Chapter Sixty-Three: Mutant Species with Disordered Genes

Deep within the green glow of the night vision goggles, the three of them stared ahead in shock, barely able to believe their own eyes.

“What is that?” Yao Ling was utterly stunned, speaking almost unconsciously.

A human torso atop a spider’s body. Through the green hue of the goggles, Ye Bai saw, not far ahead, some sort of mutant? But it didn’t seem exactly like one of the usual mutants, yet it was there, waiting for the three of them.

It looked as if the upper half of a strong adult man was firmly affixed to a spider’s body—six-pack abs, exaggeratedly muscular arms, every inch radiating explosive power. Yet every finger was only half there, with some unknown liquid dripping down, and from the back of each hand, ten sharp claws protruded.

The face was even more grotesque. The bald head was covered in wounds, stitched together so thickly it looked as if centipedes lay sprawled across the scalp. The eyes had been sewn shut, with liquid—presumably blood—seeping continuously from the seams. Over mouth and nose, there was a contraption like an oxygen mask, through which each breath sent liquid surging in and out of tubes.

Clack, clack, clack.

The black spider legs tapped against the cement floor, sending up sparks with every step.

The visual impact and the shock gripped them, leaving them frozen. Only when the human-spider hybrid surged toward them did they snap back to reality. Each time it raised or lowered its claws, sparks flew, and where the human torso joined the spider body, water splashed with every movement.

Unlike other mutants, this creature charged without a roar, without a single cry to bolster itself. With every step, all Ye Bai heard was the sound of liquid flowing and the agony of suffocated breathing.

Since the outbreak of the Dark Era War, monsters had appeared endlessly across this land, and mutated beasts grew more numerous by the day. To survive, one had to gather the latest information. Thus, the Four Great Academies were established, dedicated to discovering new mutants and eliminating known ones.

No matter how much the creature suffered, it was the enemy. In a confrontation, only the brave survived. Ye Bai slowly raised his blade before him. Yao Ling stepped back a few paces, pulse rifle in hand. Cao Xiaoseng, ghostlike, was already closing in on the monster.

Bang.

A streak of white light flashed as Yao Ling fired first—the pulse gun’s beam struck the monster, but instead of blasting flesh and blood as expected, it disappeared into the creature as if into water, absorbed and gone, leaving only trembling abdominal muscles.

By then, Cao Xiaoseng had reached the creature. He extended a knuckle-duster-clad fist, aiming to break one of the spider legs. But when he struck, his weapon merely slid off the monster’s limb.

The monster must have felt pain, for it swiped at Cao Xiaoseng, who, realizing he couldn’t injure it, leapt back to Ye Bai’s side.

“What’s going on?” Ye Bai asked, seeing Cao Xiaoseng withdraw.

“It’s slippery—my knuckle-duster can’t hurt it,” Cao Xiaoseng replied, eyes locked on the monster.

The liquid dripping from the creature’s severed fingers sprayed outward with every movement of its claws. Yao Ling, at a distance, instinctively blocked the flying droplets with her pulse rifle.

A sizzling sound erupted from the rifle’s surface. Soon, a corroded hole appeared in the gun.

“Ye Bai, Xiaoseng, be careful. The liquid from its fingers is highly corrosive.” Yao Ling tried to fire again, but the weapon was ruined. She discarded it and drew another weapon from her kit.

Ye Bai gripped his blade in his right hand, fire energy coursing along the blade, and slashed at the creature’s human torso.

Though it had no eyes, the monster could still somehow track Ye Bai’s movements, accurately sensing his position no matter how he shifted around it.

Unable to outmaneuver it, Ye Bai readied himself for a direct assault. As the monster’s claw swept toward him, he dodged back. Then, in a surge of elemental force, his blade blazed red-hot, as if just forged and unquenched—yet the weapon, purchased from the Armory, withstood the strain without cracking.

He brought the blade down on the monster’s arm, but the claws on its arm instantly extended, blocking the blow. Fire energy scattered, while the liquid from its severed fingers flew partly to the floor, partly toward Ye Bai.

Hearing Yao Ling’s warning, Ye Bai didn’t hesitate. He withdrew the blade and used the flat to block the flying liquid.

Sizzle.

The sound of corrosion reached Ye Bai’s ears, but there was no time to check the blade’s condition. He turned to Yao Ling and Cao Xiaoseng, “Move! Go deeper!”

During his brief clash with the creature, Ye Bai had noticed a long tube was connected from the monster’s back to the oxygen-mask-like device on its face. With the light from his fire energy, he saw that the creature exhaled blood-red liquid, while the tube fed in green fluid.

When Ye Bai drew the monster away, blood began to pour from its stitched eyes, and the supply of green fluid lagged behind, as if unable to keep up. The creature retreated.

Knowing this, Ye Bai realized that the nearly invulnerable monster depended on the tube and had a limited range. He signaled Cao Xiaoseng and Yao Ling to bypass it and go deeper. There was no need to kill the creature—after all, their mission was to investigate the riot’s source, not eliminate every mutant. Once the source was destroyed, the mutants would stop attacking the outpost.

Ye Bai was certain there were many such creatures in the radiation zone. Killing them all was impossible and pointless, and any casualties would be a needless loss. As long as these things stayed within the radiation area, they could be left alone. Ye Bai’s AI had already recorded the creature’s data during their first encounter.

They had expected a new species, but it turned out that this monster was already documented.

Mutant Spider-Man: A bio-weapon manufactured by high-grade mutants, immune to attacks below the Foundation level. Created through crude gene-splicing technology, these hybrids have fatal flaws and have so far shown no intelligence. They rarely leave their designated area, and their weaknesses are usually evident. Unless absolutely necessary, it is not advisable to attempt to kill these gene-mutants.

The three of them didn’t linger, circling past the mutant spider-man. The creature did not attack as they slipped deeper into the facility.

“What’s that sound?”

“Hm? What’s going on?” Ye Bai turned to Cao Xiaoseng, who had stopped to listen.

During the fight, Ye Bai had blocked some of the flying liquid with his blade, but in the heat of the moment, he hadn’t checked its condition.

“It’s your blade, Ye Bai,” said Cao Xiaoseng. By now, the three of them knew they’d been exposed anyway. Each drew a Glow Source from their wrist-mounted AI.

Glow Source: A lighting device unique to the Four Great Academies, requiring AI activation. It is a biological lighting tool capable of glowing anywhere on Earth, and its brightness can be amplified tenfold under AI control.

Ye Bai finally drew his blade. The three of them gaped at what they saw.

Wherever the mutant’s liquid had splashed, the blade was now pitted and uneven, riddled with tiny, shallow craters. Even after this long, the liquid persisted, still corroding the metal like something alive.

“What’s happening?” They were dumbfounded—the blade had barely seen use, and now it was already “retiring”? Had their credits just gone up in smoke? Ye Bai’s heart ached for his lost credits, especially since he’d borrowed one from Yao Ling. He cursed the old man at the Armory, “Damn old geezer, what junk did you sell me? It’s about to break before I even use it!”

Ye Bai was about to curse further when he felt something odd gripping the blade.

His internal wood energy was draining away. In Yao Ling’s and Cao Xiaoseng’s astonished gaze, the entire blade began to glow green. Ye Bai realized his hand was stuck to the blade, his wood energy still being siphoned out. If it had been any more, he’d have had Cao Xiaoseng force the blade from his grasp.

The wood energy enshrouding the blade grew stronger. The droplets in the corroded pits seemed to sense something and began to stir. The whole blade vibrated, shaking the droplets off, as if invisible hands were scraping the corroded parts away.

Ye Bai finally regained control over his energy and quickly withdrew the wood force. In this cursed place, every bit of energy could mean life or death.

As the wood energy faded, the blade reappeared in their sight, as pristine as when it had first come from the Armory.

“What happened?” This time it was Cao Xiaoseng’s turn to ask. He had never seen metal that could repair itself.

Yao Ling shook her head, equally baffled. Ye Bai had no idea either.

“Let’s not worry about it for now. We’ll deal with it once we’ve solved the main problem.” Ye Bai turned and continued deeper into the facility.

Now, with Glow Sources in hand, the three of them illuminated a wide area. Only then did they see that the ceiling above was crisscrossed with pipes as thick as barrels, in every color imaginable, their purpose unknown.

“Ye Bai, there’s a door over there.”

Yao Ling pointed to a door not far away, apparently leading further underground.

“Let’s go down and take a look.”

There was no turning back now—they could only grit their teeth and press on.