"They agreed."
This was Qi Tian's reply.
Lin Xiao shrugged. He could only say that these people from the United States were crazy. They dared to agree to such terms and weren't afraid of death? It seemed the people in that laboratory were all fanatics, harboring a death wish from the start.
Alas, such loyal people were truly a pity...
While Lin Xiao was still sighing, Jones was frowning. He couldn't recall the penalty clauses for breaching the contract at all.
He only remembered the first clause: if one party unilaterally wished to terminate the transaction, they would have to pay three times the value of the transaction to do so. He didn't remember anything else.
At that time, he thought, since it was all just outdated information, even three times the amount would still be outdated information, so it wouldn't matter if it was given.
But the third clause was this?!
"No, I don't remember such a clause. You're lying to me, you despicable Dragon Countryman..."
"I remember. If you don't remember, it's because you lack integrity, or perhaps you intended to renege on our contract from the start..." John, with his three heads, green face, and fangs, leaned into Jones's face. Then, all three heads opened their mouths simultaneously: "Then, you shall receive your corresponding punishment!"
"No! I can't! I don't want to die!"
*Crack, crack, crack...*
Terrified screams echoed from the room, abruptly silenced, followed by chilling sounds, seemingly the thudding of hammers and the whirring of a chainsaw...
Half an hour later, in the blood-splattered office, Jones and John stood "unscathed."
They appeared like old friends, their smiles radiant and warm. They were swiftly cleaning up the office.
"What's going on!"
A group of police officers burst into the room. By this time, most of the blood in the room had been wiped away.
The leading officers frowned, looking around the room. Aside from some disarray, there was nothing unusual.
"Officer, hello."
Jones greeted the officers very politely.
"Mr. Jones."
The leading officer clearly knew him and was surprised to be greeted.
This Jones usually acted imperiously when he saw them. Why was he so amiable today, even greeting them proactively? What was going on? Had Jones's personality changed drastically?
As for John, he had never seen him before.
"Officer Pasta, my good friend and I had a slight conflict over research matters, which led to some disarray in the office. Why are you here? Is it because our commotion was too loud?" Jones's face remained smiling. He adjusted his brand-new suit and then pulled John over: "Allow me to introduce my good friend, Mr. John, a highly accomplished researcher at the laboratory."
"Hello..." Pasta shook John's hand.
His brow suddenly furrowed. John's hand felt strange.
The room was quite warm, but why was his hand so cold? And the handshake felt unlike that of an ordinary human; it was more like a mechanical hand—cold, hard, and lacking elasticity.
"We received a report just now about screams for help coming from here," Officer Pasta continued, eyeing them suspiciously.
"Oh, I see."
Jones quickly replied, "It must have been because John and I were arguing and got into a scuffle. I apologize. We've made up now. Please excuse us, officer."
"A scuffle?"
Pasta looked at the room even more strangely.
As they were speaking, the office door closed.
"Sir, the door won't open!"
"What's happening?"
Behind Pasta, two officers turned to open the door, but they found that it wouldn't budge for some reason.
"Mr. Jones! Hands up!" Pasta instantly aimed his gun at Jones. "Or you'll face the consequences!"
"Officer Pasta, no need to be so tense."
Jones slowly raised his hands. "It's just that a gust of wind closed the door. We can open it." Jones pointed at the door lock. "It seems to have auto-locked. This door has a smart feature that automatically locks itself."
"Auto-locks..."
Pasta remained extremely vigilant, looking at both of them. He didn't believe Jones's words; everything was too bizarre.
A scuffle that led to screams for help, but now both of them were acting as if nothing had happened. Moreover, he had seen the water in the bucket earlier; it was red, the color of blood, and a faint smell of blood still lingered in the room.
All of this indicated that something major had happened in this room, not just a simple argument and scuffle.
Did they... kill someone?
Or something else?
Pasta didn't know. But regardless, Jones needed to be taken in for questioning.
And at this very moment, John's body began to change.
His body instantly expanded, and the monstrous three heads and six arms appeared. The three officers were taken down in the blink of an eye.
"More good test subjects have arrived."
Qi Tian's voice emanated from John's mouth.
"Then let's hurry. More test subjects might arrive soon," John said, producing a fruit knife and stabbing it into Pasta's body.
...
"What is that puppet of yours?"
Lin Xiao, stepping off the plane, looked at Qi Tian, who was in an exceptionally good mood, and asked with some concern.
He felt that Qi Tian's demeanor suggested he was enjoying something, and after much thought, it could only be related to that puppet.
Furthermore, while on the plane, Qi Tian had mentioned communicating with the other party's superior through that puppet as a medium.
The way he communicated felt less like a conversation and more like an attempt to find a way to kill their so-called superior.
"A little thing that can regenerate and proliferate on its own," Qi Tian replied. "It just needs to use the bodies of living beings to achieve parasitic transformation and self-modification into a puppet. While its strength isn't very high, barely considered in the Zhiwei realm, it should be enough to deal with ordinary people. Their superiors are a bit weak."
"Self-proliferation?" Lin Xiao's eyes widened. Then he was startled: "Did you directly turn them all into your puppets?"
"Not all of them, but enough to teach them a lesson. If a transaction cannot be completed according to the terms of the contract they voluntarily signed, then punishment is inevitable," Qi Tian shrugged. "Just a little punishment."