The aliens surrounding the small truck caught fire, with the first to be ignited being the leaking truck. As the flames shot up, the fuse prepared for explosion immediately started to burn. Within just a few seconds, the gas station exploded and all the aliens were engulfed in flames!
Xu Huo used the Bull Shield to protect himself but was blown dozens of meters away by the blast, crashing into a residential building. He then became buried under the collapsing structure!
Normally, he would have been either dead or severely injured, but in less than a minute, he regained consciousness from the shock, pushed off the rubble that was on top of him, stood up, reattached his dislocated arm and walked out of the ruins.
Staggering to the nearest cage, he found the entrance wide open, with the metal plates used to seal off the aliens toppled to one side. Although it appeared to be completely undamaged before, Xu Huo now smelled a faint scent of potion at the opening.
"Buzz!" A high-frequency sound emanated from the depths of the cage. He was instinctively drawn to it, feeling an urge to approach and destroy the source of the sound!
Blood streamed from his nose and mouth, mixing with the blood dripping down from his head and continuously falling to the ground. Xu Huo wiped his mouth and looked at the blood on his hands; his eyes, though slightly capable of night vision, suddenly experienced brief moments of darkness.
He shook his head and leaped into the passageway of the cage, crawling rapidly through the tunnel toward the source of the sound.
There was only one passageway underground, and even with his eyes closed, it didn’t hinder his progress. Three minutes and sixteen seconds later, he arrived at the source of the sound—a high-frequency instrument sealed behind ornate iron bars.
There were marks of violent hits on the window, but they hadn’t damaged the device inside.
Xu Huo unscrewed the screws on the side and reached in with one hand to grasp the black device that had been stimulating his nerves, sweeping away the debris only to find that behind it was empty. Peering inside, he discovered that it was actually a rather spacious room.
Squeezing through the narrow passage and falling to the ground, he hit the only table in the room. The leather case on it tipped over, spilling out several syringes of different colors as well as a notebook.
Xu Huo collapsed to the ground, barely managing to open the notebook. While covering his bleeding nose and mouth, he struggled against the dizziness to check its contents.
"... Inherent flaws of the Evolution Potion ... deaths and mutations during the evolution process ..."
"The early stages of mutation exhibit characteristics of perfect evolution ..."
"Symptoms include photophobia and weakened eyesight ..."
"Different mutant individuals display varying states ..."
He quickly flipped through several pages and the content began to change:
"... Dr. Wu ... P0S injection ... light blue ... Perfect Evolution Potion ..."
"After use ... no longer reliant on oral potion ... and cessation of evolution won’t result in mutation or death ..."
"... the completed version of P0 Potion ... must be used at the beginning of evolution ..."
"... after taking P1 Evolution Potion ... once the second stage of evolution starts ... the evolution process is irreversible ... S-Version Drug ineffective ..."
Shivering, Xu Huo fumbled on the ground for the light blue injection. His eyesight was almost gone, and with his mind in disarray and vision impaired, he eventually found two blue syringes but, unable to distinguish the colors, didn’t know which one was the correct P0S injection!
"Cough!" He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground, his limbs convulsing uncontrollably!
"Vomit! Vomit!" The splattering blood clogged his mouth, the thick scent of blood numbed all sensation and senses, he felt his humanity slipping away, Xu Huo fiercely grabbed two syringes and pushed them into his arm!
In the pitch-dark underground passage, empty syringes fell to the ground, the man lying next to them kept emitting pained moans, his curled body twitching violently, spitting blood in great gasps against the floor, veins on the limbs pulsing repeatedly, squirming like young snakes, rushing towards the heart and brain along the body, then flowing out through the pores and nose and mouth!
The noises inside alarmed the aliens at the other two passage entrances. They kicked and beat against the iron bars, the sounds from both sides intermingling, at first the inside drowned out the outside, but slowly the outside sounds overwhelmed the inside, and gradually, the noises inside ceased...
Within the walls, Wang Chaoqing held a flashlight, kneeling on the drawbridge, and looked at the broken iron chain in despair, "This door simply can’t be opened... we can’t get out... we can’t get out..."
Ke Liang’s palms were all bloody, he gasped for breath and said, "If the door can’t be opened, did we miss the timing and it’s locked for good, or should we wait until tomorrow night?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the alien still following them, "Seems like there are no other aliens... They can’t get up here."
Gu Yu’s watch had been adjusted for time, it was just twelve-thirty now, she said, "It has nothing to do with the time, the door is just too heavy and the iron chain is broken, we few simply can’t pull it open."
"Then what do we do? Shall we turn back?" Ke Liang looked back and said, "After running that far, I really don’t want to go back, and I don’t know what Xu Huo’s situation is like now?"
When Xu Huo was mentioned, Gu Yu’s eyes trembled, she glanced at Shen Xin who was unconscious beside her, and said solemnly, "We have to try no matter what."
Ke Liang kicked Wang Chaoqing, "Go carry Shen Xin."
Wang Chaoqing, resigned to his fate, threw the flashlight, "I won’t carry him! After finally getting to the exit, can we even get out if we go back?"
Ke Liang grabbed him, "Are you stupid? Can you get out by just waiting here? With the iron chain broken on this side, we can only leave from the west gate if we go back to the town!"
Wang Chaoqing suddenly came to his senses, quickly got up to move Shen Xin, "Right, there’s the west gate!"
"Let’s go." Gu Yu helped lift Shen Xin, and they turned back along the drawbridge.
They had not gone far when footsteps sounded ahead.
"Xu Huo!" Gu Yu moved forward with joy, but the person who appeared in the light was Lin Pei, holding Xu Huo’s Sword in his hand!
"It’s you!" she and Ke Liang immediately became wary, "Why do you have Xu Huo’s item in your hand!"
Lin Pei smiled, "What do you think?"
"Did you kill Brother Xu?" Wang Chaoqing asked in shock.
"Impossible!" Gu Yu slapped her belt, worn around her waist, "This is also Xu Huo’s item, if he were dead, the item should have become unclaimed."
"You’re right," Lin Pei said coldly, "but what of it? He’s already been poisoned by the alien, death was just a matter of time."
"Where is he?" Gu Yu demanded.
"Who knows, maybe hiding in some corner of Fenbei Town waiting to die."
"He went back to Fenbei Town?" Gu Yu remembered what Xu Huo had said earlier, guessing that he might have gone to find the Antitoxin, then she stared at the bloodstain on Lin Pei’s abdomen, "Looks like you’re not lightly wounded either."
Lin Pei’s face grew dark, he held Shen Yi’s Bull Shield in one hand and Xu Huo’s Sword in the other, "I am wounded, but killing a few of you will be easy!"