Hearing Shang Jianyao’s description, Long Yuehong felt a chill run down his spine, fear rising within him. He couldn't help but interrupt:
“Stop, stop!
“Can you not make it sound so terrifying?”
“Helping you deepen your memory,” Shang Jianyao explained with a serious expression. “So that when you encounter it later, you can react immediately.”
“No, don’t say that. It’s better not to encounter it!” Long Yuehong was simply afraid of Shang Jianyao’s jinxing mouth, because he considered himself a child of bad luck, worried that whatever his friend said would come true.
Shang Jianyao hummed and turned to look at Jiang Baimian in front of him, sincerely nodding.
“Thank you.”
When he was describing earlier, Jiang Baimian had proactively shined the flashlight backward, bringing about a very good effect.
—Of the four of them, only Jiang Baimian had a flashlight in her hand. The others had to hold weapons to complete the shooting at the first moment, so they just turned on the flashlights hanging on their combat belts, letting them shine vertically on the ground, radiating a small area around them.
Jiang Baimian chuckled and turned the flashlight forward.
“What you said earlier is about the same as what I guessed.
“Since the illusions we saw don't originate from ourselves, then they must come from the ‘Higher Mindless’ who created the illusion. With her intelligence, which is only slightly higher than that of a beast, it's impossible for her to process and process information too complexly.
“Therefore, it can be initially determined that what we see are all things she has encountered before, only there may be a certain amount of simple repositioning and recombination.
“This is interesting.”
After listening to the captain's words, Bai Chen said thoughtfully:
“That aura that makes people extremely fearful and unable to stand steadily seems to really exist…
“I wonder where that ‘Higher Mindless’ encountered it… And what the owner of that aura looks like…”
Speaking of this, she and Jiang Baimian answered in unison:
“That mysterious laboratory!
“The originator of that huge roar!”
Bang, bang, bang, Shang Jianyao patted the side of his “Berserker” assault rifle with one hand, as if he were applauding.
“Thank you,” Jiang Baimian responded unhappily. Then, while sensing the surrounding electrical signals and observing the area illuminated by the flashlight's beam, she organized her thoughts and said, “Perhaps that ‘Higher Mindless’ had approached the laboratory before, and even entered through some channels that normal people couldn't detect, and felt that extremely terrifying aura…”
“What about that wriggling mass of flesh?” Long Yuehong asked subconsciously.
Bai Chen pondered and replied:
“It might be a failed product from the laboratory. However, the Old World has been destroyed for nearly seventy years, it's impossible for a failed product to survive until now.”
“Perhaps that ‘Higher Mindless’ has seen flesh and blood that had been blown into a pulp, and usually catches wriggling insects as food, so when creating the illusion, she combined the two together,” Jiang Baimian tried to understand the essence of that scene. “The old woman with a face full of wrinkles and the infant’s corpse in swaddling clothes should really exist, but it's uncertain whether the former is still wandering somewhere in this ruined city.
“In short, either the old woman has even more bizarre abilities, or her encounter touched some of the ‘Higher Mindless’ instincts, leaving her with an extremely deep impression, naturally using what she saw and heard at the time in the illusions she created.”
Bai Chen immediately guessed:
“That old woman is also a ‘Higher Mindless,’ but the child she gave birth to died prematurely? She has been holding the child’s corpse in her arms, unwilling to admit it?
“This will definitely resonate with other ‘Higher Mindless’ who have the instinct of reproduction and motherhood.”
“But the problem is, ‘Higher Mindless’ should not have the ability to speak. Why can she say things like ‘You’re disturbing Xiao Chong’? Could this be the special characteristic of that ‘Higher Mindless’? Also, she doesn't look like she's of an age to produce children, unless…” Jiang Baimian said as she thought, gradually finding the answer.
At this moment, Shang Jianyao interjected with a laugh:
“Who wasn’t young once?
“Perhaps that old woman was only in her twenties when the Old World was destroyed?
“At that time, she became a ‘Mindless,’ and her child died on the spot.
“This is also a huge blow to the Mindless who have the instinct of reproduction and motherhood, causing her to firmly remember what she said when her child died.
“After that, she held the child, hunting while repeating in a low voice:
“‘You… are disturbing… Xiao Chong…’
“Like this, she kept repeating this sentence until the baby turned into bones, until her face was covered with wrinkles.
“Even today, she might still be somewhere in this ruined city, holding a swaddling cloth containing an infant's skeleton, constantly whispering:
“‘You… are disturbing… Xiao Chong…’”
“Hiss, don’t guess at such a serious matter with a ghost story tone!” Long Yuehong felt a chill all over his body, and the phrase “You… are disturbing… Xiao Chong…” seemed to echo in his ears.
“Don’t you think this is a good topic?” Shang Jianyao said with considerable regret.
“Aren’t you afraid at all?” Long Yuehong asked back with a slightly distorted expression.
Jiang Baimian interrupted the two people’s “dispute” and nodded gently:
“This is about the same as what I thought.
“Alright, let’s not discuss it anymore. It’s enough to have a preliminary understanding of the situation.
“Let’s leave the underground as soon as possible and return to the first floor. When we get there, there will be plenty of time to review.”
“Yes, team leader!” Long Yuehong forcibly suppressed his voice.
While speaking, they had already reached the end of the current corridor.
“Turn left,” Jiang Baimian said without hesitation.
After turning left and walking to the end, then turning left again, they could return to the corridor where the stairwell entrance was located.
After giving the order, Jiang Baimian subconsciously turned her head and glanced to the right.
That led to the depths of this floor.
“Ah, what a pity. I really want to find the underground computer room, restore power to this ruined city, open the door of the mysterious laboratory, and see what secrets are hidden inside and what research is being done.”
The timbre of this sentence was not a female voice, but a slightly magnetic male voice.
Jiang Baimian quickly turned her head and rolled her eyes at Shang Jianyao:
“Oh, you even added sound effects for me?
“Yes, that’s what I was thinking just now.
“Then can you guess what I’m thinking now?”
Shang Jianyao answered seriously:
“I really want to blow up Shang Jianyao’s dog head.”
Before Jiang Baimian could respond, Bai Chen sighed helplessly:
“Team leader, we need to return to the first floor as soon as possible.”
“I know, I know,” Jiang Baimian glared at Shang Jianyao. “It’s all this guy’s fault. He’s such a mood killer. I’m talking to you, be serious!”
After speaking, she ignored Shang Jianyao and stepped into the left corridor.
Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao followed closely behind.
On this corridor, the rooms on both sides were either open, allowing one to see the opposite corridor, or tightly closed, with no idea what was inside.
Jiang Baimian only sensed electrical signals and did not try to open all the closed doors, searching for possible hidden secrets.
Just as they were moving forward, Jiang Baimian’s eyes narrowed, and she said sternly:
“Dodge!”
While speaking, she had already lunged diagonally forward, rolling into the room next to her.
Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao completely trusted her and took evasive action at the first moment.
The former two scurried into the rooms beside them, while the closest thing to Shang Jianyao was a tightly closed wooden door.
This did not stop Shang Jianyao. With a bang, he crashed through the door and “charged” in.
In the next second, a grenade flew over from nowhere and landed where they had been standing just now.
Boom! The surrounding doors shattered, the ground dented and cracked, and flames scorched black marks.
After this grenade, no more attacks came, and no figures appeared.
Jiang Baimian, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong continued to hide where they were, not daring to come out rashly.
At this time, in the room that Shang Jianyao had crashed into, there was light shining.
Shang Jianyao saw a lit LCD screen with some strange, unrealistic-looking characters moving around.
In front of the LCD screen was a black machine. A black-haired boy was originally sitting in front of the machine, but because someone had broken in, he dropped the controller in fright and scurried behind a table not far away to hide.
Shang Jianyao’s reaction was completely different from what the boy had expected. He did not make any attacking or dodging movements, but looked seriously at the LCD screen and said:
“What is this?”
The boy was stunned for a few seconds and answered very fearfully:
“It, it’s a game.
“A very old game… I couldn’t find a virtual reality gaming pod, so I can only, I can only play this kind of thing…”
Shang Jianyao nodded:
“Is it fun?”
“It’s quite fun,” the boy replied subconsciously.
“How do you play it?” Shang Jianyao sat down and asked sincerely.
The boy observed for more than ten seconds, hesitantly left his hiding place, and slowly, weakly sat next to Shang Jianyao, picking up the controller.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Shang Jianyao asked very politely.
The boy was about seven or eight years old. As soon as he got the controller, his chubby face seemed to glow.
He answered casually:
“Me?
“My name is Xiao Chong.”
ps: Seeking recommendation votes~