Chapter 202: Disaster and Opportunity

A black, unmarked special aircraft, cutting through the clouds at a speed beyond normal, landed on the secret helipad deep within the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters.

Jiang Yuan stepped down the gangway.

What greeted him was not flowers and applause, but a team of researchers clad in full white protective suits, holding unknown devices.

Without much word, he was taken directly to the isolation observation room at the deepest underground.

The alloy walls were cold, the shadowless lights shone as bright as day, and the air was filled with a distinctive scent of disinfectant mixed with metal.

Jiang Yuan cooperated fully.

He quietly shed the tattered Patient Gown on his body, lay on the cold testing platform, and let the robotic arms with probes and sensors wander over him.

He knew that he could no longer be considered a purely human being now.

What coursed through his body was the cold, Shadow Ghost dark energy. Driving this husk was his unyielding will.

He must prove to the organization that his heart remains Jiang Yuan's heart.

He lay like that, his gaze calmly fixed on the bleak white light above, while his mind involuntarily conjured images of Chicago's scorched earth and the scene of him raising his hand to summon an endless Shadow army.

That power was so mighty it sent chills down the spine.

It was also so dangerous...... that even he felt fear.

Inside the observation room separated by a wall.

Smoke swirled.

Wang Zhangzhi stared intently at the massive one-way glass before him, watching the familiar figure lying on the testing platform, his hand clutching a cigarette trembling uncontrollably.

From the moment he received Jiang Yuan's report from the North American Front, his brain had been in a constant crash state.

He survived.

The kid he had thought was certain to die, even prompting Wei Gong to issue a First Class Merit retroactive order, actually crawled back from that hell.

"Huh......"

Wang Zhangzhi exhaled a long plume of smoke, trying to numb his nearly snapping nerve with nicotine.

"Back then in Chicago, I once said offhand,"

A steady voice sounded beside him.

Wei Gong stood with his hands behind his back, also gazing at Jiang Yuan on the other side of the glass, his seemingly cloudy old eyes flashing with an almost sharp brilliance.

"I said, unless he can transform into a terror beyond A Ji, becoming a 'Walking Catastrophe,' there is no chance of survival."

Wei Gong paused, his tone carrying an indescribable complexity.

"Did not expect a single word to become a prophecy."

"The Jiang Yuan of today probably already possesses...... a power infinitely close to S Ji."

Infinitely close to S Ji!

Those words made Wang Zhangzhi's heart miss a beat.

He knew what S Ji meant.

It is a World-Destruction Level entity capable of overturning an entire megacity single-handedly, even threatening the very foundation of the Federation!

Yet as he looked at the young man on the other side of the glass, whose eyes remained clear, he could not associate him with the words 'Catastrophe.'

"He... he is still Jiang Yuan," Wang Zhangzhi's voice sounded hoarse, "As long as he still sees himself as an Investigation Bureau agent, as long as he still stands on our side, that is enough."

Wei Gong offered no rebuttal, merely nodding.

Indeed, that is enough.

A Quasi‑S combat power that stands on humanity's side—what a crucial bargaining chip!

At that moment, the observation room door was violently thrown open.

A researcher with disheveled hair, heavy black-rimmed glasses, and a Doctor's Lab Coat rushed in like a whirlwind.

He waved a stack of freshly printed, still-warm testing reports, his face flushed with an almost manic redness!

"Miracle! Wei Gong! Wang Dui! This is a miracle!"

The researcher lunged before the two, his voice cracking from overexcitement.

"You can't possibly imagine! What we discovered!"

He slammed the report onto the console, pointing at a series of spine‑tingling data, speaking at a rapid, gunfire‑like pace.

"From a physiological standpoint, Jiang Yuan is already dead!"

"What?!" Wang Zhangzhi sprang to his feet.

"Don't get worked up! Wang Dui! Hear me out!" The researcher adjusted his glasses, his eyes beneath the lenses burning with fervent flames.

"His cerebral cortex's bio‑electric activity is as weak as that of a vegetative patient! Even his cells have lost vitality! By any medical standard, he is infinitely close to a corpse!"

"But! There is an incomprehensible, immensely powerful energy forcibly driving his heart's beat, compelling his brain to function! This energy even stimulates his entire body's cells to undergo ultra‑fast metabolism!"

The researcher pointed to a three‑dimensional model on the screen.

"Look here! His old cells are undergoing apoptosis, while the newly formed cells... are completely healthy! With sufficient energy and material supply, in at most half a month, he will be transformed inside out into a 'brand‑new' healthy person!"

"This is mastery! Using pure human will to command that otherworldly Weird power, and through that power, to command one's own body!"

"We... we may have glimpsed a brand‑new direction for human evolution!"

The researcher's howl echoed through the quiet observation room.

Wang Zhangzhi staggered back two steps, his face a mix of utter shock and bewilderment.

Dead... yet alive.

With human will, he harnesses the Weird power, driving his dead body.

What exactly... is this?

Wei Gong remained unusually calm, merely picking up the report and reading it word for word.

For a long while.

He raised his head, his gaze again turned toward Jiang Yuan on the other side of the glass.

"With a mortal body, shoulder to shoulder with the Weird......" he whispered, "Well done, Jiang Yuan."

At that moment, another staff member hurried over, and respectfully handed a neatly bound File to Lord Wei.

"Lord Wei, this is the report submitted by Agent Jiang Yuan, covering the entire process of the 'Saint John Hospital' incident."

Lord Wei took the File and opened to the first page.

Jiang Yuan's handwriting was very neat, bearing the clean, decisive style typical of a soldier.

He recorded without reservation all his experiences in Saint John Hospital, including the Weird "Staff Rules", the rules of identity transformation, the Candle‑lighting ceremony, and the existence of the Infiltrator.

Lord Wei read it very carefully.

The observation room fell into a prolonged silence, leaving only the rustle of his turning pages.

Wang Zhangzhi and the mad scientist both held their breath subconsciously, daring not to disturb.

Finally, Lord Wei closed the report.

No emotion could be read on his face.

But Wang Zhangzhi keenly sensed that the old man's gaze had changed.

It was no longer a simple scrutiny and assessment.

It was a...... scorching feeling of discovering a new continent, mingled with ambition and a grand blueprint!

Lord Wei looked at Jiang Yuan through the glass and, in a voice only he could hear, began to speak slowly.

"Using rules as traps, using humanity as a filter......"

"So that's how it is."

He placed the two reports in his hands side by side on the desk: one was Jiang Yuan's "Autopsy Report", the other was the "Saint John Hospital" rules report.

One represented the ultimate of individual power.

The other represented the mechanism of collective selection.

A meaningfully curved smile slowly tugged at Lord Wei's mouth corner.

"Though it is a disaster......"

"It is also...... an opportunity."