Chapter 1155: Mouse

Riiing!

Piercing alarms echoed through the laboratory, and flashing red lights filled every corridor and room.

Professor Ye, who had been observing the experiment's timing, froze. The next second, the room plunged into darkness, illuminated only by the faint glow of the eerie green emergency exit signs.

"What's going on?" Professor Ye asked, frowning.

"It's an enemy attack!" The assistant assigned by the supervisor reacted quickly, immediately stuffing all experimental data into his bag. His tone was incredibly serious. "Professor Ye, we must evacuate immediately."

Professor Ye's gaze fell on the remaining cages of white mice and the clock on the wall.

"No, I can't... The experiment results haven't been fully observed yet."

"Professor Ye! They're just a few white mice injected with experimental samples. We can take new blood samples and repeat the experiment after we relocate!"

Take new samples?

Hearing those words, a look of anger appeared on Professor Ye's face. Ignoring his assistant's pleas, he pushed his wheelchair directly towards the cages.

As they spoke, another white mouse had silently died. Now, only two remained in the cages: one lay motionless, while the other was on its back, seemingly not long for this world.

Professor Ye quickly put both mice into a single cage and clutched it to his chest. At that moment, the entire room began to shake violently. All the tables and chairs shifted and tilted, knocking Professor Ye to the floor!

"Professor Ye?!"

Seeing this, the assistant rushed forward to clear the debris.

The wheelchair was twisted and deformed from the impact. An elderly figure stumbled and fell to the ground. Fortunately, Professor Ye had reacted quickly, jumping out of the wheelchair, and was unharmed.

The assistant tried to carry Professor Ye, but since he was already carrying a large amount of experimental data and Professor Ye was holding the cage, he found it impossible to walk properly after two attempts. He gritted his teeth and said, "Professor Ye, please hold on. I'll go get you a spare wheelchair."

With that, he opened the door and rushed out.

Boom—!!

Billowing smoke and dust poured into the corridor, and the ground shook violently.

The assistant who had just entered the corridor, along with several figures in hazmat suits who were moving equipment, felt the world spin. Their bodies slammed directly into the wall, and even the carts they were pushing lost balance and flew away!

"What's happening?! An earthquake??"

"Cough, cough, cough... This place shouldn't be in an earthquake zone."

"This laboratory is deep in the mountains; not even a missile should be able to breach it. How is this possible..."

"Is it my imagination? Why do I feel like the mountain has collapsed?"

Thud—!!

Before anyone could react, the lights above the corridor suddenly went out. A dark silhouette punched through the ceiling and heavily crashed onto the corridor floor!

Countless rock fragments mixed with dust filled the dim corridor. Under the flashing crimson warning lights, a burly figure dressed in a northern fur coat slowly emerged from the dust...

The burly northern man was carrying an unconscious young man, who was wearing the special night suit issued by Bureau 749, seemingly one of the "White Hands" originally assigned to guard the laboratory.

"Finally made it in..."

The burly man tossed the Bureau 749 "White Hand" onto the ground like a chicken, stretching his limbs while his gaze swept over the people before him. "Hey, where's Chu Changqing?"

The figures in hazmat suits were terrified into silence by the scene. They couldn't utter a word, trembling. After glancing at each other, they turned and ran towards the other end of the corridor!

Seeing this, the burly man clicked his tongue impatiently. A stone hammer gently appeared in his hand, then he slammed it forcefully onto the ground!

Thud—!!

As the stone hammer struck the ground, searing, lava-like, web-shaped patterns suddenly appeared on the dim corridor's surface, as if someone was melting the passage with intense fire. The next moment, three or four intersecting passages nearby seemed to come alive, abruptly contracting and twisting!

The figures in hazmat suits, who had only run a few steps, saw their vision blur. The original corridor instantly narrowed, transforming into a dead end flowing with lava. Splashed sparks easily melted through their protective suits, corroding their bodies.

Several miserable screams rang out simultaneously. They writhed in agony on the ground, rolling non-stop. A moment later, they all collapsed unconscious.

"I'll ask again."

The burly man in the fur coat placed a foot on the only conscious assistant, his voice incredibly low. "Chu Changqing... where is he?"

"In... in the laboratory at the furthest southeast corner..." The assistant's face was contorted in pain from the burns as he answered, then fainted.

The burly man in the fur coat snorted coldly and slowly walked forward, carrying his stone hammer. He casually reopened the sealed passages, the lava patterns pulsating like breath with his every step, extending all the way towards the southeast corner.

He softly activated the miniature communicator in his ear.

"Your Majesty, I've found Chu Changqing's location... He's in the laboratory's southeast corner."

"You're too slow, Fu Kun." A woman's voice came through the earpiece. "Han Xiang's students have already located him. We'll be there soon."

"Tch..."

The burly man in the fur coat frowned, cut off the communication, and walked towards another part of the laboratory with some displeasure. "Annoying woman..."

As the burly man's figure gradually faded, the corridor, now resembling a lava tube, fell silent once more.

Professor Ye, holding the cage, struggled to walk out, leaning on the twisted door frame.

"Changqing..."

Electrical sparks flickered amidst the chaotic corridor.

Professor Ye cast a worried glance towards the laboratory. His peripheral vision suddenly caught something, and he looked down at what he was holding...

The white mouse that had been motionless in the cage was, at some point, soaked in blood flowing from its eyes and nose and had stopped breathing. However, the mouse that had been on its back, seemingly dead, had bizarrely survived.

Not only that, but it was now a size larger than before, with faint streaks of dark fur appearing amidst its white coat. With a gentle flip, it lay back down in the cage, full of vitality and vigor.

Professor Ye was stunned. He brought the cage closer to his eyes in surprise, carefully observing the surviving white mouse.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the white mouse's eyes seemed to possess intelligence. It stared back at Professor Ye through the cage, as if the souls of human and mouse coexisted within the same body.

"This is..." Professor Ye murmured to himself.

"What exactly happened??"

Red alarm lights flickered on and off. Behind the dim one-way glass, the supervisor's brows were tightly furrowed.

"Supervisor, all the outdoor outposts are unreachable... Someone must have attacked the laboratory," a figure in a white coat said gravely, standing beside the supervisor.

"Could it be Lu Xun and his group?" The supervisor pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"Impossible. They shouldn't have such powerful capabilities right now... I brought in five 'White Hands' from the bureau; they shouldn't have been able to break in..."