Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 137 - 111. Biting the second hand

Chapter 137: 111. Biting the second hand

The shocking physique of Bayo Kong allowed the three of them to truly experience the immense expressive power of "Starry Abyss." The meticulous depiction and atmosphere instantly activated humanity’s fear when facing a natural enemy.

Compared to ordinary people like Lu Run, veterans like Luo Le and Xue Nian adapted much more quickly and soon regained their composure.

The psychological fear could be alleviated through desensitization, but contact with Bayo Kong brought unavoidable negative effects, especially the statuses of "Genetic Contamination," "Virus Invasion," and "Disease Resistance Reduction" displayed on their panels.

With limited medication, they did not have much time to linger there; they had to quickly search for relevant information.

The three unlucky guys moved a diesel generator and connected it to the power source. Fortunately, although Bayo Kong was huge, the information on those computer devices was stored in the cloud. Once Luo Le hacked into the devices and obtained permissions, he quickly downloaded the stored data and images.

"Viruses, archaea, the synthetic effects of fungi through radiation... does the professor want to be the creator?"

Luo Le glanced at the directories of the data and immediately complained.

"I don’t know if they want to be the creator, but taking these things out will definitely start a war—look at this, it’s a record of Mingji Humanity experimenting on Outer World people with Ersha Drug Trial. They used cloning technology to try to replicate someone’s Arcane Energy, but they failed."

Xue Nian, seeing these firsthand experiment records from the professor, was horrified:

"And this—this girl had a minor electrical discharge ability, so they repeatedly harvested and implanted different people’s organs into her. Over the course of thousands of surgeries, Mingji Humanity hoped to combine the genes of multiple people to merge their Arcane Energy."

Lu Run swallowed and asked, "What was the result?"

Xue Nian, with an expressionless face, replied:

"Of course, it couldn’t merge. The rejection reaction caused massive bleeding, and she died—Li Aozi mentioned that Arcane Energy is not just a manifestation of genes, but the professor insisted on the Ersha Virus theory and conducted experiments ruthlessly to prove her hypothesis."

"Is there a specific number of casualties...?"

"It’s incalculable. The oldest data in the professor’s computer is from 60 years ago, which was her doctoral dissertation when she founded the predecessor of Mingji Humanity, the ’Ancient Virus Research Association.’ That means the professor must be at least eighty or ninety years old. Think about how many people she and her subordinates slaughtered over these sixty years."

Luo Le opened the latest folder and raised an eyebrow:

"It seems that the professor’s cybersecurity is not that tight. I’ve extracted the latest video footage and shared it in the group; this place is not suitable for a long stay, we should withdraw first."

The two others had no objections. The oppressive atmosphere on the second underground level was unbearable, and coupled with the lingering threat of Bayo Kong, they were constantly worried that a heavy step might awaken it.

They hooked onto the elevator cable and, like refugees, returned to the transport vehicle. Luo Le activated the vehicle’s system, and it started, continuing toward the direction provided by GTB where Li Aozi was.

"This place is too ominous. We stayed near Bayo Kong for less than ten minutes, and the negative effects on us will take three days to dissipate."

Luo Le muttered.

"However, it was worth it."

Xue Nian downloaded the footage from the professor’s computer, transferred it to the car’s screen, and started to play it.

"It’s still two hours to our destination, let’s see what Li Aozi has done!"

The screen flickered with static before the sound of machinery running came through.

The camera kept switching angles, surveying the second level’s facilities from multiple hidden perspectives.

From the precise, automated assembly lines, to the biochemical pods soaking the bodies of adolescents, to the numb and indifferent Mingji employees constantly adjusting various instruments and drug ratios. Finally—the camera stopped at the position of the central elevator.

Ding-dong～

The crisp and pleasant sound of the elevator arriving rang out. A cleaner who was tidying up instinctively raised her head; her purple artificial eyes quickly focused.

The vacuum cleaner in her hand dropped to the ground as she raised her left hand, and a gun barrel popped out of her palm.

Bang!

Just as she was about to load ammunition through the arm chamber, the elevator doors were violently blasted off, smashing into the cleaner, slamming her against the wall and crushing her into a shape like tomato paste.

Plop... plop...

The sound of boots treading on the freshly cleaned floor echoed unnaturally. Two men calmly stepped into the second level, and the surveillance camera clearly recorded their conversation:

"She’s just an ordinary cleaner."

"You obviously haven’t been on a battlefield, Du Mei—Du Zexin. It’s not just cleaners, any old, weak, or sick person could be an attacker."

"I just don’t want to kill innocent people, Li Aozi."

"What a coincidence, neither do I—except that they all deserve to die."

Li Aozi withdrew Gravity and walked shoulder to shoulder with Du Zexin down the hallway of the second level.

Along the way, they encountered many Mingji Humanitarian physicians or nurses hurrying with supplies. Often, before Du Zexin could say a word, Li Aozi would raise his hand and snap their necks with Gravity or slam them against the ceiling with fifty times gravity, crushing them instantly.

His near-Gamma Rank "Charm" allowed his Arcane Energy recovery speed to be terrifyingly high. He would occasionally chew on some food while slaughtering these ordinary physicians with ease, leaving little for Du Zexin to handle.

Du Zexin frowned; despite having a basic understanding of Mingji Humanity’s actions, his upbringing as an academic made him uncomfortable with such cruel slaughter.

Especially since he had just experienced being crushed by gravity himself. Seeing the powerless employees having their spines snapped under Gravity without any resistance, their heads dangling connected by only a layer of skin, he could not help but empathize and feel a phantom pain.

However, as a Mechanic from the Fine Artistry department, Du Zexin was clever and understood Li Aozi’s power. It was fortunate that the David Lyn Faction had such a young talent.

As for the cruelty...

He subtly hinted to Li Aozi to consider his image.

Many people held the belief that "the dead should be respected," whether it was due to humanitarian or rational civility, or because they feared being the subject of ridicule after death.

In any case, even when faced with the deaths of scum criminals, they would strongly urge others not to overly disrespect the dead.

However, Li Aozi did not share this opinion—he saw no need to discuss humanitarianism with a bunch of inhuman scoundrels. Any mercy he showed Mingji would be a betrayal of the blood and pain of the test subjects.

Du Zexin never fired a shot, and Li Aozi remarked to him:

"You’ll get used to it."

After hearing this, Du Zexin said no more. Instead, he began to focus on scanning and inspecting the bodies of the Mingji employees.

"Why are these people hardly resisting?"

The astute Mechanic from Fine Artistry’s competitive department quickly noticed something strange.

No matter how viciously Li Aozi killed their colleagues, the Mingji Humanitarian employees hardly resisted. Occasionally, a few who showed obvious signs of drawing their guns had only a passive attitude.

Most of them were indifferent, even one person, with his head down, holding a document, walked quickly towards them expressionlessly. Li Aozi’s Gravity knocked him to the ground, shattering his face, yet he continued to wave his limbs, trying to pick up the document and crawl forward.

"Don’t kill him yet!"

Du Zexin stopped Li Aozi from delivering the final blow. Li Aozi let him go, and the Mingji employee fell to the ground.

Du Zexin approached, lifting the man’s face shield to reveal an expressionless face, constantly muttering lips.

He grabbed the man’s throat and a scanning device popped out from his hand. After scanning the man’s eye, he turned to Li Aozi and said:

"This is an idiot. Her frontal lobe has been parasitized by some kind of organism. Her actions are controlled by the parasite in her brain. No wonder they are not aggressive..."

Crack!

Upon hearing this, Li Aozi unhesitatingly smashed the person’s skull with the scabbard.

"Looks like the professor is harsh on her own people too. She can kill herself and also be ruthless to her subordinates."

Li Aozi calmly remarked.

"How do you know the professor isn’t dead yet? Even uploading consciousness to a chip requires a long preparation time?"

"The professor, a Biochemist, developed psychic communication and mastered controlling brain parasites. I think it’s not difficult for her to achieve remote consciousness transfer."

As he spoke, Li Aozi checked the progress of Task A "Imprint" in the Settlement Conditions: 97/109

"Not many left. The remaining ones should be the elite by the professor’s side."

Li Aozi pulled himself together, making prior arrangements by placing adrenaline injections, cardiac stimulants, high potassium protein injections, and drugs enhancing resistance to neurotoxins and viruses within easy reach.

He was going to face a Beta Rank Biochemist, so he had to be fully prepared.

As for Du Zexin, Meibei had no worries. He was wearing a fully enclosed exoskeleton armor equipped with an air filtration system and oxygen tank.

Moreover, as a Mechanic, he naturally had a slight advantage over Biochemists, so he was not overly concerned.

In the spare moment, Li Aozi glanced at Du Zexin’s panel. Despite Meibei’s notorious bad luck, this guy had no specialty, talent, or skills related to luck whatsoever; it remained a mystery how his unlucky physique came about.

Du Meibi, a decent hacker, quickly obtained a map of the second level of the shelter. After some study, they initially planned to attack the weakest point. Du Zexin brought some tear gas, intending to throw it into the central air conditioning to disrupt the enemy before annihilating the professor and her people completely.

The mysterious disappearance of the bodies of Nodley and Anna caused some anxiety in Li Aozi and Du Zexin, although neither mentioned it, both sensed that there was more to it than met the eye.

However, upon realizing their position, Li Aozi and Du Zexin had to abandon their raid plan.

Three-quarters of the underground second level comprised assembly lines and biochemical factory facilities. This area was uninhabited, and moreover, Du Zexin noticed numerous biochemical soldiers clad in exoskeleton armor via the cameras.

Their target was the concealed professor, and analysis of the map revealed that the professor’s "Special Laboratory" was located at the deepest part of the base.

If they were to reach the laboratory, they had no choice but to pass through the central hall, storm the biochemical factory head-on, breach the biochemical soldiers’ defenses, and then go through the Ersha Infected Individuals’ "Treatment Room," and lastly confront an 80-millimeter thick hydraulic door.

Only after doing all this, would they face their final enemy—the Mingji Professor.

"Do you have a good plan?"

Li Aozi asked.

"There can be no other plan. This shelter is a permanent structure—its surroundings are permafrost layers, and the reinforced concrete’s stress is immense. Even detonating a nuclear bomb underground might not collapse it."

"If that’s the case, let’s follow my lead."

Said Li Aozi, kicking open the door to the biochemical factory.

Boom!

Countless biochemical soldiers had long been stationed there, armed to the teeth, and their cold gun barrels aimed directly at them.

Submerged in tanks, their brains received electric signals, issuing commands to pull the triggers.

Li Aozi unsheathed his long sword, driven by Gravity, his eyes glowing with golden circles.

Du Zexin lowered his face armor; all the indicator lights on his body lit up one by one, flashing with dangerous red light.

"The real fight is just beginning!"