Chapter 92: Replication Experiment 16
The severed head was regenerating new, deformed limbs at an excruciatingly slow speed. Zhuang Ningyu said, “You injected the experimental subjects with the same drug.”
The head did not deny it. A strange light burst from her eyes as she uttered a “Heh-heh” sound. Wind rushed back into her mouth through the hollow trachea, adding a hollow echo to her voice: “I—am—their—real—ad—min—is—tra—tor!”
The axe, glinting with cold light, split the head in two.
“I told you,” Zhuang Ningyu looked down at her from above, “I do not allow it.”
The broken lips opened and closed, while the solitary eyeball rolled around in a muddy swirl of anger. Zhuang Ningyu didn’t want his memory contaminated any further by this unnatural, AI-generated-looking scene. He dropped the axe and ordered, “Clean it up completely.”
The team members took out syringes. Yellow-green liquid was injected into the wound surface. Without the protection of the hard exoskeleton, the intern experimenter finally died again after a terrifying bout of muscle spasms. meanwhile, in the corridor, bang, bang—countless doors were being ripped open one after another. Experimental subjects crawled out from inside, one by one. Compared to the experimenters from earlier, these were undoubtedly harder to deal with, not only because of their degree of modification but also because among these out-of-control subjects was the central figure of this Rules Zone: Zhang Yunxia’s mother. Her number was currently unknown, which meant no experimental subject could be killed; otherwise, the mission might fail directly.
The other action team members realized this as well. On the second basement floor, Qing Gang retreated to the entrance of the archive room, gun in hand. He glanced inside at Yi Ke, who was almost buried in yellowing documents. The words came to his lips, but he held back from asking—how long is this going to take?
The experimental subjects “resurrected” by the drug did not attack the experimenters who had harmed them. Their target was also the administrators. Layer upon layer of experimental subjects gathered in front of Shi Cheng’s ward door. They surged forward in a crowded mass, trying to break through the security guards’ defense. They shouted slogans, but they were silent slogans; their destroyed vocal cords could not produce any normal sound, only hissing, sticky gasps. With eyes of varying shapes, they stared angrily at the security guards in front of them.
A new round of riots was imminent.
In the archive room, a thick layer of documents had been thrown at Yi Ke’s feet. When stepped on, countless dust motes and termites would crawl out. Before his eyes were mutation loci on yellowed paper; in his ears were the constant muffled thuds and roars from the corridor. His knuckles were slightly stiff from prolonged page-turning, and a stinging numbness traveled along his nerves to his spine. A fine layer of sweat seeped out on his forehead. He wanted to close his eyes and rest for a moment, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly glimpsed a black shadow!
Bang! Qing Gang arrived just in time, grabbing the intruding experimental subject and throwing it out entirely. Gasping for breath, he said, “It’s fine, Little Yi. You keep looking.”
His protective suit was covered in slime of unknown composition, and he looked extremely bedraggled. Right now, all action team members could only passively defend; they couldn’t use any weapons, Zhuang Ningyu included. The experimenters realized this too. They instantly became excited, hiding behind the massive shapes of the experimental subjects, gripping syringes, and attempting to launch a new round of attacks on the administrators and security guards.
“Captain Zhuang,” Zhong Mu warned, “They are continuing to mutate.”
Zhuang Ningyu raised his gun muzzle. The laser grazed an experimental subject and shot through an experimenter trying to rush into Shi Cheng’s ward. A gaping hole appeared in his chest, yet the experimenter did not fall. Instead, he angrily drove the experimental subject blocking him to crash toward Zhuang Ningyu.
Zhong Mu watched this behemoth, secretly clenching her fist, prepared to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the subject. However, Zhuang Ningyu beside her had already fired another shot. This time, he didn’t bypass the experimental subject. The laser penetrated two bodies simultaneously. The subject’s lower limbs were instantly severed, and its massive torso fell backward, crashing heavily onto the face of the experimenter behind it.
“Captain Zhuang?” Zhong Mu was puzzled.
“Miao Feng is Subject Number 58.” Zhuang Ningyu held his earpiece. “Little Yi found it.”
The radio calisthenics music started again, and this time it played for an exceptionally long time, so long it seemed it would never stop.
Crazy experimenters, mutated subjects, spotted bloodstains on both sides of the corridor—everything was churned together by the flickering lights. The radio calisthenics music was distorted by the old speakers into an incredibly sharp, ear-piercing noise, almost piercing the eardrums of everyone present. Bang! A mutated subject was sent flying by a team member’s gunshot. The broken body smashed into the ventilation equipment at the end of the corridor in mid-air. The metal blades shredded flesh and blood, which were then sucked into the air duct. The next moment, dripping blood began to rain down from the entire ceiling.
It was like doomsday in a horror movie.
The countdown in the purification room continued to change numbers. Zhuang Ningyu shot and killed two experimental subjects, numbered 298 and 791. Reports from team members kept coming through the earpiece: none on the third floor, none on the second, first, B1, B2, B3… The team members checked the numbers of all experimental subjects but didn’t find 58.
Then there was only one place left.
The incineration room, which only Shi Cheng had the authority to enter.
Suddenly, the sound of wind breaking came from behind. An experimenter leaped out from somewhere. Under the influence of the drug, his thick body was twisted almost beyond human recognition. His limbs were covered in slime. With a splat, he stuck firmly onto Zhuang Ningyu like a frog.
“Heh heh, Administrator, I caught the administra—”
The high-pitched, excited voice was cut off in his throat. Yi Ke pulled out a dagger, picked him up, threw him into the corner, and helped Zhuang Ningyu up. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Zhuang Ningyu pressed his earpiece. “Miao Feng might be in the incineration room. Everyone on the third floor and B3, clear the corridor!”
Gunshots, screams, and angry warnings rang out in unison. Amidst the constantly repeating radio calisthenics music, the experimenters had completely lost their minds. They were unwilling to return to the laboratories, even with death close at hand. There were simply too many corpses in the corridor; the blood and slime made the floor so slippery it was hard to move. So, the experimenters sprawled on the walls with limbs spread wide, crawling around like spiders.
“Administrator! Administrator!”
“Kill the administrator!”
Qing Gang glanced at the elevator. Zhong Mu placed her hand on the button and nodded slightly.
“Three, two, one!” Qing Gang withdrew his gaze and roared, “Start!”
The team members inside the laboratories exerted force simultaneously. Bang, bang, bang! Whole sections of the wall were cut by lasers one after another, smashing toward the corridor like neat blocks of tofu. The experimenters and subjects were caught off guard, firmly crushed under concrete and heavy alloy wall panels. Dust blurred their vision. Seizing this opportunity, the team members in the medical room carried Shi Cheng on a stretcher and sprinted toward the elevator. At the same time, the team members on B3 did the same, forcibly smashing a path open with wall sections.
Zhuang Ningyu grabbed Shi Cheng’s hand and pressed it heavily onto the hidden door next to the cold storage.
Beep—
Driven by hydraulic devices, the thick metal doors slowly opened to both sides. The heat wave from the incinerator and the cold wind from the ventilation system rushed out together. The conveyor belt was currently stationary and empty, save for one experimental subject lying quietly upon it. It was small and sallow, with sharp fingers encrusted with dried blood scabs. A number tag hung on its ankle—Number 58.
Yi Ke raised his hand and fired a shot, killing an experimenter at his feet who was stirring and trying to crawl out.
“How much usage time is left for the purification room?” Zhuang Ningyu asked.
“Still fluctuating, no stable value,” a team member replied in the earpiece.
The purification room could host at most two people at a time; it wasn’t exclusively for Zhang Yunxia. Yi Ke returned to the second floor, casually ripped off an ID badge, ignored the experimenter’s angry curses, and swiped directly into the purification room. He strode to the circular treatment pod, smashed the glass with one punch, and forcibly dragged the painfully convulsing Zhang Yunxia out.
The electrode pads fell off her body, leaving obvious burn marks. Severe mental pollution had caused Zhang Yunxia to completely lose her reason. She stared blankly, screaming like a madwoman. Images of bloody experimental subjects and the character “Xia” written in varying depths on the wall flashed constantly through her mind. She could not forget the despair and pain of discovering the secret. Mom, Mom.
She struggled hard, using both hands and feet to try and crawl back into the shattered treatment pod. shards of glass cut deep bloody gashes into her palms. Warm liquid flowed out, but she felt no pain.
“Your mother is on the third basement floor,” Yi Ke said.
Zhang Yunxia’s crawling stopped. Tears streaming down her face, she turned her head. Messy black hair covered her pale face, revealing only one dark, hollow eye. She asked dazedly, “What did you say?”
“Beep beep! Non-experimenters are forbidden from entering the purification room!”
“Beep beep! Non-experimenters are forbidden from entering the purification room!”
“Kill the administrator!”
“We want wages!”
“We want benefits!”
“Heh heh… Heh heh…”
“Haa…”
All kinds of chaotic, ear-piercing sounds filled every gap of this research institute. Outside the Rules Zone, fierce winds were constantly blowing against the “cocoon shell.” The thick, white fog was torn open into rifts. The glass curtain wall of Xinyin Biology appeared and disappeared countless times, finally revealing itself completely to everyone the moment Zhang Yunxia saw her mother.
The white fog dissipated. Mission accomplished.
Several medical staff rushed out carrying a stretcher. The mutated Shi Cheng looked like a pile of constantly wobbling fat. He Mo took one look from afar and asked in shock, “Can that thing still live?”
“Eighty percent chance he can’t,” Zhuang Ningyu said. He had already taken off his filthy protective suit. Sweat plastered the hair at his temples to the sides of his face. His pale face showed a flush of exhaustion, and his voice was a bit hoarse. He Mo wanted to support him but was slapped away. He immediately understood and whispered, “Got it, is this also part of your adherence to male virtue?”
Zhuang Ningyu replied, “This is part of my psychological trauma.” He couldn’t yet shake the bloody images from the Rules Zone and still felt covered in blood and various unidentified fluids, so he instinctively dodged He Mo. The medical examination vehicle was in position. Just as Zhuang Ningyu was about to board, a Maybach screeched to a halt outside the guardrail.
Yi Ke currently couldn’t stand the sight of Maybachs, especially this kind of black-and-white two-tone Maybach. He grabbed his delinquent friend who had just gotten out of the car and slapped him. What vulgar taste! His friend clutched his head, flying into a rage. “Do you have no conscience? I rushed here with important intelligence the moment I got off the plane to see you!”
“What important intelligence could you have?” Yi Ke sneered.
Friend: “Fine, don’t listen then.”
“Come back!” Yi Ke grabbed him by the back of his collar, pulled him back, and draped an arm around him. “Speak.”
The friend cleared his throat. “Fu Han got sucked into a Rules Zone.”
Yi Ke was puzzled. “Wasn’t he on a cruise ship? Did the cruise ship get swallowed by a Rules Zone?”
“No,” the friend replied. “After you asked Song Yang to look for him, Fu Han didn’t wait for the birthday party to start. Early the next morning, he left the cruise ship on a speedboat with his bodyguards. Judging by the heading, he was returning to port. But halfway through the sea journey, the boat was swept up by white fog, and he completely lost contact with the outside world. His friends have already contacted the world’s top private rescue teams immediately, but they haven’t gotten him out yet. I came to tell you to keep a close eye on Brother Zhuang, lest he goes to save the ‘mistress’!”
“Keep an eye on me for what?” A voice suddenly came from behind.
“Nothing!” The friend shuddered, turned around, and smiled fawningly. “Hello, Captain Zhuang.”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Say it again.”
Friend: “Hello, Captain Zhuang.”
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t give him the chance to gloss over it. “What happened to Fu Han?”
Friend: “…”
Suddenly remembered I have something to do at home, I’m leaving first!
The Maybach’s engine roared thunderously, causing countless bystanders to look sideways.
Zhuang Ningyu continued to look suspiciously at Yi Ke. “What were you two talking about? what happened to Fu Han?”
Yi Ke helped him tidy his messy hair. “Fu Han was swept into a Rules Zone.”
Zhuang Ningyu’s first reaction was the same as Yi Ke’s. “The cruise ship?”
Yi Ke shook his head. “A speedboat. He didn’t attend the birthday party and wanted to return to the port early. On the way, he encountered white fog and lost contact with the outside world. He hasn’t come out yet.”
And the reason for not attending the party and leaving early, judging by the timeline, was likely related to Zhuang Ningyu being swept into the Rules Zone. Yi Ke observed carefully. Zhuang Ningyu turned his head, meeting his gaze. “What are you looking at? Afraid I’ll buy a plane ticket to Europe tonight?”
Yi Ke was heartbroken but hid it well. “Would you?”
Zhuang Ningyu countered, “What do you think?”
Yi Ke shook his head vigorously.
Zhuang Ningyu smiled and gave him a slap. “I won’t go.”
“Really?” Yi Ke recovered his vitality in a second. While no one was looking, he forcibly bundled his ‘wife’ into his Bentley parked nearby, then held his face and planted several kisses on it. Good that you’re not going, I wouldn’t allow you to go anyway! Zhuang Ningyu pushed his head away. “Why would you think I’d go save Fu Han?”
“Because I was just thinking,” Yi Ke reverently held his hand and brought it before his eyes, “that the reason Fu Han left the cruise midway might have a tiny, minuscule, almost zero-mass relationship—like a neutrino—with my precious wife. But I don’t think that anymore!”
“His departure from the cruise probably is indeed related to this Xinyin Biology Rules Zone,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “But that doesn’t mean I have to fly across the world to save him. Whether it’s manpower or financial resources, he can find the best rescue team.”
Yi Ke nodded “Mhm, mhm, mhm,” pressed Zhuang’s hand to his own face, and asked expectantly, “What about me? If I were trapped on the other side of the ocean, and the world’s best rescue team had already entered the Rules Zone, would you still come to save me?”
Zhuang Ningyu nodded. “Yes.”
Yi Ke asked happily, “What if Minister Huo doesn’t give you leave!”
Zhuang Ningyu played along: “Ignore him.”
“What if there are massive flight delays due to weather!”
“Then I’ll ride Xiao Ou there.”
Xiao Ou was the Order Maintenance Department’s humanoid transporter—the name came from a machine malfunction that once measured his running speed at 900 km/h, comparable to a jet airliner.
Q&A over. Yi Ke was satisfied and snuggled up. Wifey loves me!
