Both of them wore sunglasses and restrained their vitality magnetic fields to get on a rusty elevator while watched by guards who pretended to be normal office employees.
To Meng Chao’s surprise, the elevator did not go up. Instead, it went straight down.
Clanging sounds reached his ears. The elevator trembled a little. The journey did not seem to have an end to it. Meng Chao reckoned that they had gone at least one hundred meters underground.
The door opened and revealed a winding, dark, small tunnel.
Based on the mottled walls, it was an underground defensive facility that had existed under Dragon City since it was on Earth and was as complicated as a maze.
When it was first designed, it had to have been used to fend against nuclear weapons. A group of lucky people would be able to stay here for decades or even more than one hundred years, and when things had settled down outside, they would go out.
Hence, the entire place looked crudely made, tough, and cold. It was very militarized.
With Lu Siya in the lead, they went through three doors that were thicker than half a meter, and finally, the area ahead of them became brighter.
The tough walls on both sides of the tunnel were replaced by strengthened glass.
Through it, Meng Chao could see labs with monsters.
The first lab was a 3D maze that slowly rotated in the air. It had a small rat with a body as white as jade. It was moving around the maze, which was quite complex.
Even humans might have a hard time finding the exit.
There were also researchers controlling the forks in the maze. They randomly opened and closed the barricades to change the way out.
The rat could remember each path clearly. It always chose the right path, and it never hesitated when it made its choice. When it reached the end, it enjoyed good food.
The second lab was filled with a faint blue liquid. A colorful eight-tentacled octopus that could change its color like a chameleon floated inside it.
It was currently doing sudoku.
Meng Chao blinked to make sure that his eyes were not playing tricks on him.
The octopus was indeed holding a marker pen that could be used underwater. With a tentacle wrapped around the pen, it was focused on solving a sudoku puzzle on an incredibly large white board.
The third lab had a monster that looked like a combination between a sloth and an anteater.
It was curled up lazily in a corner of the lab and snoring loudly.
Meng Chao listened to it closely and soon realized that the monster was not snoring, but reciting poetry in a strange voice. “The bright moon shines through the window next to the bed, its light on the floor is like snow on the ground; I look up and see the moon, and I cannot help but look down to remember my home.”
Meng Chao looked at Lu Siya in shock.
“It’s just imitating speech like a parrot,” Lu Siya explained. “It doesn’t really understand the meaning of the poem. They did a simple stimulation, and this is what happened when it reacted to it based on nervous impulse. Speaking of which, imitation is also a very important method of learning. Who knows whether it will gain enlightenment after it receives multiple stimulations in continuous waves and understands the beauty of the poem?”
There was no monster in the fourth lab.
A lone human was standing inside and staring at Meng Chao with a depressed look.
Meng Chao was just about to ask Lu Siya what was going on and why they trapped a human inside when he realized that the human’s facial features were a little strange. His face was very stiff, as if he was wearing a human skin mask.
And that mask was a copy of Meng Chao’s own face.
The next moment, the “human” suddenly blinked and became transparent. “His” entire body slumped down and “he” turned into a pile of goo.
It trembled about and looked like an extra large sticky pudding.
Meng Chao realized that all monsters locked up in the lab were not normal monsters.
Their fighting strength might not compare to Hell Beasts or Apocalyptic Beasts, but they had high intelligence or strange abilities.
Meng Chao saw Ye Xiaoxing in an office at the end of the corridor.
The office was not big to begin with, but now it was full of files with many years’ worth of dust on them. It looked like a warehouse that a tornado had visited recently.
Ye Xiaoxing was curled up among a pile of old books. He wore two detachable sleeves, which made him look like an old accountant who did not care about the affairs of the world rather than a powerful fighter who could fight fiercely against the Ultimate Sandworm.
“Meng Chao, we meet again.” Ye Xiaoxing shut a folder with lots of monster information. He removed the detachable sleeves and released a long breath before he smiled and said, “First, a piece of good news. We’ll be giving you a huge amount of support in regard to Superstar taking over Spirit Creation Creatures’ remaining business, technology, and employees.
“Siya should have mentioned it to you along the way. I don’t want this matter to blow up again and stir up another internal conflict between the biochemical modification faction and the runic symbol machines faction.
“More importantly, you fought under Raging Waves and your persistent investigation of the case of the murderous pets in Blessed Paradise has proven that you’re a loyal and brave warrior who is fighting for Dragon City and human civilization.
“Unfortunately, the explosion in the Red Radiance Jade mine destroyed most of the marks left by you, Siya, and Qin Hu during your fierce fight underground. We can’t tell the citizens the whole truth so that all of you would get the glory you deserve.
“But we won’t let our heroes suffer losses. We also want to see industries like Superstar become bigger and stronger. Since they’re controlled by heroes, they’ll become pillars that will defend Dragon City.
“Also, you don’t need to worry about the cooperation, like who is the more dominant and who is the more submissive, that you don’t have business talent, and whether Spirit Creation Creatures will take over the company because you’re busy with cultivation and fighting.
“With the abnormal beast research department protecting you, I believe that Xie Xiaolei will not do something that will destroy him. After all, he’s smart and knows that we have information on him. He has already made a mistake once.”
Meng Chao’s thoughts raced.
He knew that the investigation regarding the White Spirit and Gao Ye would definitely involve him, because he had been personally involved in the matter. The abnormal beast research department seemed to have decided to treat Spirit Creation Creatures as a huge slice of pie and place it right beside his mouth so he would eat until he was full and his mouth was covered in grease. Then, he would work for the research department willingly.
Based on the memories of his previous life, even though the abnormal beast research department was not large right now, it would soon develop at insane speeds and become an organization with real power that could stand on equal ground with the adjudicator court. In certain areas, it could even do whatever it wanted with no one being able to say anything about it.
Meng Chao would definitely not complain if he could be on the same side with this golden coattail. After all, it was a golden coattail that others could only wish for.
He nodded and said readily, “Thank you, Section Chief Ye.”
Ye Xiaoxing waved his hand in dismissal and said with a smile. “You aren’t considered an official member of the abnormal beast research department, so you don’t need to refer to me as section chief.
“The abnormal beast research department has formed a temporary team to specifically investigate the White Spirit and Gao Ye’s cases. We’ve invited some experts and powerful people working in society to investigate the cases. I’m in charge of it for the time being. You can call me Elder Ye or Captain Ye.
“Honestly speaking, Meng Chao, you gave me a really difficult problem. You must understand, our members usually have to go through intensive training for more than half a year in the abnormal beast research department and pass all sorts of tests before they have the right to come here.
“But you had close contact with Lin Chuan, the White Spirit, and Gao Ye. Gao Ye even sent his experimental log to you after he turned into the Professor of Sandworms. It’s impossible for us not to include you.
“I believe in your loyalty to Dragon City, but I still have to give you a reminder. What you will come into contact with is top-secret information, and that includes countless past events that were sealed during the dark era. If any of this goes out, it might threaten the safety of Dragon City. Countless people will die, even though they’ve done nothing wrong.
“So, while you can fail a task, remove yourself from it, or use fierce opinions to go up against us, you are not to leak these secrets. Can you accept this?”
“Of course,” Meng Chao said. “I know what is important and what is not. I won’t reveal those secrets.”
If being realistic, who had more secrets than him in all of Dragon City?
“Alright. Then, allow me to introduce the abnormal beast research department to you. I believe that you have already gotten to know from Siya that we’re an organization that has just been formed and handles monsters with high intelligence. You must have a lot of questions for us, and I will answer all of them, but only within the limits of authority.”
Ye Xiaoxing paused for a moment before he asked, “Meng Chao, do you think that the Monster War will end like this?”
Meng Chao was a little taken aback. He wanted to laugh.
If anyone else were asked this question, even a strategist with the highest aims would have a hard time answering.
But he knew the correct answer.
“No.” Meng Chao shook his head slowly and said, “I know we’ve killed the Apocalyptic Beasts residing in Raging Waves in the northern offense and a lot of superhumans became stronger in terms of fighting power. This ensured that the monsters around Dragon City were unable to launch any organized large-scale attacks.
“But I don’t think that Dragon City can sleep without worry and just wait for the final victory to land in our hands.”
Ye Xiaoxing exchanged a glance with Lu Siya. There was surprise in his gaze. He did not expect that Meng Chao would be this calm. He could not help but ask curiously, “Why do you say that?”
Meng Chao smiled faintly and said, “It’s very simple. If the Monster War could be won so easily, there would be no need for the government to set up the abnormal beast research department.
“While on the way to this room, I saw a lot of abnormal beasts. Their fighting strength should be nothing special and cannot compare even to that of Nightmarish Beasts, but they have extraordinary intelligence and even the ability to pretend to be humans.
“So here are my thoughts. If monsters remain without any organization, they will never be able to deal with humanity’s steel army when it comes to a full-frontal attack. After all, it’s impossible for their bodies to continue growing with no limits. No matter how strong they become, they won’t be able to handle a blow from Huge Dragon’s Might Cannon.
“But Dragon City is small, and we have a huge population. There are plenty of skyscrapers, but they’re all very fragile and are easy targets. They could become prey to endless terrorist attacks.
“If there was even one monster that has human-like intelligence who learns about the advantages and weaknesses of human civilization and how to control or imitate humans, it would be able to lurk among us without anyone noticing it. It would be free to detonate bombs, create earthquakes, assassinate important officials, specialists, and academicians. It could use all sorts of tricks to throw Dragon City’s order into chaos.
“It might not be able to win the war in one go with this tactic, but it could create chaos and panic, which would leave Dragon City in a constant state of weakness.
“Besides, as long as it’s smart enough, it would stay in places like Golden Tooth Lair and use thousands of innocent citizens as its shield and hostages. It’ll be very difficult for us to find it, and even if we could accurately locate it, the cost for capturing and killing it would be so high that we couldn’t bear it.
“If there were a lot of such highly intelligent monsters, even if we won the Monster War, we would do so while heavily wounded. It’d make it hard for us to begin colonizing the Other World.
“To sum it up, we’re now at the second stage of the Monster War, and we’re facing a brand new style of battle. If we’re careless, we’re going to face the risk of total defeat!”