Chapter 001: The Imitator!

In a secluded alley, a young man lay on the ground with a dazed look in his eyes, his body covered in wounds, his clothes already drenched by the rain.

da...

da...

A series of footsteps sounded.

A figure walked through the water and stood in front of the young man.

The young man forced his eyes open, and in front of him was a man in his early twenties, "Let me guess, you might be in trouble."

"…Uh." The young man choked and couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Chen Ye squatted down and took out a bottle of blue potion, "Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-level pagoda, and kind people like me are rare."

"Kid, do you want to live?"

Boom!

Thunder roared, and lightning streaked across.

The lightning flashed behind Chen Ye, and the rain fell on the young man's face.

He bit his lip, "Want…"

"Drink this."

Chen Ye dropped the potion and then turned and left.

Seeing this, the young man struggled to get up and picked up the bottle of blue potion.

This color...

"It doesn't matter anymore."

The young man took a deep breath, yanked off the bottle cap, and gulped it down.

Glug, glug.

"Cough, cough!"

Fishy!

Bitter!

It felt like drinking the mucus and bile from a fish!

"Ugh... Blah!"

The young man vomited, but nothing came out. Then, his body suddenly started to convulse and twist!

"Ugh... What is this!!"

"Ugh ah!!!"

...

Across the street, under the eaves.

Chen Ye was recording something on his phone, "Hmm, judging by its condition, it should be non-lethal."

"Second attempt, deep-sea fish mixed with black dog's blood, resulting in a blue potion. Upon consumption, the individual began to grow scales and gills, with varying degrees of bending and growth in the spine and ribs."

"Other characteristics unknown, initial experiment site, rainy weather."

"ID 002: The Deep Diver."

"Well, that's enough for now."

"001, take good care of the new friend."

With that, Chen Ye pocketed his phone.

After he left, a crow yawned on the eaves and flapped its wings, flying into the alley.

"What a hassle, I'm not a babysitter."

...

In North Ridge City, inside an old apartment opposite the police station.

Chen Ye pushed the door open and took off his raincoat, "The rainy season is great, went out to buy a pack of cigarettes and even picked up a little lab rat on the way."

After changing into slippers, Chen Ye walked straight into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, there was a black double-eared porcelain pot with a demon face on it, and there were some fish scales left on the cutting board next to it.

Chen Ye took out his phone and started browsing through it.

"About a month ago, I bought this double-eared pot artifact from a street stall. Half a month ago, my parrot fell into the pot and then mysteriously disappeared."

"When I poured out the contents of the pot, there was only a puddle of blood inside."

"This blood couldn't be matched to any DNA sequence, and from any angle, this substance shouldn't be blood."

"Afterwards, I let my hamster drink this blood, and miraculously, the hamster grew grey wings and could mimic human speech just like the parrot."

"Then, I threw the hamster into the jar, and just like the parrot before, the hamster turned into a puddle of blood."

After that, Chen Ye had a bold idea.

He first threw a sheep's brain, a chameleon, and a silkworm pupa into the pot, then mixed it with the liquid that the hamster had turned into and fed it to the last animal he had.

His crow.

After drinking the liquid, the crow evolved into a creature of considerable intelligence.

And its feathers became smooth, with a texture like that of a shell.

But beyond that, the crow had no other changes.

Then Chen Ye deliberately started teaching it various kinds of knowledge.

The crow's learning ability was incredibly fast; it only took seven days to learn human language and it could converse normally with Chen Ye.

Five days later, something unbelievable happened.

The crow turned into Chen Ye's likeness!

Yes, it became human!

But it only lasted for a very short time.

At first, Chen Ye found it quite interesting until one day, he woke up to find the crow, in his likeness, sitting in front of the computer playing games.

From an outsider's perspective, it was identical to Chen Ye in appearance and even in tone and mannerisms!

The crow's ability to transform and mimic had reached a point where it could perfectly imitate Chen Ye, to the extent of being indistinguishable from the real thing!

This was the first time Chen Ye genuinely felt fear.

"If the results of the experiment are uncontrollable, then the experiment is a suicidal adventure."

"Unless, I also become part of the experiment."

This was Chen Ye's first masterpiece.

ID 001: The Imitator.

The reason Chen Ye's second attempt involved human subjects was to consider the consequences of applying the potion to humans.

He couldn't risk his own body directly.

"So far, the situation seems rather optimistic; at least there hasn't been a single case of death from taking the potion."

"The crow is still quite loyal, after all, I hand-fed it for three years, but it's hard to say the same if it were a common wild beast."

"However, that being said, it's still necessary to prepare for the worst."

"If the monster I created gets out of control, the first person to suffer will inevitably be me."

Chen Ye pondered for a moment, then created a new document on his phone.

ID 000: God.

"God has never been a unit but a concept, a being so powerful it transcends human understanding, beyond cognition, indescribable, absolutely powerful."

"With this as the goal, I hope I don't turn myself into some deep-sea octopus."

Chen Ye returned to his bedroom and sat in front of the computer, lighting up a cigarette out of habit.

"But... why do those things combined allow a crow to gain the ability to turn into a human? What's the principle?"

"Did it touch upon some concept?"

"Parrot, hamster, sheep's brain, chameleon, silkworm pupa."

"Parrots mimic, chameleons change color, silkworm pupas are about transformation and rebirth. Conceptually speaking, could this achieve the effect of transformation?"

"Then, assuming using a bat in the potion, could I create a vampire?"

"Worth a try..."

"But, if it's as I suspect, I could use the magic pot to create various mythical creatures."

"This hypothesis is interesting. Since there are no supernatural body parts or materials in this world for potion-making, I'll just create my own."

...

Outside, it continued to rain.

A man covered in scales weaved through the alleys, his eyes swollen and bulging as if they were about to pop out.

He looked at his smooth, mucus-covered skin and the scales on his arms, never stopping his hissing screams.

"I... I've become, a monster?!"

"This must be a dream... it's a dream, it's fake!"

"Fake, it's all fake!"

The man's palms were webbed, with fingers ending in sharp, hook-like claws, and he had two pairs of fins on his back.

His physique was bulky, unlike that of a human, wider at the top and narrowing down, bending at the waist.

It was evident that his ribcage had expanded a whole size, and his spine was curved.

"Shut up."

A hoarse voice came from behind him, and the fish-man spun around.

"Who?!"

He turned, but there was no one behind him, just a crow bathing in the rain.

"Stop looking, it's me. I am the same kind of being as you."

With those words, the crow suddenly began to unfold its feathers, its body size growing larger, while the sounds of bones shifting could be heard!

In just a blink of an eye, the crow transformed into a young girl wearing a black dress.

"I am The Imitator, ID 001."

...