The Resurrected One

Monks do not tell lies; since he had said he would cleanse the evil, he would certainly see it through.

Doctor Jack and the hostage led the way, with Tang Luo following behind as the three of them headed toward the hospital's underground laboratory.

Xiao Chu and Zhou Zhenguo had already left earlier.

They had no desire to be heroes or to harbor a heart for eradicating evil.

They only sighed inwardly that the Master was indeed a Master—possessing thunderous methods and a bodhisattva's heart, a truly good man.

Tang Luo had no intention of making them follow, either.

Although encountering danger and saving them—a direct act of rescue—would also bring Tang Luo merit, he was not so desperate as to stoop that low.

Moreover, forcing others into dangerous places just to save them would not accumulate any power of merit.

If that were possible, Tang Luo could just build a "merit-generating release machine" and lie down next to it to accumulate merit.

Merit has its own "temperament."

It is not difficult to accumulate the power of merit, but one cannot cut corners or act deviously.

Opening a hidden door, a spiral staircase leading downward appeared before the three of them, flanked by walls on both sides.

A few kerosene lamps hung on the walls, providing enough light to see.

"How many people are inside?" Tang Luo asked nonchalantly.

"Huh?" Doctor Jack, limping along, was dazed for a moment before saying, "No one."

"Such an important experimental site, and you tell me there's no one?" Tang Luo said.

"There really isn't!" Doctor Jack, terrified that this madman who called himself a detective would subject him to another "death roulette," immediately added, "There are only those test subjects."

Tang Luo looked at the other one.

"I've only been here once, and there were quite a few people then."

"We don't need to perform experiments today, so why would we need people here! Having someone guard this sole entrance is enough! You were only here as an assistant last time! You idiot!" Doctor Jack roared.

Judging by his ferocious expression, if Tang Luo weren't there, he likely would have strangled the bespectacled doctor already.

"Keep moving, don't dawdle." Tang Luo couldn't be bothered to watch them bicker like dogs.

The three continued downward.

After walking for a minute, another door appeared before them, which Jack opened with a key.

Inside was a five-meter-long corridor with another door at the end, from which a faint scent of blood wafted.

"There's a mechanism; you have to lock the door behind us before the door in front can be opened," Jack said, standing before the second door.

Tang Luo locked the door behind them.

A series of "click" sounds echoed.

Presumably, some mechanism had been triggered.

Doctor Jack opened the thick, heavy wooden door in front of him.

A pungent, nauseating stench rushed out, as if they had just opened the door to a slaughterhouse.

"Ugh!" The bespectacled man immediately began to retch.

Under normal circumstances, one would certainly wear a mask, which would at least dampen the smell somewhat.

Besides, the smell hadn't been this strong last time.

Jack, however, remained composed and walked inside to turn on the lights.

This was a fairly spacious underground area.

It was about five meters high and covered an area of over 300 square meters.

There were more than ten stone surgical tables, each just large enough for an adult to lie down on, resembling narrow beds.

They were stained with blood, and several were covered with white sheets soaked in gore.

Beneath the white sheets lay the "experimental materials."

The ground beside the stone platform was lined with dark drainage channels.

A portion of the stench emanated from these very gutters.

Beyond the stone platform, there were all sorts of mechanical medical devices that looked utterly terrifying.

Wires were left exposed, appearing incredibly crude.

It looked more like an interrogation room, a place for meting out torture.

As Tang Luo and the others pushed the door open and entered.

A few shouts rang out.

Then, as if in response, hoarse cries erupted, one after another.

One wall of the room had been hollowed out into narrow, coffin-shaped spaces.

Locked with iron bar doors, they formed cramped cells.

These were used to confine the test subjects.

A few of the cells had likely been dug too close together, merging into one large enclosure.

The lights in the laboratory were not particularly bright.

The illumination could only reach the front of the cells; anything deeper was a pitch-black void.

A few silhouettes flickered, seemingly irritated by the light.

On the wall opposite the cells, there were several more doors.

Inside were the offices of researchers like Jack.

They contained quite a few documents.

This included files on some of the organization's members.

They were all low-to-mid-level personnel.

As for the organization's founders behind the scenes—those high-ranking officials and nobles—they would never leave behind such obvious clues or leverage.

However, Doctor Jack was a vital researcher.

They could keep secrets from others, but not from him.

Tang Luo had already memorized the identities of those people; he would eliminate the evil once a suitable time arrived.

"Going to get the files?"

Jack limped toward a closed door.

Tang Luo followed at a leisurely pace.

The bespectacled man stood by the entrance, his face twisted in extreme misery.

He wanted to flee, but dared not.

That foreign detective acted without any scruples; he was nothing but a madman, a monster.

If he didn't run, he might survive if he fell into the hands of Scotland Yard—after all, he was just a small pawn.

But if he ran, he probably wouldn't even be able to keep his life.

Unlike Jack, the bespectacled man had seen with his own eyes the terrifying carnage Tang Luo caused when he flipped that table.

The man could likely crush him as easily as one would a chick.

Using a key to open one of the doors, Jack walked toward a cabinet in the room: "The files are all in there."

"Take them out," Tang Luo said.

Jack didn't say much, opened the cabinet, and took out a stack of documents, along with a bottle of potion.

"Can I stop the bleeding first?"

Placing the files on the table, Jack asked.

The wound on his leg was significant, and the blood had not stopped flowing.

Although the volume of blood loss wasn't massive, it added up over time; Jack's face was already deathly pale, and he was struggling even to stand.

He was now leaning entirely against the cabinet to keep from collapsing.

"Do as you please."

Tang Luo was noncommittal, picking up the documents on the table to flip through them.

Truth be told, the number of core members who truly understood the organization's purpose and what it was doing was small.

There were only about twenty people in total.

But there were quite a few who knew bits and pieces, or simply knew they were serving some powerful faction.

Tang Luo even saw a gang called the Crow Gang, which had kidnapped people for the organization.

They could barely be considered peripheral members.

Much like the bespectacled man, or Hodge, who could transform into a researcher.

They would first recruit them, then gradually expose them to the truth, turning them into core members.

Hodge had "died before his campaign could even begin."

As for the man in glasses, he had just "entered the trade," only for the entire "industry" to be destroyed.

It was all Tang Luo's doing!

"Beep, beep, beep!"

Just as Tang Luo was flipping through the documents, a sound similar to an alarm suddenly rang out.

"Bang!"

Jack collided with a cabinet, his face a mix of shock and pain.

He hadn't held the medicine bottle in his hand steady, and the pungent-smelling liquid—whatever its composition—spilled all over him.

He looked utterly wretched.

"What's that sound?"

Tang Luo continued reading the files, not even bothering to lift his head.

"The cell door has been opened," Jack said angrily. "That idiot Scott, the patient is extremely aggressive!"

"Oh." Tang Luo gave a casual reply and put the documents away. "Are these all the files?"

"If you only mean the member profiles, yes." Jack did not hide anything.

All the member profiles that had been compiled into written documents were right here.

In other rooms, there were large amounts of research data related to immortality.

"Then let's go." Tang Luo only needed the member profiles.

"Ah!"

At this moment, a miserable, piercing scream from Scott came from outside the slightly ajar door.

It was intermingled with the roars of a mental patient.

Clearly, he had come under attack.

"I'm not going out there!"

Jack's expression changed drastically, and the step he had just taken was quickly retracted.

Then, he was grabbed by Tang Luo, who opened the door and tossed him out like a doll.

Jack let out a muffled groan as he hit the floor, struggling to lean against the nearby stone wall.

Scott's screams grew faint, and the mental patient's roars weakened as well.

Instead, a different kind of sound began to grow louder.

Listening closely, it sounded like some sort of chewing and swallowing.

"What is this?"

Tang Luo asked.

Inside the underground laboratory, a twisted monster had appeared.

It looked like a human, but was much larger, standing about three meters tall.

Its lower limbs were as thick as an elephant's legs, its arms were long and thin, and its palms were enormous, with five fingers resembling the appendages of an arthropod.

They were large enough to lift an adult human directly—in fact, that was exactly what it was doing.

Scott's mangled corpse was held in the monster's grasp, hoisted horizontally.

Its head, which still maintained a human shape with sparse hair, was buried in Scott's remains.

It was eating him like a skewer.

As the swallowing sounds continued, its massive, ash-gray belly rippled like waves.

In stark contrast to its bloated stomach, its shriveled chest had a gaping blood-hole.

Yellow, oily substances and dark blood flowed from it, emitting a foul odor.

One could see that, as the monster fed, the blood-hole was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Large amounts of the oily substance were secreted, the bleeding slowed, and soon the small wound was sealed shut.

Beside the monster lay several other mangled corpses.

"This is... our phased product." Jack laughed, his smile twisted. "We call it the Resurrected One. I woke it up."

This monster called the Resurrected One must have been locked in that large cell, sleeping.

Not only had it been awakened, it had been released.

It had nothing to do with Scott; the one who released them was Jack.

Inside the cabinet just now, there was an additional special switch.

Once activated, it could open all the cells and, incidentally, awaken the Resurrected Ones with excruciating pain.

"Resurrected Ones? Are the dead being brought back to life?" Tang Luo asked.

"Correct, the next stage is the Eternal Ones. I am already so close to success!" Jack's expression suddenly turned incredibly ferocious. "But you have ruined everything!"

"Is that the reason you want to perish together with me?"

Tang Luo's expression did not change in the slightest; the monster ten meters away seemed to have no effect on him at all.

Such indifference made Jack extremely displeased.

Everything he had, his life's work, had been destroyed by the person in front of him—by what right?!

By what right did this person act as if he had only done some trivial, insignificant thing?!

By what right did this person maintain such a casual, uncaring air!

Even if the other party were to laugh arrogantly, it would still be more satisfying to Jack than his current demeanor.

"Perish together?" Jack sneered, pointing to the clothes on his body. "No, it will only devour you."

The Resurrected Ones were uncontrollable.

But as their creator, Jack still had a way to protect himself.

For instance, a special scent that the Resurrected Ones detested and wanted to stay away from.

Right now, Jack's body was saturated with that very scent.

Asking for recommendation tickets!

By the way, I caught a cold today and feel all dizzy. I ordered takeout at noon, and to meet the minimum delivery fee, I ordered 11 pan-fried dumplings, thinking I'd just eat a few and call it a day.

Then, before I knew it, I had finished them all, and I couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.