Chapter 171 Project Genesis

Chapter 171 Project Genesis

 

The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, then slowly lowered his gun.

"These matters... Mr. Ashford, with all due respect, you don't need to know."

His voice was deep, a flicker of complex emotion crossing his eyes. "The more you know, the more dangerous it becomes. The Evernight Order has tentacles throughout all of Europe. No one who knows their secrets has survived."

"Is that so?"

A cold smile played at Leo's lips as his deep-set eyes calmly observed the middle-aged man.

"You're standing right in front of me now. Do you really think I can't find out anything?"

"I found this place. I saw through your daughter's disguise. I even faked unconsciousness when you drugged me..."

Leo advanced step by step toward the middle-aged man, his suffocating presence making the surrounding guards instinctively retreat half a step.

"Did you honestly think a few of you could fool me?"

"When I want to know something, no one can hide it from me."

"The only difference is..."

Leo stopped directly in front of the middle-aged man, his voice ice-cold. "Whether you tell me willingly and we become allies, or I find out myself and eliminate you alongside The Evernight Order as accomplices."

"Your choice."

The middle-aged man's body trembled, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Looking into the young man's fathomless eyes, he finally understood something.

Standing before him wasn't some ordinary investigator he could deceive.

This was the Reaper—the man who made Europe's entire underground world tremble in fear.

A true god of death forged on the battlefield.

Trying to hide anything from someone like this was suicide.

"You're right."

The middle-aged man took a deep breath and shook his head with a bitter smile.

"At this point, we have no choice but to trust you."

He waved at the guards behind him. "Everyone out."

The guards hesitated briefly before finally leaving the study.

Once only three people remained in the room, the middle-aged man walked to the sofa and sat down, wearily rubbing his temples.

"My name is Marcel Dupont. I was one of Professor Étienne Martineau's most prized students."

He gestured toward Yuna, who still stood to the side, clearly shaken.

"This is my daughter, Yuna Dupont."

Leo sat on the opposite sofa, pulling a cigar case from his coat pocket and lighting one.

"Where is the real Talia?"

Leo exhaled a stream of smoke, cutting straight to the point.

"Why did you have your daughter impersonate her?"

Marcel remained silent for a moment, complex emotions flickering in his eyes.

"To protect her."

Marcel spoke slowly.

"Talia is alive, but she's not in Paris. We've hidden her somewhere absolutely safe."

"For years, The Evernight Order has been searching for Professor Martineau's research materials and monitoring Talia."

"So I had Yuna impersonate Talia, continuing her work and life in Paris to divert The Evernight Order's attention."

"Meanwhile, the real Talia remains hidden in the shadows, guarding the final secret her father left behind."

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly. "How many people are in your organization?"

"Not many."

Marcel gave a bitter smile. "We're all Professor Martineau's former students. There were twelve researchers who worked under him back then."

"But over these twenty-five years, seven have already died."

"Some in car accidents, some in 'incidents,' and others..."

Marcel's voice trembled.

"Murdered directly by The Evernight Order."

"Now only five of us remain. We cover for each other, protect each other, all to safeguard the evidence our teacher left behind—waiting for an opportunity to expose The Evernight Order's crimes."

Leo took a deep drag from his cigar and slowly exhaled the smoke.

"Tell me about what happened back then."

"Twenty-five years ago—what exactly took place?"

Marcel closed his eyes, sinking into painful memories.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

"Spring of 1997. A Japanese man named Kenichi Yamamoto approached Professor Martineau."

"He claimed to be a biology professor at the University of Tokyo, leading an international medical research project to cure cancer."

"He presented an extremely detailed research proposal along with massive funding."

Marcel's voice grew increasingly somber.

"The project was called 'Project Genesis.'"

"Project Genesis?"

Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Exactly."

Marcel nodded.

"Kenichi Yamamoto claimed the plan would combine ancient genetic sequences with modern cellular regeneration technology to fundamentally cure cancer—even achieve permanent cellular regeneration in humans."

"In simple terms..."

Marcel took a deep breath.

"Immortality."

The room fell into brief silence.

Yuna stood to the side, trembling slightly.

Though she'd impersonated Talia for years, her knowledge of that shocking secret clearly came only from her father's fragments of information.

Leo exhaled smoke, his face showing no ripple of emotion.

Immortality.

Enough to drive anyone with vast wealth and power into madness.

And the Evernight Order was precisely that—a group of ageless monsters who'd lurked for seven hundred years.

"Continue," Leo said flatly.

"At first, Professor Martineau thought this was a normal medical research project—crazy perhaps, but still within ethical bounds."

Marcel smiled bitterly.

"He led us in pouring tremendous energy and passion into it. We worked day and night in the laboratory, analyzing the ancient genetic samples Kenichi brought, attempting to fuse them with modern cells."

"During that time, we all felt like we were changing human history, benefiting all mankind."

"But then..."

Marcel's voice suddenly turned extremely dark.

"One day, Professor Martineau accessed the core data."

"He discovered..."

Marcel's entire body shook violently.

"The Evernight Order wasn't trying to cure cancer at all! They were conducting extremely cruel genetic fusion experiments on living humans!"

"What?" Yuna cried out.

"That's right."

Marcel clenched his fists, his knuckles white from the pressure.

"The Evernight Order secretly kidnapped over a thousand 'test subjects' worldwide—homeless people, missing orphans, even refugees they bought from war-torn regions..."

"These people were sent to The Evernight Order's secret laboratories around the world, injected with unverified genetic serums, forcibly subjected to cellular fusion experiments..."

Marcel's voice trembled.

"Ninety-nine percent of the test subjects died in excruciating agony. Their organs failed, their cells collapsed, and they dissolved into pools of blood while screaming..."

"And the remaining one percent who survived became... monsters. Neither human nor ghost..."

"When my teacher saw those experimental records, he completely lost it."

Marcel's eyes reddened.

"He furiously confronted Kenichi and The Evernight Order, saying this wasn't medical research at all—it was a crime against humanity!"

"He was going to report it! Expose everything to the world!"

"And then?" Leo's voice was cold as a blade.

"Then..."

Marcel closed his eyes, tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Three days later, my teacher died in a 'car accident.'"

"The police ruled it an accident. The case closed quickly."

"But we all knew The Evernight Order had silenced him."

Marcel's eyes snapped open, staring intently at Leo.

"Mr. Ashford, The Evernight Order isn't some ancient noble organization—they're demons wearing civilization's mask!"

"For immortality, they'll commit any atrocity imaginable!"

Leo crushed his cigar in the ashtray, an extreme coldness flashing in his deep eyes.

"Where is Kenichi now?"

"I don't know."

Marcel shook his head.

"After my teacher died, Kenichi vanished. We've searched for twenty-five years without finding any trace of him."

"The man evaporated like he never existed, never appearing in public again."

"However..."

Marcel pulled an old envelope from inside his coat and handed it to Leo.

"Before he died, my teacher secretly recorded some information about Kenichi. Including a contact address in Japan, and... an extremely secretive totem marking."

Leo took the envelope and tore it open.

Inside was a yellowed slip of paper.

Written in French was a Japanese address:

[3-1-1 Sakurada-dori, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Underground Laboratory Level B7]

Below the address, drawn in black ink, was an extremely sinister totem.

A black dragon coiled in a circle, holding a red gemstone in its mouth.

The dragon's body was covered with densely packed ancient runes.

Leo stared at the totem, his gaze growing colder.

"This totem..."

Marcel's voice was low. "According to my teacher's notes, this is the marking of an extremely ancient, extremely secretive organization in Japan."

"The organization is called the Black Dragon Society."

Black Dragon Society!

Leo's eyes suddenly sharpened.

That name again.

The Japanese sniper who'd tried to assassinate him in New York bore the Fujiwara family crest as a tattoo.

And now the Black Dragon Society appeared.

Japan, the Fujiwara family, the Black Dragon Society, the Evernight Order, Project Genesis...

All the threads pointed toward an enormously vast, terrifyingly deep conspiracy.

Leo pocketed the paper and stood.

"Mr. Dupont, you've done well."

Leo's voice was low. "From now on, protect Talia. Protect all the evidence Étienne left behind."

"I'll go to Japan myself and tear these demons out by the roots."

With that, Leo strode out of the study.

Marcel and Yuna stood in place, watching that Reaper-like figure disappear through the door, their hearts surging with shock.

This man...

Was he really going to overturn The Evernight Order single-handedly?