Chapter 1: Mutual Destruction

South Seas.

In the vast ocean, a solitary island was isolated from the rest of the world.

Beneath this seemingly common island, there lurked an unknown and inhumane underground laboratory.

In the research room, stocked full of potions and high-tech equipment, the narrow single bed was girl-less. Only four bloody handcuffs remained, hanging at the four corners of the bed, eerily disquieting.

"Blood Shadow is gone!"

The disappearance of the girl on the bed from the monitoring screen plunged the operator into panic.

Once these words were spoken, the faces of everyone in the control room drastically changed in unison, as if facing a formidable enemy, their eyes collectively focused on the screen.

They rapidly searched for the girl's traces in countless small squares of monitoring footage, yet nothing was found.

Several guards, who had unceremoniously collapsed in the corridors at an unknown time, threw them into complete disarray.

"Activate the security system immediately to search for Blood Shadow. We must not let anyone escape, or none of us will survive."

With the system launched, a huge blue projection appeared in mid-air, brimming with densely packed data that pulsed like an expansive net woven from heaven and earth.

"Quickly, release the NT34 smoke. Regardless of losses, employ any feasible measures. We must capture her."

Upon the command's issuance, multiple spray devices appeared on the seemingly iron-wall-like walls, ominously spewing out poisonous gas.

Scores of real-gun and bullet-toting dark-clothed men, with gas masks on their faces, carefully advanced amid the toxic gas permeating the entire laboratory.

In the smoke, the bone-crunching noise of necks being twisted was heard, making one's scalp tingle. The screams were not let out in time.

Under the invisible smoke, bodies were piling up.

"Notify Dr. Sang and his team to enter the protected area immediately."

"Zzz." The equipment suddenly emitted a few electric sounds.

The next moment, all the equipment was destroyed, and the operation console was burned by the current. Sparkling sparks flew, the apparatus emitted an unpleasant burnt smell, scaring everyone to step back and avoided the console.

The surveillance footage was completely ravaged, the entire laboratory had lost its fundamental surveillance control, and alarms sounded.

Everyone was horror-stricken.

The communication device issued an urgent report: "All doctoral and research personnel have been killed, Dr. Sang is missing."

"Dr. Sang must have been killed by the Blood Shadow."

"Let's evacuate, no one here is a match for the Blood Shadow. Most of the genes have been successfully extracted, let's take the data and escape."

"We need to decide quickly before the Blood Shadow finds us."

The operation room was in chaos, the leader finally spoke: "Take all the data and evacuate immediately, prepare to detonate. As from above, once the gene extraction is successful, the Blood Shadow cannot be left behind."

At this moment, with a loud "boom", the metal door of the operation room was blown open.

The entire lab shook along, everyone was startled by the blast, their ears temporarily deafened by the noise. The flames from the explosion mixed with metal fragments, causing everyone in the operation room to cover their heads in fear.

The large door had become a pile of ruins.

In the midst of the ruins, a gaunt figure steps forward through blood.

Emerging with an air that threatens to annihilate everything in its path.

As the smoke clears, the observers finally see the arrival. It's as if they have just seen a demon, or perhaps even death itself.

"Blood... Blood Shadow," they whisper.

The girl slowly lifts her face, her bloodthirsty eyes locked onto the terrified individuals frozen in the control room.

Her long, disheveled hair frames an icy, knife-like gaze. Underneath the blood-soaked veil, her hauntingly beautiful features reveal themselves, ghastly and demanding.

This girl is the "Blood Shadow," whose mere mention makes everyone's faces pale.

An assassin who operates on a scale that leaves all other assassins in the dust, she instills fear in the hearts of authorities, from whom she runs but does not hide. She is a gold-ranked assassin.

The girl raises her arm slightly, casually tossing aside the item she was holding like it was a piece of trash.

When they finally see the object that just rolled onto the ground, their legs give out -- it was the severed head of Dr. Sang.

Just like that, it was severed cleanly, the head rolling to a stop, leaving a trail of blood behind. The pair of wide-open eyes, reflecting sheer terror, have not yet blinked for the last time, fixedly staring at them. This sight brings a smothering sense of dread to them all.

The leader returns from her shock, shakily pulling out a black detonator and threatens, "Bloo... Blood Shadow, we've embedded a chip in your brain. If I detonate it, you'll be obliterated within thirty seconds. You'd better not make any hasty movements."

The girl's icy voice slowly fills the room: "Thirty seconds? That's more than enough time to kill you all."

"We're just following orders! It's Dark Shadow who wants us to do this. There is a specific debtor for every debt," seeing the Blood Shadow's fearlessness, they plead, "please let us go."

Dark Shadow?

The young girl laughed sarcastically, a hint of mockery flowing through her hatred-filled, bloodthirsty eyes.

The Shadow, the largest and most powerful assassination organization in the world, has cruelly cultivated countless desperate killers through inhuman training methods.

And she, Blood Shadow, was one of them.

Unlike others, she was the only one brought back to the organization in her infancy, becoming the youngest yet most talented trainee in the entire assassin organization.

Thirteen years of brutal training, from the age of fourteen, she had taken on one extreme mission after another.

At the age of seventeen, she successfully secured the top spot on the world's assassin list under the codename "Blood Shadow", and no one could topple her.

In her six-year career as a fugitive, she set one unbroken record after another, possessed countless powerful identities, and became a legendary myth of the Shadow Organization and even the world of assassins with zero defeats.

None of those old men who had retired within the organization were her opponents, and her talent was the object of jealousy.

The strength she presented made the organization wary of her, which brought about her unfortunate demise.

The organization wished to extract her genes and clone another or even countless more Blood Shadows to replace her and devote themselves to the organization.

She did not come here by coercion, but willingly.

Because of the gratitude she felt for the organization's many years of nurturing, she agreed to offer a part of her own genes to help expand the organization's strength.

However, they planned to extract her entire genetic material, cloning an exact copy of her and then intending to kill her to eliminate any potential problems.

Blood Shadow secretly shook her head.

She had the strength to stand alone and was not lacking in wealth or power, but she never intended any betrayal against the organization.

She never expected that her terrifying pace of growth would instigate the organization to harbor intentions. To use her and then kill her.

Upon this realization, Bloody Shadow mockingly laughed at herself.

From a young age, the organization had admonished her not to harbor any sentiments, yet in the end, the cord of sympathy was still tugged at those within her own ranks, even subverted by her own people.

She couldn't help but sigh, "The ones who take the cold-blooded indifference to the extreme, are still those folks within the organization."

Amidst her distraction, the leader seized the opportunity. Quietly, he pressed down on the detonator in his hand and began to retreat.

The young girl noticed his movement with a single glance, making the leader completely lose his bearing in fear.

The girl did not make any move. Instead, under everyone's astonished gazes, she too brought out a detonator.

"Do you recognize this detonator? Dr. Sang told me you've buried a hundred kilograms of TNT in the laboratory."

"Let's go to hell together."

The girl's voice was bone-chillingly cold.

Under the gaze of fear-filled eyes, she pressed the detonator.

The leader could only regret not setting off the explosion right away, foolishly fantasizing that they could capture her and continue to extract all her DNA.

With a massive explosion, flames shot into the sky, the island laden with sin sunk to the seabed, taking with it a bright girl, who, in her blooming age, had numerous honors to her name.