I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

Passing through that seemingly living, breathing metal curtain, the writhing sounds behind me gradually subsided, shutting out the noise of the outside world once again.

The light from the alchemical lamp in Rhodes' hand was reduced to its lowest level, illuminating only a three-foot square area of ​​the ground beneath his feet.

The air was filled with a nauseating odor, a mixture of high concentrations of formaldehyde, a fishy smell, and a faint stench of decay.

It's unusually quiet here.

The muffled, thunderous sounds of artillery fire coming from overhead sounded like knocking through a thick quilt, distant and unreal.

"There are no guards." Professor Isaac gripped the blueprints tightly in his hand, his voice low but still somewhat jarring in the deathly silence of the passage: "Normally, this kind of core area should be filled with undead knights or constructs."

"Perhaps Mortimer thinks that the things here don't need guarding." Rhodes didn't turn around, his gaze sweeping warily around the surroundings.

At the end of the passageway above the spiral staircase was a double brass door, without a lock or defensive runes, only two rusty handles.

Rod put on his deerskin gloves and pushed the door open forcefully.

The heavy brass door hinges turned, making a teeth-grinding grinding sound.

The sight behind the door made the well-informed Professor Isaac gasp and instinctively take a half-step back.

This is a huge circular hall, about half the size of a football field.

The hall has a high dome with countless intricate copper and glass pipes hanging down, through which liquids of various colors flow.

But the most striking feature is the hundreds of giant glass cylindrical containers arranged in the center of the hall.

These containers are over one meter in diameter and about three meters high, and are filled with a pale yellow preservative solution.

In each container, a pale body floats.

Rhodes, carrying the lamp, slowly walked toward the nearest container.

By the dim light, he could make out what was inside.

It was a human child who looked only five or six years old, but his body structure had already become deformed.

His neck was forcibly cut open on both sides with a scalpel, and two rows of dark red gill slits were transplanted. Although he had stopped breathing, the gill slits remained open, revealing the bright red fleshy structure inside.

The child's fingers and toes have thick webbing, and the skin is covered with a layer of fine, translucent scales.

"This is... human modification?" Professor Isaac walked to Rhodes' side, his face pale as he looked at the nameplate at the bottom of the container.

The nameplate bears a number and a brief note written in black ink:

[Subject-307. Day 12 after implantation of the Deep Diver larval gene. Severe rejection reaction, lung failure. Failure.]

Rod didn't speak; he continued walking forward.

The second container contains an adult male.

His jawbone was completely removed, replaced by the mouthparts of some kind of mollusk, with countless tiny tentacles hanging down from where his mouth should have been.

His legs were amputated and sewn on with a thick, sea serpent-like tail.

[Subject-412. Spinal cord reconnection successful. Brain unable to withstand deep-sea mental pollution, sanity collapsed. Executed.]

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

Rod walked expressionlessly past the rows of glass jars that resembled tombs.

Each container here represents a lost life and a crazy attempt.

These are not simply necromancy resurrecting corpses, but a deeper level of species fusion at the genetic and physiological level.

"He's trying to create a new kind of human that can survive underwater." Rhodes stopped in front of a huge dissection table, where dried black bloodstains and several gleaming scalpels remained.

He opened a thick experimental journal on the table.

The diary's paper was yellowed from dampness, and the handwriting on it was messy and chaotic, clearly indicating that the writer was in a state of extreme excitement when writing it.

"The human body is too weak to adapt to the coming new era." Rhodes softly read a passage from the journal: "The land is a prison, the sea is our home. Those great beings from the Western Sea showed me the end of evolution. We don't need to breathe air, we don't need to fear water pressure. As long as we merge with divine genes, we can establish an eternal kingdom in the abyss."

Professor Isaac leaned closer, looking at the complex alchemical formulas and biological anatomical diagrams. He adjusted his glasses, his fingers trembling slightly. "This isn't just treason... Mortimer has gone mad. He doesn't just want to hand the kingdom over to aliens; he wants to turn everyone into these... monsters."

"Racial ascension." Rhodes closed the journal, his eyes cold. "He believes that the human species has reached its end, so he wants to act as the creator and forcibly start the next stage of evolution."

This explains why Mortimer would collude with the alien races of the West Sea.

For a madman who firmly believes that the land will sink and the sea will be eternal, secular monarchy and the territorial integrity of a nation are utterly meaningless.

What he wanted was to lead his people into the deep sea as the progenitor of a new species.

"These are all failures." Rhodes pointed to the corpses around him, soaked in formaldehyde. "Whether it's rejection or mental breakdown, it proves that his experiment was unsuccessful. There is a natural reproductive barrier and a conflict of laws between human genes and the genes of those deep-sea monsters."

"But..." Professor Isaac pointed to the depths of the hall, "If this place is full of failed experiments, why does he keep this laboratory running? Look at those tubing; they're still delivering nutrient solution."

Rod looked in the direction the professor was pointing.

At the end of the hall was not a wall, but a pitch-black void.

All the copper and glass pipes eventually converge in that direction, extending into the depths of darkness.

There were no lights there, only a dull, extremely regular low-frequency vibration coming from the darkness.

"Thump."

"Thump."

"Thump."

The sound was initially very faint, masked by the sound of the surrounding liquid flowing.

But when Rhodes focused his attention, the sound became as clear as a war drum beating right next to his ear.

That's the sound of a heartbeat.

Rhodes' pupils contracted sharply.

In his mind, the [Danger Perception] talent, which had always remained silent, suddenly erupted with a sharp alarm at this moment.

The intensity of this alert is unprecedented.

If the previous dangers were like needle pricks, then at this moment, Rhodes felt as if his brain had been struck heavily by a red-hot hammer.

"Step back." Rhodes grabbed Professor Isaac's shoulder and pulled him back sharply.

"What?" The professor hadn't reacted yet.

"Thump!!!"

A tremendous heartbeat suddenly exploded, this time not a low-frequency vibration, but a tangible sound wave impact.

All the glass containers in the hall simultaneously emitted groans of despair, and hundreds of deformed corpses swayed violently in the solution.

Dust fell from above, and several thin glass tubes burst open, spilling green nutrient solution like raindrops.

A terrifying pressure spread from the depths of darkness.

It wasn't the chilling aura of a necromancer, nor the holy radiance of a paladin, but rather a primal, savage, chaotic, and ancient life force.

This vitality is so immense it's suffocating, like facing an ancient behemoth that has just awakened.

Rhodes stared intently into the darkness.

Through the layers of darkness, he could vaguely make out a huge outline.

It was a giant culture tank, ten meters high, and unlike the surrounding glass cylinders, it was not transparent but made of thick black crystal.

Inside this enormous crystal tank, a colossal creature was curled up.

It has a general human-like shape, with a torso, limbs, and head.

But its skin has an eerie deep blue color, with a metallic sheen flowing across its surface.

Its back was covered with huge, unfurled fleshy wings, the skeleton of which was covered with dripping mucus.

Countless thick tubes were inserted directly into its spine, heart, and brain, frantically pumping colorful, high-energy drugs into its body.

The enormous heartbeat originated from the beating heart inside its chest cavity, radiating a dark red light.

"That's..." Professor Isaac's voice turned shrill: "That's Mortimer?!"

"No."

Rhodes' hand slowly reached for the short sword at his waist, even though he knew the sword might be useless against the monster before him.

His gaze fell on the head of the giant creature.

Although the face was distorted and swollen, and the features were so distorted that they were almost unrecognizable, the original outline could still be vaguely discerned.

"This should be his work." Rhodes' voice was frighteningly calm, but a fine layer of cold sweat had already seeped from his forehead. "It was also the weapon he used to fight against the kingdom."

Just then, the enormous creature sleeping in the black crystal twitched its eyelids slightly.

A vertical, dark yellow pupil, filled with savagery and chaos, slowly opened in the darkness.