Dr. Hart suddenly fell silent, staring at her cheek and arm with an unusually gentle gaze.

Clara became even more flustered, her face turning red.

Dr. Hart lifted his head, his warm brown eyes seeming to glow with lit embers within. He smiled, which made him appear even more approachable and handsome. He asked, “You said you liked me and were willing to do anything for me. Is that true?”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Clara thought it was just a sweet moment between lovers and, with a happy heart, replied, “Of course, I’m willing.”

Dr. Hart’s lips curled into a sweeter smile, and he couldn’t resist taking her hand in his own. “That’s really wonderful…”

He moved even closer, and with his other hand, gently stroked the young woman’s skin, as if caressing a rare treasure.

The cold touch made Clara shiver, and she almost wanted to push him away.

But by the time she realized, she found that Dr. Hart had already trapped her completely in his arms.

He whispered the most strange words in her ear with the sweetest voice.

“If that’s the case, then offering everything to the Goddess should be acceptable, right?”

Clara’s expression froze on her face. “Goddess?”

Dr. Hart’s expression suddenly became crazed at that moment.

“She will like you, She will like everything about you…”

*

The forest air grew colder as Felix and his humans crept through the dense trees. The moonlight barely pierced the thick canopy above, casting faint shadows on the ground. Felix’s ears twitched, catching the faint sound of Dr. Hart’s hurried steps ahead. Every instinct in his body screamed that they were heading toward something vile.

The metallic scent that had first alerted him was now overwhelming, mingled with the sickly-sweet aroma of decay. Felix’s stomach churned, but he pressed on, his breath almost held anxiously in his chest.

Sorath, eyes sharp and glinting like silver coins, motioned for the group to stop. He pointed ahead, where Dr. Hart was disappearing behind what looked like a thick curtain of vines. Felix strained his eyes and saw it—a jagged opening in the earth, hidden by the dense underbrush.

“A cave?” Virgil whispered, his voice barely audible.

Thel inclined his head, carnelian eyes flashing with interest. “Or worse.”

The group waited until Dr. Hart disappeared into the darkness before cautiously following. The narrow path twisted downward, the air growing damper and more suffocating with every step. Felix led the way, his supernatural vision and enhanced senses guiding them through the labyrinthine tunnel.

As they descended, faint echoes reached their ears—muted groans, the clinking of metal, and a low, almost rhythmic humming that sent shivers down Felix’s spine.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re walking into a nightmare?” Albrecht murmured, adjusting his gold watch habitually in a nervous tick.

“Just don’t scream and alert our perp,” Sorath quipped, though his hand rested tensely on the hilt of his dagger. Even though they had yet to confirm anything, it was clear he was already of the mind that the amiable village doctor was the sinister source of the disappearances.

Call it an almost bloodhound instinct.

Indeed, when the tunnel finally widened, opening into a cavernous underground private laboratory, the sight that greeted them was worse than any nightmare.

The room was dimly lit by flickering, makeshift bulbs hanging from frayed wires. The walls were lined with cages, each one holding a human in various states of distress. Some were unconscious, their faces pale and bodies unnaturally still. Others muttered incoherently, their eyes wide with terror.

But this wasn’t what was most shocking and disturbing of all.

Felix’s gaze traveled to the center of the room, where a pregnant woman, emaciated but for the unnaturally large bulge of her belly, was strapped to a surgical table placed in pride of place like some grotesque altar. Even from here, Felix could see the poor woman twitching and convulsing, the skin of her belly distorting along with her as if the thing inside was also writhing in agony.

A sharp, acrid stench filled the air, a blend of chemicals, blood, and something unidentifiably foul. Felix felt an uncontrollable urge to gag and he pressed a hand to his mouth to keep from retching.

It was very clear now. Dr. Hart was a B-Rank Corrupted, higher than most of the average statistics shown on Mzia’s official web page.

There were more people locked up here than they had thought and Felix was almost shocked that none of these disappearances had hit official news other than the occasional superstitious speculations. 

Except for Clara, who had only just been brought here yesterday, everyone else had been modified. Parts of their bodies were missing, replaced by other Corrupted limbs or organs.

The room was filled with wailing and despair.

Dr. Hart closed his eyes in obvious enjoyment, finding these sounds nothing short of heavenly music.

He looked at these people with tender affection, as though he were gazing at treasured possessions he had kept for many years.

For Dr. Hart, this was his masterpiece, the most perfect offering to his Goddess!

Since childhood, Dr. Hart had been deeply interested in human body modification.

He was extremely curious about what would happen when human and Corrupted genes merged, how powerful and monstrous they could become. Perhaps even overtaking the apex species of their society, the Regal Ones themselves.

This ambition tormented him continuously, and it was the driving force that led him to become a doctor.

After becoming a doctor, Dr. Hart began his experiments, but all of them were carried out on guinea pigs, rabbits, and other small animals of the like.

As time passed, Dr. Hart grew unsatisfied with merely combining limbs from two different animal species. He wanted to experiment on humans for real.

However, with the current level of biological advancement, he was far from able to fulfill his obsession.

He could only continue his experiments on animals, using them to soothe his increasingly obsessive desires.

Unfortunately, these experiments were soon discovered by his wife.

Although his wife didn’t say anything at the time, Dr. Hart still saw her scared expression and caught her secretly planning to call the Combat Division.  Why? How could she? He just wanted to realize his dream. Why didn’t even his wife, who he had known as childhood sweethearts support him?

She was simply a fool! A useless, empty-headed woman! 

For his lifelong dream, Dr. Hart had no choice but to kill his wife. This was his first time killing someone, but he was not panicked or sad because at the moment he killed his wife, he met Her, the most powerful and magnanimous Master in the world—the Goddess of Life.

The Goddess of Life possessed half the Life Godhead and could bestow followers with a Corrupted power related to life. After being blessed by the Goddess of Life, Dr. Hart became a B-Rank Corrupted with the ability to ignore the genetic conflict between two species and combine the genes of one organism with the genes of another organism.

With this new ability, he was able to realize his dream for many years and carry out experiments that only fanned his obsession. All the people who have disappeared over the years have been equipped with Corrupted limbs and organs by him, but the effects of the experiments always fell short of his expectations. Those humans equipped with Corrupted genes were not strong, and the strongest ones were only D-Rank.

In order to create stronger Corrupted creations, and to express his devotion to the Goddess of Life, Dr. Hart began to work on the prenatal body. He thought, since the effect of the experimental product fused later was not successful, would it be much better to directly fuse the Corrupted genes into the fetus growing inside a pregnant woman? As soon as this idea appeared, Dr. Hart was so enamored that he immediately carried the plan out.

He began to lure and catch pregnant women, preferring to target single mothers among the overlooked population of their society—“leftover humans” or “strays” who were never chosen by a Regal One master and thus lacked protection—and Corrupted genes were transferred to the fetus in those pregnant women. After the operation, those pregnant women began to slowly feel the gradual metamorphosis of their child, frightening and strange as it grew in their womb little by little, and finally bursting out of their bellies. 

In the underground lab, in addition to kidnapped victims, there was also a twisted piece of flesh.

It had no limbs and needed to use the eyelashes on the many eyes growing from its body to move forward, like a caterpillar. This thing was a test product given birth by a pregnant subject when the experiments were first conducted. It was a failure of course and only deserved to be fed to the true masterpiece as a nutrient supplement.

Dr. Hart could still recall the painful screams of the pregnant woman when she gave birth to it. 

That melody was more beautiful than any angelic choir could produce. 

Dr. Hart then looked at the most recent pregnant subject on his surgical table. The thing in her belly was his most satisfying test product in a long time.

He was very excited, because this masterpiece was also a sacrifice to be offered to the Goddess of Life. The current rank of the Goddess of Life was S-Rank, and She was still one step away from becoming an SS-Rank Evil One. As long as he offered this sacrifice to Her, and She swallowed it, She would become a supreme Evil One, worshiped by everyone, and gain many more followers!

And he would become the Evil One’s most favorite follower of all. 

At this time, Dr. Hart suddenly thought of the young Regal One and his four pets who were staying at his parents’ inn. From the first moment he saw those carelessly laughing humans, Dr. Hart knew that they would’ve been very suitable subjects for his experiments. The results of integrating Corrupted genes into their bodies would definitely be outstanding. But it’s a pity—they were bonded to a Regal One. It would be unlikely to successfully capture one at his power level nevermind that it would have been impossible to avoid detection even if he had succeeded. 

For the lucky souls that they were, they had been chosen by a Regal One practically straight out of school and were clearly cherished by their master. A far cry from the many unwanted strays out there.

Dr. Hart’s expression twisted fiercely with jealousy and wrath, but quickly returned to normal. At the moment, his masterpiece was more important.

*

The situation was worse than they imagined, Dr. Hart was conducting unnatural experiments! Moreover, he was a crazy follower of a high-ranking Corrupted! 

The rank of a Corrupted that could gather followers was generally not too low, at least an S-Rank Evil One. Once Dr. Hart summoned that powerful Corrupted and helped it ascend to Ss-Rank Evil One status, everyone here would die. No, not just them, not even the entire Misty Springs Village would escape. 

“Dear gods…” Albrecht breathed, his face pale.

Virgil’s normally sparkling eyes were darkened. “What the hell is this place?”

“An abomination,” Thel said, his voice neutral but an underlying disgust could be detected. “A temple to madness.”

At the far end of the room stood Dr. Hart, his back turned to them as he hummed to himself. He was bent over the surgical table with the pregnant woman on it, his hands deftly manipulating the attached machines around her. The subject beneath him—the emaciated woman clearly having her nutrients greedily absorbed from her by the thing in her womb—let out a weak moan, her body jerking as Dr. Hart worked.

Seeing the pregnant woman in pain, Dr. Hart only found it particularly interesting and exciting. This test product was his most perfect masterpiece. Although it was not S-Rank, it was still the pinnacle of A-Rank. He just had to wait for another hour and it would rip its way out of the womb.

Dr. Hart’s face lit up with twisted reverence as his hand gently caressed that grotesquely swollen belly.

His eyes were filled with fervor for his deity. “O’ Great Goddess, you will surely like this. They will become your most devout nourishment!”

“You are the greatest, the most selfless, praise be to you!”

With horror, Felix realized that the pregnant woman was still conscious as tears of despair flowed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.

Felix swallowed hard, his claws unsheathing instinctively. At the same time, Albrecht attempted to send off a call to the Combat Division.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

But the next second Dr. Hart whipped around, a sharp spider-like protrusion extended from his back and pierced through Albrecht’s phone, nearly stabbing his hand as well if he hadn’t dropped it fast enough. Any signs of the amiable village doctor were gone, replaced by the crazed zealot Corrupted beyond recognition. His eyes glowed faintly with an unnatural light.

Dr. Hart’s face was full of anger. “Did you think I really didn’t notice you all? No one can ruin my sacrifice!”