Chapter 270: Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell?

After hearing Chen Ling’s words, Jian Changsheng’s expression was a little strange.

“Are you sure this will work?”

“If it were just me, I’m confident I could get out easily, but you can’t… To get you out, this is the only way now,” Chen Ling added. “It just requires a small sacrifice from you.”

“…I don’t want to hear that. Forget it, let’s do as you say.”

“Will you do it yourself, or should I help you?”

“No! I’ll do it myself…”

Several lab coat-clad personnel pushed the gurney past Jian Changsheng’s room and headed straight for the second floor.

Just then, a hand snaked out from the dark doorway, silently clamped over the mouth of the last person in a lab coat, and swiftly dragged them into the room!

Five seconds later, that same person in the lab coat pushed the door open, pretended to stop in front of the room, and suddenly spoke:

“Wait!”

The other lab coat-clad personnel turned back simultaneously, looking in that direction with confusion.

Due to the power outage, the entire corridor was pitch black; only the kerosene lamps in their hands could temporarily illuminate a corner. They saw the person in the lab coat standing at the room’s entrance, holding a kerosene lamp, frowning as they peered inside through the glass.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s gone!”

“What??”

Startled, the lab coat-clad personnel immediately went to the doorway and looked inside. In the dim room, a messy gurney was inexplicably covered in blood, yet completely empty. The mushroom that had been crouching in the corner was also gone without a trace.

The lab coat-clad person immediately pushed the door open, and everyone walked up to the gurney, staring in shock at the bed full of blood.

“This… how is this possible? Didn’t the experiment show no mutations?”

“Judging by the bloodstains, it doesn’t look like an attack… rather, it looks like it splattered on its own?”

“Could it be that, like a previous incident, its flesh couldn’t withstand the agent and exploded?”

“But even if it exploded, shouldn’t there be some flesh and limbs left? There’s only blood here?”

“And back then, too much of the agent was injected at once. Although the dosage during this experiment isn’t small, it’s still much less than that previous case… It shouldn’t have exploded.”

While everyone was deep in thought, a dark figure emerged from the corner and stealthily made its way towards the gurney parked in the corridor…

“What’s going on?” An enforcement officer quickly approached, his brow furrowing immediately at the sight of the blood-soaked gurney.

The lab coat-clad personnel immediately recounted the situation. The officer’s face darkened, and he began to suspect that the “intruder” was responsible. He then started to summon other nearby officers to examine the pool of blood, as it was the only unusual discovery they had made so far.

As these officers contemplated the bloodstains, one of the lab coat-clad personnel quietly spoke:

“Shall we go? It seems we’re not needed here.”

Seeing this, the other lab coat-clad personnel did not linger. Instead, they continued pushing the gurney, which was still parked in the corridor, towards the passage.

They continued pushing the gurney, passing the third and second floors, eventually returning to the first floor where the elevator was located. Most of the enforcement officers had followed Qiong Xuan to check the second and third floors; apart from guards at the checkpoint, hardly anyone else was visible on the first floor.

The Aurora Base’s design was indeed meticulous. The only elevator connecting to the outside world was not powered by electricity but by steam, so even if the entire base lost power and fell into chaos, it could still operate normally.

Just as they were about to leave, a voice suddenly rang out.

“Wait a moment.”

Everyone turned to look. In the dim light, a figure clad in a black trench coat was slowly approaching, carrying a kerosene lamp.

“You are…”

“Deputy Captain Han Meng.” Han Meng’s gaze swept over them, and he spoke calmly, “What are you doing?”

“We’re taking care of the failed experiment subject from earlier,” the leading lab coat-clad person calmly replied. “The agent concentration in its body is too high; if it’s not incinerated quickly, it will contaminate the base.”

“Experiment subject?”

Han Meng’s gaze fell on the sheet. “Open it and let me see.”

The lab coat-clad person lifted a corner of the sheet, revealing a large, black, unidentifiable mass sprawled beneath. Its surface was covered in twisting, flowing dark incantations, making it impossible to tell if it was liquid or solid. It was a visually disturbing sight, and a foul stench immediately assaulted their noses.

Han Meng’s brows furrowed tightly. “You’re saying… this is the experiment subject?”

“Yes.”

As he replied, the lab coat-clad person took out a document from his pocket. “These are the relevant details and the incineration application certificate.”

“You… what do you consider human lives?” Han Meng did not take the document. A flicker of anger flashed in his eyes.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of modifications and suffering a person must endure to be reduced to such a state. Even knowing that all of this was for Lord Aurora, he found the sight before him unacceptable.

The lab coat-clad personnel exchanged glances and replied helplessly, “We are just following orders.”

Han Meng watched them for a long time, finally retracting his gaze. After taking the document, the group continued pushing the gurney forward.

Han Meng’s eyes suddenly narrowed as his gaze fell on the first line of the document.

“Stop!”

Everyone stopped, puzzled.

“This experiment subject… where did you find it?” Han Meng’s voice was extremely low.

“Subject number, original name seems to be… Zhao Yi?” one of the lab coat-clad personnel mused. “He was just brought in today; he filled out the registration form himself. The details are all written in the document… I remember he was a survivor from District Three?”

At that statement, the last person in a lab coat, standing at the back of the group, stiffened. A look of unmistakable shock appeared in their eyes.

Chen Ling, disguised as a lab coat-clad person, looked at the unidentified mass and felt a momentary daze.

That thing… was Zhao Yi??

Although Chen Ling knew Zhao Yi didn’t have much time left, he had expected Zhao Yi to spend his remaining days with the people of District Three. He never imagined he would encounter Zhao Yi here… And in just a few hours, the ‘Salt Spreader’ who used to swagger through Frost Street had been reduced to this state??

Looking at the thing on the bed, he couldn’t reconcile it with the Zhao Yi in his memory.

Han Meng’s hand, clutching the document, trembled slightly. The anger in his eyes burned fiercer and fiercer until he finally crumpled the document into a ball in his hand, turned, and strode towards the lower-level passage… A palpable pressure radiated outwards, leaving the numerous lab coat-clad personnel with bewildered expressions.

“I remember… this Han Meng, isn’t he from District Three?” one of the lab coat-clad personnel carefully reminded, as if something had just occurred to him.

A look of understanding flashed across everyone’s faces. They watched Han Meng’s retreating figure, vaguely sensing a storm brewing in the lower levels of the base…

“Alright, stop staring… Mind your own business.”

At the reminder from one of the lab coat-clad personnel, everyone snapped back to attention. After verifying the password with the enforcement officers guarding the entrance, they pushed the gurney directly towards the elevator.

Just then, one of the lab coat-clad personnel suddenly let go of the gurney, not entering the elevator but remaining quietly in place.