When morning dawned, the first thing Damien did was go directly to Long Chen’s residence to check up on him.

Research operations were temporarily ceased during investigation, so Damien didn’t have any work to do anyway.

But this ceasing was most likely just on the surface. It only applied to ordinary researchers like Damien who “didn’t know” about Evotech’s dark side.

As for projects like the Chimera research or Core Extraction, they were likely still in development.

Regardless, when Damien stepped through the portal, he found himself in a relatively large studio apartment.

Damien was currently in the large living room. Connected to this room was the kitchen, with the front door of the apartment also being accessible.

Directly in front of him, there was a hallway where Long Chen’s bedroom, bathrooms, and guest bedroom were located.

And on the left was an entire wall made of windows that overlooked the skyline of Evotech headquarters. If it wasn’t for the other buildings polluting the view, it would’ve been truly beautiful.

As for the reason why Long Chen lived in an apartment building, it was simple. He was single, had no family, and worked as an assistant.

There were many like him even among the researchers, people who didn’t have lovers or family to bring with them. For these people, did Evotech need to waste precious land providing individual housing? They didn’t need that kind of space.

Instead, they built large apartment buildings for these people to live in, creating a city-like aesthetic that didn’t match the suburban aesthetic of the location where Damien lived at all.

‘Then again, Aubrey Price also lived in a house, but she was single with no family. Perhaps her status granted her special privileges.’

As Damien thought random thoughts, his feet led him through the apartment naturally as if he’d walked through the place dozens of times already. Reaching the bedroom at the end of the hall, Damien loudly banged on the door.

“Wake up, Aotian! What’s taking you so long?”

Even while acting in a seemingly rude manner, Damien still spoke politely. This was merely his respect for his friend shining through. At least between Damien Grey and Long Aotian, there was no need for pretenses.

But unlike what he expected, he didn’t hear any response to his antics. Even when Damien hit the door hard enough to alert the neighbors, Long Chen didn’t open it.

With furrowed brows, Damien kicked open the door, breaking it off its hinges. And when he did…

‘Those little **ers actually…’

He felt a smoldering rage building in his chest. In front of his eyes laid a broken Long Chen, his body wrapped in bandages and missing many parts.

They didn’t even bother to heal him the same way they healed Damien. It was clear how little Evotech valued the lives of research assistants.

But Damien didn’t care about any of that. When he saw Long Chen’s state, he could hardly stop himself from destroying everything immediately.

“Aotian!” He exclaimed in shock, rushing to the bedside. His hands gripped Long Chen’s shoulders as he attempted to wake him.

“Aotian, wake up! Answer me!”

Damien kept yelling for many minutes before Long Chen finally groggily opened his eyes. It turned out that he was merely knocked out by anesthetics.

“Aotian! What happened to you?!” Damien asked worriedly after Long Chen adjusted to his current circumstance. At the same time, he sent a mental transmission with a completely different tone.

‘Who did this to you?’

The question was still the same, but Damien’s voice was incomparably cold.

No matter how much Damien dogged on Long Chen and bullied him, no matter how much pleasure he derived from annoying him, that didn’t change the fact that Long Chen was his sworn brother.

Damien was just terrible at expressing his emotions properly. And at the same time, with their battle-hardened friendship, he didn’t have to worry about Long Chen misunderstanding his intent.

This kind of brotherhood was far purer and less complicated than a romantic relationship.

Long Chen was one of the few people Damien viewed as a companion. Even though they hadn’t actually fought side by side many times, Damien knew he’d have no problem leaving his back to Long Chen.

Because that was the kind of person Long Chen was.

Trustworthy, stalwart, and loyal. No matter how much Damien seemed to annoy him on the surface, Long Chen would always stand by his side even in the most trying times.

This much could be seen even from the current circumstances alone.

Hearing the chill in Damien’s voice, though, actually warmed Long Chen’s heart. Feeling the barely suppressed killing intent emanating from Damien’s body made him feel validated.

‘Indeed, brothers will fight and quarrel, but at the end of the day, they are still brothers. This bond is a promise of lifetime friendship and loyalty.’

Knowing this, Long Chen sighed and came clean about what happened during his interrogation. He didn’t plan to hide it from Damien anyway.

And hearing how Long Chen was mercilessly tortured only furthered Damien’s fury. With his hands still gripping Long Chen’s shoulders, Damien covertly poured green-colored essence into his friend’s body.

Heal

The trait activated, but with nowhere near the same strength it had when Damien first used it. For the sake of secrecy, he could only be slow and steady in the process.

pa(nd)a no vel “Rest up. With the life essence I’ve left in your body, healing to peak condition won’t be a problem. However, it will take some time. I can’t heal you immediately lest they get suspicious.”

Long Chen nodded in agreement. He also knew the plan they thought up. At the moment, Damien Grey was a man who didn’t know his own talents. His healing factor was something that’d only blossom later.

Along with it, Long Chen’s battle talent would also be revealed.

This way, Long Chen would infiltrate the military while Damien would get further engrossed in the research side, perhaps even becoming a test subject for some important experiments himself.

And with this, their range of motion would broaden considerably.

However, all of this would come later. Now came a time of rest and recuperation while Evotech continued to interrogate its employees.

Thinking about how many people would endure inhumanity during this juncture made Damien shiver. It was his fault after all. But at the same time, he could only accept this.

He was essentially sacrificing the less for the many. As long as the “less” didn’t include people he cared about, Damien had no reservations about doing this.

As if waiting for Damien’s thoughts to reach this point, a portal appeared in Long Chen’s living room. From it arrived a man with an incredibly imposing demeanor.

His skin was dark, his hair trimmed into a buzz cut. He stood at a whopping 8 feet in height, vastly outclassing both Damien and Long Chen.

The man scanned the apartment building before locating the two. When he did, he opened his mouth.

Without bothering to actually come face to face with the two, he roared with vigor.

“Professor Damien Grey and Long Aotian, by the decree of General Strohman Weiss, you have been summoned to the Armament Hall!”