[Restart Volume] Chapter 221: Resident Evil
Mo Xing gazed at the tree-shaped luminous halo on the wall and couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.
With a thunderous rumble, the great tree on the wall split open at Mo Xing’s position, revealing a massive door being pushed aside!
What lay beyond astonished Mo Xing even more:
Petri dishes!
Reagent cabinets!
Lab benches!
And all sorts of experimental equipment!
This was nothing less than a biochemical laboratory!
Who... who had built a biochemical lab here?
Weaving his way through the myriad instruments, Mo Xing spotted biological skeleton specimens in the cabinets and tiny insects writhing in the petri dishes, a wave of nausea instantly washing over him.
“Whoosh—”
Suddenly, Mo Xing heard a faint breathing sound and immediately dashed toward it. The sensation was unmistakably human breathing!
Where?
Not here!
Nor there!
He kept running, turning corners, searching desperately for the source of the breath. The lab was vast, cluttered with so many instruments that even after all this time, he hadn’t spotted the person—but the breathing grew clearer, almost as if it were pleading:
“Help me!”
He had to find this person; perhaps they were the key breakthrough in the entire case!
He must find them!
He must...
Rounding yet another corner, Mo Xing froze in shock at the scene before him.
“Mian...”
“Senior Brother Mian Hua!!!!”
Overcome with despair, Mo Xing saw Senior Brother Mian Hua crucified, his hands and feet bound by chains, his upper garment torn to shreds, countless thin red tubes inserted deep into his muscles.
Mo Xing rushed over, pulling out those red tubes one by one.
Senior Brother Mian Hua should have been like always—teasing Senior Brother Cai Hong in the dormitory!
He should have been bragging about his skills to Teacher Tian Qi as usual!
He should have been joking carelessly with Mo Xing himself!
Not in this pitiful, wretched state!
Thinking of all this, Mo Xing wept bitterly as he pulled out the red tubes.
“Thought some little lab rat had wandered in?” a voice came from behind. Mo Xing spun around—it was the masked man!
“I’ll kill you!” Mo Xing unleashed his staff from the Titan Ring and charged!
“You insignificant ant, you’re no match for me!” Before Mo Xing could cast “Ice Pillar,” the man waved his finger slightly, and an invisible force hurled Mo Xing backward.
“It’s still not too late to leave. For her sake, I’ll spare your life—for now,” the masked man smiled.
“Leave?”
Mo Xing struggled to his feet, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
“I’m taking Senior Brother with me!”
He shouted, gathering water element to unleash “Ice Blade,” a row of sharp ice spikes shooting toward the masked man.
“If you won’t show respect, then don’t blame me for being ruthless!” The masked man summoned a purple longbow; a violet-blue gale swept through, shattering the ice spikes instantly and sending Mo Xing crashing into the wall.
“Haha, utterly feeble!” The masked man crushed his mask and tossed it aside. “Before you die, take a good look at who wields such power!”
Mo Xing slowly pushed himself up against the wall, seeing the man channeling a teal-purple energy that formed an arrow with a lingering afterimage.
It was—
“Li Qingchi?!!!” Mo Xing gasped.
“Heh, glad you recognize me,” Li Qingchi smirked wickedly. “Let me make your death crystal clear!”
Li Qingchi raised his bow, nocked the teal-purple arrow, and loosed it with brutal force.
The arrow tore through the air like a carnivorous beast ripping open its prey’s hide. At this distance, there was no way to dodge such a powerful shot!
A blue-white light flickered in Mo Xing’s eyes. He raised his hand and swung fiercely; his staff flew over and deflected the arrow into the wall!
The arrow veered off course—just two centimeters from Mo Xing’s shoulder!
“Oh?” Li Qingchi paused briefly at the sight.
Seizing the moment, Mo Xing sprang up and bolted!
“Interesting,” Li Qingchi muttered, grabbing a petri dish nearby and slamming it onto the floor. The blood-red liquid spilled as the tiny insects within buzzed and began to swell.
“Let them keep you company. Rather than dying suddenly, I’ll let you suffer slowly.”
Li Qingchi chuckled, then strode over to reinsert the fallen red tubes back into Mian Hua’s muscles, gripping his skull firmly.
“Mian Hua, though I’ve often disliked you, your body is indeed the prime test subject for the red serum ‘MEIKO.’”
Mo Xing frantically sprinted through rows of storage cabinets and lab benches, telling himself never to look back—one arrow from Li Qingchi would mean death!
But wait—why was there no pursuit behind him? Had Li Qingchi stopped? No, villains were ruthless; he must be biding his time to ensure survival... No! Mo Xing had to go back and rescue Senior Brother Mian Hua!
He glanced behind; Li Qingchi had not followed. He exhaled in relief.
But now unarmed, his novice staff stuck to the wall like a mere decoration, his pair of swords taken by Li Xiangcao, and no proper weapon in hand—if only he could conjure one.
Right!
Suddenly remembering, Mo Xing’s Dragon God power was water element, which could freeze into ice! His umbrella was made of ice after all. By the same principle, he could gather water element once more to forge an ice sword! Then he’d have a weapon for battle!
Mo Xing stretched out his hands, summoning water element, slowly crystallizing it into ice, and shaping a blade.
Crafting a weapon demanded concentration, so Mo Xing failed to notice the winged blood-red insects swarming toward him.
“Bzzz bzzz bzzz—”
Hmm?
The sound of bees? How could there be bees in a sealed lab?
Spinning around, Mo Xing saw a swarm of blood-red winged insects circling above, jaws wide open, ready to strike!
Damn!
What was going on?!
A plump blood-red bug lunged; Mo Xing dodged but still lost a lock of hair!
“As the ancients said, the body’s hair and skin are gifts from one’s parents! And you bite off so much hair just like that?” Mo Xing drew his half-formed sword, swinging wildly to fend off the insects!
But the onslaught intensified; the blood-red bugs swarmed at him relentlessly!
“Ice Pillar!”
Suddenly, a ring of ice pillars made of water element crashed down beside Mo Xing, freezing the attacking bugs midair. As a fast-start skill, Ice Pillar was now second nature to him.
More blood-red bugs closed in, so Mo Xing raised his ice sword.
“Icy Water • Spiral Storm!”
Leaping into the air, he swung the blade, slicing through a line of blood-red insects, then spun down to another spot, sweeping away more swarming foes.
Spiral Storm! A spell of the Magic Swordsman class, it involved rapidly spinning the blade in midair to slash enemies ahead. Though its damage wasn’t great, it served as a mobility skill, allowing brief flight to evade encirclement or to harry enemies.
Coupled with Mo Xing’s water element, the spinning blade sprinkled droplets, disrupting opponents unexpectedly—it was basically—
“A water-spraying bamboo dragonfly!”
Of course, he couldn’t call it that out loud, so borrowing from the original name with his own twist, he dubbed it—
“Icy Water • Spiral Storm!”
Wait! Now was not the time to name skills! It was time to fight desperately!
Another wave of blood-red bugs surged in!
“Slash!”
Mo Xing ran and slashed down the flying bugs. As one batch fell, another swarmed in! Jumping over a lab bench, he noticed even more blood-red insects crawling from beneath!
Good heavens! When would it end?!
Mo Xing felt on the verge of madness! Even if he were the Thousand-Handed Guanyin, he couldn’t keep up!
Spotting several vials of differently colored serums on the bench, he snatched one and hurled it at the blood-red bugs, then unleashed “Icy Water • Spiral Storm” and leapt to another bench, continuing his flight.
“Bzzz bzzz bzzz—”
The buzzing faded as the bugs gathered, not pursuing him but seemingly “conspiring” together.
No—it was worse.
Mo Xing hadn’t gone far, and from where he stood, he clearly saw the insects attacking each other!
What was happening?
Among the blood-red swarm were some purple-red bugs—the ones he’d just struck with serum! The two colors fought viciously, tearing at each other!
More precisely, the purple bugs charged the red ones but were overwhelmed and counterattacked.
Mo Xing noticed some vials inside a nearby cabinet, each labeled:
Blue serum marked “KAIT O.”
Pink serum labeled “LUKA.”
Red serum labeled “MEIKO.”
...
And the purple serum, the one he’d just thrown, labeled “GACKPO.”
A string of cryptic codes—what were they? Mo Xing frowned, suddenly piecing things together. The color of the serum infecting the bugs altered their hue and behavior!
The purple serum’s effect was unclear, but the red serum definitely caused berserk states. So the blue serum likely calmed them down!
Mo Xing opened the cabinet, grabbed several blue vials, and hurled them precisely at the red bugs.
A perfect hit!
Some fell, soaked in the blue liquid on the floor, their exoskeletons turning blue shortly after.
“Using poison to fight poison!”
Seeing it worked, Mo Xing continued throwing more blue serum.
Suddenly, the blue bugs in that area took flight again, swirling around like headless flies.
“Bzzz bzzz bzzz—”
A few blue bugs charged toward Mo Xing, followed by a massive swarm including the red bugs!
“Damn! What’s going on?!”
The insects formed a vast, interwoven red-and-blue net, descending upon him relentlessly!
“Help!”