Homo Sapiens

The wind was howling tonight.

The Manila South District, a bustling place, was ablaze with lights.

In a villa complex belonging exclusively to the Fernando Clan, several SUVs slowly pulled up to the entrance of a grand mansion. The mansion sat on a sprawling estate, complete with gardens, a swimming pool, a garage, and a wine cellar.

Gafei stepped out of the car. The butler at the door said respectfully, ”Mr. Gafei, the Patriarch is in the reception hall with the Patriarch of the Lopez Clan.”

”Really? That was quick.” Gafei chuckled, walking through the main doors of the mansion.

The butler, leading the way, whispered a reminder, ”Mr. Gafei, the Patriarch is furious about what happened tonight. And the Lopez Clan is putting on a lot of pressure as well.”

”Nuka, how many years have you served the Fernando Clan?” Gafei suddenly asked.

Baffled, Butler Nuka couldn’t help but grumble to himself. ’Is this brat out of his mind? Of all the times to ask something like that...’

Although he felt Gafei had no grasp of the situation’s gravity, Butler Nuka still replied with a smile, ”I have been in the Fernando Clan’s service for thirty-two years.”

”Really? It’s been that long?”

As they spoke, the two of them passed through a long hallway and a garden, arriving in a reception hall covered with Persian rugs.

Two old men were sitting on a sofa in the reception hall, drinking coffee. They both put their cups down when Gafei walked in.

”Gafei, how do you explain what happened tonight?” The old man who spoke was gaunt and aged, but his eyes were like those of a venomous snake in the jungle, poised to strike.

This man was none other than Gafei’s father, the current Patriarch of the Fernando Clan—Jacques Fernando.

The other old man was corpulent, his eyes squeezed into slits by the fat on his face. He showed no outward reaction to Gafei’s arrival.

With a complete lack of respect, Gafei walked over and sat on the sofa opposite them.

”Father, you once taught me a lesson: to be thorough in all things. Like a python in a swamp, you must coil tightly around your prey until it suffocates completely.”

”And you think you’re strong enough to challenge me now?” Jacques Fernando asked, his expression composed.

The smiling Lopez Clan Patriarch added, ”Gafei, I don’t wish to get involved in the affairs of the Fernando Clan, but you owe your uncle an explanation for what happened tonight.”

”An explanation? Don’t worry. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.” Gafei smiled, then glanced at his watch.

Eighteen minutes had passed since he entered the mansion.

Dorotea Lopez heard a buzzing sound. Noticing a few mosquitoes on his arm, he casually waved them away and looked back at Gafei.

But he quickly found his vision doubling. ”What’s going on?”

”Ugh...” Jacques also felt a wave of dizziness. He stared at his son in disbelief. ”You...”

Nearby, Butler Nuka’s face was a mask of astonishment before he slowly slumped to the ground.

At that moment, throughout the entire mansion, dozens of bodyguards, servants, Jacques’s several wives, and his three children had all fallen unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Soldiers who had arrived with Gafei quickly secured the entire mansion.

The neighboring villas were all quite distant. After all, this was an enclave for the ultra-rich, and the walls were built exceptionally high. It was virtually impossible for a neighbor to see what was happening next door.

This arrangement protected the privacy of the wealthy.

And tonight, it also facilitated Gafei’s operation.

In the silent reception hall, Gafei sat on the sofa. The sound of footsteps echoed from behind him.

”You’re here.”

”Shouldn’t you step aside for this?” The speaker was a short young man carrying a briefcase.

Gafei shook his head. ”There’s no need. I’ve decided to work for the boss, so there’s nothing to be shy about. Bagheera, stop dawdling and wasting time.”

The old Gafei would never have spoken like this. But after several months of continuous, subliminal conditioning, the psychological suggestion function of the bio-chip had proven to be unexpectedly effective.

By this point, Gafei had already cast all thoughts of the Fernando Clan’s interests, and his so-called family, to the wind.

Besides, he never had much genuine affection for his father, Jacques. People from these great clans are often the most pragmatic and rational.

Bagheera shrugged and ordered his subordinates to move Jacques Fernando and the others from the sofa onto a gurney.

They moved the men into the garage.

Inside the garage, a minibus was parked. Opening its doors revealed a set of modified medical examination equipment, including an X-ray machine.

On the medical bed, Jacques was bound and secured. He was given a specialized anesthetic, and various monitoring devices were attached to him.

Bagheera opened the briefcase.

The briefcase contained a row of custom-made syringes. He took one, pried open Jacques’s eye, and while watching the X-ray image on a computer screen, carefully guided the needle through the orbital socket and into Jacques’s prefrontal cortex.

Once the X-ray showed the needle had reached the target location, he slowly injected the fluid from the syringe.

This liquid contained an improved version of the bio-chip, transformed from its previous solid state into its current liquid form.

This improved bio-chip model used cyanobacteria as its base. After genetic recombination, it formed free-floating individual cells. Stimulated by pheromones and hormones, these cells could then assemble into a bio-chip aggregate.

This modification was made primarily to reduce the operating time, avoid visible surgical scars, and shorten the post-operative recovery period.

After Bagheera injected the bio-chip into the target’s brain, he immediately followed up with an injection of a special hormone and pheromone solution into Jacques’s vein.

In about forty minutes, the cellular units of the bio-chip would bond together, forming a functional bio-chip aggregate.

As for the genetic modifications to disable the gene sequences in Jacques’s prefrontal cortex and reproductive system, that could be done later in a second procedure, after the current situation had passed.

After all, the current bio-chip had already been developed to a level of 3,600 teraflops of computing power and 600 terabytes of storage. The Soldier program was also being steadily perfected.

Li Qingye knew that someone like Jacques, whose mindset was already ossified, was not suitable for recruitment into the Spider Web. If a man like him decided on a scorched-earth response, the entire series of plans laid within the Fernando Clan could be for naught.

Besides, two members from the Fernando Clan were enough for the Spider Web; there was no need to bring another old fox into the fold.

In addition to Jacques, Butler Nuka and the Lopez Clan Patriarch, Dorotea Lopez, were also targets who had to be brought under control.

A little over an hour later, the bio-chips in the three men’s brains began to activate. To prevent them from losing control, the chip’s Soldier program had already firewalled the hosts’ consciousness, making them believe they were simply asleep.

In reality, however, the Soldier program was now in control of their bodies.

To prevent the Lopez Clan from realizing something was wrong, Gafei personally escorted Dorotea back to the Lopez Clan’s nearby villa.

The Lopez Clan bodyguards waiting outside the villa didn’t notice anything was wrong with their Patriarch. After all, they could never have imagined that someone could be completely brought under control in just over an hour.