Chapter 267: Adorable Little Thing

So it's this mortuary that horror movies have ruined, huh?

Cheng Shuili tugged at the corner of her mouth, stood up, glanced at Su Rui, and said, "Let's go?"

"Where to?" Lang Yu asked from behind.

Su Rui replied irritably, "To the mortuary, where else could we go?"

Xiong Ji stood up silently, still somewhat puzzled by the situation, but there was one thing he had to clarify: "You guys took the golden medicine bottle, right? You won't be bringing it back!!"

Cheng Shuili immediately stopped, turned her head, and earnestly answered Xiong Ji: "We might return this thing, so I suggest you fix the safe while you have the chance."

But if the modification succeeds...

Cheng Shuili didn't say much, and Xiong Ji had no idea what use this thing would have after the modification.

Therefore, to him, as long as this trouble is dealt with, it's a good thing.

Lang Yu led the two of them all the way down, passing the rabbit nurse's triage desk along the way.

Cheng Shuili deliberately glanced over; that guy was still slacking off.

Really excessive!

She silently withdrew her gaze, increasingly hoping that today's trip would succeed.

Once the hospital's business picks up, that guy won't be able to slack off anymore...

Of course, that's secondary.

Mainly because this thing is a divine artifact; with it, no matter who gets injured in the future, it won't matter.

Cheng Shuili shook her head and strode behind Lang Yu.

Pushing open the metal door of the mortuary, a pungent smell mixing disinfectant and rotting flesh hit her face.

Cheng Shuili wrinkled her nose, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the pattern on the golden medicine bottle.

Since entering the underground, the bottle's temperature has been rising, and now it's almost too hot to hold.

"The mortuary should be cold, right..." Su Rui held her breath, her voice somewhat muffled: "But it's hot as a steamer—how is this hospital even functioning? The families of the corpses would surely complain."

Her question was quite reasonable.

But Lang Yu was about to die of fright—how could he have the brains to answer that question?

His ears were erect in alertness, the fur on his tail all puffed up: "Last time it wasn't like this... When I came to take a sample last Wednesday, there were still ice shards here—how did it become like this? No wonder the person who brought the corpse last time said the corpses were rotting especially fast."

Cheng Shuili's gaze swept over the neatly arranged metal corpse cabinets; some cabinet doors were vibrating ever so slightly, emitting faint clicking sounds.

It could be said to be a very horrifying environment.

But...

This is the Road Survival Game—there are no ghosts at all; if something strange happens, there must be something messing with things.

Cheng Shuili shook her head and calmly asked, "How is this place cooled?"

Lang Yu looked completely bewildered; as a doctor, he naturally didn't know these things.

Cheng Shuili looked at Lang Yu's bewildered expression, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. She took a deep breath, held back her speechlessness, and tapped a rhythmic pattern on the golden medicine bottle with her fingers.

"First step in troubleshooting the cooling system," her voice calm as if debugging code, "check the power and the compressor."

"How does Boss even know this?"

Su Rui blurted out the question instinctively, then immediately realized, gripping her spear: "Boss means, this abnormal temperature is man-made?"

If it's not caused by beasts, then there must be a monster.

But Cheng Shuili didn't correct her.

She walked to the nearest corpse cabinet, her palm hovering three centimeters above the metal surface; the cabinet was hot enough to fry an egg, and the heat could be felt here.

She noticed that all the vibrating cabinet doors followed the same frequency pattern, and moreover, her fingers could feel a cold draft, which meant...

"Something is vibrating, but humans can't feel it; this thing is just above the ground, so it's vibrating along with it."

Moreover... the cooling isn't broken, so where is the heat coming from?

Cheng Shuili crouched down, her fingertips tracing the seam of the floor tiles, and indeed felt the heat.

"The heat source comes from underground."

Cheng Shuili stated this conclusion calmly.

Hearing this, Lang Yu's tail puffed up even more: "Ground, underground? But down there is..."

"The foundation?"

Su Rui frowned, "Before building a house, don't you always lay a foundation? What else could be down there?"

But that's human thinking, not beast thinking.

These beastfolk obviously don't understand anything.

"It's the crematorium!" Lang Yu's voice suddenly rose: "The old crematorium of the funeral home used to be right beneath the mortuary! But that thing was decommissioned twenty years ago!"

That means...

Is this crematorium operating and releasing this heat?

What a joke!

Both of them hearing this couldn't help but shiver.

But more importantly: "You built the mortuary on top of the crematorium?"

No, the hospital is already creepy enough.

These beastfolk built the hospital on top of the funeral home as it is, and yet they deliberately placed the mortuary on the crematorium?

Too yin! It's yin to an absurd degree.

Cheng Shuili even suddenly understood why the hospital was cursed.

If not cursing you, who would they curse?

But Cheng Shuili doesn't believe those things. That stuff has been buried underground for over twenty years; the metal might not have corroded, but everything else surely has. Besides, there's no air down there—how could it possibly burn?

Believe in science, don't scare yourself!

There's definitely something down there...

Cheng Shuili shook her head, crouched, and wandered her fingertips across the tile seams, finally stopping on a tile that was slightly lifted.

She exchanged a glance with Su Rui, who immediately understood, and the spear's tip precisely slipped into the gap.

"Three, two, one!"

The two exerted force together, and the tile was pried up entirely.

A wave of hot, scorching air blew forward, revealing the pitch-black passage below, with traces of something crawling on the ground.

Cheng Shuili breathed a sigh of relief, and together with Su Rui she knocked open a few more tiles, exposing more of the passage; the traces of crawling were clearly visible.

So far, they hadn't seen any monster.

The two exchanged a look, about to continue expanding their search, when suddenly a rustling sound came from deep within the passage.

Cheng Shuili immediately made a hushing gesture, and both held their breath, focusing.

Lang Yu tightly covered his own mouth, afraid that an accidental scream would drag the two humans down.

"Squeak—"

A sharp cry pierced the silence, and immediately a fiery red figure darted out of the passage.

It was a lizard covered in slime, its whole body fire-red, with a flame blazing on its tail, like a walking torch.

Upon seeing the light, it visibly froze for a moment, then "puff" spat out a small cluster of flames and turned to flee.

"Stop!"

Cheng Shuili, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed the tip of its tail.

Extremely hot to the touch!!

But Cheng Shuili was extremely fast, yanking it out in one motion; Su Rui immediately followed, spearing its escape route.

Cheng Shuili shifted her grip, seizing the base of its tail, and finally caught the creature.

It emitted a "squeak-squeak" protest, its four tiny legs flailing in the air, it lifted its head, eyes locked on Cheng Shuili as if trying to spit fire, but whether from nerves or something else, it only blew out a puff of smoke.

It's still pretty cute.

It seems to have no offensive power.

Cheng Shuili thought it over and still used Insight on it.

【Insight Successful】

【Gregarious Fire Lizard】

【Description: A small reptilian creature capable of generating its own high-temperature environment, its surface covered with heat-resistant dark red scales, able to secrete flammable mucus, its tail ignites upon contact with oxygen to form a brief flame, typically used to intimidate predators or compete for mates. It lives in colonies near special devices; if you find these, take note—there must be some special device nearby.】

【Weakness: A very cute little creature; not recommended to kill.】

Huh?

And when does the Abyssal Ring find it cute?

"So it's definitely not a haunt..." Cheng Shuili poked the fire lizard's swollen belly with her finger, "You lot dug a nest underground and tried to turn this place into a high-temperature environment, then the heat traveled along the floor to the mortuary, wrecking the cooling system?"

The fire lizard "puffed" out a spray of sparks, as if protesting.

"Ah, that's how it is." Lang Yu let out a breath.

Su Rui suddenly struck the ground hard with her spear shaft; amid the metallic clamor, countless rustling sounds surged from deep within the passage.

She sneered, "Boss, we've kicked a hornet's nest."

In the darkness, countless red dots lit up; myriad fire lizards surged up the passage. Their scales scraped against the overheated tiles, producing a grating sound that set teeth on edge.

Countless pairs of eyes fixed on Cheng Shuili, more precisely, on the fire lizard she held in her hand.

Now the shaking can also be explained.

With so many little things moving together, the noise they make is still not small.

Cheng Shuili turned to Lang Yu and asked, "What are they saying?"

Lang Yu: "......"

He's just an ordinary beastman; of course he can't understand.

Su Rui guessed, "They're probably telling us to release their companion?"

Cheng Shuili thought that was likely the meaning, but she didn't simply release the fire lizard; instead, she stared at the fire lizards equally staring at her and said, "I can let it go, but you have to help me find the special device underground."

The fire lizard group suddenly froze collectively.

The few at the front tilted their heads, their flame-tipped tails wobbling confusedly, sparks crackling as they fell to the ground.

The one Cheng Shuili was holding went utterly stiff, forgetting to struggle, its tiny paws suspended in midair, mouth slightly open, then it "burped" out a wisp of green smoke.

The entire mortuary fell into an eerie silence.

Five seconds later, the lizard group suddenly exploded.

"Squeak-squeak-squeak!"

"Poo-poo!!"

"Hiss! Hiss!"

They began madly trampling each other—some lashed companions' heads with their tails, some spun in place spewing fire, and even two collided and immediately started grappling, their scales scraping and spraying sparks.

"Boss..." Su Rui's spear tip trembled slightly, "Are they... arguing?"