Bait

The axe whistled through the air.

Under the tremendous impact, He Zheng felt as though his right arm had slammed into a speeding heavy truck.

The Fire Axe, attached to a steel pipe, bent into an exaggerated curve the instant it struck the Species' calf, nearly flying out of his hands.

Fortunately, the blow worked. The Species buckled, its struck right leg deforming instantly. Its entire body lost its balance and crashed into the steel structure beside it.

Bang!!

The violent impact shattered the glass and even knocked the metal doorframe out of alignment.

Its scales cracked, and the Species screeched in fury.

Before it could shriek and get back up, however, Zhang Tie rushed in and seized the opportunity to smash his iron rod into its other leg.

"Ye Lin! Shoot!"

He Zheng shouted.

In the passage, Ye Lin pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Two gunshots rang out, and a spray of blue blood burst from its eye.

Its screech cut off abruptly. With its brain pierced, the Species shuddered briefly before its corpse toppled heavily backward.

Silence returned to the room, broken only by their panting.

Grimacing, He Zheng staggered up from the floor as though completely drained. Looking at the thoroughly dead Species, he could not resist kicking its corpse and cursing.

"Damn fish-head! Come after me again if you've got the guts!"

The others exchanged relieved glances. Perhaps because this was their second encounter, killing another Fish-Head Monster had clearly given them more confidence than they had felt during the terror of their first fight.

Unlike the others, who had relaxed, Ye Lin slowly lowered his arm, a trace of grimness flashing in his eyes.

The Type 77 pistol was not particularly powerful and was generally used only for close-range self-defense.

With just one bullet left, given the Species' anatomy, there was almost no chance that a single shot could penetrate its eye and brain.

He Zheng was in worse shape, too. Ye Lin noticed his right arm trembling constantly after he stood up. Clearly, the muscles in that arm had suffered some tearing as well.

"Don't just stand there! Get in here and look around! See if there's anything we can use!"

He Zheng called Hu Jia and the others over to help search. Ye Lin silently put away his gun, with no intention of telling them the whole situation.

Telling them the truth would only destroy the hope they had finally managed to build.

"Ye Lin, did you find something?"

A minute later, He Zheng stood behind Ye Lin with a frown, idly twirling the newly "repaired" Fire Axe in his hand.

They had dismantled several chairs to make crude spears, then stuck some opaque fabric onto a piece of glass to make a mirror they could extend around corners.

Although they had found no useful clues, it was better than nothing.

For some reason, however, Ye Lin, who should have joined the search, had been staring at the "painting" on the wall ever since entering the room. He had not even bothered to examine the computer tower.

"No..."

Ye Lin did not turn around, his eyes fixed firmly on the Corpse Painting.

It differed slightly from the enormous mural earlier. In this picture, beneath the feet of the female corpse depicted as an "angel," there were figures resembling Species, prostrating themselves as though in worship.

"You didn't find a backup power supply either, did you...?"

A few seconds later, Ye Lin gave an almost imperceptible sigh and asked quietly.

Behind him, Hu Jia, who had been fiddling with the computer, paused briefly before nodding awkwardly.

The computer they had pinned their greatest hopes on would not even turn on. Worse still, they had not found so much as a single sheet of paper with writing on it anywhere in the office area.

Once Hu Jia confirmed it, Ye Lin seemed to have expected the answer. His face showed no reaction, not even a hint of disappointment.

He turned around, took the "spear" Zhang Tie handed him, and prepared to leave.

Seeing Ye Lin react like this, even someone as slow on the uptake as He Zheng realized something was wrong. An Ke, who was with Lin Ya, frowned and cast a thoughtful glance at the Corpse Painting on the wall.

"Ye Lin, what's going on with you? Seriously, if you found something, just tell us!"

"Did we get something wrong?!"

Baffled, He Zheng grabbed him.

Despite He Zheng's anxiety, Ye Lin merely shook his head, with no intention of explaining.

"It's nothing. We haven't gotten anything wrong, either."

"Let's go. We might not have much time left..."

With that, Ye Lin strode past He Zheng, turning his back on the others.

Unnoticed by anyone, his fingertips turned white as he clenched his weapon tightly.

He could not tell He Zheng and the others what he had discovered.

He feared that if he told them, everyone's morale would collapse.

The reason was simple.

That Corpse Painting was "fresh," and along its edge was an almost imperceptible trace of blue.

"So many... Species!"

At the corner of the wall, a crude mirror tied to a long pole was carefully pulled back.

Looking at the image reflected in the mirror, He Zheng swallowed hard, his expression utterly grim.

Not daring to speak again, they could only communicate by mouthing words.

The good news was that just around the corner stood the laboratory marked Biochemical Zone 1, and there was a key directly in front of the corpse at its entrance. As long as they opened the door and rushed inside, they could shut the Species out.

The bad news was that more than twenty Species had gathered outside the laboratory, blocking the entrance completely.

Perhaps they had entered some kind of dormant state. The Species stood motionless like statues, but everyone knew that the slightest sound would wake all these monsters, and they would kill and devour them.

"What do we do?"

He Zheng asked Ye Lin, his palms sweating.

If there had been only one, or even two, he would have dared to fight them. But with this many Species, they would probably tear him to pieces in a single encounter.

Without speaking, Ye Lin thought briefly, then looked straight up at the ceiling.

He pointed overhead, then at the passage on his left that led around a corner, silently mouthing:

"The ventilation duct. Crawl through the duct..."

"Crawl through? But the noise..."

He Zheng froze and instinctively blurted out his question. But when he saw Ye Lin mime tapping the steel rod in his hand, he quickly understood.

"Have someone make noise to lure them away?"

Ye Lin nodded, turning his gaze toward Hu Jia.

"You go."

"Me? I can't! I really can't!!"

Seeing that Ye Lin actually wanted him to go, Hu Jia waved his hands frantically in terror and began pleading desperately.

He hurriedly pushed Lin Ya in front of him, then rolled up his trouser leg, trembling all over, to show that he could not run fast enough.

Faced with his pleas, however, Ye Lin's gaze merely turned cold. He raised his gun and aimed directly at Hu Jia's other leg.

There was no better candidate.

He had chosen Hu Jia precisely because Hu Jia was injured and could not run fast. After luring the Species away, they needed to rush inside and shut the door as quickly as possible. If Hu Jia failed to keep up, something could easily go wrong.

"Go, and you might live. Refuse, and you will die."

Ye Lin enunciated every word. Understanding his intent, He Zheng abruptly clamped a hand over Hu Jia's mouth to stop him from trying to take everyone down with him.

Hu Jia tried to struggle, but with his strength, how could he possibly break free?

With the Species threatening them, he did not even dare make much noise.

Ignoring Hu Jia's despairing gaze, Ye Lin shook his head and leaned close to his ear, intending to give him some hope.

"There's a room where you can hide at the bend we passed on the way here. Once we're inside, we'll make noise too, to lure the Species back."

"Think it through. It'll only get more dangerous up ahead. If you hide there and wait for us to come out, you'll actually have a better chance of surviving."

Hu Jia stiffened at those words, and his struggles weakened a little.

But he was no fool. He knew perfectly well that even if he successfully hid inside, if Ye Lin simply considered him a burden, there would be no need to return and rescue him.

Then he could only wait to die alone!

Before He Zheng could lose patience and threaten him again, An Ke, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly stood up and looked at Ye Lin.