Chapter 190: Mutation - A Truly Dead Face

, The Genie Starting from Marvel

In the downtown area of K City, Johnson and Frank were sweeping the streets. They had been here for some time and could clearly feel that luck was drifting away from them.

It was unclear if it was because luck was drifting away, but up until now, they still hadn't found the Hell Apartment. The address given by Shi Ming was rather vague because that Hell Apartment was, to a certain extent, alive and constantly moving.

If things continued like this, besides Johnson, Frank and Audasxin would either have to return to the Marvel Universe for a few days or go back to the Anxi Academy for a few days; otherwise, once their luck value dropped to a certain point, they would be plagued by misfortune and something would go wrong.

Suddenly, Johnson stopped in his tracks, closing his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Frank noticed Johnson's abnormality and asked softly.

"Someone triggered the Strange Tale connected to me, but they immediately cut off the connection," Johnson said in a low voice.

"In this world, besides the three of us, only Shi Ming and Anxi know about this Strange Tale, right?" Frank stopped beside Johnson, observing the surroundings. "If it were those two, they shouldn't be using this method to contact us casually."

Johnson nodded. "Indeed, it shouldn't be a problem on Anxi's side. The Strange Tale has definitely spread; it's just unclear how it spread."

"Then do you want to go back and rest for a while?" Frank asked with concern.

Johnson weighed the pressure he was under; there was still some distance to his breaking point. "Not for now, but remember to remind me that I must go back once tomorrow."

"What's wrong? If there's really a problem, let's retreat first."

"No, this Strange Tale is helpful for my digestion of the potion. There's still a little bit of the Magician potion left undigested, and after connecting to the Strange Tale, I can clearly feel the digestion speed increasing," Johnson explained.

"Moreover, the potion materials for the Faceless have all been prepared. My current promotion speed is a bit too slow; I should be able to digest it completely by tomorrow."

"Alright." Frank agreed, though his heart felt a bit heavy. It wasn't that he was unhappy about Johnson's promotion, but rather that Johnson had a stable path for advancement, while he himself did not, and his strength had been stagnant at this level for quite some time.

"By the way, if I say tomorrow that I want to delay going back, don't pay attention to it," Johnson cautioned.

"What do you mean?"

"This Strange Tale has been distorting my thinking, trying to pull me to be the same as the Strange Tale itself. I'm afraid I'll be influenced by it and make decisions that go against my true thoughts," Johnson said with a grave expression. Accelerating potion digestion was not without a price.

"Then why not go back now, rest, and then come over?" Frank took a step forward as he spoke, avoiding the sewage splashed by the traffic; this sewage was aimed right at him.

"It doesn't matter; the environment here is favorable to me. It's just one day late," Johnson continued.

In the Pigeon Building, led by Yan Shu, the group arrived at the room Lin Jiu rented, 2442.

Connors didn't say a word and kicked the door open directly; the door lock flew to the side with a 'swish'.

The room was empty, without even a trace of life. Clearly, Lin Jiu was not here, and the missing Chen You was not here either.

With the abnormal state of Lin Jiu's room, the credibility of Connors and the others in Yan Shu's eyes rose slightly, but they still had to wait until they found Chen You to gain full trust.

For the sake of efficiency, the group split into pairs and began searching the Pigeon Building.

Lin Fengjiao still remembered Zhang Wei's warning that it was best not to separate during the mission, and Zhang Wei had emphasized that being alone with the mission's natives also counted as separating. But now, the situation was stronger than the people, and there was no other way.

Connors followed Uncle Dong up the floors. Uncle Dong was the person who had argued with Lao Die; he didn't have a good reputation here and had the nickname 'Rotten-Mouthed Dong', referring to his poisonous tongue.

"That guy Chen You, to actually be kidnapped by outsiders, it's simply a disgrace to our faces." Uncle Dong grumbled, his words full of dissatisfaction. "Who knows if it's even a kidnapping at all? Chen You must have teamed up with that guy, diverted us, and then went to steal things. If I lose anything, I'll definitely curse Old Yan to death. Old thing, only knows how to meddle in other people's business."

Connors didn't even bother to respond to Uncle Dong, only observing the surroundings for clues, trying to find traces of Lin Jiu.

The situation of this mission was actually quite clear now: only one side, either Lin Jiu or them, could walk out safely in the end.

"Hey, why aren't you talking? Missing a hand? Or are you a mute?" Uncle Dong found his one-man show a bit boring and started making personal attacks on Connors. "People like you, is it fun to be in a gang? Getting your hand chopped off, you deserve it."

Amidst Uncle Dong's nasty words, Connors suddenly discovered a fresh impact mark on the ground at the stair corner; a small piece of the wall plaster had been knocked off, revealing the snow-white powder underneath.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you squatting there? Taking a dump?" Uncle Dong leaned on the stair railing, pointing at Connors and asking.

Suddenly, a small hand reached out from the ground, grabbed Uncle Dong's ankle, and pulled hard toward the front.

Caught off guard, Uncle Dong lost his balance directly, his body falling backward.

Connors turned around abruptly, only to see Uncle Dong falling rapidly down the stairs; the hand that tried to grab Uncle Dong also grabbed at empty air.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Uncle Dong smashed against the stairs several times and fell directly at the corner of the next flight of stairs.

Connors leaped over, jumped to Uncle Dong's side, squatted down, and placed his hand in front of Uncle Dong's nose; he was no longer breathing!

It's over! How could this be handled? Connors felt his whole body going numb. Uncle Dong dying while with him was completely unexplainable.

No, he still had to hide him first; dragging it out for a moment was better than nothing.

Connors thought this as he leaned down, preparing to move Uncle Dong's corpse, but as soon as he bent over, he froze. Large purple spots had appeared on Uncle Dong's face, and his body was emitting a foul odor.

Corpse spots! Putrid smell! The corpse's development speed was too fast!

Creak, creak, Uncle Dong's bones began to sound.

Connors didn't say a word and retreated a few steps, his right hand reaching into his bosom, and he took out a portable syringe; the syringe was already filled with green liquid.

The changes in the corpse continued. In just a few seconds, the muscles on the corpse suddenly tightened, Uncle Dong's whole body stiffened, presenting a bizarre posture, and there was a tendency for him to stand up.

What the hell!

Connors didn't hesitate and injected the syringe directly into his own artery.

The green liquid flowed through the blood in his arteries throughout Connors's whole body. Connors revealed a painful expression, his skin turning green rapidly.

Gurgle, gurgle, his flesh and blood made strange sounds.

"Ahhh!"

Following Connors's painful cry, a non-human arm grew out from his severed limb, followed by a thick tail that pierced through his pants from the position of his tailbone, 'slapping' onto the ground.

In just a few short seconds, Connors transformed from a human into a giant lizard.

As fast as his change was the dead Uncle Dong, who had stood up completely, his eyes closed tightly, strange patterns appearing on his body, and his skin cracking under the action of rapidly stiffening muscles.

The lizard-formed Connors barely maintained his thinking. Seeing that the situation was getting worse and worse, Connors decided to strike first.

Leaping high, Connors lunged directly at Uncle Dong.

Uncle Dong seemed to sense Connors's movement, his eyes opening abruptly; his pupils had completely dilated, and only black remained in both eyes, with not a single bit of white pupil visible.

Uncle Dong jumped up to meet Connors, his knees showing no bending at all when he jumped; this performance was unmistakably that of a zombie.

Bang!

Connors, despite having the home-field advantage, was still knocked back by Uncle Dong. Fortunately, Connors was relatively more agile; he kicked hard against the wall with both feet, swung his tail in a half-circle in the air, and whipped it against Uncle Dong's body like a whistling long whip, knocking him flying.

Uncle Dong crashed directly into the wall, creating a huge spider-web crack on the wall.

Connors, landing on the stairs, looked down at the blood hole on his left hand; the blood flowing there had turned black.

Arghhh!

Connors, having heard Lin Fengjiao mention zombies, grabbed his left shoulder with his right hand, pulled hard, and tore his own left hand off alive, then threw it hard to the side.

Immediately after, a slightly smaller arm grew out from the severed stump again.

At this moment, Uncle Dong, who had been knocked flying, came hopping over again.

Connors, having suffered once, didn't look back and started running along the stairs. Although his regenerative ability was extremely powerful, he couldn't fight head-on with such a zombie with violent corpse poison. If the fight lasted any longer, he might turn into a lizard zombie himself.

All the way up, Connors didn't dare to stop for a single step. Uncle Dong hadn't been left far behind by him at all; this hopping, in terms of climbing stairs, really wasn't bad, jumping eight or nine meters at a time, not much slower than Connors.

Soon, Connors reached the top floor. The only way left was to rush out of the stairwell, but as soon as he rushed out, there was a high probability of being seen by the residents here, and at that time, everything would be unexplainable.

Just as Connors was prepared to disregard everything, the sound of Uncle Dong's hopping moved away in another direction.

What attracted him?

Connors caught his breath, took out his mobile phone—a Nokia brand—opened it, and pressed a few buttons; it wasn't broken.

"Hey, Lin Fengjiao, I'm Connors, Uncle Dong has turned into a zombie," Connors said into the phone, leaning against the wall.

"Control Guard is Here"

On the 23rd floor, Lin Fengjiao listened to Connors's description on the phone, his yellow talisman already in hand. However, there was a problem: if they were fighting fiercely in the stairwell, why hadn't he heard a single sound?

Besides, if there was a problem on Uncle Dong's side, would Yan Shu on his side also...

"Wait a moment." Lin Fengjiao turned and walked toward Yan Shu, who was checking empty rooms in the back.

Yan Shu in the empty room had his back to Lin Fengjiao, but Lin Fengjiao stopped at the door; he smelled a strong bloody odor.

Yan Shu heard the sound of Lin Fengjiao coming over, slowly straightened his body, and turned around slowly.

Yan Shu's head was sunken in a spot, as if it had been smashed several times by a large hammer; black blood and brain matter flowed all over his face from there, but he seemed not to feel that anything was wrong at all, even sticking out his tongue to lick his own face.

"You looking for me for something?" Yan Shu opened his mouth, and blood dripped directly into his mouth.

"It's getting late, are we still searching?" Lin Fengjiao maintained his composure.

He had encountered this kind of thing before; dead people thought they weren't dead yet. Generally speaking, as long as you didn't expose them, the other party wouldn't explode in a short time.

"Search for what... it's getting late... time to go back..." Yan Shu seemed to have a problem with his brain, and his language system also had problems, speaking intermittently.

"Alright, I'll go back now." Lin Fengjiao turned and left. As he left, he could still hear the sound of Yan Shu's legs dragging on the ground.

"Hey, Connors, are you still listening?! I suspect other residents have also had problems! Come to 2110 to meet up!" Lin Fengjiao said into the phone, then notified the other two.

On the way back, Lin Fengjiao saw many other residents. Sure enough, just as he had thought, these residents all displayed the appearance they had when they died.

Compared to them, Yan Shu's appearance was still considered good.

When Lin Fengjiao returned to 2110, Constantine and Lao Die were already in the room.

Thump, thump, the window area made a sound. Connors poked his head out. "I'm Connors."

"Come in first." Constantine unlocked the window and let Connors crawl in.

"Everyone has had problems!" Lin Fengjiao said, panting. "But they don't seem to realize their problems yet. We must not show any abnormality."

"What about Lin Jiu? Has anyone found Lin Jiu's trail?" Constantine asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Could he not be in this building, hiding in some shop?" Constantine frowned, saying that so many people sweeping the building hadn't found a single thing.

"There is such a possibility, but in all likelihood, he must be in some room now," Connors said, extending his hand, which had traces of corrosion. "Strange dust is floating outside the building, and this dust has extremely strong corrosiveness."

"No matter where he is now, we've been put on the defensive," Lin Fengjiao said, taking out a stack of yellow talismans, a bit of cinnabar, and a brush. "I'll draw some talismans first; everyone should carry some."

This was not the time to hide one's skills.

Connors also opened his box and placed the liquid on the table. "This is a byproduct of my research, which can turn people into lizardmen. The transformation process is very painful; you decide whether to use it. The green one is for transformation, and the blue one is the antidote."

Constantine slapped his gun directly on the table. "I only have this; pull the trigger and it fires. You can't use the others."

Lao Die, who had been silent, extended a hand, opened his palm, and revealed the Dog Talisman. "As long as you have one breath left, come find me, I'll keep you alive; it can eliminate all fatal wounds."

Lin Fengjiao stopped his brush and looked at Lao Die. Sure enough, Lao Die was the one hiding the deepest. ===== CHAPTER 191 =====