Bug Nest

Chapter 22: Bug Nest

A story full of holes.

If you fall into a hole and can't climb out, shouldn't your first move be to call for help? Why would you have the courage to enter a pitch-black cave, and happen to have a flashlight right at hand?

Feng Ling listened silently to the two brothers' rambling nonsense.

Zhou Diao probably sensed something was off too. He frowned and asked them, "Then who closed the rolling shutter door outside?"

If both of them had fallen into the hole, why was the garage door shut?

Brother Chao shook his head. "No idea. Maybe the parking lot manager saw a big hole here, worried someone might fall in, and closed the door."

That answer didn't satisfy Zhou Diao, but he didn't press further. His eyes stayed alert, fixed on the deeper parts of the cave.

The damp air carried a stench of rot.

Unknown dangers lurked in the darkness.

After walking for a while, the slope grew steeper, the air thicker and more foul. Aside from the sound of footsteps, there was only the faint, barely audible sound of breathing.

Perhaps unable to bear the oppressive silence, Qin Liang spoke in a low voice. "This cave is full of bumps and hollows. Doesn't look like something humans dug."

"Mm," Xiao Li agreed. "If it were man-made, it should be relatively smooth."

But if it wasn't man-made, what had dug it out?

Everyone's expressions shifted. Silence fell again.

"Ouch!"

The tallest one, Cao Hongyi, clutched his forehead after bumping into a protruding rock above.

Zhou Diao said in a low voice, "Everyone, be careful."

Brother Chao, at the front, said, "Almost there. Once we get past the slope ahead, it'll be much easier to walk."

Feng Ling glanced at her phone—

No signal.

This cave was deeper and narrower than she'd imagined. She didn't know where it led.

Behind her, Huangfu Miaomiao followed in silence. Feng Ling couldn't tell how scared she already was.

They walked another few dozen meters before the group stopped. Feng Ling waited a moment, then watched the people ahead jump down one by one.

The thuds of landing were clear. It seemed they'd reached a lower platform.

When it was her turn, Feng Ling shone her flashlight down. Below was indeed flat ground, less than a meter below the opening.

She jumped down lightly and swept her flashlight around.

Before her was an unusually wide cave, roughly oval-shaped, about the size of a basketball court. Dark, pitch-black openings dotted the rock walls.

Humans wouldn't dig something shaped like this.

Feng Ling thought it looked a lot like a bug nest.

"The Xenomorphs are here," Brother Chao said, walking forward quickly and pointing at one of the openings. "There are a lot of Xenomorphs inside."

Zhou Diao approached suspiciously to take a look.

On the other side of the opening was a smaller cave, about the size of a regular classroom.

Four or five people lay inside, just as Brother Chao had said—like severely sick or injured Xenomorphs, stripped of basic mobility, tossing weakly and breathing faintly. Even under the harsh light, they barely reacted. Their eyes were cloudy, unable to see.

Brother Chao looked smug. "See? I didn't lie to you, did I? You brought rope. After we kill these Xenomorphs, we can tie up the bodies one by one, drag them back along the path we came from, all the way to the parking lot. Then call the Supervision Bureau to claim the bounty. Easy money—tens of millions."

"Why go through all that trouble?" Feng Ling asked, puzzled. "Wouldn't it be easier to just call the Supervision Bureau directly and let them come into the cave to collect the bodies? Otherwise, you'd have to drag the Xenomorphs out one by one. Isn't that unnecessary?"

Brother Chao was caught off guard. He looked at Feng Ling. "...Of course not! How could one person kill so many Xenomorphs? Anyone with eyes would immediately know something's wrong. That's why I called you guys in. First, drag a few Xenomorphs out, collect the money, wait ten or fifteen days, then come back and drag out a few more. Even if the Supervision Bureau comes asking questions, they won't think there are sick Xenomorphs hidden here."

Quite the plan—Feng Ling found it amusing.

She called Huangfu Miaomiao over. "Take a look."

Huangfu Miaomiao pressed close to Feng Ling, peeked once, then shrank back behind her, yanking Feng Ling backward with force.

"What's wrong?" Feng Ling asked.

Huangfu Miaomiao's lips parted. She whispered, "They're all dead..."

Feng Ling glanced at the Xenomorphs in the cave, then turned back to Huangfu Miaomiao. "Explain clearly. Who's dead?"

"They..." Huangfu Miaomiao pointed a trembling finger at the cave. Her voice shook. "All of them. They're all dead."

"Dead?" Zhou Diao frowned, looking at the Xenomorphs on the ground.

Qin Liang and the others found it hard to believe too.

"They're still moving. Why do you say they're dead?"

"I don't know..." Huangfu Miaomiao grabbed Feng Ling's clothes, her voice quivering. "I'm not lying. I can only identify living creatures. But those... those are all corpses. It must be the work of a Contaminant. Let's get out of here, fast."

Brother Chao caught on that something was wrong. He stood at the edge of the opening, eyeing them with suspicion. "What Contaminant? Who the hell are you people?"

No one answered him.

Zhou Diao stepped forward, grabbed one of the Xenomorphs from the ground, and hurled it out of the cave with force.

With a heavy thud, the creature's body slammed onto the ground. Its flesh and bones seemed to slosh around inside, making a gurgling sound, while a translucent, pale yellow mucus oozed from its mouth and nose.

Now that they were this close, everyone realized—what lay before them was clearly a corpse!

Huangfu Miaomiao hadn't been wrong. This Xenomorph was indeed dead.

Brother Chao and Fang Ye were equally stunned at the sight.

Though the two of them had been guarding this spot for two days, they'd never dared to get close. With limited lighting, they'd seen figures moving in the distance and mistakenly thought they were alive. Who would have guessed they were dead? All of them, dead!

The three Special Forces operatives tensed as if facing a major threat, swiftly drawing their guns and aiming at the writhing, grotesque corpses.

Feng Ling said, "Don't shoot. There's something else in this cave, and gunfire will make too much noise."

Zhou Diao pulled another corpse from the hole and tossed it over, adding, "That's right. Hold your fire for now. Qin Liang, keep recording!"

"I've been recording the whole time," Qin Liang replied in a low voice.

A tiny camera was mounted beneath his headlamp, capable of transmitting the footage in real time to Su Yuqing's end.

Even if there was no network signal now, the video and audio could still be saved to the built-in chip. After the mission ended, these would be submitted to the research department as study material.

The corpse on the ground shook violently, as if the flesh and bones beneath the skin had all melted into liquid, or as if some creature was writhing and churning inside the skin casing.

Everyone found it nauseating.

Feng Ling touched the axe in her hand and asked Zhou Diao, "Can I take a couple of swings at it?"

"Don't do anything reckless!" Zhou Diao turned back with a fierce expression. "Everyone follows my orders!"

Feng Ling silently twitched the corner of her mouth.

This was one of the reasons she didn't want to join the Supervision Bureau.

"There's... there's something!" Xiao Li's arms, gripping her gun, went rigid as she stared at the corpse in front of her and shouted, "Something's crawling out!"