Supplies and Highlight

Supplies and a Sudden Threat

"With such a heavy metal door, there must be something important inside!" Mu Xiao gripped the metal door's handle tightly. Blood and vigor surged through his body, his legs rooted like great trees as an unceasing stream of strength flowed into his arms. Veins bulged furiously, his taut muscles writhed like coiling dragons, and all the strength in his body erupted as he hauled at the metal door with all his might.

The sturdy, weighty metal door slowly opened under his pull.

Mu Xiao's muscles had just undergone an intense exertion, yet he seemed entirely unaffected. He quickly calmed the surging blood and muscle soreness, then headed down the stairs below.

His body had undergone flexibility enhancement. Most of his ligaments, joints, muscles, skin, and other cellular tissues possessed vigorous elasticity and resilience, granting him excellent recovery. As long as he did not repeatedly unleash explosive bursts of force that exceeded his body's flexibility limits, he did not need to worry about injuring himself.

The stairs leading to the third underground level were deeper than either of the previous descents. Mu Xiao's psychic power also detected numerous surveillance and armed devices hidden throughout the stairwell. If the machines had not been compromised by the electronic virus, and most of the equipment had remained intact, Mu Xiao would not have been able to make his way down so easily.

"With this many security measures, what exactly is inside?" After walking for about a minute, Mu Xiao saw another metal door standing ahead. It was likewise an exceptionally precise and sturdy metal door, though not as heavy as the previous one. Mu Xiao used less than half his strength to push it open.

Once the door opened, Mu Xiao saw mountains of supplies piled within. He instinctively swallowed and muttered in a daze, "So it's a supply storage area..."

The room, over five hundred square meters and as spacious as a small plaza, held vast quantities of boxed goods. When Mu Xiao swept it with his psychic power, he found electronic components, mechanical parts, nutrient solutions and Life Gene Elixirs of varying grades, many premium Chinese medicinal herbs, weapons and equipment of all ranks, as well as unopened multifunctional robots, miniature probes, magnetic levitation sports cars, bullet-shaped nuclear-powered vehicles, and other expensive items.

The most abundant items were energy blocks of various types. He also found some optical computer equipment.

"With this much material, before the disaster, it would have been worth at least tens of billions of credit points. The weapons, equipment, nutrient solutions, and Life Gene Elixirs alone would be enough to support an elite force of around three hundred people." Mu Xiao clicked his tongue softly. No wonder there were so many security measures—this was a massive warehouse. It seemed he had made the right gamble by staying here to explore.

He was certain that part of the supplies had been stored here by the Federation in case of emergency. As for the rest, they were probably smuggled goods. It was even possible that someone had abused their authority to confiscate corporate assets, or acquired valuable goods through other shady channels.

Otherwise, a warehouse could not possibly be this disorganized. Many of the items had nothing to do with one another, and most were neither clearly labeled nor sorted. Most importantly, Mu Xiao found that some goods bore the logos of other companies. If they were Federation supplies, they would certainly carry the Federation emblem instead of other companies' trademarks.

The law firm was a Federation intelligence agency, so Mu Xiao had little trouble understanding why it contained such a wide range of supplies.

"I have to move in here!" Determination shone in Mu Xiao's eyes.

The vast wealth of supplies in this warehouse only strengthened Mu Xiao's resolve to make this place his base. He wished he could move in immediately, but his residence still contained a large number of precious medicinal herbs, potions, and other items that he could not simply abandon. Moreover, his little sister was still there. Bringing her here carried a certain degree of risk; she needed the ability to protect herself before she could safely come live here.

"I'll go back to the residence now, figure out a way to move everything here, and bring my little sister along so she can increase her number of gene resonances..." Mu Xiao did not touch anything in the warehouse. He left decisively and shut the metal door behind him. Then he returned to the level above and, without minding the trouble, unleashed his full strength once again to close the mountain-heavy metal door.

There was actually a secret exit in the underground area, but Mu Xiao did not want to open it for now. He had no idea what lay outside, and attracting unknown mutant creatures inside would be far from a good thing. Besides, if he encountered surviving humans, someone might develop greedy intentions, and Mu Xiao would inevitably have to spill more blood.

So, for the time being, he would use the law firm as his exit.

Huff!

Mu Xiao exhaled a foul breath, stretched his joints and muscles, then turned and left.

Earlier, Mu Xiao had killed several zombies in the stairwell leading to the floor above, leaving their corpses behind. He took a bottle of incendiary chemical agent he had obtained from the machine room out of his backpack and splashed it over them.

A mass of blue-green, high-temperature flames swiftly engulfed the corpses. After roughly five or six minutes, they had turned into a heap of cracked charcoal.

Mu Xiao made sure the flames had gone out before leaving. If a fire broke out here and burned all the supplies, he would be left utterly miserable. Though there was no clutter in the stairwell and the odds of a fire spreading were low, he did not want to take even such a small risk.

Shortly afterward, Mu Xiao returned to the fourth floor, where corpses lay scattered across the ground. He had not encountered any zombies on the way back; presumably, all those that needed killing had already been killed by him.

He scattered all the remaining incendiary chemical agent over the corpses on the ground. Intertwining blue and red flames devoured the bodies endlessly like a fire monster.

The stairwell walls were made of fireproof stone, but the flames were intensely hot. Soon, some of the stone cracked apart, and thick smoke filled the entire passage. The ventilation system here had already failed and could not function. Unable to endure the waves of acrid black smoke, Mu Xiao entered a room and shut the door, using his psychic power to observe the progress of the burning outside.

The incendiary chemical agent did not burn for very long. After the temperature erupted to a blazing peak, the flames gradually died down.

Mu Xiao detected that the fire had gone out, but he did not leave immediately. He waited until most of the smoke had dispersed before stepping inside. At a glance, the ground was covered in grotesquely shaped human ash-charcoal, creating a chillingly eerie sight.

"This will do for now..."

Mu Xiao felt uncomfortable seeing the entire stairwell covered in corpse ash, but if he left the bodies alone and drew a huge pack of zombies here for a feast, that would be even worse.

"If I can repair some ordinary cleaning robots, these little problems should be dealt with quickly." Mu Xiao understood that what he lacked now was not powerful combat ability, but supporting capabilities. Whether it was the current nuisance of cleaning up or the future task of repairing the underground defense system, he needed abilities from an "intelligence system."

Starting from the first floor, Mu Xiao shut the rooms outside this secret stairwell one by one, reducing the chances of zombies entering—or refugees entering this secret passage that led to all the hidden rooms and underground levels.

After finishing everything, he left through an ordinary room on the fifth floor and returned to the corridor outside the law firm.

"No survivors. No zombies either." As Mu Xiao made his way downstairs, he used his psychic power to scan the rooms around him, checking for signs of human life and sensing whether any zombies remained.

It was not out of kindness that he wanted to save anyone. He simply did not want his "new home" to receive unfamiliar guests.

Mu Xiao had already claimed this law firm as his own.

He quickly descended to the fifth floor. After taking only a few steps, he turned around a corner.

Suddenly, Mu Xiao's psychic power caught an unknown object moving as fast as lightning. By the time he reacted, a tall figure had already flashed into view.

Fast!

It was so fast that Mu Xiao had no time to react. The thing that had appeared out of nowhere tore through his black armored protective suit. The strap across his chest was ripped in two as well, and his entire backpack dropped to the floor. Five claw marks appeared across his chest, deeply tearing through his muscles—yet not a single drop of blood flowed.

"What?!"

Mu Xiao cried out through the pain, but he did not slow down. He kicked off the ground forcefully and retreated rapidly to the stairwell entrance, immediately striking forward with telekinesis.

Only then did Mu Xiao see clearly what had attacked him.

It had a tall, lean body and blade-like fingernails covering its hands, like claws. Its pale white hair was streaked with blood, its eyes were crimson, and its tightly packed teeth were a full section longer than those of an ordinary person. It bared its vicious, sharp fangs; if it bit someone, it could likely tear away a large chunk of flesh along with the skin.

It was a woman in a white work uniform, undoubtedly an employee of the building. However, after mutating into a monster, she had not left. Instead, she had lurked upstairs to undergo gene evolution. The instant Mu Xiao appeared, driven by her craving for flesh and blood, the mutant woman launched a savage attack.

The evolved mutant possessed cunning intelligence akin to that of a human—or perhaps it was simply the instinctive intuition of a beast. Furthermore, she was stronger than Mu Xiao, having undergone a full twenty gene resonances. No wonder Mu Xiao's psychic power had detected something speeding toward him, yet his body had been unable to react in time.

Mu Xiao's telekinetic blast only forced the mutant woman back a few steps. It did not harm her at all.

"Damn it! I actually ran into a mutant!" Mu Xiao cursed inwardly. Hunger surged up again, slightly affecting his body. New humans without a cultivation realm were simply too weak!

"Chitter..."

The mutant woman's tightly packed sharp teeth ground together, producing a shriek like glass being scraped, as though mocking Mu Xiao's feeble attack.

"Mutants really are different from those living dead." Despite the pain of his injuries, Mu Xiao remained calm in his analysis. He also noticed that no blood flowed from his body.

"Looks like there's something unusual about my body..."

As Mu Xiao considered a strategy, the mutant woman viciously launched an attack.

The mutant woman sprang up, spreading her blade-like nails that glinted coldly as she charged forward at high speed.

Instead of retreating, Mu Xiao counterattacked. Veins bulged on his fist as telekinesis formed an invisible gauntlet around it, layering on extra force. He threw a punch at the head of the onrushing mutant woman.

Charging at such speed, the mutant woman could not dodge Mu Xiao's punch, but her claws still slashed toward his arm. Mu Xiao's gravity-laden fist struck her squarely in the face. The impact sent her tumbling several times before she crashed into a corridor bench, smashing it to pieces with the tremendous force.

Five more deep, bone-cutting gashes appeared on Mu Xiao's arm. The fist that had struck the mutant woman's head went slightly numb; her face was like a steel plate covered in flesh.

The pain pierced to the bone. Mu Xiao gritted his teeth and endured it. The wounds on his arm and body had sliced deep into the flesh. If he had not covered his fist with a telekinetic gauntlet, it would have hurt even more.

Mu Xiao knew exactly how powerful his punch was. It could kill even an elephant in one blow, yet when it struck the mutant woman's face, it had failed to smash it to pulp. Instead, the recoil had numbed his own fist. He vaguely guessed that this mutant's physique, like his own, was on the verge of breaking through into a new level. More importantly, her number of genetic resonances exceeded his, which was why he felt suppressed.

"Good thing telekinesis can be used in many ways. If I used the same tactics as I did against the mutant cat, I wouldn't be able to restrain this mutant at all. She could easily force herself free, and I'd only waste telekinesis..." After that thought flashed through his mind, Mu Xiao immediately launched a counterattack, determined to kill the mutant.

Although the mutant woman's head had not exploded, she was briefly stunned and had yet to get up. Mu Xiao leaped into the air, turning his telekinesis into a drill around his foot and gathering all his strength into the sole. With force capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone, he drove his foot into the mutant woman's spine!

Her spine cracked with a crack.

"Screeech!!!"

The mutant woman let out a ragged, piercing cry of extreme pain that was almost deafening. The agony instantly jolted her awake from her daze. Her tall, thin body struggled violently as she pressed her clawed limbs against the ground like a reptile.

"This thing really can feel pain!"

In an instant, the force beneath Mu Xiao's foot was violently thrown off by the mutant woman's sudden burst of strength. She shot forward, opening a safe distance from Mu Xiao before finally stopping.