Chapter 1 - “You are no longer human”

“After 15 years of endless war that leads to countless casualties on both sides, the Astra Federation signed a peace treaty with The Magna Empire, the home of the daemons. There were 2 important point of the treaty: 1) Land and sea borders between countries, and 2) An agreement from both side that they will strive to build a good cooperation in order to support the development of each countries. But no long after it was signed, the Magna Empire was drowned in civil war and a new king was crowned. Magna Empire’s 14th King openly stated that there won’t be any cooperation between the 2 countries, and so 50 years after that, our diplomatic relations with Magna Empire still in a stalemate.” The teacher paused to glance at his wristwatch, he swept through his gaze in class, noting how his students were now mostly half awake.

“Now, I need you all to write an essay on your opinion about should we mend our relation with Magna Empire or not. See you guys next week” the teacher ended his lecture and left, leaving the still groaning students.

Yisheng quickly grabbed his bag and skipped to the exit door.

“Ah Sheng wait up!” Jingyi hurriedly cleaned his desk, put everything haphazardly inside his bag.

“Slowpoke” Yisheng muttered as he halted and stared at Jingyi helplessly. Truthfully, he couldn’t bear to be in this class anymore. Since he became senior in high school, the school made it a compulsory for students to attend night class in preparation of university exam. From Monday to Saturday, every morning to night he had to study, as a physical person who enjoyed invigorating exhilarating activities outdoor, having to stay put for hours listening the teachers blabber on and on made him feel like his brain gonna burst, then he gonna threw up math formulas soon or even better, the long history of power struggle the Federation had with neighboring countries.

Jingyi threw his hand over his shoulder “OK, lets go now Ah Sheng\~” then both of them made their way back home.

Yisheng and Jingyi has been friends for as long as Yisheng could remember. While Yisheng was an ordinary civilian living modestly with his grandma and his older sister, Jingyi’s family was once a prestigious family known in the military world. His great grandfather was once a general who leads thousands of troops in battles, but since the general died his family declined continuously. Now they had no privilege, no governed area, their social status were only an inch higher than commoners.

“Anyway, isn’t tomorrow your birthday?” Jingyi inquired

“Nah” Yisheng denied lazily

Not giving up, Jingyi tried to remember Yisheng’s student ID “...1008.. it IS! You liar” he exclaimed as he slapped his friend’s back.

“So?”

“What else, treat me something tomorrow!”

Sighing defeatedly Yisheng agreed “Fine, anything worth 2 coupons (equals to USD 2)”

“You cheapskate!” another slap landed on his back.

“It hurt, you fool!” Yisheng slapped back as he laughed.

They were laughing and joking around when they saw a commotion at one of the house at the corner of the road. Curious, they made their way there.

A police line was drawn around a small 2 floored house. Excuse me, what happened here?” Jingyi asked to nearby old lady. “Aiya, the world is not safe anymore. This family of 4 is nearly annihilated in one night, some crazy murder did that. If the young woman were at home I’m afraid she would be dead too, God have mercy” she explained as she held her chest.

Eyes widened in shock, both Yisheng and Jingyi glanced back at the entrance of the house. There were body bags being carried into the ambulance, a young woman with blood smeared on her clothes standing at the porch. Her eyes were bloodshot as she stood there motionless. Even if she looked like she had cried her eyes out but the feeling Yisheng caught from her gaze was... eerie cold emptiness.

“I don’t know why but I feel that... something seems wrong with her?” Jingyi blurted.

When the young woman suddenly turned her head to look at their way, Jingyi got goosebumps all over

“Ugh lets get out of here, quick!” He said as he pulled Yisheng away hurriedly and ran as fast as he could.

“Fuck, that was so scary” Jingyi said between gasps. “People had gone mad. I’ll tell dad to up the security measures in my home. You should too, install some CCTV or something”

Yisheng indeed felt the same way too. There were too many murder cases as of late, it won’t hurt to take extra precaution. “Will do” Yisheng affirmed.

Jingyi’s house was just a little further away from Yisheng’s. As they arrived at Yisheng’s house, they saw the home was shrouded in darkness.

“Hey, isn’t your grandma usually at home?”

“She should have been”

They cautiously made their way to the main entrance, seeing the broken door lock, both of them got alerted.

“We should call the police” said Jingyi

“You call. I’ll get inside” before Jingyi could hold him, Yisheng already pushed open the door and quietly went inside.

The inside of his house was dark, except the area near the windows who happened to have the moonlight seeping in. As he slowly entered the dinning area, he faintly heard a male voice muttering incoherent things. The sound came from the kitchen.

He readied his fists as he approached the kitchen.

The man was crouching on the floor, his right hand was holding a knife- dripping with blood. He continuously drove the knife into the lifeless body in front of him, the corpse of Yisheng’s grandma.

STAB - STAB - STAB

He repeatedly mutter “Die.”with every stab he did.

Enraged, Yisheng rushed toward the killer.

———————————————-

Yisheng woke up with a sharp headache. He realized his head was bandaged, as well as his torso. Slowly the memory of that night pouring inside his head.

A mad man stabbed his grandma.

He tried to get the bastard, but he was far stronger than he thought. Despite his struggle in the brawl, Yisheng’s head was smashed to the wall and a knife lodged at his stomach.

He ended up utterly defeated, but he wont forget that face, and how disgusting the manic expression he wore that night when he managed to hurt him.

“Ah you finally woke up. What a lucky kid” an elderly man wearing a white coat approached him.

“Doctor, how is my grandma?.... Jingyi?”

The doctor shook his head, “Her bleeding was too severe. She was already dead the moment police came. As for your friend, he’s treated next door, still not yet regain his consciousness”

Yisheng gritted his teeth, guilt filled his chest. All sorts of ifs popped in his head.

If only he came home earlier..

If only he’s stronger..

If...

“Anyway, do you remember anything before you fainted?” The doctor inquired.

Yisheng told everything he could remember, but the doctor knitted his eyebrows “You sure you don’t remember who shot you?”

An injection? That mad man couldn’t possibly do that, wait... if he recall, there seemed to be another figure.. but he wasn’t really sure.

“We found a foreign substance in your blood. It’s what we called as M Substance. It holds a construct that modified your DNA”

Modified... DNA?

“For 2 days, as you went in a comma your body was undergoing a genetic recombination and luckily the chain didn’t collapse and you didn’t die. But the result is... you are no longer a human”

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***