"You've all worked hard."
As I spoke, The Engineer's jaw moved up and down, laughing continuously.
"Not at all. I wanted you to know what changing your body actually involves. After all, it's not exactly pleasant—you might feel uneasy during the process."
I nodded. The Engineer explained that the entire modification was painstakingly complex—just so my body could withstand his weapons.
Dr. Hawthorne sliced my body open, methodically removing every bone—even my skull. Then he wrapped my organs with substitutes.
"Shit..."
I couldn't help but cry out, looking at my own body. In an instant, a chill ran through me, and I shivered. The feeling made my skin crawl.
Sure enough, I started to feel uncomfortable, staring at the places where my body had split open.
"Is this what’s left after the bones were removed?"
The Engineer nodded and continued speaking.
After Dr. Hawthorne extracted all my bones, he crushed them into powder. He soaked the powder in special medicines for a long time, then began casting molds, infusing them with a surge of ghost energy and Yuna Ji's own power.
Dr. Hawthorne only dared to experiment with a trace of my bone powder, conducting repeated tests to create a small segment of bone and observe its reaction with shadow steel.
He failed again and again. With each setback, Dr. Hawthorne refined his formula, eventually mixing in bones dredged from the depths of the Styx—bones harder than steel. But even then, he hit another wall.
Breaking these bones proved nearly impossible. Too much force would turn them to dust, vanishing without a trace.
In the end, Yuna Ji sought out John Chou, who brought Lord Shenyan. Lord Shenyan used his karmic fire to slowly melt the bones, then broke them down and blended them with my bone powder.
As for my flesh, only the bloody remains were sent with Lance Quinn back to the Nether Syndicate. There, the three clan chiefs devised ways to toughen my skin and implant the most vital item—the Golden Soulstone.
"I'm not made of clay, damn it."
This was the most terrifying thing I'd ever heard—far more horrifying than anything I'd seen or known in this world.
My body really did feel like clay in the hands of these experts, pieced together however they pleased.
"If you want to know why your flesh is so tough, ask Lance Quinn. I have no idea what the Nether Syndicate did to your body."
I remembered just now—my bullet, fueled by resentment, really did pierce my body. Though tough, my skin wasn't quite what I'd imagined, so I asked about it.
"That's right. According to the Nether Syndicate, it's not fully finished yet. When the time comes, we'll have to take the bones out again and send the corpse back to the Nether Syndicate."
I let out a sound of surprise and looked at The Engineer. He got up, walked over to my corpse, and beckoned me closer.
"Come here. I’ll show you something."
I hesitated, but went over anyway. Reluctantly, I helped The Engineer turn my body face up.
Then I heard a steady thumping—heartbeats. It was bizarre. Zombies aren’t supposed to have a heartbeat.
"You were going to see this sooner or later, Ethan."
I gave a quiet response, then suddenly saw The Engineer pull down the pants covering my lower body.
"What are you doing?"
Before I could finish, I stared in shock. There was something like a wrench embedded in my corpse, retracted deep inside. It looked odd. The Engineer produced a key, inserted it into my body, and twisted. The wrench-like thing—something vital—extended outward.
"Go ahead, Ethan. Give it a pull."
Suddenly, I realized—the modifications weren't just technical. My naked body had been altered in full view of everyone. I felt deeply embarrassed.
Inside, I was torn apart. I couldn’t come to terms with any of this.
"Why couldn’t you do this somewhere else? I mean..."
"Ethan, it’s a practical matter. You’re already dead. These parts are useless, just leftovers. I was going to modify them directly, but Yuna Ji worried you’d be furious when you saw it, so I let it go."
I couldn’t argue. I turned away, gripped the device, and moved it as The Engineer instructed. With a creak, I saw my insides begin to writhe.
Then The Engineer reached into my abdomen, tore it open with a ripping sound. I was speechless with shock as he pulled upward, like zipping open a bag.
I screamed. My guts, organs, and heart were all still there, held in place by something transparent. But the black-green bones were compressed into a tight bundle, each one pressed close. I even saw my skull, wrapped in bone.
"This makes things easier—we can separate flesh and bone anytime. Building this took us months."
The Engineer explained: just twist the device beneath me, and my bones would fold up like origami, curling beside my heart. Then he simply lifted my bones out.
I held my bones in my hands, surprised by how light they were—far lighter than I’d imagined, only around six or seven kilograms.
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"The total weight is 7.89245872 kilograms."
The Engineer explained beside me. I stared at him—did all those decimals really matter?
"After long-term calculations, this mass of bone combined with your flesh achieves optimal flexibility and compatibility—83 percent, to be exact."
I looked at The Engineer in shock. He told me that, to rebuild bones compatible with my flesh, Dr. Hawthorne made thousands of bone molds, injecting melted bone powder and running countless tests until the fit was perfect.
Because my bones were mixed with the toughest ones from Netherhell, my frame grew larger. That’s why I went from barely 1.7 meters to nearly 2 meters tall. Dr. Hawthorne said my corpse now stood at 1.97 meters.
I swallowed hard. That explained why the open wounds hadn’t been stitched up. Dr. Hawthorne placed my bones back beside my heart, securing them with a black bracket. He pulled my belly skin together, sealing it so well you couldn’t even see the zipper.
"Alright, twist it."
I responded and twisted the device. My insides began to writhe and creak, and soon I was restored to normal.
"This is even more intense than plastic surgery."
I forced a bitter smile. The Engineer burst out laughing.
"Dr. Hawthorne may have a temper, but he’s as meticulous as I am. We argued for ages about your height and flexibility before settling on this. He still wants to reinforce your bones further."
I sighed, torn between laughter and tears. It felt like my body had fallen into the hands of mad scientists, endlessly modified—a scene out of a sci-fi film.
In the end, what puzzled me was why these weapons were so powerful.
"It’s the air, Ethan. These tiny holes draw in the surrounding air, compressing it inside and channeling all that kinetic energy into your gauntlets."
I nodded, not really understanding, but impressed all the same.
"You don’t need to know the theory or specifics, Ethan. This isn’t finished yet. There are more weapons to be installed in your corpse soon."
I gaped, muttering under my breath.
"Soon I’ll be a full-on robot."
I forced another bitter smile as The Engineer settled in to rest.
We set off climbing again. After hours of travel, I found all this horror strangely fascinating. Somehow, I no longer felt any resistance to my transformation—instead, I was eager to see what I’d become once it was complete.
I walked over to my corpse and stared at myself.
"Are you like me? Hoping to destroy the Immortality Society? Sorry for putting you through all this—what I, Ethan Zhang, should have borne."
Suddenly, with a creak, my corpse’s eyes snapped open. I jumped. Its mechanical eyes stared at me. Then, with another creak, my corpse raised its hand, as if to shake mine. It buzzed, then stopped, returning to normal.
I placed both hands on my gauntlets, quietly feeling their power, gazing out at the distant imperial city.
In the distance, I saw a city of white bone shaped like a massive throne. At the top, five bone dragons of wildly different forms; below, nine beasts, each one unique.
From afar, it looked just like a throne. But reaching it would take days. We entered the mountain road again, and I found myself impatient to meet Yuna Ji, Lance Quinn, and the legendary Dr. Hawthorne.