The bald boss's screams didn't last long.
The black-and-red filaments plunged into his body like a pack of starving hyenas. In just a few moments, the bald boss departed this world.
Chen Mo stood where he was and took two seconds to recover.
His hand was still held out in the position he'd pressed it down, and the expression on his face was hard to describe.
"Come on, man, you went down way too easy."
The hunger in his stomach had finally quieted down a little.
But his brain got busy again.
A jumble of memories battered Chen Mo's head as if someone had thrown them into a tumble dryer.
The bald man was named Raymond, a minor boss on the fringes of the Bloods. His usual business included loan sharking, extortion, kidnapping, and selling some dirty stuff.
In his memories, Raymond had first seen that case of blue drugs at the Gray Whale Parking Lot.
He didn't know who had put the stuff on the market, but lately, a lot of terrorist organizations had been buying it up at high prices.
They were willing to spend big.
Chen Mo rubbed his temples.
"Looks like A-Train is still moving product. I wonder when the plot starts."
He continued searching through the memories.
A man in sunglasses sat in a black SUV. His face was hard to see, but his voice was distinctly arrogant.
He carried himself like he was above everyone else, casually selling Compound V on the black market and even offering a diluted version.
The man called himself Marlow.
His street name was the Pharmacist.
Word was that he had once done outsourced dirty work for some major corporation, disposing of plenty of experimental waste that couldn't be brought to light.
Chen Mo's mouth twitched when he saw that.
"Was any of this in the original story? Some guy pops up off the street and can modify a high-tech product like this? So amateur scientists really are saving the world, huh?"
While he wondered whether this was the comic's plot or the TV show's,
Chen Mo looked down at the small vial in his hand.
"So this is black-market Compound V, and it's even the discounted, about-to-expire kind?"
He unscrewed the cap, and the smell of the drug rushed out.
The scent sent a sharp jolt into his chest, and his stomach roared, telling him that not only could he eat this stuff, it was highly nutritious.
Chen Mo's Adam's apple bobbed.
His brain told him not to drink drugs of unknown origin.
His stomach told him to stop listening to that guy's nonsense and dig in.
Chen Mo fell silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.
"All right, then. Since I've transmigrated into The Boys anyway, wouldn't it be a wasted trip if I didn't try a local specialty?"
He tipped his head back and downed the blue drug in one gulp.
The cold liquid slid down his throat.
"Hm, apple flavor?"
The next second, a fire ignited in his stomach.
Chen Mo doubled over, pressing his fingers against the car door as his knuckles gradually turned white. Black-and-red lines emerged from beneath his neck and spread rapidly across the sides of his face and down his arms.
The pain came fast and fierce.
Every inch of muscle in his body was torn apart, then forcibly pieced back together by the Blacklight Virus.
Chen Mo gritted his teeth, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"Holy crap, this stuff really might kill me! Fuck, is there something wrong with my Blacklight Virus? Did I get a pirated copy?"
Chen Mo's vision began to warp, too.
The warehouse lights became blurred blobs.
The unconscious people on the floor suddenly gained another layer of outlines in Chen Mo's eyes.
Blood vessels, muscles, bones, body temperature.
He could even see exactly how their hearts beat and how their blood flowed.
The hunger in his stomach rose again, but it was no longer just a crude cry for food.
It had begun to distinguish things.
Which was strong, which was weak, which was nutritious, and which was pure junk food.
Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief and slowly raised his hand.
Beneath his skin, black-and-red filaments raced around, growing and rearranging themselves. A few seconds later, his palm suddenly grew hot, and his five fingers twitched slightly.
A short black-and-red blade sprang out.
It wasn't long, and its edge had a dark sheen. When it brushed lightly against the car door, it sliced through the metal like tofu.
Chen Mo looked at the blade, his eyes slowly lighting up.
"Oh, blade mode?"
He tried moving his fingers, and the blade retracted.
The next second, he raised his hand again, and the blade sprang out.
Though it was still nowhere near as powerful as the one in the game that could cleave a tank in two with one strike, it at least showed he was on the right track.
Eating Compound V could strengthen the Blacklight Virus.
Devouring people let him read their memories. If they were superhumans, perhaps he could devour their superpowers too.
Chen Mo looked down at the mess covering the floor, and his mood suddenly improved considerably.
It was true he'd started out with no legal identity.
But at least his livelihood wasn't entirely without prospects.
"Hehehe, looks like I, Ancestor Chen, will soon be invincible under heaven."
A small noise came from the back door.
The woman stood in the doorway, her face deathly pale. Clearly, she hadn't run far. She looked at the people sprawled across the floor, then at the black-and-red blade that had just retracted into Chen Mo's hand, and froze on the spot.
Chen Mo saw her too.
They stared at each other for two seconds.
Holy crap, she didn't hear that, did she?!
The woman's lips moved. "Are... are you a hero?"
Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, relieved.
He glanced down at his hand, then at the corpses and the mess all over the warehouse floor, his expression turning a little complicated.
"Lady, just how nearsighted are you?"
The woman was momentarily at a loss for words.
Chen Mo waved a hand. "Hurry up and go. Call the police or move away, whatever you like, but don't get involved with people like these again. And don't tell anyone you saw me here tonight."
The woman nodded instinctively, then couldn't help asking, "What's your name?"
Chen Mo thought for a moment.
"Just call me Concerned Citizen."
The woman said, "..."
Chen Mo walked over to the table and stuffed the cash and several bags of documents on the drug into a black duffel bag nearby. He also found a working phone and a set of car keys.
Before leaving, he took another look at the few survivors in the corner of the warehouse.
The fat man was still on the floor, sucking in sharp breaths. That punch hadn't killed him, only left him completely unable to resist.
Chen Mo walked over and crouched in front of him.
Terror filled the fat man's eyes, and his lips trembled. "Don't... don't kill me."
Chen Mo smiled.
"Relax, I'm not some kind of psycho."
The fat man had just breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Mo reached out and pressed a hand against his shoulder. Black-and-red filaments silently extended from it.
"I just can't stand the sight of you people."
A few seconds later, Chen Mo stood up, the smile on his face fading a little.
Chen Mo looked at the car keys in his hand.
"This shitty world really isn't picky about what it eats."
Another noise came from behind him, and Chen Mo turned to look.
The man in the baseball cap shut his eyes and played dead with lightning speed, his movements as practiced as if he'd received professional training.
Chen Mo was amused.
"Quit pretending, man. You've already pissed yourself."
The man in the baseball cap stiffened all over and opened his eyes, his face scrunched up like a bitter melon.
"Bro, no, boss! I didn't see anything! I got a concussion just now! I swear I can't even remember my own mother's name!!!"
Chen Mo walked over, avoided the suspicious liquid, and stood in front of him.
"Good. Then I'll let you go after I ask you a few simple questions."
The man in the baseball cap nodded frantically.
"Ask away! I'll cooperate, I swear!!!"
Chen Mo held up one finger.
"Have you ever done even one good deed?"
The man in the baseball cap swallowed, a little bewildered.
"W-what?"
Chen Mo smiled gently and drove a blade into his body.
The man in the baseball cap left this world in an instant.
There were new discoveries in the memories he gained from devouring the two men.
More than one batch of goods would be at the Gray Whale Parking Lot tonight, and several black-market buyers would be there too. Among them were people who specifically bought failed test subjects. Some of those failures would be sold to underground fighting arenas, some would be cut up into samples, and some would be sent back to certain private laboratories.
Marlow's test subjects were people who had survived the drug injections but weren't normal afterward.
Some had rotting skin, some were strong, and some could spit acid, but their brains were all ruined.
Marlow usually kept them in cages, letting them out to bite anyone who disobeyed.
Chen Mo looked through the memories and fell silent for a second.
Good grief.
Was this a version of Pokémon in The Boys?
Except instead of throwing Poké Balls, this guy used iron cages.
He turned and headed for the back door.
When he reached it, he suddenly stopped.
In a corner of the warehouse, half a document envelope protruded from an overturned box.
A printed label was stuck to the envelope.
Gray Whale Parking Lot.
Zone B.
Midnight.
Cargo designation: defective experimental subject batch.
Chen Mo pulled the envelope out, opened it, and glanced through it.
Inside were several photographs.
The photographs showed different people.
There were men and women, as well as youngsters who looked to be only in their teens.
Each photograph had a note beside it.
Compatibility failure.
Genetic collapse.
Emotional instability.
Recoverable.
The last photograph showed a small, skinny girl locked in an iron cage.
Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were vacant and lifeless.
There was only one line of text.
Abnormal drug fusion subject, possibly stable.
The smile on Chen Mo's face gradually turned cold.
"Is there an Epstein here too?"
The Blacklight Virus inside him fell quiet for a moment.
As if it, too, had picked up a stronger scent.
It wasn't just Compound V.
There was also more active biological information.
And genetic templates of greater value.
Chen Mo rolled up the document envelope and tucked it inside his clothes.
Outside the warehouse, night had fully fallen.
The distant city was still ablaze with lights, and Vought's advertising screens played on repeat atop the skyscrapers.
Homelander spread his arms, wearing his signature smile.
The caption at the bottom of the screen glowed brightly.
We protect every child.
Chen Mo glanced up, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"You've done a great job protecting them. Protected them all the way into cages."
Midnight hadn't arrived yet.
The Gray Whale Parking Lot was waiting for him.
Marlow was waiting for him.
That batch of Compound V was waiting for him too.
Chen Mo flexed his wrist, and black-and-red markings flashed beneath his cuff before vanishing.
"Even a failed product has a price?"
He stepped into the alley, his voice so quiet that only he could hear it.
"Then let's see how much you people who think you're above everyone else are worth."