Squish!


    Grandmaster Shi''s face contorted with disbelief, then twisted in agony.


    "!"


    A pained groan escaped his lips, growing louder and more desperate, "It hurts... it burns!"


    The pain was evidently more intense than when Luna had originally plucked his eye out.


    Squish!


    Blood began to seep from the socket, dark and thick.


    Unperturbed, Mary wiped the blood away with a tender, almost affectionate stroke of her hand, herughter ringing out as she enjoyed it with a smile.


    "STOP THIS! STOP THIS!"


    THUD!


    Overwhelmed by pain, Grandmaster Shi copsed to his knees, his groans mingling with hisbored breaths.


    "Arghhhh!"


    As his vision slowly cleared, the pain induced tears to mix with blood, streaming down his cheeks, prompting looks of disgust and concern from the onlookers.


    In the midst of the chaos, Mary''sughter subsided into a serene smile.


    She surveyed the room, her red eyes gleaming with a hint of satisfaction. "It''s been a long time since we''ve had such distinguished guests," she said, her voice echoing slightly in the expansive hall. "I hope you find our facilities... enlightening."


    _______


    Ten minutester!


    The monk, as if touched by some arcane magic, regained hisposure and even bowed in respect to Mary for restoring his eye.


    He maintained a respectful distance, however, as they all spread out to explore the depths of the facility.


    Their freedom to roam was unrestricted; no one stopped them from viewing any part of the vast undergroundplex, and the workers seemed indifferent to their presence.


    The four guards who had initially escorted them had retreated upstairs, leaving the area filled with researchers bustling back and forth.


    The atmosphere felt suspended in time—slightly dystopian, with technology that, upon first nce, appeared to be relics from decades past.


    Mary had slipped away to an adjoining room, leaving behind abyrinth of automatic steel doors that made the facility feel like a maze.


    The area where they now stood seemed to be the nerve center of it all.


    Luna and Wang Xiao stood near the cylindrical ss structure, drawn by curiosity and a sense of... Apprehension.


    Wang Xiao, in particr, was eager to peer into what was ominously dubbed the tunnel to hell, his eyes scanning the mysterious setup, trying to decipher the secrets it held.


    Peering through the ss, Wang Xiao discovered that it enclosed a pathway that descended steeply, the walls rough and unpolished like those of a natural cave.


    As the path narrowed dramatically, he could see a faint, mystical-looking mist at the far end—a shimmering, multicolored haze that suggested a tear in the very fabric of space itself.


    It appeared as though a portal to another dimension had been violently carved through space and time, a rainbow-hued breach that glowed with both wonder and danger.


    However, an anomaly caught his attention: there seemed to be no direct way to enter this pathway.


    His gaze lifted to the ceiling of the cylindrical structure, and he noticed aplex mechanical system designed to open the ceiling itself.


    Luna, following his gaze and confirming his suspicions, nodded grimly. "They open the ceiling and simply drop the subjects down like a stream. It''s the most effective way to send thousands of experiments at once. They don''t even need toe down here; the subjects can be directly transported from arge pipe stationed above, outside the facility."


    Her words, especially the detached way she referred to ''experiments,'' sent a chill through the air, making Wang Xiao''s eyes narrow in surprise. "So they just drop them to their death...?" he asked.


    Luna responded with a subtle nod, "Pretty much."


    "..."


    Wang Xiao was left speechless, the casualness of the information silencing him.


    As he observed the facility, everyone working seemed devoid of emotion, until Yin Yue provided a chilling rification—that the majority here were indeed Deviants.


    This exined their lifeless, almost robotic demeanor.


    Yet, all were under Mary''smand.


    "Mary has been running this ce from its inception. She''s also a founding member of Project Transcendence," Luna added, her voice tinged with a mixture of respect and wariness. "She was the daughter of the scientist Hanna, who first discovered this ce."


    Wang Xiao, realizing the implications, asked, "And that scientist—she threw her own daughter into this... tunnel?"


    Luna smiled slightly, her eyes clouding with uncertainty. "I don''t know..." she muttered, her tone suggesting that she harbored the same dark suspicions.


    Although Luna found herself considering the situation, she couldn''t help feeling a thrill of excitement depite the danger.


    Deep down, she harbored a desire to meet Hanna, the scientist behind it all.


    Suddenly, Mary reappeared, her energy undiminished, her smile broad and chilling.


    She ced a reassuring hand on both Luna and Wang Xiao''s shoulders. "In the world of science, it''s quitemon to first test the medicine on oneself," she exined, her voice rich with intrigue. "Hanna surely would have been the first to jump in, if only she could fit..."


    Wang Xiao remained silent, processing the eerie implications of Mary''s words.


    Luna forced a bitter smile, ncing around at the expanding structure, "But why is this thing growingrger by the moment?"


    "Oh, it''s expanding," Mary replied nonchntly, as if discussing the weather.


    Luna nodded slowly, still uneasy. Wang Xiao, however, found himself drawn back to the spectacle below them.


    He couldn''t shake off his concern. "Isn''t it alreadyrge enough to fit multiple adults?" he asked, his voice edged with suspicion.


    Mary''s eyes flickered, a deep red glowing ominously. "Indeed, it is," she confirmed, her tone carrying a hint of something dark and unspoken.


    Mary''s words grew more disturbing as she drew them closer to the ss. "We no longer adhere to any height or age criteria, but disrupting the narrative we''ve painstakingly built over decades would cause unnecessary problems."


    "Adults prove more difficult to control; children, on the other hand, can be packed more densely into smaller containers. We have established awork of facilities across thisnd to ensure a steady flow of production," she exined with a clinical detachment that chilled the air around them.


    "Steady production?" Wang Xiao echoed, his voice tinged with suspicion as he turned to face Mary, seeking rification.


    Without a trace of emotion, Mary continued, "Below every base and outpost lies a fully operational facility that we''ve engineered to augment the supply chain feeding Project Transcendence. Each facility is capable of housing a thousand subjects at a time. They are bred in controlled cycles till they reach a certain age, ensuring that each base contributes a hundred subjects monthly."


    She paused, letting the gravity of her words sink in before adding, "The northern and northwestern regions of thisnd are nketed with hundreds of these bases and outposts."N?v(el)B\\jnn