Upon entering the house, they were greeted by several skeletons clad in white robes, all bearing bullet wounds. The room itself was riddled with bullet holes and signs of gunfire. To the left and right of the doorway lay two skeletons dressed in Nazi uniforms, their fatal injuries clearly visible: gunshot wounds to the temples.
From this, it wasn't difficult to deduce that this research institute was established in the latter half of World War II. The HYDRA organization had coerced and imprisoned a group of necromancers here, forcing them to work on creating an undead army that was immune to death.
Unfortunately, before they could research and create their so-called immortal undead legion, Germany was conquered by the Soviet Union. The war ended, and a large number of fanatical Nazis chose to commit suicide in loyalty to their Führer. The situation here was much the same.
The two soldiers at the entrance were clearly such brainwashed Nazi fanatics, loyal to their leader until the end. However, while they were mad, the necromancers in charge of the research were not, and most of them were not even German.
The outcome was that these two soldiers killed all the necromancers here with their guns and then took their own lives.
Bai Qi pushed aside a skeleton slumped on the desk.
As the skeleton fell to the ground, bones scattering everywhere, Bai Qi picked up a stack of documents from the desk and began to read them.
The contents of the documents further confirmed Bai Qi's initial hypothesis. The Nazis were even more insane than he had imagined.
Their so-called undead army was not merely the corpses stored in the vats outside. They intended to combine magic with technology, deploying this technique on the lands they had lost, transforming all fallen soldiers into an undead army fighting for them.
It was important to remember that approximately 70 million people died directly or indirectly from World War II due to war-related causes such as disasters, famine, lack of medical care, spread of infectious diseases, conscription, forced labor, and massacres. This number did not include those who were not recorded.
Had the Nazis truly developed and deployed this technology in the war, history might have been rewritten.
As Bai Qi flipped through the documents on the desk, his hand paused. A slight smile touched his lips as he slowly turned and walked out of the house. He looked at the nearest metal tank and said, "Alright, come out. Hiding is no fun."
Bai Qi's voice was not loud, but it echoed. His gaze was fixed on the metal tank, with nothing else in sight, making it seem as though he were speaking to the dead inside.
Moreover, since Bai Qi had absorbed the volcano that provided them with energy, all the tanks had stopped working.
Seeing no response, Bai Qi was not one to wait. He strode towards the nearest tank and punched through the glass. The liquid inside gushed out. Bai Qi then withdrew his hand, and the glass shattered, causing the corpse inside to fall out.
The corpse that fell from the tank moved its fingers less than two seconds after hitting the ground. Then, its body folded at a ninety-degree angle, rising in an extremely eerie posture. Its hollow eyes stared fixedly at Bai Qi, its mouth opening to emit a harsh, grating sound like metal friction.
Bai Qi did not hesitate. He swatted at it, sending the creature flying five meters away. It crashed into several other tanks before finally coming to a halt. The tanks damaged by the impact leaked their liquid, and the monsters within crawled out, shuffling slowly towards Bai Qi, emitting their grating cries.
The monster that Bai Qi had sent flying also stood up shakily after a brief pause. Despite its severely contorted body, it continued to approach Bai Qi.
Facing the approaching monsters, Bai Qi could have easily incinerated them with a wave of fire, but he chose not to. Instead, he used his telekinesis, a more gentle force, to pin all the monsters to the ground, rendering them immobile.
"Alright, are you still not coming out?"
Bai Qi's initial target was not these low-level creatures.
Despite appearing seemingly unkillable and making frightening noises, these lesser monsters were not particularly strong. Aside from their near-invincibility, they were arguably weaker than an adult human male.
The real target that had caught Bai Qi's attention had yet to appear.
Seeing that the other party still refused to reveal themselves, Bai Qi lost patience. His time was limited, and he needed to return to the ship quickly after finishing here. Therefore, he decided to end this swiftly.
Bai Qi raised his right hand, and a surge of immense telekinetic power spread out, enveloping the entire cavern.
"So, you were hiding here."
Having located his target, Bai Qi wasted no further words. The massive telekinetic force pressed down, tearing open the corresponding metal tank. He controlled the monster within and forcibly brought it before him.
Although it looked no different from the other monsters, its behavior clearly indicated its unique nature.
Unlike the other monsters, which immediately began to cry out upon emerging, this one regarded Bai Qi calmly, as if appraising him.
Bai Qi did not hold back, and with a palm strike, he forcefully expelled a blue spiritual entity from the monster's body.
Upon its emergence, the spiritual entity froze for a few seconds. Seeing its own form, it became instantly agitated.
"It's real! I've truly escaped this disgusting shell."
As the spiritual entity rejoiced in its newfound freedom, Bai Qi also examined it.
Spiritual entities generally resembled their appearance in life, and this one was highly recognizable. Its attire suggested a pirate: a large tricorn hat, an array of dazzling decorative pendants, and, most importantly, a cutlass and flintlock pistol at its waist.
The spiritual entity, having calmed down somewhat, asked Bai Qi, "How did you do it?"
Bai Qi did not answer its repeated questions. Annoyed by this perceived disrespect, the spiritual entity drew its flintlock pistol and aimed it at Bai Qi's head, saying, "I'm asking you a question, did you hear me!"
The moment it finished speaking, Bai Qi, without a word, revealed his true form. His body began to swell, like an inflated balloon, until it was about to touch the cave ceiling before stopping.
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-no, none at all."
Upon seeing Bai Qi's true form, the spiritual entity immediately cowered. It quickly holstered its pistol, removed its hat, and held it with both hands against its chest, saying, "Most venerable... Dragon Lord, the pirate Babator offers you his highest respects."
Indeed, pirates were all gutless cowards who preyed on the weak, then and now. When Bai Qi had been bossy and demanding, he had immediately become submissive upon revealing his true form.
However, it mattered little. As spiritual entities, they possessed inherent advantages. Moreover, this creature, unlike Hengge, did not need to possess an object to exist independently.