Lilith Sade, who had just been freed, stretched out with her eyes squinting under the streetlamp—she pulled up the hood of her jacket to cover her brother's somewhat godly face.

As she expected, in the alley more than ten meters away from the research institute, the familiar black car without a license plate was quietly parked there. She realized early on and got used to it that she would always be "another child" living in the shadow of her brother's radiant sky.

Pull the door open and get in the car, and without a driver, the self-driving car begins to drive slowly in the direction of home.

"THAAD-style education" is no joke.

In order to be able to play the game secretly, Lilith climbed the wall to enter the room where her parents had been locked because of the long journey.

After she eliminated the evidence and fingerprints, opened the window to restore, she was lying on the outer wall of the eight-story apartment, and was about to climb back to the living room on the same floor with her arm strength, when she was found by a neighbor, and thought it was a thief who reported it. When she was pulled off the wall by the firefighters, her brother rubbed his sleepy eyes, carefully opened the curtains, looked through the crack, and then calmly went back.

You will bear the consequences of what you do - she and her brother have been educated since childhood.

So, after her family did not come to visit and no one vouched for her, she consciously chose to go to the institute as an "assistant" with the highest score and did not need physical modification, and came out on her own.

Within a few minutes of beating that guy in the room just now, she naturally substituted that unshaven face into her brother's face that was never expressionless, and sure enough, she was in a much better mood after being released from prison.

Lilith narrowed her eyes and leaned back into her comfortable seat, the soreness of her muscles from the strenuous exercise began to kick in. After the amputation caused by the accident a few years ago, although her prosthetic limbs are made of biomimetic materials and high-strength alloys, which can be transformed into a non-sensory body like her brother, the surgeon still copied some of the receivers at the ends of her nerves for future maintenance.

Lilith didn't notice the figure of the girl in a white research coat chasing out of the research gate, and her attention was quickly drawn to her brother's face on the screen in front of her.

Duke Poison was nearly ten years older than Lilith, with dark black hair and slightly darker dark green eyes, and his brow was slightly furrowed and his head was lowered as he looked at the papers. The young officer did not immediately look at Lilith after the communication was connected, but read it unhurriedly and then gave a few orders to the adjutant beside him before looking at Lilith.

Lilith sat up straighter, "Hello sir." ”

She rarely calls her brother by his name or "brother" when she is an outsider, and even at home she basically avoids calling her so.

When the adjutant's footsteps were gone, the sound of the door closing in the background was heard before the Duke of Poison spoke with a little disgust.

"The hair is cut so short, it doesn't look like a girl."

Lilith shrugged.

ReinforcementBecause she is naturally weaker than men in physical strength, and her social status is not as good as that of men, the concept of "women should have 'woman-like'" that people like her brother think of as a second gender, and she is not white. From being silent and completely obedient to all his arrangements when he was a child, to gradually becoming more self-conscious and even rebellious in recent years...... She realized that the description "not a little girly" was more like a compliment to her in a sense.

She didn't want to be his marionette like a soulless doll.

"Along with the garbage, I was caught and disciplined at the police station...... You've really refreshed my perception of what you can become. "The fingertips of the ten fingers of the Duke of Poison touched, and the two hands were triangular.

Lilith deliberately stared at those lifeless eyes, rolled up her sleeves and raised her arms: "I'm disabled, it's normal to have some psychological problems." Waste is waste. ”

The man on the other side just let out an "oh" and lowered his head rather indifferently and began to look at the rest of the papers.

At the sound of turning the page, Lilith silently lowered her arm. In such silence, she was like a fish out of water, the air she breathed was extremely stagnant, and the strong pressure in her chest suffocated her.

"I have a meeting in a few minutes." Duke Poison looked up, "To make a long story short: 1. Grow your hair long, and 2. Stop doing these things that disgrace the Sade family." ”

As if she hadn't heard, Lilith unilaterally withdrew from the communication, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her chair tiredly.

Where is not a prison? It's just a matter of whether the cage can be seen or not.

Thoughts go back to months ago. It was a brush with death again after an accident.

One second she was still breathing the fresh oxygen content generated by the rapid growth of vegetation in the radiation area outside the satellite city due to the gradual scarcity of people, and the next second she only felt the strong vibration of the glider.

Several of the partners in front of her all turned their heads to look at her in horror, and the breakage and fall of the support belt were instantaneous.

Her hair flew around as she watched the blue sky and the flames of the aircraft spread, her heart beating wildly.

There was only one thought left in her head: it was finally over.

And I don't know how long later, she woke up from the severe pain.

As far as the eye can see, there is a vast expanse of green vegetation and a blue sky. Birdsong came from the forest, the fresh smell of vegetation ran down her nose and into her lungs, she coughed a few times, and the thick rust in her throat and mouth smelled of blood. Not far away, several pyramid-shaped irregular buildings can be seen towering into the sky. She confirmed that her spine, brain, and non-artificial internal organs had not been irreparably damaged, and struggled to sit up. The heat sensor reminded her that there were several non-yin organisms within a ten-meter radius behind her, and the silhouette seemed to be ordinary humans.

"Are you from the city?"

A boy's voice came from behind.

Lilith answered in a hoarse voice.

The deep trees were plucked to make a rustling sound, and several children dressed in rough cotton clothes, or animal fur clothes, came into her sight.

It was the leader who spoke, much taller and more athletic than the others. Tanned skin, long black hair slightly curled, and shiny eyes full of wildness and vitality.

"I'm a stone." A boy about her age walked over and sat down on the floor. Under his leadership, several smaller children sat down around her, several pairs of curious eyes staring intently at her.

Although it didn't take long for them to get acquainted with them, the search and rescue boat came to the crash site of her aircraft and found her. Lilith still became friends with the slum children, and often came to play with them on the highway cars in the underground tunnels.

The slum game was also quite new to her. Climb up with your bare hands up the "wormholes" of industrial waste and earth and rock, and climb to the top floor to see the satellite city and the main city in the distance.

And Lilith, who was treated as air at home and had been silent for a long time, became the L who "knew a lot of things" in the crowd of children (she still didn't tell the children her full name for the sake of caution - and the slum children were not surprised by her name because everyone around them was so random).

Stone was curious about everything she said.

His elder brother served in the Satellite City Sheriff's Office, and was considered "very promising" among the local children - so Stone also hoped that he could take this path in the future, become a sheriff like his brother, and live in the Satellite City, and no longer have to worry about not having enough to eat.

I don't know how those kids are going if I didn't go to them this week, Lilith thought.

The bald child had a very visibly deformed body. Lilith would occasionally come to them with some food and medicine.

The surrounding residents seem to be accustomed to this, and while the residual radiation does not affect most adult locals, it does not mean that no children are affected.

In their opinion, it is very normal for pregnant women to occasionally give birth to abnormal fetuses. It's also very normal for children to not grow up.

Ironically, in the city, such a phenomenon of accelerating mutation through transformation, and the probability of becoming a chimera, occurs every day in the radiation zone - it is just an experiment of nature, cruel and uncontrollable, and it will not give the specified gene the luxury of modification.

The Chimera in the lab has a 60% chance of success.

The slums, on the other hand, are the most bloody natural selection of large populations. Residents who are unable to compete for residency in a radiation-free zone wormhole can only live in areas where trace amounts of radiation are still present. Probably less than 10 out of 100 children who were irradiated survived, and among those who did, beneficial mutations were obtained, and even fewer were called "successful evolutions."

Such children can choose to enter the gladiatorial arena if they want to get ahead, obtain the right to live in satellite cities, and become "freedmen".

There are no rules in the gladiatorial arena, and many people have paid the price of their lives in order to change their fate - and those who win in the fight, such as the elder brother of the stone, are often the strongest of the strong. Lilith has seen several of her brother's men, gladiatorial sergeants, and their eyes are different from those of ordinary satellite-born soldiers, so sharp that they seem to be able to look through your flesh and bones into your soul.

The silhouette of a human figure gradually emerges on the walls.

The two huge Dobermans pinschs in their hands noticed something strange and quickly stood up and barked at the wall in front of them, trying to break free from the rope and pounce forward.

"Sit."

The man commanded impatiently.

As the two dogs obediently sat back in place, the hand holding the leash suddenly relaxed a lot.

The man in military uniform sighed, raised the lighter in his hand, lit it several times, and leaned in with a cigarette in his mouth.

As he squinted his eyes and began to swallow the clouds in enjoyment, the figures on the walls became clear.

The human form gradually changed from the same brick-red background as the wall, and the color difference gradually strengthened, and the shape and outline gradually became clear, and a strange human body covered with green scales appeared standing against the wall.

"I thought your dog remembered my taste for a long time, Julius." The strange man hissed in his throat and looked warily at the two dogs staring at him with their teeth.

The man raised his eyebrows slightly, not in a hurry to answer, and waited until the smoke clouds gradually dispersed before unhurriedly pulling the rope and motioning for the two dogs to lean in.

In the distance, the sound of a staccato piano could be heard from the metal building.

The strange man looked in that direction, his breathing holes opened, and he took a deep breath, and the two hole-like structures that should have ears on his head moved.

"It has nothing to do with whether you know you or not, it's just that they don't like you." The man laughed, leaned forward, and shook the soot against the edge of the glass table beside him.

The strange man sneered when he saw him smoking cautiously, and a look akin to a playful expression appeared in his eyes.

"It's a real nuisance to ban smoking in the building."

"So many flammables," Julius leaned comfortably back in his chair, "I can't afford that." ”

Seeing that the two dogs were still grinning and whispering threats to him, the strange man remained honestly in Julius's hands, pulled open the chair on the other side of him and sat down—his arms and body leaning against the chair changed to the same color as the chair at a rapid pace, and melted into the chair as if air.

As he gradually melted into the chair, the two dogs suddenly stopped whining and looked to the left and right in some confusion, trying to sniff out the strange smell.

The weirdos, who are descendants of the lizardmen, have managed to develop chameleon-like abilities after being transformed. Not only can he blend in perfectly with his environment visually, but even his smell and temperature can change exactly like his surroundings, so even dogs with an unusually sensitive sense of smell will find it difficult to detect his presence.

"Your abilities are truly unique."

Julius smiled at the "air" around him - the two Dobermans are not only trained to improve their sense of smell, but they are also genetically optimized offspring, and they are far more sensitive to smell than normal canine animals. And Camerion, the lizardman, knows that these two dogs are different from pet dogs, they usually feed on raw meat, and their skulls and minions are mixed with alloy, and they are as sharp as clay.

Once the two dogs get out of control, or if Julius lets go...... They don't mind turning themselves into their snacks.

After confirming his absolute safety, Camerion's hoarse voice sounded directly in Julius's brain: [Why did your dog slip out at this time? 】

"Same reason you came out."

[Did you also receive that guy's bounty?] 】

Ulysses nodded with a cigarette in his mouth.

All the citizens of this district of Satellite City woke up this morning with the same message.

[The Institute's newest experiment, "Mermaid", escaped from the heavily guarded laboratory before personality adjustment, memory formatting, and re-importation.] Residents are advised to lock their doors and windows at home, as the creature is extremely dangerous and uncontrollable, please do not attempt to approach it. If you find traces related to the "mermaid", please report to the nearest lieutenant or sheriff, and provide clues to get a two-month food stamp for a single person. 】

Ulysses and Camerion, who are the sheriffs of the jurisdiction around the laboratory, received the news last night, and their superiors ordered them to capture as many living bodies as possible, and the bounty was two platinum coins.

The sheriffs who received the news were quite apprehensive at the high bounty—at the end of the gold standard, platinum and other precious metals were popular in most of the country, and platinum was one of the most valuable of them. In the most populous satellite towns with fierce struggle for survival, criminals are rampant, and people realize the importance of life safety, and the sheriff and sergeant become quite popular professions.

Due to the danger and large demand of the profession, the higher authorities have also introduced a policy of high salaries and incorruptible pensions, and the capture of prisoners is graded according to the degree of danger and rewards are given according to the rank.

The Merfolk have a danger of 3, which is very close to the highest rating in Wanted.

The main reason why it is dangerous is that although it is a mammal inspired by whales, in order to perform high-pressure underwater tasks, the bone density and strength are far greater than those of other Chimeras, which are based on land creatures - in other words, if attacked by "mermaids", even if they are patted at will, the force is likely to shatter the exoskeletons configured by the sheriffs, directly crushing the bones and organs.

The subject has waist-length thick hair that has not yet had time to be trimmed. There is no overt gender character above the waist, and the muscles that tend to be more streamlined in order to reduce resistance are distributed in an inverted triangle in the human-like part. Below the waist are alloy prostheses wrapped in bionic skin and functional ducts, and the fishtail shape is transformed into an alloy skeleton in the water, and it is in the form of a normal human when walking on land.

[It's made from a Marquardt mask and an average face of the total population.] 】

Camerion sighed.

In the moving picture, as the water in the culture medium fluctuates, the mermaid's expressionless face stands out.

In order to gain the love and help of local residents to the greatest extent possible when performing tasks, the latest batch of Chimera models, or modified people, have been modified to the greatest extent on the original basis to get close to the theoretical "most beautiful face of human beings".

The escaped mermaid, in order to reduce the density of its own body, inevitably generated great movements, such as the shaking of the ground, is most likely advancing near the waters - it is no coincidence that Camerion and Ulysses, two veterans, met near the city's sewage treatment plants in the satellite cities in the middle of these waters.

[It is said that the sister of the Duke of Poison's family happened to be near the scene of the crime.] 】

If Ulysses could see, or anyone could see Camerion now, he should have noticed that his snake- and lizard-like eyes were fixed on Ulysses, as if prepared to see something in the subtle changes in his expression.

Ulysses, who had served in an elite combat unit, was rumored to have a pretty good relationship with the mysterious Duke of Poison.

Ulysses rubbed his temples and frowned.

"Two events occur one after the other, and most people have the illusion that there is a causal relationship between the two events...... That's all. ”

Camerion was disappointed.

Ulysses' brain was set up to only accept information, and no one other than himself could read it. Many people, including Camerion, have tried to hack his brain, but they have all failed. So I still can't figure out what this mediocre-looking man, but almost every time he gets the highest year-end bonus and medal of honor, is thinking.

Although there is no strict hierarchy, there are seven Chimeras that are generally considered to be the strongest and most successful in transformation.

The Duke of Poison is named after Caesar Borgia, a famous conspirator known for his use of poison.

This modified human is immune to almost all biotoxins, most viruses and bacteria, so it is often used as a weapon of mass destruction to drop biological weapons, and there are also quite a few poison-killing assassinations suspected of being suspects.

Due to the different fields that Chimera is good at and their abilities are also different, the ranking of the remaining six and whether they can be regarded as the strongest Chimera is quite controversial on various forums and websites. However, the five Chimeras, including Duke Poison, codenamed Genghis Khan, Odin, Cleopatra, and Lucifer, are almost indisputably included in most of the strongest lists.

Although these dignitaries are quite secretive about their family backgrounds and other privacy out of concern for the safety of their families, in order to increase sales and click-through rates, various media outlets have exposed the exposure of several other family members, and they have to guess, but they know almost nothing about the family of Duke Poison.

But it's inevitable. Duke Poison and the other Chimera have made many enemies because of their missions, and there are countless people in various countries who hold grudges against him, and many who want to retaliate. With Athena's family members being enlisted in the witness protection program after receiving threatening letters, and several other Chimera's family members who have suffered misfortunes, his complete silence is understandable.

In recent years, as this young and promising Chimera has aroused great popularity, his mysterious origin has caused a lot of theories and rumors, including "clones" and "androids".

But few people know that the Duke of Poison actually ...... It was also born by my mother.

Not only was his mother born, but before he was promoted, many people knew that when his parents were busy, they often brought a sister who was nearly ten years younger than him, with a head full of golden curly hair, and looked like Cupid on the mural, to work.

As for the fact that no newspaper media has dug up the existence of his sister, it is because most of these insiders work for the military or the police station, and the public officials have signed confidentiality agreements for this purpose, and the relevant neighbors, friends, or other civilians need to erase the relevant memories.

This is part of the legal provisions and measures taken after the vicious retaliation against Chimera, including Athena, and threats against her family.

Unfortunately, compared to the Chimera, who became famous earlier than Duke Poison, that is, all the six major and close ranks of the Chimera except him, most of the family privacy has been exposed.

In contrast, Duke Poison, who became famous the latest, as one of the seven Chimeras who is the youngest, has benefited from the relatively sound law and protection mechanism that has not been exposed to privacy-

However, recalling the face he saw at Duke Poison's house for dinner, Ulysses couldn't help but take a hard puff on his cigarette.

The sudden tightening of the leash in his hand and the barking of the dog interrupted Ulysses' thoughts.

The signals emitted by the Doberman Pinscher are translated, penetrating the brain through the excuse of the leash on the hand.

[Discover the target.] 】

The epicenter moved from the direction of the wastewater treatment plant not far away to the position where the two people were squatting, causing a slight tremor on the ground that could be felt by both of them without a canine warning.

Ulysses' visual aids adjusted the focus based on the speed at which the source was moving.

As far as the eye can see, you can see the source of the vibrations that come from driving along the riverbank. - It was a four-wheeled vehicle with a very low center of gravity and a metal shell, and it was coming this way by closely following the location of the target "mermaid" tracked by the chip.

The sound of the engine, the sudden acceleration of the car, the sound of the tires gripping the ground seemed to be a shrill and aggressive horn, and in the wind and sand rising from the ground, a man in a modified exoskeleton and bulletproof vest stood on the car, carrying a bazooka on his shoulder in one hand.

The man in the car looked a little dumbfounded.

Dark skin, a strong and tall figure, long black hair tied up at the back of his head, and the wind generated by the high-speed movement of the vehicle was blown up, like a pure black battle flag. Seeing the long-haired Ulysses that is common among the slums, it seems that this is the strangely named newcomer from the nearby slum this year, and the statistics are quite good in all aspects, and he is at the top of the assessment.

Pressed too tight and not having time to adapt to the pressure, the splash of the target "mermaid" can be seen in the turbulent water of the river.

With the target in sight, Ulysses and Camerion, who had been resting, got up from their chairs almost at the same time.