Chapter 225: Target Unobservable (Revised)

In the teaching building, as Lin Xian stepped inside, the smell of dust from the structure hit him; everything around was pitch black. He turned on his flashlight and scanned the area—the previous light had been on the second floor, so he needed to find the stairs leading up.

"Over here."

Soon, he found the staircase and without hesitation, prepared to sprint up.

But after running a few steps, he suddenly felt something was off.

"Kiki?"

Lin Xian turned around and suddenly realized Kiki was gone!

"Where did they go?!"

Lin Xian ran back out, bursting through the teaching building's main door—only to find the outside pitch black: the playground, the square, the corridors, even the motorcycle they'd ridden—everything had vanished!

His heart dropped. He spun around—the interior of the teaching building's entrance was as black as ink.

"Damn it, not this again!"

Lin Xian immediately recalled the strange radio station from 1542—back then, he'd suddenly vanished from his spot and appeared in a peculiar frequency space.

He pressed his communicator—click-click~

"Lin Xian, Lin Xian." Kiki's voice came through. "Where are you?"

"I'm right outside the teaching building's door."

"I can't see you. Just now, the wall in front of me seemed to change."

Lin Xian frowned. "This test site is definitely behind this. Wait for me."

He looked up at the dark ceiling, his mind sharpening—if this place was controlled by mechanical systems, it wouldn't stump him.

Huh… huh…

At this moment, Lin Xian could hear only his own heartbeat and breathing. He shone his flashlight into the dark doorway—the white beam pierced the darkness, bringing a lonely, chilling terror.

He tightened his grip on the electric knife and activated his power armor's collision volume perception system, enhancing his defense.

【Collision Volume Perception System Activated】

Outside, pitch black. Lin Xian felt a chill down his spine. He shone his flashlight into the distance—no edge in sight. Within the darkness, countless unknown entities seemed to be slowly approaching the teaching building.

Lin Xian reached out and touched the ground—below was concrete. His Mechanical Heart couldn't extend into it. His expression darkened—he could only retreat back into this single building to search for clues. All around were structures; only the light he'd seen upstairs remained. That location must hold the control terminal.

The flashlight beam revealed the corridors stretching endlessly into darkness. Most classroom doors nearby stood open, desks overturned and scattered. Every environment looked identical—except there were no corpses, no zombies.

Thud-thud-thud—Lin Xian sprinted up the stairs to the second floor, heading toward the room that had shown light earlier.

When he reached the second-floor corridor, he found the lit room was the first one beside the stairs. A dim glow seeped through its window, giving the illusion that the scene had turned black and white.

The door was slightly ajar. Lin Xian shone his light inside—it was a storage room, not a classroom. Inside, the floor was clean and tidy, utterly unlike the chaos of other classrooms.

His heart tightened. He stepped in carefully. The instant the flashlight swept the room, Lin Xian's hair stood on end.

For in the center of the storage room stood a pile of white-clad mannequins. At first glance, he nearly thought a group of people stood there.

And in this room, an old incandescent bulb still glowed faintly—the very light he'd seen from below.

This was nothing like what he'd expected. He'd thought it might be a surveillance room's light—or an emergency exit.

Yet this light was here, in this absurd storage room, leaving him baffled. As he stared at the pile of mannequins, an eerie feeling crept over him.

Lin Xian stepped inside, his gaze scanning every corner.

If there was light, there must be wiring…

Lin Xian knew this was a vast test site, so it must have professional experimental equipment controlling it. His approach was simple: use his mechanical ability to trace clues, then brute-force a solution.

He walked to the wall and began scanning with his Mechanical Heart, searching for mechanical structures.

Suddenly, the light inside flickered—and went out.

The entire storage room plunged into darkness, leaving only Lin Xian's flashlight beam.

This sudden turn made him tense—click-click~

From the darkness came a faint sound—like a joint dislocating.

Lin Xian immediately shone his light on the pile of mannequins—but the white beam revealed nothing unusual. He widened the beam, sweeping toward the room's corner.

Only then did he realize the door he'd just entered through was now shut. He instantly sensed something wrong, walked over, twisted the handle—locked.

"Playing this game?"

Click!

His Mechanical Heart activated—forcing the lock open!

The moment the door swung open, a white child mannequin stood right there. Lin Xian's eyes narrowed—he instantly raised his electric knife before him.

The white mannequin stood motionless. Aside from its eerie appearance, it was identical to ordinary store mannequins.

Click-click~

The faint joint sounds returned. Lin Xian whirled around, flashlight beam sweeping—next instant, his spine went cold, his scalp prickled.

The mannequins that had been standing in the center of the storage room—

Now—

Were all standing behind him!

In that moment, the air seemed to freeze.

Lin Xian's flashlight shone on the white mannequins—the eerie aura surged. His eyes hardened—he fired a wind lance straight at the nearest one.

Boom!

The mannequin's plastic head exploded, its face shattered, revealing the metal frame inside—but the mannequin remained utterly still.

"What the hell is this? Zombie? Ghost entity??"

Lin Xian scanned the group of mannequins—he knew they were wrong, but couldn't pinpoint how.

So he fired multiple wind lances—fwoosh! fwoosh! fwoosh!

Blasting the mannequins into scattered fragments.

Splash-splash-splash~

Instantly, the storage room erupted with crashing sounds. The white mannequins, frozen in silent smiles, had their heads shattered, necks snapped, faces obliterated—shards rained to the floor, echoes reverberating through room and corridor.

As Lin Xian dealt with the white mannequins, in the dark spot his flashlight hadn't reached, a small child mannequin twisted its joints and crawled upward.

【Moving Target Approaching】

The power armor's alert barely sounded when Lin Xian suddenly saw a pale face emerge from the shadow beside him—the mannequin's mouth split open, revealing a massive, tooth-filled maw!

Screech!

Lin Xian's nerves jolted. His other hand reflexively thrust the black pistol forward—the tip pinned the mannequin's chest, preventing it from biting his neck. He was shoved backward, stumbling.

"What the hell is this?!"

Regaining composure, Lin Xian braced the pistol's butt against the floor, halting the mannequin's charge. Then his right palm flashed with electric light.

Zzzt~

Arcs of electricity surged into the mannequin's mouth—crackling sparks erupted, a burnt odor filled the air, and the attacking mannequin froze, collapsing to the ground.

Lin Xian frowned, calmed himself, and stepped forward with his flashlight to examine the mannequin's mouth—revealing, shockingly, a mechanical structure inside.

"A robot?"

Lin Xian stared, puzzled. He reached out, activated mechanical scanning—confirmed: this was a magnetically controlled, passive robot. No power source—just a mechanical puppet linked to external control.

"Using robots against me? Clever…"

Tap-tap

At that moment, faint footsteps echoed down the corridor outside.

Intermittent, drawing closer through the darkness.

"Ghost knocking, huh?"

Lin Xian instantly generated a high-power spotlight, illuminating the eerie room as brightly as daylight.

He rose, grabbed the doorframe, and activated his power armor's torque output—CRASH! He ripped the entire door off its hinges.

Then he raised both hands—light flared from his palms.

Zzzt-zzt-zzt! Vast sheets of tank-grade forged metal shot out. In a breath, a massive 40cm-thick metal door—like a bank vault—materialized, sealing the entire room shut.

And Lin Xian designed no lock or handle on this door.

Simultaneously, he built a high-voltage discharge unit and connected it to the door, powering it with lethal current.

"There. This door specializes in treating ghost knocks. Feel free to test it."

Having finished, Lin Xian turned his attention to the room, preparing to trace the light's wiring and scan the building's electrical structure to locate the mechanism.

…Meanwhile, in the research institute's monitoring hall, the staff member responsible for deploying Test Subject F-072 stared at the screen, hands leaving the keyboard, eyes widening.

"Hey!" a colleague whispered. "Subject 072's turn. Hurry up, don't delay."

"Th-there's an issue…"

"What? It didn't knock?"

The staff member pointed in terror at the screen—where a monstrous creature was frantically clawing at a steel door that had appeared out of nowhere. The door didn't budge—not even a handle to grip.

"It… it can't even knock on this!"

"What's going on? Why hasn't the 'Crying Classroom' test footage started?"

Security Chief Feng Chun checked his watch, then pressed his earpiece, voice sharp. "What's happening?"

"Chief, Test Anomaly failed to enter the designated zone," a researcher replied urgently.

"What?!"

!

Feng Chun stormed over and barked at the main monitor: "Show me the surveillance feed from the storage room!"

"Uh…" another researcher, pale-faced, turned back hesitantly. "Report: all internal surveillance has been hijacked."

Feng Chun frowned, his expression turning grave: "What did you say?"

"I said we've lost internal surveillance," said the researcher, his face twisted with unease.

For a moment, the surveillance hall grew eerily silent.

"Switch to the corridor feeds!" Feng Chun snapped, realizing the gravity: "The higher-ups demand we collect usable data and characteristics from the mechanical ability, and continuously monitor the target's safety—no mistakes allowed!"

"Understood!"

"Corridor surveillance is normal. No life signs detected entering."

"Then the test subject must still be in the storage classroom…"

……

In the bright room, Lin Xian consumed every shattered magnetic robot into raw material to eliminate any lingering threats, leaving only broken plastic shards scattered across the floor.

The entire room was utterly transparent. Lin Xian stood atop a ladder he'd constructed, activating his Mechanical Heart to connect with the pathways and scan the external mechanical framework of the room.

"Hey, girl, how are you holding up?"

Click-click…

The communicator's signal began to stutter.

"Lin Xian, I can't find you. Where are you?"

"I'm inside the teaching building. Second floor."

"I… I don't have any teaching building here," came Kiki's panicked voice.

Soon, the communicator went dead. Lin Xian frowned, his heart tightening. He guessed their distance wasn't far. He turned toward the metallic door, where a rhythmic knocking echoed—likely the dark energy of some strange entity disrupting the signal.

"This research facility really brought in some terrifying monsters."

Lin Xian shifted his thoughts, his gaze sharpening—his Mechanical Heart had finally found something.

He descended the ladder, walked to one wall, reached out, and his Mechanical Heart seized control of the power system behind a hidden door, forcing it open.

Hssst.

Slowly, a doorframe outline appeared on the wall, then retracted into it, revealing a dark passage beyond.

……

"Confirmed. Target has entered the corridor."

"Collecting target's vital signs: life signs normal, no injuries, heart rate stable."

In the research facility's surveillance hall, the researchers finally saw Lin Xian's figure on the screen.

Feng Chun stared at the figure, exhaled in relief, and spoke into his earpiece.

"Seal the corridor. Release the rabid zombie horde. Collect combat data."

"Confirmed. Releasing rabid zombie horde into the corridor."

Suddenly, the dark corridor blazed with blinding light. Lin Xian shielded his eyes and looked up—he stood inside an impossibly long white corridor, stretching beyond sight.

Urrghhh!!

Before he'd taken more than a few steps, he felt the floor trembling faintly, and a faint, guttural moan echoed from afar.

He turned back—the door he'd forced open had shut again. No retreat.

He lifted his gaze to several hidden cameras above.

……

"Note: Control zombie density. Don't overwhelm him at once. Maintain target survival."

"Understood. Density currently at Level 1."

Feng Chun adjusted the test intensity and stared at the screen—then froze. The figure on-screen had just lifted its head, staring directly at the camera, as if locking eyes with him.

"How the hell can he see us?"

Feng Chun frowned and ordered: "If surveillance is compromised, confirm target's movements and vital signs regardless."

Before he finished speaking, the screen's lights flickered and died—plunging the entire feed into darkness.

"What the hell?!" Feng Chun shouted.

"Checking… circuitry is fully functional," said a researcher, sweat pouring down his face as he frantically typed.

Tap-tap-tap!

Suddenly, a rapid fusillade of gunshots erupted through the monitor's audio, growing denser by the second.

"Target engaged! Restore lighting immediately!"

Clang.

Before the order finished, the lights flared back on. All eyes snapped to the screen: the corridor was now a bloodbath—dozens of zombie corpses shredded, splattered with gore. On the other side, standing before Lin Xian, was a wheeled Gattling gun—its overheated barrels steaming, its ammunition belt still spinning.

"Where the hell did he pull that from?"

"And why is there a cart?!"

"That thing's too big to come from his body—could it be linked to some kind of special space?"

"Confirm the mechanism of his ability: is it spontaneous creation, retrieval, or transformation?" Feng Chun's forehead glistened with sweat, his voice sharp with fury: "Eyes on him! If he pulls it out of his pants, I want to know whether he used his left or right hand!!"

"Prepare the next rabid zombie horde."

"Boss, what level this time?"

"Maximum level!"

Urrrrghhh!!

From distant walls on both sides, hidden doors burst open—countless zombies surged forth, mutated and frenzied, charging toward Lin Xian's position.

Doooom!!

The Gattling roared. Lin Xian fired continuously, pushing the wheeled gun forward over crushed corpses, advancing down the corridor. The dense horde ahead was pierced like paper by his torrent of metal—human bodies shattered without resistance, trapped in this enclosed tunnel.

Bullets sliced through them like hot knives through scallions—no resistance, pure annihilation.

Lin Xian wasted no time. Pushing the gun cart, electric blade in hand, he surged forward—reaching the corridor's end in moments.

Clang. Lin Xian kicked open a steel door. Ahead lay a black, circular-pipe tunnel—utterly unlike the bright corridor before.

He reached out, activated his Mechanical Heart, frowned, then stepped forward without hesitation.

(End of Chapter)