The Magnetically Controlled Armor was poised for action; Han Xiao was ready to fight or flee at any moment.
However, the owner of these giant eyes was only looking in the direction of the door, as if he didn't see Han Xiao at all, and stood still in place.
"Phototropia?"
Han Xiao was secretly pleased. Luckily, he hadn't turned on his flashlight, or he would have followed in the footsteps of the pilgrims.
This monster was over three meters tall, its body barely recognizable as human. Its massive muscles, piled up in layers like small mountains, lacked any sense of power or beauty, resembling only a bloated mass of flesh that evoked disgust. The muscles were rotting, some areas even revealing hollows, with plump white maggots leisurely crawling within the decaying flesh. Compared to its enormous size, its head and neck appeared extremely small, the skin stretched by the bulging muscles, making its features look extremely jarring and impactful, inevitably evoking words like "deformed," "grotesque," and "Sun Knight."
Han Xiao glanced at the room's layout. It contained a bunch of medical equipment and four experimental chambers whose purpose was unknown. Two of them were squashed, one had its door open, and the other was closed.
The experimental chamber had tubing for delivering liquid, which was connected to a transparent container next to it. Only dried fluorescent traces remained inside the container.
He cautiously backed away, and seeing that the monster didn't move, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued forward along the corridor. He soon encountered a second and third metal door, but they were both blocked by rusty, lift-type alloy doors. The card readers next to the doors were almost corroded into iron scrap and were completely unusable.
Han Xiao did not give up. He painstakingly disassembled the card reader to check the model number.
Hmm... I didn't see that.
That's not important!
"This should be a secret military base from decades ago, but it was abandoned for some reason. It seems to have been used for biological experiments, which looked like they failed... or maybe they succeeded? That muscular thing doesn't look like a normal living being at all... Wait, this corridor is way too long. Just how big is this base?"
The dark corridor was silent. The deeper one went, the darker it became, almost tangible. The night vision goggles could only reach five meters away; beyond that, it was pitch black. Han Xiao he didn't have claustrophobia or thalassophobia.
A sense of crisis hung like a knife's edge before his eyes. Even with Han Xiao's strong heart, cold sweat broke out all over his body. This was a completely instinctive reaction of a living being facing unknown danger. Being too nervous would affect his emergency response. He hurriedly recited in his mind. "A calm mind is like ice; even if the sky falls, one will not be alarmed; a gentle breeze will not stir the water; a mountain is not valued for its height, but for the immortals dwelling there; an old steed in its stall still aspires to gallop a thousand miles..."
He didn't know what he was saying, but he was definitely less nervous now.
He passed more than a dozen doors along the way, only the first room where the monster was located had the door open, the others were all sealed. Suddenly, he finally reached the end of the corridor, where there was a much larger door, which should be the main room. The alloy door was only lowered a third of the way, allowing him to walk in.
This is the second room we can enter. Based on the principle of dungeons, we should be able to find some useful information here.
Inside, it appeared to be a large laboratory, filled with rusted equipment, with a row of experimental chambers in the center identical to those in the first room.
"It seems there is no danger."
The dust choked him, and the smell of decay was pungent. A corpse lay beside the lab table, already mummified, with bits of cloth hanging from its body, vaguely revealing that it had once been a white lab coat.
Han Xiao found a file on the lab table next to the corpse. He brushed off the dust, trying to find some useful information. After glancing at it, he realized it was a diary.
[On July 13th, the doctor conducted the sixty-seventh modification of the Feronia Serum, injecting it into mice. The results were very encouraging, finally meeting our expectations for the serum's effects. If there are no adverse reactions, human trials can begin.]
[On July 17th, the lab rat died, another failure. The cause of death was organ failure (experiment appendix [torn out]). The doctor seemed very frustrated and locked himself in his room. When I passed by, I heard him smashing things.]
[On July 20th, the doctor insisted on conducting human experiments, and his application was approved by the higher-ups. This is insane! Has he forgotten the consequences of the failure of human test subject 000? (Experiment appendix [torn out])]
[On July 26, the base issued new regulations, requiring all researchers to hand over any electronic devices and prohibiting them from connecting to the external network. Has the war situation outside deteriorated to this extent?]
[August 5th, the seventh day since human test subject 008 was injected with Feronia Serum. The subject is in good condition and there seem to be no unusual changes, but the doctor is very disappointed.]
[On August 11th, we were notified to evacuate. We heard that the battle had suffered a major setback and that we needed to preserve our remaining strength. Everyone was terrified, even the usually composed Doctor. No one wanted to believe the defeat. But I had actually been mentally prepared. The number of guards at the base had been decreasing recently, and I knew that the front lines had suffered heavy losses and urgently needed reinforcements. Damn it! If I hadn't switched from being a field medic, I wouldn't be stuck in this oppressive base now. Everyone's face is lifeless, devoid of any vitality! I hate this place!]
[August 14th, evacuation begins tomorrow, heading to Base 03 for refuge. Time is tight. All Feronia Serum test data has been backed up, and the original data has been destroyed. Those guards were really rude; they seemed to be preparing to activate the base's self-destruct device. The Doctor took a few samples of finished Feronia Serum; all the other serums were destroyed.]
The record ended there. Han Xiao flipped through the previous pages again, but there was no other valuable information; many pages had been torn out.
The corpses nearby clearly indicate that this group did not evacuate. Some accident occurred between August 14th and August 15th, resulting in the deaths of a large number of people, most of whom died in the lower levels of the base. Those densely packed red compound eyes are the eyes of Desert Corpse Worm.
"What is Feronia Serum?" Han Xiao's curiosity was piqued. He suddenly remembered the dried fluorescent liquid residue in the experimental chamber container in the first room, which should be the serum's remnants. The experimental log said "The Doctor is carrying the serum," and the corpse had most likely died in the lower level. Han Xiao didn't want to enter the restricted area, so it seemed he had no chance of getting his hands on it.
"Looks like we didn't get anything this time." Han Xiao shook his head, looked up, and paused for a moment.
A black box was placed on the central experimental table. He walked up to it in three quick steps, opened the lid, and revealed three tubes of bright fluorescent solution inside.
In that instant, a string of ancient proverbs rushed into my mind. "When you think you've reached the end of the road, a new path opens up before you; you've searched high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly; suddenly you turn around, and there it is, in the dim light."
Han Xiao stared at the corpse at his feet, his lips twitching. Could this be that "Doctor"?
He reached out and grabbed the three vials of medicine, glancing at them.
Why can this color be called serum?
[You have obtained [Feronia Serum) ] x3]
[Feronia Serum): A biochemical agent for enhancing the body, seemingly not yet perfect; use may result in deformities. PS: These may be the last three vials of Feronia Serum.]
"Biochemical serum, ah, the side effects of an imperfect serum are extremely serious. This is an unfinished product. If I use it, I'll probably turn into that muscle-bound guy. It's terrifying..." Han Xiao shuddered.
"There shouldn't be anything else here. Let's get out of here quickly; this place is creepy."
Han Xiao turned around and suddenly found that the muscular man had appeared behind him at some point, looking down at him silently.