Chapter 207

A piercing roar emanated from the Mutated Entity's body.

Something seemed to be protruding and twisting inside its abdomen, sometimes bulging and sometimes twisting, before being torn apart at the navel. Three withered hands emerged from them, stretching out towards the kite as if yearning for something, or frantically trying to leave the body as if fleeing from something.

Between those strangely twisted arms, and from within the gaping wound, a huge, jet-black eyeball stared directly at the kite.

Shudder.

In that instant, Yuan felt the hairs on her body stand on end, and the knife in her hand veered off course, severing only two of her hands.

"Squat down!"

A sharp shout came from behind. Still reeling from the bizarre scene before her, the startled Iris instinctively ducked down. In the next instant, sharp wind pressure whipped up her light chestnut hair, and a deafening explosion shattered the air. A flash of silver-black light disappeared like a shooting star. Lapith had already passed over Iris's head. Now, she was upside down opposite the Mutated Entity, and she slammed her fist into the ground.

The dull bang was like a cannonball being fired. Yuan felt the entire tunnel tremble, and the Mutated Entity in front of her had been pierced through, lying dead on the ground.

"Yuan, are you alright?"

Feng and Lan immediately stepped forward to help the frightened Yuan up, while Anilas and Efnir came to Lapith's side.

"Thank you for your help."

In the situation just now Efnir and Anilas were also planning to intervene, but Lapith did indeed prevent Iris from getting hurt, Anilas and Efnir were naturally very grateful.

"Don't worry about it. As comrades, fighting together and helping each other is what we should do."

Lapith shook her head, not seeking credit, but her expression became somewhat serious as she turned to look at Efnir and Anilas.

"However, I think our work from now on will be a bit troublesome."

Anilas stared at the pool of blood and flesh, her brows furrowing slightly.

Efnir, however, simply gazed thoughtfully into the dark depths of the tunnel.

103. Fork in the road

I really shouldn't have eaten the steak yesterday.

Trilice stood up and kicked away the Mutated Entity corpse at her feet.

Lin held two glass test tubes in her hands, placed the collected samples in the briefcase at her waist, and followed behind Trilice.

The Funeral Bird Agent Squad was ordered to Xijing City to support the battle against the Apostle. Encountering these Mutated Entity was unexpected, but now that they had encountered them, they would not stand idly by.

Since the arrival of the White Hole Erosion, more than one type of Mutated Entity has appeared in the world. However, most of them are not threatening and have been ignored to some extent, or rather, there is not enough spare capacity to study them. Humanity's understanding of this apocalypse is still far from sufficient, and the increase in knowledge cannot keep up with the speed of change in the world.

In contrast, the Mutated Entity observed in Xijing City this time is highly threatening and has a very unique plant-animal hybrid nature, making the collection of its samples essential.

Lin was the person responsible for sample collection and storage.

As an agent whose Order Weapon is a giant greatsword, her weapon and physical enhancements determine her formidable defensive capabilities and unpredictable offensive style, making her suitable for material storage.

"Ugh, this is so annoying, I can't eat any pork chop today!"

Trilice looked at the dark red vines on the ground that were gradually turning to ash, she thought of undercooked steak, in a negative sense, of course.

She felt a churning sensation in her stomach.

Seeing her like this, Lin came to her side and intentionally or unintentionally blocked Trilice's view with her body. Her gaze fell on Trilice's pink hair, which was half a head shorter than hers. Just as she reached out her hand, she suddenly noticed the bloodstains on her palm.

She shook her head.

"Senior, I actually think... even if we agents don't gain weight from eating, you should still pay attention to a balanced diet."

As soon as Lin opened her mouth, Trilice's shoulders slumped.

She continued, "Compared to meat, vegetables and fruits provide abundant vitamins and minerals, and also avoid high blood lipids and high blood pressure..."

"Stop! You're doing it again!"

Trilice interrupted Lin, who was giving a serious lecture, and glared at her fiercely. Her gaze fell on the large heaves of Lin's chest, and she couldn't help but feel annoyed again.

In contrast, Trilice's chest was much flatter, and the height difference between the two was as obvious as the difference in their bust size. Standing together, Trilice, who was clearly older, looked more like the younger sister.

"Of course you don't care! You have no idea how much I'm suffering! It's easy for you to say that when you're not in my shoes!!"

With annoyed puffing out her cheeks, Trilice complained.

After becoming an agent, her physical growth did not completely stop, but the speed of her development and growth was greatly reduced. Trilice's appearance almost stopped at the time she joined the agent. Naturally, the degree of her breast development and height became things that she was always very concerned about.

Before becoming an agent, she always considered herself a senior to Lin, and of course, she still does now.

But all of this changed after she became an agent—Lin became an agent later than her, and during this time Trilice's body no longer showed any obvious changes, while Lin, who was clearly her junior, gradually grew up and became much more mature and "womanly" than her. Trilice felt that her senior's authority was suppressed.

This bothered her, especially when Lin addressed her as "senior".

Therefore, from that time on, Trilice began to eat more meat and dairy products in hopes of nourishing her body, but unfortunately, the agent's body was difficult to change, and her efforts were almost in vain.

"Senior, what I actually meant was..."

"Stop talking!! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it! I want to eat meat! I'm a carnivore, I can't live without meat! I'll never stoop to the level of a little bean sprout like you!!!"

Just then, Lapith came to their side and patted Trilice on the shoulder, "Trilice, you can't bully Lynn."

"I... wait a minute! Isn't she bullying me?!"

"I saw it all."

"What did you see?!"

"Stop complaining, we need to assign people. Come and gather over here."

Trilice blushed, feeling incredibly wronged.

"Now that an unexpected Mutated Entity has appeared, what should we do next?"

Lapith asked Efnir and Anilas.

She, Lin, Trilice came here representing the Suzuda City support Funeral Bird Squad. Although there were some reasons related to Suzuda City's stance, she still entrusted the command to Efnir and Anilas.

"Split into two groups and explore simultaneously. Return here in one hour to regroup and exchange intelligence."

Anilas.

"This is the simplest execution plan, but I'm worried there might be something else behind it. If we split up, we won't be able to regroup quickly if we encounter danger."

"No need, this kind of thing won't appear on a large scale."

It was Efnir who spoke.

Lapith and Anilas looked at Efnir with puzzled expressions, wondering why Efnir was so certain.

Efnir didn't explain, but continued, "I agree to Anilas's suggestion to split up."

"Then I agree."

Lapith raised her hand to show her stance.

Although she didn't know why Efnir was certain there was "no danger" ahead, the fact was that the peculiar Mutated Entity they had just witnessed was nothing to fear for any member of the Funeral Bird Squad; it was a testament to their strong confidence in their own abilities.

Although Yuan almost got injured and suffered a loss because of that Mutated Entity, it was under circumstances where she was "unprepared." If Yuan were to experience that again, she would never be ambushed.

Therefore, Lapith judged that the danger was limited, and rather than wasting time with both teams acting at the same time, it was better to improve efficiency—they didn't have much time to waste here, as there was still a lot of work on the ground that required the agents' assistance. If the cleanup of the entire city could not be completed before dark, then the next phase of the plan would have to be postponed for another day.

Time is precious.

"What about the others?"

Feng, Lan, and the others nodded, indicating that they had no objections.

"I'm fine with anything."

"That's what Trilice said naturally," Lin echoed.

Trilice and Lynn only obeyed Lapith, and they also recognized the strength of Efnir and Anilas, and did not look down on Anilas just because Efnir were agents of a medium-sized city.

"There is no communication signal coverage here, so we must return as soon as the rendezvous time is up. If one side fails to appear, the other side will go to provide assistance."

Efnir added.

104. Anilas's Past

Efnir led the Main Sequence Star Squad's Iris, Anilas led the Muse Squad's Maple and Orchid; the five of them formed a group.

On the other side was a team led by Lapith, consisting of Trilice and Lynn from the Funeral Bird Squad.

This grouping basically maintained the original command system of each team. At the same time, in terms of the distribution of strength in the group, the combination of Efnir and Anilas and the combination of Lapith and Trilice served as the center of each group. As the four strongest players, they each took on the role of the front guard and back guard in their respective groups.

After a brief division of labor, the two groups split up and began their work.

Inside the deep, dark tunnel, Efnir led the group deeper into the tunnel. At first, they saw the destroyed tracks and the wreckage of the crashed train, as well as a large number of boxes, laptops, and firearms. The sides of the tunnel were also covered with bullet holes, burn Trace, and blackened bloodstains, indicating that a battle had taken place here. However, the bodies were nowhere to be found, leaving only the remains of uniforms or equipment.

"They are ICS researchers and Causseque's mercenaries."

Anilas picked up the dog tag and a tattered uniform from the ground; the uniform still bore the identification tag of an ICS Research Institute researcher.

"Same as the previous ones."

Besides the items that could prove her identity, Anilas also found some black briefcases.

She frowned slightly, opened the briefcase, and found it full of research materials, all of which were classified. The train had crashed, and the people here seemed to have tried to leave before they died, taking a lot of data with them, but they failed.

"These... seem to be classified information. This doesn't feel like something a botanical research institute would be doing."

Anilas glanced at it briefly without looking closely, but she still noticed some "concerning" experimental processes, including sensitive terms like "Numbered Subjects," which made Anilas frown deeply.

The term "Numbered Subjects" was a wound that Anilas for the rest of her life.

Her close friend, the origin of her name— Gotō Chizuru —was a "Numbered Subjects," who ultimately died in a "research accident."

Through Kusei Maki Anilas some truths hidden in the ruins: Gotō Chizuru did not die from the "research accident," but was used as "experimental material" and included in an experiment based on "Numbered Subjects," where she ultimately died painfully.

Anilas walked this path step by step, never ceasing her search for the culprit behind all of this—the researchers.

With the help of Kusei Maki, Anilas has identified several of them and secretly killed them. She also extracted a crucial top-secret intelligence from them: the research experiment based on the "Numbered Subjects" originated from the research theory of a pair of genius couples, and this theory is being researched as a new weapon by the radical faction of the Human Federation — the Tellusiusist United Party Faction.

However, due to the limited authority of Kusei Maki, the few people she could find to help Anilas were all peripheral researchers who did not know the most core secrets, so Anilas has not yet obtained more information.

She has been searching for clues.

The mention of "Numbered Subjects" in the documents in her hand reminded Anilas of this past experience. A dim light flickered in Anilas's eyes, and her knuckles unconsciously tightened, even turning slightly white.

No one noticed Anilas's unusual behavior. After a brief examination of the wrecked train wreckage, Efnir left.

"Let's take these things with us and move on."

They didn't have the time to carefully examine the documents here.

Anilas closed the suitcase, held it in her hand, and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Efnir paused, then asked, "Is this property of the ICS Research Institute?"

"No... I can't be sure," Anilas shook her head, her brows furrowing deeply. "The documents don't provide this information. If this is the property of the research institute, it should be marked on the map."

However, the electronic map showed nothing about it, not even a record of the tunnel.

"Perhaps the ICS Research Institute did not report it."

"But why did they deliberately hide it?" Lan asked.

Who knows?

Efnir had her suspicions, but said nothing more. "Let's keep going; maybe we'll find something."

Efnir led the way, and her ability to clear a path ensured the team's speed of progress. This was because Efnir could see changes in the "dust" moving in the air, allowing Efnir to assess and deal with any potential dangers immediately.

Maple, Lan, and Anilas were in the middle. The three of them, with Anilas at the center, were ready to support Efnir in her battle and guard against any potential dangers. No one was more skilled than them in either interception or pursuit.

At the very back of the team was Iris, one of only two melee-type agents. She stayed behind to ensure an escape route should any danger arise.

But it turned out that Efnir alone was enough to handle all situations.

In Efnir's right eye, the movement of "dust" made those lurking dangers nowhere to hide, and Efnir was always able to win by taking the initiative, without encountering any obstacles along the way.

Soon, they had walked more than a hundred meters forward.