Bullets poured down like a raging metal storm. Large-caliber rounds spun forward with terrifying kinetic energy, instantly covering the Aberrant's body.
Its hard scales, seemingly impervious to blades and bullets, proved as fragile as paper against overwhelming firepower.
In the space of a breath, they shattered in a cloud of blood, leaving a mangled heap of flesh.
Zhang Tie trembled as he wiped blood from his face, staring at the thoroughly dead Aberrant as though in a dream.
He had escaped death by a hair.
He had thought he was finished. Yet Ye Lin had saved his life again at the crucial moment.
"Y-Ye Lin...?!"
"Th-thank you..."
Zhang Tie still hadn't recovered. He kept thanking him numbly, his eyes filled with shock at the rifle in Ye Lin's hands.
Ye Lin shook his head, offered a reminder, then jumped off the cabinet to resume searching the corpse on the floor.
"Nothing to thank me for. Treat your wounds. We leave in a minute, tops."
He had found the gun.
He had been lucky enough to discover a soldier's corpse in a corner. It had been eaten down to a little blood and skin stuck to the floor, but fortunately, its equipment remained.
Most likely, an Aberrant had ambushed the soldier and killed him before he could react.
After searching two vials out of the combat uniform, Ye Lin stood and tossed a silver-white pistol to He Zheng as he hurried over.
"Catch!"
He Zheng instinctively caught it, his eyes wide with shock.
"What the...? Fuck, where did you get this?!"
The gun was heavy. Its dark muzzle promised considerable power.
Like Zhang Tie, He Zheng hadn't searched for long before the monster drew his attention. He had expected another bloody struggle. Instead, Ye Lin had conjured up weapons as though by magic and killed the Aberrant while he was at it.
Then He Zheng caught sight of the shredded combat uniform on the floor and understood.
There was no time to marvel at Ye Lin's luck. He drew a deep breath, growing anxious.
"Ye Lin, did you hear that noise?"
"I think there's an even stronger Aberrant out there!"
He wanted nothing more than to leave.
At an Aberrant's normal speed, they should still have a minute or two. But nobody knew how fast the monster that broke through the door could move!
He could even feel a faint vibration through the floor. He couldn't imagine how enormous that unknown Aberrant must be.
Seeing Ye Lin still searching, he wanted to drag him away right now.
"I know!"
Without looking back, Ye Lin pointed at the refrigerated cabinet behind him.
"Shoot through the glass! Take as many vials as you can."
"And keep these safe. We'll need them in a minute!"
He stuffed the two vials into He Zheng's arms, then hurried toward a metal case that had fallen to the floor some distance away.
What were these?
He Zheng stared at the white substance inside the vials.
He couldn't read a word of the labels, but judging by Ye Lin's reaction, they were important.
"Quit standing there!"
At Ye Lin's urging, He Zheng put them away and ran toward the cabinets.
He didn't know what these compounds did, but finding two guns alone had made this trip worthwhile!
...
A minute later.
Boom! Boom!
Heavy impacts and the Aberrants' distinctive high-pitched screeches rapidly drew closer.
Outside the armory, Lin Ya trembled as laboratory equipment was hurled aside in the distance.
Her view was blocked, and she couldn't see exactly where the Aberrants were. But they sounded no more than a few hundred meters away.
"Brother He! Ye Lin!"
"They're here! They're coming!"
Five hundred meters!
Four hundred!
Three hundred!
Under the glaring red emergency lights, Aberrants surged out like a black tide.
One slender Aberrant suddenly accelerated, crossing a hundred meters in seconds and lunging toward them with a roar.
Lin Ya screamed in terror. Just as she turned to run, two bullets flew past her head.
Ye Lin charged out of the storeroom, muzzle flashing as he fired quick shots at the nearest Aberrant.
The 7.62-millimeter rounds shattered its left leg. Yet losing a leg only made it more frenzied. Like a spider, it used hands and feet to scramble forward, screeching. New chapters come out on g.com first.
He Zheng's face turned ashen at the densely packed monsters behind it.
They had caught up far faster than he expected!
They had wasted a minute, but at this speed, the Aberrants would have caught them even if they had left earlier.
"Ye Lin! What do we do? Split up?"
Bang! Bang!
He Zheng drew his pistol and fired, trying to slow the charge. It barely helped. He was a poor shot to begin with, and fast-moving targets were even harder to hit.
He would finally drive one back, only for several more to leap forward. Even Ye Lin couldn't hold them off for more than a few seconds without emptying his magazine in one burst.
"Smash the vials!"
Before He Zheng could ask again, glass shattered beside him. Ye Lin had hurled the compounds he had found directly into the Aberrants' path.
As the tubes broke, the white liquid inside evaporated violently, sending up a cloud of pungent white mist.
What the...?
He Zheng stared. He had thought they were supposed to inject these drugs, not smash them!
"Ye Lin, what does this stuff do?"
With no time to think, he copied Ye Lin and threw out a vial.
The next instant, the Aberrant passing through the mist went rigid, as though its nervous system had suffered a devastating blow. It screamed in agony.
Acting on instinct rather than reason, more Aberrants charged into the white mist and fell into confusion. Their movements slowed visibly.
He Zheng was overjoyed. He remembered Ye Lin saying the researchers probably had something to deal with the Aberrants.
So this was it?
They had found twelve vials in all. If this stuff could kill Aberrants, then together with their weapons, they might be able to wipe the monsters out.
As though reading his thoughts, Ye Lin turned and ran as soon as he finished throwing his vials.
"Keep dreaming! It's just an anesthetic!"
"There's a big one behind them! And use your spray on Zhang Tie!"
He Zheng faltered. Only then did he remember the monster that could smash through an alloy door!
He instinctively looked back. He couldn't see exactly where it was, but in the darkness, he could make out an enormous shape moving toward them.
Unable to imagine how terrifying a monster capable of destroying that door must be, He Zheng took a deep breath and forced down his greed.
If he got greedy for rewards, there wouldn't be a scrap of him left.
He turned and ran without another moment's hesitation.
But two steps later, he saw Zhang Tie trying to flee with Hu Jia on his back. The way he staggered, he was practically asking to die.
After a quick glance at the Aberrants held back by the mist, He Zheng took a deep breath and swore at him.
"Are you a fucking idiot? You're injured, and you still want to carry someone? I've never seen anyone this stupid!"
Zhang Tie lowered his head without answering. He knew He Zheng was scolding him for his own good.
"Hu Jia's leg is hurt... We can't just leave him..."
"Fine, fine. You're a good person!"
Too fed up to argue with the fool, He Zheng swallowed his anger, pulled out the spray he had exchanged points for, and shoved it at the two of them, signaling them to use it.
It pained him to spend it, but he knew Zhang Tie wouldn't keep up unless they used it now.
They were already short of people. Who knew how many more Aberrants lay ahead?
He Zheng thought reasonably well of Zhang Tie. Hu Jia, on the other hand, earned only a disgusted glance. Treating that useless bastard's injuries felt like a waste.
Especially since He Zheng could see perfectly well what Hu Jia was thinking.
"Useless piece of shit. If you don't want to die, keep up."
He wasted no more time. Ignoring Hu Jia's stiff expression, He Zheng turned and caught up to Ye Lin.
...
The spray worked remarkably well. Within seconds, the wounds began scabbing over, a cool sensation relieving the pain.
After treating his injuries, Hu Jia gritted his teeth and followed at the rear. Unseen by anyone, he clenched his fists, his eyes full of resentment.
He knew how disgusted He Zheng's look had been.
But he only wanted to live. What was wrong with that? In this damned place, was being weak a sin in itself?
He couldn't die yet. At least not now!
(Home... I have to make it home alive!)
...
Outside the laboratory area.
Inside a ventilation duct, An Ke used the reflection in a mirror to watch the surroundings carefully, her head tilted to listen.
Only after confirming that everything was quiet and no Aberrants remained did she breathe a long sigh of relief. She slipped lightly down from the duct, moving as quietly as possible.
Things had gone much better than she expected. She had thought she would need to find a way to escape after drawing the Aberrants over.
Checking the information on her watch, An Ke's eyes flickered. She actually ran in the opposite direction from the laboratory.
"According to the penalty requirements, the Antidote should be nearby..."
Certain nobody could see her, An Ke suddenly accelerated, covering a hundred meters in just a few breaths.
Had He Zheng been there to see her speed, he would have been horrified.
No unenhanced human could possibly move that fast. Without question, An Ke was not a newcomer. Luring the monsters away had merely been an excuse to act alone.
About three minutes later, she stopped at the end of a corridor.
Before her stood a closed tempered-glass door.
Inside, half a corpse curled in a corner. From its appearance, it was an Aberrant caught midway through its transformation.
Its leg bones were deformed, its face twisted and elongated. At a glance, it looked like a fish with a human head.
An Ke exhaled softly, confirming she was in the right place. Her gaze sharpened, and she lashed out with a kick.
Bang!
With an explosive crash, the thick tempered glass shattered across the floor.
Stepping over the shards, An Ke quickly searched the drawers according to the system's instructions. At last, she gripped a vial of deep blue liquid tightly in her hand.
Hiss...
She slowly injected the drug. As the cold liquid flowed into her veins, a crisp system notification sounded in her mind.
"Beep. Penalty Test completed. Examinee An Ke, ID C3471, receives +0 reward points."
There was no reward, but when she saw her ID change from red to white, a relieved smile appeared on An Ke's face. The weight finally lifted from her mind.
Good. Her penalty was finally over.
Now she only had to blend in with these rookies and finish the exam to clear her record. With the newcomers bringing down the group's exam count, her subsequent exams wouldn't be too difficult either.
If everything went smoothly, she might even use this chance to build up her points again. Then... enter that place again...
Suddenly, a piercing screech sounded outside.
An Ke's smile froze. She whipped her head around, watching tensely.
She was no weakling. One-on-one, she could even overwhelm He Zheng. But without a suitable weapon, she couldn't handle several Aberrants either.
Especially since... something about this exam's difficulty felt wrong.
She jumped into the duct.
An Ke's eyes shifted, a slight frown forming.
"Is it because of me? But my exam count has already reset to zero. My strength should add no more than half an exam's worth of difficulty..."
"Or is it He Zheng?"
There seemed to be something wrong with He Zheng too. Zhang Tie and the others couldn't tell, but from her perspective, the strangest thing about him was his lack of weapons.
A "veteran" who had survived multiple rounds of the Death Gaokao entering an exam without a weapon was practically committing suicide.
Even a dagger was better than going empty-handed.
She had done the same, but she hadn't had a choice.
"Still, it shouldn't be a major problem. Judging by his intelligence and performance, he's entered the Death Gaokao three times at most. From the fourth exam onward, a brute like him couldn't possibly survive."
"It's possible he really had no points to exchange for anything..."
"As for that kid..."
An Ke blinked, Ye Lin's face flashing through her mind.
"He's definitely a newcomer. But bringing a gun in... His identity in the real world must be interesting."
Putting it aside, An Ke reviewed the second round's question.
"The answer is probably one of the things we identified earlier."
"Even if we're wrong, it can't be far off. And that kid isn't too stupid."
She wasn't certain whether the '??' the system wanted them to find was what she thought. But at normal difficulty, the search area was only so large. Even with her included, it should amount to no more than a few extra deaths along the way.
"Origin of the Gods... Based on what we know, the hardest part is finding where the god or object is. Once we get inside, the exam is basically over."
"He Zheng's messages say they've even found two guns. They can't be far from the final objective."
With that thought, An Ke began to wonder whether she needed to rejoin them at all.
If Ye Lin and the others could complete the exam themselves, she could simply wait until it ended.
With He Zheng and the others risking their lives, she didn't have to take any chances. She could avoid exposing herself too.
Thinking it over, she extended the mirror out of the duct to check how many new Aberrants had appeared.
If there were too many...
An Ke looked to the side.
The instant she saw the reflected scene, her face changed drastically. She froze as though struck by lightning.
In the nearby passage, more than a dozen Aberrants advanced with low growls, arranged like an escort.
Surrounded by the monsters, a tall, thin figure slowly turned into the far end of the corridor.
Even that single glimpse made An Ke's scalp prickle. All the blood in her body seemed to freeze.
How could this be happening?!
How could it possibly be happening?!