What Ba Di Said Must Be True; He Would Not Die

Dean Bo Li closed the office door and slowly exhaled a deeply suppressed, fearful breath from his throat.

He was afraid of dying.

People were fragile. Once dead, they had nothing.

Now that he was alive, he had everything—fame, money. Whenever others mentioned him, they showed looks of admiration and spoke of the Nobel Biology Prize he had won, his various contributions to biology. Those admiring, worshipful expressions left one giddy with intoxication.

Though most of it had been Jenny's research, he was the one enjoying the honor! That was enough.

With the office door shut, it was as though an entire world had been sealed away, cutting him off from death.

Of course, that was an illusion.

Dean Bo Li's thin old face was taut, his teeth clenched tightly. His pupils unfocused, then refocused, as he sank into a struggle of thought.

Not until he started walking did the thick stench of blood enter his nostrils. Ahead, he saw Wen Di, the middle-aged woman whose forehead had been pierced by a bullet, lying on the floor with terror in her eyes.

She had died closest to the office.

Although Dean Bo Li had hidden beneath his desk with his head covered at the time, he had still clearly heard Wen Di's despairing shrieks outside.

"No... You can't kill me. Jenny and I are friends. Jenny even invited me to her wedding... No..."

"The expression you had when you first saw me speak doomed you to death."

Dean Bo Li had heard Ba Di say those words clearly from beneath the desk.

When Ba Di had spoken for the first time, he had been talking to Jenny. The expression and mental state Wen Di had displayed showed that she had not regarded Ba Di as an intelligent life-form at all, merely as a biological specimen, something like a frog to be studied.

Ba Di had taken in everyone's expressions around him and etched them deeply into his mind. How could he possibly let any of them go?

(In Chapter Seven, there had been very few descriptive words.) Every pore on Dean Bo Li's body tingled. Seeing Wen Di, he could not help recalling Ba Di's indifferent face as he casually fired at her.

His leather shoes stepped through the blood flowing across the floor. The farther he walked, the stronger the bloody stench became, and the more colleagues he saw lying dead along the way. Blood had stained the ground red. The cruel sight terrified Dean Bo Li out of his wits.

He had dissected human bodies before and had never reacted to corpses in the past.

But now, seeing familiar people sprawled on the floor one after another, the red-and-white fluid spilling from the bullet holes in their foreheads and the terror in their eyes—it all seemed to show him his own fate, making his heart pound until he could barely breathe.

Outside the office, corpses lined the way. This white, cold steel Underground Research Institute seemed as though it had been left with only old Dean Bo Li inside.

Vast and empty, cold, and as chilling as a morgue.

The tap of his shoes echoed through the silent institute, creating an inexplicably eerie, icy atmosphere that made his heart tremble.

It was like a deserted corridor in a horror movie.

As he walked through the passageway, the strange atmosphere made Dean Bo Li unconsciously quicken his pace. His face was tense, sweat beading on it as terror gripped him.

After passing two intersections, he arrived at the White Room.

He did not enter. Instead, at another corner, behind an arm-thick metal pipe, he shoved his fingers inside. He rubbed them raw, tearing off skin without feeling it, and desperately pushed out the key.

The key was not hidden particularly securely, but if one did not know about it, one would never think a key was concealed behind a fixed pipe along the corridor.

Dean Bo Li tightly gripped the key in his reddened fingers.

Suddenly, more sweat appeared on his face, and his gaze drifted uncertainly.

Dean Bo Li was not sure whether handing over the key would let him live, or whether Ba Di was worth trusting.

His lips trembled with nerves, his eyes wandering as he still could not make up his mind. Subconsciously, he started walking back.

When he reached an intersection, Dean Bo Li's eyes drifted even more.

The fear of death Ba Di had instilled in him made him instinctively want to escape. Going back meant death, but what if he took the other path, ran up the stairs, and found salvation?

He did not know.

But he was so afraid. He wanted to get away from Ba Di.

Following his body's instincts, he did not choose the passage back to the office, but the other route leading to the stairs.

Inside the office.

Ba Di, who had been sitting with his eyes closed in concentration, suddenly opened them. Through Super Hearing, he had heard Dean Bo Li go to the White Room, then turn back and choose the passage toward the stairs.

Ba Di stood, picked up the handgun from the desk, and racked it.

He turned and was about to pull open the office door.

Hm? Ba Di suddenly stopped, set the handgun back on the desk, and sat down again.

Driven by instinctive fear, Dean Bo Li wanted to escape Ba Di. Even getting just a little farther away was enough to make him feel at ease.

Fear had consumed his mind. All he wanted now was to flee in panic; he had lost the ability to think rationally.

Not until he saw Slade's corpse lying against the wall did he stop.

Dean Bo Li's body shook uncontrollably with fear. Only then did he come to his senses and realize he had not gotten very far from the office at all.

The Underground Research Institute was neither especially large nor especially small. The route to escape was actually quite short—just follow the stairs up several levels, and he would reach the Negative First Floor. It was close.

But seeing Slade's state in death shocked him awake. Cold sweat streamed down his body as he slapped himself twice.

Slap, slap...

"Am I looking to get myself killed?"

Dean Bo Li slapped himself hard, furious at his own stupidity.

Even if he could run, could an old man outrun Ba Di?

If Ba Di was in the office and did not see him return, then came after him, that would be a true dead end. No one could save him.

After slapping himself twice, Dean Bo Li's mind began working more clearly. He realized he could only beg Ba Di to spare his life, beg that Ba Di truly had feelings for Jenny and had entrusted Jenny to him.

Besides, had Jenny not survived? And he himself had never particularly mistreated Ba Di before. With Jenny's survival as an example, perhaps he would not die either.

Had Ba Di not said so himself? He would not kill him.

Once Dean Bo Li thought it through, he realized there was indeed a very high chance that he would not die.

If he ran away with Ba Di's key, that might truly be courting death.

At worst, he could also tell Ba Di where that Gene Serum was and increase his chances of survival.

After thinking it over, Dean Bo Li glanced at Slade's "corpse" and headed back toward the office.

This time, he was full of confidence. He would not end up like Slade.

He had not mistreated Ba Di. He had not stopped Ba Di from sunbathing, and he had even brought Ba Di and Jenny together.

Ba Di had deliberately spared Jenny's life. As someone like a father to Jenny, someone Ba Di had personally entrusted with her care, how could he possibly die?

After considering it from every angle, Dean Bo Li realized that he seemed to be Ba Di's "benefactor." Whether it was sunbathing or bringing the two together, he had helped Ba Di in both matters.

What Ba Di said had to be true. He would not die.

Bang...