Chapter 118 An Unexpected Development

“It’s nothing.” Feng Bujue watched Dr. Andre impassively and replied, “I just want you to know that if you want to catch me to perform the ritual, I can cooperate with you.”

“Oh?” Andre looked at Jue-ge and thought for two seconds. “Did Nikolai tell you about the ritual?”

“Heh… he told me a lot of things.” Jue-ge used his signature move of feigning mystery again.

“You seem…” Andre stared at Feng Bujue for a few more seconds and said, “…not quite normal.”

“How so?” Jue-ge asked.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if ordinary people screamed or ran away when facing ‘me in this state’,” Andre replied. “But I don’t feel any fear in your eyes at all.”

“It’s simple, because I’m also a test subject at this base.” Feng Bujue gave the answer almost without thinking. “And I received… an experiment to remove fear.”

At that moment, not to mention Andre… even Igor was fooled by him.

Previously, Jue-ge had only told Igor that he had also been captured for experiments, but he had never mentioned what kind of experiment it was; but now… the answer seemed to be revealed.

Combined with his previous behavior and his current calm attitude, his answer was undoubtedly very convincing.

“Oh?” Although Andre also believed most of it, he still cautiously followed up, “How come I don’t know about this kind of experiment in the base?”

“Who do you think you are?” Feng Bujue replied, “Are you the general director of all the plans here? Or the organization’s political commissar?”

Jue-ge combined the situation in the Soviet Union at the time and asked a question that left the other party speechless.

“Heh…” Andre sneered and then said, “Then… can you also explain how you subdued Nikolai? And what did he mean when he said before he died—’there’s still someone in this room’?”

“vno-9.” Feng Bujue gave the answer quickly again.

Multi-tasking has always been Jue-ge’s habit. During the continuous dialogue between the two sides, he had already thought of countless excuses, so he could answer fluently to any question.

“vno-9…” Judging from Andre’s expression, he still knew something about this… “The plan to create ‘super soldiers’?”

“That’s right, I injected myself with vno-9, so my physical abilities are slightly higher than ordinary people. As long as I use a sneak attack, it’s not too difficult to take care of Nikolai.” Feng Bujue’s nonsense came out of his mouth, and it was half true and half false, very difficult to distinguish. “And what Nikolai wanted to say to you before he died was… ‘Be careful, there is a warrior injected with vno-9 in this room’.”

From the point of view of Chinese grammar, this sentence is actually a bit awkward; according to our language habits, it should be said "Be careful, this person is injected with vno-9" or "Be careful, this person is a warrior injected with vno-9."

However, from the perspective of Russian, this explanation seems to make sense; moreover… Nikolai only had a head left at the time, and this head was held in Feng Bujue’s hand. In this case, Nikolai could neither "point" with his hand nor turn his head to "look" by himself. Without being able to "point" out a specific target, it made sense for him to use "there is still someone in this room."

“Hmph… I see.” Andre was fooled.

He responded and was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly…

*Pi pi pa pa—*

A series of crackling sounds, like firecrackers exploding, came from his body.

At the same time, the skin and flesh on Andre’s body surface, which had swelled to the limit, suddenly shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before long, his whole person shrank like a deflated ball, shrinking into a dried corpse shape like Nikolai and the others.

Seeing the other party’s change, a doubt in Feng Bujue’s mind was also dispelled… Previously, Nikolai had said that the Whisperers’ "appearance looks no different from ours", but Andre’s appearance was not the case when he appeared. Now Jue-ge understood the reason and also understood what Andre meant by the sentence "me in this state" just now.

“One last question…” After completing the “transformation,” Andre continued to ask, “Why did you kill Nikolai immediately after I opened the door?”

“Hmph…” Jue-ge put on a cold expression, “From the moment you appeared, the situation was no longer under my control; I tortured Nikolai in various ways just now, and if I kept him… he would definitely say a lot of things against me in front of you.” He tilted his head, a look of fanaticism flashing in his eyes. “I don’t want to die here… Rather than die, I’d rather take a gamble and accept the ritual.”

These words were also half true and half false, and there were no major flaws in the logic.

After hearing this, Andre smiled, “Heh… just about as I expected.” At this second, he finally revealed the smile that a monster should have… that strange, sinister smile, “In that case, come with me…” As he spoke, he turned sideways and made a “please” gesture.

“Okay, let me get my things first.” Feng Bujue replied accordingly.

He said this not only to Andre, but also to Igor. Because at this moment… Igor was standing between Jue-ge and the toolbox, and what Jue-ge wanted to take was obviously that toolbox.

“Get your things?” Andre showed a suspicious look again, “What do you want to take?” He suddenly revealed a bit of ferocity, “You wouldn’t be… after seeing me undo my previous form, you’re having thoughts of a sneak attack or something, right?” He sneered, “Heh… although my appearance has changed, if you treat me like the same trash as Nikolai, I’ll be very troubled.”

“I didn’t mean that.” Feng Bujue replied, “It’s just… these things were all collected by me before, like tools, medical supplies, weapons, etc. It’s a bit of a pity to throw them away.”

“Hmph… whatever.” Andre snorted coldly, “Anyway, when the inner ‘you’ takes over your body, you’ll realize how stupid your current thoughts are.”

…

Three minutes later, Feng Bujue and Andre had already arrived at the ritual room.

Along the way, Jue-ge carried the toolbox and walked in front, while Andre followed vigilantly behind him; and six or seven meters behind Andre… was Igor, who was quietly following.

Igor’s tracking skills were not very good, but fortunately… Andre made a “bang” sound every time he took a step, as if his thin body still carried the weight of the giant monster form just now.

In short, following behind this kind of guy, as long as you don’t deliberately make a sound, you basically won’t be discovered on the “hearing” level. As for the "visual" level… even if Andre turned his head to look, he wouldn’t be able to see Igor, so there was nothing to worry about.

“So… shall we start now?” Feng Bujue put down the toolbox, and also placed the documents he had been carrying in his arms on the ground, then looked at Andre and asked.

At this time, Jue-ge was standing on the edge of the concrete platform, Andre was standing two meters away from him, and Igor, under Jue-ge’s various hints (mainly eye contact and gestures), was standing at the door watching.

“You just go up.” Andre pointed to the concrete platform.

“Can I stand?” Feng Bujue asked while already standing on it.

“You can.” Andre replied, “As long as you are above the magic circle.”

“The people who came to perform the ritual before were laid down because they refused to go up, right?” After Feng Bujue stood still, he asked calmly with a condescending look.

“Heh… that’s one of the reasons…” Andre smiled again, this time the smile seemed to hide some kind of danger.

Feng Bujue didn’t ask what “reason number two” was, because he knew… he would soon be able to experience the answer personally.

“I haven’t asked your name yet.” Two seconds later, Andre asked.

“Feng Bujue.” Jue-ge replied.

“Okay, let’s begin… Feng Bujue.” When Andre said this, he slowly raised his arms.

At this moment, the mutant monster revealed an extremely pious look and began to chant a series of strange incantations.

Although the system did not translate the language he used, Jue-ge could still hear that the other party was speaking Hebrew, but unfortunately… being able to hear it didn’t mean he could understand it.

Just like many people can distinguish the pronunciation of Spanish, Japanese, and French… even if they have never really learned these three languages.

“Huh? This is…” About ten seconds later, Feng Bujue, standing on the concrete platform, saw a light emitting from the magic circle under his feet.

And almost at the same instant, he got wet.

(I always feel that I wrote a line just now that is very easy to cause misunderstanding)

Blood… oozed out of Feng Bujue’s body surface, flowing out of every inch of his skin, every pore…

Seeing this scene, Igor seemed a little anxious, and he was hesitating whether to go forward and save Jue-ge.

“Hmm… feels pretty good.” Feng Bujue understood Igor’s thoughts, so he immediately said this in a calm tone, so that Igor would know that he was fine.

But in fact… Jue-ge’s feeling at this time was very bad.

It wasn’t the kind of bad feeling of being sticky with blood all over his body, but the kind of bad feeling brought about by severe pain…

He already understood why other people who accepted the ritual had to lie down… it was because it hurt so much that they couldn’t stand.

Only Jue-ge could stand and speak like this without changing his expression.

Even Andre, who was chanting the incantation, changed his expression after hearing Feng Bujue’s words… he had never encountered such a situation in the ritual before.

…

The ritual lasted for about three minutes. Andre’s chanting became lighter and lighter, and finally turned into a low whisper that could not be heard by human ears… an extremely low frequency.

At this time, the blood on Feng Bujue’s body had already drained, and he became a dried corpse-like, like a dehydrated plant.

The severe pain that seemed to come from the depths of his soul had also stopped, replaced by… a strange pleasure, and a strong… urge to harm his own body.

“Heh… so that’s it.” The expression and tone of Jue-ge in the state of a dried corpse were actually not much different from usual; while he was talking, he raised his hand and scraped off a piece of flesh from his left face with his fingers, “It’s fucking great…”

This situation made Igor break out in a cold sweat, and he couldn’t help but think… "If Brother Feng’s mind has also been transformed into a ‘devil’ and is trying to kill me…" Igor didn’t even dare to think about what would happen next.

Objectively speaking, Igor wasn’t very afraid even when facing the Whisperers, but if you asked him to face a mutated, hostile Feng Bujue, he would be scared to tears.

“Hehehe…” A few seconds later, Andre let out a strange laugh, indicating that the chanting had ended and the ritual was considered complete. Then, he said to Jue-ge, “As expected… your soul and physical strength are excellent enough to bear the load of the ritual.”

Feng Bujue stepped down from the concrete platform, looked down at his body, and muttered in a weak tone, "I finally know why you all tear off your clothes, it’s sticky and uncomfortable."

“Heh…” Andre smiled, “What’s the use of clothes? Even skin, muscles, and even organs, bones… these are meaningless.” Before he finished speaking, he casually tore off a piece of flesh from his shoulder, “The outer skin is just a shackle that binds us, but… we still need to use it to release other compatriots trapped in this world.”

“Ah~ ah… you go for it.” Feng Bujue didn’t seem to care much about Andre’s words. While the other party was speaking, Jue-ge had already come to the toolbox by himself, squatted down, and opened the box.

“Huh?” Andre felt puzzled by Jue-ge’s response and his attitude, “You… what’s wrong with you?”

The Whisperers are considered to be relatively powerful existences among these "crazy will mutants". They all retain a part of their memories from the "other side", so they can use incantations and have higher intelligence.

However, even Andre, a more senior Whisperer, had never seen an example like Jue-ge, whose personality seemed to have not changed at all after being "awakened".

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Feng Bujue was still responding to the other party in that relaxed and casual tone, and the things he was doing didn’t stop.

However, Jue-ge took out all the vno-9 from the toolbox (basically he put them all in test tubes or blood collection bags) and began to prepare for injection…

“What are you planning to do?” Andre stared at this strange “compatriot” in front of him, falling into a state of confusion.

Because in Andre’s eyes, that toolbox was a mass of black shadows…

And Andre also knew very well that in Jue-ge’s eyes at this time, it should also be a mass of shadows…

“What to do? Isn’t it obvious, I want to strengthen my skin.” While speaking, Feng Bujue had already taken out an extra-large syringe (don’t ask me how big that thing is specifically, anyway, when you see it, you will recall your childhood, and then you will want to cry; of course, if you see it and the image that appears in your mind is some strange scenes from little movies, then I suggest you go out for a walk, receive appropriate psychological counseling, and stay away from crime…), and began to draw the green liquid from the test tube.