Chapter 64: Dragon

Even through a layer of laminated glass, the faint sound of chewing could still be heard from the cafeteria.

The driver lowered his voice and asked, "What now?"

"We need to figure out what happened here first," Li Cheng said, adjusting his glasses. "The alien's neck contained a synthetic chip, and the wall advertisements labeled this place as a theme park."

My guess is that the park operators, like in the movie Jurassic Park, lost control.

More than twelve hours, forty-one minutes, and thirty-seven seconds ago, some accident occurred, causing all the monsters to break free and slaughter the humans.

"Huh?" Su Jie exclaimed. "Mr. Chu, how do you know the exact time of the accident?"

"I deduced it from the corpses," Li Cheng said. "Under room temperature, after death, human muscles undergo rigor mortis due to ischemia and oxygen deprivation. Rigor mortis first appears in the eyelids and throat, then spreads gradually across the body, peaking between twelve and sixteen hours."

The earliest corpses exhibited this condition, with slightly cloudy corneas, consistent with a twelve-hour timeframe.

The driver couldn't help asking, "But how did you calculate the seconds and minutes?"

"Oh, this?" Li Cheng shrugged. "I compared the time on the broken wall clock that had stopped with the wristwatches still ticking on some of the corpses."

So why did you just waste all that time talking nonsense?

The driver's eyebrow twitched, barely suppressing his urge to retort.

"In any case, twelve hours isn't long. There might still be other survivors hiding somewhere. We can find one to interrogate, or locate the bunker's map and head to the main control room mentioned in the mission."

Li Cheng suddenly paused, bent down, and pressed his ear to the floor, listening intently. "There's a human male ahead—running in panic."

Without another word, he sprang up and dashed down the corridor.

Su Jie hurried after him; the driver grabbed Walking Grass and sprinted after them, whispering low, "How do you know it's a human? From footsteps?"

"Yes," Li Cheng said rapidly. "By analyzing the frequency, weight, and intervals of footsteps, you can deduce the type of shoes worn, the person's weight, height, whether they're walking or running, and if they're injured."

The only thing to watch out for is distinguishing between a sexy office lady in high heels and a seventy-year-old wealthy woman using a cane—both make the same 'tap-tap-tap' sound."

??? What exactly have you been through?

Amid the exasperated expressions of the driver and Su Jie, Li Cheng kicked open a heavy door and saw a man frantically fleeing toward them.

He was in his forties, Caucasian, with a full beard, wearing a yellow technician's vest, his face twisted in terror.

Behind him chased a creature of bizarre design.

It stood nearly two meters tall, roughly humanoid, with large patches of rotting skin, a swollen abdomen, both arms transformed into cleavers, its lower jaw gone, and vascular organs dangling from its mouth.

It was a variant of the Necromorph from the video game Dead Space, called Pregnant—formed when a pregnant woman became infected.

"Help!"

The man, seeing other humans, cried out for aid.

Li Cheng tilted his chin, signaling the man to move aside, then stopped, flipped his palm, and pulled from his backpack a semi-automatic shotgun fitted with a long suppressor.

The gun was manufactured by European Heavy Industries, featuring a rotary drum magazine design, its overall shape resembling the South African Striker series.

Boom! Boom!

Li Cheng fired two rounds, striking both sides of the Necromorph's shoulders—immediately, flames erupted violently.

Was that… Dragon's Breath ammo?

The thought flashed through Su Jie's mind, then he dismissed it. Dragon's Breath ammo, in reality, replaces pellets with magnesium flakes and granules.

When fired, the magnesium ignites intensely, creating a dazzling spectacle like a dragon breathing fire—hence the name.

In some marketing posts and video games, Dragon's Breath ammo is portrayed as apocalyptic. But in truth, magnesium flakes are too light to deliver sufficient kinetic impact, and the granules burn too quickly to transfer sustained heat—best case, they ignite outer clothing; in real combat, the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits—it's just for show.

As for the gun in Li Cheng's hands, it was likely modified—using standard deer-hunting incendiary rounds, allowing prolonged burning upon impact.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Necromorph, vulnerable to fire, shattered under Li Cheng's relentless barrage—limbs broken, body torn apart, skull blown to fragments.

'Of course, this monster's neck also contained a synthetic chip.'

Li Cheng thought idly, then fired another round into the Necromorph's abdomen—according to game logic, its belly might also contain a Necromorph transformed from a fetus.

Once the monster fell completely still, Li Cheng turned to the driver. "Your Walking Grass should have learned the Dissolution Liquid skill, right? Help dissolve this Necromorph."

"Got it." The driver nodded, signaling Walking Grass to activate its ability—releasing a transparent liquid that covered the Necromorph's body, melting it away. This creature wasn't a single living organism but a mass of animated mutated cells; even if chopped into mince, it would remain "alive." Only complete incineration or acid dissolution could fully destroy it.

After disposing of the Necromorph, Li Cheng turned to the terrified man and studied him before asking, "What happened here?"

The man had clearly endured extreme trauma; through his disjointed account, the three players learned the full story.

This place was called "Dark Universe Theme Park," secretly built underground by a super-rich investor to recreate horror monsters from films and video games to attract visitors. It was currently in internal testing before official opening.

The man identified himself as Felix Taylor, an engineer responsible for maintaining the park's power systems; his wife also worked here, handling marketing.

About thirteen hours ago, a severe earthquake struck the park, causing all monsters to go berserk and massacre the staff.

Taylor hid himself and narrowly escaped death. Just as he despaired, believing his wife and daughter were dead, he received a call from his daughter—she and her mother were hiding on the other side of the park and still alive.

To find his family, Felix left his hiding spot, and during this time, he was spotted and pursued by the Necromorph.

"Wait—I still don't get it. How did you create these monsters?"

The driver frowned. "Cloning? Genetic engineering? That doesn't make sense—how much revenue could ticket sales generate? Would you ever recoup the costs?"

"These monsters weren't created by us,"

Taylor forced his gaze away from the two human hands hanging from Li Cheng's front and answered honestly. "A year ago, an expedition team discovered something in the Arctic. That thing could read human thoughts and summon bizarre monsters out of thin air."

The driver exclaimed, "You turned that thing into a theme park? Didn't anyone think it was dangerous? Didn't any government or organization step in and treat it as a strategic weapon?"

"Uh—we had synthetic chips that perfectly controlled the monsters' thoughts and behavior, so we weren't afraid of losing control. As for other things, I don't know. I'm just a low-level employee."

The three players exchanged glances. This Taylor and the bunker beneath them clearly originated from another world—when shown a star map including the Big Dipper, he recognized none of them.

Such cases have occurred before. The Killing Ground occasionally pulls in beings, structures, even cultivators from beyond Earth through rifts.

But it's unclear whether the park was pulled into the Killing Ground first, triggering the monsters' escape, or whether the earthquake happened first, then the entire park was dragged in.

(End of Chapter)