This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 348 Infinite Proliferation (Please Subscribe)

Chapter 348: Chapter 348 Infinite Proliferation (Please Subscribe)

Chen Ke’s mind voice was intermittent and seemed to become clearer after he entered the spherical containment station.

Although he had already smashed the record player that played the black vinyl records, the spread of the memetic influence didn’t seem to have stopped.

He looked at Wang Ailin and felt something was odd. Wang Ailin was not influenced at all, squinting her eyes at him...

Recalling the previous time when Wang Ailin was under the memetic influence, she had called him, leading Chen Ke to this spherical containment station below.

There was also the bus driver, who had been driven by the memetic lure to come pick him up specifically.

Chen Ke frowned. Could it be that the voice was targeting him?

"Partner/companion."

The voice kept hinting, wanting Chen Ke to find it. He did not know exactly what that thing was, but he was sure it was not as benign as it claimed.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Chen Ke asked Wang Ailin, wanting to ascertain the situation.

Wang Ailin nodded and took out a notebook to write some things down.

"We might as well see if there’s anything here we can use; look, I still don’t have a weapon, and it is never reassuring to be empty-handed," Parker interjected at that point, looking around as if choosing something.

"No! These are all highly dangerous contained items." Wang Ailin snapped the notebook shut, stopping him.

"You just have to tell us what these things do, and we can pick something less extreme to take," Parker said.

"Absolutely not! If these items could be utilized, we would have handed them over to the Administration Bureau long ago. Using containment items recklessly will lead to irrevocable disaster," Wang Ailin walked around Chen Ke to stand in front of Parker, looking at him very seriously.

"I think Wang Ailin has a point; it’s better not to touch these things," Chen Ke said.

Seeing Chen Ke say this, Parker gave up on the idea of using these containment items, but the notion of being unarmed still left him uneasy.

"I don’t have a weapon, and I won’t be of any help if we come across anything dangerous," Parker said.

"You do have one, Parker; you’ll find out when the time comes," Chen Ke said with a smile.

Parker, puzzled, didn’t ask further because he knew Chen Ke wouldn’t tell him so easily. He could only abandon his idea and continue following Chen Ke and the others.

After descending to the containment level, they hardly saw anyone around because most researchers stayed on the research level. In theory, the only places in the spherical containment station that people could access were the research level and some maintenance tunnels.

To avoid unnecessary trouble as much as possible, they decided to go down to Hall 1 through the maintenance channel behind the wall.

Parker moved away the plastic cover of the maintenance passage on the white wall, revealing a half-meter-tall maintenance entrance. An adult would have to stoop to crawl through it.

Inside the maintenance shaft were cables and wires, part of the entire power system of the spherical artificial layer, like veins.

It was one thing for Chen Ke and Parker, but it was a little too much for Wang Ailin, a female scientist, to stoop and crawl through.

Chen Ke had expected Wang Ailin to be utterly reluctant, but to his surprise, this woman scientist was quite capable.

Wang Ailin tore off the edge of her purple dress with a snap to make crouching easier and took off her high heels, standing in brown thigh-high stockings on the ground.

"I’ll crawl in first, and then..." Chen Ke had only started speaking when Parker transformed into a stream of black ash, seeping into the maintenance passage.

"The space inside is bigger than it seems, no danger, just too dark... Come on down," Parker’s voice called out after the two of them watched for a while.

"I’m a bit envious of him now..." Chen Ke said helplessly.

He let Wang Ailin go first, and he brought up the rear, just in case something strange was trailing them.

Wang Ailin was hunched over, like a cat, carefully creeping into the maintenance tunnel, and Chen Ke followed closely behind.

As soon as Chen Ke entered the narrow tunnel, he was hit by a wave of heat. After all, it was an enclosed space—narrow and full of wiring, with no air circulation. It was natural for it to be warmer.

You had to crawl to get into the tunnel, but once inside, you could actually walk bending over at the waist.

The tunnel wasn’t pitch black; various red and green indicator lights flickered, making it seem like a passageway filled with dim light.

Since she wasn’t the athletic type, Wang Ailin’s movements in the tight tunnel looked a bit clumsy, and given her somewhat plump figure, she inevitably got caught up in various things.

Chen Ke supported her from behind while keeping an eye on what was behind them. After walking for a few minutes, Wang Ailin’s back was already slick with perspiration, looking greasy and damp.

"It’s too hot. I’ve never come running in here for fun. What a rare experience," Wang Ailin mumbled to herself as she moved forward.

"Parker?!" Chen Ke called out ahead.

"I’m up here. There’s a ladder on the side we can go down, but..." Parker’s voice sounded distant.

"But what?" Chen Ke asked.

"Something’s blocking the way. I just rushed down several floors in one go, but the maintenance tunnel below is clogged by a large mass of flesh," Parker shouted.

"Flesh...?" Chen Ke questioned.

He and Wang Ailin made their way down the narrow passage in silence for about fifteen minutes. Parker had turned into a grey mass and could go down several levels at a time, but they had to carry on slowly, bearing the high temperatures.

Chen Ke didn’t mind. He could feel the temperature but had lost all reaction to it—cold or hot, it made no difference to him.

But it was different for Wang Ailin. The temperature in there must have been over 40 degrees Celsius, and just a few minutes inside had already left her sweat-soaked.

Finally reaching the ladder to go down, Wang Ailin was almost overheated and looked like she was going to suffer heatstroke. She shakily reached for the metal ladder to descend, and Chen Ke resisted the urge to look at her chest.

Halfway down, Wang Ailin cried out as she slipped and slid down.

"Are you okay?!" Chen Ke looked down from the ladder opening.

"I caught her," came Parker’s voice from below.

After the false alarm, Chen Ke followed down and finally arrived on the lower floor—another tight space to crawl through. Wang Ailin must have sustained some scrapes when she fell.

After meeting up with Parker, the three continued to walk in the narrow passage until reaching the spot Parker mentioned was blocked by a large mass of flesh.

It was a pinkish mass that seemed like a mix between mushrooms and meat, with dark brown spots. Chen Ke poked at it with his hand, and it was soft, leaving an indentation the size of a fist.

"What is this..." Chen Ke was puzzled; no information popped up in his field of vision.

Holding her chest, Wang Ailin leaned to the side, panting. She was drenched in sweat, clearly not one for heat. She pushed her glasses up, squeezed past Chen Ke, looked closely at the substance, and said, "It’s another containment subject, harmless, but it reproduces continuously..."

"Reproduces continuously...? Is this thing alive?" Parker asked.

"It’s like a bacterial thing... It grows slowly, but its growth is limitless. It only needs oxygen, and then it can keep growing... This thing was originally only as big as E. coli," Wang Ailin said, wiping the sweat from her face and neck.

"When was this thing brought in?" Chen Ke asked.

"Probably... about half a year ago," Wang Ailin answered.