Malice

Zhou Diao remained impassive and gave a slight wave with the hand behind his back.

The team members exchanged glances and silently put away their weapons.

One of the female team members deliberately raised her voice. "What's going on? Didn't you say there was a Tunnel? Who dug such a huge pit?"

Zhou Diao played along. "The two people down there look suspicious to me. I don't see any injured Xenomorphs either. This could be a trap."

The man at the bottom of the pit grew anxious. "There are Xenomorphs! At least a dozen of them, all lying in there half-dead! Hurry down here, and we can kill the Xenomorphs together and split the reward!"

The female team member was named Xiao Li. She looked valiant and capable, yet she was adept at putting on an act with a soft, delicate voice. She and Zhou Diao worked in tandem, one playing the bad cop and the other the good cop.

She said, "Since we're already here, why don't we go down and take a look?"

Zhou Diao said, "It's such a deep hole. How are we supposed to get down? Look at the state of those two—they might not even be able to climb back up themselves, yet they want to trick us into going down."

The man in the pit explained, "There's another way out, but it's too roundabout. Coming down from here is faster!"

Then he asked Zhou Diao suspiciously, "Are you the people who contacted me on the Forum? Which one are you? Energetic Girl Li Kui?"

"..." Zhou Diao wore an expression like he was badly constipated.

Feng Ling also leaned over the edge of the pit and peered down curiously. "Which of you is Super Strong Super?"

"I am." The man raised his phone and waved it. "I just sent a photo to the group. Once you see it, you'll know I'm telling the truth."

Zhou Diao was displeased. "You only thought to send a message now? Why didn't you send one earlier? We called you, but you didn't answer."

"The signal is bad down here. There was nothing I could do," the man replied.

Feng Ling took out her phone and checked. Sure enough, there was an unread message in the group: a photo sent by Super Strong Super.

The photo showed several people lying on the ground. With the flash on, the black-and-white contrast was stark, making the outlines of the bodies look strange.

But from the photo alone, it was difficult to tell whether they were Xenomorphs or humans.

Feng Ling was about to ask Huangfu Miaomiao to look at the photo as well when she turned and noticed that something was off with Huangfu Miaomiao. Her body seemed to be trembling slightly.

"What's wrong?" Feng Ling reached out and touched her forehead. Had she been scared sick?

Huangfu Miaomiao's little face was pale. She looked up at Feng Ling and uttered two words: "Malice..."

Feng Ling froze slightly.

She remembered that Demons could sense malice.

Huangfu Miaomiao shrank her neck and whispered, "Very strong... very strong malice. It's right beneath that pit..."

She was so frightened she was nearly in tears.

Hearing their conversation, Zhou Diao came over and asked quietly, "Is there something wrong down there?"

Feng Ling thought, There definitely was a problem, and they definitely had to go down.

The Contaminant was most likely below. They couldn't just leave it alone. Even if they couldn't defeat it, they still had to investigate. Otherwise, even if Su Yuqing brought in heavy weapons, they could only bombard the place blindly.

At that moment, the man below seemed to have run out of patience and began urging them. "Are you coming down or not? Stop wasting time, okay? I've already waited for you all day! What if those Xenomorphs recover if we keep waiting? You should know that Xenomorphs have powerful recovery abilities. If my brother and I were capable enough, we wouldn't have waited until now. We'd have claimed the reward ourselves long ago!"

Zhou Diao listened in silence, his gaze shifting to the team members behind him.

Everyone was looking at him.

He knew they had acted long enough. They couldn't pry any more clues from the man, so it was time to go down and investigate.

"Fine, stop rushing us." He called down to the person in the pit. "I'll get the rope. We'll be down shortly."

The rope had already been prepared.

Qin Liang wrapped one end around a nearby concrete pillar and handed the other end to Zhou Diao.

Zhou Diao wound the rope around his left hand several times and said to Feng Ling, "I'll go down first. You bring up the rear."

Feng Ling nodded.

Beside her, Huangfu Miaomiao looked at her pitifully, her eyes seeming to plead: Can I not go down?

Feng Ling remained unmoved.

The tiny amount of trust she had just established in Huangfu Miaomiao was not enough for her to let Huangfu Miaomiao stay alone.

What if Huangfu Miaomiao ran away?

What if she not only ran away, but also notified other Xenomorphs to come and kick them while they were down?

Feng Ling liked excitement, but seeking excitement herself and dragging a group of Supervision Bureau members into it were entirely different things. So she had to keep Huangfu Miaomiao right under her nose.

Besides, Huangfu Miaomiao's ability might come in handy.

Zhou Diao gripped the rope tightly, jumped into the deep pit, and easily slid down to the bottom.

Qin Liang went next.

Then Xiao Li, the female team member from earlier.

Finally came another male team member named Cao Hongyi.

Feng Ling bent down and carried Huangfu Miaomiao on her back. She glanced into the pit, gripped the rope with one hand, pushed off the ground with one foot, and swiftly slid down—

The bottom of the pit was pitch-black.

Every face was submerged in darkness, blurred and indistinct, like ghosts.

Feng Ling couldn't help recalling that line: In the depths of the pitch-black cave, the monster was already starving...

Mm, it really was very dark.

With a click, Qin Liang switched on his military-grade high-intensity headlamp.

The light illuminated the surroundings and fully revealed the two men in the pit—

They looked utterly haggard, their skin sallow and dark circles hanging beneath their eyes, as though they had not seen sunlight for days. The harsh light made their eyes water.

Their clothes were filthy too, stained with dirt and sweat, hanging loosely from their bodies. They shone with greasy grime and gave off a sour, rancid stench.

Combined with their strange, almost-smiling expressions, they truly did not look like normal people.

Feng Ling gently pinched Huangfu Miaomiao and asked with her eyes: Are they Xenomorphs?

Huangfu Miaomiao pressed her lips together and shook her head.

They weren't?

Feng Ling frowned. If they weren't Xenomorphs, were they ordinary humans? How strange...

"I'm Super Strong Super from the Forum. You can call me Brother Chao."

Brother Chao tried hard to appear normal, forcing out a smile as he introduced himself. Then he pointed at the young man beside him. "Oh, right. This is my brother, Fang Ye."

Fang Ye looked timid and submissive. "Hello, I'm Fang Ye... You can call me Little Ye."

Feng Ling said, "You don't look that old, so don't call yourselves brothers. I'll call you Little Chao and Little Ye."

Brother Chao's face stiffened slightly, looking rather displeased.

Feng Ling remained perfectly composed. "Little Chao, where are the Xenomorphs? Hurry up and take us there. Weren't you in a rush just now?"

"...They're ahead. Follow me." Brother Chao turned and walked in front, hiding his vicious expression in the shadows.

Zhou Diao could tell that something was wrong with him, so he tried to get information from the other man. "Little Ye, what's with this hole? How did you find it?"

Fang Ye hunched his neck and followed behind Brother Chao, answering in a low voice, "We work at a car wash nearby. We came over to pick up a customer's car and found this pit. We came to look out of curiosity, and the edge of the opening suddenly collapsed... The two of us fell in and couldn't climb out, so we thought we'd look for another exit..."

Brother Chao, walking ahead, took over. "We didn't expect it to be so deep and dark inside. Luckily, we had flashlights with us. We searched for a long time before finding an exit. Along the way, we found quite a few Xenomorphs hiding in the cave, so we hurried onto the Forum to make a post looking for help. We were afraid the Xenomorphs would escape, so we stayed here and waited until you arrived."