"Thank you."

Liang Xiaoyun caught up with Lu Sheng, hesitated for a long time before finally awkwardly squeezing out, "I just wanted to teach you a lesson before, but you turned around and stabbed me in the thigh twice, so we're even."

"Um."

Lu Sheng gave a curt reply and quickened her pace to catch up with Jiang Qichen.

"What kind of attitude is that..." Liang Xiaoyun muttered under her breath, before Xiaolin and Baishi caught up from behind.

"Sister Xiaoyun, what kind of literary works and film and television materials do you have on your hard drive? Is it something you're ashamed to share?"

"Sister Xiaoyun, may I borrow your phone to talk? May good people have a peaceful life."

"roll!"

Enraged, Liang Xiaoyun swung her fist and punched each of them.

If I had known I wouldn't die, I would never have revealed my family's wealth in front of so many people!

Knock knock knock.

The group walked several dozen meters along the dark underground passage when they suddenly heard a faint sound coming from not far ahead.

"It sounds like knocking on the wall." Li Song stopped and listened for a while, pressing his ear against the wall on the right side of the passage. "It should be on the right-hand side."

The group followed the fork in the road on the right and found a winding staircase leading upwards at the end.

The staircase must have been cleaned recently, as there was little dust on the stone steps, and there were broom marks in the cracks in the walls on both sides of the steps.

A group of people climbed the steep steps all the way up, only to find themselves in a dark and long corridor.

There are several symmetrical doors on both sides of the corridor, each with a heavy combination lock.

Knock knock knock.

The sound of knocking on the wall came again, and it was coming from the room to the right of the entrance to the corridor.

"Juan'er, hurry up."

Lu Sheng gave Zhang Xiaojuan a wink.

"Okay."

Zhang Xiaojuan took out her laptop from her backpack and was about to remove the outer protective plate of the combination lock when she was stopped by a girl from the Xunfeng team.

"It's just opening a combination lock, no need to make it so complicated."

The little girl smiled and pulled Zhang Xiaojuan aside, her fair little hands touching the combination lock.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle.

After a few jarring noises from malfunctioning circuits, the heavy door lock clicked open.

"DouDou has an electromagnetic ability that can disrupt signals and damage electronic products," Jiang Qichen explained to Lu Sheng as he opened the door.

"It can also disrupt the nervous system of animals! Young Master Jiang, have you forgotten again!"

DouDou pouted in dissatisfaction and secretly sidled up to Lu Sheng to complain, "Men's brains are definitely only the size of a peanut, even Young Master Jiang is no exception!"

Lu Sheng was speechless.

It seems that Jiang Qichen is indeed very approachable; everyone in the entire military region seems to treat him with the utmost respect.

The room was very spacious, like a mass prison before the apocalypse.

The entire room is a flat, square shape, with only a small window on one side near the ceiling.

There was no furniture in the room, except for a squat toilet on the right side near the wall.

The walls and floors were covered in messy, dirty marks.

With each step, the ground felt sticky and firm from the solidified blood.

Because of the lack of air circulation, the entire room was filled with an unpleasant odor that was a mixture of sweat, excrement, and blood.

"What kind of blood and sweat camp is this?" Zhang Xiaojuan covered her nose, looking around the room with disgust.

Li Song searched the wall for a while before finally finding the switch.

After the lights were turned on, the room was brightly lit. Having been in the dark underground passage for a long time, everyone was so blinded by the light that they closed their eyes.

"Young Master Jiang..."

Just as everyone was getting used to the brightness of the incandescent light, a timid voice suddenly came from a cardboard box in the corner of the room.

Everyone tensed up and looked in the direction of the sound.

There was a cardboard box containing a vertical printer in the corner of the room, and the sound was coming from inside the box.

Li Song walked over quickly.

A thin, dirty blanket, its color indistinguishable, covered the cardboard box, with a tuft of black hair peeking out from one corner.

Li Song used his ice skate to lift the blanket, his panicked eyes peering cautiously from the edge of the cardboard box.

"Sister Lu!"

Those eyes scanned the area before finally settling on Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng's face darkened.

He was the little boy who guided them on the day they entered the base!

"Liu Peng...?" Xiao Yu called out tentatively.

"You still remember me!" Liu Peng's eyes crinkled with joy, and he was about to reach out his hand when he suddenly pulled it back.

"He's a kid from Zone C of the base. He usually does odd jobs around the base. He used to work as a part-time worker in the military canteen."

Li Song, with a solemn expression, reported to Jiang Qichen.

"Xiaopeng, what are you doing here? Where are your family?" Liang Xiaoyun squatted down next to the cardboard box and asked softly.

Liu Peng shrank back, "I don't know. I went to the research institute to deliver vegetables, and then I was brought here."

Seeing Liu Peng trembling, Liang Xiaoyun felt a pang of pity.

"It's alright, we'll take you back to the base. Your family must be worried sick."

As Liang Xiaoyun spoke, she went to help Liu Peng up.

Upon hearing this, Liu Peng's face suddenly flashed with terror. He then shrank back into the blanket, clutching the corner tightly. "I...I can't go back..."

"How could we not be able to go back? With Young Master Jiang here, what are you afraid of?"

Liang Xiaoyun bent down, preparing to lift Liu Peng's body. But she found the texture of her hands to be strange.

The body under the blanket didn't feel soft and supple at all; instead, there was a rough, prickly sensation in my palms.

She subconsciously shook off these unrealistic thoughts and tightened her grip slightly.

"ah."

The tingling sensation from her fingertips made Liang Xiaoyun gasp softly and pull her hand back.

A round bead of blood welled up from her fingertip.

"Xiao Lin!"

Li Song sensed something was wrong and turned to call out to Xiao Lin, the wood-type awakener.

Two vines, each as thick as a bowl, emerged from beneath Xiao Lin's feet. The vines quickly wrapped around Liu Peng's arm, lifting him up from the cardboard box.

As the blanket slipped off, everyone present gasped in unison, their faces showing horror.

Lu Sheng's pupils constricted, and he subconsciously tightened his grip on the knife hilt.

From the waist down, Liu Peng transformed into the hindquarters of a spider!

What inhumane experiments is the research institute conducting that would subject innocent children to such cruel treatment?

"I...I can't go back to the base anymore..." Liu Peng looked at Lu Sheng and the others with a pained expression and despair in his eyes.

"Who did this to you?!"

Jiang Qichen was horrified. Shocked and furious, he rushed forward and hugged Liu Peng, demanding, "Tell me, who is it!"

“I don’t know… I woke up here after I fainted at the research institute, and I haven’t seen anyone else.”

"It's okay, I'll take you back to the base, I'll take you home."

Bang.

A gunshot rang out.

The bullet pierced Liu Peng's forehead.