Upon arriving at the biochemical reaction zone, the situation here was slightly better, though it still appeared quite abrupt. The somewhat oversized space contained only a few scattered pieces of equipment in the corner, which were the large containers transported from Lynn's fried chicken shop.
At this moment, Jekyll was sleeping nearby on guard duty, while Tom, who had been the first to undergo modification, was already immersed in the prepared reaction fluid.
Sensing Lynn's approach, Jekyll woke up instantly, standing up from the casually placed mattress on the floor.
"Doctor."
"Go rest elsewhere."
"He insisted on staying here. We tried to arrange accommodations for him upstairs, but he refused."
Lynn looked back at Maria and waved his hand.
"Go direct the workers to arrange the materials to be brought in, then get to work. Don't waste time."
As he spoke, a spiritual energy tentacle had, at some unknown moment, coiled around Maria's body, gently climbing up her neck.
The blonde female vampire could feel the spiritual energy tentacle continuously absorbing her dark energy. This seemed to be some kind of passive ability—if Lynn hadn't deliberately controlled it, she would likely have been drained into a desiccated corpse by now.
Two or three purple spiritual energy tentacles slowly writhed toward her head, causing Maria's breathing to become increasingly rapid. She had no idea what Lynn intended to do.
Soon enough, when the two purple tentacles coiled around Maria's head, penetrating her eardrums and pupils, beginning to caress her brain folds at zero distance, she finally experienced true suffering.
It was a terrifying experience, one that no one would ever want to experience a second time.
Almost instantly, the vampire collapsed, her entire body going limp, bound in place by Lynn's tentacles, her eyes rolling back as she nearly lost consciousness.
Fortunately, the process didn't last long. Lynn quickly withdrew his spiritual energy tentacles. Maria, as if granted amnesty, lay on the ground gasping for breath. Meanwhile, Lynn turned to look at Maria, revealing a knowing smile.
"Very obedient. Assessing the situation is also an excellent quality. As a vampire, you're clearly undervaluing yourself."
"This..."
She displayed an expression of incomprehension, obviously trying to guess Lynn's meaning. She looked at Tom, whom Lynn had immersed in the biochemical reactor, then back at Lynn.
Even after just recovering from Lynn's memory search, she immediately fell into new terror.
"Hmm? You think I want to use you for modification?"
"I... Dr. Sidis..."
Maria's eloquence, which she had prided herself on during Deacon's time, was completely ineffective now. Deacon had been a self-important, narcissistic, and arrogant leader. Maria had served him well, though sometimes not without suffering some physical abuse.
But overall, she found Deacon quite easy to understand. What was in that vampire's head was completely transparent to Maria. She only needed to say some things that fool liked to hear, and without having to give up anything, she could take over his extensive business operations.
Fully enjoying the pleasure that power brought her.
But Lynn was different. Maria couldn't understand at all what he wanted, or even how to flatter him.
"You don't need to be nervous here. So far our cooperation has been quite pleasant, hasn't it?
Although your assets have been transferred to Kara's name, your power and lifestyle remain no different than before.
And I promise, as long as you work well, this job will not only satisfy your desire for power, but I can also give you some different gifts.
Don't you find the sun's light glaring? And vampire nerve endings aren't sensitive—black magic ensures you can ignore pain in battle.
You must have lost quite a lot of pleasure, such as..."
Lynn reached out to pinch her chin, examining the vampire Maria with a scrutinizing gaze.
"How long has it been since your tongue and skin served their original purpose? Having wealth and money in your hands without being able to enjoy them must be quite torturous."
In Lynn's view, Maria was also quite easy to understand. He indeed needed someone who could manage assets, helping him organize his wealth.
"Go arrange for the workers to do their jobs. My orders are already in your head. Recall them yourself, and you'd better record them, as this memory is only temporary."
Hearing Lynn's voice, Maria realized that a segment of memory had somehow appeared in her mind, so she left the scene at an extremely fast pace, almost like she was fleeing.
Lynn finally looked at Tom, who had been placed in the biochemical reactor.
"The Hunger form isn't enough to deal with the Lizard. This biochemical reactor isn't sufficient for more extensive adjustments either. A more complete laboratory is needed."
Regarding Jekyll, Lynn had other ideas and didn't plan to exhaust his potential here.
"Hmm, need more output and a larger body size, as well as high-intensity sedative secretion capability. I need something that can restrict Connors' movements."
"Using the Insect type as a prototype, increasing body size and muscle density..."
With a rough modification plan in mind, Lynn immediately began to act. The entire machine started operating again, with a faint purple spiritual energy covering the large array of instruments.
Once again, Lynn began using telekinesis to handle the entire modification process by himself. In the biochemical reactor, a large number of artificial cilia flashing with purple light covered Tom's body, while spiritual energy tentacles also began to appear near the biochemical reactor.
They coiled around Tom's body, injecting life energy.
Lynn found that as he continuously used his abilities, they were gradually becoming stronger.
Now he could transform any type of energy through his spiritual energy tentacles into other types. For instance, he could not only absorb life energy from vampires but also the dark magic from their bodies.
After obtaining relevant energy samples, the spiritual energy tentacles could freely convert their properties, and there was no energy loss during the process.
The entire modification process wasn't too long. Lynn completed it in just two hours. Since Tom was being treated as a completely disposable item, this modification entirely sacrificed what little remained of Tom's original intelligence.
Efficiency was the top priority.
Soon, Tom was released by Lynn from the biochemical reactor. As the liquid inside drained, Tom opened his eyes.
But on that human face, no trace of intellect could be seen. The vacant pupils gave off a feeling similar to that of a robot.
It involuntarily raised goosebumps.
"Switch to battle form."
Following Lynn's command, Tom's body immediately burst open. His original height of less than 1.8 meters rapidly expanded, becoming a massive 2.3 meters tall within a few breaths.
At the same time, his muscles became knotted, and his body was covered with dense white coarse fur. Beneath the fur was hard chitinous shell, and four limbs covered with the same chitinous shell grew from his back, capable of directly injecting venom secreted from his body into targets.
His entire head also abandoned the mammalian structure, adopting an insect form combining compound eyes. The antennae on his head indicated that this individual had quite diverse sensory capabilities.
Lynn didn't reserve a position for mouthparts in his battle form, so this individual couldn't speak and had no vocal cords, including in his human form.
After briefly evaluating the muscle density and output of the modified Insect, Lynn nodded with satisfaction. Through the absorption of his spiritual energy tentacles, the modified Insect had completely lost all vampire characteristics, including the dark magic that had permeated his genes and cells.
Under the transformation of the biochemical reactor, the original biological structure of the vampire had been completely eliminated.
Theoretically, the modified Insect no longer had any connection to vampires.
"He's enough to capture Connors... but before that."
Lynn had the modified Insect follow him out of the still-under-construction biochemical reaction area. In these two hours, Maria had arranged the entire project in good order.
It seemed she indeed had considerable talent in management.
Not just in running companies, but even in direct on-site management, she had no problems—a truly versatile talent.
Upon seeing the modified Insect, she was obviously startled. If Jekyll looked merely like a strange creature full of oppressive presence, the current being made Maria involuntarily raise goosebumps.
It was like looking at a biochemical robot.
"Good progress. It seems Deacon's underground altar was also arranged by you. Interesting, where did Deacon find someone like you?"
"I graduated from an Ivy League school and met Deacon in a bar."
"How long have you been alive?"
"Fifty-five years..."
"Well, continue working. I'll be back tonight, and by then I hope your progress will be fast enough."
After speaking, Lynn took the modified Insect and boarded the elevator leaving the basement, returning to the top floor. He didn't contact Kara, but after briefly finding his way, arrived at the rest room Kara had arranged for Jessica.
At this time, the young girl was still sleeping, though her posture seemed more relaxed than before, no longer curled up in a ball.
"Doctor, do you need me to do something?"
Kara's voice appeared behind Lynn. Through those vampires implanted with her flesh buds, Kara naturally knew that Lynn had appeared on the top floor.
"Let's talk outside."
In the corridor, after closing the door, Lynn said to Kara:
"How's the contraction and integration of the business going?"
"I'm still processing related matters, but there's no difficulty. Shutting down those money-losing entertainment venues originally used to lure humans isn't a problem, but for those profitable parts, I still recommend keeping them, Doctor.
That's also a considerable income, which can be used to support the renovation of Deacon Tower. I've already made arrangements. This building has many floors, and according to your plan, Doctor.
If we want to convert this place into a hospital, those bars and high-end business clubs can provide us with considerable financial support."
Kara's logical ability was inherited from her original template. The Purple Man's thinking ability wasn't bad, just that his intelligence wasn't used in reasonable ways.
After fully receiving the information provided by Maria, Kara didn't operate randomly like a headless fly.
On the contrary, through her report to him, Lynn could feel that, like Maria, she had her own unique talent in management.
"Just do as you think is appropriate."
"I understand, Doctor. Please leave it to me."
"When Jessica wakes up, tell her I've gone out on business and will be back tonight. Don't let her go out, and have Jekyll watch her."
After speaking, Lynn casually picked up a walking stick placed in the corridor and left with the modified Insect. He wanted to bring Connors here tonight to avoid complications.
Once again on the streets of New York, Lynn found a sewer outlet.
The New York sewer system in this world was extremely developed, like a huge underground city that harbored filth and corruption, making Lynn wonder what kind of person had promoted the construction of this sewer system.
Wearing his coat and using the walking stick to slightly sweep away the garbage on the ground, Lynn stepped into the dark New York sewers.
Immediately, a stench hit him in the face. It was hard to imagine anyone using such a place as a base.
"Move."
Receiving Lynn's mental command, the modified Insect quickly transformed into battle form. The cilia on its head gently floated, soon capturing traces of different scents.
It quickly turned its head, looked in one direction, and then set off, rushing forward at an extremely fast pace.
Its huge body almost filled the entire sewer, while Lynn followed behind at a leisurely pace, appearing to stroll casually but not falling far behind the modified Insect.
As he advanced, he disabled some of the cameras in the sewers.
At the same time, Connors was continuing his research at his sewer base.
The unsuccessful gene therapy had forever changed his thought patterns. In his lizard form, he completely lost human empathy and sensitivity, and his life goals underwent earth-shattering changes.
However, the Lizard in this world was more extreme. In this form, he had almost none of his original consciousness and couldn't actively revert to human form.
Now, he was using his crudely assembled equipment to refine the gene therapy.
"Need to find a suitable place to spread my results, to scatter the seeds of hope throughout New York, even the entire world."
Surprisingly, he appeared far more coherent than when he fought with Peter.
"Peter is an unstable factor. Must find a way to crush him, eliminate him, can't let him interfere with my plans."
He stood like this in the sewer water, with only his upper body exposed, using those sharp giant claws to manipulate the crude but sturdy instruments.
"Also need to simultaneously destroy the reverse transcription antidote that my human self left at Osborn Labs."