Melting a small amount between the large iron box and the pillar, Xu Song stuck them together and clapped his hands. “That should do it. This thing won’t be knocked out anymore. Shall we retreat?”
The large iron box at the outlet of the drainage pipe seemed suspicious to Yue Zheng and the others. For safety reasons, Xu Song decided to weld it shut completely, to prevent anyone from being attacked from behind by some strange things while escaping.
“Okay.” After Luo Wen’an came down, Yue Zheng handed the severely exhausted Liu Shishi to him. Now the couple embraced each other, weeping bitterly.
As everyone prepared to descend, they suddenly heard someone excitedly call out from behind, “Yue Zheng?! It’s really you!”
They turned to look, there was only one emergency light here, with some stored electricity. Even if something happened to the generator above, they could still use it.
In the dim light, Xu Song didn’t recognize the person at all. The person had a scar on their face and seemed to have shaved their head. Now only a small amount of hair had grown, making them look withered, with sunken cheeks.
Not only Xu Song but even Yue Zheng couldn’t recognize the person for a moment. He just felt that they looked familiar. He hesitated for a moment and then raised their voice, “Wang An!”
Xu Song was puzzled. Why did this person’s name sound so familiar? Only when he carefully examined the person’s features did he suddenly realize, isn’t this the colleague from Yue Zheng’s criminal investigation team, the person in the other group with the motorcade?! How could he be here?
He hadn’t heard that Wang An had any abilities! Could his situation be similar to his and Yue Zheng’s? He acquired abilities but dared not speak about it, otherwise, why would he be captured to this research institute?
“Alright, alright, we’ve found our people!” Han Yuehuan’s cheerful voice came from the ventilation duct. She was supporting a woman in her twenties, who was struggling to crawl out.
“Now is not the time to talk. Come, let’s retreat first.” Yue Zheng helped Wang An, who had difficulty walking, and signaled Xu Song to lead the way.
Xu Song nodded and prepared to be the first to crawl down the sewer pipe.
Some of the people who had barely managed to escape were anxious, fearing that they would be discovered by the laboratory personnel and dragged back to endure those unbearable days. They rushed to crawl down first, causing Xu Song to be pushed aside, narrowly avoiding getting dirty.
“They… they ran so fast without even recognizing the way…” Xu Song shook his head speechlessly. Seeing that after the initial seven or eight people, the others didn’t fight for the way, he started crawling down again.
After the most difficult part of the climb, the group’s movements became smoother. Yue Zheng carried Wang An on his back, Luo Wen’an carried Liu Shishi on his back, and Su Daji helped a struggling person with abilities. Liu Xu and Han Yuehuan each supported someone they knew.
“Zhang Yang and the others are all dead…” The girl Han Yuehuan was supporting finally regained her composure and started crying, hugging Han Yuehuan’s shoulder. When Han Yuehuan couldn’t find those few people in the crowd, she knew that the situation was probably more bad than good. Her eyes also began to well up with tears.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Why were you captured?” Yue Zheng, carrying Wang An on his back, followed closely behind Xu Song. Xu Song remembered the route better, and now he had to focus on taking care of Wang An, so he naturally didn’t dare to lead the way in front.
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“Why? You were going to B City for a mission. How could they dare to do this?!” Yue Zheng’s footsteps halted. He couldn’t imagine that these people would dare to do such a thing. Could it be that they took advantage of the chaotic times and harbored thoughts of becoming kings?
Wang An shook his head bitterly and said, “That person is a madman, you don’t know… He actually…” He paused, seemingly reluctant to mention something. “Before we arrived in S City, Zhao Enyi manifested an ability to manipulate plant growth. On the second night after we left, they drugged us at the rest stop, and when we woke up the next day, we found ourselves in that hellish place.”
“Everyone?!” Yue Zheng was taken aback, but he quickly understood. Since those people dared to act in secret, they wouldn’t let anyone escape. “What about the others?” Did they all die?
Wang An shook his head. “I only saw a few ordinary soldiers in the laboratory… Oh, you don’t know yet. They put different people on each floor. On the floor where I was held, they kept ordinary people.”
“Ordinary people?” Xu Song, who was not far away, turned his head in confusion. Weren’t ordinary people everywhere? Why would they capture ordinary people?
“Could it be… that they want to trigger abilities in ordinary people?” Yue Zheng speculated. If they were capturing ordinary people, perhaps they had plans to turn them into superhumans.
Wang An nodded silently. “Among our group, the ordinary people who were captured, only I survived. The others… they all died.”
“What about you…”
Wang An nodded again. “Earth manipulation.” He had gained an ability, but the process was… “But it’s very weak. It should be because it manifested later.” Those people used some methods to enhance the abilities of the individuals.
Although Xu Song wanted to ask further, he didn’t say anything. He understood that whatever methods they used, they couldn’t be pleasant.
“What about the Colonel who led the team?” Yue Zheng bypassed that topic as well. Whatever Xu Song could think of, he could also imagine.
“I never saw him, but once, I met another ability user from our team. According to him, those important individuals were killed on the spot… Only insignificant people like us were taken as experimental subjects.”
A heavy silence fell over the group as they quietly made their way through the pitch-black passage.
Suddenly, screams echoed from somewhere around a corner.
“What’s going on?!”
“What is that thing?!”
“Are they chasing us?!”
Panic spread among the group as they frantically looked around in the darkness, unable to see anything.
“That came from ahead,” Yue Zheng signaled, pointing in the direction.
“What should we do…” Xu Song wondered if some kind of mutated creature had entered. He remembered that a group of people had run ahead of them, and he wondered if they had encountered something.
As the group hesitated, Yue Zheng saw a few disheveled individuals running out from a false junction not far ahead. They were running around like headless flies, rushing in different directions in a panic. Some of them clearly didn’t even remember where they had come from and were running back toward the group.
When the two groups met, chaos ensued once again. Fortunately, they recognized Yue Zheng’s group as the ones who had just rescued them, so they didn’t attack. But now, even if they wanted to launch an attack, it wouldn’t be easy.
While they were locked up in the laboratory, the scientists not only drugged them to blur their consciousness but also injected them with muscle relaxants. By the time they returned to their “cells” each day, their mental energy was almost completely depleted. It was already fortunate that they were able to escape.
“It’s… it’s a trap. I don’t know what’s in there, but everyone who went ahead… they all… died!” One of the ability users who had returned gasped for breath and spoke in a breathless manner.
The group stood at the junction, peering into the passage that curved ahead. It was impossible to observe beyond the obstruction even for Yue Zheng.
“Stay close together and be careful on the way. Make sure to follow well, everyone is responsible for themselves if they take a wrong step,” Yue Zheng said, glancing at the corridor. There were bloodstains on the floor and walls, and besides the foul odor from the drainage channel, there was a faint hint of blood in the air.
“Could all those forks be traps?” Xu Song immediately thought of the dense network of forks on the map. If they were all traps, it would be…
“Perhaps. Let’s proceed cautiously,” Yue Zheng nodded silently, patting Xu Song’s shoulder to reassure him. He didn’t want to put too much pressure on him right now. If by any chance they took the wrong path… then no one would be able to make it out alive.
“What on earth is going on?! Why can’t even the doors be opened?!” Professor Lu paced around the control room, scratching his messy hair in frustration.
“Some people are climbing down through the elevator shaft, but it seems the elevator below has been jammed from the inside… We can’t open it at the moment,” the captain, supporting the security personnel, wiped the sweat off his forehead with a troubled expression. If something happened down there… if people found out what was down there…
“We need to force the doors open! We must ensure the safety of those experimental subjects and equipment!” Ever since his own laboratory was destroyed by those escaped test subjects, acquiring these new devices had been a significant effort! Not to mention the research results, if they were destroyed, all his hard work would be in vain!
On the ground, several important officials hurried to a certain building where they usually held meetings and work sessions after discovering the warehouse had been attacked.
“Increase the number of troops and protect the northern greenhouse and several research facilities,” Commander Wang, the current head of S City and the former military district leader, ordered sternly. “Investigate whether it’s rioting survivors plundering supplies or mutated creatures attacking.”
His subordinates saluted and withdrew immediately.
In a corner of the room, a younger man in his thirties stood, coldly observing the chaotic scene and analyzing various possibilities.
“Secretary Li,” a person sneaked into the room through a side door and stood quietly behind the man.
“What’s the matter?”
“There seems to be a problem with Professor Lu’s laboratory.”
Secretary Li raised an eyebrow. He had put a lot of effort into setting up that new laboratory. How could it encounter problems at a time like this?
Before he could inquire further, a soldier rushed in from outside. “Commander! The advance team has confirmed that a group of ability users is attacking the warehouse!”
“Ability users?!” Commander Wang exclaimed. “Quickly dispatch more personnel. We must secure the supplies!”
Since the establishment of the shelter, they had been on guard against this new emerging force gathering in the shadows, posing a threat to the safety of the shelter. Thus, from the beginning, S City adopted a suppressive attitude towards ability users. However, even though they suppressed them, they dared not push them to the brink.
With tacit consent from higher authorities, the laboratory was secretly supported to quickly research the secret of humans acquiring abilities. If they could unlock it, if everyone could unlock their abilities, they wouldn’t have to worry about those emerging forces anymore.
Unfortunately, Professor Lu was a madman who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice the lives of experimental subjects for his research. Commander Wang couldn’t bear to see his soldiers hurt, which forced him to put a stop to it.
Now, those individuals who believed they had gained superhuman powers couldn’t resist any longer, could they?!
Commander Wang’s mood was heavy as he immediately ordered a swift suppression. Such a thing must not be allowed! Otherwise, before those mutated creatures attacked from outside, the shelter would be destroyed in the hands of humans themselves!
Obrigada pelo capítulo 😌😍
Thank you for the chapter!♥️❤️♥️❤️♥️❤️♥️
Wow. So few left. Really horrible what crazy can do… Thanks for the update ❤️❤️❤️
It’s frightening how accurate the mindset of this kind of people would be like this in times of trouble
… Suddenly I remember another novel where ordinary people drink ability users’s blood because you know, they wanted ability too… So yeah, being ordinary or having ability equally dangerous when you have mad man around…