Chapter 1154: Another Group?

Chapter 1154: Another Group?

It hadn't been long since the exploration team entered Shennongjia, but some had already guessed that the Nine Sovereigns' abilities might be related to their respective fields of study. They had even made specific arrangements to counter them, a fact that surprised Chen Ling.

Moreover, the fact that the opposition was acting this way indicated they were already trying to track the Nine Sovereigns' whereabouts. At least in their eyes, the missing Yang Xiao, like Lu Xun, had been labeled an "unstable element."

"Is there an ambush...?" Lu Xun's brow furrowed slightly. "Forcing our way in isn't realistic. In that case, we'll have to think of another way..."

"No need."

Lu Xun and the two others were startled and simultaneously turned to look at Chen Ling.

"I'll go in through the front. You two guard the other exits around here, just prevent them from secretly transferring people away."

"Director Chen, you're going to force your way in from the front? That's too dangerous!"

Under the flickering streetlights, the figure in the large red opera robe calmly walked deeper into the dark mountains, a boning knife gently sliding into his palm... It was as if a profoundly terrifying aura was emanating from the red figure, though the three couldn't tell if it was their imagination.

"They... can't stop me."

***

**Deep Mountain Laboratory**

Inside the spacious laboratory, an elderly figure in a protective suit slowly picked up a vial of blood that glowed with a mysterious faint light, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

"How is this possible...?" Professor Ye muttered to himself.

"Professor Ye, have you found anything?" another strictly dressed assistant immediately asked.

"I need a batch of white mice."

"Yes, Professor Ye, they've all been prepared for you."

The assistant walked out of the laboratory door and spoke to the figure standing guard outside. Before long, over a dozen iron cages containing white mice were brought in.

"Professor Ye, before you arrived, we already extracted Dr. Chu's blood and injected it into biological samples... but none survived for more than three minutes. Dr. Chu's blood appears to be highly toxic to other organisms." The assistant offered a reminder, seemingly not wanting Professor Ye to waste time on these experiments.

Professor Ye did not respond. He simply walked slowly to the test bench and began chemically preparing and diluting the blood...

After a long while, he injected several different reagents into the white mice.

"Time," Professor Ye asked.

Professor Ye picked up a stack of analysis reports from the table and carefully flipped through them. These were research materials on Chu Changqing compiled by other personnel during this period, all of which had now been submitted to Professor Ye.

Time passed minute by minute. Soon, the first white mouse let out a tragic shriek, frantically gnawing at its cage as if going mad, biting out deep marks, and then bursting open in a spray of blood on the spot!

Immediately after, the second and third also began to show abnormalities...

The assistant, observing the mice's reactions carefully, lowered their head to take notes, seemingly unsurprised by the fate of these white mice.

The old mechanical clock silently turned on the wall, its slender second hand like a grim reaper's scythe, gradually harvesting the lives in the cages. Professor Ye sat in his wheelchair, periodically glancing at the clock...

As if waiting for something.

"Time's up."

***

**Tunnel Entrance**

At the tunnel entrance, several fully armed figures slowly emerged, heading towards different sentry posts in various directions. "Changing shifts!"

The figure on the sentry post let out a long breath, completely relaxed, and quietly said while handing over the work to a colleague:

"I say, is it really okay with so few people recently?"

"Why do you care so much? They tell us to stand guard, so we stand... Besides, I heard that besides us, there are also some experts hiding in the mountains. They are the ones truly guarding this place."

"Experts... Like those martial arts masters in TV dramas?"

"How should I know?"

"Alright, alright, I'm off now."

As his colleague left, the figure on the sentry post skillfully picked up the binoculars and looked into the distance... Just then, he seemed to spot something and let out a soft exclamation.

"Is that a person?"

In the thermal imaging binoculars, a figure was approaching the tunnel entrance. For some reason, its image was different from other humans; through the binoculars, it appeared as a humanoid black flame emanating terrifying heat.

It was the first time the guard had seen such an image. He bewilderedly put down the binoculars and looked through another pair. In the dim light, he could barely make out a ghostly figure in red, slowly approaching.

"Damn it... so creepy late at night??"

He muttered, and the next moment, the red-clad figure's gaze eerily turned towards him.

The guard's scalp tingled instantly. He immediately grabbed the gun beside him, and just as he was about to issue a warning, an eerie red boa emerged from the person's sleeve, slicing through a hundred meters in an instant!

Splat—

Blood splattered on the sentry post, and a figure plummeted straight down from the air.

"Enemy attack!!!" Shouts erupted from the other sentry posts, and countless muzzles simultaneously rose, firing at the red-clad figure!

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—

Tongues of fire spat wildly in the darkness, dense bullets tearing through the night.

Red paper tentacles danced in the air, casually deflecting all the bullets. Chen Ling lightly scanned all the sentry posts, then rotated the boning knife in his hand downwards.

"Crush."

The next moment, the elevated platforms seemed to be directly crushed by extreme gravity, collapsing with a roar!

Dust flew in the darkness. In just a brief moment, all the hot weapon sentry posts were wiped out...

For Chen Ling, breaking through these sentry posts was effortless. What he truly cared about were the hidden Divine Path possessors... However, in this era, the ranks of Divine Path possessors were generally not high, so with Chen Ling's current strength, fighting his way through here shouldn't be a problem.

Chen Ling slowly walked through the ruins of the sentry posts but saw no one emerge to stop him. A hint of doubt flickered in his eyes.

Strange...

Was he overthinking it?

Was there simply no decent defense arranged here?

Just as Chen Ling was about to enter the tunnel directly to investigate, a roaring explosion suddenly echoed from the other side of the mountain!!

Boom—!!!

The terrifying torch-like flames of the explosion shot skyward, dancing like a fiery dragon, piercing through the mountain and the earth. Simultaneously, several Divine Path pressures suddenly descended!

Chen Ling froze, standing still with a bewildered expression.

"Director Chen, why did you attack from the other side of the mountain?" Yang Xiao's voice came through the phone, sounding equally perplexed.

"...It wasn't me, I haven't made a move yet."

"Not you?" Yang Xiao was also startled.

"Strange... Besides us, who else is targeting this laboratory?"