The Yan Mountains stretched like a sleeping dragon to the north of Beijing. Deep within its misty peaks lay a forbidden zone that didn't exist on any map.
A black off-road vehicle tore through the rugged mountain path, its headlights cutting through the thick fog.
"Boss, the GPS is dead," Iron Leg tapped the dashboard. "Magnetic interference. We are flying blind."
"We don't need GPS," Jiang Daolin sat in the back, cleaning his silver needles. "Follow the smell."
"Smell?" Iron Leg sniffed the air. "I only smell sulfur and rotting leaves."
"Exactly," Jiang Daolin's eyes were cold. "That's the smell of the underworld."
The car stopped at the end of the road. Ahead lay a dense, ancient forest. The trees were twisted, their branches reaching out like clawing hands.
"Nine, stay close to Iron Leg," Jiang Daolin stepped out. The temperature here was at least ten degrees lower than in the city.
Nine nodded, her face pale. As a "Source," she felt a instinctive terror radiating from this forest. "Brother Jiang... the trees... they are watching us."
"They are not trees," Jiang Daolin flicked his wrist.
Swish!
A silver needle shot into the darkness, piercing a "branch" hanging above them.
Screech!
The "branch" shrieked and fell to the ground. It wasn't wood. It was a massive, mutated python with human-like eyes. It writhed in pain, blue blood oozing from the needle wound.
"Bio-engineered Sentries," Jiang Daolin walked past the snake without looking down. "The Kylin Organization turned this entire mountain into a living trap."
They walked deeper into the forest. The silence was deafening. No birds, no insects. Only the sound of their footsteps.
Suddenly, Iron Leg stopped. His mechanical ears rotated.
"Movement. Three o'clock. Fast!"
Growl...
From the fog, pairs of glowing red eyes appeared. One. Five. Ten. Twenty.
A pack of wolves emerged. But these weren't normal wolves. Their fur had fallen off, revealing exposed red muscles. Their jaws were reinforced with metal plates, and their claws were as long as daggers.
Type-II Bio-Wolves. Failed experiments repurposed as guard dogs.
"Fresh meat..." The alpha wolf drooled, its voice sounding disturbingly human.
"They can talk?" Iron Leg gritted his teeth, activating the hydraulic pistons in his metal legs. "Boss, save your energy for the boss fight. I'll handle these mutts."
"No," Jiang Daolin stepped forward. "We don't have time to play."
He opened his red wooden box. This time, he didn't take out needles. He took out a spool of Black Thread.
"Stitcher's Art: Puppet Master."
As the wolf pack lunged at them with terrifying speed, Jiang Daolin didn't dodge. He simply waved his hands like a conductor leading an orchestra.
Hummm—
Invisible threads, pre-set in the air during his walk, suddenly tightened.
Slice! Slice! Slice!
The sound of meat being cut echoed through the forest.
The wolves froze mid-air. Then, they fell apart. Heads separated from bodies. Limbs detached from torsos. In a blink of an eye, the terrifying pack of bio-beasts was reduced to a pile of anatomical parts.
Iron Leg's jaw dropped. "Boss... when did you set the trap?"
"When I killed the snake," Jiang Daolin retrieved his thread. Not a drop of blood stained his white robe.
"Let's move. The smell of blood will attract bigger things."
They continued forward. Finally, they reached the edge of a cliff.
Below them, nestled in a valley surrounded by cliffs, sat a massive fortress. It looked like a medieval castle mixed with a high-tech prison. Searchlights swept across the walls, and armed patrols marched on the ramparts.
But what chilled them the most was not the guards. It was the garden in front of the manor.
From this distance, it looked like a field of red flowers. But Jiang Daolin's enhanced vision saw the truth.
Those weren't flowers. They were people. Hundreds of people, buried up to their waists in the soil, their arms raised to the sky, swaying in the wind. They were alive, moaning in eternal agony.
The Garden of Flesh.
"Oh my god..." Nine covered her mouth, tears streaming down.
Jiang Daolin stared at the hellish scene. His killing intent condensed into a physical aura, making the air around him tremble.
"They treat humans like crops," Jiang Daolin whispered, his voice sounding like it came from the deepest abyss.
He looked at the fortress.
"Tonight, I will be the harvester."