Chapter 84: Which office are you from?

A thunderous roar rolled through the earth as the ground itself trembled under a dreadful surge of yin energy. Yet nothing unusual could be seen from outside. Qin Ye had no time to conceal anything and shouted, “What in the world is going on?”

Though it sounded like he was asking the others, Arthas spoke in a low, understanding voice. “Breathing.”

“This is... the other side’s breathing... It’s a ghostly thing, and it’s alive!”

Qin Ye blinked, then tried, “Sindragosa? Your frost dragon?”

“If you keep testing me, I’ll fly up right now and—”

Crash!

Before Arthas could finish her furious retort, the entire floor jolted violently, split open with a huge gash, and everyone plunged downward.

At the same time, the barrier shattered, and the sudden change finally drew the guard force’s attention. Exclamations rose all at once.

“What happened?” Outside the encampment, a man with two stripes and one star stared in astonishment at the cloud of dust erupting from the first floor of the retirement home. A second later he reacted and shouted at once, “Quick! Report to the Special Investigation Office immediately—”

“No need.”

Before he could finish, a faint voice sounded behind him. Zhou Xianlong had somehow already appeared at his back.

“This matter is now under the jurisdiction of the Special Investigation Office.” Zhou Xianlong issued his orders with calm precision. “Call up every surveillance system. No matter how far away it is, as long as it was within three hundred meters of Hunting Zone Four, send the footage over.”

Soon, one recording after another arrived. Zhou Xianlong had two others behind him, and they immediately got to work.

Keys clattered in rapid succession. Within minutes, Qin Ye and the others, moving like a bunch of apes swinging through the trees, appeared on the screens.

“A bunch of little bastards...” Zhou Xianlong stared, first stunned, then grinding his teeth in fury. “Every damn day it’s this kind of nonsense... Go find out which department they belong to! Forget it... looking closely, I think I recognize them all...”

That deeply memorable S9527, and...

“And a few little punks from the Blaze Squad...” His voice seemed forced out through clenched teeth as he pulled out a phone. “Principal Xu? It’s me... your newly recruited instructors need proper training... What? Their pre-job training hasn’t even started yet? Then wait until it begins and we’ll give them special training!”

“...What kind of matter? Heh, does sneaking into Hunting Zone Four in the middle of the night count? Deduct a month’s merit points. A small punishment to teach them a lesson.”

With that, he turned and left.

“Sir...” Once they were out of the barracks, a man behind him lowered his voice. “This is Hunting Zone Four... its special significance...”

“I know.” Zhou Xianlong smiled with a distinctly sinister air. “But... an even heavier punishment is probably waiting for them below.”

“Quite capable, aren’t they? To have even found the passageway below... You know why I’m not punishing them more severely?”

The question changed too abruptly, and the other man clearly did not keep up. “Huh?”

Zhou Xianlong ignored him and looked up at the stars. “Initiative and creativity deserve praise. At times like this, we need more soldiers like that.”

“We need cannon fodder, yes. But we need elites even more.”

........................................

Thud...

The ground below the retirement home was not very deep, less than ten meters or so, and posed no obstacle to the five soul-catchers. Soon they adjusted themselves and landed neatly on the ground.

“This is...”

What greeted them, however, left everyone stunned.

A stone door.

It was very old, carved with intricate patterns. Qin Ye frowned and thought for a moment; he was certain he had seen these designs before, in front of Cao Youdao’s sleeping chamber.

Beneath Bao’an City, was there a vast tomb stretching across the entire city?

Shaking his head, he forced the thought aside and looked more carefully.

On both sides of the stone door stood two ever-burning lamps. Beyond that was nothing but a wall of rock.

“This is a man-made passage. And it’s been here a while... but not too long, probably around a hundred years.” Su Feng scraped out a bit of soil and said, “Open it?”

Of course they had to.

They had come this far. A large amount of merit points was likely right before their eyes, and no one wanted to turn back.

Even through the door, they could already feel how vast the yin energy inside was. With every breath taken by the ghost within, the blood in their bodies seemed to surge and turn cold in response.

It was unimaginable.

All eyes turned to Qin Ye.

“Me? Open it?” Qin Ye blinked, pointing at himself with a flicker in his gaze. “That doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”

What if opening it unleashed a volley of arrows, or a claw shot out to snatch him to death?

Su Feng shook his head firmly. In their understanding, when it came to the final moment, it should of course be the strongest who raised the banner.

That was the privilege of the strong.

“Please!”

Faced with four voices saying “please,” Qin Ye had a string of curses he did not know whether he should say or not.

“If I die, it will absolutely be because you lot got me killed...” he muttered through gritted teeth. After several deep breaths, he finally shuffled forward to the door, carefully avoiding the seam, and then...

He gently poked the stone door with a finger.

Immediately afterward, he leapt to the wall like a flash of lightning and pressed himself flat against it.

Everyone: “...”

“I think... pushing is better than poking...” Lin Han offered kindly.

Qin Ye shot the big oaf a glare from the corner of his eye. As if I didn’t know pushing would be better? The problem is, do I dare?

Ashamed and enraged, he simply shut his eyes and kicked the stone door open.

Boom...

A muffled impact rang out. The other four moved at once and shot forward like lightning. But the next second, they all retreated.

“What’s going on?” Qin Ye frowned. Walking to the doorway and taking a look, he drew in a sharp breath and also stepped back.

Inside was a huge passage.

It was four or five meters wide, and beyond the cave it was hard to see what lay within, but what was clearly visible was...

From inside to out, it was packed with soldiers, each pair of eyes fixed on them in wary vigilance, infrared sights all trained squarely on their bodies.

There was no doubt that if they so much as moved, they would be turned into sieves.

“A misunderstanding... this is a misunderstanding...” Lin Han’s face twitched with a strained smile, and his hands rose of their own accord above his head.

“Those are... infrared sights?” Qin Ye was at the rear, and Arthas let out a soft exclamation. “Hands up! Why are you still standing there? I have no intention of dying with you!”

Qin Ye could not be bothered with this reflexively dim-witted elf ball. Without needing him to say it, everyone’s hands shot up at once, like a flock of startled quail.

“So this is your intelligence?” Qin Ye hissed at Su Feng through clenched teeth. “Why is there a group of people here?”

“This is the Special Investigation Office... the emblem of a sword and shield on their chests...” Su Feng let out a long, bitter sigh. “So the government didn’t not know; it knew long ago and simply never made it public, and even set up a base here beneath the ground... We miscalculated everything...”

Qin Ye sucked in a breath. He had a premonition that this time, those merit points of theirs might be gone for good.

Whoosh...

At that moment, the soldiers split apart in unison, though the infrared sights remained trained on the five of them. A man in a white lab coat pushed through the crowd and walked over. He looked to be in his forties, with a square face and heavy brows, both hands in his pockets as he strode briskly forward. Under the protection of dozens of soldiers, he stopped in front of them.

“Pretty capable, aren’t you?”

“Heh... just average...” Lin Han replied with an awkward laugh.

The square-faced man tapped the badge on his chest. “Special Life Research Center, abbreviated SRC. Director of the First Research Institute in Hui Province, Chang Shun.”

“SRC?” The other four were all stunned. Qin Ye asked in a low voice, “Is there a problem?”

Su Feng’s face was full of misery. “No problem... SRC... the only department in the country, besides the Special Investigation Office, that keeps records on all special cases—people possessed by yin spirits, or who have seen ghosts, and all mutated yin spirits. All we know is that their headquarters are in the capital, and every branch is classified...”

Chang Shun looked at the group with a smile that was not quite a smile. “Not bad. In decades, you’re the first people to stumble upon an SRC branch. What clues did you use to find this place? And how should I reward you?”

“Can we still run?” Qin Ye asked in a low voice.

Zhuo Qinfen’s mouth was practically flattened with dread. “If you want to be recorded for a major demerit, give it a try.”

Qin Ye fell silent.

“Come this way.” Chang Shun turned and beckoned, leading the way toward the center under the escort of the soldiers.

The group hurried after him.

The place had a style similar to the layout of the Special Investigation Office beneath the city government: a heavy sci-fi atmosphere. They walked for dozens of minutes; by then they were probably several hundred meters underground, and the air had grown hot. At last, an alloy door appeared before them.

After Chang Shun verified his iris and fingerprint and opened a door, an enormous space came into view.

It was about the size of a football field. Everywhere were gigantic suspended screens. Countless streams of data flickered across them. Information flowed outward in all directions from the central net-brain of the River of Souls. Culture tanks, crystal test tubes, and even... they saw a living human being unconscious inside a massive test tube!

Though calling him human was not entirely accurate. There was a half-meter-long wound across his chest, and within it countless wisps of yin energy writhed restlessly.

“This is Biological Kui Mulang No. 41, grade D.” Seeing the glint in everyone’s eyes, one of the accompanying white coats said lightly, “A rare symbiote, born with yin meridians. He should have died five years ago. We extended his life. He agreed to it. Though he can now only come out three days a month, that is still far better than being tormented every day.”

The farther in they went, the more giant test tubes they saw, some of which Qin Ye had never even heard of. He saw a wild man, he saw a heart wrapped in swirling yin energy... Beneath each test tube was a number, and someone would explain each one to them.

From Kui Mulang to Lou Jin Dog, from Wei Yue Swallow to Room Fire Pig... He silently calculated, and there were actually several hundred creatures here that he had never imagined before. Every single one was related to yin spirits!

Tap...

At that moment, Chang Shun stopped.

The five of them came back to themselves and withdrew their surveying gazes. There was no path ahead. On the huge alloy wall before them, a male face had been carved. On either side were data displays and various instruments, chaotic yet orderly. Without turning around, Chang Shun looked at the male visage and said solemnly, “Fifty years ago, a level-six earthquake struck Bao’an City, and this crack appeared.”

Qin Ye’s body suddenly stirred. Su Feng asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Qin Ye shook his head and said nothing.

No one knew that his heart, at that very moment, had begun to pound faster and faster.

It was as though something here was calling to him.

Chang Shun did not notice his reaction and continued, “Only the most classified archives record this. During the rescue efforts, the 433rd Regiment at the time discovered something.”

His hand lifted and pressed against the male face. “It was a living organism, an unknown life-form whose makeup... was completely different from that of all existing life.”

Flash!

The instant his hand made contact, the male face seemed to receive some sort of information. Countless points of flowing light, like fireflies on a summer night, burst into life in this lonely space.

Clack...

That alloy door actually made a dull sound, and then... split open from three sides!

“It was sleeping, perhaps sealed away. But even while asleep, it could devour yin spirits.”

Click, click, click...

In the darkness behind the door, it sounded as though countless locks were opening. Chang Shun finally turned around, a flush on his face.

“It has been sleeping like this, beneath Bao’an City, for no one knows how many years.”

“Welcome to the most powerful congealment of yin energy in all of Huaxia—codenamed ‘Kua Fu’!”