Dean Bo Li

Dean Bo Li's body trembled. He could no longer hide beneath the desk.

"Y-Yes... it's you, Ba Di." His thin face forced out a stiff smile as he shakily crawled out from under the desk, an M4 Carbine still hanging from his chest.

Seeing Ba Di look at him with indifference, Dean Bo Li suddenly felt that the M4 Carbine on his chest was scorching hot. He hurriedly lifted the sling over his head and placed it on the desk, explaining, "This was for... for..." Dean Bo Li repeated "for" several times, but in the end, he did not have the courage to say that he had carried it to guard against Ba Di.

He knew firearms were useless against Ba Di. From the Negative First Floor all the way down to the Negative Fourth Floor, at least five hundred bodies had been left behind. That murderous aura made Dean Bo Li shudder with fear.

He considered himself nothing more than a researcher, a scientist. How could he dare contend with such a killing star?

Ba Di was an excellent judge of character.

Dean Bo Li was vain, greedy, afraid of death, and quite ruthless. For a long time, he had used Jenny to draw out the knowledge in her mind.

Over the course of spending time with Jenny, Ba Di had also learned that several of Dean Bo Li's important research achievements, studies famous throughout the world, had actually been taken from Jenny.

Fortunately, he had taken on an excellent student—one who threw herself into research and had no interest in any trivial matters, empty fame, or honors. She only wanted to conduct research.

He had provided Jenny with a flawless research environment, and Jenny did not mind whose name those research results bore.

Being able to explore the mysteries of life was her greatest pleasure. Everything else was insignificant.

Otherwise, Dean Bo Li likely would not have enjoyed his current glory at all.

To Jenny, Dean Bo Li was like a fatherly steward, handling all sorts of messy trivialities for her so she could focus on her research.

At that thought, the coldness in Ba Di's gaze softened slightly. Jenny sitting on his lap and talking to him about her past flashed through his mind.

"Dean Bo Li, you are Jenny's teacher. I will not kill you," Ba Di said calmly.

Dean Bo Li, who had been sweating coldly in anxiety, widened his eyes and froze. Clearly, he could not believe such a surprise would fall upon him.

Other than the Negative Second Floor, the Underground Research Institute was a scene of death and ruin. The dead were dead, and the injured were crippled.

On the Negative First Floor, aside from the thirty-one crippled men who had wailed and pushed their comrades out to die, and Jenny, everyone else was dead.

The Negative Third Floor had been wiped out.

Dean Bo Li did not know what had happened on the Negative Fourth Floor; he had been too terrified. But he still understood that Ba Di could only have reached this place by using Slade's palm print to open the doors. Slade was probably doomed as well.

Ba Di had slaughtered his way here like a god of death. Dean Bo Li had long since been frightened out of his wits, with no hope of luck remaining. He only hoped for one last chance—to survive at Ba Di's hands.

Now Ba Di had suddenly said he would not kill him. A trace of luck rose in his heart, and he thanked the heavens, thanked the earth, thanked Jenny.

"You... really mean it?"

At this moment, Dean Bo Li's usually smooth tongue stuttered. This made him happier than winning the Nobel Prize.

After all, the Nobel Prize could give him fame, but Ba Di held the power of life and death over him.

Ba Di nodded and said, "You are Jenny's teacher. She actually treats you like a father. From now on, take good care of her for me. If she wants to do research, let her do research. If she wants to seek revenge on me, let her seek revenge on me. As long as she lives, that is enough."

Dean Bo Li was stunned. He had not expected that Jenny's feelings were what had bought back his life.

Suddenly, his body jolted.

At last, he understood why Jenny had not died after Ba Di personally shot her with a gun, and had only curled up on the floor and cried.

It had been to sever the connection between him and Jenny, preventing Jenny from becoming the subject of suspicion afterward.

Even those thirty-one crippled soldiers had been deliberately maimed by Ba Di so Jenny could be saved.

And his own life had been spared only because he was of some use to Jenny.

Deep down, Dean Bo Li felt somewhat fortunate—fortunate that Ba Di had feelings for Jenny, and equally fortunate that he had not treated Ba Di too harshly.

Even so, Ba Di's actions were flawless in both sentiment and reason. Though Dean Bo Li felt fortunate, he was still filled with deep worry.

What if Ba Di was lying? What if, as Slade had said, he had merely come to the Negative Fourth Floor to retrieve something that could help him? Once he obtained it, would Dean Bo Li still live? Part of him wanted to believe, yet he remained deeply torn by doubt.

"At the same time, I have come to retrieve my things. Dean Bo Li, you should know what I mean."

Ba Di spoke slowly and unhurriedly. After seemingly entrusting Jenny to Dean Bo Li, he revealed his true purpose.

Dean Bo Li's heart skipped a beat. "That... 'key'?"

Ba Di nodded gently. "That 'key' is very important. Perhaps I will die and never leave this Underground Base, but I must die with it. Please return it to me, Dean Bo Li."

He had to retrieve this key. Inside it was the artificial intelligence Ba Di had painstakingly acquired on Krypton. It could help him truly conquer Earth and could also help him adjust his genes in the future.

In his future plans, dealing with the Jor-El Family, the future Superman Clark, extracting the Codex of Life from Clark's body, and perfecting himself were all top priorities.

Without this artificial intelligence, it would be difficult to complete the series of improvements needed for Ba Di's own genes.

What was more, in only twenty or thirty years, Earth would enter an era when superheroes flourished. Gods, humans, ghosts, and demons would all emerge, and every villain would be destined to struggle for survival.

Ba Di in particular was destined to walk the path of a supervillain opposed by heroes across the world.

Becoming the enemy of the whole world was already something he had expected.

Therefore, no matter what, the key had to return to his hands.

Dean Bo Li's expression became hesitant and conflicted. He loved fame and feared death, but precisely because he feared death, he knew that this key was the key to whether he could survive.

He could not tell whether Ba Di was telling the truth. Even if Jenny truly had not died, after witnessing all of this, Dean Bo Li still could not figure out what Ba Di wanted to do. Ba Di's slaughter all the way here had already thrown Dean Bo Li's thoughts into chaos.

His eyes shifted slightly toward Ba Di. Ba Di's expression remained indifferent, his faint gaze seeming to wait for an answer while also leaving no room for doubt.

A chill ran through Dean Bo Li's heart. If he did not hand over the key, would the outcome be death?

Looking at Ba Di's indifferent face, Dean Bo Li truly did not want to guess, and he did not want to die.

He was willing to believe Ba Di's words.

Yet he still felt uneasy. "I'll go get it for you."

After saying that, Dean Bo Li stepped out from beside the desk.

Ba Di's indifference vanished. A faint smile appeared on his face as he stood, pushing the chair back slightly with the back of his knees.

The sound of the chair scraping startled Dean Bo Li.

Dean Bo Li's body shook slightly. He thought Ba Di had risen to do something, but seeing that Ba Di seemed only to want to follow him to retrieve the key, he relaxed a little. Still tense, he clenched his fists in the pockets on either side of his white lab coat and could not help saying, "Sit here for a while. I'll go get it for you."

The moment those words left his mouth, his heart rose to his throat.

Suppressing the terrified urge to leap away from Ba Di, Dean Bo Li's body stiffened as he secretly thought darkly, If he truly does not kill me, I will find the key and give it to him. But if I die, he can forget about getting the key.

The Underground Research Institute was neither too large nor too small. If a cylinder smaller than a little finger were hidden away, it would not be so easy to find.

Even digging three feet into the ground would take time.

Especially since Ba Di did not have X-ray vision, it would be even harder to find.

"Sure." Ba Di smiled slightly, pulled the chair closer, and sat down.

Dean Bo Li relaxed a little. The fists in his pockets loosened. Only when he opened the office door did he realize that his palms were already soaked with sweat.