Chapter 222: Artwork

Ding, we've reached the seventh floor—please check the ID card you're carrying, so you don't lose it.

After the gentle mechanical tone sounded seven times in a row, the elevator came to a smooth stop.

"Depth 140 meters."

Lin An casually reported their current position, then stepped out of the elevator.

The equipment testing facility was far larger than he had imagined.

Under mental power detection, the whole structure was cylindrical.

Nine layers underground, total depth reaching 200 meters.

The detected survivors were concentrated in the latter half of the seventh floor, while the special life forms were to the front-right of them.

However, they were separated by thick alloy outer walls, invisible to the naked eye.

"Damn, how long would it take to dig out this damn place?"

Zhang Tie looked up, clicking his tongue in amazement.

Having said that, he couldn't help but rub his head, as if he'd thought of something:

"Captain Lin?"

"What do you think about building a safe zone here?"

"This damned place—once the door is shut, no zombie can be found, they can't get in!"

Lin An nodded slightly upon hearing that; he had also thought of this point before:

"Indeed, with this depth and fully alloyed ground walls, even ordinary mutants might not be able to break in."

"But it's useless..."

He glanced at Zhang Tie's puzzled look and casually explained:

"You forgot? When the great catastrophe hits a year from now, if an earthquake strikes this place, it'll become a living coffin."

"Or if a powerful mutant blocks the vicinity, there's nowhere to flee."

Wen Ya instinctively tilted her head to look at Colonel Chu, and upon close observation found nothing abnormal about him.

Of course, Chu An had never shown any abnormality.

This guy always has a deadpan face.

Lin An gave Wen Ya a subtle nod, indicating she needn't worry.

As expected.

Chu An knew he had mentioned the great catastrophe before.

Although, who knows how he came to know that.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to remain unmoved when I brought up the great catastrophe.

Wen Ya and the others unconditionally believe me; whatever I say goes, and they don't question why I know.

But if Chu An were completely ignorant and heard this news, he would surely speak up to ask.

This guy's talent is definitely problematic!

Lin An suppressed the urge to dissect Colonel Chu and looked at the indicator light glowing ahead.

The red indicator light kept flashing, and, judging by its direction, it was actually guiding them straight to the special life forms' location.

Kind of interesting.

Lin An chuckled lightly, his gaze flickering over the concealed cameras.

Team comms:

"Be careful."

"The survivors hiding here want to lure us into facing the monsters."

"Something's fishy."

"If they were hostile toward us, they could simply activate the fire-control system."

"But opening doors all the way just to make us collide with monsters—guess they're being blocked by the monsters."

Wen Ya and Zhang Tie heard the voices, their expressions grave, ready to unleash their skills at any moment.

As for Colonel Chu.

Lin An hardly needs to remind him.

Because this guy just walked straight ahead, heedless of the indicator light.

Footsteps echoed as the group passed through the first heavy password door.

"Captain Lin, I smell a strong stench of blood."

Zhang Tie twitched his nose, then suddenly darted to the corridor corner.

"Fuck..."

Xiong Hanzi let out a startled curse.

Lin An followed calmly, his mental power also probing this spot.

Although I don't know exactly what it is, it's probably nothing good.

This is...

Wen Ya stared blankly at the corridor corner.

All that could be seen was the floor piled with human skins.

Each skin was lifelike, male and female, fully naked.

Upon close inspection, there was no sign of any damage, as if the flesh had vanished in an instant, leaving only thin outer skins.

Zhang Tie's face turned ashen, his large hand pinching a man's outer skin.

"Captain Lin..."

Is there that kind of monster you encountered last time here?

Marrow-sucking stuff?

Lin An walked forward, picked up a piece and examined it closely.

Except for the hollows left at the facial features, the entire skin was intact.

No traces of suction holes; the inside was very clean.

No remnants of brain matter or bone.

If it weren't for the strong bloody smell, he would have thought these were rubber skin suits.

After a moment's thought, Lin An replied:

Not a marrow-sucking spider.

Marrow-sucking spiders digest humans with venom; this isn't that method.

No wounds...

The eating is cleaner than that of a marrow-sucking spider—how is it done?

Suppressing his doubts, Lin An put down the skin in his hand and walked toward the next door.

The skins on the ground were stacked half a meter high; after a rough count, there were over three hundred.

As expected, aside from the 77 people discovered in the investigation, the skins here should account for the total number of test subjects.

Click

As they approached the heavy password door, the lock clicked open.

Unlike the first door, the second door's interior flickered with dark red light.

Zhang Tie took a deep breath, stepped over the skins covering the floor, and Wen Ya followed closely behind.

It was cold behind them.

Strangely, they felt as if the skins on the ground were still alive.

Perhaps too...

Fresh?

Creak

The heavy safety door was pushed open, and Lin An lowered his head to look at the ground.

On the metallic floor reflecting a glaring red light, hundreds of human eyeballs were neatly laid flat.

Holy shit!

Zhang Tie was startled as soon as he entered.

Over seven hundred intact eyeballs stared straight at the doorway; the impact was enough to frighten the faint-hearted silly on the spot.

Lin Dui, what... what the hell is going on?!!

Skins again, and eyeballs...

Wen Ya instinctively grabbed Lin An's hand, as if only that could give her a bit of peace of mind.

Several of those present had also seen plenty of scenes of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

But the sight before them was still shocking.

Beside Lin An, Colonel Chu spoke calmly without expression:

The technique is quite good.

Each eyeball had no scratches when it was removed.

It's actually a bit like an artwork.

Lin An glanced at Colonel Chu crouched on the ground, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

Those three words 'artwork'—probably only this guy could say them.

However...

He seemed to have thought of something.

This method really feels a bit like collecting.

After a moment of silence, Lin An continued toward the third door.

Click

The repeated procedure, as expected.

It seems someone has been watching our group from the monitoring room...

Retch!

Inside the third door.

This time, aside from Lin An and Colonel Chu showing no expression, the other two could no longer hold back and began to retch.

Zhang Tie retched continuously, and before he could wipe his mouth he shouted angrily:

Damn it! What kind of pervert is that monster!

Inside the metallic-feeling passage.

Three hundred sixty-seven portions of brain tissue were neatly laid out on the floor.

The red-and-white marbled brains, like jelly, were formed into individual circles.

Large enclosing small, layer upon layer.

Under the dark red alarm light, the jelly-like brains were coated with a strange color.

Lin An remained silent, staring intently at the woman in the circle.

The woman's skull was neatly and smoothly cut open, and her entire brain was removed intact.

She bent at the waist, her hands clasped together devoutly.

The reddish-white paste-like substance in the palm slowly flowed down.

It flowed into the open mouth of the child who had long been dead.

Chu An stared expressionlessly at the woman, then slowly spoke:

「【Illustration of the Buddha's Son's Birth】-1517」

Lin An lowered his head, whispering in his heart.

Stupa Painter: Immortal Asura