Chapter 151: Silhouette in the Rain 13
Qing Gang’s evolutionary advantage was a tough health bar and high-speed impact ability. His running speed could only be considered average and wasn’t suitable for executing this type of mission. Zhuang Ningyu said, “Little Zhong is in charge of drone escort flight. Everyone else follows Team Leader Ye’s arrangements. Little Yi, follow me.”
Qing Gang: “Okay!” And simultaneously patted Yi Ke’s back, squeezing words out from between his teeth. Little brother is still too young. Action team’s first work principle—listen to Team Leader Zhuang. Authority with a nearly 100% win rate doesn’t tolerate any questioning, even if you’re his family member—no exceptions.
The instant the infrared deployment was interfered with, the two quickly climbed over the wall and landed steadily inside the courtyard. Yi Ke thought about it and still explained, “I just thought it would be more beneficial for you to stay outside and command.”
“I know,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “But if you wanted me to stay outside, just now you shouldn’t have brought along Qing Gang. You should have brought Team Leader Ye. For this type of operation, there’s no need for both team leaders to stay outside. One inside and one outside is the optimal solution. Remember?”
Yi Ke obediently made an “mm” sound and asked again, “If I had brought Team Leader Ye just now, would you have agreed?”
“No.” Zhuang Ningyu walked forward. “On the premise of not affecting work efficiency, I don’t want to be separated from family.”
Yi Ke was stunned for a moment, then his lips unconsciously pressed tighter, compressing his smile into something only visible to lovers. After all, Zhong Mu’s high-precision drone was still flying escort at height, and this footage would one hundred percent be filed in the archives later, so when it was time to be proper, one must still be proper.
Zhuang Ningyu indicated for Yi Ke to follow him. Most of the buildings on this island were built in spire form, and the warehouse was no exception, looking like a knockoff white pyramid. And in the South Pacific, at the Invisible Giant’s headquarters base, there were similarly these kinds of massive spire-shaped buildings everywhere.
“The Invisible Giant’s number one figure, Adam, really likes this kind of tower. Besides the metaphor of reaching the divine realm, he also quite enjoys the feeling of being high above, overlooking all living beings, so his office is located at the tower’s peak.” Zhuang Ningyu said while looking toward that tallest building in the island’s center not far away.
“Liam can’t wait to seize power, so he first built a knockoff version in the rule zone?” Yi Ke commented. “That’s his style.”
The sea breeze blew through the coconut grove and brushed against their faces, but brought waves of hot air. The two frowned slightly. Zhong Mu in the earpiece also reminded, “That spire tower at the very edge has an external temperature around 80 degrees Celsius, while the current average temperature of the entire island is 28 degrees.”
“No radiation,” Yi Ke withdrew the detector. “Just pure high temperature.”
The high-temperature spire’s walls had no windows at all, only two extremely small hidden windows on the tower’s slanted top surface, emitting very light white water vapor. Zhong Mu said, “Should be chimneys.”
High temperature, chimneys, combined with the evolver experiments on the island and large amounts of DX coolant—it could basically be determined that the high-temperature spire was an incinerator. Not counting the spire top, just looking at the floor space, the volume was at least thirty times that of New Gene Biology’s underground incineration room back then. And whether it was Yuanbao Building or New Gene Biology, the experimenters in their confessions all mentioned “some experimental subjects would be taken away, but they weren’t clear where they were taken”… The answer might be here.
“Someone’s coming,” Zhong Mu reminded.
The two quickly flashed to a concealed spot. A moment later, a team of people carrying guns walked past, looking like patrollers on the island. The man in the lead was tall and large, with a crew cut and an obvious scar on his forehead. Both Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke were very familiar with this face—he used to frequently appear following Fu Han, his personal bodyguard, Gao Weicheng.
The patrol team didn’t linger long in the warehouse area and soon turned to leave. Yi Ke asked, “If Gao Weicheng is here, could Fu Han also be here?”
Zhuang Ningyu had previously asked Fu Han about Gao Weicheng, but the other party hadn’t given a clear answer. And in Song Qiaowei’s testimony, they had successfully bribed Gao Weicheng three years ago to secretly replace Fu Han’s injection medication. If only viewed from this angle, then Gao Weicheng appearing on this island seemed quite reasonable. After all, the Fu Dong couple had always been working for Liam. After they fell, Gao Weicheng could indeed directly pledge allegiance to Liam.
In that patrol team of fifteen just now, only Gao Weicheng was human—all the rest were monsters. Zhuang Ningyu’s understanding of Gao Weicheng was limited to written materials and a few meetings that could be counted on one hand. It wasn’t easy to judge whether the other party had truly betrayed Fu Han or was still working for Fu Han. But, Zhuang Ningyu said, “From when we landed on the island until now, besides those few downed drones, there haven’t been any other warnings or expulsions. It doesn’t seem like the security response an island of this caliber should have. What do you think… could it be related to Gao Weicheng?”
“You mean Gao Weicheng, after seeing us, actively shut down the island’s security system, opening the door to welcome guests?”
“It’s also possible he opened the door to invite us into a trap. But either way, this kind of thing isn’t normal.”
After the patrol team left, the two followed the map captured by the drone and headed straight to where the DX coolant was stored. According to experience, the laboratory should also be there. Circling around another white building complex, ahead was a large beautiful lawn. An old man with snow-white hair was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by a monster caregiver to get some sun. His spirits weren’t very good—he looked sickly, his eyes were very cloudy, and his head would nod forward every so often. It was unclear whether he was dizzy or sleeping.
This was one of the researchers from the files who had been kidnapped by Liam—80-year-old Nathaniel. The treatment Liam gave him seemed very good—though it couldn’t be otherwise, because the old professor really gave off a faint feeling of being about to die at any moment. A bit of wind could send him saying goodbye to the human world and hello to God. After sunbathing for half a day, he didn’t even lift an eyelid once.
Yi Ke asked, “Can he really still do research?”
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head. Looking just at the materials, although Nathaniel had also achieved some accomplishments in evolver research, he wasn’t particularly outstanding and was completely not on the same level as the other six researchers who were also kidnapped. Moreover, he was already at this advanced age.
“He was the last of the seven people to be kidnapped,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “The previous six researchers disappeared inexplicably. Some couldn’t find the rule zone at all. Even if they found it, they couldn’t enter—just like Fuxing Garden, locked very tightly. But just when order maintenance departments of various countries were all overwhelmed, it was Nathaniel who successfully sent out a message, which included partial rule zone data, several photos, and a list of trapped personnel. That’s why He Mo was able to compare and identify so quickly this time.”
“Looking at it this way, the old man is still quite useful, just that for Liam, it’s a counterproductive use,” Yi Ke commented. The two waited for a while longer but didn’t wait for other kidnapped researchers to appear. The monster caregiver soon pushed Nathaniel back. His residence was a flat-roofed small house, also one of the few bungalows in this rule zone. Zhuang Ningyu felt it was probably related to Nathaniel’s non-evolver identity—ordinary people didn’t deserve to live in spire-topped houses.
Based on the same concept, not far away, that sharp tower that almost pierced the sky should be the heart of the entire island—the laboratory, and Liam’s office location. Zhong Mu controlled the drone to fly a circle at extremely high altitude and reported, “There’s no door. It’s presumed entry is from underground. However, in the northeast corner, there’s a much smaller auxiliary building. The door seems to be open. Not sure if one can enter the main building through the auxiliary building. Currently, there are no patrollers there.”
The two silently circled over. Sure enough, next to the main building, they saw a smaller white “pyramid.” The building materials were different from the vast majority of houses on the island, with a faint mother-of-pearl luster. Zhuang Ningyu had seen this kind of material in photos before—photos Fu Han had sent, used to display Liam’s collection.
So this should be Liam’s private collection hall. It looked just like all normal museums—the door was wide open. Indeed, there were no patrollers, but there were “visitors.” Accompanied by a burst of noise, about twenty-plus people came pouring out from inside. At first glance they looked normal, but only at first glance. As long as one’s gaze lingered on them for a few more seconds, abnormalities would quickly be discovered—variously colored skin, differently shaped facial features, elongated or compressed bodies, and numb expressions. They had monster-like appearances. However, Yi Ke looked at the detection equipment in his hands and said in a low voice, “They’re all human.”
Those caught and brought here, still alive—experimental subjects.
Zhuang Ningyu’s hands unconsciously clenched tighter. Even though he had long been accustomed to seeing all kinds of bloody monsters, when facing this kind of scene that completely violated humanity and ethics, he would still feel a bone-chilling cold rising from deep within his heart.
Several monster patrollers stood guard on all sides, while the experimental subjects didn’t seem to have anything particular to do—they just came out to get some sun. After a while, more than ten more experimental subjects came out, similarly just wandering around. One of them was even holding a cup of milk tea—doing normal things in a distorted world paradoxically made the world seem even more absurdly grotesque.
And even more absurd—the electronic screen at the collection hall entrance suddenly began looping the same welcome poster as at the island entrance, along with an image that could absolutely be called horror movie material. In the photo, the classical beauty had black hair, red lips, and snow-white skin. Her wind-blown dress hem was like white butterfly wings in Jiangnan, but her eyes were hollow, finding no trace of life, and the smile seeping from the corners of her lips also mixed a bit of eeriness with shyness.
“That’s Cui Jin,” Zhuang Ningyu recognized her.
A young actress once rated by netizens as most representative of Eastern beauty, who mysteriously disappeared five years ago. Because no rule zone was detected in the disappearance area, the police had always investigated it as an ordinary missing person case. The most widely circulated theory speculated she was sold into the mountains or accidentally fell into the sea. Who would have thought… Zhuang Ningyu said, “He really is a madman.”
Cui Jin had become Liam’s “collection piece.” And placing Cui Jin’s photo together with the poster welcoming Zhuang Ningyu—the meaning represented was very clear. Zhuang Ningyu glanced slightly at Yi Ke. Seeing his emotions seemed relatively stable, he said, “Let’s go, head back first.”
Yi Ke answered softly, “Okay.”
Zhuang Ningyu took the initiative to hold his hand. Yi Ke immediately tightened his fingers. The two’s palms pressed tightly together as they returned along the original route. The drone was still flying escort in the sky. Zhong Mu recorded with both guilt and no guilt—the guilt mainly because all materials had to be uploaded, so wasn’t holding hands like this not quite appropriate, should she remind them? The no guilt was because the Order Maintenance Department’s first principle—firmly believe Team Leader Zhuang doing this definitely has his reasons.
Qing Gang passing by said, “Does this even need thinking? It’s definitely to provoke Liam.”
Zhong Mu’s train of thought was instantly opened. “Although I don’t want to admit it, you’re indeed smarter than me this time. How did you think of it?”
Qing Gang: “Short dramas all act it out like this. Want to watch? I’ll lend you my membership.”
Zhong Mu: “…”
