Chapter 582, Contaminated Zone 6 (Part Six)
A chill ran down Yun Zhao's spine, and his fingertips twitched uncontrollably.
It's not fear, but an instinctive cellular rejection response.
A sticky, watery sound came from deep inside the ear canal, as if soft tendrils were gently tapping the eardrum.
She felt dizzy and unsteady on her feet, so she quickly reached out to hold onto the tent's support pole.
The little bluebird suddenly became somewhat agitated, its cold, beastly eyes filled with murderous intent.
In an instant, fluorescent lights danced around them, and more spiritual threads surged toward the mutant's spiritual core, trying to tear this piece of trash apart.
"Yun Zhao?"
Jiang Mu's shouts seemed to come from a very far place.
He noticed the commotion over the tent and became even more ruthless. Wherever the blade passed, the vines snapped inch by inch, and blood-like sap seeped from the cuts.
This thing looks very familiar.
It was the vines that attacked them in the contaminated area.
"boom--!"
The mental blast and the physical slash both hit the core simultaneously.
The surface was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and a piercing shriek came from within. The writhing vines suddenly stiffened, and dark red fluid gushed out from countless cracks, condensing into a bizarre blood mist in the air.
Jiang Mu gave the enemy no chance to breathe, and his twin blades slashed down with a piercing sound.
With a flash of light, the mutant impersonating Xia Mingang shattered into dust.
The remaining vines withered rapidly, as if life had been drained from them, and eventually turned into a pool of putrid, smoky liquid.
The battle is over.
The entire camp fell into a deathly silence.
The only sounds were the night wind rustling the tent and Yun Zhao's slightly hurried breathing.
As the mutant's mental core dissipated, its blood-red eye disappeared immediately, and the invisible mental pressure around it suddenly lessened.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw Jiang Mu squatting down, examining the withered vines on the ground.
"Plague-avoiding vine?"
With the tip of his knife gently parting the remaining vines, Jiang Mu's voice carried an unusual solemnity.
Yun Zhao's thoughts were in turmoil. She steadied herself before stepping out from behind the tent. "You know him?"
Jiang Mu turned to look at her. "I've seen it in some books before."
As the team leader, you are responsible for the lives of the people under you, and the knowledge involved covers almost every aspect.
Biology and botany are key areas of knowledge and are compulsory courses.
Although Jiang Mu was lazy, when it came to everyone's lives, he made sure to learn everything he needed to and read everything he needed to.
"The chaste vine is an uncommon vine known for its amazing ability to mimic human features."
Jiang Mu said, "But this one in front of me is a bit beyond conventional understanding; it can actually mimic and imitate people."
Not only did it perfectly replicate Xia Mingang's appearance, but it also imitated the Sentinel's unique combat habits and micro-expressions with remarkable accuracy.
Even more terrifying is that even the super-sensory vision of an S-class Sentinel failed to see through this disguise.
This is completely beyond the scope of ordinary mutations.
It was more complicated than I had imagined.
While calming the murderous little bluebird, Yun Zhao said to Jiang Mu, whose expression was unusually serious, "Then stop looking and let's hurry back to find Xia Mingang."
She looked preoccupied, but thankfully she was wearing sunglasses, which concealed some of it.
Jiang Mu assumed she was worried about Xie Tu, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he analyzed, "At the time, I asked Xia Mingang to go back to the tent to get his backpack, but I didn't hear any noise coming from the tent."
“Xia Mingang’s tent is at the other end, in a blind spot.”
Jiang Mu was very concerned about this: "How exactly did the mutant manage to replace a person silently?"
Following his train of thought, Yun Zhao said, "I'm not sure, but I personally think that Xia Mingang should be fine. He may have encountered a similar situation where he was trapped in a maze by the gatekeeper."
As an S-rank, he would definitely fight back if he encountered danger. Once he made a commotion, there was no reason why Jiang Mu wouldn't notice.
"How can you be so sure that Xia Ming'ang was the first one to come out of the tent?"
Jiang Mu admitted, "I didn't notice anything wrong from beginning to end. I had no idea whether what appeared at the beginning was a mutant or him himself."
If Yun Zhao hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have suspected anything at all.
Yun Zhao replied truthfully: "The little bluebird is very sensitive to the scent of the sentinels; it was the first to notice something was wrong."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mu's gaze fell on the bird she was holding in her hands.
The little bluebird had been calmed down by Yun Zhao and was quietly resting in her palm. Sensing Jiang Mu's gaze, it gave him a cold glance.
What are you looking at! You piece of trash!
Jiang Mu: "..."
Yun Zhao was a little embarrassed and gestured to him, "Let's talk as we walk. Let's go back and take a look first."
After this incident, both of them have come to their senses.
They never left the contaminated area.
From a rational perspective, Xia Mingang was more dangerous than Xie Tu and Fu Mu, so she had no choice but to go find Xia Mingang first.
Jiang Mu stood up lazily. "I was just wondering, why would the gatekeeper do this? What's the purpose of creating this temporary camp illusion? Is it simply to lower our guard?"
Yun Zhao pursed her lips, trying to figure out how to tell Jiang Mu what she had just seen.
The eye said it wanted to see her life now.
It went to great lengths to make everyone believe that it had escaped the contaminated area, perhaps to see how it would survive outside.
As for the motive...
Yun Zhao originally thought that he would grow up in the sixth contaminated zone because of some kind of agreement between Yun Jue and the sixth gatekeeper.
She herself actually has no connection with the contaminated area.
But now it seems that she must have developed some kind of connection with Number Six during the years she lived there.
Unfortunately, the little bluebird was worried about her condition and acted too quickly, preventing her from getting a chance to speak.
That thing seemed to suppress her mental power, which might be why Yun Jue chose it back then.
"Let's go, we can discuss as we go. You go first, I'll bring up the rear."
Now that the other three are nowhere to be found, the immediate priority is to determine if there is a barrier in the tent rest area that has trapped them.
The two returned the way they came.
The surrounding environment remained unchanged: the Gobi Desert under the scorching sun, with rows of transport vehicles parked in an orderly fashion on the perimeter.
But everyone had disappeared, and an eerie stillness enveloped the surroundings.
Yun Zhao walked at the front, her gaze sweeping over the empty tent. Perhaps wanting to break the suffocating atmosphere, she took the initiative to speak: "By the way, how come you reacted so quickly just now? I was about to take action myself."
She had originally intended to test him further, but Jiang Mu acted without hesitation, and luckily she reacted quickly.
Jiang Mu replied lazily, "Whether or not to provide psychological counseling is not a decision Xia Mingang can make himself."
“Bixi’s power is above his. Since you took the initiative to bring it up, the choice is in Bixi’s hands. It’s not up to Xia Mingang to make the decision.”
His refusal to allow the guide to clear the way, and the fact that no stone tablet was thrown at him, is itself problematic.
Yun Zhao said "Oh," and then asked, "Do you think Fu Heng and... Xie Tu, will they be in trouble?"
Are you worried about him?
Jiang Mu scoffed lightly, "All that buildup just to ask this? Don't worry, with their skills, nothing will happen to them."
Yun Zhao was certainly aware of Xie Tu and Fu Qi's abilities.
However, Jiang Mu had just confirmed that he could not distinguish between the real and the fake.
She was a little worried. What if the strange vines impersonated her and Xie Tu fell for their tricks?
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