She was brought up a Sky Tree, hidden below by dense leaves. Although they had already been open with each other, the directness of Lu Chen’s gaze still made Su Mo feel somewhat awkward.
After she had voluntarily stripped down to her underwear, a breeze came by, causing her to shudder momentarily.
Lu Chen’s eyes were dark, a surge of emotion at their depths, but his hands deftly dressed her, piece by piece, "Done."
The two sat down on the trunk, Su Mo swinging her legs, "Do you think, among the data that could cause a change of leadership at the base, there could be, maybe, an antidote?"
The fact that it was placed on this treacherously perilous island made Lu Chen skeptical of its benignity, but facing Su Mo’s slightly hopeful eyes, he kept his thoughts to himself.
What he needed to do now was merely retrieve a certain document and then live a good life with her.
A drop of rain splashed on Su Mo’s head; she looked up—it was falling through the gaps in the leaves, "It’s raining."
Jianxiong found a huge rock from outside and blocked most of the entrance with it before Sun Cheng started a fire inside.
The light rain began to fall outside, making the cave damp, and this shower only intensified the moisture within.
But at that moment, no one was fussy; everyone gathered around the fire. Su Mo took out a iron pot, cooked some porridge, and added mutant pork Lu Chen had brought along with some oil and salt for seasoning, serving everyone a generous portion.
Su Mo had cut the entire piece of meat into the porridge, taking up most of it; she thought that they needed to eat well tonight.
Everyone quietly finished their porridge, and Lu Chen personally stayed on guard for the first half of the night, while others found spots by the fire to sleep.
Su Mo curled up in her sleeping bag, her head resting on Lu Chen’s legs, her eyes reflecting the red glow of the fire. She listened to the crackling of the wood and rubbed his thigh, slowly closing her eyes.
Deep into the night, having traversed the rainforest for two days without sleep, Lu Jin finally reached the bridge. Several zombies emerged from the jungle, already detected by their Spiritual Superpower User earlier in the day.
"It looks like Lu Chen’s losses aren’t small either; so many have died," Li Chuan said, seeking shelter from the rain under a Sky Tree by the bridge, observing the only thirty superpower users left.
The black rain on the ship, along with the previously rampant Cannibal Flower and Mutant Tiger, ensured that those without superpowers, yet were elite soldiers, had already perished, leaving these thirty who were all superpower users.
One of them stepped forward, unleashing a superpower aimed at the zombies’ heads.
It was the sound of flesh exploding, mingled with a soldier’s scream.
Watching the splattering of white maggots, Lu Jin’s eyelids twitched, "Don’t let the bugs bite you!"
But it was too late for his warning, and chaos ensued.
Li Chuan continued to watch the spectacle from the side. As he looked up, he saw a rope hanging across the air connecting the riverbanks.
Taking advantage of a moment’s distraction, he climbed up and promptly burned through the rope with fire. Amidst the rain mixed with the screams of the superpower users, the sound of the falling wood into the water didn’t seem so conspicuous.
"Such carelessness, that won’t do," Li Chuan sat on the trunk, his smile chilling.
Outside, the sound of thunder rumbled, abruptly waking Su Mo. She opened her eyes to find herself gazing into Lu Chen’s phoenix eyes, the whites marbled with red veins.
Had he been watching her all night?
She got up from his legs, reached out to his handsome features, "Why don’t you rest a while? I can keep watch, this first half of the night is almost over."
"No need, I’ll sleep later."
The thunder outside grew louder, so Su Mo shifted closer, snuggling into his lap, "I’m not sleepy anymore, I’ll stay with you."
His embrace was cool, but it was still exceptionally comfortable compared to the damp chill on the ground.
The two of them nestled together quietly until Fang Xia got up to change guard, then Su Mo and Lu Chen slept for a while longer.
The rain outside had stopped by the time it grew light.
After packing up, Jianxiong pushed open the rock, and everyone walked out.
The rain had just passed, and the ground and leaves were covered with black raindrops. In order to avoid infection, the few remaining soldiers in the team were completely covered from head to toe, with not even a slit open, leaving only their eyes exposed.
Jianxiong, quite tall, specifically walked in front of them, pushing aside the leaves to clear the path.
Following the map, they finally reached a massive steel electronic gate covered with a variety of weeds.
Next to it was a small cover, which Lu Chen opened, and a blue screen lit up, followed by a series of mechanical electronic sounds:
"Identity verification."
"Initiate iris scan."
A beam of red laser shot out from the screen towards Lu Chen’s eyes, disappearing a few seconds later.
"Welcome to South Island Laboratory, Admiral Lu Chen, Level 1 authorization, entry permitted."
Finally, someone had come to rescue him. Deep within the underground control room, a giant tentacle tapped on the keyboard. The glasses perched on the bridge of its nose were half shattered, and the creature with only one human eye crouched in front of the computer, watching the camera.
The massive steel door slowly opened, revealing a long corridor leading underground.
Everyone raised their alertness to the peak.
Lu Chen led the way inside.
A ghastly pale blue light formed a long guiding stripe on the floor.
Along the science fiction-themed corridor, the walls, pristine and devoid of any bloodstains, displayed the projection of a young woman. From a speaker above her head, her voice emanated, repeating over and over:
"Welcome to South Island Laboratory. I am Guide R. South Island Laboratory is dedicated to the study of biology and human evolution. We possess the most advanced equipment and research lifeforms beyond human cognitive domain..."
Su Mo, listening to her looping broadcast, unconsciously linked the mention of organisms with the body-snatching parasites in her mind.
She had a faint feeling that all this was no coincidence.
This island, it seemed more like a massive biological laboratory. All the creatures they had encountered along the way, with their diverse and mutant killing traits, seemed purposeful.
As they moved deeper, they arrived at the first password-protected door labeled "Observation Room."
Lu Chen noticed the camera mounted on the door, its red light blinking, "Fang Xia, do you know where the people are?"
Su Mo also saw the camera and was immediately surprised: "There are still people alive here?"
Fang Xia had tapped into his spiritual power to its fullest, but here...he frowned, "My spiritual power is being blocked, I can’t detect anything."
"Apparently, last month, South Island sent out very frequent distress signals," a soldier replied.
Being able to survive in such a place, Su Mo felt a sudden chill, that ominous feeling, it had come again.
"Access granted, welcome inside."
The door opened, releasing a burst of white vapor after which the lights inside turned on.
Fearing the vapor was toxic, everyone took an antitoxin before entering.
Inside were various strange creatures, each suspended in glass containers filled with a pale green medicine.
They were neatly aligned on both sides, with each glass container having an electronic screen in front, detailing various biological data.