Corpse

"To... today at noon," Tang Er stammered.

"No, when did you go and set up a date with Yan Yanran for me again!" Tang Shizhe's hair stood on end. If he had dates with two girls at the same time and they found out, he would be dead!

"She brought it up herself. She said you tricked her last time, so you need to treat her to a meal to apologize."

"You were still evolving at the time, so I agreed on your behalf," Tang Er explained in a low, muddled voice.

"You... you guys..." Tang Shizhe pointed his finger at Tang Yi and Tang Er, unable to get the words out, before finally dropping his hand and sighing helplessly.

These Splitters hadn't done anything wrong; after all, if he hadn't replied to them, the consequences might have been even worse.

"All of you, hurry up and get to work on the virus!" Tang Shizhe snorted coldly, raising his hand to check the time—it was already 11:50 AM.

He raised his arm to sniff himself and discovered that although he hadn't bathed in five days, there was unexpectedly no foul odor. It seemed that during his coma, these Splitters must have carefully wiped his body down.

Tang Shizhe began picking out clothes from his wardrobe for his upcoming "date" while dialing Yin Qi's number.

Relatively speaking, his relationship with Yan Yanran was more familiar since they had already eaten together once, so he decided to postpone the meal with Yin Qi.

"Hello, Yin Qi? Is it possible to reschedule? I have something to take care of today." Tang Shizhe reached into the wardrobe to pull out a sweater, holding the phone between his head and shoulder as he mumbled.

"I've already dressed and left the house. If you dare to stand me up, you're dead!" Before Tang Shizhe could finish, Yin Qi hung up the phone.

Tang Shizhe's hand, holding the sweater, froze in mid-air. He felt speechless; why was her temper so explosive? She wouldn't even let him finish his sentence.

Since he didn't even have the chance to cancel with Yin Qi, he had no choice but to call Yan Yanran.

The moment the call connected, Yan Yanran's voice came through from the other end.

"Tang Shizhe, where are we eating at noon? I'm already in the car. Just send me the address."

"Um, is it possible to reschedule..." Tang Shizhe said in a low, hesitant voice.

"Don't tell me you're planning to stand me up. Do you know how long I spent showering, putting on makeup, and picking out clothes? Is this the second time you've played me?" Yan Yanran's voice had begun to turn cold.

"No, no, no, come on over. Thousand-Face Cuisine, Room 11. You head there first, and I'll be there in a bit." Tang Shizhe scratched his head in frustration. Since he couldn't cancel, he might as well have them both eat together!

If the worst comes to the worst, he'd just stop pursuing these two girls! Tang Shizhe gritted his teeth, already foreseeing his miserable future.

Stuffing his car keys into his pocket, Tang Shizhe walked quickly toward the Porsche parked in the courtyard.

With a roar of the engine, the black Porsche shot out of the factory grounds and disappeared at the end of the road.

Because it was currently lunch hour, Tang Shizhe didn't take the downtown route, choosing instead to take the new road on the city outskirts to reach the other side of town. Although the distance was much longer, the speed was definitely faster than driving through the city center.

Since the road had just been paved, there were no cars to be seen, and because it was in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't even a soul in sight along the roadside.

Suddenly, a white Volkswagen appeared in his field of vision. The car had crashed into a utility pole on the side of the road.

The front of the car had been smashed deep into the pole, and the airbag had already deployed. Tang Shizhe could vaguely see a person inside through the shattered glass.

He hurriedly pulled his car over to the side, took a warning sign from the back, placed it fifty meters away, and then ran over to the white Volkswagen.

Sure enough, a beautiful girl in a white dress was lying face-up in the driver's seat.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tang Shizhe reached out and tapped the woman's shoulder, but received no response.

At this moment, Tang Shizhe suddenly noticed that the woman wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and the angle at which her head was tilted was extremely unnatural.

Realizing something was wrong, Tang Shizhe hurriedly placed his fingers near the woman's nose and mouth.

Just as he had feared, the beautiful girl was no longer breathing; her neck had been snapped.

He guessed that because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt, her head had been snapped back upon impact due to the angle of the collision!

Call the police? Or 10? Tang Shizhe's mind went blank. This was his first time being this close to a dead person.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

"Do it or not?" Tang Shizhe hesitated, but he made up his mind almost instantly.

He looked around quickly and didn't see any people or vehicles. Forcing himself to suppress his inner tension, he unlocked the car door from the inside and reached in to pull the woman's body out.

Tang Shizhe's evolved body was very strong, so he easily carried the woman to his sports car and shoved her into the cramped back seat through the open door.

Because it was a sports car, the back seat was designed to be extremely narrow with a hump in the middle, but it was just enough to secure the body.

After getting in and closing the door, he looked back at the woman's corpse and sighed.

Of course, it wasn't that he had any special fetishes. The reason he had designs on this corpse was because the Brood Mother could consume a biological organism's genes to morph its own appearance into that of the subject.

This beautiful woman, whose death in a car accident was known to no one, was perfect for the Brood Mother to use for molding. As for the woman's family, Tang Shizhe could only whisper an apology.

The only way he could think to make amends was to hide the news of her death so her family wouldn't know she was gone; that way, at least they wouldn't suffer because of her departure. In the future, the Brood Mother could even take the woman's place to fulfill her filial duties and care for her parents until their passing.

The black Porsche turned into a black shadow and vanished at the end of the road. In less than ten minutes, Tang Shizhe, driving at breakneck speed, pulled the car back into the factory courtyard.

Because Tang Shizhe had notified the Splitters in advance via the Mental Network, Tang Yi, Tang Er, and Tang San were already waiting in the courtyard.

"Quick, quick, quick! Carry her to the Splitter Chamber!" Tang Shizhe ordered urgently. Upon hearing this, Tang Er and Tang San hurriedly stepped forward and nimbly carried the woman's body into the underground Splitter Chamber.

The Brood Mother seemed to sense something and suddenly began waving its tentacles incessantly inside the box.

Tang Shizhe ordered Tang Yi to cut a piece of flesh from the woman's arm and toss it into the box. He didn't intend to let the Brood Mother consume the entire person; after all, if it did, he would feel disgusted having the Brood Mother by his side later.

"Boss, how should we dispose of this body?" Tang Yi came to Tang Shizhe's side and asked in a low voice.

"Go and bring over the liquid nitrogen we have in storage. Use the liquid nitrogen to preserve the body first, then bury it underground."

"If we possess the technology to resurrect her in the future, we can bring her back as compensation for using her body."

"Understood!" Tang Yi and the others nodded; they obeyed and executed Tang Shizhe's orders unconditionally.

Soon, Tang Er and Tang San placed the corpse of the woman, who had already fulfilled her purpose, into a massive sealed container and carried it out.

Watching Tang Yi and the others leave, Tang Shizhe took a deep breath to steady his somewhat somber mood. After all, it was truly a pity for such a young and beautiful life to wither away so early. Thinking of his own deceased parents, he couldn't help but lament the fragility of human life. Although his current body had been enhanced, he still could not escape the threat of death if he encountered danger, and his lifespan had not yet been significantly extended.

I must become stronger! I will ensure that death can no longer threaten me, Tang Shizhe gritted his teeth in secret.