“Wait!” Chi Yao pushed back a bit. “No need to lick my face.”

Jing Xi didn’t want to listen.

“I lick when you tell me to lick, and don’t lick when you tell me not to?”

Chi Yao: “Doesn’t it feel weird to lick your own face?”

“You could kiss your own face, so what’s wrong with me licking it?” Jing Xi said flatly. “Besides, the wound is on your face. If it leaves a scar, that’s troublesome.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Thinking of having to apply scar removal cream to his face every day in the future, Chi Yao looked away, saying reluctantly: “Hurry up.”

The corner of Jing Xi’s lips curved up slightly, a triumphant smile flashing in his eyes.

Licking his own face really wasn’t a pleasant experience, but seeing the impatient expression on Chi Yao’s face, he inexplicably felt refreshed in body and mind.

Having his face cupped, Chi Yao instinctively resisted.

Last time feeding the pork ribs was only for an instant, but Jing Xi was dawdling, making everything feel awkward.

Feeling the hot air he exhaled on his face, Chi Yao clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.

Jing Xi hovered in front of the wound, looking down at his clenched hand, teasing expressionlessly: “Now you understand how I felt?”

Chi Yao: “…”

Petty kid who always gets revenge.

But Jing Xi hadn’t finished teasing when suddenly an extremely light sound came from the end of the corridor.

The two exchanged glances, their expressions changing.

A moment later, another metal door at the end opened, and two betas in white lab coats entered.

“Professor, should the A8 experiment continue?” the younger beta asked.

The beta walking in front of him was somewhat older, refined-looking, wearing frameless glasses.

“There have been many experimental subject losses recently. First organize the data on hand and wait for instructions from above.”

The young beta sighed: “I don’t know what’s been happening lately. So many accidents suddenly appearing. A8 suffered the most serious losses—of the 100 experimental subjects released, only 8 remain. We’ll have to start over again.”

The older beta had no expression: “This matter can’t be rushed. If we’re not careful, we’ll all lose our lives.”

Young beta: “Mm.”

Chi Yao and Jing Xi hid behind the platform.

The approaching footsteps stimulated their eardrums. Both gripped their weapons, listening as the footsteps gradually moved away.

Just as Chi Yao was calculating when they’d reach the door, the footsteps suddenly stopped.

“Professor, what is it?”

The young beta’s voice came from over there. “You want a second-level Yangtze alligator? I’ll help you get it.”

Chi Yao’s expression darkened.

The only place nearby with crocodile tissue was theirs.

He looked up at the scrapped sensor.

If that beta came over, he’d see the abnormality at a glance.

“No need.”

The older beta’s slightly deep voice sounded again. “Let’s go. You’ve worked overtime with me for three days. Go back and rest early today.”

The young beta joked: “It’s almost dawn. You really have the nerve to say go back early.”

After the sound of the door closing, Chi Yao waited a moment. Xiao Hong’s prompt appeared in his vision.

[The enemy has left.]

He stood up, went around to the other end of the platform, and carefully examined that crocodile leg.

But after picking up the entire jar and looking it over, he found that apart from the code on the jar body, there was no other information.

Chi Yao propped his chin, pondering: “Come over here. See if you can decode this string.”

After speaking, he got no response from that side for a long time. He looked up, only to see Jing Xi frowning, not knowing what he was thinking.

“What? So unhappy you didn’t get to lick?” Chi Yao habitually teased.

Jing Xi didn’t respond. He walked to his side, saying thoughtfully: “Just now, one of those two people—I should have heard his voice before, but I can’t remember specifically where.”

Chi Yao’s eyes flickered as he prompted: “The military?”

Jing Xi thought for a moment and shook his head: “Can’t remember.”

“If you can’t remember, think about it later.” Chi Yao motioned for him to look at the code. “First look at this.”

Jing Xi glanced at it.

Seeing this string of code, he had the same thought as Chi Yao.

Although using codes to record data information was already quite outdated, this possibility couldn’t be ruled out.

Jing Xi pulled his hand over, opened his own terminal, and pulled up a window full of garbled text.

In just a moment, Chi Yao heard Xiao Hong’s silly notification sound.

[Attempting to decrypt—estimated time ten minutes—]

During the ten-minute wait, the two split up to record all the codes in this specimen room.

Xiao Lan: [Warning! AI patrols approaching! Preliminary estimate thirty units.]

When Jing Xi saw the alert window Xiao Lan popped up, Chi Yao had already heard this warning.

The two quickly ran toward the door from different directions.

But just as they reached the door, the AI patrols had already entered.

Both sides came face to face.

“Warning! External enemy invasion! Warning! External enemy invasion!”

The AI’s alarm echoed throughout the entire space. The AI’s laser beams fired at Chi Yao and Jing Xi respectively.

Chi Yao dodged sideways, rolled on the ground several times, and hid behind a platform.

The path he crossed was immediately marked with a row of cracks by laser beams.

Jing Xi quickly pressed against the wall. A long row of specimen jars was all shattered by laser beams.

He raised his hand to shield his face, avoiding the splashing formalin.

The patrol AIs seemed to have no regard for the specimens here at all, using maximum attack power to exterminate them.

Xiao Hong: [Not good, the number of patrol AIs has increased to 100!]

Chi Yao saw a drop of formalin splashed on his arm. His expression darkened.

“Connect to Xiao Hei’s data and give me the distribution map.”

Xiao Hong: [Connecting to big brother—connected—big brother, I’m here!]

Chi Yao: “…”

More and more AIs drifted in from outside the metal door. They had built-in infrared and heat source sensors. Unless hiding behind special metal, otherwise in the AI’s eyes, this space had absolutely no cover.

They could dodge the splashing various beast tissues but couldn’t leave the AI’s field of vision.

Glass shards and various unidentified objects scattered everywhere. Chi Yao stepped on the platform, jumped up and flipped over, just dodging the incoming laser beam. The ring spun a few times on his fingertip before flying out.

The rotating gears cut through the AI’s head, directly destroying it.

Chi Yao swiped and gripped his finger. Sound waves suddenly emitted from the gears, disabling a circle of surrounding AIs.

If not for fear the range would be too large and affect the structural integrity of this space, the range of the sonic attack could be even greater.

On the other end, Jing Xi took out the empty magazine, replaced it, pulled the slide, and aimed at the nearest patrol AI’s muzzle with one shot.

Before the AI could launch its next laser beam, the attack system had already broken down.

He took this opportunity to kick this AI into the AI群.

The many AIs, suddenly attacked, fired a barrage.

Jing Xi ran back a few quick steps and hid behind the platform.

Boom!

The huge explosion echoed throughout the entire space. The ground and walls were shaking.

After the AI was blown up, it destroyed more than a dozen nearby AIs. Among those AIs, some individual ones had secondary explosions.

In the roaring sound, Jing Xi anxiously searched for Chi Yao’s figure.

“Over here!”

Suddenly hearing “his own” voice, Jing Xi quickly locked onto a platform on the left rear in the chaotic black fog.

“Go to that exit. We can’t get out here.”

Jing Xi hid beside him. His gaze swept toward the direction of that door, quickly planning an escape route in his mind.

If they kept staying here, even if they wouldn’t be shot full of holes by the AIs, they’d go into shock from inhaling too much toxic gas.

Chi Yao watched for the right moment and pulled Jing Xi: “Go!”

Over there, the number of patrol AIs hadn’t decreased significantly but was gradually increasing.

The two dodged among countless specimens, struggling to run toward that other exit—the place where those two betas had just entered.

Finally reaching it, Chi Yao tried to open the door but discovered this wasn’t a sensor lock.

“It might be a mechanical lock!” Jing Xi’s gaze swept over the AIs closely pursuing from behind. His expression turned cold.

If the wall thickness was consistent, then this door was at least twenty centimeters thick. Forcibly removing the mechanical lock in such an urgent situation was simply impossible.

But they could borrow the patrol AIs’ firepower.

Jing Xi: “Let them do it?”

Just four words, but Chi Yao understood.

He snorted with laughter: “Has no one told you you’re really devious?”

The two made a detour and started running in circles to escape.

Jing Xi: “No one, just you.”

Chi Yao: “I’m not human?”

Jing Xi: “Are you human?”

Chi Yao’s retort got stuck on his lips. He suddenly felt a bit guilty: “…”

It seemed no matter from which perspective, he wasn’t entirely human.

The patrol AIs didn’t give these specimens any face. They only had eyes for the two of them.

If not for the purification mask on his face, Chi Yao felt he might have already been fumigated to death.

In this environment, he didn’t want to stay even one more moment.

Through the splashing glass shards and smoke, the two exchanged glances and simultaneously ran toward the door.

The instant they ran past the metal door, Chi Yao pulled Jing Xi down to roll on the ground.

Boom!

A huge explosion sounded in their ears, making their ears ring.

The ground was full of glass shards, and the protective armor could only protect their bodies but not their heads.

The instant Jing Xi rolled to the ground, he raised his hand to protect Chi Yao’s head.

Sensing his movement, Chi Yao’s body stiffened.

Growing up this big, he’d always been the one protecting others. This was the first time someone protected him.

The key point was this person was the arch-enemy who’d always opposed him.

“What are you daydreaming about? Quick!”

Feeling his hand being pulled, Chi Yao quickly came back to his senses and hid with him behind the low wall.

Bombarded by nearly ten AI patrols, the metal door was already severely deformed with bumps and dents. Even the door frame had opened up.

Jing Xi was about to stand up but was held back by Chi Yao.

“How much glass is embedded in your hand?”

Jing Xi followed his line of sight and looked down, discovering the back of his hand near the pinky side was already a bloody mess.

“Deal with it later!”

The low wall used for dodging wasn’t safe.

And more than ten more AI patrols followed from behind. If they stayed here any longer, they’d be blown through.

Chi Yao pulled him back again, took out the handkerchief he’d used from his chest, and quickly wrapped it around him.

“It won’t hurt in a moment.”

Jing Xi was stunned.

Not worried about whether the wound would leave a scar, but caring whether he was in pain?

The situation was urgent. He couldn’t think much about it.

To pass through that door simultaneously would mean receiving double the attacks. They decided to go through one after the other.

Jing Xi’s situation was better. In less than two minutes, he found an opportunity and, under Chi Yao’s cover, squeezed through.

Just as he hid behind the wall, several laser beams grazed his arm.

If not for the protective armor he wore, this arm would probably be useless.

After entering, Jing Xi anxiously waited for Chi Yao to come over.

But after waiting a full five minutes, he still hadn’t waited for him.

Just as he was thinking whether to go back to cover the other, the gap in the metal door was suddenly kicked open, and a long leg stepped over.

“Damn!” Chi Yao cursed, his voice unable to hide his irritation. “Really fucking troublesome. The protective armor only protects the body, not the head—”

Before he finished speaking, he was grabbed by the waist and pressed against the wall. In his ear, he heard “his own” slightly trembling voice.

“Yaoyao—”