jdhmnovel Chapter 292 Dark Shadow
Chapter 292 Dark Shadow
Tu Hao stood there lazily, watching Miao Yin's retreating figure, and said, "Are we going to find them?"
“I’m thinking about something.” Miao Yin stood up, kicked away the pebbles at her feet, and her expression was calm beneath her mask.
"what?"
"Don't you think the deformed people here are too harmonious?"
Upon hearing this, a thoughtful look flashed across Tu Hao's brows: "...You mean, inside them?"
He had noticed this problem as well, but he had been fighting with mutants all the way here, so he hadn't thought about it carefully. Now that he thought about it, it was indeed strange.
“Once a mutant species breaks through the level of Yellow Crystal, even if it is of the same kind, it will be listed as a food source. But most of the mutants we’ve encountered along the way have been at this level, yet they can coexist with each other,” Tu Hao said, recalling the strange occurrences he had encountered along the way.
Miao Yin looked at the road ahead: "What if it's because they can't perceive the difference between each other?"
"What do you mean?"
Miao Yin's words were somewhat profound, and Tu Hao didn't immediately understand. In the end, since losing his freedom, his access to learning from the outside world had greatly decreased, and he was far less experienced than he had been in his previous life, having traveled all over the country.
“Even at the Yellow Crystal level, the predatory relationship among mutants is still top-down, with the big fish eating the small fish.” Miao Yin gestured with one hand.
"If they couldn't sense the difference in their levels, just like you are now experiencing interference with your sense of danger, wouldn't they be able to coexist peacefully?"
Tu Hao understood: "There is a very dangerous mutant that has suppressed all its kind here."
When they were down there, the mutants coexisted peacefully. Now that they're up there, nothing has changed. The influence of this mutant is unexpectedly large.
He continued, "As the building went up, the invisible interference became stronger and stronger. Could that mutant be nearby?"
"Do you remember the room we just saw?"
Miao Yin smiled at him and said, "Why don't you try and see?"
In the dimly lit room, the small flame that had been waiting for so long finally received its master's command and instantly turned into a terrifying raging fire.
It swept through the room like a wave, and amidst the acrid smell of burning protein, a pair of eerie green eyes opened in the darkness.
It stopped its pursuit. Before it was a tightly closed door. Inside, Fang Ce's gun was pointed straight at the door, not daring to relax for a moment.
The monster twisted its soft neck, leaped onto the ceiling with a push of its limbs, and crawled away backwards.
Fang Ce's clothes were tugged, and he tilted his head slightly, giving part of his gaze to the person behind him.
Fu Simian's pale face looked even weaker under the flashlight. She pointed to the map on the ground.
The shortest route has already been drawn on it, along with a bunch of calculation formulas.
Yang Jin made a "four" gesture to Fang Ce, meaning that at this distance, they would need to teleport four times to return to the initial control room.
This is still the ideal scenario. There is a very high probability that they will get stuck in some buildings that are not on the map during a teleportation, or even fall into the mouth of the mutants on the spot.
Fang Ce's eyes were cold and stern. The heavy burden of the entire team was pressing down on him, gripping his heart. He took a deep breath and gestured to them.
Approval of the action.
……
“It’s been so long since the apocalypse, and that mutant is still able to keep its own food. It must be one of the earliest evolved beings. And the other mutants on the same floor don’t even dare to approach these food rations. Its strength must be on the upper level,” Miao Yin said.
"So you suspect that it is the Crimson Catastrophe in the arsenal?"
"Maybe."
Miao Yin had never seen what the Crimson Calamity looked like, only that it was very strong.
They had fought against the Lone Wind White Moth before and had some understanding of the power of the Crimson Calamity, but whether it was true or not, they would know once they saw it.
Tu Hao rubbed his throbbing head: "Aren't you afraid of messing things up? The mutants we've encountered this time are incomparable to those outside. This Crimson Catastrophe is also the most oppressive one I've ever encountered. You might be able to beat that moth, but you might not be able to beat it."
"If I can't win, I'll just lose my life," Miao Yin said nonchalantly. "Besides, won't you be there to die with me?"
"...I must have owed you something in my past life."
If it weren't for Miao Yin, he would never have come to a place like the armory in his entire life.
What does the Scarlet Calamity, which wreaks havoc on all living beings, have to do with him?
"Sometimes I really don't understand what you want. At your current level, there's not much in this world that can threaten you anymore, so why take such risks?"
“Not enough.” Miao Yin turned to look at the dark passage behind her. “I want to stand higher and go to places you can’t reach. The Crimson Calamity is my stepping stone on this path. I will trample them all down and make them my ladder to heaven.”
Tu Hao scoffed, "Shutting your nose around like that, do you really want to..."
The second half of the sentence stuck in his throat, and a chilling sensation suddenly spread throughout his body. Tu Hao subconsciously arched his back and entered a fighting state.
Ever since that strange pressure disrupted his perception, Tu Hao's brain has been like an old television set, with black and white static and a hazy grayness, as if everything has been covered with a blurry filter.
But now, a needle has pierced through.
Not only him, but even Miao Yin felt it.
"coming."
Both of their flashlights were pointed in the direction they had come from.
According to the prediction, the mutants should have come from the front, but unexpectedly, they came from the other side.
The roar of crisis reverberated in their minds, but they saw nothing in their field of vision.
Tu Hao took a few steps back and stood next to Miao Yin, whispering, "Have you ever seen a mutant who can turn invisible?"
Miao Yin: "No, I don't think it will be here either."
"That would be troublesome."
They were already threatened even before the mutants appeared.
Miao Yin's fingertips were wreathed in flames, and tiny sparks appeared in the air, slowly attaching to the walls. They maintained a distance that would not damage the walls, yet effectively illuminated the corridor.
She picked up the gas detector one last time and glanced at it; the reading was still off the charts.
The instrument was thrown into the space, and she turned to grip the large knife in her hand tightly.
A slight vibration came from the corridor, falling into the ears of the two equally perceptive people from all directions, including the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Under the red light, a dark figure appeared silently in front of them.
Before they could even see clearly, a powerful force struck them both.
Miao Yin: ! !
So fast!
The broadsword held across her chest was snapped in two, and the mutant's hand pierced through the defenses and struck Miu Yin in the abdomen.
She instinctively tensed her abdomen to resist, and the flames surged from her body to defend herself. The force of the flames was reversed and pushed back the mutant.
Miao Yin kicked it away, rolled in the air to dissipate the force, and as she fell, the broken knife pierced the ground. She pulled herself up with her arms and finally stopped after sliding back two meters.
She clutched her abdomen and coughed up blood.
The attack was too powerful; if it weren't for her exceptional physique, she would probably have been smashed to pieces and pierced through by now.
Even so, she was seriously injured. It was obvious without even looking that her abdomen was covered in bruises and her internal organs had suffered considerable damage, requiring some time to recover.
She pulled the broken knife out of her arm and looked up ahead.
Tu Hao was even more disheveled than her. As he flew out, his wolf claws pierced the wall, and he slid for quite a distance before coming to a stop.
He leaned against the wall and cursed under his breath, a murderous intent surging in his dark green eyes.
The flashlight fell to the ground and pointed directly at the end of the corridor, illuminating the half-body of the mutant.
It was completely black, without a single other color. It had three arms on its body, and its strangely long limbs were fixed in four directions like a spider. Its spine protruded segment by segment. It hung upside down from the ceiling with its head twisted 180 degrees. Its round head had no discernible shape, except for a pair of terrifying green eyes that hung alone outside.
The mutant that could injure two S-class ability users in an instant must be of a level no lower than Pink Crystal, and possibly even higher.
The Scarlet Catastrophe...
Miao Yin spat out the blood in her mouth, stood up, and said, "It has intelligence."
Tu Hao twisted his neck: "Understood."