Chapter 78

Hearing Shang Jianyao's description, Long Yuehong felt a chill run down her spine, fear rising, and she couldn't help but interrupt him:

"Stop, stop!"

"Don't make it sound so terrifying, okay?"

"To help you remember it better," Shang Jianyao explained with a serious face, "so when you encounter it later, you can react immediately."

"No, don't say it like that. It's better not to encounter it at all!" Long Yuehong was truly afraid of Shang Jianyao's loose lips, as he considered himself a jinx, worried that whatever his friend said would come true.

Shang Jianyao "hmm"ed, then turned to look at Jiang Baimian at the front, nodding sincerely:

"Thank you."

While he was describing, Jiang Baimian had proactively shone the flashlight backward, creating a very good effect.

Among their group of four, only Jiang Baimian held a flashlight. The others, needing to hold weapons and complete their shots in the first instance, had only turned on the flashlights attached to their gear belts, letting them shine vertically downward, illuminating a small area around them.

Jiang Baimian laughed and turned the flashlight forward:

"What you just said matches my guess.

"Since the hallucinations we see don't originate from ourselves, they must come from the 'Higher Unfeeling' who creates them. With her intelligence only slightly higher than that of beasts, she can't process and handle information too complexly.

"Therefore, we can preliminarily conclude that what we see are things she has encountered before, possibly with some simple rearrangement and recombination.

"That's interesting."

After hearing the team leader's words, Bai Chen spoke thoughtfully:

"That extremely terrifying aura, which makes one unable to even stand, seems to really exist...

"I wonder where that 'Higher Unfeeling' encountered it... and what the owner of that aura looks like..."

At this point, she and Jiang Baimian answered in unison:

"That mysterious laboratory!

"The source of that loud roar!"

Pang pang pang, Shang Jianyao clapped the side of his 'Berserker' assault rifle with one hand, as if applauding.

"Thank you," Jiang Baimian responded sarcastically, then, while sensing the electrical signals around and observing the area illuminated by the flashlight, she organized her thoughts and said, "Perhaps that 'Higher Unfeeling' once approached the laboratory, or even entered it through some passages that normal people can't detect, feeling that extremely terrifying aura..."

"What about that writhing mass of flesh?" Long Yuehong asked instinctively.

Bai Chen thought and replied:

"It might be a failed experiment from the laboratory. However, the old world has been destroyed for nearly seventy years, and failed products couldn't have survived until now."

"Perhaps the 'Higher Unfeeling' saw a mass of flesh that had been blown to pieces and usually catches writhing insects for food, so she combined the two when creating the hallucination." Jiang Baimian tried to understand the essence of the scene, "The old woman with a face full of wrinkles and the infant skeleton in the swaddling clothes should really exist, but it's uncertain whether the former still wanders somewhere in the city ruins."

"In short, either the old woman has even more bizarre abilities, or her experience touched some instincts of the 'Higher Unfeeling,' leaving a deep impression, naturally incorporating what she saw and heard into the hallucinations she created."

Bai Chen immediately speculated:

"Perhaps that old woman was also a 'Higher Unfeeling,' but her child died in infancy? She always held the child's skeleton, refusing to acknowledge it?"

"This would definitely touch other 'Higher Unfeeling' with reproductive and maternal instincts."

"But the problem is, 'Higher Unfeeling' should lack language ability, so why could she say 'You're disturbing Xiao Chong'? Could this be the special aspect of that 'Higher Unfeeling'? Also, her age doesn't seem to be one that can bear children, unless..."

Jiang Baimian spoke and thought, gradually finding the answer.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao laughed first:

"Who hasn't been young before?

"Maybe that old woman was only in her twenties when the old world was destroyed?

"At that time, she became an 'Unfeeling,' and her child died on the spot.

"This was a huge blow to an 'Unfeeling' with reproductive and maternal instincts, causing her to remember the words she said when her child died.

"Afterward, she held the child, hunting while repeating the words:

'You... are disturbing... Xiao Chong...'

"Thus, she kept repeating these words until the baby became a skeleton, and her face was full of wrinkles.

"Even today, she might still be somewhere in the city ruins, holding the swaddling clothes with the infant's skeleton, repeating:

'You... are disturbing... Xiao Chong...'"

"Whoa, don't speculate on such serious matters with a ghost story tone!" Long Yuehong felt a chill all over, as if the words "You... are disturbing... Xiao Chong..." echoed in her ears.

"Don't you think this is a great topic?" Shang Jianyao was quite regretful.

"Aren't you afraid?" Long Yuehong asked with a slightly distorted expression.

Jiang Baimian interrupted their "dispute," nodding lightly:

"This is similar to what I thought.

"Alright, let's stop discussing. We just need to understand the situation preliminarily.

"Let's leave the underground quickly and return to the first floor. We'll have plenty of time to review later."

"Yes, Team Leader!" Long Yuehong forced herself to lower her voice.

As they spoke, they had already reached the end of the current corridor.

"Turn left," Jiang Baimian said without hesitation.

Turning left and then left again at the end would lead them back to the corridor with the stairwell entrance.

After giving the instruction, Jiang Baimian subconsciously turned her head to look to the right.

That direction led deeper into the current floor.

"Ah, what a pity, I really want to find the underground machine room, restore power to the city ruins, open the door of the mysterious laboratory, and see what secrets it holds and what research was being conducted."

The voice was not female but had a slightly magnetic male tone.

Jiang Baimian quickly turned her head and gave Shang Jianyao a look:

"Ha, are you even dubbing for me?

"Yes, that's what I was thinking.

"Can you guess what I'm thinking now?"

Shang Jianyao answered seriously:

"Really want to beat Shang Jianyao's dog head."

Before Jiang Baimian could respond, Bai Chen sighed helplessly:

"Team Leader, we need to return to the first floor quickly."

"I know, I know." Jiang Baimian glared at Shang Jianyao, "It's all because of this guy, he's a real mood killer. I'm talking to you, be serious!"

After saying that, she ignored Shang Jiany and stepped into the left corridor.

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao followed closely behind.

On this corridor, some of the rooms on both sides were open, allowing a view of the opposite corridor, while others were closed, with unknown contents inside.

Jiang Baimian only sensed the electrical signals and didn't try to open all the closed doors to search for potential secrets.

As they moved forward, Jiang Baimian's eyes narrowed, and she shouted loudly:

"Hide!"

While speaking, she lunged diagonally forward, rolling into a nearby room.

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao completely trusted her and immediately took evasive actions.

The first two darted into the nearest rooms, while the closest to Shang Jianyao was a closed wooden door.

This didn't stop Shang Jianyao; he crashed through the door with a bang and rushed inside.

The next second, a grenade flew from somewhere, landing where they had just been.

Boom! The surrounding doors shattered, the ground cracked and sank, and flames left scorched marks.

After the grenade, no further attacks came, and no figures appeared.

Jiang Baimian, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong continued to hide in their positions, not daring to come out rashly.

At this moment, in the room Shang Jianyao had crashed into, a light was shining.

Shang Jianyao saw a lit LCD screen, with some strange, non-human figures moving on it.

In front of the LCD screen was a black machine. A black-haired boy, who had been sitting in front of the machine, was startled by the intrusion, dropped the controller, and hid behind a nearby table.

Shang Jianyao's reaction was completely different from what the boy expected. He didn't make any attacking or dodging moves but looked at the LCD screen seriously:

"What is this?"

The boy was stunned for a few seconds and answered fearfully:

"It's, it's a game.

"A very old game... I couldn't find a virtual game pod, so I can only play this kind..."

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"Is it fun?"

"Pretty fun," the boy answered instinctively.

"How do you play it?" Shang Jianyao sat down and asked sincerely.

The boy observed for about ten seconds, then timidly left his hiding spot, slowly and weakly sitting next to Shang Jianyao and picking up the controller.

"By the way, what's your name?" Shang Jianyao asked very politely.

The boy was about seven or eight years old, and as soon as he got the controller, his chubby face seemed to glow.

He answered casually:

"Me?

"My name is Xiao Chong."

PS: Please give me a recommendation!