Ruan Chen felt as if she had walked for a century, although she knew in her heart that it had only been a few dozen seconds.
When she stood in front of those huge glass jars at the very end, the fear or disgust she felt when she first saw it all was gone.
Because the previous creatures still showed some human characteristics, while the four jars in front of us contained creatures that looked more like ferocious beasts from ancient times and could not be called human.
Ruan Chen thought of the mythology book he found at a recycling station when he was a child. It said that billions of years ago on Earth, there lived a giant beast called "Xingtian".
The modified creature before her vaguely resembled the grotesque beast in the tattered mythology book she had seen years ago.
It has no head, and its huge, round abdominal cavity resembles the belly of an insect, with limbs extending outwards.
The ends of the limbs are made of countless tiny bones intertwined together, vaguely forming the shape of a weapon.
Ruan Chen stood quietly in front of the glass jar, his expression unchanged, but his hands, which were in his pockets, were trembling slightly and covered with fine beads of sweat.
She could sense that the creature was alive.
The creature was breathing, its abdomen rising and falling, along with the faintly reddish nutrient solution.
The creature was covered with countless sophisticated chips, from which circuits extended and protruded from the glass jar, all tangled together.
Ruan Chen held her breath. She didn't know what she was thinking. She lowered her head slightly, closed her eyes, and released her mental network.
Nobody knows which camera was Nobody's eye, but it understood what Ruan Chen wanted to do the moment she closed her eyes.
In that instant, cries of alarm erupted from speakers all around: "Don't do this! Ruan Chen! Stop!"
But it was too late.
Ruan Chen's mental world was drowned out by a huge cacophony.
The main sound was the constant, dense, and rhythmic heartbeats. Underneath these heartbeats, some strong and some weak, Ruan Chen heard screams and wails.
"It hurts so much... Why does it still hurt after all these years..."
"Is there anyone who can kill me...? Why won't you kill me...?"
"I want to go home... Where am I... Mom, I'm lost, I can't find my way out..."
Ruan Chen heard the little girl's soft sobs, "I'm so cold...I'm so scared...Where did my feet go...Daddy, I was wrong, I won't eat candy from strangers anymore..."
"Wasn't I dead? Haven't I been dead for a long time...? Is this hell...?"
"It's so noisy... Stop arguing... What's the point of crying all day? Why don't you get revenge?"
Ruan Chen felt that his mental network was about to give way to the powerful mental force of these "people"—they were indeed once human, and even now, these strange and wonderful bodies housed human souls.
But they were trapped forever, neither alive nor dead.
She tried to withdraw her mental energy, but the next moment she found that her mental network was as if it had been pulled by something, or as if it had been tightly attracted by something magnetic.
Not only could she not withdraw from her mental network, but her actions also attracted the attention of those voices.
Amidst the wails and screams, there were other sounds—
"Another new person has arrived."
"Can we still be considered human? Aren't we even human anymore?"
"What a young and vibrant spiritual network it is! Can you feel it? It is more powerful than all of us combined."
"It's been many years since we've had a newcomer. Newcomer, say a few words. What year is it outside now?"
"Hey you on the right, stop crying! You're so loud I can't hear what the new couple is saying..."
Ruan Chen dared not pay them any attention rashly, not knowing what the consequences would be. She pursed her lips and drew out her mental energy.
Her mental energy was like a spider web, while another mental web existed in this laboratory. This mental web was very strange; it automatically absorbed Ruan Chen's mental web and refused to let go.
Ruan Chen broke out in a cold sweat. She could feel that as time went on in this mental network, her mind was being polluted, gradually being swallowed and assimilated by this strange mental network.
If we don't leave now, we won't be able to leave at all.
Even more deadly was the sound of footsteps appearing within her mental network!
Those were Duan Jingfu's footsteps!
He is walking towards this secret laboratory!
"Calm down." Nobody's voice rang out. He had actually been paying attention to Ruan Chen all along. His electronic synthesized voice revealed concern, but it was hard to tell whether it was synthesized or if he also had genuine feelings.
“Your mental network is undoubtedly the most powerful we know. I can see that you are far stronger than this messy artificial mental network,” Nobody said, his words a mix of truth and falsehood, or perhaps just to reassure Ruan Chen. “Find your own feeling, unravel the mystery, and gently leave this mental network—don’t be too hasty, too much fluctuation in your emotions will backfire.”
Although Ruan Chen didn't trust Nobody, she had a gut feeling that what Nobody was saying was true.
However, Duan Jingfu's footsteps were amplified infinitely in her mental world, mixed with those chaotic howls, making it impossible for her to calm herself down.
Ruan Chen felt that she was drenched in cold sweat, and her clothes were sticky and clinging to her body.
"Don't panic, I'll hold him off."
Ruan Chen closed her eyes, her slightly trembling eyelids sensing that the surroundings had suddenly gone dark; Nobody had turned off all the lights.
The slight clicking sound of gears indicated that He had locked the door from the inside.
After finishing his own business, Duan Jingfu returned to find Ruan Chen, but when he got back to the original spot, he found that Ruan Chen was not there.
Duan Jingfu walked along the corridor without giving it much thought, simply assuming that Ruan Chen was curious about the Sunrise series warships ahead and wanted to go take a look.
But even after reaching the end, they still couldn't see Ruan Chen.
Duan Jingfu took out his phone and dialed the number in the control room. "Could you check where the students who came with me are?"
The control room responded quickly, "Professor Duan, there are no students here."
Has she left?
There is no record of the gate being unlocked.
"Check the surveillance footage..." Duan Jingfu stopped abruptly before he could finish his sentence. Due to security requirements, the surveillance cameras here were only for real-time viewing and had no saving or playback function.
Duan Jingfu's gaze was fixed on the hidden door behind Riyao.
The hidden door was very well concealed, its color almost indistinguishable from the wall, as if it were deliberately designed to hide something.
Duan Jingfu stepped forward and used facial recognition.
The electronic lock turned slightly and opened automatically after successful identification.
Duan Jingfu reached out and pushed the door, but it didn't budge. He saw that the mechanical lock, which usually wouldn't be locked, was actually locked with its gears tightly shut.
Normally, the mechanical lock is only manually operated by him or other personnel in the laboratory when needed.
So, who's in this lab now?
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