CH 9

Chapter 9

When Zhou Yu left the shuttle cabin, he had a better understanding of the situation at the base.

The area of the base was about the same as the research center he first entered. Judging by the level of damage, this place had been through an explosion.

Everything was in ruins, and the electric lines were destroyed. There wasn’t even a chance that Zhou Yu could find a working telephone.

A few Perytons were aimlessly wandering about. They had already hunted so now they looked a little bored.

The base was located in a spacious and empty location, and Zhou Yu could see a jungle off in the distance. Narrowing his eyes, he could even see several giant birds spiraling in the skies above the dense jungle as if they could come flying this way at any time.

Zhou Yu searched the bodies of the dead researchers, but he was unable to find any communication tools. That’s right, researchers will more often use computers for communication. To find a communication device, he had to locate an armed guard.

Zhou Yu surveyed his immediate environment. Surrounded by the herd of Perytons, there was a body wearing camouflage fallen in the middle.

Zhou Yu walked over there and half-squatted down. He searched the body and finally found a badly damaged and half-missing communication device; it was useless.

Were they trapped here with no way of contacting their colleagues or the base?

Juli Corp didn’t just have one base. If they sent a rescue party without being able to contact the base and were exposed to this dangerous environment, it was only a matter of time before they’d all be massacred.

“Hey, you sure have some guts. When Mr. Song said you aren’t afraid of Perytons, I thought he was exaggerating. Who would’ve thought that it’s actually true.”

Zhou Wu turned around and saw Wu Yun.

He was carrying all sorts of weapons and equipment on his body and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses from who-knows-where on top of his head.

“Catch,” Wu Yun threw something at Zhou Yu, “Although you can keep your composure while facing the Perytons, it doesn’t mean that you won’t keep your cool in front of other organisms. Perytons aren’t the scariest things here.”

“What are these?”

“Suppressors. After you inject it, it can guarantee that you won’t secrete the hormone that marks you as a target no matter how afraid you are within the next 48-hours.”

“Thanks,” Zhou Yu put it in his bag.

“Don’t thank me, thank the researchers at Juli Corp. This suppressor is the lifesaver for all field workers. The ones in the research center have mostly been blown up… You’re not going to use it?” Wu Yu tilted his head.

“Alright. Come here and help me. This base is already destroyed, we need to get to the next base.” Wu Yun turned his body around.

“Where’s the closest base?” Zhou Yu asked.

“It’s not far through that forest called ‘The Demon’s Eye’,” Wu Yun said easily.

“Are you joking? We all know forests will have danger lurking under every leaf. Also, that forest is pretty big, can we pass through it before nightfall?”

If it was just him and Wu Yun, then it was fine. Both of them had been through specialized combat training, but what about Zhou Qing and them? They were all doctors and academics without the strength to truss up a chicken.

“That’s why we’re going to use this guy.” Wu Yun pointed with his jaw.

Zhou Yu followed Wu Yun over a broken wall and saw an off-road vehicle. It was somewhat different from the cars in the other world, it was more sturdy and had more functions.

“This is a specialized car for traveling through forests.”

“Yes. I packed everything we can use inside it.” Wu Yu opened the trunk of the car, other than weapons, there were rations and water. A black box also sat inside.

“What’s this?” Zhou Yu asked.

“An embryo for research that didn’t get blown up. Although we don’t know what rank the organism inside it is, it’s very important to any research base in the initial stages of its life.”

“Really?” Zhou Yu put his hand on the box and in that second, it was as if something inside it resonated with his heartbeat.

His body was surrendered in a surge, as if his spirit had been captured by something.

“Zhou Yu, are you alright?” Wu Yun laughingly looked at Zhou Yu, “Don’t lose this thing, it can save us a lot of work. If we have a subject we can study, then those lead researchers won’t ask us to capture those dangerous organisms as often. Get in.”

“That thing in the box, can it move?” Zhou Yu asked.

Wu Yun lost his smile, “How can it move? The embryo in the box can only continue growing under special conditions to mature into life.”

“Is that so? We have to take it with us?”

“What’s with you? Zhou Yu, I thought you weren’t scared of anything?”Wu Yun also placed his palm on the box. His expression was the same as usual, as if he didn’t feel anything.

“Ok, let’s go.”

“Trust me, if you don’t want as many dangerous missions in the future, then don’t provide any source materials for those crazy researchers.”

It looks like Wu Yun was already very familiar with the way Juli Corp worked.

Zhou Yu followed Wu Yun into the car.

Wu Yun lit up a cigarette from somewhere and dangled it in his mouth with an expression of being as easy-going as an immortal.

As they got closer to the herd of Perytons, Wu Yun pressed some button and a handgun appeared in front of Zhou Yu. The barrel was long, it could shoot far.

“Take out all of those Perytons. Or else when we open the cabin door, if those guys are all awake and if someone starts screaming, the two of us can’t take on all of them.”

“What are the bullets?”

“Neurotoxins…”

Just as Wu Yun’s words left his mouth, Zhou Yu had already pulled the trigger. Within five minutes, the Perytons fell one after the other, like dominoes.

“Aren’t you a little too fast?!” Wu Yun’s cigarette almost fell out.

“They aren’t standing hundreds of kilometers away. Even if I miss, they won’t know where we are.”

“…”

Wu Yun stopped the car in front of the cabin. Zhou Yu swiftly opened the car door and stepped out to pull open the cabin door.

Dr. Daniel was sitting against the wall, while Li Qian and Han Li had already woken up. They probably already heard of the situation from Dr. Daniel, they were hugging their arms with faces full of fear. Especially Han Li, her eyes were already glistening with tears.

Zhou Yu didn’t waste his words on them, he directly took out the suppressor shots. After giving them a simple explanation of its function, he injected the drug into their bodies.

Zhou Yu propped up Zhou Qing, who was still drowsy, and checked his pupils, “Why aren’t you moving? Or do you want me to kick all of you out?”

“How do we know the drug is working?” Li Qian reflected back.

“You’ll know when you go outside,” Zhou Yu’s expression remained cold.

Dr. Daniel was the first one to go outside. Li Qian and Han Li followed him out, quivering with fear.

The first thing they saw was a Peryton’s dead body.

Han Li opened her eyes wide and gasped, she held back a scream. She and Li Qian held onto each other while climbing into the car.

Zhou Yu supported Zhou Qing while entering the car, then handed a syringe to Daniel, “Give him the shot when he wakes up.”

“Understood,” Dr. Daniel nodded.

Since Zhou Qing wasn’t awake yet, using the drug would be wasting it.

Wu Yun was still smoking. Zhou Yu, who was sitting beside him, took it and threw it, “Sorry, my brother’s body is still weak, I don’t want him to inhale your second-hand smoke.”

“You sure are something.” Wu Yun rolled down the car window, unconcerned.

They traveled towards the forest.

This wasn’t a jungle expedition. Zhou Yu knew that aside from danger, they were going to face even more danger.

In Li Qian and Han Li’s eyes, the forest loomed over them like the open jaws of a demon, able to swallow them at any time.

“In the next while, if anyone screams, I’ll use this gun to shoot them.” Wu Yun pulled out a gun from his waist and waved it a few times in the air.

Li Qian and Han Li were scared enough to lean back against their seats.

Dr. Daniel, who was taking Zhou Qing’s pulse, was probably the calmest of the three.

At the moment the front windshield of the car hit onto the dense jungle vines and foliage, countless birds as large as a finger were startled and came rushing out. They knocked into the windows, scraped past the car, and emitted a sharp cry, causing everyone to cover their ears.

The force of the attack was scary, could the car be knocked over at any time?

“This is a D rank organism, called ‘Little Fingers’. Isn’t the name cute? The danger factor is only D rank, but that’s considering them individually. A colony’s power is immense. Li Qian, if you hadn’t injected the suppressant, and if you were standing outside the car, after they leave you would’ve been stabbed into a hornet’s nest by their beaks. All the blood in your body would be sucked dry too.”

Wu Yun seemed to really enjoy scaring Li Qian.

This sort of creature had definitely been explained before in their training classes.

“Why don’t you also give me a shot like Professor Zhou? At least when we’re passed out, we won’t give you any extra trouble.”

“Really? I like the way you cause trouble for us.”

“Why don’t you just shoot me then!” Li Qian clenched his fist, resisting the urge to punch Wu Yun.

“That’s a waste of bullets. Don’t worry, when the effect of drug fades and you start to get scared again, I’ll shoot you. I’ll be fast and accurate.”

When they entered the forest, they all unconsciously raised their heads to take a look.

The trees here were very tall, as if they could burst through the horizon.

The lush leaves and branches were interwoven through each other, so only a few strands of sunlight fell down from between the cracks. At night, there definitely wouldn’t be any light here.

These trees had been alive for hundreds and thousands of years. Their leaves were very peculiar, they looked like moving fingers. When they touched each other they slipped by, as if they were exchanging an embrace.

All kinds of strange animals sized up their vehicle from different positions.

A muscular, six-eyed creature jumped down from somewhere above and landed on their car roof. They only heard a “thud—” sound and before the people in the backseat could start to scream, Wu Yun started shaking around the gun in his hand.

“That’s only an E rank organism. Its IQ is rather low, and it’s not a hunter,” said Dr. Daniel in the back seat as he held onto Han Li’s hand to show comfort.

Suddenly Wu Yun opened fire on his machine gun, moving it to face the top of the car. Zhou Yu took aim and pulled the trigger into the gaping jaw of that creature, firing off a violent stream of bullets.

That creature fell from the car roof very quickly and in its open mouth was another face with twisted features.

“It’s different if there happens to be another C rank organism in his body,” Zhou Yu said.

Parasites were Nibelungen’s most basic species. Once they entered the body of a host, they could control the host’s movements. Relying on the bodies of harmless creatures to get closer to their prey, then they can live in another organism as a parasite once again.

Li Qian trembled for a long time before speaking, “C-Can we go back to the shuttle cabin? It ’s too dangerous in the forest… please, Boss W-Wu…”