Chapter 131: Rock Safety Zone (19)
"Let's go to the monitoring room and see what happened." E Shifang hugged Xie Mian and let his head rest on his shoulder.
The two left the core area and returned to the monitoring room along the way they had come. The road was still strangely quiet, with no other sounds except for their footsteps.
Occasionally, you can see some half-formed experimental subjects imprisoned in a few glass chambers, but these things are in a dormant state and have no reaction to the outside world.
"Do you think everyone else has escaped?" Xie Mian looked around and guessed.
"It's possible." E Shifang nodded. "With Cui Zhixing dead, it's not surprising that his subordinates, having lost their leader, have scattered and fled."
Soon, the two returned to the monitoring room.
This place was also deserted, but all surveillance equipment was still functioning normally. Dozens of screens displayed real-time footage from various areas of the institute, and everything appeared normal.
E Shifang put Xie Mian on the chair, sat down in front of the console and started operating.
"I'll pull up the surveillance footage of our fight just now." He switched the screens skillfully and quickly found the corridor where they had fought with Cui Zhixing.
Time goes back an hour.
On the screen, E Shifang and Cui Zhixing were engaged in a fierce battle, with various insect energy waves splashing everywhere. At this moment, the screen suddenly became abnormal.
"Wait, look there." Xie Mian pointed to the upper right corner of the screen.
In the surveillance video, a guard who was patrolling the corridor suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" E Shifang frowned and looked at the screen.
Suddenly, the guard began to twitch unnaturally, his body twisting as if by an invisible force. Strange lines began to appear on his skin, and those lines kept wriggling, as if something was trying to emerge from them.
"He is transforming into an insect." Xie Mian said lightly.
Within seconds, the guard's body underwent drastic changes.
His limbs began to stretch, sharp barbs grew on the joints, and his face gradually twisted into the shape of an insect. The whole process looked very painful, but the guard did not make any sound, as if he was controlled by something.
"It's insect transformation," E Shifang operated the console, "This person is mutating into an insect monster."
Something even stranger happened.
The guard, having just completed its insect transformation, began to slowly disintegrate like sand. Starting from the feet, it gradually turned into tiny particles that drifted into the air until it completely disappeared.
The whole process takes no more than five minutes.
Xie Mian switched to other surveillance footage with an expressionless face.
In the lab, a researcher sorting through data suddenly stopped and began the same transformation process: insectification, then dissipation.
"Cui Zhixing's memory worm is capable." Leaning against the operating table, he played with Xie Mian's long hair. "He implanted fragments of memories in all these people."
"Now that Cui Zhixing is dead, these memories are beginning to fade away." Xie Mian continued switching scenes, "and these people are disappearing along with them."
On the screen, more and more people began to show abnormalities.
Some suddenly fell down while walking, and some stopped talking abruptly, but the result was the same - they turned into insects and then disappeared.
E Shifang turned off the surveillance equipment. "Let's go out and take a look."
The two left the monitoring room and walked out along the corridor. The corpses they encountered along the way were slowly decomposing, and the air was filled with an indescribable smell.
When I pushed open the door of the institute, the scene outside was shocking.
The once bustling streets were now deserted, with only a few ordinary people standing on the roadside, looking around blankly.
There were cries coming from the distance, getting closer and closer.
"Where is my brother? He was here just now!" A young woman stumbled over, holding a drug that could slow down the transformation of insects.
E Shifang and Xie Mian looked at each other.
"Is your brother a bug-follower?" Xie Mian asked.
"Yes, he's a B-rank insect-community member, and works on the patrol team in the safe zone."
The woman was sobbing and gasping for breath. "We were just talking, and then he suddenly started to act strangely, his body started to change, and finally he disappeared."
More cries came from all directions.
On the streets and in the squares, people were everywhere searching for their family and friends who had suddenly disappeared. And without exception, these missing people were all insect-loving people.
"That madman Cui Zhixing used 'memory' on the entire safe zone, haha!"
E Shifang tilted his head and looked indifferently at the howling in the street. He tugged at his coat to ensure that no scales of his wife's insect tail were exposed.
Xie Mian nodded.
"He treated the entire safe zone as his own laboratory, and all the people were materials for him."
Now that he is dead, those people whose memories he implanted have also disappeared after losing their memory support.
Although those ordinary people are fine now, without the insect followers guarding it, the safe zone will soon become the nest of insect monsters.
The wailing grew louder, and more and more people discovered that their relatives and friends had disappeared. The entire Rock Safe Zone fell into unprecedented chaos.
"We should leave here. It won't be long before this place completely collapses."
People who once delighted in the blooming wildflowers are no longer attracted to them.
The sounds of smashing and smashing mixed with screams. Without the safe zone maintained by the insect-loving, conflicts began to arise among ordinary people. Some took the opportunity to rob, while others fought for resources.
"Let's go back to the villa and pack up." E Shifang held Xie Mian and avoided the conflicting crowd.
The two quickly crossed the chaotic streets and returned to the villa.
Pushing open the door, everything in the villa remained the same. E Shifang gently placed Xie Mian on the sofa and began to pack some necessities.
"You don't need to use your hands on the bed, right?"
Xie Mian saw E Shifang putting the bed into the space and hurried to stop him.
"No, this is the testimony of our love."
"No need for the bathtub!"
"The one my wife has bathed in must be taken away."
Ten minutes later, the villa was completely empty, with only the sofa beneath him still standing.
After packing up, the two left.
In the rocky safety zone behind him, flames shot up into the sky and cries were heard.
On the way out of the safe zone, Xie Mian remained silent. He leaned his head on E Shifang's shoulder, closed his eyes, and felt like he was sitting on a rolling ship.
The fire behind me was getting farther and farther away, but the cries still seemed to echo in my ears.
"What are you thinking about?" E Shifang felt the silence of the person in his arms and asked softly.
"I'm wondering if we made a mistake, if we shouldn't have killed Cui Zhixing." Xie Mian's voice was a little heavy. "If Cui Zhixing hadn't died, these people wouldn't have disappeared, and the entire base wouldn't have..."
"If he doesn't die, we will die." E Shifang gently kissed the forehead of the person in his arms, "From the moment the 'memory' was planted, they all became Cui Zhixing's puppets.
The tree we saw, covered in special insect stones, was fed by the energy of those who had their "memories" planted in them. Sooner or later, they will be drained dry."
The two walked for about an hour and came to a small hill.
From here you can overlook the entire safe zone, with flames everywhere, like hell.
"Take a rest." E Shifang put Xie Mian on a clean stone and sat beside him.
Xie Mian looked at the safe zone in the distance, a trace of sadness flashed through his heart, but it quickly dissipated like the wind.
If his brother were here, he would definitely save these people. But he, Xie Mian turned his head to look at the silver-haired man beside him, he had no other wishes now.
There was no emotion in his eyes. To him, it was just a temporary shelter, and there was no regret in leaving now.
"Ten directions."
"Um?"
"How's your health? You consumed a lot of insect energy fighting with Cui Zhixing just now."
"It's okay, nothing serious." E Shifang took Xie Mian's hand and placed it on his forehead. "Touch it if you don't believe me."
The two continued to move forward and met many people who had escaped from the safe zone on the way.
Some were alone, some were in groups of three or five, but they all looked frightened.
"It seems that Cui Zhixing's influence is greater than we thought." Xie Mian observed these refugees.
"He destroyed not only those insect followers, but also the confidence of the entire safe zone." E Shifang analyzed, "It will be difficult for these people to trust any safe zone again."
As dawn approached, the two found an abandoned hut.
It looks like no one has lived there for a long time, but the structure is still intact and can be used as a temporary resting place.
"Rest here for a day first, and then continue on our journey tomorrow."
E Shifang pushed open the door. There was thick dust inside, but it was still clean.
Xie Mian nodded. He was indeed a little tired.
E Shifang cleaned up the room and then directly put out the big bed in the space.
"How about it, wife, I have foresight, right?"
Xie Mian's mouth twitched and he gave a thumbs up.
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