Chapter 126 Qian Rujun's Standoff
The lights suddenly came on, illuminating the stage with a mix of deep blue and dark purple light.
Click click click click.
It's the sound of gears turning.
Several small wooden puppets rose up from below the stage.
A spotlight shone on a group of small wooden puppets.
The puppets, varying in height, moved with strange and stiff movements, spinning and jumping as they were pulled by strings, making a creaking sound as the wood rubbed together.
The outfit is quite cute.
But Sloan isn't included.
Sang Li looked around, her brows furrowing slightly, and said softly, "Is this... just a tour?"
The employee in the red uniform stood to the side, his tone still cold: "You can watch the stage play performance first."
There were eight puppets on the stage, arranged in an arc. In the very center was a little princess puppet, her dress exactly the same as the princess dress Sang Li was wearing now, even the color of her hair was similar—it was as if she were a miniature version of her. Sang Li really wanted to say that Slo's perverse sense of humor was ever-present; where had the well-behaved little girl who used to draw on the street gone?
Sang Li: 6.
Even her puppets are filtered and made up.
Lu Jin chuckled.
Did Sloan fail to act like a human this time, turning himself into a puppet?
This can indeed help avoid damage.
Lu Jin: "What is this? The Seven Dwarfs and Snow White?"
Sang Li: "Tsk, I always feel that what you said has a hint of discrimination in it."
Lu Jin: "Childish."
Adults actually like fairy tales.
Sang Li stepped forward, reached out her finger to one of the puppets, and gently poked it.
Suddenly, the puppet emitted a series of intermittent, sharp, and piercing laughs, like breath squeezed out from the depths of a hollow, or the "crunching" sound of metal rubbing against bones, echoing throughout the small theater and sending chills down one's spine.
Sang Li frowned, not afraid, but rather puzzled: "This shouldn't be... It's not Slo, so why is it the princess and the seven dwarfs?"
Lu Jin moved closer to her: "Because, he thinks he's a prince, right?"
Sang Li glanced at him, then her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had grasped some clue: "I know, I've found Slo, I know where he is!"
Lu Jin raised an eyebrow: "Prince?"
“Prince.” Sang Li’s gaze was firm.
There is also a statue of a prince in the mansion.
She had seen him when he came in!
She immediately fixed her gaze on the employee in the red uniform: "Take me to that prince statue."
The employee bowed and said, "Yes, it's my duty to show you around."
The staff were very friendly.
Leaving the theater, it was dark again, with only faint lights flickering around. The floor was slippery, and the "drip-drip" sound of water droplets sliding down the corners of the walls was particularly jarring in the darkness.
No one bothers us on this road.
The members of the BEAM team seem to be hiding in different places.
However.
As the two approached the prince statue, a deep, abrupt voice suddenly rang out from the darkness: "Lu Jin."
Just as Lu Jin was about to turn around, Sang Li suddenly jumped up and pressed one hand firmly against his neck: "Wait, the rules don't allow turning around!"
Lu Jin frowned slightly, but did not break free. His breathing was heavy and rapid under Sang Li's palm.
However, the next second...
A bullet grazed Lu Jin's ear.
It missed.
To be precise, it was because Lu Jin dodged.
Sang Li: ?
No, what about the rules?
While she was still in a daze, Lu Jin pressed her head down and hid her behind the water tank.
Qian Rujun was disheveled, as if he had just crawled out of some dark corner. Three fully armed BEAM members stood beside him, heavily guarded, trying to protect him.
This was the first time Sang Li had met Qian Rujun under these circumstances.
They had only seen the higher-ups of BEAM at the containment facility.
Lu Jin said that Qian Rujun and Peng Bo were key figures in the human experiments back then.
This person.
He deserves to be killed.
Sang Li's gaze pierced through the darkness, like a beam of light in the night sky, and she was the first to greet him: "Long time no see."
Qian Rujun slowly raised his head, still exuding an air of superiority, his eyes sinister like those of a hawk, and said coldly, "You have defected without authorization and refused to surrender. Do you know what this means?"
It's unclear how Qian Rujun described Lu Jin and Sang Li, but upon hearing this, the BEAM squad next to them were on high alert, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Sang Li chuckled: "So that means you can't catch us, you idiot."
Qian Rujun: ?
Sang Li continued to grin, but her voice was as cold as shattering ice: "Bringing so many people shows you're afraid of me. I'm an abnormal being of S, and everyone will fall in love with me."
Qian Rujun's gaze sharpened instantly: "Heh. You think this illusory painting can trap BEAM's elite? Wrong, we're just luring them into a trap."
He deliberately emphasized the last four words.
Beneath that outwardly cold and stern expression, however, his thoughts were churning in secret.
Sang Li was nothing more than a test subject.
An abnormal being, raised on data and drugs, can't stir up any real trouble no matter how much she struggles. She does have some "special" potential, but in his eyes, it's just a flame in a reagent bottle, which can be extinguished at any time, no matter how bright it is.
As for Lu Jin?
He's capable, quick-witted, and even a bit troublesome. But ultimately, he's just a lone individual. Faced with a fully armed squad and BEAM's tight containment system, even the strongest alien will only be reduced to obedient fragments.
A cold smile crept into Qian Rujun's heart.
Two young people, with some brains and some will, but so what?
The so-called resistance is nothing more than the struggle of a trapped beast.
Once he catches them, this absurd turmoil should come to a complete end.
Humans are simply raw materials that can be modified.
What he wanted was never the struggle of the losers, but rather a tool for obedience.
Qian Rujun tightened his grip, as if he had already grasped their lifeline.
Sang Li gave an "oh," her voice as soft as a pebble falling on water, sending ripples spreading outwards.
Lu Jin had already raised his hand, the muzzle of the gun gleaming coldly in the dim light.
The target has been locked in, and the action was carried out in one swift motion.
At the same time, three members of the BEAM squad also drew their guns and pointed them at Sang Li and Lu Jin.
The blue and red light reflected from the gun barrel intertwined, like the deep sea and blood mixing together.
The black holes of the gun muzzles aimed at each other in the dim light.
“Qian Rujun,” Sang Li began, “aren’t you afraid that BEAM will find out about the human experiments you’ve been conducting on anomalous individuals behind the scenes?”
Qian Rujun looked at Sang Li with a mixture of pity, sorrow, and mockery.
No reply.
Meng Han narrowed her eyes. She noticed that the surrounding BEAM team remained completely unmoved, their expressions indifferent, as if they hadn't heard a thing. Even the pressure on their fingers on the triggers showed no hesitation or loosening.
A chilling sensation crept up the back of Sang Li's neck.
"you?"
There was no response, only the dark muzzle of a gun, fixedly aimed at her and Lu Jin.
Lu Jin had already anticipated this: "Their brains may have already been controlled."
He paused, then revealed the truth: "They all have chips inside their bodies."
Just like myself.
That's why she was manipulated into losing her memory.
The BEAM members are nothing but puppets now.
Qian Rujun seemed to have heard a joke, and looked down at her with a sneer: "Since you've all guessed it, there's no need for me to hide it."
He raised his hand, his fingertips tracing a light line in the air. As his arm fell, the three BEAM squad members simultaneously tightened their gun barrels, their movements terrifyingly synchronized.
“They truly no longer need thought.” Qian Rujun’s tone was sinister and cold. “Loyalty should be ingrained in their very being. Rather than letting them hesitate and doubt, I’d rather make all the decisions for them.”
He paused, a slow, smirk playing on his lips like a snake flicking out a cold tongue: "Freedom is a waste. Obedience is the highest order."
Sang Li felt a churning in her stomach.
but.
But...
Why be so confident?
Sang Li's eyes are very bright.
"I will take you away." She spoke each word clearly, her eyes sharp, as if delivering a verdict.
Because this is Sloan's world.
and.
That was also her world.
Sang Li was certain that her entanglement with Slo had started long ago.
Sloan said that his paintings always have their place.
So.
Same as last time.
You can control it yourself.
"Lu Jin!"
As soon as the shouts were uttered, the flames on both sides exploded almost simultaneously.
Lu Jin opened fire without hesitation, the bullets creating a deafening roar in the corridor. The BEAM members in black uniforms immediately returned fire, flashes of light appearing and disappearing like will-o'-the-wisps dancing wildly in the darkness.
Sang Li leaped over the prince sculpture next to the water tank, her ears ringing from the shockwave of gunfire. She turned her head and peered through the cracks in the sculpture at the red-clad employees standing silently beside the stage.
Those eyes still lacked focus.
Sang Li licked her lips, lowered her voice, and gritted her teeth as she uttered, "I think you should be transformed."
The employee in red remained motionless.
As if he hadn't heard Sang Li's whisper.
"Hurry up," Sang Li urged.
The next second, cracks suddenly appeared in that "quiet" posture.
"Click".
The employee in red suddenly twisted his neck to one side, the angle so stiff that the bones seemed to snap instantly. With another "crack," his entire head slowly turned 180 degrees, his face facing backward, while his body remained facing forward.
The fabric of the red uniform also bulged up, as if some soft, swollen object was constantly pushing it up from below, stretching the seams open one by one.
The sound was like bubbles bursting from the deep sea.
From within the sleeve, a translucent tentacle slowly emerged, initially thin, then bursting open like jelly with a "pop," transforming into countless jellyfish tentacles. The skin peeled away layer by layer, like paper soaked in water. The bones softened, the flesh dissolved, and finally swelled into a transparent, gelatinous sphere, from which tentacles proliferated wildly.
On that face that hadn't completely melted away, the mouth suddenly opened, uttering a muffled, mechanical voice: "...The tour...has begun."
Lu Jin suddenly blurted out, "I thought you'd at least find two random men, Qin something?"
"Qin Ye."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com