Returning to the Mysterious Era

The black car sped down the road, moving incredibly smoothly and quickly as it overtook the never-ending flow of vehicles with ease.

The streetlights on both sides blurred into dark streaks, and the buildings rushed past, receding into the distance. Before long, the scenery outside the window had changed to the outskirts, with rolling hills and blooming flowers occasionally dotting vast stretches of green grass.

Cassius crossed his arms, quietly watching the scene outside the car window. He had just reached a somewhat consensus with the old administrator, Franz. Franz had agreed to let Cassius give his plan a try. After all, even if it ended up failing and didn't produce the results Cassius claimed, it wouldn't matter. At most, the dark creatures would remain imprisoned.

But if it did succeed, the Black Ops Agency would gain a unique executioner capable of dealing with those impossible or difficult-to-kill dark creatures or the ones with strange characteristics. This would essentially eliminate some of the hidden dangers that the Black Ops Agency's various divisions had been collecting over the past twenty years. The Black Ops Agency would definitely benefit from it.

Moreover, it just so happened that the new administrator of the Black Ops Agency, the Reaper Amos, was present and could prevent any surprises from occurring on Cassius's end. Franz truly had no reason to refuse.

He had notified the Beiliu County division of the Black Ops Agency using a special phone line half an hour ago, and now they were driving there. With Amos present, there was no need for any extensive preparations to be made since he could handle any mishaps.

Cassius, seated in the comfortable leather back seat, had a rather mismatched appearance. He wore light yellow linen pants and a large black suit jacket, the latter of which belonged to Franz. Hanging from the pocket, a silver watch chain swayed with the car's movement from where it hung from the pocket.

After gazing out the window for a while, Cassius lowered his head to look at his smooth palms. The battle wounds, which had been bleeding profusely just moments before, were completely gone. Everything looked to be restored to its original state.

This was the healing ability of the Golem Covert Martial Arts—a Secret Technique that mimicked the regeneration power of golems. It was an extremely efficient ability that could heal superficial wounds in seconds and larger skin injuries in a minute or two. Theoretically, aside from severed limbs, any injury could be healed quickly.

Although it was nothing compared to the terrifying regeneration powers of the Blood Race, which could reconstruct themselves even if they were decapitated, it was still a very formidable and useful skill. Such an ability was hard to achieve without a special Secret Technique.

And this was just a secondary effect of the Golem Covert Martial Arts.

During his fight with Amos earlier, Cassius had noticed changes in his physique. His strength, endurance, and defense had all advanced a level. The increase in strength and endurance was self-explanatory.

Meanwhile, his defense was not as bad as it looked despite his skin bleeding from the metal wires slicing him. The main reason was because Cassius's body had just been reborn, his skin tender like a cicada freshly emerged from its shell, with a soft surface. He needed time to be exposed to air as he gradually transformed from the inside out.

This process could take a few days or a couple of months, but eventually, Cassius's skin would become tougher than rhino hide while still looking delicate and smooth on the outside, making it extremely deceptive.

Although Cassius’s skin had not been able to withstand the incredible cutting power of Amos's Mist Threads which was seemingly more destructive than bullets, the dense muscle underneath was the opposite. His arms were bloodied earlier, but it was just superficial skin damage and nothing serious. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to heal those injuries within seconds.

Cassius felt that the Golem Covert Martial Arts he had created had much more untapped potential. He couldn’t fully comprehend his own ingenious ideas when in the state of Blood of the Spirit with nine units. Cassius placed his hand over his right chest.

The steady, powerful heartbeat thumped continuously, and the thick blood flowed like nectar throughout his body in another circulatory cycle. An invisible magnetic field naturally expanded outward, constantly tempering his bones and muscles.

His dark creature golem heart's complex three-dimensional blood circulation was entirely different from a human’s. Cassius couldn’t figure out how he had managed to extract its essence, discard its flaws, and gradually transplant it into his own body.

I am truly too powerful, he sighed inwardly. Making the most of every moment to practice, he began to guide the life magnetic field, following the breathing pattern of the Golem Breathing Technique.

The car soon passed through a tunnel and entered the eastern suburbs of Beiliu City. After driving for another half hour, they finally reached a remote town. Light yellow and white square buildings, like neatly stacked blocks, came into view.

It looked like a uniformly built residential area rather than one haphazardly constructed by villagers. Clearly, this town wasn’t as simple as it appeared; it was most likely a facade for the Black Ops Agency division.

Under the guise of a town, it was actually a covert facility deployed by the Hongli Federation in Beiliu County for conducting supernatural operations.

Cassius rolled down the car window. Scattered around the outskirts of the town, some people dressed as villagers were either working, chatting, or relaxing under the trees. As the car drove in, some immediately ducked into alleyways and disappeared.

A minute or two later, the car came to a stop. Cassius was the first to step out. The weather was quite clear today. Since it had rained the night before, the sky was a bright, clear blue. A few fluffy clouds drifted about, surrounding half of the sun.

Ahead of them was a large circle of white walls. The walls extended to both sides, with something slightly reflective embedded on them, perhaps nails or something similar. There was another walled-off area; it was likely the Black Ops Agency division.

All three of them got out of the car. Not far away, a group of people, about five or six people with a brass palm-sized badge adorning the left chest of their black suit, quickly approached from the gate. The badge depicted an inverted sword gripped by a hand wrapped in thorns. It was almost identical to Amos's badge, except instead of the additional artifact symbols that were on Amos's badge, it had two stars.

According to Franz, Black Ops Agency was cultivating Amos to be the third ace, which was why he had such a special status.

As expected, the middle-aged man leading the group immediately stopped when he saw Amos's badge and performed a special salute. First, he placed his right hand on his left shoulder, then on his right shoulder, and finally raised it to his temple at a diagonal angle, like a normal salute.

This seemed to be a salute used internally by subordinates to superiors, seemingly only within the Black Ops Agency. It was unclear if the Federal military followed the same protocol.

Amos nodded at the man's salute. Next to him, Franz also showed his badge, which he kept close on him. It was similar in overall design to Amos's, but instead of letters, it had four small stars. Seeing the badge, the man immediately saluted again.

These stars represented Black Ops Agency's internal hierarchy. The ranks ranged from one to five stars for the different levels. Five stars represented the head of the agency; four stars were for the two deputy chiefs and high-ranking officials like the administrator; three stars were for heads of particularly important county-level divisions; two stars represented most county-level division heads, while one star indicated key personnel.

Only the most elite commissioners or those who wielded supernatural powers wore these stars. Regular members didn’t even qualify to have one.

After completing the salute, the middle-aged man turned to Cassius, seemingly waiting for him to show a badge as well.

"Minister Ole, this is the new friend that I mentioned in the call earlier," Franz, the old administrator, said.

Minister Ole nodded but still wore a stern expression as he said, "Mr. Franz, I’m afraid we still have to follow the rules. A mysterious dark creature force has recently been trying to search the Beiliu County division. Some commissioners have already been killed, and the division has raised the threat level to Level Three. To maintain security, we need to ensure that anyone entering or leaving the division doesn’t carry any dark creature aura."

Ole seemed a bit rigid and lacked tact. After all, with both the former and current administrators of the Black Ops Agency present, there was no way Cassius could be a dark creature. Even if he were, the Reaper Amos could easily handle it.

However, Ole was dedicated to a fault; he followed the rules to the letter, and this was undoubtedly something to be admired. Otherwise, Franz wouldn't have described him as a capable individual. The fact that Ole had been the Black Ops Agency’s branch chief for so many years without being promoted back to headquarters was certainly related to this trait.

Beside him, Amos looked slightly irritated. In his youthful form, his thought process seemed to match that of someone his apparent age—arrogant and quick to anger. Amos's ability to switch between different physical forms was unusual and intriguing, strange and rare. Otherwise, Franz, who had already retired, wouldn't still be serving as his assistant. <switched second and third sentences around. check>

"I don't mind," Cassius responded to Ole's previous remark.

He had no dark creature aura on him, and the alternative blood circulation system formed by the Golem Covert Martial Arts was merely a mutated organ that his body had developed on its own. As inhuman as it was, it hadn't turned him into a dark creature. Cassius had nothing to fear.

Without delay, they headed toward the gate where a professional would draw Cassius’s blood and examine it right then and there.

However, this was when things became a little awkward.

Despite Cassius's cooperative behavior, the specially made needle still couldn’t penetrate his skin. The person in the lab coat tried several times to no avail.

"This doesn’t make sense. His skin looks so soft. How can the needle not go through?" the woman muttered, a bead of sweat collecting on her forehead.

"Move aside, let me try!" A burly man in a lab coat walked over and snatched the syringe from the woman. He looked at Cassius. "Apologies, sir. I might have to use a bit of force. If I can't puncture your skin, I won't be able to draw any blood."

Cassius nodded expressionlessly.

The man took a deep breath and then stabbed down hard. The needle bent, letting out a squeak.

"Damn it." The man stared at the ruined syringe in his hand, speechless.

Cassius was equally speechless.

His skin had hardened and toughened faster than he had anticipated. In the morning, it was as delicate as a newborn's, easily torn. By midday, it had become much tougher, and now, in the afternoon, it seemed even more resilient compared to when he had fought Amos. No wonder the needle couldn’t pierce through.

"This is already the strongest special needle we have…" The burly man in the lab coat looked at Branch Chief Ole, helpless.

Ole opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Cassius, however, turned to look at Amos. Amos understood his intent and quickly flicked his right index finger. A metallic thread, moving as fast as a bullet, shot out with incredible speed. With a sharp sound, it precisely struck Cassius's right arm.

Instantly, a drop of blood trickled from the puncture, standing out starkly against his pale skin before dripping into a container. The special container quickly calculated the result.

No dark creature aura. It was purely human.

By the time Cassius stood up again, the small wound had already healed. Amos studied Cassius, face thoughtful. Although his Mist Threads had still penetrated through, the piercing force had felt a noticeable resistance. His skin had grown thicker and was no longer as smooth as before. Amos twisted his fingers, and the spinning, extremely fine, tough special thread retracted into his glove.

"Please, come in," Ole said respectfully at the gate, gesturing for them to proceed.

Naturally, the group headed into the area within the white walls. The interior architecture had a bit of a base-like style: straight roads, gray and white flat-roofed buildings. Aside from the occasional flowerbed decorating either side, the entire area was mostly gray and white. Guards could be seen regularly patrolling the intersections.

After five minutes, they passed by a five-story building with a pointed roof, the tallest structure in the area. Moving further back, the group now consisted only of Cassius, his companions, and Ole, with the buildings becoming increasingly sparse.

Turning a corner, they came upon a round, bunker-like building. Around this building was a large plaza with a spiral-patterned brick surface. The plaza was vast, empty, and devoid of any cover, and this extended for dozens of meters in every direction.

This design was likely to prevent anyone from approaching the holding cells unnoticed or to surreptitiously observe any escapees. Indeed, the places the Black Ops Agency used to imprison dark creatures were all called "cells," and each "cell" had an underground section. Or rather, the main part was underground.

Ole, who had been leading the way, turned to them. "This branch's cell currently holds twelve dark creatures, two of which are parasitized and coexisting with humans. The research lab is already studying one, while the remaining nine have no special traits. Which one would Mr. Li Wei like first?" He reached into his coat and pulled out a booklet, seemingly containing records of the creatures held in the cells of the Beiliu County branch.

Cassius shook his head. "Anyone will do. You can decide." He muttered under his breath, "Not like I'm picky, anyway."

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