The sea breeze blowing across the beach at the edge of the island carried a faint smell of blood.
Chen Mo sat cross-legged on the reef, the last bit of black and red tentacles in his palm slowly retracting.
A serial killer who had just injected himself with Temp V Compound had been reduced to ashes by his own actions, and his dead bodies were scattered everywhere.
Not far away, hundreds of death row inmates huddled together, trembling.
They originally thought they were sent here to participate in some kind of redemption reality show. Some even started planning before arriving on the island that after the show aired, they would use the "prodigal son returns" persona to get advertising deals, publish books, do live streams, and then repackage their disgusting past as stress caused by childhood trauma.
But there are no shows or film crews here.
There was no atonement.
Only Chen Mo.
"Next."
Chen Mo raised his finger and casually hooked it.
From the crowd, a tall, thin man was pulled out by telekinesis, leaving a deep trail in the sand as he was dragged along.
He had just been dragged in front of Chen Mo when he suddenly knelt down and pressed his face against Chen Mo's shoes.
"Sir, please have mercy! I'm willing to be your slave! I have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a six-year-old daughter to raise! Sir!"
Chen Mo looked down at him.
The man cried so hard his face was covered in tears and snot, repeatedly promising that he would definitely change his ways in the future.
A faint dark red tinge appeared in Chen Mo's eyes.
With his newly acquired Mind Reading ability, he scanned the area with his gaze, and images flooded his mind.
Basement, blood, cries.
A young couple knelt on the ground, begging for mercy while holding their child. The girl clung to her mother's arm, her voice broken and fragmented.
Chen Mo lowered his head, revealing a sinister grin.
"When you killed that family of three in the basement, didn't they beg you for help?"
The tall, thin man froze.
Chen Mo looked at him, her tone quite calm.
Why did you kill them?
The man's crying stopped abruptly.
He raised his head, and his eyes flickered.
"Grandpa, I, I was like that back then..."
"Shh, don't explain. I hate explanations after the fact."
As soon as he finished speaking, the black and red tentacles on Chen Mo's palm instantly burrowed into his skull.
The next second, the head exploded like a twisted watermelon, and was swallowed up completely as the tentacles tightened.
A suppressed scream erupted from the crowd, and some people even vomited an unidentified liquid on the spot.
Several people began to kneel down and kowtow.
"Please! Let me go! I have money! I can give you all my money!"
"I confess, I really confess! My crime doesn't deserve death!"
"Please let me go back, I promise I'll be a good person from now on!"
Chen Mo shook his hand.
"Your screams are truly melodious. To be honest, you lot are really something else. When you're killing, you're all incredibly ruthless and cruel, but when it comes to yourselves, how come you all suddenly become victims?"
Just then, from the corner, a boy who looked only fourteen or fifteen years old suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You can't kill me! I'm protected by the Law on the Protection of Minors!"
Chen Mo looked at him.
The boy shrank back, but still stubbornly shouted, "You can't kill me! I'm not an adult yet!"
Chen Mo smiled.
"OK."
The little brat's eyes suddenly lit up.
Chen Mo stood up and walked up to him.
I won't kill you.
A snap.
The boy's body flew sideways into the crowd, crashing heavily onto several criminals.
He lay on the ground, his spine shattered, only muffled screams escaping his lips.
The crowd immediately scrambled to the side, leaving him wailing in the center.
Chen Mo looked at those trembling scumbags and raised his chin.
"Listen up, you scumbags! If you kill him, I'll let you live a few more days."
The beach was silent for a second.
Then, the way the group of people looked at the boy changed.
They dared not touch Chen Mo.
But when faced with a crippled brat, they suddenly become bold.
Soon, chaos erupted over there, with cries and curses mingling together, making one's ears ring.
Chen Mo sat back down on the rock, picked up a Temp V Compound injection from the side, and flicked the syringe.
"Next lucky audience member, come on, don't be shy."
This meticulous selection process lasted a full week.
Edgar's supply of goods is very stable.
Despicable criminals from all over the world are sent to this island in batches. Some awaken flames after being injected with Temp V, some grow bone spurs, some can become invisible for a short time, and some just twitch on the spot before turning into a bizarre mass.
However, Chen Mo wasn't picky.
They're all scum. They want to eat the successful ones and the failures too. Killing them is doing a good deed.
Furthermore, expanding one's capabilities and response capabilities is always useful.
On the evening of the seventh day, Chen Mo dragged a fraudster in front of him.
This guy used a senior care scam to bankrupt dozens of elderly people, several of whom eventually committed suicide by jumping off buildings.
After being injected with Temp V, he surprisingly awakened the ability to conjure coins.
Chen Mo stared at the coins jingling off his body and remained silent for two seconds.
"Your ability is quite fitting for the occasion."
The scammer was crying and trying to run away.
Chen Mo reached out and grabbed, and the tentacles swallowed the person whole.
After the absorption was complete, he was just about to comment on how useless the ability was when suddenly his forehead buzzed.
In his vision, the island before him began to become transparent, and the sky and the sea were pierced by some invisible lines. Those lines extended outward, through the sky, through the invisible darkness, and connected to one fruit after another hanging in the void.
The world he saw was no longer a concept, but became a series of entities, hanging like grapes in the darkness.
They are connected to each other, yet also separated from each other.
Some were bright, some were murky, some were so huge that their edges were invisible, and some were so fragile that they would shatter at the slightest touch.
Chen Mo remained seated, a dark red light flashing in his eyes.
He reached out his fingertip and touched one of them.
In that instant, the scent of some unfamiliar world in the distance traveled back through my senses—rough, vast, and carrying the flavor of the unknown.
Chen Mo was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
"Phew, finally done."
He looked at the remaining people on the beach.
The death row inmates also stared at him. No one knew what had just happened; they could only instinctively wonder if this monster's mood had suddenly improved.
Some people thought their chance had come and hurriedly called out, "Sir, are you satisfied now? Can we leave?"
Chen Mo stood up and patted the sand off his pants.
"Yes, I'm in a good mood today."
A glimmer of survival instinct immediately appeared in some people's eyes.
Chen Mo grinned.
"I'll give you a quick death."
The next second, the entire island was submerged by black and red tentacles.
The screams had barely begun when they were drowned out by the sound of flesh being torn apart. Tentacles burst forth like a torrential rain from the sand, rocks, and seawater, engulfing, piercing, and devouring the criminals one by one.
Just a few seconds.
Hundreds of scumbags, not even skin and bones were left.
Chen Mo sat back down and closed his eyes.
A drop of dark red blood fell from his fingertip, wriggling and stretching on the sand, forming a clone exactly like him.
"Go scout ahead."
The clone looked up, gave him an OK sign, and then vanished in a flash.
When the light came on, Chen Mo saw the starry sky.
A true starry sky.
The moment the clone opened its eyes, it found itself floating in outer space.
There was nothing around except for tiny, unreachable stars and an incredibly cold vacuum.
"You're offering a perfect biological gift pack as a welcome bonus, right?"
Chen Mo severed his senses and then launched a second clone.
This time, the clone crashed into a vast ocean the moment it crossed over.
It was surrounded by water on all sides.
The clone burst out of the sea and flew into the sky. Looking into the distance, all that could be seen was water.
The clone flew at full speed for another ten minutes or so, still in water.
Chen Mo's lips twitched.
Is this planet for taking baths?
The third clone was thrown out, and this time things finally returned to normal.
He landed in a humid jungle, where tall ferns blocked out the sky, and heavy footsteps echoed in the distance. Several small dinosaurs darted out of the bushes, and then a Tyrannosaurus Rex of enormous size slowly lowered its head to look at the stranger who had suddenly appeared.
The clone stared at it for two seconds.
"Um, hello?"
The Tyrannosaurus Rex roared with its mouth open.
Chen Mo nodded in satisfaction.
"That's great! A Jurassic theme park!"
The next morning, in the top-floor office of the Vought Tower.
Edgar and Ashley entered as usual, ready to report on the progress of their recent operations.
As soon as the door opened, she was about to give her report when she saw a lively velociraptor sitting at the desk.
Its two little paws were resting on the keyboard, its tail dangling from behind the chair, and its head was intently staring at the screen.
Ashley's mouth slowly opened wide.
"What, what is this?"
The velociraptor raised its head and glanced at her.
"Awooo?!"
Ashley's eyes rolled back, and with a creak, she collapsed to the ground.
Edgar paused for half a second, then calmly gave a slight bow.
Good morning, sir. Your new look is very intimidating, but I suggest you don't use it in public for now.
The velociraptor grinned.
The next second, black and red flesh surged, and Chen Mo transformed from dinosaur form back into human form, lazily leaning back in his chair.
" Old Ai, your ability to accept things is really a bit outrageous."
Edgar walked into the office and placed the documents on the table.
"Sir, compared to the power you've displayed over the past week, a dinosaur that can use a keyboard is nothing to surprise me."
Chen Mo chuckled.
"That's true, it's just a dinosaur."
Edgar looked at him, his tone still calm.
"Congratulations, sir. It seems you have attained the power to transcend this world."
Chen Mo turned his chair around and looked out the window.
The New York sun shines on the glass; the city remains bustling.
"Talking about transcending the world is premature."
Chen Mo raised his hand, and the dark red flesh at his fingertips twitched slightly.
"I haven't seen anything useful yet; the best thing is that we can eat as much as we want at the buffet."
He paused here, his smile now showing a hint of anticipation.
"But it's not a big problem, the gacha pool is already open anyway."