Chapter 224: Bio-Experiment Site (Revised)

"Hey, it really is!" Kiki finally realized, her expression changing.

"No! This isn't Qing Shui Town!" Lin Xian's gaze sharpened: "Look, where's that cargo ship we just saw?"

If there was one major difference between this place and Qing Shui Town, it was that the wrecked ten-thousand-ton cargo ship was gone.

Aside from that, every street, every house, every architectural style was identical.

"What's going on? How can there be two identical small towns?"

Kiki stared at the scene, utterly stunned.

Lin Xian had just thought he'd taken a wrong turn—how could another town appear right after emerging from the Black Forest?

Only now, upon closer inspection, did he notice something odd.

Most strange of all, not a single zombie was visible; Qing Shui Town lay beneath the night, shrouded in an eerie silence.

"It's already dark? This is too strange." Lin Xian checked his watch—it was still under four o'clock. How could it be dark?

"We've stumbled into some weird place," Kiki shivered involuntarily, a chill crawling up her spine.

"Is the communicator still getting a signal?"

Hearing Lin Xian, Kiki snapped to attention and grabbed her mobile terminal.

"Yes! And it's closer now." Kiki pointed toward the dark town ahead: "It should be right up there."

Lin Xian stared at Qing Shui Town beneath the night, his eyes darkening: "Let's go back the way we came."

The situation before him was nothing like what he'd expected. Out of caution, he decided to retreat—now that it was dark, attracting some strange entity would only bring trouble.

"Alright, I'll follow you." Kiki had no interest whatsoever in the dark town ahead. At Lin Xian's words, she immediately turned the motorcycle around.

The two riders sped back along their original path, plunging into the gloomy forest.

Vrrrrm!

The motorcycle weaved through the rugged woods, but the situation grew worse—Lin Xian realized no matter how far they rode, the light never changed; the forest remained pitch-black, growing darker still.

In the next instant, the two motorcycles burst out of the trees—only for the pair to freeze, realizing they had returned to the exact spot they'd just left.

"Holy shit, this is a ghost town!" Kiki panicked, turning to Lin Xian: "Hey, are we haunted?"

Lin Xian's gaze darkened as he stared at the distant town beneath the night: "We might have no choice but to go in. Something there must be different from the Qing Shui Town we just left."

"Huh~"

Kiki's face twisted with reluctance, but she had no other option. She nodded: "Fine, I'm following you."

Vrrr~

Lin Xian drove the motorcycle slowly toward the town. Around them, silence stretched hollow and empty. The engine's hum echoed, the orange-yellow headlights cutting through patches of darkness.

As they drew nearer, Lin Xian and Kiki grew more certain—this town was real.

On both sides of the road, every shop and storefront matched Qing Shui Town exactly. Lin Xian paid special attention to places he remembered—every table, chair, sign, even the position of the sewer grates, identical.

Instantly, a strange, oppressive sense of dislocation rose within him.

Kiki felt the same. They had just left Qing Shui Town—and now here was another "Qing Shui Town." Just hearing it sounded bizarre, surreal.

"How can there be an identical town?" Kiki frowned, staring at the sides of the street, her eyes wide with shock.

"It must be artificially replicated."

Lin Xian began sensing an unusual aura; his expression grew grim: "Stay alert."

Kiki rode behind him, a chilling, terrifying presence crawling up her neck. She shivered, whispering: "This place doesn't look inhabited at all."

She pulled out her mobile terminal—the program she'd installed pulsed with a stronger signal.

"The communicator you installed must be nearby…"

Beep~ Vrrr! Beep~ Vrrr!

Suddenly, a deafening alarm blared through the town, shattering the eerie silence.

Lin Xian and Kiki both stopped, staring warily around: "What's that?"

"It's some kind of alarm!" Kiki said grimly. "It sounds… wrong."

The alarm echoed through every alley, every shuttered shop corner, every dark stretch of street.

Then, a mechanical female voice suddenly spoke.

"Test Site 3, Qing Shui Town. Bio-experiment Simulation #92 initiated."

Hssss~

As soon as the voice ended, mist erupted from every corner of the town.

"Test site?!" Lin Xian's expression changed.

"Are we inside that research facility now?" Kiki exclaimed.

"I get it—this place must belong to the Foundation. But how can something this large be completely invisible from outside?"

As if in response, a thunderclap split the sky.

Crack!

Lightning flashed; dark clouds churned.

A crushing pressure, like the calm before a storm, rose over the town.

Lin Xian kept his senses wide open—then, faint sounds drifted from the darkness ahead.

"What is it?"

"Something's coming," Lin Xian said.

Kiki tensed, turning her head, staring fixedly ahead.

In the darkness, something was indeed moving—slowly, toward the motorcycle's light.

Gaa~ Ah~ Gok~

Goo~ Ehh~

A faint, unnatural sound emerged from the dark—a decaying vocal cord twisting unnaturally.

"Someone's walking over."

Lin Xian slowly reached for his black pistol, his gaze fixed. A figure shuffled into the edge of the light—and in the next instant, everyone's expression changed.

The approaching thing was a conjoined humanoid, limbs fused together, skin pale white, both heads hollow red voids—no eyes, nose, or mouth.

Lin Xian frowned. Was this a zombie? A strange entity? Or a human Gui?

"This is disgusting! What the hell is that?!"

Kiki's scalp prickled; her brows knotted in revulsion.

"Watch out behind you!"

Suddenly, Lin Xian shouted back to Kiki.

She spun around—behind her, another conjoined monster emerged from the darkness, moving in a grotesque, jerking gait.

This one resembled two rotting zombies fused together—ashen skin, split ribs and organs, stitched like two bodies sewn into one.

"Go!"

Vrrrm!

Lin Xian slammed the throttle. The motorcycle roared, spinning in place. He raised his hand—three wind spears shot forward, slamming into the conjoined monster's heads.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The invisible wind spears struck the faceless heads—muffled thuds echoed as blood and flesh sprayed—but the monster showed no effect. Instead, it grew enraged.

A strange, grating screech erupted. The twisted creature suddenly sprinted, flailing its malformed limbs, surging toward Lin Xian's motorcycle with a stench of decay.

"It won't die?"

Without hesitation, Lin Xian activated his power armor's torque output, hurling the black pistol. The magnetic engine hummed—accelerating instantly, a black dart!

Boom!

In an instant, one of the monster's heads exploded into pulp, only skin, sinew, and tendons still dangling from its neck. But the creature merely staggered—then kept charging, unaffected.

Simultaneously, the monster's twisted limbs and torso began swelling—like inflation. Black smoke poured from its torn wounds and severed neck.

Lin Xian's eyes widened—he knew this was bad.

"Kiki!"

"Got it!" Kiki acted instantly, using invisible telekinesis to freeze the monster in place. But the next instant, the creature convulsed violently—its swelling intensified!

Boom!

In an instant, the monster's upper body exploded. Thick black smoke erupted—and from it, a flood of black beetles surged outward like blood, hissing and cascading like shifting sand.

The beetles emitted a skittering, scalp-crawling sound, instantly pooling on the ground before swarming toward Lin Xian.

"What kind of experiment is this?!"

Lin Xian's heart pounded. He had no idea what the SIID Foundation was doing here. These things weren't zombies, weren't human Gui —his mind reeled with confusion.

Vrrr—Lin Xian stomped the throttle, veering right into a side street. The tires crushed several beetles, spraying emerald-green fluid and black smoke that hissed with corrosive stench.

Clank~ Clank~ Clank~

As the motorcycle sped forward, shop doors along the street suddenly swung open—grotesque, twisted humanoid monsters began pouring out.

The entire town had come alive.

Vrrr!

From the shadows ahead, countless twisted conjoined figures emerged in groups. They moved slowly—but as their numbers grew, they filled every street, every alley, a nightmare of inhuman forms.

Lin Xian couldn't charge through them. He had to keep turning, trying to find unexplored alleys.

He swerved left, dodging the approaching conjoined monsters, slipping through a narrow alley.

!

When he burst out, he found himself on a wide street—a dilapidated department store loomed ahead, and across the road stood a middle school, its gates tightly shut.

"This place seems unfamiliar," Kiki said to Lin Xian, looking around with uncertainty.

"This should be where the transport ship outside crashed," Lin Xian said at once. Outside, the center of Qing Shui Town was in ruins; the department store had long collapsed, its original form unrecognizable.

At that moment, Lin Xian spotted a few staircases faintly familiar to him and immediately realized: this spot, outside, was exactly a wasteland.

"Lin Xian, look quick—is there still light on inside that school?"

Just then, Kiki suddenly called out.

Lin Xian's gaze swept across—it was clear that several dim yellow lights still glowed within the school's teaching building, strangely out of place amid the fog-choked town.

"Could there be people inside?"

"Let's go take a look."

Where there's light, there's wiring. No matter what kind of mechanism or experiment it is, if he can access the control system, he'll find a way.

Hum—the motorcycle charged straight through the middle school gate, and the surroundings suddenly opened up: the square, flower beds, playground, teaching building—all were familiar scenes from Lin Xian's old school.

Beneath the darkness, it was utterly empty; the motorcycle seemed to ride atop a black ocean, and he could only follow the dim lights in the teaching building to guide his way forward.

"Hey, those monsters didn't follow us in."

Kiki turned back and saw that the conjoined monsters had all frozen at the school's entrance, motionless, as if separated by some invisible barrier.

More and more monsters gathered, completely blocking the school gate, yet not a single one stepped inside.

"There's definitely something strange here—maybe the research institute's entrance is right here."

Lin Xian glanced behind him: grotesque experimental specimens kept surging closer, piling up densely at the school gate. From afar, under the night, countless twisted silhouettes stood there, sending a chill down the spine.

"It doesn't seem like anyone's inside."

"Then we've probably found the right place!" Lin Xian said.

Squeak~

The motorcycle stopped beneath an abandoned teaching building, the ground littered with books and shredded paper; the wheels crunched over them with a rustling sound.

Lin Xian halted the bike, stared at the dim yellow lights glowing in the teaching building, and without hesitation grabbed his black gun and electric knife, preparing to investigate.

Since this was a testing ground, there must be emergency exits—and possibly surveillance equipment too.

Lin Xian and Kiki moved forward in tandem, charging straight through the main entrance into the teaching building.

……

Meanwhile, in a brightly lit room, several staff members in lab coats were intently observing research data on their computer screens.

One female researcher suddenly spotted several unfamiliar figures on the surveillance monitor; her expression changed instantly, and she urgently pressed the intercom before her.

"Report: Unknown intruders detected in Zone F."

"Perform life sign scan."

"Two unregistered individuals detected. Surveillance data uploaded."

On the other side, the lab technician turned to the safety supervisor behind him: "Director Feng, two unknown intruders. Should we halt the experiment?"

"Hm?"

Feng Chun frowned, immediately picking up his mobile terminal and scrolling through the surveillance footage; several clearer frames extracted facial data.

"Another bunch of unlucky bastards. Doesn't matter—let them die. If they survive, send them to Facility Two."

"Understood."

"Wait." As Feng Chun scrolled to the last person, his mobile terminal suddenly flashed a warning.

Beep-beep-beep.

【Detected: Foundation Priority Observation Subject. Security Level: One】

"What?!" Feng Chun stared at the young man on the screen—the one who had first charged into the teaching building area—his face paling: "Level One subject?"

"Quick! Halt the release of experimental subjects in Zone F! Immediately notify Miss Hua!"

Bang-bang-bang!

In the facility's surveillance hall, all staff scrambled into chaos.

【Shut down weather system】

【Re-inject inhibitor 0912 into biological entity】

【Close Crying Classroom】

【Cease release of bait gas in Disaster Corridor】

……

Tap-tap.

Down the corridor, a group of staff hurried past; Hua Xiaoling strode ahead, listening to her subordinate's report.

"Miss Hua, confirmed: Lin Xian, the Foundation's priority target, is inside Qing Shui Town test site. Two individuals total."

"How did they get in?"

"Likely through the Experiment Forest from Facility Two."

Tap—Hua Xiaoling stopped. "How could they come from there?"

Her assistant paled and shook his head.

Hua Xiaoling's eyes flickered slightly. "Alright."

"Then Miss Hua, should we bring them in?"

Hua Xiaoling paused, then said directly: "Initiate zone separation. See if we can isolate Lin Xian alone—use this chance to test the properties of his mechanical ability."

The assistant frowned: "And his other teammate—what do we do with him?"

Hua Xiaoling kept walking forward, her voice cool: "Ignore him for now."

"Understood."

……

Brothers, double moon tickets until the 7th! Please support with early-month moon tickets—thank you so much!

(End of Chapter)