The piercing alarm echoed through the laboratory, and the red warning lights cast every face in a ghostly glow. Fletcher grabbed Lin Xiao's arm, his voice trembling. "It... it's releasing the others... God, there are twelve incubation chambers in there. If they all rupture..." Lin Xiao shook off his hand and rushed to the console, pulling up the laboratory's structural map. The Level-Two Sample Storage Area was located at the deepest point of the laboratory, requiring passage through three corridors and a security door. On the screen, the heat signature representing that creature was moving through the storage area. Everywhere it went, the monitoring signals of one incubation chamber after another went dark. Lin Xiao snatched up a data tablet from the table and turned toward the laboratory exit—four hours. He needed to find a creature that could destroy everything inside this grave about to be blown apart, and make sure it did not leave.
But the instant he took a step, memory struck him like lightning.
Doctor's voice echoed in his mind. Months ago, in the safehouse, the rescued Hydra Moderate Faction researcher had described those horrifying events. "...Extremely corrosive. It can corrode through skin to the bone within three seconds of contact. Uncontrollable mutation. Samples exposed to air will combine with any organic matter, producing unpredictable variants. Most terrifying of all is aerosol transmission—if the sample disperses in mist form, the entire ventilation system will become a conduit of death. Everyone who inhales it will dissolve from the inside out within twenty-four hours..."
Lin Xiao's breathing stopped for a second inside his gas mask.
He suddenly looked up at the ventilation ducts. Those silver-gray metal pipes extended from the laboratory ceiling, connecting every section of the underground base. If Doctor's description was true, if the released samples really possessed aerosol transmission capabilities...
The entire lower level of the base would become a death zone.
The upper residential area, the command center, perhaps even the buildings above ground, could be affected through the exhaust system.
Blood Axe's groan interrupted his thoughts. The giant lay on the floor, the edges of the corrosive wound in his chest already beginning to blacken. The smell of necrotic tissue mingled with blood in the air. But worse still, Lin Xiao noticed that when the blood seeping from the wound dripped onto the floor, it made a faint hissing sound—the corrosive residue left behind by that creature was still working.
"Captain..." A Conservative Faction soldier pointed at Blood Axe's wound, his voice shaking. "His blood... it's corroding the floor."
Fletcher walked over with a livid expression and crouched down to inspect him. His gloved fingers did not dare touch the wound. He only shone a tactical flashlight over it. Under the harsh beam, everyone could see that faint blue fluorescence was slowly flowing deep within the palm-sized hole in Blood Axe's chest.
"Residual sample fluid," Fletcher said quietly. "It's still corroding the inside of his body."
Blood Axe's breathing became rapid and weak, every inhale accompanied by the sound of liquid churning in his lungs. His eyes were half-open, his pupils unfocused, but his mouth still twisted into a distorted smile. "Fletcher... you... you won't escape either..."
"Shut up!" Fletcher roared.
But Blood Axe did not stop laughing. It was the madness of someone at death's door. "You... will all die here... with me... that monster... it will release them all... all of them..."
Another series of explosions came from deeper inside.
This time, they were closer and clearer.
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
The deafening crash of shattering glass sounded like hail pounding down, followed by the rush of liquid spraying out. The alarm became even shriller. On the console screen, the surveillance feeds representing the Level-Two Sample Storage Area turned to static one by one. Before the final image vanished, it captured a fleeting scene: pale blue mist burst from ruptured incubation chambers and rapidly filled the entire room. Within the mist, several translucent humanoid outlines were slowly rising.
"More than one." Lin Xiao's voice was calm, but the knuckles gripping the data tablet had turned white. "It released all the samples."
Everyone still alive in the laboratory froze.
The three Conservative Faction soldiers exchanged looks, and one of them instinctively took a step back. The two Radical Faction wounded who could still move stopped groaning, leaving only pure terror in their eyes. Even Blood Axe, that dying giant, had the crazed smile on his face freeze.
Then gunfire erupted again.
But it was not aimed at Lin Xiao or Fletcher.
One of the Radical Faction wounded suddenly raised his pistol and fired wildly toward the depths of the laboratory. Bullets struck the metal walls and threw up sparks, hit the pipes with clanging impacts, and left spiderweb cracks in the glass of distant incubation chambers.
"Stop!" Fletcher roared.
But it was too late.
More glass shattered. The wounded man had hit at least three incubation chambers that had not yet ruptured. Pale green liquid poured down like a waterfall, mixing with the blue mist lingering on the floor and producing violent sizzling reactions. White vapor rose up and spread rapidly.
"Put on your gas masks! All of you!" Lin Xiao shouted.
Everyone hurriedly checked the seals on their masks. The visor of Lin Xiao's own mask had begun to fog up, making it hard to breathe. He looked toward the console—the air-monitoring data was jumping wildly: corrosive gas concentration up three hundred percent; biologically active particles detected; ventilation system flow abnormally increased...
The ventilation system was automatically drawing air out of the laboratory, attempting to filter and purify it.
But if Doctor had been telling the truth, if these samples really could spread by aerosol...
"Shut down the ventilation system!" Lin Xiao rushed toward the console.
Fletcher moved even faster, his fingers hammering the keyboard. But the system prompt sounded coldly: [Warning: The ventilation system is an automatic emergency procedure and cannot be manually shut down. Filtration and purification procedure activated. Estimated completion time: 8 minutes 37 seconds.]
Eight minutes.
Enough for those aerosol particles to spread through the ducts to half the base.
"Smash it!" Blood Axe suddenly rasped. He struggled to sit up, but the agony in his chest sent him collapsing again. "Smash... the ventilation ducts... physical destruction..."
"Are you insane?" Fletcher turned and glared at him. "Destroying the ventilation system will trap all the gas in the laboratory! We'll all die!"
"We... were going to die anyway..." Blood Axe coughed, spitting out bloody saliva. "But at least... we won't kill the people upstairs too..."
That sentence silenced everyone.
Lin Xiao looked at the dying giant. There was no longer madness in Blood Axe's eyes, only a lucidity bordering on despair. This man, who would stop at nothing for power, had actually thought of not dragging more people down with him in his final moments.
Or perhaps he simply did not want Hydra's secrets completely exposed.
Either way, he was right.
Lin Xiao looked at the vent in the ceiling. Behind the silver-gray metal grille, the fan spun at high speed with a deep hum. He could see pale blue mist being drawn into the ducts by the airflow, like a slowly flowing river of poison.
"The console," Lin Xiao suddenly said. "The laboratory has an independent emergency lockdown and purification system, right?"
Fletcher paused, then nodded. "It does. But it requires Level Three authorization to activate, and..." He looked at the screen. "The console was damaged during the firefight. Look here—"
He pointed to the side of the console. A stray bullet had punched through the casing, exposing the charred circuit boards within. Several wires dangled outside, still giving off faint sparks.
"What about manual activation?" Lin Xiao asked.
"Inside the laboratory," Fletcher said. "There's a physical control panel behind the main control room. It can manually activate the emergency lockdown and purification procedures. But someone has to go in and operate it, and..." He paused. "That panel is right next to the Level-Two Sample Storage Area."
In other words, they would have to pass through an area that was releasing even more samples.
They would have to face that translucent creature, along with the "kind" it had just released.
They would have to find the control panel and manually activate the system in an environment filled with corrosive gas and unknown biologically active particles.
A one-in-ten chance of survival.
No, there was no chance at all.
At some point, the gunfire had completely ceased. The Radical Faction wounded lowered their weapons and stared blankly at the blue mist spreading from the depths. The Conservative Faction soldiers gathered together and whispered among themselves, but the same word was written across every face: despair.
Fletcher's face was deathly pale. He turned toward Blood Axe, his voice trembling with rage. "Look at what you've done! Look! If you hadn't led your men in here, if you hadn't insisted on taking the samples, if you hadn't—"
"You forced me into this!" Blood Axe cut him off with a roar, though every word brought violent coughing. "You... Conservative Faction cowards... always hiding underground... carrying out these shameful experiments... at least I... at least I dared to seize power with my own hands..."
"That wasn't power! It was madness!" Fletcher shouted.
"Enough!"
Lin Xiao's voice was not loud, but it cut through every argument.
He removed his gas mask—an action that stunned everyone. The air in the laboratory already carried an unmistakable pungent odor, corrosive gas mixed with the stench of decomposing organic matter. But Lin Xiao took a deep breath, filling his lungs with that smell, then slowly exhaled.
"If you don't want to die here, listen to me."
His voice remained clear and calm beneath the alarm.
Everyone looked at him. Fletcher's expression was complicated—surprise, doubt, and a trace of expectation that was hard to detect. Blood Axe narrowed his eyes, and vigilance and hostility flared anew in those dying eyes. The Conservative Faction soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons. The Radical Faction wounded struggled to raise their guns, but in the end, they did not.
Lin Xiao walked to the center of the laboratory and stood between the two factions. There were still bloody scratches on his face from the shattered glass, and his combat uniform was covered in dust and unknown fluids, yet he stood straight, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"The laboratory has an emergency lockdown and purification system, but it needs to be manually activated." He repeated Fletcher's words, then stressed the point. "The console is damaged. Remote activation is impossible. Someone needs to go in and operate the physical control panel behind the main control room."
He paused, allowing the weight of those words to sink into everyone's hearts.
"Who's going?" a Conservative Faction soldier asked quietly.
No one answered.
Blue mist drifted slowly from the depths like living tentacles, spreading across the floor. Wherever it touched, the ground began to hiss softly, and fine corrosion spots appeared across the metal surfaces. One Radical Faction wounded accidentally let the mist touch his exposed wrist. His skin immediately reddened and blistered. He screamed and frantically wiped it with his sleeve.
"See that?" Lin Xiao pointed at the wounded man. "That's what we're facing. If this gas spreads through the ventilation system across the entire base, everyone upstairs will suffer the same pain. Then they'll die."
He looked at Fletcher. "Captain, do any of your people understand laboratory equipment? At least enough to operate the control panel?"
Fletcher was silent for several seconds before nodding. "Yes. Hansen used to work in a biological laboratory. He knows some basic procedures. But..." He looked toward the depths. "Sending him in would be the same as sending him to his death."
"I know," Lin Xiao said. "That's why he won't go alone."
He looked at Blood Axe again. "What about your men? Anyone with technical knowledge?"
Blood Axe gave a cold laugh. "They're all dead. Or..." He looked at the two wounded men. "Almost dead."
"Then it'll be you," Lin Xiao said.
Blood Axe froze.
Everyone froze.
"Me?" Genuine surprise appeared in Blood Axe's voice for the first time. "Can't you see the hole in my chest? I can't even stand up. How am I supposed to go in?"
"You don't need to stand." Lin Xiao walked over, crouching beside him. "You only need to tell me this: if you had to choose, would you rather send your men in to die, or let me go in and give your people a chance to survive?"
Blood Axe stared into Lin Xiao's eyes.
Those eyes were calm. There was no anger, no fear, not even calculation. Only a lucidity that was almost cruel.
"You're trying to buy me off," Blood Axe rasped.
"I'm trying to save everyone," Lin Xiao corrected him. "Including you. If you cooperate, I can have Fletcher's people give you emergency treatment, at least stop the corrosion from spreading. Then you and your men will have a chance to leave here alive."
"Leave?" Blood Axe laughed, his voice full of mockery. "This place will be blown to pieces in four hours. Where can we go?"
"That's my problem," Lin Xiao said. "You only need to answer: cooperate, or die here?"
Blood Axe fell silent.
His breathing was growing weaker. The pale blue fluorescence around the edges of his chest wound was slowly spreading. Every millimeter it advanced meant more tissue dying, more pain. Yet he was still thinking, the last light flickering in those dying eyes.
Then he nodded.
"Fine," Blood Axe said. "My men... won't stop you. But if you trick me... I won't let you go even as a ghost."
"Deal."
Lin Xiao rose to his feet and looked at Fletcher.
Fletcher's expression had grown even more complicated. He had seen how Lin Xiao had dismantled Blood Axe's resistance with only a few words, how he had convinced everyone with logic calm enough to be terrifying. This young man, this peripheral member Fletcher had previously suspected of being a Radical Faction spy, was now standing here trying to save them all.
"Captain," Lin Xiao said. "Give me two reliable people who know a little about technical work. I'm going in."
Fletcher took a deep breath. "Are you sure? There may be more than one of those creatures in there, and the gas concentration—"
"I know," Lin Xiao cut him off. "That's why we need to move fast. Have your men prepare to support us outside and seal every passage leading here. Once I activate the purification system, there may be a powerful blast of airflow. Make sure nothing slips out."
"What about you?" Fletcher asked. "How will you get out after activating the system?"
Lin Xiao did not answer.
He merely turned around, picked up a gas mask from the floor that was still mostly intact, checked the filter cartridge, and put it back on. Then he took a tactical flashlight, a knife, and two spare magazines from a Conservative Faction soldier.
Finally, he looked toward the depths of the laboratory.
The blue mist had spread to within twenty meters, reducing visibility to less than five meters. From the depths came the sound of dripping liquid, along with some slow, wet movement. More than one. He could sense at least four, five, perhaps even more "presences" waking within the mist.
"Hansen." Fletcher called over a soldier. "You go in with Mr. Lin. And you, Miller, you're going too."
The two soldiers stepped forward. Hansen was a tall, thin middle-aged man with a scar on his face, but his gaze was steady. Miller was younger and looked somewhat nervous, but the hand holding his gun was firm.
"Remember," Lin Xiao told them. "Once we're inside, you follow my command in everything. Don't fire unless I give the order. Don't touch any liquid. Don't remove your masks. We only have one objective: find the control panel and activate the purification system. Nothing else matters."
The two nodded.
Lin Xiao took one final look at Fletcher, at Blood Axe lying on the floor, and at this laboratory about to be destroyed.
Then he stepped into the blue mist.
The first step—his sole touched the floor with a faint sticky sound.
The second step—the mist wrapped around his calves, and visibility dropped sharply to three meters.
The third step—a deep, inhuman roar came from the darkness ahead.
Hansen and Miller followed close behind him. The footsteps of the three echoed through the empty laboratory, mingling with the alarms, the dripping liquid, and those wet sounds of movement, weaving a symphony of death.
Lin Xiao tightened his grip on the flashlight.
The beam cut through the mist and illuminated the path ahead.
He saw pale blue and pale green liquid flowing across the ground, like a poisonous river. Broken shards of glass floated on its surface, along with some translucent, gelatinous residue. On the walls, corrosion marks spread like creeping vines, stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
Farther away, deep in the mist, several blurry shadows moved slowly.
Human figures.
But not human.
They had no clear outlines. Like melting candles, they twisted and deformed in the mist. One of the shadows seemed to notice the light and slowly turned around—
Lin Xiao switched off the flashlight.
Darkness swallowed everything in an instant.
Only the red alarm lights flickered faintly through the mist, like the pupils of hell.
"Follow me," Lin Xiao said quietly. "Don't turn on the lights. Use night vision."
Hansen and Miller quickly switched equipment. In the green night-vision display, the world took on another form: the mist became flowing gray, the liquid became dark rivers, and those shadows... became bright, irregular biological heat signatures.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
They were scattered through the depths of the laboratory. Some were still, while others moved slowly. One heat source was especially bright and especially large—it was the original creature, the one that had awakened from the incubation chamber.
It was destroying the last intact incubation chamber.
Lin Xiao could see that heat source extending some kind of limb and striking the chamber's glass. Once, twice, three times—
The glass shattered.
More liquid burst out.
More blue mist rose into the air.
Then the heat source turned around and faced Lin Xiao's direction.
It had "seen" them.
Before you continue