Chapter 10: The Hidden Palace p2
Half an hour later, the smell of roasting meat filled the air. The “roast man” was done.
But the experiment was still a failure.
Fang Qiang was disappointed, but he was used to failure from his time at the research institute. He wasn’t discouraged. He just picked another unlucky bandit and started again.
Don’t think of them as people. Just think of them as talking monkeys.
With this thought, he continued to change his methods, using different levels of heat to roast the bandits one by one, turning them into charred corpses.
Soon, only one was left. He was already scared senseless, his pants soaked with piss and shit.
Fang Qiang thought hard. Where was the problem?
He racked his brain, trying to recall every detail of the night he had injected himself, trying to find what was different from today’s experiments.
Suddenly, he remembered something. That night, before the injection, he had drunk more than half a bottle of wine and was nearly drunk.
Could it have been the alcohol that had caused some kind of change in his body?
As if enlightened, Fang Qiang took a bottle of rubbing alcohol from his suitcase, pried open the last bandit’s mouth, and poured the entire contents down his throat. Then he injected the synthesis agent and set the tree trunks on fire, piling them on top of the bandit.
In short, he tried to replicate the conditions of that night as closely as possible.
But the experiment was still a failure.
“Something must be wrong! Is it a gene mismatch? Or the temperature? Or is the human body rejecting the foreign genes?”
Fang Qiang held his head in his hands, lost in thought. After a long time, an idea flashed in his mind.
“That’s right. The genes of different species are not the same as human genes. Forcing them to merge is bound to cause a lot of adverse reactions! The human immune system itself will strongly reject foreign genes. Although, according to the professor’s theory, this rejection can be suppressed to the greatest extent, and the immune system can be tricked into accepting the foreign genes, the mysteries of the human genome are too vast. There must be countless secrets we have yet to uncover! That’s probably why the professor died. But why did I succeed?”
Fang Qiang had figured it out. Instead of experimenting on others to find the right synthesis method, he should first understand himself. He believed the answer to the puzzle lay within his own body.
“One person’s wisdom is always limited…”
Suddenly, he felt a strong desire for a like-minded partner, preferably a reptile expert who also understood genetics. Although Fang Qiang had a background in genetics, he knew nothing about reptiles.
“I’ll think about that later. First, I need to clean this up. It’ll be a problem if someone finds the bodies.”
Fang Qiang got busy again. He tied the bodies together, head to toe, forming a long chain of flesh, and dragged them deep into the forest.
Although this place was remote, he couldn’t be 100% sure no one would ever come here. He had to find a more hidden spot.
After walking for a while, he came to the edge of the forest. In front of him was a cliff.
He peered over the edge. It was a bottomless drop, seemingly into a swamp—the perfect place to dispose of the bodies.
He gave a mighty shove and sent all the bodies tumbling over the edge.
The five charred corpses rolled down the cliff face. After falling about a hundred meters, they were suddenly caught on a long, protruding rock ledge, where they hung, dangling like swings. Fang Qiang cursed his bad luck. He threw a few large rocks down, trying to knock the bodies off, but he couldn’t hit them.
He had no choice but to find another way. The cliff face was extremely steep. Climbing down it would be difficult even for an ancient martial arts hero. Fortunately, there were many long vines growing on the cliff, like natural ropes, that reached all the way to the bottom.
Fang Qiang tested the strength of the vines and, satisfied, wrapped several around his waist, grabbed a few more in his hands, and began to climb down.
After a great deal of effort, his feet finally touched the long rock ledge. He kicked the five bodies off, and they tumbled down, mixing with the dirt and sand, quickly shrinking in his vision until they disappeared.
He let out a sigh of relief and was about to climb back up when he happened to notice a dark cave opening in the cliff face about ten meters below, where a few monkeys were peeking out and jumping around.
Could that be the wild monkeys’ nest?
His curiosity piqued, and thinking that he might need monkeys for future experiments, he continued to climb down toward the cave.
The opening was about a meter in diameter, surrounded by overgrown weeds. Looking up from here, his view was blocked by the long rock ledge, so he couldn’t see the top of the cliff. And, of course, the reverse was also true, which was why he hadn’t seen the cave from above.
When the monkeys saw him, they began to screech and fled into the cave.
Fang Qiang lit his lighter, bent down, and entered the cave, feeling his way forward.
For the first ten steps or so, he had to stoop, which was difficult. But then the passage grew wider. After passing through a narrow tunnel, the space suddenly opened up into a large natural cavern.
The light in the cavern was surprisingly bright. Although it couldn’t compare to sunlight or electric light, it was at least as bright as candlelight.
Fang Qiang was surprised. He extinguished his lighter, and the light vanished, plunging him into darkness.
Startled, he quickly relit it, and the cavern was bright again.
After repeating this a few times, he finally figured it out. The inner walls of the cavern were covered in smooth, translucent crystals. Any small source of light would be reflected by these countless crystals, like a hall of mirrors, greatly amplifying the brightness. When the light source was gone, the crystals themselves did not glow, and so the cavern was dark.
As he was marveling at this amazing sight, he heard a great screeching. At least twenty or thirty wild monkeys poured out from all sides, startled by the light. They scattered in a panic, fleeing out of the cave.
They left behind a floor littered with apples, bananas, corn, and other crops.
It seemed a troop of wild monkeys was using this place as a food storehouse. Fang Qiang found it amusing. He stepped over the mess and began to explore.
Around the large cavern were five or six smaller caves, like a suite with a living room and several bedrooms. The entire place was very dry and warm, and the air was relatively fresh. He could even feel a faint mountain breeze.
He looked into each of the smaller caves. Aside from some monkey droppings, they were all relatively clean, with no insects or spiders.
Ha, with a little cleaning, this place wouldn’t be a bad place to live.
At first, it was just a passing thought. But the more he considered it, the more he realized the value of this cave.
He was now wanted for rape and murder. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t be discovered. If he was ever hunted by the police, where could he hide?
The answer was this cave.
If he stored enough food and water here beforehand, in this hidden cave, inaccessible from above or below, absolutely no one would be able to find him.
And if he ever needed to experiment on people again, he could do it here. When he was done, he could just throw the bodies off the cliff. It was convenient and easy.
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. He secretly resolved to turn this cave into his own private lair, to make it comfortable, a hidden nest.
The only drawback was that living here alone would be a bit lonely…
But wait. If he was afraid of being lonely, he could just bring other people here.
For example… Ye Ling.
Fang Qiang’s eyes lit up. He was thrilled.
Although he had already had his way with her, he was far from finished with her body. Why not just kidnap her and imprison her in this cave for his own pleasure?
He would capture that bitch Ye Ling, train her as a sex slave, make her his and his alone, make her serve him obediently for the rest of her life, bear his children, and work without complaint…
The idea was brilliant! Fang Qiang trembled with excitement.
And not just Ye Ling. There were so many other beautiful women. The supermodel Yu Xin, who had bullied him. The host Wen Qing, who had deceived him. The officer Ruan Lin, who had beaten him… All these beautiful, proud, and wicked women—he should capture them all, lock them up here, and possess them, train them, make them repent for their past sins, make them kowtow to him and beg for mercy, then offer up their sexy, snow-white bodies in atonement…
In an instant, a magnificent scene appeared in Fang Qiang’s mind: dozens of stunningly beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, their hands and feet bound in thick shackles, locked away naked in this cave, kneeling obediently, waiting for his pleasure…
Just the thought of it was uncontrollably exciting.
Of course, to hold so many beautiful women, this cave was a bit small. But that was no problem. He could expand it slowly.
Tiger Mountain was huge. He could continue to excavate, to build a vast, hidden palace in the heart of the mountain. He would be the king of this palace, and he could expand his harem as much as he wished.
When that day came, ha, ha, he would be the “sexiest” and happiest man in the world!
Fang Qiang was ecstatic. He laughed and jumped like a madman, singing at the top of his lungs.
He believed that with his superpowers, achieving all this would be no difficult task. The first step was to integrate the abilities of more animals into his own body. That way, his skills would grow stronger and stronger, and whether it was kidnapping beautiful women or fighting the police, his chances of success would be much greater…
After what felt like an eternity, when his lighter finally ran out of fuel, Fang Qiang snapped out of his wonderful reverie. Full of ambition, he left the cave and climbed the vines back to the top of the cliff.
He planned to move his luggage into the cave immediately, then go down the mountain to buy necessary supplies, food, and water to set the place up.
He even considered buying a small generator, running some wires for simple lighting, and getting a wireless card for his laptop. Then it would have most of the comforts of modern life.
As he cheerfully planned, Fang Qiang hurried through the forest, heading for the jeep, ready to put his plan into action immediately.
Even the most brilliant police officer would never be able to find this palace.
Almost no one ever came to such a remote part of Tiger Mountain. Even if they did, nine out of ten wouldn’t bother to cross the forest. And even if they did, they wouldn’t go to the edge of the cliff to look over. And even if they did, because of the angle and the obstruction of the rock ledge, they would never see the hidden cave entrance.
This place was one hundred percent safe. Hahaha…
Just as he was about to laugh out loud, his body stiffened. His eyes widened in shock.
The jeep was just ahead. But next to it, there was now a police car.
Two police officers, a man and a woman, were bent over, examining something on the ground.
Hearing the noise from his direction, the two officers looked up. They were both familiar faces.
Zhou Cong and Ruan Lin.
Fang Qiang instinctively ducked back, but the two officers had already spotted him. They both shouted.
“Who’s there? Come out!”
As they shouted, they both charged toward him.
