Chapter Sixty-Four: Evolution, Another Form of Intelligent Life

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Zone D, being at the edge of the radiation area, had only been touched by the weaker shockwaves from the initial explosion of weapons of mass destruction. The devastation here wasn’t severe, resulting in the preservation of many artifacts from before the Age of Darkness—one of them being the elevator.

Following the direction pointed out by Yaoling, Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng spotted the elevator. Not far from its doors, a red light glowed above, displaying “B1”.

“Is this still functional?”

Ye Bai found it hard to believe the elevator before him was operable. Everyone living in the Age of Darkness knew that, though many things from before remained in the radiation zone, none were usable due to the effects of radiation.

Cao Xiaoseng shrugged, walked over, and pressed the button beside the elevator. To their surprise, the elevator doors opened.

“Looks like there’s power here. Come on, or should Ling’er and I go down first to scout?” Cao Xiaoseng stood inside the elevator with Yaoling, who smiled at Ye Bai.

The presence of electricity was inexplicable; this was the last place one would expect to find it. Yet, the basement had reached its end with nothing discovered, and so far they hadn’t encountered any intelligent mutants. Clearly, the secret lay below.

Ye Bai said nothing and stepped into the elevator.

“Ding.”

The double doors closed, shutting out the darkness that had tried to squeeze inside. Lights illuminated all four corners above, bathing the entire elevator in brightness.

Bright, very bright, yet the light that fell on the three felt cold. Goosebumps rose on their skin inexplicably, as if their bodies had just stepped out of darkness into light, while their hearts descended from light into hell.

Cao Xiaoseng could feel the icy chill the air brought to the blood in his pores. Awake—exceptionally clear-minded—perhaps the clearest he had ever been since birth. He hoped this mission would go smoothly, suppressing his unease, standing in the corner of the elevator, adjusting his state.

“Ding.”

Another soft chime, and the doors opened. Ye Bai stepped out first, but for some reason, he felt uneasy. The radiation zone was said to be the most dangerous place, yet after being here so long, apart from low-level mutants, they’d faced almost no attacks. The first basement floor was full of “tough” mutants, but they hadn’t been activated, or perhaps were controlled.

“The smell of formaldehyde.” As soon as they exited, a pungent odor hit Yaoling’s nose. As a battlefield medic, she was highly sensitive to this smell—her family used similar chemicals to preserve corpses.

Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng said nothing. Lights were installed on the ceiling of basement level two, unlit but providing enough visibility.

On either side of them were two rows of human-height glass vessels, filled with formaldehyde to preserve bodies from decay. Although the basement’s temperature was low enough to keep corpses for long periods, it wasn’t cold enough to freeze them, and exposure to air would cause oxidation—eventually, the bodies would rot.

The three walked forward slowly, occasionally glancing at the corpses soaked in formaldehyde. Yaoling was unfazed—her family’s specimen room was larger and housed more bodies; she was used to it.

Ye Bai, however, noticed that the bodies they passed were all sorts of mutated beasts and mutants. Right by the elevator, an eyeball the size of a human head stared out, as if trying to memorize those emerging, intent on dragging their souls to hell.

Most here were mutants and mutated beasts; human bodies were rare. So far, Ye Bai had seen no more than five vessels containing organs resembling those of humans.

Among them, one was unmistakably a woman’s organ—more precisely, a soon-to-be mother, just a few months pregnant. As they passed, the vessel held only the woman’s womb, inside which rested a fetus not more than three months old, never to glimpse the world. Farther on were specimens resembling human arms and legs.

The corridor of specimens wasn’t long, about fifty meters. Before long, the three had passed through.

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It was indeed an underground laboratory. Beyond the corridor, five smaller labs of varying sizes appeared, with mutants in white clothing moving in and out.

Given the mutants’ sensory abilities, the three of them, so close to the labs, should have been noticed. Yet the mutants ignored them, continuing their work.

“What do you think?” Ye Bai asked Yaoling and Cao Xiaoseng.

Yaoling stepped forward, observed carefully, and spoke: “It’s not right. Those are all low-level mutants, none above entry-level intermediate. How do they possess intelligence to establish labs?”

She pointed at a newly emerged mutant: “This one is just like the aquatic mutant we saw when we came down. Something must have happened for it to turn out this way. Family records and school libraries all state aquatic mutants lack intelligence.”

Yaoling recalled her elder brother’s advice: “Never rely too heavily on what’s written in books. They’re for reference only—you never know how quickly mutants can evolve in reality.”

Cao Xiaoseng, like Ye Bai, was adept at slaying mutated beasts and mutants, but these inexplicable phenomena left him just as perplexed.

As Ye Bai hesitated on what to do next, suddenly the concrete ground in front of the labs sank, and mutants sprang out, lunging at them.

Of course, there’s no game you can clear without fighting the boss. The inevitable had come. “Cao Xiaoseng and I will handle the three aquatic mutants; Ling’er, you take care of the ordinary ones.”

The aquatic mutants were entry-level monsters. Unless the pulse gun hit a vital spot, it couldn’t kill in one shot. As their name implied, the aquatic mutants’ vital points weren’t fixed, unlike ordinary mutants whose heads were their weak spots.

For some reason, after humanity survived the darkest early days of the Age of Darkness, they changed little. Nearly everyone followed the path of attribute power pioneered by the Three Kings. Occasionally, a rare genius would blaze a new trail, but the unknown ahead was daunting—like crossing a river by feeling for stones, never knowing if the next step would find a stone or a piranha’s jaws. Often, these talents faded as quickly as shooting stars.

Mutants and beasts, on the other hand, were forced by brutal survival laws to evolve upwards. The aquatic mutant they now fought had only been discovered three years prior and was like an armory—whatever weapon you used, it could morph into.

Ye Bai wielded a long blade, its edge imbued with attribute power. The aquatic mutant’s right hand melted like liquid, elongating into a sword shape, even mimicking attribute power—though instead of red, it was black.

Facing a mutant mirroring himself, Ye Bai felt as if he were gazing into a mirror.

To use a blade, one needs an unstoppable momentum, never letting an opponent break the force accumulated from the first strike. Otherwise, the energy dissipates—like the saying: “once, then decline, then exhaust.” The momentum never matches the initial surge.

Longer is stronger, shorter is riskier. Both wielded long blades, but Ye Bai remained wary of the mutant’s other claw.

Ye Bai launched the attack, cleaving toward the mutant’s head. The mutant responded, forced to block with its blade. Ye Bai didn’t expect to land a decisive strike, and spun to deliver a flying kick to its head.

A sharp crack sounded—the aquatic mutant’s neck broke, exposing vertebrae. For a human, this would be fatal, but for a mutant, it barely mattered. Black sinew instantly surged, repairing the injury.

The aquatic mutant retreated several steps. Ye Bai followed with a downward slash; as he neared its chest, his internal fire attribute power erupted, flames roaring along the blade, extending its length.

“Bang.”

The blade struck the mutant’s chest, entering at the left shoulder and exiting through the groin. Flames spouted from the wound, lighting the area instantly.

The aquatic mutant collapsed, its heart falling out, along with a black crystal inside. So easily? Ye Bai felt the mutant had been dull, almost like a newborn, ignorant of everything.

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He picked up the black crystal from the floor and hurried to assist Xiaoseng, who was still entangled with the other two aquatic mutants.

Before the mutants charged, Cao Xiaoseng had told Ye Bai that he would occupy two while Ye Bai quickly dispatched the other, then come to help. So Ye Bai had expended attribute power without hesitation to finish his foe swiftly.

He blocked a mutant’s downward swipe; surprisingly, the claw resembled Cao Xiaoseng’s finger guards, diverting the mutant’s attention and easing Xiaoseng’s burden.

Ye Bai stood, watching the mutant he had just kicked away. As it rushed toward him, its right hand transformed into a long blade, left hand into a finger guard.

A gust of blade wind howled before him. Ye Bai sidestepped, the blade slashing past. Suddenly, wind stirred behind him—Ye Bai reversed his blade, the mutant’s left-hand finger guard struck hard against its back.

Ye Bai staggered forward, off balance.

“Is the gap really this large?” Was this a different species from the one he had just vanquished? Ye Bai was astonished.

“Ye Bai, Xiaoseng, finish the aquatic mutants quickly. The longer you take, the worse it’ll be for you.” Yaoling retreated while shooting ordinary mutants, using glass vessels as cover—more than capable of handling them.

Indeed, both Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng sensed the aquatic mutants growing stronger. At first, Cao Xiaoseng could suppress two alone, but within two minutes, he was being overwhelmed. If not for his agility, he’d have been down by now.

Cao Xiaoseng’s ten finger guards glowed with yellow earth attribute power, reaching for the mutant’s heart. The aquatic mutant, however, swept its leg in a spinning move to dodge—a technique Cao Xiaoseng recognized as his own.

Compared to Xiaoseng’s agility, Ye Bai’s style was more direct and forceful.

He slashed, the mutant blocked, Ye Bai kicked, the mutant flew. The mutant’s finger guard swiped at Ye Bai’s face; Ye Bai dodged but his chest was scratched, sparks flying from his armor.

Once in close quarters, it became Ye Bai’s domain. He gripped the blade’s hilt and tip, bending it like a drawn bow, launching the mutant away with a loud snap.

His eyes tracked the flying mutant; his long blade, charged with fire attribute power, darted after it.

In a flash, the blade pierced the mutant’s chest, tearing out its heart and pinning it to a glass vessel.

Cao Xiaoseng, meanwhile, managed to kill his opponent, though not without cost.

Yaoling was still circling with the remaining mutants. Cao Xiaoseng swiftly dispatched them all. Ye Bai pulled his blade from the glass vessel, retrieved the black crystal inside, and walked forward, exposing the formaldehyde solution.

Just as Ye Bai reached Yaoling and Cao Xiaoseng, the entire basement suddenly began to tremble.