Published at 24th of February 2020 4:36 pm

Chapter 17

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“Fuck!” Jin Sen yelled. “Below me!”

He was right. The next moment, An Zhe felt the ground shaking under his feet. This feeling was very close and very real, like a sledgehammer beating across the floor. Just then, there was a loud bang at the end of the corridor. The iron door made a crashing sound and the prisoners there yelled with panic.

“They are also over there.” Poet’s words suddenly accelerate. “Underground creatures, are they rodents? They live in groups and the Southeast Base was—”

He hadn’t finished speaking when he changed his words. “No, rodents don’t have this much power. Underground…”

There was the clatter of footsteps and a group of soldiers in black quickly descended the stairs. Flashlights shone and a voice came from the loudspeakers in the corridor. “Don’t panic, the foundation of the city’s defense station is very strong, with cement and special steel plates added. We are trying to find out the reason. Don’t panic.”

If they hadn’t been shouting and quickly opening the prison doors to let the prisoners out, these words would be more credible. At the same time, there was a harsh chirping from outside, the alarm going up and down like waves.

“The evacuation signal is ringing.” Jin Sen banged on the door vigorously. “Brother! Open it for me!”

A soldier hurriedly opened three prison doors in the distance and then came over. Boss Shaw was on the outside. The soldier soon found the corresponding key to the door, quickly inserted it into the lock and the door was opened. Boss Shaw rushed out and the soldier quickly said, “Turn right and go upstairs to find the exit!”

Boss Shaw stumbled a few times before running to the right. Dust fell from the ceiling and the soldier wiped his face before standing in front of Poet’s door.

At this time, Jin Sen shouted, “He has been imprisoned for life! He is dangerous! Release me first! I’m a good citizen!”

The soldier seemed to hesitate. Then as the ground shook more and more, he turned to open the door of Jin Sen’s prison. Jin Sen’s hands grabbed at the iron door as his voice trembled violently. “Brother, hurry up.”

An Zhe saw the soldier’s hand shaking several times before the key was inserted into the lock.

Jin Sen told him, “You are my brother—”

His voice came to an abrupt end. The floor creaked and his entire body was lifted as a huge black object surged up against the cracked ground and dirt.

There was a dull sound as Jin Sen’s body was squeezed by the monster against the ceiling. His eyes popped up as something sharp pushed against his abdomen and blood mixed with viscera dropped down. There was a terrible scream and An Zhe’s pupils dilated. He slowly turned his head to see the soldier who had opened the door was being crushed by the iron door, sharp points penetrating his thigh and right chest. He held his leg on the ground as he twitched and coughed violently. A large mass of blood came out, probably because his lungs were punctured.

There was a bang and the black thing fell back down in a heavy manner. It created a hole in the ground where the bottom couldn’t be seen. Jin Sen’s body fell in and was no longer visible.

The shouts of other soldiers came from deep in the corridor. “Get out—!”

Then the next second, the ground cracked and a huge roar came from over there. Iron doors fell to the ground and the ceiling broke and fell. Two cries of fear rang out before coming to an abrupt halt.

An Zhe heard the sound of chewing. The prelude was the sound of water. Then a dull friction, the sound of limbs squeezing each other and finally the sound of bones creaking and breaking. The sounds came from the end of the corridor and the hole opposite An Zhe.

The soldier in front of him twitched. His flashlight fell to the ground and rolled a few times, the pale beam of light hitting the dark hole.

At the same time, mycelium stretched out from the gaps in the iron door and gathered together around a keychain scattered on the ground, slowly dragging it back to the iron gate. Inside, the keys rubbed against the ground and made a noise. An Zhe saw the soldier looking frightfully to this side but he couldn’t manage so much. He also knew the soldier didn’t need to be handled because the soldier had taken his last breath.

An Zhe asked next door, “What door am I?”

Poet’s voice trembled. “17. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” An Zhe replied. He estimated that his iron door was right next to Poet’s iron door. Poet’s vision was limited and he wouldn’t be able to see the scene of An Zhe taking the keys.

The mycelium was recovered. An Zhe quickly grabbed the keys, found number 17 and removed it. The chewing sound accelerated.

The mycelium held the number 17 key and once again protruded from the iron door. Part of the mycelium was attached to the iron door to detect the position of the keyhole. Another part of the mycelium inserted the key inside. The mycelium was fragile and the strength was limited. More and more mycelium gathered together and the key was finally twisted. There was a click and the lock popped open.

An Zhe grasped the remaining keys tightly and headed to the door next to him. His hands shook a little as he turned the number 18 key. Then the soldier’s flashlight shone onto he keyhole and to the left. The chewing sound stopped completely at this moment.

“My god…” A young man rushed out the door, stumbling. An Zhe didn’t even have time to see his face as he dragged this person over the soldier’s body. The two of them ran to the only safe right corridor. The ground was still trembling, indicating there were more than two of these things under the ground.

Just then, the emergency light in front flashed a few times before being completely extinguished. The front path fell into complete darkness. An Zhe heard Poet next to him gasp a few times. “Don’t look back.”

Still, An Zhe couldn’t help turning his head back. A bug. A black worm as wide as half the corridor.

Its body resembled a snake but it was divided into distinct segments. At this moment, it was emerging from the huge hole in the ground, holding its head up in the direction of An Zhe and Poet. It couldn’t be said that this was the head. It didn’t have any structure of the head, only a round mouthpiece filled with teeth.

Behind it, another identical worm was coming over. Two mouthpieces with dense teeth rubbed against each other, looking at this side in unison. They headed over here, the speed not slow at all. There were only a dozen metres between then and An Zhe could smell them.

Poet gritted his teeth and shouted, “Go!”

However, the ground gave a sharp shake and a huge force threw An Zhe into the wall. There was a sharp pain from his left arm, as if he had hit a deformed iron door. He propped himself up with his arm and Poet pulled him as they ran through the darkened corridor in the direction they remembered. Anything could happen in the dark. Perhaps a third worm would appear in front of them or they might hit a wall because they couldn’t see anything.

—An Zhe really hit the wall. His head slammed into a piece of metal and it hurt. His entire body had hit something. The net moment. something wrapped around his waist, trying to raise him up and standing upright again.

The wall had hands.

“Is there any living people behind you?” It was very close and Lu Feng’s voice rang out faster than usual.

An Zhe’s heart almost stopped before he replied, “No one.”

Everyone inside was dead.

“Prepare the uranium bomb, the maximum equivalent.” Lu Feng had just finished speaking when a dazzling white light came from here and rushed deep into the corridor. Before An Zhe could react, he was pressed down by Lu Feng and rolled over the ground, pressed below this person.

The next moment, there was a dull explosion and white light flashed in front of his eyes. Lu Feng’s figure was a dazzling shadow on An Zhe’s retina. He closed his eyes, clutching at Lu Feng’s cuffs with his right hand. He gasped for a short time because he had been running too fast just now.

The ground was still shaking violently. Three seconds later, he was pulled up from the ground by Lu Feng and there were others beside him. The lights turned on here and Lu Feng ordered, “Go.”

An Zhe followed them and climbed up the stairwell. He didn’t have much energy left but the magical thing was that Lu Feng’s hand helping him seemed to have a special skill. Whenever he couldn’t keep up, he would be pulled and taken forward. It was unknown how long An Zhe followed blindly before the cold air outside finally filled his respiratory tract. He almost leaned on Lu Feng as he gasped.

Lu Feng told him indifferently, “It’s okay.”

“Apprentice! Apprentice!” A man came up and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from Lu Feng. It was Boss Shaw. An Zhe finally became better and his vision cleared. He said, “Poet…”

“I’m here.” A voice was heard from behind him. An Zhe turned to see a young and beautiful man leaning against the wall. Due to the strenuous exercise, he was gasping hard. Once he finally recovered, the man spoke quickly, “You are very good at hitting people.”

An Zhe, “……”

Before he could say anything, Lu Feng’s voice rang out.

“Director Howard, you’re late.”

An Zhe looked forward and saw a row of soldiers standing in front of him, headed by a tall man in the uniform of the city’s guards. His hair was grey and there was a majestic hook nose. The emblem on his shoulder was the same as Lu Feng. He also had the rank of the colonel and seemed to be in charge of the city’s defenses.

Howard’s voice was calm and cold as he was. “I had prepared for an indiscriminate bombing so it was very difficult when Colonel Lu entered an area beyond his authority.”

“After all, my prisoners are still inside.” Lu Feng’s tone was cold. “The ultrasonic dispersal instrument is in this place. You dare to do indiscriminate bombing?”

“The Trial Court doesn’t have to worry about the equipment of the city’s defense station,” Howard declared. “You should see if the people coming from underground are infected.”

“You shouldn’t worry about the work of the Trial Court.”

Howard’s eyes stared heavily at An Zhe. An Zhe briefly looked at his and realized this person was staring at his left arm. It was bleeding from his injury in the underground corridor.

Lu Feng’s right hand gripped An Zhe’s shoulder. “I will take him away and monitor him during the buffer period.”

Howard told him, “Thanks for the trouble.”

Then he turned to the soldiers of the city’s defense station. “Prepare for the bombing.”

Thus, An Zhe was taken away by Lu Feng in front of Boss Shaw.

Lu Feng’s office in the city’s defense station was in the main building’s auxiliary building. It was a room without any decorations. The moment An Zhe entered, Lu Feng locked the door.

An Zhe thought this might be a precautionary measure. If An Zhe was infected and turned into a monster, he wouldn’t be able to run out of this room.

He saw Lu Feng walk to the grey desk, open the drawer and pull out a bunch of white things that he threw at An Zhe. An Zhe subconsciously caught it and realized it was a roll of bandages. The Judge’s intention was to let him bandage his wound. He sat down in front of another table and chair near the window and started to make the bandages. He thought that although the Judge could convict people at will, he might be a good person.

He had hurt his left arm. It was a small injury and not very painful, but it was cut by the iron door and blood seeped out. An Zhe tore off a bandage that was around half a metre long and started to use his right hand to wrap it around his left arm. It didn’t work.

It wasn’t easy to wrap it with one hand and it couldn’t be tied. Human fingers weren’t as flexible as the mycelium, not to mention that only one could be used. Moreover, he wasn’t particularly familiar with human limbs. However, An Zhe felt that as a human on the surface, it would be too embarrassing if he couldn’t even tie a bandage. Thus, he frowned and continued to tie a knot.

He felt a gaze. Lu Feng was watching him.

He continued to tie it. However, the thought of the Judge watching his every move made his knotting technique become worse. After three minutes of hard work, not only did the knot fail but his hand shook and the bandage wrapped around his arm was released. The moment it was released, An Zhe was so angry that he wanted to spread out his mycelium.

A chuckle came from opposite him.

In fact, it wasn’t a laugh. It was just a short breathing sound but An Zhe could hear it. The tone was sneering and it was a laugh.

An Zhe, “……”

The Judge was laughing at him.

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