Venice, Italy, 2016.

They used to call it the City of Canals. They say it's the most beautiful city in the world, and tourists come all the way from China.

That was before the war.

More than a decade later, Venice was turned into an open tomb, a poisonous swamp with canals full of poisonous plants and black mud. Some of the islands have sunk, and their pillars are "Mech."

o

"Drone bombing destroys. Most of the houses are in disrepair, bugs and insects are rampant, and the rooms are filled with ancient human bones; At the same time, the outskirts of the city have been occupied by raiders, who are attacking coastal communities with boats.

At least until yesterday. Until Ryan's team arrives.

But that's not the teenager's choice. Ryan's father heard that there were genomes among the local invaders, so he pulled them from the city of Lubano. That madman could never resist the temptation of an easy target to let the others go to the salvage and hunt himself.

The wiser robbers fled without looking back; Everyone else died, and their bodies were thrown into the water. Genome and normalcy are both. No one can beat Ryan's dad. No one. Except maybe Augustus and Leo Hargraves, but so far they haven't met.

Ryan covers his face with a scarf to protect himself from the dirty air. He spurred away these dark thoughts and glanced at the stone house in front of him. Dusty, half-rotting books were piled up in the courtyard, forming a strange staircase to climb up the nearby wall.

"Rihanna!" Len called him from within. "Come on! I found the treasure!"

Out of curiosity, the 16-year-old whistled as he walked into the house. Unsurprisingly, this was some kind of library, though it wasn't the same as any library Ryan had seen before. Piles of books form a veritable labyrinth, walls and twists that could crush him if they collapse. Unlike the rest of the city, there is no vegetation cover here, and the looters apparently ignored the building; No one respects culture now.

He found Len on a boat. Literally. The owner of the library moved a gondola into the library before filling it with books. His best friend was lying on his back on a pile of things, reading something.

"Hello, shorty." Ryan is a tomboy girl his age, slightly smaller than Ryan, and doesn't like to be named. Of course, he teased her mercilessly. "Are you reading Gulliver's Travels?"

"I'm not short, I'm growing taller!" Lunn grumbled, interrupting her lecture and glaring at him with her beautiful blue eyes. Ryan often thinks that he can see the sea she loves so much in the photo. She was pale-skinned, and her jet-black hair hung down to her shoulders. A real modern-day Snow White, although she wears a brown travel dress instead of a noble dress. "Come here, lest I throw the dictionary in your face."

Ryan lay next to his best friend, their shoulders touching each other, peeking at the cover. The book, although old and yellowed by age, seems to be relatively well preserved. " Vi

gt Mille Lieues sous les me

s, samc

it pa

Jules Ve

e "

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, in French," Lan translated, her eyes sparkling. She already had two copies of that book, but none of them were original. "You can't imagine how long I've been looking. The translation is terrible. ”

"I thought you didn't know French, miss?" Ryan laughed at her, and Ryan pinched his arm in response. "Ouch."

"You deserve it, Riley," she replied. “Et j 'app

e

d la f

a

ais, me

ci bie

beauoup。 ”

"French," Ryan corrected her. "You can also get rid of it."

She sighed. "Take the book and keep your mouth shut. I think they have "how to win friends and influence others" that you really need to read. ”

"I like to read, but I don't like to eat as much," Ryan said. Lunn packed her books full of books and nothing else. "Unless you want me to eat your Communist Manifesto?"

"If you do, I'll eat you, Reli. with a fork. She waved to the library. If the communist revolution had happened, the place would not have turned into a toxic dump. ”

"Maybe it's going to turn into a gulag," Ryan replied, happy to make fun of her faith.

"People messed it up, but the concept is correct," Len protested, closing the book and placing it on his chest. "Is it wrong to think that all people are equal?"

"No, it's just naïve."

"It's still possible," Ryan insisted optimistically. "Everything restarted back to zero. The world has changed. ”

"Yes, but not in human nature."

"You're too cynical to do yourself a favor, Reli." She closed the book, put it in her travel bag, and placed it behind the cable car. "When do you think Daddy will come back?"

At one point his victim ran out. "I don't know."

She looked at him silently, their eyes locked together. They have very little time to be alone, and they can breathe without their father's gaze. Ryan looked at his eyes and then at her lips......

Do it, do it, do it.

But he flinched.

Her face was illegible, and Len sighed. Ryan wasn't sure if it was relief or disappointment. "Can you help me get the books off the ship?" She asked. "We can make a bed for it."

"Do you want to sleep there?" Ryan was hesitant about it. The wood was so badly damaged that it could collapse at any moment.

"Yes," she said. "Yes. I've always wanted to have my own boat. Do you know? More than eighty percent of the ocean does not have a map. ”

"Do you want to sleep in a gondola, or do you want to use it?"

"We can find one," she said, daydreaming. "A real ship. Or make one. Set sail like the explorers of old. ”

"Is your dad here or not?" Ryan asked a tough question.

Ryan didn't respond, which in itself was an answer. Without saying a word, she stood up and began to move books with Ryan's help. When it was done, Ryan checked the bottom of the boat, her eyebrows narrowed. "Uh," she said thoughtfully. "Really?"

"What?"

"That gondola," said Lunn, "do you know what it is?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not a boat fan like you."

Instead of answering, Len knocked on a spot on the back end of the gondola. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"That's right," Ryan said smugly. "Boats of this type usually have a hidden compartment. They carry information, money, and even drugs. ”

"You'd think the Marauders had found it," Ryan noted.

"It's not common sense, you have to know where to look. All the boat fans know this!" She can be smug at times. "And, it's a library."

Yes, Ryan doubts how many locals have been to the library, which hasn't been touched in years by gondolas, considering the dust they kicked up when they removed the books. The raiders must have inspected the cash registers and other obvious places, but did not look closely.

"Remove that plank," Ryan pointed to a place. "It's old, it shouldn't be difficult."

"Hey, why me?" Ryan grumbled.

"It's called division of labor," she replied with a smile. "I think, you can do your job!"

"If it's a job, it means I'm getting paid."

"I'll let you sleep in a gondola." Ryan winked at him.

Everything he did for her......

In the end, as Ryan said, the wood had been damaged too badly by time and termites, and Ryan effortlessly removed the planks by hand. As she thought, the ship did have a compartment with a precious thing inside.

A hexagonal metal box with a screw lock, the two teenage children could only hold their breath when they heard the discovery.

"Impossible......" Len's eyes widened in shock. Is this the thing I have in mind?"

"I think so." A mysterious magical box sent by an alchemist to the first genomes. These devices sparked the "Last Easter" tragedy and the subsequent "genome wars". Ryan has been breaking down doors for years, looking for groceries, so removing the door lock has no problem.

The metal box opened, revealing a well-preserved letter and three syringes filled with spinning liquid. One blue, one purple, one red. Each has a swirling, colorful spiral symbol.

Pills.

Ryan opened the letter, and he looked back at its contents. This piece of paper is handwritten.

"Congratulations, Mr. Rossi.

You were chosen to participate in a grand sociogenetics experiment I designed. You don't know me, but I know you, Mr. Rossi. I believe you are an excellent sample of the Homo sapiens species, possessing the necessary skills, intelligence, and genes to lead humanity to the next stage of biological evolution.

I'll give you a miracle.

This box contains three elixirs of life, randomly selected from over 10 million elixirs worldwide. You must have heard of them on the news. Yes, these serums have many health benefits, including unique benefits based on color composition:

Green: Life.

Blue: Information.

Violet: Space-time.

Red: Energy.

Orange: substance.

Yellow: Abstract.

White: Meta-powe

。

You can use these elixirs as much as you want; They are ready for immediate use and testing in the field. I recommend not drinking more than one glass, but the data collected should be interesting.

Now, I must tell you that you are not the only one who has received this gift. When you open your eyes the next morning, the world you're living in is over; Instead, you will wake up in a world where human potential is no longer limited by the trivial rules of reality. A world where anything is possible.

I don't know how this divine experiment turned out, but I can't wait to see the results.

Thank you for your push to the cause of science.

Good luck.

Alchemist. ”

"He never opened the box," Len said sadly.

"Maybe he died before he could do it," Ryan replied. "He probably hid the box before the CBS attack."

"Do you think the blue one will make you a genius?"

"Maybe," Ryan replied. Genius is a slang term for the genome, often blue, who has the ability to create advanced technology that was ahead of their time.

The one closest to taking over the world is the most famous one. His army of self-replicating robots swept through Eurasia, only to become the next to fall when some countries pressed the big red button. No one remembers who fired the first shot, but Mekron responded with drone bombing and biological weapons. Central Eurasia has become a nuclear wasteland; Southern Europe, a mass grave.

At least the city is not irradiated, unlike Turin.

"Which one do you want to choose?" Ryan asked his friend.

Le

Feeble. "We can't drink this," she hissed. "Daddy will know. He could feel it in his blood. ”

"yes, maybe, but that might be our only chance to get rid of him."

"I didn't abandon my father," Lenn replied with angry eyes. "He's going to be fine, I know."

"Fuck no, he's not." If anything, his condition is getting worse. Since both Dimenes and Augustus offered a bounty for his head, he had to evade the hunters from time to time. "Previously he was just crazy and violent, but now he's violent and paranoid. He will never heal, and I think deep down, you know I'm right. ”

Lan bit her lower lip, as she always did whenever she felt stressed and sad. "He's still my dad," she said, with a hint of helplessness in her voice. "He'll have it all."

"He didn't have to know," Ryan argued. "Your father is going to kill us all—"

"Ran! There was a cacophony outside. "Ran! Where are you?"

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. Without thinking, Ryan quickly took a bottle of elixir in each of his hands, hid it in his back pocket, and put it with the letter. Realizing his intentions, Ryan almost grabbed the last potion but hesitated for too long.

When Ryan's dad crawled into the room, Ryan had time to hide the blue and purple elixirs.

Len's dad is no longer a man. Not since he drank too much elixir. His flesh, organs, and skin were gone, leaving only a shapeless mass of blood covering his bones. He became a faceless, crimson puppet with a body that kept swinging; He even moves like a doll without a rope, his arms waving like whips. He left nothing, no blood.

Both teenagers tensed and unconsciously approached each other.

"Ah, Cesare," said the psychopath as soon as he saw Ryan. "It's nice to see you taking care of your sister."

His name was not Cesare, and they were not related by blood.

But Ryan knew he shouldn't say it out loud. Len's dad is sick. Very, very sick. Especially the head. Sometimes, he was Ryan's dad, the affable Freddie, who loved to play board games and watch old movies.

But sometimes, he's just blood.

When the psychopath notices the magic box and the red elixir, his body immediately freezes, and his fingers turn into sharp claws. His lingering humanity vanishes, conquered by an addiction stronger than anything else.

The blood pounced on the rat like a beast of prey, rushed to the box, and brutally pushed Len away. Her back hit the wall of books, and some of the books fell behind.

"Ran!" Ryan screamed and immediately rushed to her side. Ignoring him, Bloodstream grabbed the red elixir and smashed the syringe. He didn't inject anything, his body greedily absorbed the contents; His blood rose and fell like a raging sea, only to stabilize later.

Thankfully, Lunn was more shocked than hurt. However, her father frantically searched the box for other elixirs and glanced at the children. "What about the rest?!" Blood hissed at the two of them, and now it was a complete scream. "What about the rest?!"

"Nothing else!" Ryan protested.

"Liar!" Bleeding hands turned into axes. "A son shouldn't lie to his father!"

"Daddy, stop!" Le

Scream.

It was as if he had been shaken awake from a drug-induced episode, and the blood immediately calmed him down. His hand returned to its original shape, and he shook his head in confusion. The elixir could stabilize his mutations, at least temporarily.

"Lun...... I'm sorry. I'm ......" Bloodflow put his hand on the skull as if battling a frozen brain. "I'm sorry ......"

"This ...... It's okay, Dad," Ryan said, looking away with his arms crossed. "It's fine."

Bloodstream looked at his daughter worriedly, and moved his hands towards her; However, when he approached Ryan, he flinched. The psychopath remained eerily silent, then glanced at Ryan. "Caesar?"

"Yes, Dad?" Ryan asked, disgusted by every word.

“Le

It's sad," Bloodflow said. "Smile at her."

Ryan forced himself, even though his lips couldn't reach his eyes. Thankfully, Lunn's dad couldn't tell the difference between a fake smile and a real one. He put his bloody hand on the boy's hair, less like a son, more like a pet.

"You're a good boy, Cesare," Bloodflow said, with no blood in Ryan's hair. "You're a good boy."

Len's older brother, Cesare, has long since died. Blood simply refuses to accept it.

Neither child pointed it out, though. The last time Ryan's dad broke free from his hallucinations, the madman nearly strangled Ryan to death. If Ryan hadn't appeased her father, he would have killed him. The blood now only listens to his daughter.

Sometimes, even she doesn't know.

It's always the pattern: their team settles down for a while, and Lunn's father goes violent, and either he exterminates the locals or they drive him away. The trio must move on, because when people realize they can't kill Bloodstream, they go to Ryan and Ryan. Wash and repeat.

Ryan has lost count of how many stores they've breached in the past few years. One city at a time, they eventually wandered all the way from Campania to Venice. The blood keeps them moving, chasing isolated genomes that he can suck up the elixir of these genomes to satisfy his addiction.

"Pack up, kids," Bloodflow said. "This place is driving me crazy. We're going to Aquaram. You'll love it, Ryan? You always like water. ”

"I ...... Yes, Dad. I did. ”

"I wish they had ice cream," Bloodflow said happily, and left the room.

Ryan looked at Ryan, who didn't even think about it. They hugged each other tightly, and for a second Ryan wondered if he should let her go.

He still has the elixir in his pocket.

They had to leave.