Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Huo Xiaoguan covered Ling Shuang’s mouth and whispered: “Bear with it.”

Wen Yishu’s gaze shifted over. The hand was bandaged very well. Bai Mi seemed to have received professional training, and her technique was very skillful.

For some reason, this made her feel a little conflicted. Was it that she was just not good at taking care of herself?

Or was it that she was so dedicated to her hobbies that she even learned how to treat external injuries?

Seeing that her attention was diverted, You Ning patted her on the shoulder: “What do you think?”

Wen Yishu came back to her senses and turned to face her.

You Ning’s concerned eyes fell on her. She continued to persuade: “You know what I said before. It would be more convenient for us to live together.”

Wen Yishu interrupted her: “I don’t think so.”

The confident smile on You Ning’s face froze. She asked in confusion: “Why?”

Wen Yishu: “My friends are here, and I’ve already discussed it with the team leader. Xiao Ning, I’m sorry, but I can’t be with you for now. But if you find the minister, you can ask her for a room card and live across from us, so we can look out for each other.”

You Ning sighed. Her eyes were a little complicated. Wen Yishu’s words were a disguised refusal. As friends for so many years, she knew what her personality was like.

Once she made up her mind about something, nothing could change it.

She shook her leg. She couldn’t interfere with her friend’s decision. She could only pat her on the shoulder. At worst, she would just take her with her later. It was pointless to worry about this now.

The group rested for a moment. Wen Yishu suggested that they stand outside the door and keep watch.

She quickly searched the fish person’s body on the ground and finally found three whitish crystals in its eyes.

This kind of crystal was white but not transparent, completely different from the transparent crystal of the human Variant from before. The opaque white inside was like the “cotton” of jadeite.

The two were the difference between “ice jade” and “cotton-containing jade.” Wen Yishu carefully wiped the mucus off them and put them in her inner pocket to prevent them from falling out.

She then stuffed the eyeballs she had picked out with the knife back into their sockets and returned to the room.

She planned to wait until it was safe to tell them about the crystals. If she didn’t say anything, she couldn’t hide it for long.

But now the situation was unstable. It was better to do less than more. She would solve the current problems first.

The five of them discussed for a moment and decided to tie a white ribbon on the inside of their wrists to distinguish themselves from the fish person’s disguise. They didn’t know how many of these creatures were below or where they came from.

Wang Li and Ji Shuyi still hadn’t replied to her messages. Wen Yishu frowned as she looked at the full signal on her quantum computer.

Could it be that they, like You Ning, were also watching outside all the time?

What about the others? How come she didn’t see anyone on the way here?

“How many of these monsters were in the central lounge?”

You Ning: “I saw five. I don’t know if that was all of them.”

If the number You Ning gave was accurate, then counting the one she kicked, there should still be one that hadn’t appeared.

Huo Xiaoguan: “Did this fish head crawl up from the sea?”

Everyone quickly denied this guess. It was no exaggeration to say that the Rhine’s apartment was as solid as a fortress.

There was no possibility of it coming in, so this monster most likely appeared inside the apartment.

Ling Shuang spoke up weakly at this moment: “By the way, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the apartment seems to have a basement level two.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to her. Wen Yishu hadn’t noticed this detail at all.

She didn’t go out very often. Every time she did, she was creeped out by the android robot at the door. After a rough scan of the floors, she didn’t pay any more attention.

Now that the elevator was broken, no one could go in and verify whether there was a basement level two.

When they came down, the safety passage did not extend another level down. Wen Yishu recalled the bare walls, which didn’t even have a door.

Ling Shuang continued to speak: “Actually, I didn’t notice at first either. The floor I was on with Xiao Guan wasn’t very high. Before we went to snorkel and collect samples, I took the sightseeing elevator up to the eighth floor to look at the beach.”

The view from the eighth floor was excellent, and you could indeed see the beach in the distance. Ling Shuang was right about this.

“When I came down, I found that there was another button below the basement level one, with no numbers or symbols on it. You also had to push the ring below to see the button.”

“I just pressed it, and the number on the elevator suddenly turned red, showing that I didn’t have permission. I was in a hurry at the time, so I didn’t study it anymore.”

Wen Yishu recalled the elevator buttons from her vague memory. It seemed that there really was a reflective ring, but she hadn’t paid attention to it at the time.

This was indeed an easy detail to overlook.

Sure enough, the others also looked at Ling Shuang with a blank expression. She continued to speak: “Why don’t we look for it? If we can’t find it, we’ll go back up. But if we do, the apartment won’t be very safe.”

The people downstairs hadn’t all died. They were all hiding in their rooms.

Now, no one dared to stay in one place with others. People in the group started speaking one after another.

All of them were crying for help. These people were completely terrified by the Variant outside. They could only hide in their rooms.

Along with this came endless curses.

They cursed the Federation for not doing anything, and they cursed Rhine for not organizing a rescue. They, as high-end talents, were not even as good as those commoners. Why hadn’t the rescue team organized by the Federation arrived yet?

In just two short days, these people went from being calm and composed to being crazy.

Even though there were so many solutions, they chose the most extreme way to fight for their chance to survive: insulting, threatening, and giving up on themselves.

The man lying on Tang Han’s top bunk was woken up by the continuous messages. He excitedly clicked on his quantum computer, trying to find a message that rescue information had arrived.

What caught his eye were the group messages that were not set to do not disturb. He frowned and tossed and turned in bed impatiently.

Damn it. Can this group of people solve the problem by cursing?

But he soon found something wrong in the group messages. Almost everyone was asking the minister where the Variant outside had gone. If it wasn’t safe down here, where else could they go?

He sat up from the bed, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. A Variant? What kind of Variant? Wasn’t the apartment safe?

There were too many group messages. He couldn’t scroll up. Who could tell him what happened during the time he was asleep?

A wave of hunger came from his stomach. He then realized that the room was eerily quiet. He had been making a fuss on top for so long, and he still hadn’t heard Tang Han’s voice complaining.

“Grumble—” The long sound of a stomach growling made him feel inexplicably creepy. This sound did not come from his stomach.

He subconsciously looked at the foot of the bed where the sound came from. Tang Han was standing there at some point.

The cold light of the quantum computer shone on his body, revealing a pale, malnourished face. The man was startled, but his voice of inquiry was stuck in his throat.

He saw Tang Han’s mouth suddenly become very big. Those two arms grabbed his legs and pulled him into that mouth full of sharp teeth.

A crunching sound of bone was heard. A moment later, all that was left on the ground was a slimy and chewed-up pajama.

The quantum computer, the symbol of his identity, was now worn on another hand.

At the same time, Wen Yishu looked at the messages in the group for a few moments and found that there was nothing useful.

Someone was still constantly pinning the minister’s private messages to the top, frantically questioning her why she didn’t reply to the messages. Some even started cursing.

They completely disregarded who saved them and who ignored their own danger to go out and patrol the floors.

She scrolled through the live feed. The apocalypse survival guide had been updated a minute ago.

She clicked on the blue “Variant Compendium” button. A wide variety of Variant illustrations came into view, like a menu. With big pictures and keywords, Wen Yishu tried to search for “fish” and found that the fish head outside did not appear here.

It seemed that this kind of Variant with the ability to transform and create illusions only existed here.

But Wen Yishu saw the human Variant that blocked her way yesterday. This was almost a whole category. She wondered how the officials managed to capture and organize these things in such a short time.

The speed was unimaginable. This also made the group realize that the Federation was not as defeated as they had imagined.

Of course, this could not have happened without the help of artificial intelligence. As the most powerful computing server today, Aix should not be affected by the Variants in a short time.

As long as there were people alive, humanity still had a chance to turn the tables in this disaster.

The researchers in the basement were not all waiting for death. More people in the group were not speaking and had started researching ways to save themselves.

After checking all the messages, the group unanimously decided to go to the location of the safety stairs to check.

The elevator was completely destroyed. Wang Li, who destroyed the elevator, most likely knew about the existence of basement level two.

What was under the apartment that they, as researchers, were not allowed to know?

She had to find out!

Before leaving, Wen Yishu handed the helmet to You Ning and asked her to help take a look.

She had a small toolbox in her backpack. When she looked at the gear again, she was no longer surprised.

She used a triangular tool to pry up the top of the metal helmet very neatly, took out the chip, and reinstalled it. The black adhesive quickly solidified into a tape in the air, firmly wrapping the chip.

You Ning’s technique was a bit rough. The Eagle Eye helmet was not made very delicately. The chip inside was very firm. As long as it was placed in the right position, it didn’t need to be repaired at all.

When Wen Yishu casually put it back in, she pressed a data connection cable, which was why the location information was blocked.

She quickly reassembled it, reinforced it, and handed it back to Wen Yishu.

“Warning deactivated. It’s a pleasure to serve you.”

Aix’s voice rang in Wen Yishu’s ear again, making her feel incredibly safe.

The group then headed toward the safety exit. You Ning and Wen Yishu walked in front, with Huo Xiaoguan and Ling Shuang in the middle, and Bai Mi in the back.

The cold, hard feeling of the polished concrete floor made them tense up and not dare to relax. This was a dangerous road. As the group walked forward, the light from the motion sensor lights chased them from behind.

Wen Yishu inexplicably felt that this was like a game she had played. As long as the running little person was hit by the light, an invisible big hand would rush out and grab her, then drag her into the bottomless abyss.

The bloody footprints in front of them became fainter and fainter. She occasionally saw a few faces pressed tightly against the glass in the rooms on both sides, looking either indifferent or desperate.

Without exception, none of them chose to come out. They just watched them walk by silently.

Some even slammed on the door and roared, questioning them if they were the rescue team and why they didn’t save them.

But even so, no one opened the door and walked with them.

Everyone seemed to tacitly agree that anyone who came out now was either a dead person or a Variant.

No one was willing to come out at this time and be a guinea pig to test the team’s ability.

The fish person Variant was not very aggressive. It relied on deception and surprise to successfully eat people.

If everyone had united and worked together to kill the fish person when they found it, so many people wouldn’t have died.

And they wouldn’t have to hide inside.

There was no way for people to pull those who were trapped in their limited thinking out in a short time.

So Wen Yishu didn’t stop. She rarely even showed sympathy. She could only be safe after all the Variants were dealt with. Now, she couldn’t care less about the lives of these people.

Her knuckles holding the flamethrower turned white. The smart navigation prompt in front of her showed that after walking a little further, they would reach the exit of the safety passage.

The piles of debris at the door were no different from when they first came in. The green exit sign on the wall next to it pointed to the black hole outside.

The group stepped over it. The temperature outside seemed to be even lower. Wen Yishu’s legs, which were not wearing long underwear, felt a slight chill. Soon, her feet became a little numb.

The temperature had definitely dropped by more than one or two degrees. Aix seemed to have sensed her thoughts. She frowned as she saw the snowflake icon on her goggles. The temperature column showed that the number was already red, -5°C.

The city of Binhai, where the temperature was stable at over 20°C all year round, was now at -5°C!

The other people’s faces also didn’t look good. The drop in temperature made everyone shiver.

The lights in the safety passage turned on in time with their footsteps. Wen Yishu saw a hidden door with no doorknob that had appeared on the originally smooth wall at some point.

It was slightly ajar. You Ning stepped forward and pushed the door open. Inside was endless darkness and a staircase that could only fit two people. A fishy smell floated out from inside.

There really was a basement level two! She took a deep breath and was the first to walk in.

The group entered one after another, and no one was left outside. This was not a good place to defend. It was easier to be attacked outside. It was a risk either way, so they might as well all go in.

Besides, those cowards wouldn’t come out anyway. If the five of them were separated, their combat ability would be weakened. She didn’t want to get halfway down and have her companions above get killed first.

The staircase was not long. The group quickly reached the bottom. The metal door in front of them was slightly open. Just then, footsteps suddenly came from outside.

A man’s voice rang out: “Minister, why are you here?”

Wen Yishu subconsciously turned her head to look, and then she heard a “bang.” The lights in the safety passage disappeared with the sound of the door closing.

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