Chapter 495: Break In

Clang.

The third metallic thud on the floor came from the far end of the Corridor.

Ji Bai lifted his head.

The white light strip pressed his Shadow short, blood trickling down his pant leg, landing on the ground's Purification pattern and scorching into fine white smoke.

Su Xiaoya was still kneeling on the ground.

She lifted her face, her eye sockets red enough to frighten.

"Ji Bai, don't go over."

Meng Wan also stepped forward to block, Black Water clinging to the side of her foot as she pulled back her skirt.

"This place feels off. That door just opened too conveniently, as if someone deliberately let us out."

Ji Bai gave no answer.

The Old Black Umbrella spun half a circle in his palm, its torn canopy dripping rainwater and blood.

He walked outward.

Meng Wan gritted her teeth and scolded, "Are you the type whose brain only has a charge left? In your current state, even a stray dog on the roadside could go into overtime with you."

Ji Bai paused for half a second.

"A dog wouldn't turn Hong Jie into dog food."

Having said that, he stepped out of the high‑risk cabin.

Su Xiaoya clutched the gray pack tightly and followed.

Two lights at the far end of the Corridor went out.

It wasn't a power outage.

It seemed more like someone had cut out a chunk of that area from the system backend.

Ji Bai stepped across the white floor, the Old Black Umbrella dragging a crooked blood trail.

Clang.

Again.

This time closer.

At the corner ahead, a figure in a gray work uniform tumbled out.

The person clutched an encrypted tablet, a chest badge flipped under the collar, face drenched in sweat, glasses askew at the bridge of the nose.

He saw Ji Bai, first stunned, then bolted.

But the ground was too slick.

Snap.

He fell in a mess.

The tablet flew half a meter away, scraping a screeching sound on the floor.

Meng Wan, sharp‑eyed, whispered, "Federation internal staff. Data entry clerk."

The person trembled as they scrambled up, hand still reaching for the tablet.

Ji Bai didn't ask the second question.

The Old Black Umbrella swung.

A broken rib of the umbrella snapped from the rim, streaking through the Corridor's white light, piercing the man's right leg and pinning him hard to the floor.

"Ah!"

The scream echoed back and forth in the enclosed Corridor.

The data entry clerk clutched his leg, pain mixing his snot and tears together.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I'm only the data recorder, I'm not a researcher, I'm really not!"

Ji Bai walked over.

His shoe soles stepped over the blood on the ground.

He bent down, picked up the tablet, and glanced at the screen.

The screen was still unlocked.

It displayed a transfer record.

The name field was encrypted.

But the ID number was exposed.

S17.

Ji Bai's finger lingered on those two characters.

The scent of disinfectant in the air grew stronger.

So strong it made one want to vomit.

He flipped the tablet over, looking at the person on the ground.

"Where is that red‑clothed female ghost?"

The data entry clerk shook his head desperately.

"I can't say, I don't have enough clearance, I really can't say!"

Ji Bai lifted his foot, pressing it onto his chest.

Force pushing down.

The man forced broken gasps from his throat, both hands gripping Ji Bai's pant leg, nails scraping white marks on the fabric.

Ji Bai leaned forward.

His face smeared with blood, his eyes showing no extra emotion.

"I'll ask again."

"Lin Zhi, where are you?"

"I— I......"

The data entry clerk's jaw trembled, his gaze passing Ji Bai, looking toward the Corridor corner's monitor.

In that look there was fear, and also a kind of trained obedience.

He bit his lip and, astonishingly, fell silent.

Meng Wan sneered.

"Yo, the worker's Awakening is pretty high. You get performance bonuses in nether coins, right?"

Su Xiaoya, holding a gray bag, whispered softly: "You saw these cabins."

The data entry clerk dared not look at her.

Su Xiaoya stepped two paces closer, her pallid palm pressed to her chest.

"What's locked here isn't a monster."

"They can cry, feel fear, remember the food their mother made, and leave candy for others."

"You record their numbers every day, write 'awaiting feeding', and your hand doesn't shake?"

The data entry clerk's lips turned white.

"I'm just following the procedure..."

Ji Bai pressed his foot down harder.

Click.

A faint sound of a rib cracking rang out.

"Procedure?"

Ji Bai lowered his head to look at him.

"Then you also enter the procedure."

The data entry clerk, terrified, collapsed, his pant leg soaked.

"Stop! Stop!"

A Jie came walking from behind.

Her resentful spirit had faded a lot; a large chunk was missing from the edge of her shoulder, as if gnawed by fire.

But her Nail was still long.

Black‑red, the tip curved.

She looked at the person on the ground, her tone light enough to be chilling.

"Then we don't need him to speak."

Ji Bai frowned.

"A Jie."

A Jie didn't look at him; she simply raised her hand and pressed the data entry clerk's forehead.

"Conserve some strength. There's still a tough battle behind the door."

The data entry clerk's pupils contracted as they struggled desperately.

"No! You can't do this!"

Meng Wan almost laughed out loud.

"Buddy, you're negotiating with a ghost at the slaughterhouse? How about you apply for a mental damage compensation?"

A Jie curled her five fingers together.

The Nail pierced the skin, and the resentful energy seeped through the wound into the brain.

The data entry clerk arched their whole body, a broken, intermittent strange sound emanating from their throat.

The Corridor light strip began to flicker wildly.

The wall displayed patchy, blurry images.

It wasn't a projection device.

It was memory being forcibly pulled out, spread into the air.

The images swayed violently.

Half an hour earlier.

Deeper underground.

In a wide metallic tunnel, six white‑clad researchers pushed a massive restraint frame.

On the restraint frame, a red‑clothed woman was bound by multiple iron chains.

The iron chains passed through her scapulae, locked her wrists, and silver loops encircled her ankles; with each step, the loops released Purification patterns, pushing the red resentful energy on her back into her body.

She lowered her head.

Her long hair covered half her face.

The red garment was torn, yet still dazzlingly bright.

Ji Bai's breath halted for half a beat.

"Hong Jie......"

In the footage, a researcher held a record board, reciting as they walked.

"S17, Lin Zhi, self‑cognition highly complete, grievance purity excellent, gluttony compatibility rate ninety‑two point seven."

"Transfer to the laboratory."

Another researcher asked, "What if she resists?"

The person holding the record board smiled briefly.

"Resistance is best. The higher the resentment activation, the more spectacular the devouring gain."

The red‑clothed woman on the restraint frame lifted her face.

That face was very pale, yet it did not beg for mercy.

She only looked at the monitor in the corridor corner, her lips moving.

Ji Bai recognized it.

She was speaking.

Xiao Bai, don't come.

The scene shattered here.

The data entry clerk rolled his white eyes, fell to the ground, and blood foam seeped from the corner of his mouth.

A Jie's hand dropped, and the resentful entity thinned a few more layers.

She whispered.

"The top‑secret laboratory. The entrance is beneath the elevator shaft, three alloy gates, six Rules locks. It was transferred half an hour ago."

Ji Bai stood in place.

Those few words rolled once on his tongue.

Active slicing.

Gluttonous compatibility rate.

Transfer to the top‑secret laboratory.

He suddenly became very quiet.

So quiet that Su Xiaoya was frightened.

Ji Bai crouched and picked up the tablet.

On the screen, that transfer record was still lit.

A line of small text at the end.

Estimated feeding window: 4:27 a. m.

Now, 4:23.

Four minutes left.

Four minutes.

Ji Bai pressed his five fingers together.

The encrypted tablet twisted into scrap metal in his palm, screen shards embedded in his flesh, blood oozing from between his fingers.

He did not look down.

"Go."

Meng Wan was stunned for a moment.

"Can you still hold on?"

Ji Bai lifted the Old Black Umbrella.

At his chest, the red‑clothed totem lit up completely.

No longer concealed, no longer suppressed.

The resentment belonging to Hong Jie surged out of his body, spreading from his shoulders and neck to his arms, like red vines, forcibly binding the shattered bones and wounds.

The cost was obvious.

His skin began to crack.

Blood seeped outward.

But his back straightened.

A Jie also smiled.

She raised her hand to wipe the blood from her lips, and the fragmented resentful entity ignited a dark red flame.

"It should have been like this all along."

Meng Wan tore open her skirt, Black Water spread out from behind her, and the scorching patterns were forcibly pressed down by her.

"Fine, if it's madness then it's madness."

Su Xiaoya tucked the ash pack close to her body; the resentment at the severed arm churned and re‑condensed into half a palm.

She looked at Ji Bai.

"I run slowly."

Ji Bai turned his head.

"I'll take you."

"No." Su Xiaoya shook her head, her eyes dry yet frighteningly bright, "I mean, don't leave me behind. I also want to hit people."

Ji Bai gave her a glance.

"Stay close."

The words fell.

One person and a horde of ghosts rushed out of the containment zone.

In the white Corridor, the alarm light finally turned red.

The shrill alarm blared throughout the entire floor.

Automatic machine guns popped out from both sides of the wall, barrels rotating, aiming at Ji Bai.

Ji Bai did not dodge.

Old Black Umbrella opens.

The canopy is tattered, the ribs are missing half a side, yet it stubbornly blocks the first volley of bullets.

Sparks jump erratically from the edge of the canopy.

Meng Wan slides along the ground, Black Water seeps into the wall cracks, crawling along the circuitry to bite back at the control panel.

Machine guns go silent one after another.

A Jie floats into mid‑air, residual resentment turns into a tangle of red threads, binding the armed guards that charge out from the side passage.

"Get out of the way."

The red threads tighten.

The guards are flung, slam into the wall, and fall unconscious.

Su Xiaoya, clutching a gray pack, moves through the crowd and pauses when she passes a fallen guard.

The guard reaches for the remote on his waist.

Su Xiaoya lifts her foot and steps on his wrist.

Crack!

The bone snaps.

The guard winces in pain, eyes rolling white.

Ji Bai has already reached the elevator shaft.

The elevator is out of service.

The doorway is sealed, rows of red authorization lights glow.

Ji Bai doesn't look for a button.

He folds the Old Black Umbrella, thrusts its tip into the door crack.

He exerts force.

The metal door bends to both sides, emitting a sour‑tooth groan.

Meng Wan rushes over to help, Black Water corrodes the door hinge.

A Jie presses all the remaining resentment onto it.

Grind.

The elevator doors are forced open.

Below is a bottomless shaft.

Cold wind rushes up from below, carrying the scent of chemicals, blood, and a charred odor of something being heated.

Ji Bai glances down.

Meng Wan curses, "At this height, if you jump, your human form will turn into a pancake."

Ji Bai bites the umbrella handle between his teeth, grabs the elevator cable with one hand.

"Then don't fall."

He finishes speaking, flips his body and plunges into the shaft.

Su Xiaoya doesn't hesitate and jumps after him.

Meng Wan's Black Water coils around her waist, pulling her toward the wall.

A Jie casts one last glance at the white containment area behind her.

There are still far too many transparent pods there.

And far too many people who couldn't be saved.

She grits her teeth and pursues downward.

Inside the shaft, the wind cuts the face painfully.

Ji Bai hooks the cable with one hand, his palm skin worn open, blood streaming down.

He says nothing.

The red indicator lights below approach rapidly.

Four levels.

Three and a half levels.

Three levels.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Ji Bai releases his grip, his body slams into the shaft wall, using the impact to flip, the Old Black Umbrella opens to absorb the force.

The umbrella ribs emit a near‑breaking screech.

He lands.

His knees kneel heavily on the top of the elevator car.

The metal ceiling dents.

He swallows the metallic taste in his throat, lifts his hand and lifts the maintenance cover.

Below is the outer corridor.

A massive alloy gate blocks the end.

Above the gate, red characters flicker.

Top Secret Laboratory.

Unauthorized personnel approaching will be executed.

Ji Bai jumps out of the car.

When his feet hit the ground, the wound reopened, and blood splattered on the floor.

Not far away, a low-frequency tremor from a mechanical arm operating came from behind the gate.

A researcher also spoke over the broadcast.

"The Taotie feeding window countdown begins."

"Thirty seconds."

Ji Bai looked up.

At that moment, he seemed to hear Hong Jie's whisper.

It did not come from behind the door.

It came from the red‑clothed totem on his chest.

It was light, very old.

"Xiao Bai, don't be cowardly."

Ji Bai smiled faintly.

It was brief.

"Hmm."

He tossed the Old Black Umbrella to Su Xiaoya.

Su Xiaoya caught it, her eyes reddening.

"Ji Bai!"

"Take it carefully."

Ji Bai moved his left shoulder; the dislocated bone cracked crisply.

The red‑clothed resentful energy rose along his spine, and A Jie, Meng Wan, Su Xiaoya, and the crippled Fierce Ghosts that kept arriving from behind all pressed the remaining grievances onto him.

Red and black intertwined, enveloping the slender boy.

The broadcast continued.

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

Ji Bai stepped forward.

The ground sank.

"Seven."

He began to run.

"Six."

Speed pushed to the limit.

"Five."

The patterned rules on the alloy gate lit up, six sets of chains materialized, crossing into a net.

"Four."

Ji Bai did not slow down.

"Three."

He lowered his head, aligning his shoulder with the gate's center.

"Two."

Behind the gate, the mechanical arm descended.

"One."

Ji Bai gathered his whole‑body strength into his shoulder, and the red‑clothed resentful energy behind him turned into a woman's vague Shadow.

She raised her hand and pressed it against his back.

Ji Bai slammed into the gate.