Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box

The Moon—Earth Federation Headquarters, a sacred land possessing the world's most advanced technology and gathering the top elites from every industry. A federation leader had once joked, "Even if Earth were destroyed, as long as the Moon remains, human civilization will never perish. It may even surpass everything humanity on Earth possesses today."

Though it had only been a joke, from leaders of other nations down to ordinary elites, everyone knew it was no joke—it was the truth.

The Moon contained countless secret armed forces and fathomless advanced technologies, such as bioengineering, genetic research, weapons manufacturing, medical hardware, premium industrial materials, and more. It controlled seventy to eighty percent of Earth's high technologies. But what was truly terrifying were its unknown military technologies and classified research into life engineering, space development, biological weapons, and the like.

Thus, the Moon stood at the pinnacle of Earth's human hierarchy and was a sacred land longed for by countless people. Even an ordinary worker on the Moon was exceptionally talented in their field; on Earth, they would be considered expert-level professionals. Those living on Earth were like ants gazing at the sky, able only to look up at the Moon.

A saying that never went out of fashion circulated on the Moon: "No one who comes from the Moon is useless, because they represent the wisdom, strength, pride, and honor of the entire human world..."

On Earth, many people spent their whole lives unable to set foot on the Moon. Even a nation's wealthiest tycoon could not claim so much as an inch of land there after exhausting their entire fortune. Unless they possessed exceptional talent—what ordinary people called genius—they had no chance. Yet the Moon never lacked geniuses. What it lacked were those existences ordinary people could not comprehend: madmen, monsters, freaks—technical personnel whose expertise no scholar could master and whose thinking surpassed the level of ordinary people.

There was another kind of person on the Moon: personnel belonging to national powers. These people controlled Earth's operations and gradually formed faction after faction. However, these factions never revealed themselves to the public and remained hidden behind the scenes. Where there was light, there was darkness; where there was justice, there was evil. The Moon was not so sacred after all.

Therefore, the Moon was both a holy land and a forbidden land.

Today, the Moon launched a drug called "Pandora" at Earth, abbreviated as the "PB" drug. Its full name was PandorasBox—Pandora's Box—and it was the most crucial step in implementing the New Human Plan.

When the PB drug covered the entire Earth, the hope people had anticipated did not appear. Instead, an unimaginable disaster descended!

Later generations called the PB drug—the PB virus.

There were many adverse factors behind the PB drug's failure. For example, substances present in the air were incompatible, and the differing constitutions of humans caused the virus to undergo unknown mutations. One of the gravest causes was that the Moon had launched every dose of the PB drug across Earth in a blanket deployment, triggering a sudden large-scale eruption of human brainwaves and causing irreversible mental mutations.

Every human body possessed a magnetic field. However, when a person thought, that magnetic field changed, producing a kind of bioelectric current. When that current passed through the magnetic field, it formed what was known as brainwaves.

The PB drug spread at incredible speed, every moment, from one person's magnetic field to the magnetic fields of many others. Like a skill in a game with splash and split effects, the more people were infected, the faster the PB virus spread. After passing through the brainwaves of countless people, PB was no longer an original gene—it had become a mutated virus. Like diseases mingling with one another, it became ever more complex and difficult to solve.

As it spread to more people, plants, and even bacteria in drains, insects, cockroaches, and rats, all of them began spreading this mutated virus. The biological system of the entire world underwent drastic changes. Only a small number of people on Earth survived, and these people were the so-called—new humans—of the plan!

Meanwhile, not a single virus appeared on the Moon.

The instant the Moon launched the PB drug, the entire Moon went into lockdown.

This was a massive conspiracy devised by the people in power, by the leaders. It could be called the plan of madmen.

Only Mu Xiao knew what earth-shattering extremist ideology lay hidden behind this plan. It was also the most important reason the PB drug had gone wrong!

Throughout human history, it was nothing unusual for those in power to develop fanatical desires to "become immortals" and "become gods." Especially when they possessed endless mysterious resources, had developed cutting-edge technology, and commanded geniuses and monsters from across all humanity—technical experts in every field. They had even discovered another starry sky... As though they had glimpsed the eternal path of evolution, what could they possibly refrain from doing?

The desire for eternal life and to become so-called "gods" was not something ordinary people could resist.

At this moment, the Federation Headquarters on the Moon had split into two major camps. One was the radical faction, which wanted Earth to remain as it was and intended to use all of humanity as lab rats to perfect the New Human Plan. The other was the conservative faction, which wanted to immediately save human lives by developing a cure for the biochemical virus.

A group of influential figures in the council had also descended into chaos, each holding different views. They could not reach a consensus in a short time. Yet with every passing second on Earth, human genes underwent countless changes. In the end, even they would lose control and suffer the consequences of their own actions...

While the whole of human civilization fell into turmoil, Mu Xiao remained asleep, his genes continuously optimizing...

Bauhinia Building.

Shangguan Yuanxin slowly woke from her faint and slumber. Feeling the faint numbness in her body, she gradually recalled what had happened. Suddenly, she fully woke up. Her first reaction was that of an ordinary woman—she lowered her head to inspect her clothes. But upon realizing she was lying on a bed, her face went pale. As though she had thought of the most terrifying possibility, her eyes filled with resentment as she abruptly threw off the blanket covering her...

"This is..."

She froze for a moment, only to find that her clothes were intact. She had not been violated in any way.

Shangguan Yuanxin scrambled out of bed and carefully examined and felt the changes in her body. In the end, she confirmed that she truly had not been violated by that man. While she heaved a tremendous sigh of relief, she was also puzzled. Was her figure and appearance simply not attractive enough?

"It's good that nothing happened. There's no need to think about such pointless things." Shangguan Yuanxin gave a self-mocking smile. She still had the thoughts of an ordinary woman after all.

At that moment, the door opened, and the fit, wild beauty of a bodyguard walked in. She happened to see Shangguan Yuanxin's self-mocking smile and knew what she was thinking. Her previously grave expression softened as she teased, "Yuanxin, I was the one who carried you into the room. That man called Mu Xiao actually just tossed you outside. It was as if he could not even be bothered to touch you. He clearly has no improper thoughts about you at all. So, has your always confident and proud beauty taken a hit now?"

"Zhou Xuan, you should be telling me the most important thing right now. From the look on your face earlier, it seemed like something major happened." Shangguan Yuanxin and her female bodyguard were superior and subordinate, but also intimate friends. They knew each other well. Zhou Xuan's grave expression earlier had not escaped Shangguan Yuanxin's notice.

"It's more than something major. It's a world-shaking crisis." Zhou Xuan's face was heavy, as though dark clouds on the verge of collapse hung over her head.

"Did something happen to the family?" Shangguan Yuanxin recalled what Mu Xiao had told her. She had mentally prepared herself and was able to keep her heart as calm as possible so she could deal with the matter rationally.

"I'm afraid it isn't just the family that is in trouble. Maybe the entire world is..." Zhou Xuan said weakly. "Go out onto the balcony and take a look. You'll understand."

The room only had an open-air wall and no balcony. Shangguan Yuanxin and Zhou Xuan went out into the lounge together, where they saw that her team of female bodyguards were all fine. They were merely restless, their expressions extremely complicated.

Suddenly, Shangguan Yuanxin noticed two extra women. She remembered that one was Mu Xiao's ex-girlfriend, while the other was a female receptionist, one of Mu Xiao's friends at the company. Seeing their pale faces and unconcealed fear, Shangguan Yuanxin asked, "How did they get in?"

"Mu Xiao changed the room password. He might have anticipated something happening, so he gave them the password. It seems he intended for them to come here and take shelter," Zhou Xuan explained.

Shangguan Yuanxin remained silent and walked to the large balcony behind the office desk. Before she could even see the scenery below, she saw thick smoke filling the sky, sweeping across it like dark-gray dragons. The roar of fighter jets repeatedly thundered through her ears, while the noisy clamor below could be heard clearly even from such a height—hysterical, spine-chilling screams of madness...

"What exactly is going on?!"

Uncontrollable panic filled Shangguan Yuanxin's exquisite face. She could vaguely see crowds below, as dense as ants, desperately fleeing for their lives. Everywhere she looked, smoke and flames filled the air. Buildings belched fire and smoke, levitating vehicles exploded in midair like fireballs, and countless people screamed in terror... The prosperous, beautiful, charming City of Magic seemed shrouded in a heavy atmosphere of darkness, fear, and unease.

"A riot?" Shangguan Yuanxin asked in disbelief.

"I'm afraid not." Zhou Xuan brought over a high-powered telescope and handed it to Shangguan Yuanxin. "If you use this, you should be able to clearly see the most horrifying things below."

Shangguan Yuanxin immediately took the telescope and looked down. Her panicked expression turned deathly pale. Terror made her entire body tremble, shaking like a sieve.

Bloody, sinewy monsters were attacking the crowd. Some people were torn in half, while several monsters brutally devoured their bloody flesh in huge mouthfuls... Most terrifying of all, those "dead people" whose flesh had been eaten began rapidly growing dark-gray flesh and turning into half-corpse monsters, before repeating the cycle and attacking people everywhere.

The high-powered telescope clearly presented scene after scene of people being eaten below, placing the reality of it directly before Shangguan Yuanxin's eyes as though she were witnessing it herself.

Bleurgh!

Shangguan Yuanxin ignored her mature, elegant image, clutching her chest as she bent over and dry-heaved.

She was indeed a powerful businesswoman, but the situation had gone far beyond her ability to comprehend, let alone handle. Stripped of her business capabilities, she was merely an ordinary person who had no idea how to deal with any of this.

Zhou Xuan patted her on the back and said, "Though I'm a retired soldier, seeing what's happening below still makes me want to throw up. It's already impressive that you haven't collapsed completely. Those two women connected to Mu Xiao turned pale with fright just from hearing us discuss the situation outside. They didn't even dare look at what was happening. So compared to ordinary people, your willpower is already quite good."

"Zhou Xuan, do you really think this is the time to comfort me?" Shangguan Yuanxin caught her breath and took a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her mouth. But when she recalled what she had just seen below, another wave of sickening heaviness rose in her chest.

"Other than comforting you, I really don't know what else to do." Zhou Xuan delivered news that drained all color from Shangguan Yuanxin's face. "All networks are down. We can't send any messages, and we can't contact the family either. The family may not even be able to look after us now."

"Then what do we do..." Shangguan Yuanxin was briefly lost in a daze.

Suddenly, a female bodyguard approached and said quietly, "Miss, Lü Xiaoman, Mu Xiao's female colleague, says she needs to see you. It seems Mu Xiao left an encrypted message specifically for you."

The moment Shangguan Yuanxin heard this, she recalled all the strange things Mu Xiao had said before, as well as his words telling her to seek refuge in 'Warehouse No. 9.'

"He knew something major was going to happen early on. Why didn't he just say it outright..." Shangguan Yuanxin's thoughts stalled, and she instantly understood why he had not told her in advance. Something so unbelievable—if he had said it back then, she could never have believed him. Compared to her family background, he had been nobody important at all; his words carried no credibility. But now, all her status and background seemed to have lost their usefulness.

Thinking of how the status and background she had relied on most, and taken pride in, had become useless, the panic in Shangguan Yuanxin's heart grew even more intense.

"What's wrong?" Seeing her look so lost, Zhou Xuan understood that such unknown terror truly made it impossible for anyone to feel at ease.

"Nothing. Let's first see what clue Mu Xiao left for me. Maybe this sudden chaos is only temporary. Perhaps things will be fine in a few days. After all, we still have the Moon as our greatest support." Shangguan Yuanxin tried to comfort herself.

If she had known that the Moon might not suppress the situation with all its strength, she would have been utterly despairing.

"What exactly did he leave for me?" As though grasping at a lifeline, Shangguan Yuanxin quickly straightened up, barely maintaining her usual dignified bearing as she returned indoors.