Chapter 501: Sniped

Two thirds.

While the game succeeded in pulling Xie Jingyan over to their side, Luo Jinyou had already cleared about two thirds of the game cartridge.

Ying Duo's pile of textual data kept growing, and the contents were enough to make anyone feel terrified.

The densely packed texts were all criminal evidence from the laboratory, and they were extremely detailed.

How detailed? It listed which batch of test subjects was obtained from where, and how the failed subjects were disposed of, all written in crystal‑clear detail.

It is less an experiment log than evidence of crimes committed under the Dome.

Moreover, this is not just the Mutation Department's criminal record.

Perhaps because Han Huan was especially invested in this experiment, there are also numerous test records involving the Field Operations Department.

If the Mutation Department has already been endlessly scapegoated for the entire Dome, the contents here could drag the spotless Field Operations Department straight into the mire.

Until the latest game was cleared, this time the amount of text provided was huge, yet it was completely different from the previous information.

It was a letter that Yang Yixie left for Yang Yichen.

【To my unlucky older brother:

I guess you probably won't touch my games; if you do, it's likely because I'm dead, and you'll only be looking at the thing and thinking of me, watching your younger brother's ultra‑high record in the game, then realizing it's a summit you can never exceed in your whole life.

In short, I never expected you to beat my game record; just clearing it would be fine.

Honestly, I hesitated for a long time about whether to keep these data, but in the end I did just that.

Our parents died because of this; if I die, it will probably be for the same reason. Though I don't think you can avenge them, you still have the right to know the truth.

As you can see, our father was silenced—killed—because he obtained such criminal evidence.

I looked into the chief researchers: one is now a senior official of the Dome, and the other, for reasons unknown, went to the Church a few years ago.

The former wields too much power to act against, so I decided to start with the latter and investigated the Church's territory.

After you see these data, your sense of justice might lead you to the same path I took.

Do whatever you like; anyway I can't stop you.】

...... Those are words he could say.

Yang Yixie silently read the somewhat brief letter, and it was clear that "I" had already guessed the possible outcome when deciding to go to the Church.

Yang Yixie didn't tell Luo Jinyou the letter's contents; even if he returned alive, he would never let anyone see it.

It's a bit like a black history, admitting that he might fail and that the future's direction is completely beyond his control.

He kept reading.

...... There were even picture evidences.

Yang Yixie originally thought the earlier records were enough to trace many things, but all the picture attachments were stored separately at the end.

These are the lethal spears that can pin the Field Operations Department firmly in the swamp.

Luo Jinyou's finger suddenly paused on the game controller, and he suddenly felt a slight coldness in his back.

The pixelated character on the screen still stood motionless before the trophy after clearing, and his hand slipped from the controller, a thin layer of sweat forming on his palm.

Instinctively he turned to look at Ying Duo; the Ying Guang Lu fragments shone painfully bright, and the next second he spotted a jarring splash of red.

That speck of red stood out sharply against the Ying Guang Lu.

Luo Jinyou's body reacted faster than his mind; he lunged from the console, his shoulder slamming into Ying Duo's chest, throwing Ying Duo's body backward, and the materials suspended mid‑air by energy fell down in a scattered drizzle.

Both fell to the ground; Luo Jinyou used his hand to shield Ying Duo's head, making the impact less painful.

The sound of glass shattering rang out.

A bullet struck the spot where Ying Duo had just been sitting; the two could clearly see the charred edges of the bullet hole.

The first thing Yang Yixie did was check the mini‑map in the upper left; green dots marked him and Luo Jinyou, but there wasn't a single red dot.

Is it because the distance is too great that the mini‑map can't show the enemy's position?

He immediately crawled slowly from the ground, packing up the game cartridge and console that happened to be in the sniper's blind spot, and took them away.

Luo Jinyou watched him finish; his hand was still trembling slightly. Ying Duo had just been completely without any energy‑shield; if he had been a moment slower, Ying Duo would truly have died...

Somewhere far away, the sniper took his eyes off the scope.

"Yes, that target Fang Zhiyan brought back from the Church is moving with him; he was the one who saved that kid."

"Although he escaped by luck, I think you won't easily let the executioner who killed your brother go, nor will you harm the innocent, right?" Han Huan's voice drifted slowly from the communicator.

After learning that Ying Duo and Yang Yixie could be equated, Ying Duo's original value instantly turned into a blade that could cut their throats at any moment.

Han Huan searched for a long time but never found the record left by that person; in the end he only knew that the person had a child who disappeared shortly thereafter.

It seemed all the evidence pointed to that record being taken away by Yang Yixie.

"Of course," the person said, then resolutely hung up the communication.

"Let's go," Ying Duo said, and Luo Jinyou nodded.

Ying Duo walked to the doorway, cracked the big door open, the hallway lights were voice‑controlled but offered no useful reference, and the mini‑map didn't show any NPC outside.

They had just taken the elevator up, but now using it could be a trap; Ying Duo could instantly shift into an energy form and slip away, but Luo Jinyou would be in trouble.

Ying Duo used the Team Channel to message Fang Zhiyan, "Someone wants to kill me. I'll send you the location."

In the blink of an eye, he noticed something was wrong.

The party list, which should have shown two green dots and one offline gray dot, suddenly turned all green.

Lu Mu escaped from a time‑space fissure?

Before Yang Yixie could think further, he saw a red dot on the mini‑map in the upper left rushing toward them at extreme speed.

They were on a fairly high floor, mind you.

"Retreat!"

Ying Duo immediately grabbed Luo Jinyou, who was about to move forward, and pulled him to the other side of the corridor; the wall near where they had been was smashed open from the outside, sending dust scattering.

A hulking man with a tiger‑back and bear‑wide waist slowly emerged from the smoky dust; the overhead voice‑controlled light lit up from the sudden loud noise.

You're that "Flame City Cannon"?