The train’s exterior was dilapidated and worn, but the interior had clearly undergone a grand renovation. It leaned heavily into a gaudy, luxurious style, creating a severe sense of cognitive dissonance between the inside and outside.

Wei Feng stood before the automated receptionist, smoothly checking them in.

“A presidential suite for three? I can give you a 1% discount today. That’ll be twenty-eight thousand.”

The moment the words left his mouth, a sudden chill ran down his spine. Wei Feng turned his head in confusion, only to find Song Jin staring at him with a gaze meant for a dead man. Promptly pivoting, his words took a sharp turn: “Then again, staying in a presidential suite every single day gets old—”

Song Jin kicked him aside, selected the two rooms closest to the front of the train, and paid using a spare terminal designated for their mission.

The robot’s virtual screen flickered, displaying their room numbers and the check-in guidelines.

Just as the three turned to leave, two men walked in behind them. The Alpha was heavily built with a thick gold chain around his neck, looking very much like someone from the underworld. The Omega wore thick, heavy makeup and clung to the Alpha like a delicate bird.

Unable to bear the sight, Song Jin turned his head away and stared at Li Xiao to cleanse his eyes.

Li Xiao: “Why are you glaring at me?”

Song Jin: “You’re easy on the eyes.”

Li Xiao: “…”

And here he thought this kid wanted to pick a fight again for no apparent reason.

As the AO couple selected their room, Li Xiao overheard the Omega say in a coy, high-pitched voice, “Every night at midnight, the train does a night tour around the banks of the Qingxi River. It sounds so romantic.”

The Alpha replied, “If they didn’t cook up some gimmicks, who would willingly spend a fortune to stay inside a train carriage?”

A night tour every single evening?

Suppressing his doubts, Li Xiao walked toward the front of the train alongside Song Jin.

The train had twenty carriages in total. The middle two served as the hotel lobby, while the ones on either side housed the guest rooms. Each carriage contained one to two rooms, accessible via the outermost corridor.

Reaching Room 1, Li Xiao pushed the door open. The moment his gaze landed on the bed, his eyes narrowed, and his train of thought ground to a halt.

Why was it a pink, heart-shaped bed again?

Song Jin’s face soured. “Nothing good ever happens when I’m with you.”

Li Xiao: “Didn’t you pick this room yourself?”

Song Jin: “Your terrible luck rubbed off on me.”

Li Xiao: “…”

As they spoke, Li Xiao used his thoughts to command 09 to sweep the room for surveillance gear.

09: 【Low-grade wiretapping equipment detected. It has been disabled.】

Li Xiao turned to Wei Feng, who had followed them inside. “Is this place completely unmanned? How often does the Qinghe Society come to inspect it?”

“Never seen them around,” Wei Feng said, walking over to the sofa and sitting down, casually flipping an unlit cigarette between his fingers. “But this is the core territory of the Qinghe Society. Trying to drive this train away without being noticed is impossible—unless they all suddenly go completely blind.”

Driving the entire train away would certainly turn heads, but if they only took the locomotive head, it would be relatively inconspicuous.

Recalling what the AO couple had mentioned, Li Xiao asked Wei Feng, “Do you know the route for the night tour?”

Wei Feng clamped the cigarette between his teeth, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the coffee table, and began sketching a crude diagram. “This is the Qinghe Society headquarters, this line is the Qingxi River, and this triangle represents the floating building…”

Li Xiao looked down at the sketch, which was as primitive as it could possibly get. He casually swiped open his digital map and traced out the night tour path of the train.

“Roughly this area?”

Wei Feng slapped his thigh. “Exactly! You really are a genius artist!”

Ignoring his eccentric flattery, Li Xiao focused on the outlined path.

The closest point was ten kilometers away from the floating building and twenty kilometers from the bustling hub of the Qinghe Society. If they jammed the tracking systems, it would be incredibly difficult to spot where the train had gone with the naked eye in the dead of night.

Li Xiao asked 09 using his thoughts: 【Can you block the tracking?】

09: 【Don’t ask if I can. Just assume I can.】

Li Xiao tilted his head to look at Song Jin, whose eyes happened to meet his at that exact moment.

Without a single word exchanged, they understood each other perfectly.

With barely ten minutes left until midnight, Song Jin told Wei Feng to get lost and go back to his own room.

Wei Feng yawned, wearing a playful grin. “Hey, I take people’s money to eliminate their problems. Are you sure you don’t need me to stay and provide some services? I’d feel bad otherwise.”

Song Jin leaned against the table with his arms crossed, his voice frosty: “Get out.”

“Then I won’t overstay my welcome.” Humming a tune, Wei Feng strolled out unhurriedly.

Just as Li Xiao was mapping out the plan for the night, his field of vision was suddenly blocked by a pair of long legs. The next second, his chin was lifted.

Song Jin braced himself against the back of the sofa, kneeling on one knee beside Li Xiao as he leaned down to scrutinize him. “Who exactly is that old guy in the animal hide?”

“Wei Feng. A rogue, but he doesn’t know who I am.” Li Xiao brushed his hand away. “Are you interested in him?”

Song Jin: “What I’m interested in is how you know him, and how much he actually knows.”

Li Xiao shook his head. “I don’t know much about him.”

In his past life, just dealing with the rebel army led by Meng Jian had given him enough of a headache. He simply didn’t have the bandwidth to notice anything else. Once the civil war ended, it felt as though everything had drawn to a close. By the time he wanted to look back and investigate certain matters, the trail had long gone cold.

Wei Feng’s sudden appearance here, and whether his knowledge of the Adesai floating building was pure coincidence, still required verification.

Song Jin mocked, “How does a prince like you end up knowing so many rogues? First there was General Hu, and now this old guy in animal hides.”

Li Xiao: “Are you jealous?”

Song Jin: “What’s there to be jealous of? Knowing you alone is more than enough trouble.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin walked over to the window, staring at the lights on the opposite bank. His voice dropped low. “That guy surnamed Wei gives off a very strange vibe. We’d better be careful.”

Li Xiao: “Strange?”

Song Jin couldn’t quite find the words to describe it for a moment.

Wei Feng’s stall had been quite a distance away from the one selling military daggers. Li Xiao had intentionally lowered his voice back then, yet Wei Feng had still managed to catch it.

It was hard to tell whether he had heard it from that far away or if he had simply happened to pass by.

Suddenly, a chiming alert echoed through the room.

【Valued guests, the night tour around the river will commence in one minute. Please pay attention to your personal safety in accordance with the check-in guidelines.】

After the chime rang three times, the room was suddenly flooded with flashing, multi-colored lights.

For someone like Li Xiao, whose vision was highly sensitive, this was absolute torture.

09: 【Light balance mode activated.】

The piercing glare instantly softened, allowing Li Xiao to breathe a sigh of relief.

Song Jin’s face darkened. “Why is it always so incredibly tacky?”

Li Xiao thought about it for a second. “Maybe because you lack romantic sentiment?”

Song Jin: “…”

Song Jin let out a cold snort. “You have no idea how much sentiment I possess.”

Li Xiao: “…”

There really ought to be a limit to self-praise.

The train slowly rose into the air, stabilizing at an altitude of about 150 meters before starting its slow cruise along the pre-set flight path.

A virtual screen popped up in front of Li Xiao, displaying their current speed. At this rate, it would take them roughly twenty minutes to reach the point closest to the floating building.

Taking advantage of this window, Li Xiao had 09 hijack the train’s flight control system to alter their route.

In a certain room toward the rear of the train, the thick gold chain and the high-pitched voice were furiously devouring crawfish when the lights in their room suddenly went out, giving them a fright.

“A power outage?!” Gold Chain sucked on his fingers, completely baffled.

Before the two could make sense of it, a pleasant baritone voice echoed through the voice-controlled system.

【Valued guests, the train is approaching an accident-prone flight sector and is preparing to take a detour. Please ensure your personal safety.】

“What the hell is an accident-prone sector?” Gold Chain craned his neck to peer outside. “Are there gangs fighting it out?”

The next moment, the window blinds rolled down automatically, plunging the room into absolute darkness.

“They even lowered the blinds just so we wouldn’t see any bloody scenes. How thoughtful,” the Omega said, letting out a loud burp. “But how are we supposed to finish our remaining bowl of crawfish?”

Gold Chain: “Let’s take a halftime break. We’ll eat when the lights come back on.”

09 jammed the local tracking equipment, while 07 took control of the train, steadily accelerating it as it made a straight run for the floating building.

As long as the train flew smoothly enough, the passengers aboard would barely register the change in speed.

Upon hearing 07’s notification that they were about to arrive, Song Jin signaled to Li Xiao that it was time to move.

Stepping out into the corridor, Song Jin’s gaze swept over Wei Feng’s tightly shut door before he walked to the carriage exit with Li Xiao.

Under the cover of night, the floating building loomed large, looking as though it had been magnified countless times. It resembled a bottomless black hole, harboring a myriad of shameful, hidden secrets. Even the mutated vines snaking across its outer walls looked exceptionally monstrous and grotesque.

The train smoothly decelerated, gliding slowly over the parking pad as its metallic doors slid open.

Song Jin and Li Xiao leaped out in tandem.

The next moment, the train doors sealed shut, and the vehicle slowly picked up speed, turning around to fly away.

The surface of the parking pad was almost entirely overrun by vines. A fierce wind howled through the pitch-black night, making it feel as though they had stepped into an entirely different realm.

Noticing a specific spot, Li Xiao crouched down to investigate.

There were several straight, heavy indentation marks on the vines, stretching toward both sides, looking very much like the tracks left behind by a docked train.

Song Jin, who was just about to head toward the nearest building, noticed this and took two steps closer. “What is it?”

Li Xiao ran his fingers over the indentation marks by his feet. “These were crushed out repeatedly. They’re very fresh. Someone has definitely been here within the past year.”

Wei Feng had claimed that the locals avoided this place like the plague, so how could these tracks be explained?

The fact that someone had visited recently meant this place wasn’t truly a long-abandoned wasteland.

Song Jin fished a pair of night-vision goggles from his jacket pocket, activated the night mode, and said flatly, “I told you that old guy couldn’t be trusted.”

Li Xiao stood up. “Let’s go back and rob our money back later.”

Song Jin: “I’ll help you. I’m highly experienced in this line of work.”

Li Xiao: “…”

The base of the office building had been completely reclaimed by coiled vines. The metallic doors were warped and dented, thrust into mid-air by the growth.

The first floor was the main lobby, while the second floor and above comprised the office spaces. The two split up to inspect all the floors.

The elevators were long dead, and the staircases were choked with vines. As Li Xiao headed toward the seventh floor, he caught a faint rustling sound. The next instant, a blur flashed before his eyes.

Li Xiao inverted his grip on his dagger and slashed downward.

With a strange, shrill screech, a mutated crawling insect about half a meter long hit the ground, twitching a few times before going completely still.

The seventh floor was a massive, open-plan office. Laser security beams crossed each other in every direction, and broken tables and chairs lay scattered everywhere. Vines dominated the entire space, with occasional severed limbs visible through the gaps.

Evading the laser beams, Li Xiao searched through the wreckage. On the inner side of a desk, pressed beneath a heavy vine, he spotted a scrap of paper that would have been entirely invisible without a careful look.

He pulled it out gently; the text on it was already blurred and degraded.

09 automatically recognized it, throwing up a virtual screen that displayed the restored version.

“A procurement contract for medical equipment?”

Li Xiao signaled for 09 to link up with 07, transmitting the scanned document straight to Song Jin.

Song Jin’s voice traveled through the communicator.

“A centrifugal pump? Why would a standard company’s medical department ever need something like that?”

Li Xiao scanned his surroundings. “The items on this list look like they were procured for a laboratory.”

“If I remember correctly, this Adesai company was supposed to be dealing in food imports and exports,” Song Jin’s deep, pleasant voice echoed in his ear.

Li Xiao: “Search carefully. Stay sharp.”

The moment the words left his mouth, a muffled curse from Song Jin came through the comms. Li Xiao’s footsteps paused. “What happened?”

Song Jin’s tone was thoroughly displeased: “I stepped on a human bone.”

On the six floor, Song Jin’s gaze swept across the corpse on the ground.

Having had its nutrients entirely drained by the vines, it was nothing more than a small amount of skin clinging to bone.

The moment his boots touched down, a faint click echoed through the silent space. Two laser beams shot out from the walls on either side.

Song Jin retreated instantly, followed by another sharp click as two more lasers shot out in a crisscross pattern.

Leaping off a vine, Song Jin flipped elegantly through the air.

The beams grazed past his toes, burning two black holes into the foliage.

Song Jin landed steadily, casting a sidelong glance behind him.

Sure enough, that corpse happened to be lying exactly where the laser trap was triggered.

For a mere trading company to set up this grade of defensive architecture was highly problematic no matter how one looked at it.

After spending over half an hour thoroughly searching the entire office building, they found absolutely nothing of note besides that single procurement slip.

The two met up downstairs and headed together toward the storage area on the right.

This space was significantly larger, stacked with numerous shipping containers, but the goods had all been cleared out. It had now turned into a nesting ground for crawling insects.

Navigating through a place like this was no different from trekking through a primeval forest; any minuscule sound would draw mutated bugs.

The military dagger spun nimbly in his hand, neutralizing three mutated crawling insects in the blink of an eye. Song Jin flicked the strange fluid off the blade and commanded in a low voice, “07, initiate spatial scanning.”

07: 【Scanning in progress—constructing 3D structural model—scanning complete. No hidden compartments or false walls detected for the time being.】

Once 07 and 09 enabled synchronized vision, a spatial graphic projected itself before both Song Jin and Li Xiao simultaneously.

The two traversed the entire warehouse, reaching the very end before taking a corridor into the second warehouse.

Li Xiao looked around. “This company dealt in vegetable trade, yet none of these warehouses possess refrigeration units.”

This type of equipment was usually integrated into the warehouse structure itself; it wasn’t something that could easily be dismantled and carried away.

Song Jin: “So what exactly were they doing here for all those decades?”

Li Xiao: “Suspending the entire company in mid-air, with a dedicated train traveling back and forth… No one knew a thing except them.”

As he spoke, Li Xiao’s boot came into contact with the floor, producing a sharp, hollow ring. He paused slightly, crouching down to rap his knuckles against the ground.

Song Jin also caught the anomaly. Crouching down alongside him, he used his dagger to clear away a patch of vines.

“This is military-grade metal.”

This type of metal was typically reserved for critical military outposts, capable of evading the vast majority of scanning methods.

Li Xiao: “Yeah. There might be something underneath.”

The two split up to search the vicinity for switches or similar mechanisms, but came up empty-handed.

Song Jin felt a touch of frustration. “The entrance might not be located here.”

Li Xiao’s gaze swept across the floor thick with vines, gesturing for Song Jin to keep moving forward.

Suddenly, a faint rustling noise caught his attention. Li Xiao pressed down on Song Jin’s shoulder, making a shushing gesture as they quietly slipped behind a dense cluster of vines.

A moment later, distant, faint footsteps echoed through the space.

Song Jin and Li Xiao locked eyes silently, their gazes sharp as steel.

The footsteps approached slowly. From the sound of it, there was only a single intruder.

Li Xiao struck like lightning. His dagger slashed across, meeting the clash of metal.

The adversary was clad in black, his face masked. His reflexes were top-tier, successfully evading Li Xiao’s rapid offensive and counterattacking instantly.

Parrying the opponent’s blade, Li Xiao executed a swift kick that missed, spinning around to follow through with another strike, his dagger sweeping horizontally toward the intruder’s throat.

The black-clad figure raised his arm to block, forced half a step back by the sheer force of Li Xiao’s strength.

Li Xiao: “Aren’t you someone who values his life too much to come up here?”

Seeing that he had been read, Wei Feng stopped pretending. Dodging the incoming blade edge, he leaped onto a thick vine. “Hey, I had no choice. A big client retained my services.”

Li Xiao pressed the attack. “What did they retain you to do?”

“Commercial secret, nothing to share,” Wei Feng said, constantly dodging and retreating. “On the other hand, you two coming to a place like this for sightseeing in the middle of the night… isn’t your taste a bit too heavy?”

Li Xiao: “Still better than certain people sneaking around like thieves.”

Wei Feng’s heel caught against a vine. Bringing his blade across, he blocked Li Xiao’s edge and pressed down, his tone turning freezing cold all of a sudden: “What exactly are you here for?”

Faced with this intimidating pressure, Li Xiao remained completely unfazed. “What are you here for?”

“This isn’t a place a young couple should come for a night stroll,” Wei Feng threatened in a lowered voice. “In light of the hefty sum you paid me, let me offer a word of advice: if you don’t want to die, go back immediately!”

Li Xiao let out a light chuckle. “You used us just to get up here, and you actually have the nerve to say that? If you want us to go back, return the payment first.”

The moment Wei Feng materialized here, Li Xiao understood his prior behavior completely.

The whole ‘local know-it-all’ routine was an absolute sham; this guy’s objective was this exact place all along. He had likely investigated it before and realized it was too difficult to infiltrate on his own strength alone. Hearing that they also wanted to get to Adesai at the market, he simply used them as a vehicle.

Wei Feng choked. “How much do you want?”

Li Xiao: “Two million.”

Wei Feng nearly swore out loud. “Why don’t you just rob a bank? For someone so young, you’re greedier than I am.”

Behind them, that sense of strangeness hit Song Jin once more.

Li Xiao’s combat forms and Wei Feng’s were highly similar; certain moves were practically identical. These two definitely didn’t possess a relationship that could be summarized as “not knowing much about him,” as Li Xiao had claimed.

With a few quick leaps, Song Jin bounded off the vines, flipping through the air as his dagger plunged straight toward Wei Feng.

“Why waste so many words on him? Let’s sever his tendons first, then interrogate him at leisure.”

Wei Feng let out a low curse. “One greedy, one ruthless—you two really are a match made in heaven!”

Li Xiao: “Thanks for the compliment.”

Neither side was willing to explain their intentions, and neither was willing to back down an inch.

During the chaotic melee, Wei Feng backed into a wall to dodge the blades thrusting at him from two directions. The moment he hit the structure, the ground beneath their feet suddenly shuddered violently.

The three ground to a halt instantly.

Following a deep rumble, the sound of mechanical gears whirring echoed through the space. The vines on the floor were torn apart by the opening ground, and crawling insects from every corner poured out in droves, flying and scurrying about in agitation.

Song Jin and Li Xiao grabbed onto the vines to leap to higher ground, observing the situation below.

In the area where the military metal had been discovered, the retracted floor revealed a bizarre device.

The next moment, Song Jin and Li Xiao felt as though they were violently shoved by an invisible hand. A powerful repulsive force launched them backward uncontrollably.

Caught off guard, Song Jin tumbled backward, only to be caught in a firm grip by Li Xiao.

Li Xiao drove his dagger deep into a massive vine, exerting every ounce of his strength to pull Song Jin back.

Song Jin gritted his teeth, barely stabilizing himself by gripping the vine. “It’s not wind! It feels like a magnetic field!”

The crawling insects throughout the entire space seemed to go berserk, hurtling through the air at extreme speeds, smashing straight toward them.

Li Xiao raised his arm to shield his face. The next moment, a loud metallic clang echoed, and a slab of blue metal materialized before his eyes like a shield, blocking the oncoming bugs.

09: 【This device is mechanically operated and independent of AI control. 07 and I cannot override it.】

The warehouse was almost completely enclosed without windows. If they wanted to retreat, they would have to activate their combat armor mode; otherwise, they would be overrun by the insects within minutes.

Li Xiao looked toward Wei Feng. The man was hiding within a crevice between the vines, his face lined with several bloody scratches from the insects’ barbs.

This couldn’t go on.

Li Xiao redirected his focus toward the repulsive device, noting that it only affected organic matter; those empty shipping containers of various sizes remained as steady as mountains.

The device was roughly twenty meters long, situated beneath a mesh screen where something could faintly be seen spinning.

Li Xiao hurled the dagger in his hand, piercing through the mesh and driving it precisely into the rotating gears.

With several loud, grinding crunches, the sound of something snapping echoed from underground, and the repulsive force vanished instantly.

Li Xiao lurched forward abruptly, only stabilizing himself by grabbing onto a vine.

All the crawling insects slid down the walls like falling snow, piling up on the floor.

Song Jin’s head was ringing. 07’s prompt chimed in his ear.

【Master, underground space detected. Proceed with scan?】

Song Jin: “Scan.”

The next moment, the shield floating before him reverted into a small sphere, darting out rapidly.

Over there, Wei Feng let out a breath of relief, flipping over to land beside Li Xiao. “You two really aren’t here for sightseeing.”

Li Xiao: “What’s down there?”

Wei Feng: “You’re asking me?”

Li Xiao: “I paid you.”

Wei Feng: “…”

Li Xiao: “You don’t know? The great underworld know-it-all, and this is your level?”

Wei Feng: “Before going down, I genuinely didn’t know.”

Soon, the spatial map scanned by 07 projected itself before both Li Xiao and Song Jin.

The space below was significantly larger than the upper level, with far more complex terrain.

Song Jin had 07 locate an exit from the inside, successfully finding the path leading underground in the southwest corner of Warehouse 3.

The entrance was covered in military-grade metal that sealed seamlessly when closed, and even their armor scans couldn’t penetrate the metal to map the lower structure. If they hadn’t accidentally triggered that repulsive device, they would have likely wasted a lot of time searching.

The metallic escalator activated automatically, carrying them downward.

Halfway through, the steps suddenly split open down the middle.

Reacting with extreme speed, the three flipped over to land on the handrails.

“These traps are purely sadistic,” Wei Feng said, his voice dropping heavy—shedding his previous playful demeanor for a grim, sharp edge.

Song Jin looked down; the drop was nearly thirty meters. If they had lost their footing just now, there would have been virtually no survival rate.

Li Xiao: “The greater the danger, the more valuable the secrets below.”

Sliding down the handrails to the bottom, Li Xiao stuck the landing perfectly, turning around to catch the descending Song Jin. His peripheral vision swept across the base of the escalator; there were indeed a few fragmented human bones down there, looking quite ancient.

Before them stretched a metallic corridor with numerous forks.

Li Xiao glanced at the map, walking to the first intersection. The corridor was entirely laced with laser security beams.

“Let’s check it out,” Song Jin said, rapidly navigating through the beams with agile leaps, landing gracefully before a standard door.

Li Xiao followed close behind, keeping a watchful eye on Wei Feng behind him.

The man wasn’t wearing any night-vision goggles, yet he managed to evade every single laser beam with absolute precision.

Noticing Li Xiao’s gaze, Wei Feng passed by his side. “Relax, you two are my premium clients. I happen to know a lot about running a business. Unless absolutely necessary, I won’t lift a finger against my clients.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Who praises their own business acumen out loud like that?

Walking over to the door, Li Xiao signaled for 09 to transform into a lockpick, nodding toward Song Jin.

Song Jin gestured for 07 to breach the door.

07 transformed into a brilliant light source, illuminating everything inside the room.

It was a textbook biochemical laboratory, except all the containers meant for holding specimens were entirely empty.

The three proceeded to check seven or eight rooms in succession; all of them were similar laboratories.

Walking from the 30-meter-high metallic corridor toward the central sector, the vines gradually thinned out until they vanished entirely. There were no more human bones or crawling insects, looking so clean it didn’t resemble a place abandoned for a decade.

Two massive metallic doors materialized before them, secured by a purely mechanical locking system.

Li Xiao and Song Jin searched for a moment but couldn’t find the switch anywhere.

Seeing Wei Feng tap a few specific spots along the floor, the doors unexpectedly groaned and ground open slowly.

Song Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly. “How did you know how to open it?”

Wei Feng spread his hands. “When you navigate the underworld for long enough, you pick up a trick or two about unlocking various doors.”

Seeing the skeptical looks directed at him by Li Xiao and Song Jin, Wei Feng added another line: “Just a tiny bit more than you two.”

Song Jin looked at Wei Feng unhurriedly, saying to Li Xiao, “This guy is somewhat useful. Let’s break his legs and carry him back later.”

Li Xiao: “Works for me.”

Wei Feng: “…”

The interior beyond the grand doors wasn’t pitch black; faint, ambient lights glowed from various points, and sensor lights triggered in sequence as they stepped inside.

When they finally processed what lay before them, both Li Xiao’s and Song Jin’s gazes froze.

The vast space stretched beyond the horizon, lined with structures resembling honeycombs. Each honeycomb unit was connected to a dense network of overhead conduits by a pipe as thick as a human arm. There was a gap of a few dozen centimeters between the honeycombs, barely wide enough for a single adult to squeeze through.

Song Jin walked up to the nearest unit, peering through the transparent protective shield on top to see what lay inside.

Lying within was a person—or more accurately, a mass of flesh.

This “individual” possessed hair but completely lacked facial features. Its limbs were tiny and severely underdeveloped, yet its torso was colossally massive, looking very much like a 200-pound obese frame fitted with the limbs of an infant—utterly disproportionate.

Yet calling it a mere lump of flesh wasn’t accurate either, because the pulse of a heart could clearly be seen beating inside.

It was hooked up to numerous tubes; the conduits connected to its limbs carried a deep, crimson fluid that looked exactly like blood.

Despite having dispatched plenty of mutated beasts far more grotesque and terrifying than this, Song Jin still felt a chill run down his spine, a wave of coldness surging up from the soles of his feet.

“What… is this?!”

Li Xiao inspected several neighboring units; the entities inside were all virtually identical, inducing severe physiological discomfort. Combining both of his lifetimes, this was the first time he had ever laid eyes on such a monstrosity.

Inadvertently, Li Xiao noticed Wei Feng’s hands clenching tightly into fists at his sides, the depths of his eyes reflecting a profound sorrow and rage as he stared at the units.

This sudden emotional resonance instantly reminded Li Xiao of his past self, when he had been forced to watch his brother leave.

What exactly was the connection between these “people” and Wei Feng?