A Painting?

Bzzzt-bzzzt.

Pushing open the half-shattered glass door, the group cautiously entered the passage leading to the laboratory.

On the floor, cleanly severed wires crackled with sparks.

At the sight of the dried blood in the passage, they all instinctively quieted their breathing.

There were no bodies on the floor, but the scene made it easy to imagine what had happened here.

Someone had been caught by a Species here and desperately clung to the wall. But against these monsters, they could only be dragged away as food, helpless to resist.

In their sheer terror, their fingers had been scraped raw, leaving long streaks of blood along the wall.

"Careful... I think... I think I heard something..."

"Right beside the door..."

Clang... clang.

The intermittent metallic clanking might have come from a ventilation shutter, or something else entirely.

He Zheng kept his voice as low as possible and advanced in a crouch, constantly turning his head toward the sound.

Directly ahead, they could already see the second door leading into the laboratory. Through the glass covered in bloody handprints, they could make out an office area.

Overturned desks and chairs lay shattered across the floor. On one desk sat a somewhat shriveled thigh, gnawed down to half its original size.

Judging by its shape, it seemed to have belonged to a woman.

"Over there..."

Behind He Zheng, Ye Lin lightly tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to look at the desk on the far right.

Perhaps the Species had no interest in anything other than flesh and blood. Beside the scattered scraps of flesh, a computer with multiple monitors and connected data cables still sat on the desk.

Although the entire base had lost power, they might still find useful information if the computer had a backup power supply.

Understanding Ye Lin's meaning, He Zheng slowly straightened and approached, gripping the Fire Axe tightly in his right hand.

Its handle had snapped in two, so he had replaced it with a length of steel pipe.

It was awkward to use, but he could not find a better weapon.

"Ah..."

Suddenly, a pained groan rang out, piercing the silence.

Startled, He Zheng looked back and discovered that it had come from Hu Jia.

Hu Jia trembled all over. Realizing his mistake, he hardly dared to breathe and hastily covered his mouth, his face crumpling.

He had not wanted to make a sound. His leg simply hurt too much.

When he had rushed through the sulfuric acid, the splashes had burned through his trousers and left wounds half a finger deep in his leg.

Even walking was difficult, but he had been so afraid of being abandoned that he had not dared mention it the entire way.

Perhaps the sound had alerted something. Before He Zheng could glare at him in warning, the rhythmic clanking abruptly stopped.

Everyone's hair stood on end. He Zheng instinctively turned back, hurriedly looking beyond the glass door.

The dim office area seemed to conceal a deadly threat.

Yet, contrary to He Zheng's expectations, nothing happened even after they had waited tensely for half a minute.

Go in...

With his back against the wall and his pistol held to the side, Ye Lin silently mouthed the words, signaling for He Zheng to keep moving.

Their time was limited, and they had no idea how far they still were from the core area. Lingering here would only make things more dangerous.

He Zheng nodded to show he understood. After a brief hesitation, he took a deep breath and charged forward as fast as he could, just as before.

Recalling where the sound had come from, he swung his axe with all his strength the instant he pushed the door open!

Thump!

Push the door, sidestep, swing, retreat.

A textbook sequence of movements, yet his axe struck nothing but air.

Seeing the duct strap hanging from the ceiling all the way to the floor beside the door, He Zheng froze, embarrassment flashing across his face.

Well, damn. There was nothing there.

He had been certain the clanking had come from this spot.

But now that he could see clearly, he realized a ventilation duct had fallen loose. Stirred by the wind, its strap intermittently tapped against an alloy plate.

"Fuck, I got it wrong...!"

Before He Zheng could let out a long sigh of relief and wave Ye Lin and the others over, something caught in the corner of his eye made his expression change instantly. His entire body went rigid.

What was that?!

On the wall behind him to his right, a painting like the earlier mural was unmistakably "pasted" in place.

Its vivid red was glaring.

Unlike the earlier mural, the painting stuck to this wall was a woman whose belly had been slit open and gutted.

Her chest had been opened, her exposed ribs brutally pulled outward like wings to either side of her shoulder blades.

Her hair spread among the ribs like black feathers.

Above the corpse's head, a red ring painted in blood encircled her rotting face like an angel's halo.

The woman's eyes had not been gouged out. Those dead-white eyeballs, devoid of pupils, stared straight at him like a vengeful ghost.

The sight struck He Zheng so violently that his scalp prickled and his head rang, leaving him rooted to the spot.

The earlier mural had been so large and used so many corpses that it had felt "unreal." But this time, seeing an entire person made into a painting was simply too overwhelming!

Hiss!!

While He Zheng stood briefly stunned, a piercing shriek erupted above his head.

It gave him almost no time to react, like a sprung trap.

A gaping, bloody maw suddenly appeared directly overhead.

Its fishlike jaws stretched to their limit, densely packed jagged teeth bearing down on his head like a grinder!

"He Zheng!"

Outside the door, Ye Lin shouted furiously, trying to snap He Zheng out of his daze.

That mouth belonged to a Species-a Species hiding in the ventilation duct!

He Zheng's judgment had been right. The monster had simply known how to conceal itself!

Bang!

Bang!

Without hesitation.

Ye Lin fired decisively, a flash of flame bursting from the muzzle of the Type 77 in his hand.

The distance was short, but with no time to aim, he had no certainty that he could land both consecutive shots in its eyes.

A tenth of a second later, a dull metallic impact sounded, and a small spray of blood burst from the Species' gill.

Immediately afterward, the second speeding bullet grazed its eyeball, drawing a streak of blue pus.

Screee!!!

The Species roared in pain, its descending jaws faltering.

At the same time, He Zheng snapped out of his daze and desperately twisted away, scrambling and rolling clear of the fatal bite.

With no time to thank Ye Lin for saving him, He Zheng climbed to his feet and ran straight for the doorway.

It was not that he lacked the courage to face the monster. His previous experience had taught him that he lacked the strength to kill a Species. All he could do was give Ye Lin an opening to shoot its eyes!

"He Zheng! Dodge left!"

Thud!!

The Species jumped down, its body weighing several hundred pounds crashing heavily onto the floor. Screeching, it bounded after He Zheng.

At Zhang Tie's warning, He Zheng hurled himself aside, dodging the Species' sweeping claws without looking back.

Scrambling quickly to his feet, He Zheng sprinted and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Ye Lin! I'll count down from three! When I reach the door, I'll chop its leg!"

"You shoot!"

With one hand missing, he could not hold the Species back the way he had last time.

Instead, he planned to reach the glass door and use the terrain to restrict its movements.

The glass would not stop the Species, but the steel doorframes on either side were thick enough. As long as he wounded one of its legs, Ye Lin would have a chance to aim.

"All right!"

Without another word, Ye Lin steadied his breathing and focused with every ounce of concentration he had.

He had few bullets left.

He needed two bullets to hit its eyes together to destroy its brain. With only three rounds remaining, he effectively had just one chance to fire.

If he could not kill this Species, they would all die!

Seemingly aware that He Zheng could not be allowed to die, Zhang Tie immediately charged forward from the passage. An Ke followed with her head down, clutching a long pipe that resembled a steel reinforcing bar.

She might not be able to do much, but she could at least distract the Species a little.

The countdown began.

Three...!

Two...!

One...!!

"Duck!"

As the countdown reached its final second, He Zheng abruptly spun around just as he reached the glass door.

Facing the charging Species, he roared and swung the Fire Axe in a wide arc to his right like a sledgehammer, putting every last ounce of strength into the blow!