<h4>Chapter 1416: Chapter 1724: Risking Himself (1)</h4>


    Another masked elder again... Ling Chen slightly furrowed his brow; if he was not mistaken, the masked elder was probably the one who ambushed him this afternoon.


    Chen Quan? Thinking it over, only Chen Quan seemed to fit the bill. He currently had three main enemies: Su Cheng’en, Su He, and Zhu Hong. Zhu Hong and Chen Quan had a master-disciple rtionship; Chen Quan’s ambush was surely under Zhu Hong’s orders.


    A while ago, during the siege of the Skyhawk Pavilion headquarters, Zhu Hong fled with one of Ling Gengqiu’s severed limbs, and there has been no news since. Now that Chen Quan has appeared, it indicates Zhu Hong is definitely nearby. The most dangerous ce is the safest ce; thinking this, Ling Chen’s lips curled slightly — Zhu Hong had a clever n, no wonder his whereabouts were unknown for so long, he had been hiding under their noses all along.


    Zhu Hong possessed one of Ling Gengqiu’s severed limbs; he likely sent people to steal those drugs toplete the experiment.


    After figuring this out, Ling Chen immediately called Hu Fei, asking him to mobilize personnel to search the entire East Sea City to see if they could find Zhu Hong’s whereabouts.


    At this moment, inside a warehouse located in the Old City.


    Researchers in whiteb coats gathered together, faces full of disappointment. After painstakingly carrying the experiment to this point, theycked sufficient agents to supplement, forcing the experiment to end in failure. As researchers, having spent so much energy and time, they felt deeply saddened by this oue.


    At this time, Zhu Hong walked over apanied by Chen Quan. The crowd’s attention was immediately drawn to Chen Quan’s arm. His right arm was wrapped in thick bandages, even covering his hand.


    "What are you all standing here for?" Zhu Hong coldly eyed the group of researchers and asked.


    A middle-aged man stepped forward and said, "Mr. Zhu, without sufficient agent, we have no choice but to stop the experiment."


    "Who said that?" Zhu Hong said coldly, "I haven’t given the order; who allowed you to stop the experiment?"


    "Mr. Zhu, besides stopping the experiment, we have no other option. If we enforce continuing the experiment, all the test subjects will merely die in vain; I don’t think we should waste these subjects."


    Upon hearing this, Zhu Hong strode to the ss chamber on the warehouse’s left side. To ensure the experiment proceeded smoothly, he specifically constructed a sterile ss chamber in the warehouse. At this moment, two iron beds were ced inside the chamber with two young men in their twenties lying on them, respectively connected to over a dozen intravenous conduits. Zhu Hong stood outside the ss chamber quietly for a moment, then turned back and asked, "How much of our agent do we have left?"


    "Very little in stock, not even enough for one person," the middle-aged man replied.


    Zhu Hong said in a deep voice, "I have invested too much in this experiment; no matter what, we can’t stop it, and it must go on."


    "But..."


    "No buts," Zhu Hong interrupted before the middle-aged man could finish his sentence and barked in anger, "go, bring out both test subjects."


    Although puzzled, the middle-aged man obediently followed orders. Soon, both young men were transferred out of the ss chamber. Meanwhile, Zhu Hong removed his upper garments and directly walked into the ss chamber. Seeing Zhu Hong’s actions, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but be shocked and asked, "Mr. Zhu, what are you doing?"


    "I’ll be the test subject."


    "That’s not feasible," the middle-aged man hastily said, "Mr. Zhu, the risk is too great; a slight oversight could be life-threatening..."


    Zhu Hong waved him off, halting his words, and said, "I know the risks. Since there aren’t enough agents, I will step up myself. My body has been enhanced before; it is three to four times that of a normal person. Even without sedatives and painkillers, I can endure it." He paused for a moment and, seeing the middle-aged man wanted to speak, impatiently urged, "Quit the chatter, hurry and get me ready."


    The middle-aged man dared not defy Zhu Hong’s orders; he immediately assembled personnel into the ss chamber, attaching intravenous conduits onto Zhu Hong.


    Watching Zhu Hong lying quietly on the bed, Chen Quan, standing outside the ss chamber, asked, "Have you really thought this through?"


    "It’s my only way forward; only by seeding will I have a chance to contend against Ling Chen. Otherwise, what’s the point of living? Master, if anything happens to me, please help ensure my ashes are sent to my family. Also, tell my parents their son was unfilial; I will repay them in the next life."


    Chen Quan nodded and said, "I understand."


    Soon, preparations for the experiment werepleted. When all researchers exited the ss chamber, the middle-aged man responsible for conducting the experiment approached a machine, flipping several switches. After repeated confirmations, he picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "Mr. Zhu, if there are no other issues, I’ll begin."


    After speaking, the middle-aged man turned to his colleagues and said, "Everyone, get ready for the first stage."


    As the middle-aged man’s words fell, red liquid gradually appeared in the intravenous conduits attached to Zhu Hong, injecting into his body. Meanwhile, fresh red liquid flowed from another conduit out of his body.


    This was the first step of the experiment: blood exchange!


    After multiple experiments andbined with Skyhawk Pavilion’s research data, Zhu Hong finally discovered the key element, which was the blood. However, the blood in the severed limb had already solidified. To rece the blood in his body, Zhu Hong used artificial blood. Time flowed second by second; after about half an hour, Zhu Hong’s blood was mostly exchanged. After the blood exchange wasplete, Zhu Hong fell into a seeminglyatose state, lying motionless with his eyes closed.


    If not for the monitoring equipment detecting his heartbeat, his appearance would be like that of a dead man.


    "Proceed to the second stage, injection of cell enhancer," the middle-aged man ordered.


    Instantly, a light purple agent appeared in the intravenous conduits, injected entirely into Zhu Hong’s body. Immediately, his body seemed struck by lightning, violently trembling, and blood trickled out of his nostrils.


    Witnessing this, Chen Quan’s expression changed and he said in a deep voice, "What’s going on?"


    The middle-aged man frowned, looking worried, and said, "His blood and body haven’t fully fused yet. The cell enhancer caused a rejection response upon injection."


    "What will be the oue?"


    "Hard to say; if he can’t endure it, his life could be in jeopardy."