“Ah!”
Suddenly, a shrill scream erupted from behind the door. This was quickly followed by a dull thud, causing the door to tremble slightly.
Xu Shuhan jumped in shock and pointed at the gap in the door, shouting, “Blood!”
A large amount of fresh blood began seeping out from the crack and soon pooled on the floor in front of the door.
Tang Hao’s face twitched. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could, Xu Shuhan screamed again.
From the gap in the door, a few fingers suddenly poked through and clawed desperately at the seam.
“It’s him…” Tang Hao immediately recognized the owner of those fingers.
Yet in the very next moment, the fingers were abruptly yanked back inside, leaving behind several bloody marks along the edge of the Iron Door.
“What… was that just now?” Xu Shuhan tensed up and asked, her body stiff.
Xiao Bai let out a soft growl and cautiously stared at the door, standing alert as though facing an imminent threat.
Not just them-Ling Mo and Tang Hao could tell too… that person had been abruptly dragged away by something.
No struggle, no further screams…
The blood on the floor continued to spread. For the human body to lose such an alarming amount of blood in a single moment, what kind of grotesque injuries must have been inflicted?
The chaos behind the door was still ongoing, but in just the blink of an eye, another scream tore through the silence.
Following the scream came a series of strange, muffled noises…
“Boom… Boom… Boom…”
Xu Shuhan instinctively took two steps back. Even though there was still a door separating them from the scene, just hearing those sounds was enough to paint horrifying images in her mind.
“That… that was too fast…” she murmured fearfully.
Those two weren’t just ordinary individuals-they were superhumans with the ability to transform! One of them was even a close-combat specialist, ideally suited for this kind of environment. Working together, they should’ve been able to hold their ground for longer…
But from the moment the monster appeared, the two fell into a fierce battle. They didn’t even have a chance to redirect their efforts toward the door or beg for mercy…
“You planned for them to die like this-eye for an eye, isn’t that right? Or… were you just testing something? Trying to figure out what exactly is hiding in there…” Tang Hao muttered.
Ling Mo ignored him and turned to Xu Shuhan. “Where’s Yuwen Xuan?”
“They went the other way… Shortly after we came in, I spotted those two people, but Skinny Monkey said he heard some noises coming from the direction they came from. To be safe, we decided to split up temporarily. I came to track these two, while they went to investigate the source of the sound,” Xu Shuhan answered quickly.
“That works,” Ling Mo nodded. He had made a point of bringing Skinny Monkey along precisely for this reason.
As for what to do once they got here, that was naturally Yuwen Xuan’s concern. After all, he wasn’t just given the title of Commander for nothing. Even before taking over at Miracle Base, he was a prominent figure at Falcon Camp. Whether it was his combat strength or his leadership skills, the guy certainly knew what he was doing. ℟ἁꞐօꞖƐ𐌔
Just look at Zhang Yu-willing to follow him without any hesitation. Even Ling Mo’s quick acceptance and solid grip on the position of Boss at Miracle Base were due to Yuwen Xuan’s widespread promotion and careful groundwork.
Though Falcon always kept him under their thumb, when he decided to fight back, he did it cleanly and decisively…
“Too bad he’s a madman,” Ling Mo couldn’t help but think to himself.
Clang!
A sudden, deafening bang against the Iron Door jerked everyone’s nerves taut once again.
Tang Hao had been staring at the pool of blood this whole time. At that moment, he let out a sharp scream and collapsed to the floor in terror. “They’re coming out!”
“MeGu…” Xiao Bai pressed its head firmly against the door. However, as the door shook more and more violently, even Xiao Bai began to strain against the force. But just then, its body started to expand, growing larger and larger until it barely managed to hold its ground against the monsters behind the door.
“Ling Mo, what do we do?” Xu Shuhan asked anxiously. Even though she was a Zombie, she had no desire to come face-to-face with her wild counterparts-let alone creatures that couldn’t even be considered her kind anymore. If they could still be classified as Zombies, Tang Hao wouldn’t have specifically used the term “Monster” to distinguish them from regular Zombies. Clearly, to someone like Tang Hao, whatever was inside was far more terrifying than any Zombie.
And it wasn’t hard to see why he was this scared…
“No wonder they dared to send people to infiltrate the Rosen Company,” Ling Mo thought to himself. “For them, the real danger isn’t the Zombies in the company, but the Monsters hidden inside that building. All the prior investigations and operations were probably just about finding opportunities and getting a sense of the layout. The problem was, a real opportunity never came… until today, when we showed up. And to finally get to this day-whether it’s Tang Hao or Butterfly-they’ve both been visibly excited. I’m sure the others feel the same. While we dealt with those two inside, there are still more outside, and one way or another, they won’t give up so easily…”
Ling Mo mulled over this as he spoke aloud, “Let’s find Yuwen Xuan and the others.”
“What about here?”
“No problem-Xiao Bai will hold them off. It’s already left its scent along the way, as well as that guy’s trail of blood. In a little while, Xiao Bai will lead them on a wild goose chase until we wrap things up on our end.” As Ling Mo spoke, he reached out and patted Xiao Bai on the back.
Xiao Bai seemed eager for affection and tried to turn around to nuzzle him, but the door was still shaking violently behind it. Feeling resigned, the mutation panda lifted its backside and gave a determined wiggle of its tiny, almost invisible tail.
“Man, that tail is so short, you can barely see it…” Ling Mo chuckled and gave its back a quick rub. “Alright, let’s go.”
“Wait!”
Tang Hao, who appeared utterly disheveled and desperate, shouted suddenly. “Take me with you! I’ve given you so much information…”
Xu Shuhan glanced at Ling Mo, then looked back at him with a questioning expression. “What do you think?” she asked hesitantly.
Ling Mo walked up to Tang Hao, crouched down, and stared directly into his eyes. “And yet, the whole time, you’ve been plotting how to kill me, haven’t you? That’s exactly why I’ve consistently done the opposite of what you’ve suggested. You might have thought you were clever, but here’s the thing… In the beginning, I actually agreed with what you said-that your body and your humanity were separate. But after we got here, I realized… you lied. Just like you did back then, when you were with your wife and child. You were the one who felt fear. You were the one who wanted to kill them. Whether you actually did or not… that’s something only you know.”
“No… no, don’t leave me behind!” Tang Hao’s panic morphed into a blend of hatred and pitiful desperation, tears and snot running down his face uncontrollably. “Don’t kill me… please…”
“Turning into a Zombie just amplifies certain parts of someone’s personality―it doesn’t distort them,” Ling Mo said coldly as he grabbed Tang Hao’s hand and yanked it away, revealing his grotesquely swollen abdomen.
“No…” Tang Hao’s face turned ashen, his hope crumbling in an instant.
“You’re on your own.” Ling Mo stood up, looking indifferent.
“No… no!!”