Someone was waiting to receive them on the island.
The process was well rehearsed.
Disembark, count heads, hand over forms, confirm numbers, sign.
Chen Mo watched from the side with keen interest.
"Wow," he said. "Your standardized operations could at least earn you ISO certification at a legitimate company. Your line of business is just a little hellish."
Nobody laughed.
They really had no sense of humor.
That made Chen Mo even angrier.
Bad guys could be bad.
But bad guys having no sense of humor was workplace misconduct!
Chen Mo and the others were taken into the island's main building.
Soft protective padding covered the walls, the lighting was dim and yellow, and the air smelled of cleaning products.
The cleaning products were trying hard.
But they couldn't mask the deeper smells beneath.
Fear.
Disinfectant.
Damp plaster.
And the silence left behind by something that had been confined here for a long time.
Standing in the corridor, Chen Mo suddenly heard a metallic clang in the distance through his super-hearing-or rather, his Spider-Sense.
Not on this floor.
Farther down.
A basement?
No.
More like a laboratory.
At the same time, a cool-white light flickered inside a gray research building on the other side of the island.
Inside a sealed glass chamber, something like black liquid slowly slid along the inner walls.
It had no eyes.
But it seemed to be watching.
A researcher beside it frowned. "The sample's activity has increased again."
Another person watched the monitor. "Someone in the batch that just arrived has abnormal physiological readings. A-17. Mentally unstable, too."
"Why insist on bringing merchandise with abnormalities across the board onto the island instead of just disposing of it?" The researcher's frown deepened.
"Tsk, hang on. Let me pull up his picture for you. First from the