341-345

Chapter 341: Wishing All College Entrance Exam Takers Success on Their Exams—Don't Read Novels During This Time! 

After their conversation, Denton said goodbye to the lawyer who voluntarily helped them, then drove back home. 

As he stepped through the door, he suddenly felt something amiss, a sort of—dangerous aura. 

"Someone's here?" 

It was ten o'clock at night. 

Ever since she got sick, Elizabeth's routine had become extremely regular at the request of her doctor and Denton. By this time, she should have been fast asleep upstairs. 

So, why was the living room light still on? 

Denton immediately recalled the mysterious person's warning call to him earlier. In that instant, his heart started racing, cold sweat broke out on his back, and his nerves stretched to their limit. 

Then, he raised his voice slightly, trying to sound calm and casual as he asked the illuminated living room, "Elizabeth, it's so late. Aren't you asleep yet?" 

No response came. 

He walked straight through the entrance hallway into the living room, his gaze instinctively sweeping every corner, wanting to make sure the intruder wasn't hiding in the dark, ready to ambush him. 

But there was no one in any corner. 

The small living room light was still on, emitting a steady, soft glow. None of the other appliances were on, and Denton was sure Elizabeth hadn't left the light on for him. 

"Elizabeth?" 

He whispered again, but still received no reply. 

It wasn't until he turned his head that a blood-red lightning bolt suddenly flashed across his vision. 

Whoosh— 

"Who's there!" 

Denton barked, immediately drawing the pistol from his waist—this wasn't one of the guns he'd stolen; it was a pistol he'd bought later, with all the proper paperwork. 

The black van and the stolen pistols and magazines had long been disposed of—the mysterious person on the phone helped with that. 

Though he didn't know how they were handled, Denton didn't care. The other party already knew everything about him and was incredibly resourceful, making them the most suitable person to entrust with such a secret. 

But at this moment, Denton saw no one in front of him, as if the ghostly red lightning bolt was just a hallucination. 

"Are you looking for me?" 

A chilling voice suddenly sounded from behind him, its quality like a damaged, broken radio, with a blurred hum and vibration, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female, old or young. 

Denton heard the voice speak directly into his ear, realizing the person was right behind him, almost touching him. He was so startled he nearly lost half his life, instinctively swinging the gun butt backward. But he hit nothing. 

The red lightning easily appeared behind him the moment he turned, moving too fast to track, like a ghostly apparition. 

As Denton turned back, the person within the lightning gently extended a hand, gripping his neck and lifting him into the air. 

"Gasp—" 

Denton's voice and breath were immediately cut off, his throat unable to draw air, only emitting a gurgling sound. When he looked up, he finally saw the unwelcome intruder in his home. 

It was a strange yellow humanoid phantom, blurry all over like a scattered afterimage. Aside from recognizing it as a yellow human shape, Denton couldn't make out any details of its body, as if it were a low-quality virtual 3D projection. 

Yet the hand gripping his throat told Denton that the being was indeed real and existed in the three-dimensional world. 

"Denton Black." The humanoid phantom's broken humming voice spoke again: "I have questions for you. Answer them, or you die." 

Sharp, cold, and utterly disregardful of human life, that simple sentence immediately made Denton understand the newcomer's style—definitely a ruthless, cold-blooded killer. 

Denton frantically blinked his eyes, signaling for the other party to let him go. When they finally did, he fell heavily to the floor. 

"Cough, cough, cough!" 

He gasped for air, coughing violently, almost coughing up his entire throat. 

However, the yellow phantom had no intention of waiting for Denton to recover: it just asked, indifferently and coldly, "Was it you who brought together the hundreds of people for the joint lawsuit against Styger?" 

"It was me…" 

"Why did you have this idea?" 

Upon hearing this question, Denton's expression drastically changed. 

Sure enough, the mysterious person's warning was about this individual in front of him. 

"You want to know that?" 

Denton immediately raised his gun the next second: "I'm not telling you, damn it!" 

Whoosh— 

Red lightning illuminated the yellow phantom, and in the next instant, it was standing behind Denton again. 

"Incorrect answer." 

Its cold voice held a hint of killing intent. It flattened a blurry hand, pointed its fingers like a blade, and extended it towards Denton's back. 

Strangely, that hand seemed like a phantom image; it ignored Denton's flesh and penetrated his body from his spine, leaving no visible wounds or blood. 

"Ah—!" 

Denton immediately screamed in pain. He felt his back muscles being violently torn apart, as if a moving, sharp scalpel inside his body was brutally cutting open his subcutaneous tissue. 

"Shh—" 

The yellow phantom's right hand was still thrust into Denton's back. Its left hand gently raised a finger to its lips, making a "quiet" gesture. 

"Quiet down, Mr. Black," it whispered. "Don't wake your wife, Elizabeth." 

This time, the voice was like a serpent hissing, sending shivers down Denton's spine. Only then did he finally realize that the other person was absolutely a psychopathic killer, and one of the extremely rational and cruel kind. 

He had no choice but to cover his mouth with a hand to prevent his cries of pain from truly waking his wife. If Elizabeth were drawn downstairs, she might also become a target for elimination. 

"You're doing well, Mr. Black." The yellow figure smiled with satisfaction. "If you had cooperated sooner, you wouldn't have had to suffer like this." 

It abruptly pulled its right hand out, watching Denton twitch on the ground from the intense pain: "Now, tell me, were you originally planning to confront Styger directly at the awards ceremony, but then you gave up? And why did you think of the joint lawsuit? How did you get those pieces of evidence, and where did you put them?" 

"Also, did someone guide you to this path, and who is that person?" 

Denton's internal alarm bells were blaring. 

"He's after that mysterious person!" 

Should I tell him? If I tell this person everything, will I survive? 

After hesitating for a few seconds, Denton remembered the other person's warning to him earlier. 

"You will definitely die, Mr. Black, and you must pretend to know nothing about it. Only by preparing yourself like this might you survive." 

He immediately made up his mind. 

Chapter 342: Utterly Powerless to Win 

"Sounds like you've got a lot on your mind," the Yellow-Clad Figure observed. 

Denton, enduring the intense pain in his back, struggled to his feet. "If I tell you everything, will you let me go?" 

"That depends on whether you tell the truth." 

Denton knew deep down he couldn't tell the whole truth. 

"Think, Denton, think," he panted, asking himself, "If I hadn't encountered the Enigma, what would I do in this situation?" 

Two seconds later, he had his thoughts straight. 

"Fine," he said, stumbling back a few steps and leaning against the wall for support. "I'll tell you everything, but you have to let my wife and me go." 

"Excellent," the Yellow-Clad Figure let out a terrifying laugh. "First question: Were you one of the thugs who tried to attack Staiger a few days ago?" 

"I... I was." 

Denton could barely lift his arm now. He retreated further, pressing his back against the wall to keep from falling. 

Hearing his answer, the Yellow-Clad Figure pressed closer. "How many of you? What tools did you use?" 

"Six of us, twelve guns. We didn't act in the end; we left in a van." 

Denton's details were spot on, confirming to the Yellow-Clad Figure that he wasn't lying. 

"Then why didn't you act?" 

"Staiger left early that day. The plan failed; we didn't get our chance." 

"Who were the other five?" 

"It was... cough! cough! It was Dandan..." 

Denton gritted his teeth, enduring the tearing pain from his back wound, coughing out a name amidst his painful gasps. 

"Who?" 

The Yellow-Clad Figure leaned in a few steps. 

"It was—Danton Black!" 

The instant the Yellow-Clad Figure drew near, Denton suddenly erupted. Two other Dantons instantly split from his body, surrounding the Yellow-Clad Figure from left and right. The two clones, caught off guard, charged low at the Yellow-Clad Figure, arms outstretched to tackle him, while Denton himself instantly drew his gun, ready to fire. 

"You—!" 

The Yellow-Clad Figure truly hadn't expected Denton to be a metahuman. He was startled by the unexpected turn of events, and that split second was enough for the two close-range Denton clones to lunge. 

By the time the Yellow-Clad Figure reacted and entered his accelerated state, the two Dantons' arms had already touched him, and the embrace was about to be completed. There was no more space to maneuver. 

"A good try." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure's voice rang out again, but unlike previous times, this time, his tone carried an icy, bone-chilling killing intent, and a hint of disdain for Denton's struggle. 

Buzz— 

His body became even more indistinct at that moment. A strange hum seemed to faintly echo in the air, like something vibrating at high speed. 

The next moment, the Denton clones from left and right charged forward. 

Bang! 

Their bodies passed right through the Yellow-Clad Figure's, slamming into each other with full force, knocking each other senseless before bouncing off violently and falling to the ground. 

Although the clones didn't have the instinctive fear of pain and injury—they were merely controllable shells—they were still flesh and blood. They wouldn't be getting up again anytime soon. 

Denton, gun in hand, was horrified. He couldn't bring himself to fire that bullet now, because he had seen his two clones pass through the Yellow-Clad Figure's body and then collide with each other. This guy in front of him was like an illusory shadow; physical damage from the real world seemed incapable of harming him in the slightest. 

"That's interesting, Black." 

He let out a low, cold laugh. "You're deep and patient. If you hadn't met me, no one would have discovered you're a metahuman." 

"Do you think your power is your trump card for a desperate comeback?" 

Denton stared intently at the Yellow-Clad Figure, his gun still pointed at him. 

"If you really weren't afraid of getting hit, you wouldn't have dodged my punches in the first place—I'm guessing that when others can't hit you, you can't hit them either. Conversely, when you want to attack, you can still be hit by a bullet." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure listened to his words and nodded. 

"Are you done analyzing?" 

"Huh?" 

Whoosh— 

The red lightning flashed again, whipping up a gust of wind. When Denton opened his eyes again, the figure in front of him had vanished without a trace. 

"He's gone?" 

Denton immediately looked around; there was no sign of the Yellow-Clad Figure anywhere in sight. 

"Impossible... he wouldn't just leave like that." 

"Smart." 

A chilling voice came from behind him, and Denton's body instantly froze. 

Because his back was against the wall. 

Before he could react, a blood-stained hand reached out from within the wall, then plunged into Denton's body from behind once more. 

"Ugh!" 

The intense pain almost made Denton scream. He clapped a hand over his mouth, stumbling forward a few steps—but he didn't fall to the ground. 

"My hand is holding your ribs right now, Black. Feel that?" 

The terrifying voice echoed from behind as the Yellow-Clad Figure calmly walked out of the wall. 

"You think that by leaning against a wall, your back is safe?" He tilted his head, observing the pale-faced Denton. "But in front of me, there's nowhere in the world that's truly safe." 

Snap! 

One of Denton's ribs was instantly severed. 

"You—ugh!" 

The searing pain in his back cut Denton's words short. At this moment, he felt like a lamb to the slaughter, fish on a chopping block. 

Only now did he understand why the Enigma was so sure he would die. 

"I'm tired of wasting words, Black." The Yellow-Clad Figure casually threw him to the ground. "But your power has explained a lot to me, and now, I just need to confirm one more thing—tell me, why did you change your plan and stop trying to kill Staiger, opting for a joint lawsuit instead?" 

"Don't play any more tricks. If there's a next time, my right hand will cut through your heart, and then through Elizabeth's heart." 

"It's... cough, cough." Blood seeped from Denton's mouth and nose as he struggled to answer. "It's because of Elizabeth's health. She's getting better, cough cough, that's why I filed the joint lawsuit—I want my research back to cure her." 

"Oh, how touching." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure reached into Denton's pocket and pulled out his phone, then lifted one of Denton's hands to unlock it, asking casually, as if making small talk, "And your powers? How did you get them?" 

"After the Star Labs explosion, Elizabeth's condition started, cough cough, deteriorating," Denton said, spilling everything now. "I was kicked out of the company by Staiger. In the end, I had no choice but to experiment on myself... and that's how this happened." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure's eyes gleamed with an unusual light. 

Chapter 343: The Oppressive Shadow of Death 

"Interesting..." 

Denton suddenly felt lighter; the Yellow-Clad Figure's hand seemed to withdraw from his back. The figure then squatted down and asked, "Are you saying you gained your powers because of that explosion?" 

"The explosion's influence?" 

The intense pain in his body kept Denton from trying to get up. He lay on the ground, struggling to answer, "But I only got this replication ability after the experiment." 

"Do you think a simple cloning experiment could create a self-replicating metahuman?" the Yellow-Clad Figure scoffed. "Dark matter had already entered your body when that explosion happened. Your experiment merely activated and integrated it." 

"However, what's interesting is that I'm a bit hesitant to kill you now, Black. I'm about eighty percent sure that, if you're not lying, in a way, your fate was orchestrated by me." 

"Go to hell." 

Denton cursed weakly. "My fate has nothing to do with you. I achieved this research through my own efforts." 

"Whatever you say. Now, tell me the last question: Where did your evidence come from?" 

"Didn't you already take my phone? Look yourself." 

"Oh?" 

The Yellow-Clad Figure easily opened the files on the phone. 

"Interesting, this folder is encrypted—what's the password?" 

"8953." 

"Let me guess, her birthday?" 

Denton said nothing. 

The Yellow-Clad Figure didn't care and opened a video. 

"Just yesterday, an employee from the company's cybersecurity department was fired." 

"He shouldn't have directly investigated the files the company was hiding; there's too much dirt in there—at least not so blatantly." 

"But his recklessness did help me uncover things I wouldn't have dared to investigate otherwise. I secretly copied his data and found it was about an infringement case from three years ago." 

"I'm already used to Staiger Corporation's methods. Today, I'm backing up information on a new product Staiger Corporation launched in 2014. This product plagiarized..." 

"Pictures, case procedures, and related reports, along with several video clips, have all been recorded. This is the sixty-third case involving Staiger Corporation I've documented, and there will be more in the future." 

"I don't know if what I'm doing is right, Staiger... He is my friend, after all. In fact, he told me I was his best friend." 

"Am I a bad friend for collecting evidence against the company and my friend?" 

"I don't know; my mind is a mess. But this is wrong, what Staiger is doing is wrong, and I can't turn a blind eye. I'm a researcher myself, and I know how awful it feels to have your work usurped." 

"August 3rd, 2017. This is Danton Black, file number 173." 

"Amazing patience and initiative, Black," the Yellow-Clad Figure said, flipping through the records. He couldn't help but laugh and clap in approval. "For someone as smart as you, the only thing that could hold you back is loyalty, isn't it?" 

Denton still didn't respond. 

He was inwardly amazed by the Enigma's vast knowledge. His friendship with Staiger was years ago, known to few, yet the figure could still use that reason to fill the last loophole in the fabricated video. 

Yes, if Danton Black chose not to expose Staiger out of friendship, and then collected evidence out of a sense of justice, his silence all these years would seem perfectly logical because he didn't want to see his friend jailed. 

"Only when you were kicked out of the company did you see Staiger for who he truly was." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure put the phone back into Black's pocket. A faint smile seemed to play on his indistinct face. "I originally thought you were a pawn someone else was using to disrupt the board. Now I realize I was the only one making moves all along." 

"Since no one is hindering me, I'm not really keen on killing you, Black. You're somewhat to my liking—I appreciate smart people, especially smart people who are willing to cross a line when necessary, and I particularly like smart people with a weakness." 

At this, Denton's tense body gradually relaxed. He let out a long sigh, a feeling of relief washing over him, grateful to have survived. 

"I made it..." 

Thwack! 

In the very next instant, the Yellow-Clad Figure's sharp, high-frequency hand blade pierced his body again. 

"But you're too smart, and you know too much—I'm sorry, the moment you saw me, you were already doomed. I can't let you leak information about me and my abilities." 

Denton's eyes unfocused. With his last bit of strength, he looked at the Yellow-Clad Figure, instinctively thinking of Elizabeth upstairs. 

"I hope she lives." 

The Yellow-Clad Figure seemed to understand Denton's gaze and added, "Don't worry, you didn't wake her up, so she'll live." 

"I'll leave your phone here, and your body will be thrown into the sea—rest easy." 

And so, Denton closed his eyes. 

The Yellow-Clad Figure turned around, carefully surveying his surroundings. When he first arrived, he had already ransacked Denton's house. Now, he needed to confirm what traces he had left behind. 

"No knives, no guns," he thought. "He has no external wounds; the injuries I caused are all internal." 

"Only a few drops of blood on the floor from my hand, which are easy to wipe away. Even if found with a UV light, they'd just be assumed to be nosebleeds or something similar." 

"Good, this was a clean job." 

He went to the sink, washed the blood from his hands, and nodded in satisfaction. 

Crimson lightning coursed rapidly over his body. The next second, a gust of wind swept through, and Denton on the floor, the few drops of blood, and the Yellow-Clad Figure's form vanished from the room. 

A few seconds later, the bloody electric light streaked from the street to the seaside. Denton's body was tossed high and then plunged into the water. 

The electric light flashed again, and the Yellow-Clad Figure vanished without a trace. The city returned to its usual calm. 

Denton's wife remained asleep upstairs, completely unaware of everything that had happened below. 

In the wallpaper shop, Cody nervously stared at the tablet in his hand. "Is he gone? Is he gone?" 

"Boss, it seems he's really gone, meow." 

The man and the cat, along with the rickshaw, all breathed a sigh of relief. 

On the screen, in the villa's basement, a figure opened a door and walked up the stairs back to the ground floor. 

It was Denton's true body. 

"This kid's acting is pretty superb," Cody commented. 

"If it wasn't convincing, he wouldn't fool the Reverse-Flash," the rickshaw added. 

"So, us?" 

"Are we free? Don't have to guard this place anymore?" 

"Hmm, as long as Denton hides with his wife in—" 

Cody's voice abruptly cut off. 

Because on the nanobot's surveillance feed, a blurry yellow figure reappeared at Denton's doorstep. 

Chapter 344: The Divine Power of the Cart 

P.S.: I apologize. Cody desperately wanted to use a phone message to send Denton straight back to the basement, but unfortunately, Denton had nothing on him at the moment. All his usual belongings were on the clone impersonating his real self. 

Denton had just experienced a murder firsthand through the clone, and still reeling from the near-death experience, he practically crawled out of the basement step by step. 

He used trembling hands to steady himself against the wall. The phantom pain of severed muscles and broken ribs still faintly emanated from within, but the most terrifying sensation was that of a hand blade cutting through his heart. That pain wasn't just physical; it was etched deep in his brain. 

The feeling of blood ceasing to flow, the near-death sensation as his brain gradually lost consciousness, the suffocating feeling of seawater filling his nostrils and lungs… 

There's great terror between life and death. Denton struggled to maintain his movements, stiffly ascending the stairs. He needed to first ensure Elizabeth's safety. 

To his relief, his wife was sound asleep in bed. 

He went to the window, looking at Elizabeth's somewhat blurry face in the darkness. The phantom pain and trembling in his body gradually subsided. 

Her peaceful, even, soft breathing echoed rhythmically in the darkness, her body gently rising and falling with each breath. He wondered if she was dreaming of a vacation. 

Denton quietly watched her for a minute, then stood up and kissed her forehead. He tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind him. His mood was much calmer now, so he walked back to the living room, found the phone the man in yellow had left on the table, and prepared to immediately buy two tickets to Santorini. 

However, when he picked up the phone, he saw a yellow shadow reflected on the black screen. 

The shadow stood under the moonlight, quietly watching him. 

Denton's sensitive nerves exploded at that moment. His brain trembled, his cells screamed, his mind boiled. 

And his body—his body couldn't move. 

He was frozen in place by fear. 

"A very simple question." The man in yellow's broken and eerie voice became deliberately slow now: "When a person has the ability to self-split, who can be sure whether the one killed is the clone or the true body?" 

"In other words, if a person has the ability to self-split, why would they expose their true body? Moreover, Styger isn't a good person; he might use any means to deal with his opponents." 

"Luckily, I don't have to worry about this, Denton. I have a way to know who I'm killing—of course, I can't tell you." 

"Now the question is, where is the true body?" 

With each word the man in yellow spoke, he took a step towards Denton. He could have instantly appeared behind Denton, but he deliberately chose this method to exert immense pressure on him. 

"Do you think I'd tell you my location?" Denton tried to act calm. "So you can easily kill me?" 

"Oh, that's very easy," the man in yellow sneered. "No need for any high-tech methods or special tricks. I just need to go upstairs and use a hand blade to cut off Elizabeth's fingers, and you'll obediently hand over your location." 

"You tell me one location, and I'll go kill you once. If I don't kill the true body, I'll cut off another one of her fingers. After ten times, it'll be her toes, then other parts—but actually, I suggest you tell me your real location the first time, because I'd rather not have her see me." 

"What do you think? Let her die in torment, or sleep unknowingly until tomorrow?" 

Looking into the man in yellow's blood-red eyes, Denton had no doubt; he knew the other party was truly capable of such an act. 

"Bastard, you're a goddamn monster, you're not even human!" 

Faced with Denton's curses, the man in yellow showed no sign of embarrassment or anger. 

"Quickly, Mr. Black, quickly." The indifferent voice showed no ripples of emotion: "In three seconds, I'll decide to kill this one first." 

"My opinion is simple: I bet you wouldn't kiss your wife with a clone. You'd be with her as your true self." 

"I've played my card, Mr. Black," the man in yellow said, walking in front of Denton. "Now, it's your turn." 

Denton watched him raise a hand, his hand a blur like the Grim Reaper's scythe, representing unavoidable death. 

He gritted his teeth and asked, "If I really tell you my location, how can I be sure you won't touch Elizabeth?" 

"What good would it do me to make things more complicated? Unless absolutely necessary, I didn't even want to appear tonight." 

"You want me to unilaterally put my hope in your promise? The promise of a psychopathic killer?" 

"You have no choice." 

After a moment of silence, Denton finally replied, "You guessed right, I am the true body." 

"Excellent." 

A smile spread across the man in yellow's lips: "Are you ready to face your fate, Black?" 

"Go to hell." 

"Nothing new for a last word." 

The hand blade pierced Denton's chest the next moment. 

He once again felt death spread through his body. In the last moment of fading consciousness, a hint of unwillingness still flashed in his mind. 

"I really wanted to cure her myself…" 

When the blood-red lightning once again carried Denton out of the room, Cody immediately activated another GPS tracker on his phone. 

Sanbengzi looked at the two overlapping red dots and couldn't help but comment, "This guy threw Denton's true body and his clone to the same coordinates, both in the sea." 

"What a twisted sense of humor..." 

"Stop babbling, get the backup plan ready, Dumb Cat—Dumb Cat! Where did it go at such a crucial moment?" 

Sanbengzi immediately replied, "The moment the coordinates were confirmed, Dumb Cat suddenly appeared with a wooden cart from who knows where, and then vanished." 

Cody finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Vanished, really? I thought it would have to run all the way there." 

"In that case, by the time Dumb Cat reached the seashore, Denton would have been long dead, wouldn't he?" 

"Don't talk nonsense. As long as the Cat Cart chooses its target, they'll always have one last breath, no matter what. We were lucky this time; the Cat Cart activated after Reverse Flash left the scene. If it had activated right there in the villa, we'd never have any peace later." 

In just a few words, Dumb Cat suddenly reappeared behind them, dragging a small wooden cart. With a flip and a lift, Denton, who was lying in the cart, tumbled onto the ground. 

He looked a bit miserable. 

"Why didn't you send him back into the house?" 

"But boss, this is our camp, meow?" 

The man and the cat stared at each other, and Denton, disoriented from the fall, finally managed to get back up from the ground. 

Chapter 345: Is It Strange for a Food Truck Owner to Know Some Immortal Arts? 

A scarlet lightning bolt streaked across the night sky. 

It ran on the surface of the water, tossed Denton's body into the ocean, and then sped back to the streets of Central City, rushing toward S.T.A.R. Labs. 

It didn't waste any more time checking Denton's house, because if the man was still alive, he certainly wouldn't show himself again. Now, only one thing could help confirm if Denton was still alive. 

Whoosh— 

There weren't many pedestrians on the streets late at night. The red lightning avoided the main roads, darting through narrow, dark alleys, unseen by anyone along the way, even dodging cameras. 

Clearly, this route had been planned in advance. 

When the electric flash entered S.T.A.R. Labs, it was already late night. Cisco and Caitlin had gone home, with only some lights still on, and the lab's security system was still running steadily. 

However, the man in yellow paid no attention to the alerts. He phased directly through walls and blind spots of numerous surveillance alarms, arriving in a gray corridor. 

Then, he phased through a wall into Professor Wells' secret room. 

The artificial intelligence, Gideon, seemed to be operating automatically at this moment. The newspaper from 2024 was still projected in the air—the man in yellow looked at the small news column on the paper. The original headline about "Black Pharmaceuticals achieving another technological breakthrough, clone therapy medical costs to hit new low" had vanished, but news of Styger Company's bankruptcy also hadn't appeared. 

At this time, the content had changed to "Umbrella Pharmaceuticals nearing technological breakthrough, clone therapy medical costs expected to hit new low." 

"What in the world is Umbrella?" 

The man in yellow was certain his memory contained no information about a company called "Umbrella." 

"It seems Styger Company still lost the lawsuit. Its premature demise was inevitable. And someone will still take over Black's clone medical technology..." 

The man in yellow wasn't surprised. Denton had already initiated the joint lawsuit, and hundreds of people had each obtained evidence. This lawsuit naturally couldn't be stopped just because of Denton's disappearance. 

Rather, Denton's disappearance would make Styger Company appear even more suspicious, putting it further into the spotlight of public opinion. Cover-ups, contract killings, shady dealings—at this highly scrutinized moment, anything legally beneficial to Styger Group would actually turn into unfavorable rumors. 

And not just rumors; the police were very likely to open relevant investigation procedures. 

"Let them investigate," the man in yellow didn't care. "Even if something like Styger dies, it's no loss." 

Tonight, his only goal was to verify the reason for the future's change and then deal with any loose ends left from his investigation. As for other matters, he wasn't concerned. 

Meanwhile, in the wallpaper room, Cody, Dumb Cat, and Denton—two people and a cat—were staring at each other. 

Sanbengzi, meanwhile, was pretending to be an unremarkable food truck, radiating an air of peace. 

"Old Ma, was I pulled out of the sea by your cat with a cart?" 

"Heh heh, what nonsense are you spouting?" Cody's face showed a gentle smile, like he was comforting a fool: "How could a cat pull a cart? Look at those tiny arms and legs." 

"No, no, I'm sure. I was clearly killed just now, and then in the sea, I saw a..." 

"A Siamese cat? Denton, have you been eating too many mushrooms?" Cody's smile remained: "Or maybe you've been doing something else? There has to be a limit. It was clearly me who pulled you here with the cart." 

"Huh?" 

Confused, Denton reached up and scratched his head: "So you don't think there's anything wrong with the part where I was killed?" 

"I don't see anything wrong," Cody replied. "I saw a big yellow guy with red electricity sparking on him, running you out to sea and throwing you in." 

"I... you..." 

Denton's brain whirred for a long time before he finally managed a question: "You saw it too? So I wasn't dreaming tonight? Everything was real?" 

"Except for the part where you said my cat pulled you back with a cart, everything else was real." 

"Oh my God, you're not reacting at all?" Denton clutched his head in despair: "I was almost murdered! And that killer could turn into electricity and run on water!" 

"What? Is that strange? Haven't you been watching the news?" Cody retorted: "The police recently announced there's a metahuman criminal in Central City named Clyde Mardon. He can control the weather and used that ability to rob several banks." 

"Clyde..." 

Denton suddenly froze. 

Only then did he remember that the police had announced the existence of metahumans not long ago and were planning to form a metahuman task force within the police department. 

Thanks to Mardon's previous appearance on the road, the existence of metahumans was no longer a secret to Central City citizens. 

"Alright..." Denton sighed. "Are you a metahuman too?" 

"What makes you say that?" 

"If saving me from the sea could be explained by good swimming, then the fact that my heart, which was clearly cut open, is still beating can only be explained by supernatural power," Denton replied. "You healed me, didn't you?" 

Cody remained noncommittal. 

"Not just me, but Elizabeth too. Her health suddenly improved recently. Now that I think about it, that happened after I ran into you at the hospital." 

Cody still didn't answer. 

"You just happened to save me by the sea, and the man in yellow didn't discover you. Is that a coincidence?" 

Looking at Cody's innocent expression, Denton realized that this Chinese food truck owner, who wandered the streets and alleys of Central City all day, was far more mysterious than he had imagined. 

"Alright, anyway, I guess I owe you a lot." 

"Not really that much," Cody shrugged. "However, if you consider me a friend, take my advice." 

"What?" 

"After the Styger lawsuit is won, whatever you want to do, make sure to hide yourself well. If you want to establish an organization, a foundation, or anything like that, it's best not to use your name or Elizabeth's." 

"...I understand." 

"You can use the name 'Umbrella.'" 

"Does it have any meaning?" 

"No meaning, it's just my personal twisted sense of humor," Cody chuckled. "Just thinking about someone's bewildered expression makes me want to laugh." 

Denton didn't understand, but he complied readily: "I get it—speaking of which, where's the door? I want to go home and check on Elizabeth." 

Cody raised an eyebrow: "What if the man in yellow comes back for you again?" 

"Don't worry, I have a way to deal with him—after tonight, he won't dare to lay a hand on me again."