comes up, someone will naturally inform you.”

”Ms. Domino, I will be absolutely loyal to the organization,” Bawei said again before leaving, reaffirming his devotion.

Domino laughed. ”I told you, it doesn’t matter. Do you really think you’re the only candidate in Chiang Mai?”

What? Bawei’s face turned even paler.

He didn’t doubt Domino’s words. With such covert methods of control, Bawei could imagine, to his horror, just how many secret members the organization must have.

With this thought in mind, the way Bawei looked at other people changed as he left the White Orchid Restaurant.

Extrapolating from his situation, it was possible that people around him were also controlled by the organization. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

Any previous thoughts of resistance were completely extinguished.

After all, he didn’t know who he could trust. What if the person he confided in was also a member of the organization? That would be suicide.

This terrifying suspicion made it impossible for Bawei to even consider betrayal. Or rather, even if he had such thoughts, he could only keep them bottled up inside.

Meanwhile, Domino hadn’t told him about Spider Web or the Homo Sapiens Company. It wasn’t appropriate for a newly recruited manager like him to know too much.

By maintaining a suitable air of mystery, combined with their omnipresent methods, these people would naturally fall in line.