Chapter 8: A New Discovery
By the time Valen returned to the estate, it was already late.
Kyle only exchanged a few words with him before heading off to bed. After all, he was still a fifteen-year-old kid—he needed proper sleep.
The night passed quickly.
Even though he hadn't rested well due to the bloodshed he'd witnessed, Kyle figured one such experience was enough for a lifetime.
"Master, this is the money we collected from last night's operation. I figured you'd need it."
Valen handed over a silver case after helping Kyle into his suit. Inside, a precise count of $500,000 in pure cash.
It was enough to ease Kyle's financial stress, especially with the new company just getting started.
Alice had already filed the registration. With Kyle's monetary push, the company would be official by the end of the day.
But this also meant his already low bank balance had dropped even further—barely scraping seven digits now.
"Not bad. This half a million should be enough to get the first wave of machines into production."
Kyle opened the case, already planning how to use the cash. He could finally kickstart the production line.
His current goal was twofold: make money for lottery draws, and disrupt the main storyline to gather system points.
His biggest hopes right now? Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. He'd already sent people to Sokovia to look for them.
After getting dressed and eating breakfast, Kyle and Valen got into the car and headed for the company.
Today, Kyle planned to ask a few of his uncles for a loan—and more importantly, attend an exclusive social gala in the evening.
It was a high-society event that even Tony Stark would be attending.
Kyle, by comparison, was only a mid-tier attendee—and his family business had been in a losing streak for years.
"Good morning, Boss!"
As Kyle stepped into the office, Alice was already waiting with seven or eight file folders in hand, wearing her signature sharp smile.
Kyle's expression soured immediately. He glanced at Valen and muttered,
"I, uh, have a meeting to attend. You go talk to Valen about... business stuff. I'll catch you later."
And just like that, he took off like a sprinter, vanishing down the hall before anyone could stop him.
Now, with Kyle gone, Alice turned her devilish smile on Valen.
Despite being enhanced by Crystal No.7, even Valen felt a chill run down his spine.
He'd fought in wars his whole life, but when it came to office paperwork?
Totally untrained.
"Alice, I'm... not exactly a young man anymore. Could you maybe let me off, just this once?"
Valen's hair had recently turned from gray to black—he told outsiders it was just hair dye. Still, it made him look younger.
But Alice, the workaholic secretary, clearly wasn't moved.
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the office.
Work came first.
Crystal No.7 Research Lab.
While Alice tormented Valen with paperwork, Kyle had slipped away to the lab—watching researchers do all kinds of strange experiments on white mice.
"Ryan, you sure about making the mouse drink that stuff?"
Kyle raised an eyebrow at the researcher and the small vial of liquefied Crystal No.7 being aimed at the test subject's mouth.
He'd gone through hell to get even a single batch of this material, and now Ryan was about to casually feed it to a rat?
"Boss, this could open new doors."
Ryan, a veteran geneticist, was trying to unlock new applications of Crystal No.7.
So far, everyone assumed implantation was the most effective route. But what if oral ingestion had potential too?
Ryan had been obsessed with this ever since he saw Valen survive his implantation.
"Fine. Do it. But I'm watching."
Kyle didn't fully understand the science, so he decided to trust the expert—for now.
With permission granted, Ryan opened the rat's mouth, used a dropper to administer the liquid crystal, and sealed the test box.
"Now we wait."
Kyle dragged a chair over, arms folded, eyes fixed on the small glass chamber. Until now, every animal exposed to Crystal No.7 had ended up exploding.
Five minutes passed.
The mouse suddenly jolted awake.
Its fur began to darken and harden, giving off a faint metallic sheen.
Its eyes turned blood red. Its claws elongated into razor-sharp talons.
It started ramming into the glass walls.
"What the hell is this?!"
Kyle turned to Ryan, alarmed.
"I... I don't know!"
Ryan was just as baffled. None of the prior tests had produced this outcome. Usually, the subject just exploded minutes after exposure.
But this mouse—this thing—was more beast than animal now.
It cracked the supposedly bulletproof glass with sheer force.
And then—
SPLAT!
The mouse exploded. Blood and guts splattered across the inside of the box.
Kyle stood still, silent.
"Never run this kind of experiment again."
His voice was low. Cold.
His eyes were sharp with warning.
That... was too much. Too effective. Too terrifying.
"Understood, sir. I'll destroy all data from this trial—no one else will know about this."
Ryan wiped sweat from his forehead, still shaken.
Even he hadn't expected the liquefied form of Crystal No.7 to cause that level of mutation.
From now on, the research would stick to the safest known method: implants.
"Good. In a few days, I'll have the first batch of human test subjects ready. Be prepared."
Kyle already had a small unit of a few dozen men working for him—all ex-military personnel that Valen had brought in.
Most were in their 40s or 50s, professionally trained, disciplined, and had strong anti-surveillance capabilities.
Now, their task was to find eligible human candidates for mass implantation trials.
Kyle's goal?
Create more superhumans.
(End of Chapter 8)
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