The next morning.
"Has the identity of that half-corroded corpse been confirmed?" Lin Dao's icy voice was transmitted through the communicator.
He was closing the door when he glanced at the next room and knew that the person inside should be coming out soon.
Xiang You's plaintive voice came through the communicator: "Brother, look at the time! The first thing you ask me on the phone this morning is something so disgusting. Don't I need to eat breakfast?"
Lin Daoqing chuckled lightly: "Perfect for saving food."
What was the result?
"It's confirmed. I'll send you the information later." Xiang You's voice was lazy, clearly indicating that she was still lying in bed.
Realizing the other person was about to hang up, he quickly added, "By the way, how did your investigation into little Bretta go before this? I discovered quite a few interesting things during the surgery to remove the bullet from him."
Lin Dao was slightly taken aback, knowing that it couldn't be explained in a short time, and said, "I'll come to your place now."
"Huh? No way, I haven't gotten out of bed yet..."
"Then get up," Lin Dao said without any politeness.
The voice came through the headset: "Hmph, you're just jealous of my good sleep quality. I bet if you stay up like this every day, you'll go bald sooner or later..."
Lin Dao cut off the communication before he could finish speaking.
He looked up and saw the door to room 2702 open, then stepped toward the elevator.
When Bryta woke up in the morning, he saw two completely empty beverage bottles and quietly tidied them up. He gave the little white rose a nickname: "Little White."
It didn't want to stay at home, so it snuggled into his arms and clung to him lazily. Luckily, he was dressed warmly in winter, and even if Little White shrank a bit, it wouldn't be noticeable from the outside when it curled up in a ball.
Since the afternoon he was injured, Blaita has been absent from work for four or five days. Fortunately, Qiao Song helped him ask for leave beforehand. The other party was probably afraid that he would ask for workers' compensation, so they never mentioned deducting money. Of course, he also did not receive any salary.
As he hurried out, he saw Lin Dao at the elevator entrance and instinctively raised a smile, wanting to greet him: "Mr. Lin Dao..."
Halfway through the conversation, the elevator doors opened, and the other person walked straight into the elevator. Blaita quickly ran up and squeezed into the elevator.
Fortunately, they were on a higher floor, and there were only the two of them in the elevator.
Bretta was slightly out of breath, and he hesitated to say the greeting that was on the tip of his tongue. He quietly stood to Lin Dao's left, looking down through the elevator mirror wall opposite him, and for the first time seriously examined the man who had saved him.
Today he was wearing a black hooded blouse, unlike his usual style. Even so, one could only barely make out his slightly droopy, always sleepy and languid black eyes, his high nose bridge, and his thin, bright red lips.
That day, when he was caught and held in his arms, he saw his face up close for the first time.
Mr. Lin Dao had deep and handsome features. Even though he usually looked a bit lazy and liked to lean against the wall and close his eyes for a nap, he had a resolute and upright temperament.
Bretta racked his brains for all the human languages he knew, but still couldn't find the words to describe it. Although this person still gave him a very dangerous feeling, and if he knew his identity, he might treat him like Mr. Klindall had shot and killed that infected human, he was still very grateful to him for saving him.
Bretta lowered her gaze from the man reflected in the elevator, thinking to herself, "If only I were really human."
"What's wrong?" Lin Dao didn't move his gaze, but asked him through the elevator mirror in front of him.
"Huh?" Bryta was a little taken aback.
Lin Dao thought for a moment, then slightly raised his chin and moved his neck, saying in a low voice, "You seemed to be calling me outside the elevator just now."
Bretta thought about her awkward greeting and felt a little timid. Just as she was about to say something, a fragment of last night flashed through her mind. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, turned her head, and noticed the dark circles under Lin Dao's eyes that had not faded for a long time.
Did he disturb Mr. Lin Dao again last night?!
Britta bit her lip and quickly said, "I'm sorry, I woke up hungry last night. So..."
Lin Dao raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and subconsciously replied, "So?"
He could only vaguely sense that he was moving through the vibration frequency, but he couldn't hear clearly or know what he was doing.
Just then, the elevator doors opened with a "ding," and seven or eight people rushed in instantly.
Their conversation naturally came to an end.
"What's his identity? Have you checked the base's network of contacts?" Lin Dao asked as he arrived at Xiang You's laboratory.
Xiang You, wearing a white coat, walked out and swept a screen in the air. He clicked on the database information and revealed an ordinary-looking man. He said, "This unlucky guy who was swallowed by the spider is called Zhang Ge. Because he is short and thin, he is nicknamed Dunzi. It looks like he was indeed swallowed by that alien spider. He also has undigested spider silk wrapped around his body."
Lin Dao looked at him, knowing there was more to his words than met the eye: "So what was the cause of death?"
He said to You Zhengse, "It's very likely that he was suddenly attacked from the front, and a sharp, hard object pierced through his entire chest. So he wouldn't have survived until the spider swallowed him."
"Spider's chelicerae?"
Xiang You shrugged: "This shouldn't be it. I didn't find any related chelicerae hairs on the chest."
Lin Dao pursed his lips: "What about the network of connections?"
Xiang You licked his lips, smiled, and said, "This is interesting. He knows that mutated Maurer from before. He also loves watching boxing and often goes to the boxing ring. However, he's not so idle. He has a job at a beverage processing plant, and he's responsible for supplying the underground boxing ring with that 'Alien Cola' that's recently become popular in the base."
Before Xiang You could finish speaking, Lin Dao had already realized something.
He looked up and said, "Have Qiao Song check the location of that beverage processing plant."
“I checked, Captain Lin.” Qiao Song was still fiddling with the compass instrument in his hand as he walked in. “That processing plant seems to be run by some businessman from the Empire. The address is on the outskirts of the base, a converted abandoned water plant. Cheng Cheng made an excuse and took people to see it. It was legal and compliant, and there were no problems.”
Qiao Song walked over, his eyes and hands never stopping. He suddenly twisted the tattered thing in his hand and said excitedly, "This thing is a bit rough, but I didn't expect it could actually control alien species!"
"Controlling alien species?" Lin Dao frowned.
Qiao Song nodded: "Yes, it probably emits wavelengths to connect with alien species and control them, but this thing is too crude, so it can only control one alien species at most."
Lin Dao thought about the man she had met that day, wondering who that man was.
Qiao Song said regretfully, "It's a pity this thing is too badly broken, I can't take it apart anymore, otherwise I could study its principles and see if I could make one that can control several different species at the same time..."
Lin Dao frowned deeply; it seemed this matter was becoming increasingly complicated. There were also forces he didn't know about attempting to once again crush these seemingly too powerful mutated creatures under human control.
The world has been mired in this distorted crisis for over a decade. From initial confidence to the instantaneous collapse of human civilization, it took less than a year, with billions of people disappearing from the population. Now, with their living space squeezed out by alien plant and animal species that have completely taken over the earth's surface, humans can only huddle in bases in various regions, barely surviving.
Can humanity truly save itself?
Xiang You noticed his heavy thoughts, reached out and patted his shoulder, pretending to be relaxed, and said, "Don't worry, our mission is just to preserve the spark of humanity, and incidentally... buy time for a miracle to happen."
Miracle?
Lin Dao remained noncommittal. He calmly turned around, leaned against the table, and turned to the next question: "Tell me about your discovery."
Xiang You continued flipping through the data on the virtual screen and said, "This time, after removing the bullet from Bryta, his blood test results were still perfect; he's very healthy, just like his very clean constitution. I almost thought he might not have been a research subject in the lab after all."
"Until I discovered that his self-healing ability is incredibly fast, perhaps ten times that of an average human. But this is just an estimate." Xiang You seemed somewhat uncertain. "Could it be that humans have finally begun to evolve?"
Since the Great Cataclysm, most animals and plants, including other tiny organisms, have grown larger or grown wildly primarily through rapid body expansion. Some animals, such as insects, have also undergone mutations shortly after they grew up, resulting in abnormal growth—two legs becoming four legs, two eyes becoming four eyes, and in short, they becoming somewhat ugly.
The former is called mutation, while the latter, which changes its own form, is called aberration.
In the first year of this disaster, some scientists claimed it was a genetic evolution of a species.
Humans, who have evolved for a mere two thousand years and have been ahead of all other species, seem to have been left behind by this overly cruel evolutionary process.
Lin Daowei was slightly taken aback, then suddenly gave a mocking laugh: "You really do change your tune every day. Didn't you say before that humans invaded by alien genes would eventually have their consciousness taken away and become monsters?"
Upon hearing this, Xiang You stared intently at him for a long while before smiling and saying, "Perhaps this is also a kind of evolution."
However, it must be said that Bleta's rapid healing ability aroused Xiang You's great interest, but he was not so inhumane as to force the child to do experiments on him without telling him, for fear of scaring him.
Before Lin Dao was about to leave, Xiang You said behind him, seemingly casually, "By the way, I've always felt that this kid looks familiar. Doesn't he look a lot like that person?"
Lin Dao stopped in his tracks, and after a long pause, said sarcastically, "You're just someone with facial recognition disorder."
Xiang You smiled nonchalantly and said, "But such a clean child doesn't seem like he grew up in a laboratory at all. It's more like he was raised in the Garden of Eden. How did he manage to survive, completely ignorant of this dangerous world, and just happen to be rescued by you?"
Lin Dao paused for a moment this time, then left without replying.
He had considered the possibility that the handsome young man might have been faking it all, and that he wasn't actually the one captured from the lab, but rather someone deliberately planted there.
His deep black eyes stared at the boy below who had resumed selling drinks after resuming his work, and he quickly dismissed the guess in his mind.
Hidden beneath the Mikson base is a perpetually unseen channel for the distribution of alien elements; ruthless enemies lurking beneath the surface, yearning to ally with monsters; the mysteriously powerful "Easton" test subject with a high bounty on his head; and that beautiful, naive boy who exudes an air of strangeness.
And regarding the phenomena on his own body, whether they were mutations or evolution, he didn't know if he could still witness the miracle that humanity longed for in his current monstrous form.
“Mr. Lin Dao,” a voice called out cautiously.
Lin Dao, who was dozing off in a dark corner, heard the sound and slowly opened his eyes. The boy in front of him suddenly had a light in his eyes, which was particularly bright and dazzling in this underground city that was dark all year round.
Like a newborn sun.
He asked in a hoarse voice, "What is it?"
The man's eyes were cold and indifferent, and Bretta was still subconsciously a little scared. He mustered his courage and said cautiously, "I want to ask you how much medical expenses you paid for me before? I want to write it down and work hard to earn money to pay you back."
"No need, you can't pay me back." Lin Dao closed his eyes and ignored him.
"Then, how much will it cost me to hire you once?" Blaita had heard that mercenaries would complete any task assigned to them as long as they paid money.
Lin Dao raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, without opening his eyes: "It depends on the difficulty of the mission."
After careful consideration, Bryta said, "It shouldn't be too difficult."
Upon hearing this cautious tone, Lin Dao suddenly curled his lips and opened his eyes to glance over, a rare, almost imperceptible smile appearing in his eyes.
Bretta was stunned by the smile, and her face flushed slightly.
Seeing his reaction, Lin Dao felt inexplicably pleased and asked with a cryptic smile, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Britta stammered, "Could...could you accompany me to Mr. Klindall's grave?"
Author's Note: Thank you to all the lovely angels who have been leaving comments! Sending you all a kiss!
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