The giant culture dish was littered with organs and the dismembered remains of test subjects, a gruesome sight. Papers, scattered like snowflakes, were quickly gathered by Bai Cha, who scanned them all into the mechanical bionic eye she wore.
The bionic eye was Bai Cha's exclusive prosthetic eye, integrated with her heart's information receiver. It was her primary tool for finding and collecting evidence, a surveillance device that scientists had strived to improve for portability and to avoid eye damage.
A slight sting registered in her left eye. These papers had undergone anti-reconnaissance processing. With an older generation prosthetic eye, Bai Cha's left eye would likely have been ruined; specialized anti-reconnaissance treatments could overload bionic eyes, causing temporary blurring at best, or explosion at worst.
Fortunately, Bai Cha and several teams had secretly modified this particular prosthetic eye. Though imperfect, it was sufficient to counteract such side effects.
Bai Cha gently pressed her left temple, a cold smile playing on her lips.
It was laughable. This kind of processing practically screamed guilt, a "guilty conscience makes a man a thief" scenario. This bionic eye technology was only five years old, and her modifications had been ongoing for just half a year. By using such measures, weren't these people essentially admitting to their illicit activities over the past few years?
They couldn't even shift the blame. Where would outsiders get technology that even their own country hadn't fully perfected?
Several injured lab assistants lay nearby, their lips tinged a peculiar purple, identical to the color on the spider leg Bai Cha had just seen. They appeared to be poisoned. Others had met bizarre ends: some drained dry, others frozen solid with frost covering their bodies.
Bai Cha stroked her chin. Her suspicions were confirmed. The glossy purple on the spider leg was indeed a toxin. However, judging by the half-dead state of these lab assistants, it wasn't the kind that caused instant death upon contact with blood.
Bai Cha retrieved a universal antidote and injected it into the healthiest-looking subject. This serum was extremely expensive and could suppress over ninety percent of the world's toxins for a short period. Bai Cha herself possessed no more than three doses.
To her surprise, even this advanced serum only slightly inhibited the subject's condition, its effect far weaker than it should have been.
"Antidote," Bai Cha, her face masked, revealing only the outline of her eyes, spoke. Without mechanical aid, Bai Cha could alter her voice into various tones, a hoarse, low query. "The serum can only temporarily stabilize your condition."
As she spoke, Bai Cha skillfully removed the mask from the lab assistant's face. The moment it came off, Bai Cha's heart lurched. She recognized this person. It was someone from the Mo family's operation.
"No... no antidote." The lab assistant's words were disjointed, his eyes unfocused. Bai Cha gritted her teeth and struck him on the head, grasping his temples to force the dazed assistant to meet her gaze. Her voice shifted, becoming distant and hollow.
Seeing as he was beyond saving anyway, she decided to use hypnosis. He would die either way, so hypnosis was the better option.
"What is being done here?" Bai Cha tried to remain calm, guiding the man's consciousness. "Is this illegal human experimentation?"
"Yes... human gene..." The lab assistant seemed extremely weak, his words disjointed. Even under hypnosis, he appeared on the verge of passing out.
"Who is in charge?" Bai Cha pressed further.
"Tu... Tu... Mo..." Before the lab assistant could finish his sentence, he breathed his last. Bai Cha's expression darkened. She looked up to find the surroundings now deathly silent; everyone was undeniably dead.
Bai Cha's face grew grimmer. She looked down, the lab assistant in her hands now bleeding from all seven orifices, unable to withstand the mental hypnosis.
Logically, the universal serum should have neutralized ninety-nine percent of the world's toxins. Yet, the single dose Bai Cha had administered had only delayed the lab assistant's death. It seemed the lab assistant's claim of having no antidote was true.
But what kind of poison was this, to be so terrifying?
"Tsk, Lucifer, what's the situation?" The difficulty of the task far exceeded her expectations, and Bai Cha's expression had turned grim. She couldn't use her phone to notify anyone, and she dared not relax her vigilance for even a moment.
[Normal communication equipment is experiencing interference. There are individuals gathering around, probing the situation inside, seemingly waiting for an opportune moment. Shall I eliminate them?] Lucifer's voice was cold.
Shortly after Bai Cha entered, her normal communicator became unusable. Fortunately, Lucifer also had a biological communicator that ignored interference. Outside, more people were converging; they were clearly not friendly, appearing to be waiting to snatch the spoils.
"Listen carefully, block the entrances and exits, prevent anyone...!"
Bai Cha's voice was urgent and rapid, but it cut off abruptly. Lucifer only heard a strange noise through his biological earpiece, a distorted, chaotic sound, like a raging dragon tearing through turbulent spacetime, giving him an indescribable feeling.
In the basement, Bai Cha broke out in a cold sweat. She hadn't seen anything, but her body instinctively reacted. She was now crouched behind an experimental table, looking ahead with a mixture of alarm and disbelief.
There was nothing there.
Yet, Bai Cha sensed extreme danger.
Making a swift decision, Bai Cha cut her palm. A surge of blood erupted from her right eye, and faintly, Bai Cha saw a semi-transparent, humanoid gas. It seemed to emit cold from its exterior, but its interior distorted space with intense heat.
Bai Cha suddenly recalled a corpse she had seen earlier, severely burned on the outside but having died from freezing.
"Meow—"
A sharp cat's cry. Bai Cha dared not turn her head. In her peripheral vision, she could see a cat-eared girl crouched on the ceiling, glaring at her.
A beautiful cat-eared girl in cosplay would be a pleasure to behold, but one completely unclothed, with disheveled fur, appearing like a savage, would certainly quell any desire.
When she had cut her palm, Bai Cha had already used her blood to seal every exit of the laboratory. Now, Bai Cha could hear the feedback from her blood, hear the frenzied roars of the monsters trapped within. Some were retreating in a frenzy.
Bai Cha waved her left hand in front of her eyes, retracting her bionic eye. To prevent damage, Bai Cha hadn't even dared to let the incoming energy fully flood her left eye. As she froze, the soul-like entity immediately moved, rushing towards Bai Cha at near light speed.
Bai Cha quickly dodged. The blood and dark power that enhanced her allowed her to narrowly evade it. Its speed was terrifying. Bai Cha also noticed that when this soul-like entity passed through the stool, it encountered no resistance.
This thing could phase through walls!
Within a blood-red wine glass, a white stream of light flowed. A peculiar phantom emerged behind Bai Cha.
It was a woman of unearthly beauty, so beautiful she didn't seem to belong to this world. The three pairs of arms emerging from her ribs lacked the sanctity of Meng Qinghuan's Buddha hands; instead, they were sinuously boneless, so much so that just looking at them could mesmerize anyone.
At her collarbone, a crimson crystal emitted a faint halo, seemingly transmitting power. In the monitoring room, Lucifer experienced a moment of dizziness, his expression immediately turning one of astonishment.
Had Bai Cha, without full resonance, already overdrawn his power?
Logically, even with resonance, the dragon's might should have been the dominant force. But Bai Cha had so easily reversed the roles.
The moment this six-armed female phantom appeared, all the strange creatures around them stopped, emitting terrified whines. Even the soul-like entity retreated a couple of steps, looking hesitantly at Bai Cha, whose cheeks were now marred by spiderweb-like black energy.
Bai Cha remained silent, but the phantom behind her murmured in a special language, conveying a sense of goodwill.
The basement immediately fell silent. The monsters exchanged glances, some confused, some astonished, some dazed as if lacking intelligence. Yet others' eyes burned with fervor.
Soon, the vast majority of the monsters had gathered there. And among this group, some bore a striking resemblance to the phantom behind Bai Cha, though they lacked the six arms Bai Cha possessed.
Communication was possible?
Bai Cha's heart filled with wild joy. Communication would be ideal. They absolutely could not be allowed to escape. These monsters were too far beyond the ordinary; if they attacked together, even she would be finished. Letting even one escape would be a disaster.
Suddenly, a chill ran down her back. Bai Cha leaped, the phantom behind her reaching out, its beautiful hand solidifying and pulling Bai Cha to safety as she dodged the spider legs behind her.
It was the spider-human she had seen earlier. However, this spider-human seemed to bear no hostility towards her. Although the spider legs had been dangerous, they wouldn't have harmed her even if she hadn't dodged.
What was going on here?
The monsters here were bizarre. Some had transformed into beasts while retaining human form. Others had rough, pitted surfaces that were horrifying to behold. Yet, despite their grotesque appearances, they seemed to share a commonality. Bai Cha struggled to recall, and then, as if struck by a realization, her expression drastically changed.
"Xiang En, is that you!" A tempest of emotions surged within Bai Cha. Even her usually steadfast composure couldn't prevent her from exclaiming aloud.
No wonder this person looked familiar. After rescuing Xiang Nan, she had attended the funeral of Xiang Nan's parents. She had caught a fleeting glimpse of the memorial portrait Xiang Nan held, and it matched this spider-human.
The Xiang family was ostensibly ordinary, but tracing back their ancestry, they were a branch of the Bai family. At twelve, individuals from the Shadow sect had to choose whether to leave the sect and become ordinary people. Xiang Wu Ming, an ancestor of the Xiang family, was one such individual who left the Bai family.
However, Xiang Wu Ming hadn't abandoned the Shadow sect's beliefs. On the contrary, during a period of internal strife within the Bai family regarding succession, Bai Wu Ming voluntarily left the Shadow sect, changed his name to Xiang, and maintained sporadic contact privately. Furthermore, if a member of the Xiang family possessed exceptional talent, they would sometimes return to the Shadow sect.
This was a secret known only to the clan leader. Xiang Nan was too young, and no one informed him of this before Xiang En's death. Bai Cha finding him was purely coincidental.
"Xiang En, why are you here! They... they are also people!" Bai Cha suddenly understood, a cold sweat breaking out. She vaguely sensed what these people were trying to achieve. "Evidence, is there any evidence? Where is the mastermind? Can you hear me!"
Bai Cha spoke rapidly, focusing on the crucial points. The phantom behind her was swiftly translating her words. However, these subjects were clearly failures, their minds disturbed. They not only reacted slowly but also moved sluggishly, seemingly capable only of combat.
Bai Cha no longer wasted time. She frantically searched the laboratory, smashing experimental tables and computers. She extracted memory metal and placed it into her storage bracelet.
A rumbling sound came from behind her, accompanied by waves of heat and roaring. Once this level of high temperature arrived, nothing would be left.
This was a self-destruct program. The heat was comparable to magma from the earth's core, capable of annihilating everything here. The people outside must have already sensed something was amiss.
That made sense. Such powerful monsters remaining silent for so long must have made those outside realize she had gained control and become anxious.
Eager to destroy the evidence, and eager to destroy him too.
Bai Cha flung her hand, her blood transforming into a sea that traversed the tunnel and collided with the flames, temporarily blocking the impact of the explosion. Bai Cha's face paled as she quickly found a fireproof shelter.
She looked back at the still-confused monsters behind her. Some struggled. These were once innocent, living people, but now, they had become monsters.