Chapter Eighty-Seven: Meeting the Missing Again

Chapter Eighty-Seven

“Mutated animals?” Bai Qing paused, then went on. “Of course. When we were studying the effects of new energy radiation on living things, we kept some small animals and plants nearby. Later, all of them underwent various changes in appearance, and some became extremely aggressive, so I had them destroyed.”

At the mention of new energy again, Ling Feng could not help growing curious about it.

“Doctor Bai, what exactly is this new energy? Where is it now? Could I take a look?”

The others were curious as well, all hoping he would bring out the new energy so they could broaden their horizons.

Mei was equally curious. She wanted to know whether that new energy was really a fragment of the Dark Source, so she looked at Bai Qing with the same anticipation.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Bai Qing gave a bitter smile. “The matter of the new energy was originally a top-level state secret, but now... alas, there is no harm in telling you. It was brought here a year ago, supposedly discovered on a meteorite that fell to Earth from outer space. This kind of energy has never been seen on Earth before. Though it is only about the size of a walnut, the power contained within it is a thousand times greater than the energy produced by the fission of the same volume of nuclear fuel. I would like to bring it out for you to see, but that thing is trapped in the lowest laboratory, and I have no way of taking it out.”

“Trapped on the lowest level? What is down there?” Ling Feng asked.

If such an important source of energy could be taken away, that would naturally be best.

“There is nothing much below. It was only that when we first did the experiment, we misjudged the energy within it, so now it is fused to the instruments. Once it is removed, it could very likely trigger an earthquake, and more seriously, even cause magma to erupt! By then, let alone this place being utterly destroyed, we ourselves would be buried alive!” Bai Qing’s tone was full of regret and annoyance.

If not for that mistake back then, they would not now have to rely solely on the energy released by the new source to carry out their research.

Ling Feng, too, showed a look of regret. It seemed that for now there was no way to take that source of energy away. They would have to leave it here and speak of it later.

Since they still did not know the exact reason for the disappearance of those people, after some discussion Ling Feng decided to have everyone withdraw to the safe passage to rest for the night. Though it was not as warm as this place, the view there was open, and the safety factor was much higher.

The others had no objection. Compared with safety, a slightly poorer environment was nothing. Besides, it was sealed in the end; no matter what, it was warmer than outside.

Because everyone had barely rested the night before, after a makeshift dinner most of them went to bed early, apart from those keeping watch.

Mei continued to curl up in Mo Chen’s arms and sleep. For some reason over these past two days she had felt that her body was a little off, and could only rely on sleep to let the energy within her slowly repair the problems in her body.

Of course, there were also those who could not sleep, gathering together to chat in low voices.

“I say, did you two just go wash your hair?” a woman asked quietly of Xiao Keren and Situ Qing.

Xiao Keren thought of her brother’s ugly expression and knew that she and Situ Qing had nearly been mistaken for having disappeared. Hearing the woman’s question, embarrassment appeared on her face.

Situ Qing, however, said carelessly, “Not only that, we even took a shower! We’ve been out for so many days, and our bodies have been either smelling of sweat or the blood of animals. I was almost sick from the stench. Luckily there’s hot water in the dormitory here, so we just washed up while we could.”

“You two are really brave. Haven’t you heard that people have been vanishing here for no reason? And you still dared to go off on your own?” the other girl said, clicking her tongue.

“What’s there to fear? The ones who disappeared were ordinary people. We’re ability users. If we really ran into something, who knows who’d be the unlucky one!” Situ Qing said indifferently.

“That little girl Mei said the thing attacking people might not even be human. If it’s something like the mutated giant lizards we ran into in the mountains, then even if we’re ability users it won’t matter!” said the woman who had spoken first.

“You actually believe her? She didn’t see it with her own eyes. Maybe those cameras really were broken. Everyone who works on research here is more professional than she is, so why did no one else notice anything, and only she thinks there’s a problem?” When Mei was mentioned, Situ Qing immediately said unhappily.

She simply did not like that Mei. Apart from being a little better with archery and knowing a bit of computers, what else did she have? Why did everyone have to listen to her? Even that Major Ling Feng was so polite to her, and had to discuss everything with her!

She really did not understand what they were thinking. She was just a child. No matter how capable she was, she was still a child. If they listened to her, were they not afraid that one day her mistake would get them all killed?

“Hey, I’m saying, why don’t you two wash up as well? Once we leave here, who knows when you’ll get another chance to bathe!” Situ Qing had no desire to take Mei’s words seriously. The more the other side warned of danger, the more she wanted to prove that nothing at all was wrong.

“But what if there really is danger?” Her words clearly tempted the other two, but they were still worried about encountering danger and thus hesitated.

“What’s there to fear? Keren and I will go with you. The people who went missing were all alone or in small numbers. With so many of us, there won’t be any danger. Right, Keren?” Situ Qing did not forget to pull Xiao Keren along as she encouraged them.

Xiao Keren did not really want to go. She was already exhausted from all the traveling; she had never suffered like this before. But seeing the hopeful looks in the eyes of the other two, she could not help softening, and in the end could only nod against her own feelings and agree to go with them.

Once they saw that someone would accompany them, the two women no longer hesitated. The four of them quietly got up, made an excuse that they were going to the restroom, told the watchkeeper, and then headed into the experimental base.

Since the security door had only been shut and not locked, the four entered the lift with ease and made their way toward the sleeping quarters on the second underground level.

The people on watch were all exhausted as well. They barely held on until the shift change, then each promptly fell asleep, long since forgetting that the four had never returned.

It was not until Xiao Keren’s brother came up to take over the shift that he discovered his younger sister was not there. When he asked the previous watch team, and heard that she had never left, he immediately became uneasy. He hurried to find the first watch team and shook one of them awake to ask.

“You mean your sister? She went off to use the restroom with three other women.” The man yawned and answered groggily.

“To use the restroom? Where did they go? Do you know?” Xiao Keren’s brother asked anxiously.

“How would I know? I wasn’t following them. They went that way. Go find them yourself!” The man had been disturbed in his sleep and immediately snapped at him in annoyance.

His shout woke most of the others at once, and they all sat up quickly to see what had happened.

“What is it? What happened?” Ling Feng asked, putting on his glasses.

Xiao Keren’s brother had no time to answer. He ran alone toward the lift. Xiao Keren and the others had been gone so long without returning; it was very likely that something had gone terribly wrong. How could he possibly stay put?

He only had this one younger sister.

Though she was simple-minded and too kind for her own good, and at times a little petty and prone to trouble, she was still his most precious sister. No matter what, he could not leave her alone.

The person who had been on shift with him told Ling Feng what had happened. On hearing that four people had left the group without permission and still had not returned, Ling Feng’s brows immediately knitted tight.

Only then did Situ Huang realize that his younger sister, Situ Qing, was missing again, and his face instantly darkened. As for this younger sister, spoiled by the family and hot-tempered by nature, Situ Huang could not say he liked her much. But she was still his blood sister, the young lady of the Situ family, so he would not simply leave her be.

Situ Huang immediately went to Ling Feng and demanded that he order everyone to assist in searching for the missing people.

Before Ling Feng could speak, the others were already unhappy.

“Your sister is courting death on her own. If you want to look for her, go by yourself. Why drag us into it?”

“Exactly. Are people from the Situ family somehow worth more than everyone else’s lives? If you want to go looking for death, go yourselves. We’re not accompanying you!”

“Your Situ family still hasn’t taken control of the Changyang base. On what grounds do you want us to risk our lives helping you find people? What benefit can you give us?”

“That’s right. Our mission is to escort people for the Longsheng Base. The rest is none of our concern. If you don’t produce something practical, we won’t do it!”

Looking at the clamoring crowd, Situ Huang’s eyes turned grim, though his expression remained calm.

“You want a reward? Fine. As long as you help me find my sister, once we return, the Situ family will provide one hundred jin of grain for each team! If you are unwilling, I will not force you. The Situ family and the Tenghuang Squad will immediately withdraw from this mission. We will find them ourselves!”

This mission had brought fifteen people in total from the Situ family and the Tenghuang Squad under its banner. Excluding the four already lost along the way, they still had eleven people left. If these eleven withdrew now, together with the missing ones, their team would instantly lose one-fifth of its fighting strength.

So when he heard this, Ling Feng pushed his glasses up and his brows furrowed even more deeply.

“Withdraw, then withdraw. Do you think I’m afraid of you? Who are you trying to scare? Without you, I can still get out of here all the same! I refuse to believe that if all of us can’t get out, your dozen or so people can!” At his threat, everyone grew even more dissatisfied, and many people sat down at once, no longer intending to care about whether Situ Qing and the others lived or died.

“They may not care, but what about you, Major Ling? Without the Situ family, can you guarantee that your mission will still be completed? And among the missing people is a healing ability user. I need not say how valuable she is, do I? Are you truly going to ignore whether they live or die?” Situ Huang did not waste words with the others, but turned directly to Ling Feng.

And just as it happened, he had struck the very point where Ling Feng was most hesitant.

If it were anyone else, Ling Feng certainly would not care. But Xiao Keren’s healing ability was simply too rare, too valuable for research. It would truly be hard to just abandon her like this.

From this day on, double updates resume.