r18novel Chapter 58 Monster
Chapter 58 Monster
With lightning speed, Qi Te slipped inside before the door could close.
D3 frowned, somewhat annoyed, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"study."
D3 raised an eyebrow in surprise, then tilted his head and gestured for Qi Te to follow behind him.
The middle-aged man, with his short legs, walked to the top of the stairs, took out a syringe from his tactical vest, squeezed it gently, and tossed it towards the corner of the stairs.
The syringe had already broken open in the uncle's palm, and before it even hit the ground, it emitted a light gray smoke.
At the same time, the uncle turned the knob at the end of the black tube, raised the device towards the ceiling, and white foam-like substances sprayed out of the tube.
The foam was very light and scattered.
The tangled thorns and vines that climbed the walls and stretched upwards to the ceiling withered instantly upon contact with the foam.
In less than ten seconds, the once dense, needle-like stairwell was reduced to charred ashes.
"All cleanup complete, you can come in now."
Upon hearing the sound, D4 immediately pushed open the door. Ji Chenyu and Yue Wanwan were shocked by what they saw as soon as they walked in.
Wow, that guy's awesome!
Ji Chenyu immediately gave a thumbs up; when it came to flattery, he was quite skilled.
Unfortunately, D3 didn't buy into that and immediately paved the way ahead without saying a word.
"Was this burned? How come there aren't even any embers?" Yue Wanwan asked curiously as she walked.
"This is a flameless incinerator that we customized in collaboration with the Armory. We have applied for a patent, and many security companies across the Federation purchase it from us."
G4 began his commentary with no small amount of pride, while Zit mentally reviewed the dwarf uncle's smooth and skillful maneuver.
It may seem simple, but achieving such a smooth transition requires countless hours of practice.
The gas inside the syringe is meant to aid combustion, while the foam acts as an incinerator. Only by combining the two can the effect of extinguishing the virus in an instant be achieved.
The equipment is amazing, but operation is even more important.
As he passed through the stairwell, Qi Te noticed that the mottled, charred walls covered with vine-like markings were oozing a milky yellow liquid.
It's unclear whether the melting of the internal wall material was caused by the lack of flame burning, or something else entirely.
The five people quickly arrived at the third floor, which, judging from the layout, was a floor that combined consultation, infusion area and operating room.
Besides plants, there was also a lot of red moss on the floors, ceilings, and walls of the corridors and public areas. D3 led the way, G4 brought up the rear, and three students followed closely in the middle.
Just like inside the subway station, no human remains can be found in the entire hospital. Over time, only rusted and severely decayed medical equipment and chairs, as well as computers almost completely covered by vines, remain.
Stepping over patch after patch of red moss, the group carefully passed through one clinic after another, finally arriving at the location where Qi Te had previously observed the unusual creature.
An operating room.
Like the outpatient clinic, the operating room door was long gone, but a surgical bed stood in the doorway, piled with a lot of instruments, blocking the way completely, making it impossible to get in.
D3 took out the instrument, performed some tests, and the values were normal. This indicated that the creature inside was in a dormant state.
Downstairs, Zite could only see that the abnormal creature inside the operating room was relatively large. Now that he was closer, the interior was clearly visible through the walls.
That's not just relatively large, it's extremely large.
It almost filled the entire operating room, so it was impossible to discern the shape of the creature.
The detector can detect energy fluctuations, but the energy fluctuations of a creature in a dormant state are extremely weak, so it is impossible to accurately determine its level.
"If it's a high-level anomalous creature, that would be troublesome," G4 suggested. "This hospital is huge; let's search further. There are bound to be other anomalous creatures."
Ji Chenyu nodded in agreement, while D3 looked at Qi Te, clearly seeking his opinion.
After thinking for three seconds, Zite made a decision.
"Chenyu, Wanwan, you two go and collect samples from the clinics we just passed. G-ge, you protect them."
G4 gave an OK sign. Yue Wanwan was about to say something when Ji Chenyu agreed first and gestured for her to follow.
"Ziteta..."
Before Yue Wanwan could speak, Ji Chenyu shook his head and said, "Don't worry, Qi Te isn't the kind of person who acts impulsively and without thinking. Even if something really happens, we can get there in time since we're so close."
.......................
The three had only walked a few steps when D3 immediately drew his double axes.
"We can't force it."
Qi Te quickly stopped him, then looked up at the ceiling, his pupils flashing with a faint, dim red light.
"I have a way."
The fact that such a large, unusual creature knew how to block the door with an operating table and instruments suggests that it was quite intelligent.
Organisms with higher brain activity levels also have more acute perception.
Forcibly breaking open the doorway would be too noisy and would likely wake the other party.
The operating room had no windows, but it certainly had ventilation ducts. Furthermore, the hospital's duct space was very large; given Zite's slender build, he could easily crawl through it.
The problem is that after a century, the metal has rusted and become extremely fragile. Furthermore, the temperature is now approaching -20 degrees Celsius, and the low temperature will make the already brittle items even more prone to breakage.
In addition, the inner walls of the pipes are covered with many photophobic plants and poisonous red lichen.
After carefully observing the operating room and surrounding area twice, Qi Te finally identified a breakthrough point.
D3 pulled a pen-like device from his left chest pocket: "Turn it once to turn it on. Align the tip with the cutting point and, depending on the material of the ceiling, pause for no more than one second."
When Qi Te took the 'pen', he was so surprised that he could hardly believe it. The small pen was heavier than he had imagined. He weighed it and estimated that it must weigh at least five kilograms.
"What material is this made of?!"
"Jujujin"
Qi Te raised an eyebrow. This was one of the most expensive materials in the entire Federation, with an extremely high price. The one in his hand, based on its weight, was worth at least five million.
"Only polymerized gold can be used to make molecular cutters."
After saying that, D3 walked to the spot designated by Zite, indicating that he could begin.
Following the uncle's instructions, Qi Te pointed the tip upwards, rotated the "pen cap," and a beam of dark light shot out.
The ceiling seemed to have been transformed into tofu, easily cut into a fairly regular circle.
Because of the extremely fast cutting speed, the wall fell down completely intact, and the dwarf uncle guarding below easily caught it.
After returning the pen to D3, Qi Te slung the collection bag over his chest, stepped on the uncle's shoulder, darted into the hole, crawled into the inner wall of the pipe, and slowly moved forward.
He deliberately avoided areas that showed obvious signs of disintegration and chose this location, which was closest to the operating room and happened to have an opening that he could crawl into.
After climbing for nearly ten minutes, covering a mere three meters, we finally reached the ventilation opening above the operating room.
The original filter screen of the openable louver window was covered with red moss. Qi Te took out two tweezers of different lengths from the collection bag, carefully pierced the red moss and screen, and used the curved end to hold the louver that was tilted inward.
With precise control of the force, push outwards.
But then there was a 'crack' sound, and the entire louvered window shattered. Luckily, Qi Te had a firm grip, otherwise both tweezers would have fallen down with it.
He estimated that the plastic material was already very fragile, but he didn't expect it to be this fragile.
The sudden event made Qi Te's heart skip a beat, and he lay motionless in place. He squinted and looked down.
However, the plastic fragments and red moss that fell were almost instantly completely enveloped by a viscous liquid.
Within that mucus, a piece of flesh could be vaguely seen to twitch very slightly.
Qi Te activated his full perception, but he couldn't hear anything except for the 'buzzing' sound.
There was no heartbeat, no pulse, not even the sound of blood flowing.
It's so close, there's no way they couldn't hear it.
Could it be that the viscous liquid has some function of blocking sound transmission?
Qi Te was puzzled, but then he mustered up his courage and moved forward a dozen centimeters, sticking the upper half of his face into the vent.
Looking down, the hairs on his body stood on end.
What was initially thought to be a gigantic creature has now become impossible for Zit to determine whether there is one or nine.
No, he couldn't even identify the species.
Within the jelly-like, dark green slime, nine bizarre creatures, clearly resembling human heads but with bodies like some kind of fish, are connected by thick, winding black tubes.
His super vision, which combines night vision and infrared imaging, allowed him to clearly see the three heads closest to the ceiling. They were smooth, hairless, and had a high bulge at the back of their heads, like deformed infants.
It has no eyes, nose, or ears; the organ above its chin that appears to be a mouth is tightly closed, as if it is dormant.
When faced with the unknown that far exceeds our imagination, people instinctively feel fear.
Qi Te felt a chill run down his spine. He suppressed the urge to run away and quickly adjusted his strategy.
His original plan was to reach above the operating room, use cryogenic fluid to freeze a small piece of skin or flesh, and then cut and collect it as quickly as possible.
But the situation is completely different now. He can't possibly plunge into the slime; that would be tantamount to suicide.
Qi Te took out three syringes from his collection bag, took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and after adjusting his breathing and his pounding heart, moved forward another ten centimeters.
Fortunately, my arm was long enough that the syringe successfully penetrated the mucus.
After successfully collecting three full tubes of samples, Zite carefully inserted the syringe into the shock-absorbing sampler.
Just as he moved backward, a thin vertical slit suddenly appeared on the forehead of the head closest to the vent.
No, it's not a narrow slit.
It's not that it has no eyes, but rather that it only has one.
Moreover, it grows on the forehead.
Dark pupils met Qi Te's three eyes...