Lin Fen and Colonel Yu looked in the direction of the cries and saw two orange dots on the water.
“Wuwuwu… My Binunu, ah…”
Colonel Yu was slightly moved. “It’s Qin Shen and that Little Cowlick.”
“Qin Shen?” Lin Fen’s expression sank. “Didn’t we order the medical station to keep a good eye on him? Why didn’t they bring him along during something as important as evacuation?”
Colonel Yu also frowned. “As a Grade A guide, I saw him return on the back of a quantum beast at the start of the flood. I could also sense the violent fluctuations in his mental power, which is a sign of evolution rather than zombie mutation. The medical station’s staff were most likely unsure if he would mutate or not and simply didn’t bring him just in case.”
Lin Fen walked towards the metal ladder. “Qin Shen is currently evolving. Whether he becomes a sentinel or a guide, he is extremely valuable to our army. We must not let anything happen to him. Yu Yuan, stay here and keep watch. I’ll go get them.”
Yu Yuan immediately stopped him. “You need to stay as the commander. I’ll go get them. They aren’t too far–”
His words came to a sudden halt. His expression became surprised and uncertain.
Lin Fen: “What’s is it?”
Yu Yuan slowly turned to him. “Just now, I felt a sentinel deep in the passage using mental power. They’re Grade B or higher.”
“A Grade B sentinel? I’m the only Grade A in the entire army. The other thirty or so sentinels are all Grade C and D. None of the 500+ people who entered the mutation phase in the settlement could evolve into sentinels or guides. Those who didn’t recover into ordinary people all became zombies.”
Yu Yuan: “That’s why I found it strange, ah. But I did just perceive the mental power of Grade B or higher sentinel.”
“Then wait here while I go check it out.”
Yu Yuan was a guide. He was very keen when it came to the mental power fluctuations of sentinels, so Lin Fen trusted his judgment and strode into the passage.
The emergency passage was like a train tunnel. Although every few dozen meters there was an emergency light, it still wasn’t very bright inside. The people from the Hives walked deeper into this tunnel that resembled an endlessly long dragon.
No one was in the mood to talk. Everyone looked terrified, with only an occasional cough or a child’s wail.
A tall, strong man wearing a baseball cap was walking in the middle of the crowd. His hands were stuffed into the pants pockets of his kind of ill-fitting sportswear. The small section of wrist visible above his right pants pocket was surprisingly metal.
By his side was a woman with a shawl covering most of her face. Her head was slightly down, even obscuring her eyes from view.
the”Even if someone discovered us, a small dagger is all that’s needed to resolve the matter. How could you use your mental power to kill knowing that Lin Fen and Yu Yuan are both here? Yu Yuan is a Grade A guide at that. He can detect you if you just use your mental power. I didn’t expect such a low-level mistake from you.”
The baseball cap man’s voice was quiet, but carried a chilling anger. This was Chu Shi in disguise, mixed in the crowd.
“I’m sorry, Deacon. Yu Yuan’s presence slipped my mind and I made a grave mistake. Please punish me, Deacon.” A-Dai hung her head and quietly admitted fault.
“Lin Fen should’ve been alerted to your presence by now. Hurry and find that kid from the Feng family first for the cipher box. Other things can wait.”
“Understood.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a small commotion up ahead. A small group of people were running in the opposite direction of everyone else towards this side.
The person running in the forefront stopped beside Chu Shi, panting as he whispered, “Deacon, we searched from beginning to end but did not find the boy.”
“Are you sure?” Chu Shi paused in his tracks.
“Yes.” The subordinate nodded. “My scorpion and the others followed the first group into the passage and worked their way backwards, meeting us in the middle. None of us saw those two brats along the way. They don’t seem to have come in at all.”
Chu Shi muttered, “They didn’t come in at all…”
A few more men arrived from in front, reporting the same results as the others. None of them found anyone. In this passage bustling with people, only they stood still. But no one had the presence of mind to pay attention to this strange group of people now. Others simply glanced at them before indifferently looking away.
“What now, Deacon? Could those two brats be dead already?”
boats”No. The water rose slowly and no boats capsized. Only an idiot would die. They should be one of the last stragglers to come in.” Chu Shi cursed, “I took advantage of the chaos just now to sabotage that gate so we can leave as soon as the water rushing in after getting the cipher box. But now the water’s about to come and those two damned brats are nowhere to be found. We don’t even have the cipher box.”
“Then what do we do now?”
Chu Shi’s gaze swept over the subordinates’ faces. He hatefully said, “What else? We’re turning around and waiting at the gates.”
They hurried towards the gates, soon leaving the crowd behind. When they were about to walk to the entrance of the passage, Chu Shi, who was in the lead, stopped in his tracks.
In the center of the opposing passage stood a tall figure in a fitted military uniform buttoned to the letter. His stern features exuded a chilling pressure.
A pitch-black vulture stood on his shoulder, its feathers slightly puffed out and ready to attack at any moment.
“Chu. Shi.” Lin Fen glared at the group opposing him and slowly spat out two words without inflection.
“So it’s Colonel Lin, haha.” Chu Shi laughed, “It’s really an honour to know that the famous Western Union Army’s Colonel Lin still remembers me. Oh oops, I need to get my eyes checked. I didn’t even see your shoulder patch. It’s not Colonel Lin anymore, but Major General Lin.”
His voice sounded casual, as if he had run into an old friend he hadn’t seen in years, but his expression was the furthest thing from a smile. His mechanical arm quietly approached his waist.
A wolf also emerged beside him, baring its long teeth and snarling in the direction of Lin Fen.
At the same time, A-Dai, who was standing behind him, had the snake protruding from her forearm while several other subordinates called out a scorpion and a weasel respectively.
Chu Shi raised his metal arm, a spike sliding out of each finger with a swish. “Major General Lin, I almost died in your hands once. It makes me very unhappy every time I think about it. Since we ran into each other today, why don’t we settle this once and for all?”
Lin Fen’s eyes stared at Chu Shi. He said coldly, “Fine by me. It makes me very unhappy too to recall how you managed to escape when I almost killed you then. Since we ran into each other today, let’s finish this once and for all.”
The air quickly stagnated as tensions flared.
At this time, a few hundred meters ahead in the passage, several soldiers following the crowd forward were frequently looking back. One of them muttered, “Major General Lin said would stay behind to close the gate by himself, but how come he hasn’t come in by now?”
“Maybe there are still people who haven’t evacuated. Don’t worry, Colonel Yu is also there.” Another soldier said.
In the crowd beside him, a man carrying many assorted sized bags suddenly stumbled. The soldier was quick to help him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just got too much stuff to carry.” The man laughed dryly a few times.
“Be careful with your feet. The tunnel isn’t well lit and there’s a lot of debris.”
“Got it, sir. Thank you, sir.”
The man bowed slightly as he profusely thanked the soldiers. When they turned to continue their quiet conversations, he quietly touched his forehead with his hand.
Half his face was hidden in shadows, the other half illuminated by the ghastly white lights of the emergency passageway. His complexion was abnormally pale and tinged with blue. A thin layer of sweat had accumulated on his forehead.
The water level in the underground settlement continued to climb. Only half the metal ladder was still above water now. It wouldn’t be long until the floodwaters rushed into the emergency passage. It was only a matter of time.
Feng Chen and Yan Bubu were still desperately swimming forward. Feng Chen sped up. Yan Bubu lay on his back and howled while quickly using the plastic plates to paddle.
Feng Chen gasped for air as he looked out beyond the splashing water. He just happened to see Colonel Yu jump in the water and swimming to them. He immediately said, “Okay, there’s no need to cry anymore. They’ve found us.”
“No more crying? Oh, okay.” Yan Bubu said hoarsely.
Yu Yuan swam to them and grabbed Yan Bubu from Feng Chen’s back to put on his own. He said succinctly, “Let’s go.”
A weight was lifted from Feng Chen’s body. He hurriedly swam after the colonel.
The three of them climbed up to the emergency passage, where Yu Yuan put Yan Bubu on the ground. He turned and went to press the closing button in the case on the tunnel wall. The closing button flashed brightly as a gate slowly emerged from the left wall.
“You guys go in first and catch up with the crowd. They’re almost halfway through already.” Yu Yuan instructed Feng Chen and Yan Bubu as all three of them stared at the gate.
“Okay.” Feng Chen took Yan Bubu’s hand but didn’t leave. “Thank you for saving us.”
Feng Chen knew that there was no one else out there. The only reason the gate was only closing now was because they spotted him and Yan Bubu. If Yu Yuan closed the gate midway, he and Yan Bubu would’ve died here.
But Yu Yuan waved his hand dismissively. “I would have stayed here to close the gate anyway. This is my duty. There’s no need for thanks.”
So Feng Chen didn’t say anything more. He turned around with Yan Bubu and walked inside. Just two steps in, he heard Yu Yuan ask, “You’ve evolved successfully, yes?”
“What?”
Yu Yuan shot Feng Chen a puzzled glance, but he didn’t ask again. Feng Chen’s brain suddenly buzzed at this time. He could clearly feel something sweep around his brain before retreating in the blink of an eye.
Although it was so quick, he could also sense that this thing wasn’t hostile towards him. Still, it made him feel kind of violated. He turned around to survey his surroundings.
“Sorry, I used my mental power to scan the outskirts of your mental domain without your permission.” Yu Yuan said he was sorry, but his expression wasn’t the least bit apologetic. “I needed to know the result of your evolution.”
“What?” Feng Chen pressed the question again.
“Nothing.” Yu Yuan looked at the gate and muttered, “I can’t believe he was able to leave the mental domain in the final moments of evolution. His sentinel mental power really is remarkable…”
Although Feng Chen was puzzled, now was obviously not the time to ask. He led Yan Bubu inside. Just two steps later, he heard Yu Yuan take a sharp breath.
The duo stopped to look back again, only to see that the gate, which used to be slowly sliding to the right, had stopped above a third of the way through.
Yu Yuan walked briskly to the tunnel wall and pressed the closing button again. The round button flashed green, indicating it was active. The gate twitched. Grinding noises came from somewhere in the mechanism, but the door still did not move.
Yu Yuan was obviously frustrated. He kept pressing the button before rushing to the gate and shaking it with both hands.
“Qin Shen, go press the button.” He saw Feng Chen and Yan Bubu still standing there looking at him and immediately ordered Feng Chen, “Press the button and I’ll close the gate. Maybe debris got stuck somewhere.”
Feng Chen immediately ran to press the round button on the wall while Yu Yuan desperately shook the door and got down on the ground to see if there was debris stuck somewhere.
Yan Bubu also went up to help look on the ground.
“Little Cowlick, do you see anything there?” Yu Yuan asked.
Yan Bubu looked in the direction he was pointing and said, “Yeah.”
Feng Chen also came over to lie down beside Yan Bubu and look inside.
In the very back, two metal spikes pierced through the gate from the rocks on either side and then deep into the opposite wall, trapping the gate in place.
“Someone deliberately sabotaged the gate by nailing these spikes to the wall. When the gate starts to close, the claw spikes would pop out and trap it.” Yu Yuan shot to his feet violently, his expression very ugly.
Feng Chen also stood up, asking, “So what can we do now?”
“The gate of the emergency passage is made of a new type of metallic material. It doesn’t look thick, but it’s actually very durable. These claw spikes are not ordinary either if they can actually penetrate the gate. We’ll need specialized tools to cut them.”
Yu Yuan turned to look out at the monstrous flood outside, and the Hives that looked much smaller due to how many layers were hidden beneath the water surface.
“Everything’s flooded out there, so where can we go to find tools? And even if we manage to find them, it will take several hours to cut those claw spikes. The water will be here in half an hour at most. There’s just no time…”
Although Yan Bubu couldn’t fully understand Yu Yuan’s words, he understood that the sharp spikes were stopping the gate from closing and the water would be here soon.
He soundlessly got up from the ground and went to pick up the two plastic plates he had just tossed, ready to continue paddling later.
Yu Yuan twisted away violently. “Come, come. Let’s run. As long as we don’t run into any delays on the way, it’s possible to get out of this passage within half an hour.”
Feng Chen didn’t waste time talking, He leaned down, picked up Yan Bubu and ran into the passage after Yu Yuan.
Yu Yuan spoke into the walkie-talkie as he ran, “Attention all squads, attention all squads. Have all evacuees run towards the exit. All evacuees should run towards the exit and leave the emergency passage ASAP.”
But at that moment, the sounds of shots being fired came from ahead, unusually loud as they echoed in the confined space.
Yu Yuan was shocked. His head jerked up. His expression became tense for a moment before he put away the walkie-talkie and darted forward.
Feng Chen’s heart also skipped a beat. Something had happened ahead! He also picked up the pace and went after the colonel.
A few steps later, he saw a white blur suddenly emerge from Yu Yuan’s body and hover above his head. The white crane that obviously didn’t belong here also flew towards the source of the gunfire.
Feng Chen instantly realized one thing.
–So Yu Yuan was also one of those abnormal people. He was the ‘same’ as A-Dai. The ‘same’ as him.
No wonder he asked those strange questions just now. But what was mental power and mental domain? And what was a sentinel?
Was it a military rank he hadn’t heard of?
Feng Chen didn’t have time to think about all this, because right at the forefront of his vision was a group of people engaged in a brawl.
“Look, Big Brother! It’s that bad guy again!” Yan Bubu, who had been silent all this time, immediately recognized that one of the people fighting was none other than Chu Shi. He pointed him out with a finger.
Feng Chen also recognized Chu Shi and A-Dai, as well as their opponent. It was actually Major General Lin.
Chu Shi was facing off against the major general with his eight subordinates.
There were several bodies on the ground already as the battle raged on between the two sides. Bullets weaved in and out of the air, creating a shower of sparks as they struck the tunnel walls. Yet everyone managed to dodge them skillfully.
Feng Chen and Yan Bubu were still some distance away from the battlefield. He hurriedly held Yan Bubu tight and hid in a darkened spot not illuminated by the emergency lights.
Yan Bubu was never too afraid as long as Feng Chen was with him. He just held the teen’s neck tighter without making a sound. Right now, Feng Chen’s attention was on those very out of place animals.
He saw A-Dai’s snake, but also a wolf and scorpion that he had never seen before… Was that a weasel jumping up and down?
After both sides exhausted their bullets, they shifted to close-quarter combat. The muffled sounds of fists and flesh colliding echoed inside the tunnel.
Chu Shi’s mechanical arm headed straight for Lin Fen’s face, the sharp spikes adorning the knuckles glinting coldly through the air. Lin Fen sidestepped and the fist smashed into the tunnel wall. Several puncture holds immediately appeared on the hard rock surface as debris clattered down.
While dodging, Lin Fen also kicked one of the subordinates away. The man flew back almost 10m and landed heavily on the ground, coughing out a mouthful of blood.
Yet he instantly rolled to his feet and lunged viciously into the melee once more.
No matter how skilled Lin Fen was, he was one against many. After dodging Chu Shi’s attack and kicking away one of the subordinates, another person managed to land a hit on his back. His body swayed before stabilizing.
Taking advantage of this, Chu Shi’s wolf silently pounced, its sharp teeth aiming for the major general’s neck. The weasel that had been watching on the side also suddenly rushed over, aiming at his lower abdomen.
Lin Fen’s vulture had just pecked the scorpion and was flying overhead with A-Dai’s snake in its beak. Its sharp claws pierced into the snake’s belly and dragged downward when it saw the wolf and the weasel teaming up.
It could only drop the snake and dive bomb the wolf, but there was no time to deal with the weasel.
With a clear vocalization, a white crane swiftly flew to Lin Fen and blocked the weasel. It extended its sharp beak at the same time to fiercely peck at the weasel’s eyes.
The weasel let out a shrill hiss and retreated.
One of the subordinates ran at Lin Fen with a dagger in hand. Lin Fen caught and twisted his wrist. The dagger clattered to the ground as the crunching of bone came. However, another subordinate approached from the side at the same time. Lin Fen received a fierce punch to the ribs.
“Lin Fen, you won’t be leaving alive today.”
Chu Shi’s voice was cold. His mechanical arm clenched into a fist, the spikes aimed straight at Lin Fen’s chest. A-Dai and the other subordinates also lunged towards the major general with their daggers at the same time.
Seeing that Lin Fen couldn’t possibly avoid everyone’s attacks no matter what, Yu Yuan, who was sprinting towards him, pressed his fingers to his temples as he ran and shouted, “Stop!”
Feng Chen immediately felt a force slam into him from the front. Invisible shackles seemed to wrap around his limbs.
Not only did the shackles stop him in his tracks immediately, his limbs went weak and crumpled helplessly. The Yan Bubu he was holding in his arms screamed as he crashed to the ground.
