Chapter 225: Mutation (23)
“The bracelet signals for Mu Fan and all the missing personnel have been completely cut off.”
After Bai Yinnian drove the car into the urban area, he lost his sense of direction. He could only head towards the block where the Third Squad had executed their mission yesterday, speaking to Xiao Ji with furrowed brows.
Xiao Ji pondered for a moment. “Those two people last night are the same kind as us. Their goal isn’t necessarily to capture the people of Shenyi. Mu Fan and the others were most likely used as bait.”
Bai Yinnian glanced at Xiao Ji and stepped on the brakes. “You mean, their goal was to fish you and me out?”
Xiao Ji shrugged slightly. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll know when the time comes.”
The block where the Third Squad executed their mission last night had already turned into a pile of ruins after the descent of Tianfa. But what remained clearly visible was the abandoned research institute where drugs were developed back in the day.
Bai Yinnian parked the car by the side of the road. “Do you think those people would use this place as their lair?”
“Ninety percent,” Xiao Ji said as he got out of the car, looking up at the car roof.
Bai Yinnian also turned off the engine and got out. Following Xiao Ji’s gaze to the roof of the car, he saw absolutely nothing.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
Xiao Ji shook his head. “Nothing, let’s go.”
He was still wearing his casual shorts. That metallic lower leg was left completely bare. Compared to his intact leg, it complemented the vast expanse of ruins even more, without the slightest sense of incongruity.
Xiao Ji walked in front, and Bai Yinnian fell half a step behind, following him.
When the two arrived at the main gate of the research institute, a little boy wearing overalls crawled out from under the car, quietly following behind them.
The dark night always carried an air of mystery.
And under such an environment, it added a few more traces of desolation and eeriness.
The block where the research institute was located had its power supply cut off. The surroundings were desolate and deserted, immersed in dead silence.
That wide-open main gate was like the abyssal maw of a ferocious beast, waiting for ignorant and fearless food to deliver itself to the door.
Bai Yinnian held Xiao Ji’s hand, leading him into the main gate of the research institute.
The sound of their footsteps echoed in the spacious hall.
Just as Bai Yinnian wanted to borrow the faint moonlight to carefully examine the fire evacuation map in the institute’s hall to determine the general layout of the place, the originally wide-open doors behind them suddenly slammed shut with a bang.
Bai Yinnian whipped his head around, seeming to see something flash past and quickly vanish.
He was just about to turn back and chase after it when Xiao Ji grabbed his wrist:
“It’s fine. Let’s find the people first.”
A faint sense of unease rose in Bai Yinnian’s heart. “I don’t know why, but I keep feeling like someone is following us.”
Xiao Ji intertwined their fingers. “It’s your illusion.”
Bai Yinnian was half-doubtful, but Xiao Ji’s tone was very certain, so he also felt that perhaps he was just being too paranoid.
Thus, he pulled out a lipstick-sized flashlight from his person, flipped the switch, and illuminated the hall.
Probably after the incident occurred, all the important items here had already been transferred away. At this moment, the research institute appeared very empty. Compared to the mess outside, this place looked much neater and cleaner.
Bai Yinnian found the fire evacuation map, studied it for a long while, and then took Xiao Ji’s hand, walking towards the deeper corridors of the research institute.
But as they walked, Xiao Ji suddenly stopped.
Bai Yinnian was just about to ask him what was wrong when he saw Xiao Ji suddenly raise his head, looking at the ceiling.
Bai Yinnian followed Xiao Ji’s gaze to the ceiling.
He saw densely packed flesh tumors clinging to the ceiling. The tumors were covered with uneven bumps, and on each one, there were some small black dots; it was impossible to see clearly what they were.
Bai Yinnian’s scalp went numb. He whispered, “F*ck, that’s disgusting enough to give me a heart attack.”
Who knew that as soon as his voice fell, those small black dots instantly expanded significantly. Like countless pairs of eyes, they all turned to look at the two of them in unison at this moment.
Bai Yinnian subconsciously took down the firearm from his back with one hand, tucked it under his arm, and aimed the muzzle at those flesh tumors on the ceiling.
Xiao Ji patted the back of his hand comfortingly, whispering, “No need to alert the snake by beating the grass.”
As he spoke, he reached out his hand, using his fingertip to touch one of the flesh tumors at the edge of the wall.
In the dark night, the flesh tumor froze at a speed visible to the naked eye. It then quickly spread along countless veins towards the countless tumors on the ceiling, swiftly freezing all the flesh tumors to the ceiling.
However, the lighting was already dim at this time, and there was no ice floating on the surface. Bai Yinnian shone his flashlight on them. Although he also noticed that these flesh tumors seemed to have suddenly become stiff, he couldn’t see the underlying cause.
He furrowed his brows. “What did you do?”
Xiao Ji didn’t explain much, only saying, “I negotiated with them. I told them you weren’t happy, and if they kept looking, you were going to gouge out their eyeballs, so they should stop looking.”
Bai Yinnian was half-doubtful. “You can actually communicate with these brainless things?”
The fact that he could communicate was true. Xiao Ji didn’t deny it, only saying, “I told you, you underestimate me.”
Bai Yinnian remained noncommittal, only saying:
“I just thought that possessing a high degree of affinity in front of pollutants was already perverted enough.”
Because this trait alone meant that Xiao Ji could walk freely in this monster-infested world.
He paused for a moment. “I didn’t expect you could also converse with them.”
But even so, Bai Yinnian still felt that if danger occurred, Xiao Ji’s ability to protect himself would still be a problem.
He gripped Xiao Ji’s hand tightly and continued walking into the depths of the corridor.
The surface of the research institute had no issues, and compared to the outside world, this place seemed exceptionally peaceful.
Except for those flesh tumors clinging to the walls just now, the two hadn’t seen even a single low-level pollutant along the way.
What Bai Yinnian didn’t know was that just after they left, the small dark shadow behind them followed up. It tilted its head back to look at those still-frozen flesh tumors, and its pupils turned red.
In the silent darkness, those flesh tumors exploded into powder one by one, scattering all over the ground.
……..
At the end of the corridor was an alloy door. Bai Yinnian shone his flashlight and found that the previous biometric combination lock had already been destroyed.
He reached out and pushed the door, but it didn’t budge an inch.
Bai Yinnian then shone his flashlight beam towards the top and bottom ends of the door, discovering that new latches had been welded to the top and bottom, and two locks were hung on them respectively.
Bai Yinnian handed the flashlight to Xiao Ji. Sharp feather spines broke through the flesh on the back of Bai Yinnian’s hand and drilled out. They were scalding and crimson, looking like branding irons that had been burned for a long time.
Just as he prepared to cut through those two door latches, Xiao Ji’s ears twitched.
It seemed some kind of sound had begun to surge from behind the door.
From far to near.
Xiao Ji hastily reached out, grabbed Bai Yinnian’s wrist, and yanked him forcefully:
“Retreat!”
The two had just dodged away. The next second, that originally quiet main door was smashed open by a sudden, massive force. Countless red-eyed, grotesquely shaped pollutants lunged out from behind the door.
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