Chapter 574

Roy brought Molly home. It was late, and the servants had already retired for the night. As he pulled up in front of the mansion, he shifted back into his wolf form. He couldn’t risk the patrolling guards discovering his identity.

Though not enormous, Roy’s physique was far from average. As a creature beyond the ordinary, carrying a full-grown adult posed no difficulty. He could even run at full speed without breaking a sweat. The bodyguards, recognizing him, barely spared a glance. They all knew the wolf by Molly’s side was practically like a spirit beast. With Molly draped over his back, they figured she was likely drunk and being dutifully escorted home. Still, the fact that the car had returned on its own raised suspicions. They couldn’t quite believe the wolf had driven. More likely, Molly had driven back herself, then let the wolf carry her inside. That seemed plausible enough.

Inside the elevator, Roy carried her to the fifth floor before shifting back into human form. As always, he emerged bare, clothes torn away in the transformation. After placing Molly gently on the bed, he turned to find something to wear, only to lock eyes with the family husky, who stared at him blankly. It hesitated, then suddenly bristled, ready to bark.

Roy frowned. “Don’t start. Just go back to sleep.”

The husky barked twice in protest.

Roy rolled his eyes. “Oh, knock it off.”

The dog studied him a little longer. There was something familiar. He did look like the young man Molly often talked about. A few seconds later, the husky seemed to recognize him and settled down, no longer hostile.

With the dog appeased, Roy headed to Molly’s wardrobe, pulled on a loose shirt and pants, and returned to check on her. But to his surprise, someone was sitting in the chair beside the bed. He froze for a moment. Then his face lit up. “Shermaine!”

She gave a soft hum in response.

“When did you and Joshua get back?”

“It’s been a little while.”

Joy surged through Roy. He had thought they might be gone for years, exploring an unfamiliar world full of unknowns. During his time in the dark, windowless lab, he’d thought of them constantly. But as time passed, despair crept in, and he began to fear they might never return.

Shermaine sat composedly, one leg crossed over the other. The cool, striking woman regarded him with a faint chill in her eyes. “You’ve done well for yourself,” she said calmly. “All this time, and not a word.”

If she hadn’t come to Ustrana , if Apocalypse hadn’t lent a hand, and if Molly hadn’t let a few things slip, she wouldn’t have uncovered Roy’s secret so easily. She had every right to be angry. Roy had been free for some time now. Though his body had changed in ways he hadn’t expected, he was no longer a prisoner. And yet, he hadn’t reached out.

He recognized the disappointment in her tone. Approaching like a child caught red-handed, he spoke quietly, “Shermaine, don’t be mad, I didn’t mean to shut you out. I just didn’t want anyone to know what I’d become. I only returned recently. The day Momo was nearly assassinated, I came back from Avalmere. Before that, I was imprisoned too. I had to kill every guard in that lab to get out.”

As those memories surfaced, a shiver ran through him. His body tensed, like his very nerves were barbed. The anger was still there, raw and roiling. Faye had done this to him, twisted him into something unrecognizable. And all he wanted now was revenge.

“You know what I am now,” he said, voice low. “A monster. I can barely stand to look at myself. How could I ask you all to accept me?”

But what he hadn’t expected, what now truly struck him, was that if Shermaine had returned, then Joshua must have too.

Shermaine’s expression softened slightly as she looked at his anguish. “Even so, you can’t shut out your family and friends. How do you know we couldn’t help?”

He fell silent because she was right. If he had reached out to his family and Henry , he might’ve known they’d returned. Lifting his head, eyes clouded with uncertain hope, he asked, “Do you think… it can be fixed?”

He wouldn’t dare place that kind of faith in anyone else. But with Shermaine, he believed. She’d always operated on another level. If anyone could help him reclaim his humanity, it was her. He didn’t trust easily. But then again, few people could match what Shermaine was capable of.

Faye had been vicious, calculating. Roy still didn’t know who had handed him over to the lab in the first place. In fact, since returning, he hadn’t even looked into it. All he’d wanted was to be near Molly.

“I can’t say for sure what’s going on inside you until I take a proper look,” Shermaine said, calm and composed. She tapped on her device, and a soft blue beam of light swept over Roy. It was Orthish , scanning his body and collecting internal data. Once the scan was complete, the information was instantly transmitted to Apocalypse, which quickly ran an analysis and sent the results back.

Roy’s eyes lit up with curiosity as he stared at the sleek, high-tech gadget wrapped around Shermaine’s wrist. “What is that thing?” he asked, clearly impressed.

“It’s called Orthish. Think of it like a computer, but way more advanced. Its processing power is a hundred times stronger than anything we’ve got on Earth.”

Of course, it made sense. If Xyperia’s technology wasn’t miles ahead, there’s no way they could’ve made it here in the first place. Roy looked genuinely envious, practically drooling over the thought of owning something that powerful himself. Shermaine caught the look on his face and gave a faint smile. But as her eyes returned to the data streaming in from Orthish, that smile slowly vanished.

Roy wasn’t just fast or strong. His physical capabilities had already exceeded the boundaries of what was humanly possible, like strength, speed, and healing. He could punch through a tank or bring down an entire building without breaking a sweat. But the path to that kind of power hadn’t been easy. It was brutal, dangerous, and clearly inhuman. He’d survived two relentless years of agony, pain, and near-constant death. And it had taken a toll, a massive one. His heart rate was three times higher than normal. At that speed, it wouldn’t take much for his heart to give out entirely. The risk of sudden cardiac failure was terrifyingly real.

The side effects of the gene fusion weren’t just physical. The beast-like factor embedded deep in his biology had become increasingly unstable. When it surged beyond control, he would lose himself completely and become a savage, uncontrollable monster. Whoever had conducted the experiment on him had real skill. But even so, they hadn’t managed to fix any of these flaws. Now that Roy had escaped, going back was out of the question. And if Shermaine hadn’t returned when she did, there was no telling how much longer he could’ve lasted. If she’d been just a year or two later, he might’ve died alone, in a land that wasn’t even his own.