Chapter 190: Chapter 190 Trip To Russia

Boss stood in that dimly lit hospital room, his stone-clad hand slowly returning to flesh. He flexed his fingers once more, feeling the surge of unnatural strength still flowing in his veins. Whatever this was… it wasn’t normal. It wasn’t even close to human.

And now, he wanted answers.

No more games.

No more theatrics.

He looked straight at the doctor, his voice calm but cold. “I want to know everything that happened while I was unconscious.”

The doctor gave a slow, solemn nod.

Without a word, he turned around and began walking toward a corner of the room. There, behind a rolling cabinet, he revealed a metallic door embedded in the wall. He tapped a code into a keypad, and with a soft hiss, the door slid open, revealing a tunnel dimly lit with blue lights stretching downward.

Boss didn’t hesitate. He followed.

The two men descended into the underground tunnel, their footsteps echoing through the narrow steel corridor. The deeper they went, the colder it became. Boss noticed subtle sounds—machinery humming behind the walls, a distant metallic clank, like something moving beneath the surface.

As they walked, the doctor finally spoke.

“When you were brought in, we assumed you were dead. You had no pulse. No breathing. You shouldn’t have been alive.”

Boss listened in silence.

“But,” the doctor continued, “one of our scanners picked up something faint. A spark. Just barely there. A fragment of life clinging to your corpse like a dying ember.”

“And you saved me?” Boss asked, voice rough with disbelief.

“No,” the doctor replied. “You were already gone. You would’ve died within seconds. But we had… something. A solution. Or a gamble, depending on how you look at it.”

Boss furrowed his brows. “What kind of gamble?”

The doctor exhaled slowly, voice lowering. “We injected you with the serum.”

Boss stopped walking for a second. “What serum?”

The doctor didn’t look back. He simply said, “F10.”

Boss repeated it quietly. “F10…” The name stirred nothing in him. No memory. No trigger. It felt like a code for something buried.

“What the hell is F10?” Boss asked again, now catching up beside him.

And the doctor began to explain.

“A long time ago, the government assembled four of the brightest scientists in the world. They weren’t interested in money or politics. They were obsessed with one idea—human evolution. They were tasked with creating a serum that would enhance mankind. Strength, speed, endurance, intelligence. The next step in human development.”

Boss listened, intrigued despite himself.

“They worked for years,” the doctor went on. “People outside the project assumed they failed. Nothing ever came out of their labs. But the truth was—those four scientists succeeded. They created something miraculous. They called it evolution in a vial.”

Boss’s jaw clenched. “So what happened?”

“The government got greedy,” the doctor said flatly. “They wanted to mass-produce it. Sell it. Use it for war. But the scientists refused. They realized the mistake they’d made. So they tried to destroy their work. Every sample, every formula.”

“And the government didn’t like that,” Boss muttered.

“No. They hunted them down. One by one. All four scientists were killed. But before they died, they managed to scatter the formula. Pieces of it. Not the full serum, just fragments—notes, corrupted data, incomplete strands.”

Boss narrowed his eyes. “Then what? The government tried to rebuild it?”

“They did,” the doctor confirmed. “For decades. They hired new scientists. Paid billions. But every attempt failed. They never got it right. Every version was flawed. Useless. Some turned people into vegetables. Others… monsters.”

“Then what the hell did you inject me with?” Boss demanded, his voice cold now.

The doctor finally stopped walking. They had reached a chamber deep underground—lined with metal walls, tanks, monitors, and strange machines humming with soft energy. This was no hospital anymore. It was something else. A lab. A bunker.

“One of the original four scientists didn’t die,” the doctor said.

Boss blinked. “What?”

“He disappeared. For years, no one could find him. Everyone assumed he was dead. But five years ago, he resurfaced. Quietly. No press. No announcement. But he’d been working all that time. Alone. And he made a breakthrough.”

Boss stared at him. “He rebuilt the serum?”

“Yes. But it wasn’t perfect. It still isn’t. His final creation—F10—is only 40% successful.”

Silence fell between them.

Boss’s heart dropped.

He laughed bitterly. “So let me get this straight—you injected me with something that only works 4 out of 10 times?”

The doctor didn’t blink. “Would you have preferred death?”

Boss didn’t answer.

The doctor stepped closer. “Would you have preferred to die, knowing that the ones who left you for dead would continue living their perfect lives? That they would never pay for what they did?”

Boss’s mind flashed back. Lilith’s face. Her gun. The burning pain in his eye. Liam standing there like a goddamn executioner.

He clenched his fists.

“No,” Boss whispered. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then you understand,” the doctor said. “You didn’t survive. You were chosen. And now, you’re something more.”

Boss turned slowly, taking in the machines around him, the deep pulse of technology, the echoes of something bigger than he could fully comprehend.

And still… one thing lingered in his mind.

“You said someone brought me in,” he muttered.

The doctor nodded.

“Who?”

The doctor paused for a long moment before saying a single name.

“Li.”

Boss stiffened. “Li?”

Of all people, he hadn’t expected that. That old bastard didn’t want him dead after all? The man who always hovered behind him, quietly pulling strings—he had been the one to save him?

Why?

Why now?

What did Li want?

A loud clap snapped Boss out of his thoughts.

He blinked, slightly startled, his mind still chewing on the revelation that it had been Li who saved him.

The doctor was already walking again, motioning for Boss to follow him deeper into the underground facility.

They passed through another thick door. It slid open with a hydraulic hiss, revealing a long corridor lined with reinforced glass walls. The moment Boss stepped into the space, he felt the temperature shift—colder, heavier. There was a hum in the air, not from machines, but from something wrong… like the atmosphere itself was disturbed.

Behind the glass, he saw them.

His eyes narrowed.

Humans—or what used to be humans. Twisted, malformed, grotesque shadows of what they once were. Some had limbs too long to be natural, others had eyes where they shouldn’t be. Their flesh bubbled in places, their mouths opened wide in silent screams. Some paced endlessly in their cells, some scratched at the glass with cracked fingernails, while others simply sat—vacant, empty.

Abominations.

“What the fuck is this?” Boss murmured.

The doctor’s voice came calm and matter-of-fact. “This… is what happens when the serum fails.”

Boss kept staring, his stomach tightening. There were at least ten of them. All different. All wrong. Not a single one had the same mutation. Some were monstrous in strength—one of them had shattered his own enclosure at the end of the corridor and was now bound in chains, drooling and growling low like an animal. Others had mutated mentally—silent, unmoving, broken beyond comprehension.

Boss turned away from the glass.

Only one word came to mind: Zombies.

That was what they looked like. Not the mindless movie kind, but something worse—something conscious, aware of what had happened to them.

“How many have died?” Boss asked quietly.

The doctor didn’t answer immediately. Then, with a shrug, he said, “Hundreds. Maybe more. The failures don’t get counted after the first few rounds. No one wants to keep a record of ghosts.”

Boss shook his head. “And you people kept trying?”

The doctor’s eyes met his. “Of course. Progress requires sacrifice. Especially the kind of progress that changes the course of human evolution.”

Boss stared at him. “You call this evolution?”

The doctor didn’t blink. “You didn’t die, did you?”

Boss clenched his jaw, then turned back to the twisted figures behind the glass. For a moment, he saw his own face reflected in it—half-shadowed, unfamiliar. He wasn’t like them. He’d survived. He was the evolution. But somehow, that didn’t feel like a win.

Not yet.

—

Far above the underground horrors, thousands of feet in the air, Liam sat by the window of a private jet, staring out into the endless stretch of white clouds.

It was strange, the calmness he felt.

This was his first time flying. In his world, people didn’t usually get the luxury of private jets—not until recently. The hum of the engines, the faint vibration through the floor, the pure white void outside—it all felt surreal. But the calm was deceptive. Inside, his mind was racing.

He wasn’t flying for pleasure.

He was headed to Russia.

And there were two reasons for this trip.

The first, Ann.

His people had finally brought him the full report. Her background, her family, their records—it all made sense now. Ann had been hiding something deep, something that clearly haunted her.

Her family was in massive debt.

Not just normal debt. Royal debt. The kind of debt that didn’t get forgiven. The kind of debt that came with ancient contracts and iron-clad deals.

And the repayment?

Marriage.

They were trying to marry Ann off to a prince—the youngest heir of a powerful Russian noble family. A family that didn’t care about love or choice. All they cared about was image, business, and restoring power.

Liam had been stunned.

No wonder she never told him.

It wasn’t about shame—it was survival.

That girl had been smiling in front of him, making jokes, teasing him like everything was normal, while behind the scenes, her future was being traded away like currency. Her silence wasn’t cowardice—it was pain.

And that made Liam furious.

But that wasn’t the only reason he was headed to Russia.

The second reason?

Jack.

Lilith’s information had come through—Jack had gone underground and resurfaced somewhere near St. Petersburg. If Liam could find him… he’d finally be able to end that Chapter.

Kill Jack.

Help Ann.

Two birds, one stone.

Liam leaned back in the leather seat, finally tearing his eyes from the window. He let out a breath, mind swimming with everything ahead.

And across from him, sitting like a queen in casual fashion royalty, was Lana.

She looked as stunning as ever.

Black leather jacket, blood-red lips, long dark waves falling over one shoulder. Her crossed legs swayed slightly as she scrolled lazily through her phone. But her eyes flicked up and met his, and there was that little smirk she wore—confident, playful, dangerous.

She hadn’t asked to come.

She told him she was coming.

Said she was tired of being in the modeling office. That she needed a distraction. Something more exciting. And really, what was more exciting than tagging along with Liam Carter on a dangerous, international trip.

Liam had hesitated for all of five seconds before caving.

Now she was here, legs up, smirking, enjoying the ride.

“You nervous?” she asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow.

Liam smirked faintly. “No. Just thinking.”

“About her?” Lana tilted her head.

Liam didn’t answer.

He closed his eyes, letting his body relax into the seat.

Russia.

Jack.

Ann.

Royal blood and dirty business.

He didn’t know what kind of hell was waiting for him there—but for once, he didn’t care.

Whatever this trip brought—opportunity or misfortune—he was ready.

He had to be.

****

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