A boundless fury surged within her, but reason still lingered. As soon as Su Muqiong thought about using her hyperspace powers to escape, a violent pain stabbed through her brain, forcing a muffled groan from her lips as she collapsed weakly onto the bed.
"I suggest you don't do anything rash. After all, while you were unconscious, I injected you with a cocktail of drugs tailored just for you." Adam Zade sat beside the hospital bed, slicing an apple with careful strokes. "It's simple, really. According to my research, using hyperspace powers always triggers an information shock. Even if you're used to it, even if your clearance is high, you can't skip that step. So I just targeted the brain regions that process that information, and now I've cut off your ability to use hyperspace at the source. Of course, the drug isn’t perfect. But it'll be at least four hours before you can use hyperspace again."
Adam Zade looked different now. He was no longer the sunny, gentle man from before, nor the manic, twisted figure from later. Now his expression was sinister and deep, all his restless madness settling into a pitch-black shadow in his bones.
His face was pale, and every so often a hint of pain flickered across it. But his hand was steady, and the apple peel came off in one long, thin ribbon. It fluttered down, and soon the apple was perfectly smooth. Adam Zade lifted it, inspected it from all sides, then set it down on Su Muqiong’s bedside table.
"To keep you from doing anything foolish, I need to explain things to you in these four hours." Adam Zade’s voice was as cold as bedrock in frozen earth. "I know you don’t want to talk, so I won’t wait for your response. Time is short, so here’s the first thing: don’t even think about using hyperspace against me."
"See this little button in my hand? Want to guess what it does? Want to guess how it works?" He waved something the size of a car key in front of Su Muqiong’s eyes. "I’ve reclaimed my divinity. You try anything, and I’ll make sure you can’t live or die."
His icy words fell on deaf ears. Su Muqiong was like a puppet, unmoved, her eyes showing not the slightest reaction.
Adam Zade casually withdrew the remote. "I know your type. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe you’d rather break than bend. But you’re not just responsible for your own life anymore."
Su Muqiong’s gaze flickered. Remembering what happened before she lost consciousness, a wave of panic suddenly rose in her heart.
"You might have guessed it already. Yes, the second thing I need to tell you is: you’re pregnant—with my child."
Su Muqiong gripped the pure white bedsheet so tightly her knuckles turned white, every muscle in her body rigid with tension.
"I lured you here, blocked your senses with divine shielding, drugged you into unconsciousness—all just to get you pregnant with my child." Zade spoke of the cruelest things in a voice as cold and calm as if it had nothing to do with him. "Of course I know you hate me, you probably wish you could kill me, but let me remind you: the child is innocent. Hate me all you want, but don’t take it out on our child."
Su Muqiong clenched her teeth so hard they squeaked. At this moment, Zade’s words were so shameless, so far beyond description, she couldn’t find any words for it—couldn’t even express how she felt.
"I know you love life. You’d never take your hatred for me out on the child. After all, he’s your child too. He’s three months along, a boy, very cute, developing nicely. If you touch your belly, you might even feel him kick. I’ve named him Jonathan. Someone as life-loving as you wouldn’t want him to be miscarried. Oh, speaking of Jonathan, that brings me to the third thing."
Zade folded his hands, elbows on his knees, chin resting on his knuckles, his face utterly expressionless. "Jonathan has been injected with the Superhuman Serum. According to my useless subordinates’ predictions, he should be born safely, but unfortunately he’ll only live about three months in endless pain. Genetic Collapse—you’ve done enough animal trials to know better than I do."
Su Muqiong couldn’t help but roll her eyes toward Zade at the bedside. She stared at him, deathly still, wanting to know just how insane a person had to be to do something like this, to say these things.
"As Jonathan’s mother, I’m sure you want to save him. In fact, you’re the only person in the world who can. Of course, trying to research the Superhuman Key out of thin air is a tall order. But you’re so kind, you’d never harm another life just to save your own child. Heroes have too many rules—so I thoughtfully prepared research material for you."
Adam Zade raised his hand, and through a ripple in space, images were projected via hyperspace.
It was a vast field of bio-culture tanks, each filled with pale green liquid. Chunks of living tissue, large and small, floated inside, growing slowly with the help of artificial placentas.
Su Muqiong’s pupils contracted. She recognized those biological masses instantly.
"With your expertise, of course you’ve recognized them. But I’ll explain anyway, since this is my fourth point." Zade pointed at the tanks. "There are exactly 104,652 human embryos. The egg cells come from women of every race, region, and age group worldwide, to maximize sampling. All the sperm is mine, to match Jonathan. They’re split into three groups based on various factors—the oldest batch is five months, the youngest just a few days older than Jonathan."
"Every embryo has been treated with the Superhuman Serum."
"No doubt, they’re all doomed now. Sure, you can hate them. As my 'spawn,' these Zade Scions are yours to deal with as you wish. But I don’t recommend pointless destruction—they’re actually quite useful."
"I’ve numbered and sorted them as logically as possible. Every conceivable combination is represented. These embryos will be Jonathan’s lanterns, his cannon fodder. They’ll clear every dead end, search through 104,000 possible paths for one that leads to survival. So, your next job is to find that path—to cure Genetic Collapse."