Chapter 231: Midnight

Lu Mu let out a "ha" laugh, and just as he was about to speak, Bai Mu Yun stopped him with a glance.

Bai Mu Yun met Lei Zhao's gaze directly; his face still lacked color, but his eyes had returned to their usual detachment, as if the one who had just struggled on the brink of death were not him.

"Which method?" Bai Mu Yun retorted, tone flat, "I thought you were already used to it."

"When has the Dome ever had a 'bottom line' for its methods? The Mutation Department's human experiments, the Field Operations Department's cleansing operations, the Intelligence Department's infiltration and subversion… which of those is pristine? which of those doesn't affect the 'innocent'?"

"We walk in the shadows, using tools already stained with filth and blood; the only difference is that some people continue to delude themselves by polishing the tools, while others choose to face the tools' true nature and use them more 'efficiently.'"

Lei Zhao simply stared silently at Bai Mu Yun; he had once thought Bai Mu Yun might be different, but within the Dome, no one's hands are clean.

Bai Mu Yun merely made him realize that point again.

Lu Mu, seeing Lei Zhao remain silent, sneered, then stood up and brushed the dust off his pants.

"Ha, you don't still think you're that lofty city lord from back then, do you? Ordinary people die, that's all; you have to remember it was the Church that plotted against us first."

Lei Zhao's gaze slowly fell on him, "You forgot that you once were an ordinary person too?"

"Forgotten, long ago." Lu Mu shrugged, a look of indifference on his face.

"I am now an Aberrant Species, a 'New Human' of the Dome; ordinary people have long been dead on the experimental tables."

Lei Zhao fell silent again; unlike Lu Mu, whose mind had long been twisted by experimental torment, he believed that at least Bai Mu Yun still retained feelings from his former humanity.

Otherwise he wouldn't be so attached to the identity of "Designer."

"You didn't first meet the Dome on day one, nor did you start working for the Dome on day one."

Bai Mu Yun merely added calmly, "Lei Zhao is a naive idealist, and because of that he has received a lot of help from Lei Zhao."

He didn't know why Lei Zhao chose to join the Dome, but it must have been with some purpose, and before agreeing to the Dome's terms, Lei Zhao should have been mentally prepared.

Lei Zhao looked at Bai Mu Yun's calm golden eyes, and at Lu Mu's mocking expression beside him.

He knew that Bai Mu Yun was speaking the truth.

A cruel, blood‑soaked truth.

The Church he once believed in had already rotted, and the Dome he now serves is far from a pure land.

Both operate in the shadows; the difference may lie only in ideology and purpose, while the methods are equally filthy.

It's just that he still clings to a fantasy about humanity.

"Regardless, your help this time means I owe you a favor."

Bai Mu Yun didn't want to say much more to Lei Zhao; Lei Zhao is a typical idealist, the same then as now.

"No need...."

Lei Zhao slowly opened his mouth, then stepped forward to leave.

"When I took the red caltrop earlier, I owed the Mutation Department a favor; someone asked me to lend a hand, so that settles it."

"Wait." Bai Mu Yun hurriedly called out, but Lei Zhao's steps only paused slightly, without turning back.

"Who sent you?" Bai Mu Yun asked, a rare inquisitiveness in his voice.

"Within Tianmian City, the Mutation Department's highest authorization is in my hands; no one has the right to bypass me and contact you directly."

Lei Zhao stood there in silence for a moment, the night wind pouring in through a broken window, stirring a few strands of hair across his forehead.

A name familiar to both slowly slipped from his mouth.

"Fang Zhiyan."

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Ying Duo retracted the slightly heated Energy Pistol barrel in his hand, stared expressionlessly at the fallen Aberrant Species corpse, and stepped forward to pry out the nascent Aberrant Species core that had just formed.

【Killed Raw Stone Giant (incomplete mutation) Lv. 12, gained 76 EXP】

The experience was little, but still expected.

Such low‑level Aberrant Species, indirectly spawned by Ying Duo's device, are generally very weak.

But the important thing is that Yang Yixie confirmed his hypothesis: even killing an Aberrant Species he himself catalyzed still yields experience, though far less efficiently than naturally occurring Aberrant Species in the wild.

Yet this also means Yang Yixie now has another way to "self‑produce and self‑sell" experience.

Yang Yixie opened the party interface, his gaze landing on the teammates' status bars.

【Bai Mu Yun Lv. 48, HP: 73% (slowly recovering)】

【Lu Mu Lv. 44, HP: 68% (slowly recovering)】

It seems his two teammates have already found a safe spot to rest, their HP slowly recovering at a fairly sluggish pace.

After confirming his teammates were fine, Ying Duo walked toward the nearest preset Teleport Marker.

It was an Old Street Lamp at the mouth of a secluded alley; he also remembered to send a message to Bai Mu Yun and the others, to see if they still needed to gather.

After all, the Energy Core is a fake, but they could still try to blow up the Air Train.

Though it will be repaired quickly, it would only give the Church a headache and let him tick off a mission, wouldn't it?

The surroundings were quiet, only occasional restless noises from afar, but those sounds had been gradually diminishing due to the Supervision Bureau's intervention.

Ying Duo moved silently along the filthy alley, his Ying Guang Lu hair outlining the boy's slender silhouette in the darkness.

His footsteps were so light they were almost inaudible; turning a corner piled with construction debris, the Old Street Lamp temporarily marked by Ying Duo lay ahead.

A voice, without warning, sounded from the shadows behind Ying Duo.

The voice carried a strange gentleness, as if merely greeting an old friend after a long separation, its tone relaxed and natural.

"In such a hurry to leave? Not planning to meet up with your 'teammates,' Little Undead?"

Ying Duo's steps halted; he slowly turned around, looking at the suddenly appearing plot NPC behind him.

A figure emerged from the shadows at an unhurried pace, even cutting into a proprietary CG animation.

The newcomer's face was mostly hidden in the lamp's unreachable shadows; his movements were unhurried, exuding an elegance that clashed with the surrounding ruin.

Most strikingly, he toyed with a small silver pocket watch in his hand.

The man took two steps forward, stopping precisely at the boundary of light and shadow, the streetlamp's dim yellow light finally barely illuminating his figure.

Hmm........

White hair, red eyes, black clothing.

Even the pixel block can only reveal this much.

"Don't be nervous," the man's voice remained gentle, "I'm just here on someone's request to perform a check."

His gaze swept over that head of Ying Guang Lu hair, and finally settled back on Ying Duo's face.

He lifted his hand, and the flipped silver pocket watch was steadily cradled in his palm.

He opened the watch cover, revealing the precisely moving dial inside.

The hands on the dial were moving toward the very top.

Second hand, minute hand, hour hand.......

The three hands perfectly overlapped at the Roman numeral "XII".

The man's voice sounded calmly in the silent alley.

"Midnight."