"Huh? Didn’t HQ send someone? Where are they?"

"Boss, I don’t know! The door pinged the moment they entered—I told you right away."

"Could those bumpkins from the island have gotten in?"

"Impossible, boss. The password’s in English… and they wouldn’t even know how many digits. They couldn’t have guessed it."

Tran and Lia crouched behind a stegosaurus incubation tank, eavesdropping.

Tran stole a glance: a stern-looking officer and his lackey, both in black uniforms.

"So outsiders *have* arrived. Alert everyone—heightened security! Pull up the surveillance footage now," the officer barked.

"Yes, boss!" The lackey scrambled off.

After sweeping the room with their eyes, the two left.

"This just got interesting, Lia," Tran whispered, eyes gleaming. "This isn’t a detention center—it’s a mad scientist lab. Exactly where I’ve always wanted to be."

"Um… Tran-gege, what do we do?" Lia’s voice trembled. She finally believed him. Her tribe had been lied to… but she was close to the truth now.

They waited one minute. Tran cracked the door open—a corridor lined with rooms stretched ahead. They tiptoed fast. *They’re checking footage. We can’t stay.*

Tran amplified his gray Superpower into sight and hearing, senses razor-sharp. Halfway down the hall, heavy footsteps echoed toward them.

"Guess I missed a camera or two," Tran muttered. Modern wall-embedded cams were nearly invisible.

He yanked Lia into the nearest room. *If they’ve spotted us, buying time is all we’ve got.*

"Whoa… incredible!" Tran gasped.

Hundreds of machines stood in perfect rows. Each held a dragon egg. *Centuries of breeding cycles… this isn’t a lab—it’s an army factory. A dinosaur army.*

Footsteps halted outside the door. Tran ripped a two-meter metal rod from a heater.

"Not my Wishful Electrifying Rod, but this’ll do…" *Poor Fili. He’d spent two sleepless weeks forging that masterpiece with top-tier tech and his "Absolute Thunder" power. A true ancient artifact.*

"Lia, this might get ugly. I may not make it. I’ll draw their fire—you run back to the first room. The inner door has no lock. Escape." Tran gripped the rod, jaw set.

"No! I can help you, Tran-gege!" Lia unslung her bow. Her preternatural senses confirmed enemies outside.

"Listen! Feeding one kill is better than feeding two!"

"I won’t! You showed me the truth… even after I hurt you. I won’t let you face danger alone!" She nocked an arrow, resolve hardening.

"You…" Tran’s throat tightened. No one had said such things to him since Xiao Yu’s sacrifice before the ritual.

[*"If one of us must die, choose me! My brother is stronger—he protects me. Let him live, High Priest! He’ll save us all!"*]

A glimmer of moisture touched his eyes. *She’s known me hours… yet she’d die for me?*

"Stay safe. Hide when your arrows run out," he said as the doorknob turned.

The door burst open. Eight men wielding clubs and blades stormed in—*they grabbed melee weapons to avoid damaging the eggs*.

Lia had already melted into the shadows. Her arrow struck the first man’s knee. He crumpled.

"Guess I’m rusty…" Tran grinned, gray energy surging through his veins. (*He’d forgotten how he’d pulverized that skyjacker earlier.*)

"Time to test my limits… One, two… eight opponents? Let’s dance."

He lunged—

*Thud.*

He face-planted into a living earthen wall. A geomancer had reshaped his body into a barrier.

"Huh. Didn’t even hurt," Tran mumbled.

The wall-man nearly spat blood. *He felt that impact!*

A figure blinked beside Tran, dagger flashing. Tran’s rod deflected the strike. The assassin retreated.

Then the real circus began. Fireballs fizzled on Tran’s skin. Ice shackles shattered under a stomp. A telekinetic hurled fifty blades—Tran spun his rod like a propeller, sending weapons flying. (*"Sorry, delicious eggs!"*)

"Who *are* you, kid?" one barked, stalling for answers.

Tran swung. Three men flew backward. While the rest gaped, arrows pinned them down—Lia’s doing.

"Wow! I’m actually strong! Next time someone calls me lazy, I’ll say I’m *too* strong. Time to laze around eating and sleeping forever!" Tran cackled, already dreaming of retirement.

"Tran-gege, are you hurt? Why are you laughing like an idiot?" Lia approached.

"Huh? Oh—grown-up stuff, kid."

Lia pouted. "You’re only a year older than me."

As they reached for the exit, heavy footsteps surrounded the room.

*Clap. Clap. Clap.*

A man in a billowing black trench coat and oversized sunglasses leaned against the doorway, oozing coolness.

"I saw your fight, girl," he said, eyes locked on Tran. "Care to chat?"