Mordecai's body violently shook, his voice growing incredibly weak. "The e-exact number... I don't know."
"But over the years, the number of Lab Specimens brought in is at least... in the tens of thousands."
"Some were missing persons from various countries, others were specialized talents secretly trafficked in, and... and some were bought directly off the black market..."
"Very few survived."
"Even fewer survived the first round of augmentations."
Just a few casually spoken sentences.
Yet they sent a bone-chilling wave of dread through everyone listening.
Tens of thousands.
It wasn't just a number.
It was tens of thousands of living, breathing human beings.
Serena's gaze grew even colder.
She pressed her lips tightly together, her thumb lightly brushing against the data drive Nicholas had synced over just moments prior. "Who was it that ripped my grandmother's research apart to build this current system?"
At the mention of Aria Wynn.
Mordecai's expression visibly shifted again.
But meeting Serena's dead eyes, he swallowed hard in sheer terror and continued, "Aria Wynn... no, Old Mrs. Wynn's research... the Obsidian Sun actually still hasn't fully comprehended it to this day."
"What she left behind was far too complex and lightyears ahead of its time. The Overlord only possessed an incomplete fraction of it. He spent years just dissecting pieces of it to forcefully integrate it into the current Obsidian Augment system."
"But..... that was only scratching the surface."
"The Obsidian Sun has never managed to grasp the true core of her work."
"More importantly... those notes were incomplete. The Overlord has been searching for the other half for thirty years without success."
Mordecai looked up at Serena, his voice shaking violently. "So... so the Overlord has set his sights on you."
"He believes that since you are Old Mrs. Wynn's granddaughter, and you possess such terrifying talent in this field... you must have inherited the other half of her research. So... he wants to use you to completely decipher everything she left behind."
Serena's fingers curled slightly, an icy murder flashing in her eyes.
Just as she suspected, the Obsidian Sun's true goal was never just to kill her.
What they really wanted was her brain, the legacy her grandmother had left her.
She let out a dark chuckle,
murderous intent rolling off her in
your
waves. Where is the Obsidian Sun's main headquarters? Who is your handler!"
The moment that question left her lips.
Mordecai's expression twisted into something incredibly complex.
He looked like he desperately wanted to speak.
Yet, he looked absolutely terrified of something else.
Serena's eyes narrowed dangerously.
Terrified, Mordecai quickly rushed to speak. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you right now!"
"The Overlord's core operations have recently been moved to... to..."
He barely got the words out.
Suddenly, his body locked up entirely.
Mordecai's eyes widened to the point of tearing, and a faint,
high pitched electronie beep emitted from deep within the back of his neck.
His voice cut off instantly.
His eyes bulged out, instantly flooding with blood.
He broke out in a cold sweat from sheer agony, his mouth gaping as he desperately gasped for a "S-Save save me...content belongs to
FindNovel.net
"I'll tell you... it's... it's... Whitecliffe Harbor..."
"Project... Project Zero-Transit..."
"The... The Raven..."
The last word was forcefully choked out of his throat, accompanied by a massive mouthful of black blood.
Mordecai spent the last ounce of his strength to choke out those fractured words.
He had honestly believed that as long as he talked, Serena would save him.
That as long as she intervened.
He would survive.
But the exact second the final syllable left his lips.
Serena's gaze darkened violently, and she barked out an order. "Get back!"
Operating purely on reflex, Jerrick and Jasper scrambled backward.