Chapter 42: Genetic Enhancer

The most crucial area, of course, was the energy reserve zone where the vital Light Void energy was stored. Since all the equipment, weapons, and prosthetics transported here could potentially require Light Void energy, every supply station had to have some on hand. Deeper inside, past the equipment section, lay the energy reserve zone that Ye Mi had been looking forward to most. While she couldn’t use the energy directly, she saw it as nothing less than shining currency.

In the Prism City, credit points were paramount—Ye Mi could never have too many.

Yet as soon as she stepped into the energy reserve zone, her face was overtaken by obvious disappointment.

“What is this...?”

Row upon row of shelves were neatly lined with mist-form energy tubes. The diluted, pale red mist inside flowed slowly within transparent containers, their purity even lower than the mist used in the old distortion experiments on Ye Mi herself.

She picked one up, gave it a shake, and sighed softly.

The purity was too low—only suitable for charging standard equipment.

But then again, if Light Void energy were so abundant, it wouldn’t be so valuable.

No doubt the OC Corporation possessed more efficient technology.

“Good things really aren’t easy to find...” Ye Mi murmured under her breath, audible only to herself. Her gaze swept around the room again, until something finally caught her eye.

At the far end stood two massive safes—monolithic, imposing. Surely, these must contain something worthwhile.

As she pressed her palm to the safe’s identification panel, Anders’ artificial eye proved useful once more.

“Beep—insufficient clearance.”

The system’s cold mechanical voice sounded more hateful than ever.

So even Anders didn’t have the authority to open these safes? That could only mean the contents were precious.

“In that case, I’ll just try another way.”

Ye Mi’s right hand suddenly transformed, becoming countless hair-thin metallic threads. They slipped through the cracks in the safe, and inside came a faint clicking. A few seconds later, the heavy door slowly swung open.

No matter how sturdy the safe, Ye Mi could always find a gap.

Rust Tide was nearly invincible against metal.

She refrained from devouring the safe outright, worried she might accidentally damage what lay inside.

A neat array of red filled her vision.

Inside the first safe were twenty standard Light Void energy crystals, each wrapped in shockproof gel and shaped like a prism, each roughly the size of two fingers—identical to the crystal Ye Mi had tossed to Raj.

Clearly, the same craftsmanship.

These crystals were far purer than the mist-form tubes outside, each containing immense energy.

A single crystal was worth some five hundred thousand credits. That meant this safe alone held ten million.

“Now that’s more like it,” Ye Mi said, sweeping the crystals into her backpack without hesitation. Though valuable, they took up little space. Gina’s backpack was a common mountaineering pack with plenty of room to spare.

Of course, to show proper respect for these energy sources worth more than gold, the Rust Tide heart in her pack sent out a few black threads, wrapping them tightly—forming a secure container.

With this done, Ye Mi turned to the second safe.

It was made of the same material as the first, so she used the same trick, the unlocking just as smooth.

As the door opened, a chill rushed out—inside lay three test tubes filled with golden liquid, labeled clearly.

[Gene Enhancer, Type IV]

Ye Mi’s fingers hovered over the tubes for a moment.

She had never heard of a Type IV gene enhancer, but it sounded extraordinary.

If it was stored in an explosion-proof safe, it might be even more valuable than the Light Void crystals.

OC Corporation’s gene drugs were always rare, and the humans of Prism City had long since surpassed known genetic limits, achieving longevity, enhanced abilities, and all sorts of possibilities.

Of course, only the highest echelon enjoyed these benefits—ordinary people lived even shorter lives, the average not exceeding forty years.

“What could it do, I wonder...” Ye Mi raised her brows, carefully packing the tubes away.

No matter, she thought—best to take them first.

“♪, ♩, ♫, ♪, ♩, ♫.”

Having emptied the supply station, Ye Mi was in high spirits, even humming a little tune.

She had barely taken a few steps when she glanced at the monitoring robot perched atop the station, recording her every ‘crime.’

But it didn’t matter.

Her entire face was hidden beneath the Rust Tide covering, a perfect masked thief, her identity utterly unknowable.

Besides, her real self was thousands of miles away.

In fact, this was exactly the effect Ye Mi wanted. Soon, the Defense Bureau’s upper ranks would learn that the peripheral supply station had been completely looted, with losses exceeding tens of millions.

Would the Defense Bureau be shaken by this?

Hard to say.

And so, Ye Mi left the monitoring robots untouched.

On the clear footage, a humanoid creature clad in black metal stripped the supply station bare, even returning to devour the safes completely before leaving.

Light Void, District One, near the edge of Prism City, Defense Bureau Substation.

Dawn was just breaking—6:00 AM sharp.

In the monitoring room, Jack, the night-shift operator who’d worked until 11:59 PM the previous evening, yawned and grabbed a nutrient drink off the desk, preparing for a quick breakfast before another grind of a day.

He glanced casually at the monitor, about to switch channels for the morning news, when he suddenly froze.

“What the hell is this?!”

On screen, the interior of Supply Station A7 was a mess.

Shelves toppled, all kinds of prosthetic gear gone without a trace, with only a few living supplies lying pitifully alone.

Worst of all, the wall at the back—the safes were gone, the space empty.

Jack fumbled frantically through the replay. The sight of the humanoid figure encased in black metal made him gasp.

“What the hell is that?!”

He shivered and pressed the emergency comms button. “M-Marcus, supervisor! Something big’s happened! A7 supply station has been robbed!”

Five minutes later.

Material supervisor Marcus stood before the monitors, eyes bloodshot, fists clenched so tight they cracked.

On screen, the creature was calmly devouring the second station’s safe, as if savoring breakfast.

Again, the station had been stripped bare.

“Deploy three armed squads immediately! Now!”

He roared into the intercom, spraying Jack with spittle. “Wait—cancel Anders Kowalski’s clearance first! Right now! Immediately!”