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Chapter 122: Hiss, Be Serious
The next day, the weather was great. The sky was a slate of azure blue, and the sun shone brightly.
In the middle of the night, Lin Mu had been carried back to the car by Fu Jingmo, who then kicked He Ze awake in the front to switch night watch positions.
When Lin Mu woke up, he was curled entirely in Fu Jingmo’s arms. The latter had one arm wrapped around him, leaning against the car wall, looking at the black box.
“Awake?”
“Mm.” Lin Mu sat up, glancing around. He noticed that neither He Ze nor Shen Rangchen were in the car. “Any new information?”
“About Bai Ying. They’ve issued a capture order for him.”
“Why?”
Bai Ying was incredibly powerful. If he were merely guarding a safe zone, he could protect the people within it. There was no way the higher-ups would waste precious manpower to go after him at a time like this.
Fu Jingmo let out a cold laugh. “He’s conducting live experiments. Reckless.”
“Live experiments?”
The four words sent a chill down Lin Mu’s spine. In Z Nation, or rather internationally, this was explicitly prohibited.
Fu Jingmo accepted it more calmly than Lin Mu; after all, the toxicology research institute he had encountered before was essentially the same thing.
However, he hadn’t expected Bai Ying to go this far. Someone who once protected the people had now become a blood-stained butcher.
“So, are we going to deal with him?”
“No, this mission wasn’t assigned to me. Someone else will handle it.”
Fu Jingmo set down the black box. “Eat something. We’re getting ready to head out.”
The two got out of the car. He Ze had cooked some noodles; they each ate a bit before getting back in the vehicle and leaving.
The car turned off the national highway at an intersection and headed down a remote, narrow road.
The black box displayed a set of coordinates, gradually leading them closer to the Xingshan Research Institute.
“We’re almost there,” Lin Mu said, glancing at the coordinates and making an estimate.
They were currently driving along a narrow road. Below the road to the right was a small river, and to the left loomed towering mountains.
About forty to fifty kilometers ahead was a county town, but it wasn’t their destination.
The Xingshan Research Institute was located across the river on the right, nestled among the mountains. This was already the closest point in a straight line.
“Get out of the car and pack up your things,” Fu Jingmo ordered.
Everyone was accustomed to a life on the move and quickly packed their backpacks.
“Whoa, how are we supposed to get into the mountains? There doesn’t seem to be any path.” He Ze shouldered his backpack and looked across the river. The riverbank was covered in smooth, water-polished stones, and beyond the stony shore, there was nothing but trees—trees upon trees.
There was no obvious way in.
“Could there be mutated plants here?”
Shen Rangchen, who rarely spoke, observed the area for a while. The mountains across the river were densely covered with plants, mostly broadleaf trees. In the lower areas, shrubs grew in abundance.
Occasionally, one could spot a couple of exceptionally massive trees—trees that had grown to sizes beyond what ordinary plants could achieve.
However, he wasn’t referring to these oversized mutated plants. He was talking about mutated plants with special abilities, like the climbing ivy they had encountered before.
“It’s fine. We have Xiao Yuan.”
Among the group, Lin Mu was the only one not carrying a backpack. All his belongings were stored in his personal space.
The others, however, carried essential supplies and food on them as a precaution against getting separated.
Lin Mu had already discussed it with Xiao Yuan and decided to store the car in his space. With the space being so vast, fitting a single vehicle wouldn’t take up much room at all.
Xiao Yuan reluctantly agreed, but only after Lin Mu planted two small flowers for him as compensation.
Once the car was stored away, the four of them left the road and headed toward the riverbank.
The river wasn’t very deep; they could cross it easily by stepping on the protruding rocks. In no time, the group hopped across the river effortlessly.
Fu Jingmo took the lead, finding a spot where the vegetation wasn’t as dense, and was the first to enter the forest.
They walked along the base of the mountain, planning to get closer to the coordinates before pinpointing the exact location.
There was no path, so their feet tread on bare soil while dense vegetation brushed against their bodies from time to time.
Fortunately, the weather had turned cold, and their clothing was thick enough to offer some protection. Whenever something blocked their way, Fu Jingmo used his black crystal to cut through the plants.
The further they went, the colder it became—perhaps because the terrain was gradually rising.
Occasionally, the clear cries of a bird could be heard, circling high in the sky before fading into the distance.
Shen Rangchen’s small paper figurine perched on his shoulder, tilting its tiny head as it curiously looked around.
The group moved quickly, and by noon, they had already crossed two mountains without encountering anything unusual.
They found a flat area to sit down and began munching on bread.
“Brother Fu, so the movies were right! These secret places are always hidden deep in the mountains and forests.”
“Do you think they block signals or something too? Like, if someone wanted to search, they wouldn’t be able to find it.”
As soon as they stopped, He Ze couldn’t resist starting to chatter. Fu Jingmo raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, then handed the opened pack of biscuits to Lin Mu.
“Yeah, not only are there weird research institutes hidden in the mountains, but I’ve also heard that wandering spirits and lost ghosts with nowhere to go gather around these places when they see people there~”
“…”
A cold wind happened to blow past, and He Ze shivered, inching closer to Shen Rangchen. “Xiao Chenchen, you Taoists can catch ghosts, right?”
“We can catch them. Do you want to keep one as a pet?”
The small paper figurine on Shen Rangchen’s shoulder suddenly leaped onto He Ze’s head, grabbing his hair. He Ze let out a series of high-pitched screams.
Lin Mu shook his head. “Calm down. It’s broad daylight—what ghosts could there possibly be?”
Just as Lin Mu finished speaking, something suddenly darted past behind them. With a flick of the black crystal, there was a soft squelching sound.
It was a wild rabbit—delivered right to them as food. He Ze, momentarily forgetting his fear, hopped over excitedly to pick it up.
“What the—!!! What the hell!!!”
The rabbit was kicked far away by He Ze. Its exploded belly, lying to the side, was filled with wriggling black things.
Fu Jingmo stood up to take a closer look, his expression instantly turning grim as his cold gaze shifted toward the distant mountains.
Lin Mu stood beside him, looking down at the rabbit on the ground. By now, a faint stench of decay was wafting from it.
The rabbit’s appearance didn’t seem like a simple case of zombification.
Could this be connected to that research institute?
But wasn’t the research institute still a day’s journey away?
If that was the case, how many other things might be lurking in this entire mountain, waiting for them…
The thought killed their appetite. With no mood to eat, the group quickly packed up and set off again.
Fortunately, for the rest of the afternoon, they didn’t encounter anything unusual.
At night, they stopped to rest by a small stream. From the storage space, they retrieved two tents and a few sleeping bags.
They had gathered a good number of practical outdoor supplies like these.
Shen Rangchen placed Concealment Talismans on both tents and stationed his small paper figurines outside. Ever since advancing to the second level, maintaining his paper figurines no longer consumed much energy.
Tomorrow, they would reach the research institute, so they decided not to set up a night watch and instead get proper rest.
For water, they used what He Ze had brought in a basin. The mountain was too eerie, and who knew if the stream water might be contaminated?
They weren’t afraid of the R-virus, but there could be something else.
In pairs, they crawled into their tents. Lin Mu was just about to settle into his sleeping bag when someone grabbed him and pulled him to the side.
…
Fu Jingmo bent down, unzipped the two sleeping bags, and then zipped them together into one large double sleeping bag.
He lifted his chin slightly, looking at Lin Mu with a smug, almost triumphant expression. “Get in, baby.”
Lin Mu shook his head helplessly and climbed into the sleeping bag. Moments later, Fu Jingmo’s tall figure slipped in as well.
The sleeping bag was sized for an average man, but with Fu Jingmo’s height and long legs, it was completely stuffed once he squeezed in.
Fortunately, Lin Mu was on the slimmer side, so the sleeping bag didn’t burst under the strain.
However, this left them no choice but to press tightly against each other with no space in between.
Fu Jingmo rested his chin on Lin Mu’s soft hair, clearly pleased with his own cleverness.
“Fu Jingmo, why do you think that rabbit ended up like that? Was it zombification?”
Lin Mu still couldn’t figure it out. The R-virus wasn’t supposed to cause animals to zombify—unless something had changed along the way.
“Who knows? The people in these research institutes are all crazy; there’s nothing they wouldn’t do. The R-virus, at least in the beginning, couldn’t zombify animals through water. But what if it was artificial?”
As Fu Jingmo analyzed, his hands and feet didn’t stay idle, taking advantage of every opportunity to grope around.
“You see, ordinary people who haven’t been infected by rainwater can still get infected if bitten by a zombie. So, it’s not that the R-virus can’t infect them—it’s just a matter of the transmission method.”
“Hiss,” Lin Mu sucked in a breath and slapped away the wandering hand on his waist.
“Be serious. Could it be that the people in this research institute are using animals to study the R-virus?”
…
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Avrora[Translator]
Hello, I'm Avrora (≧▽≦) Thank you very much for your support. ❤️ Your support will help me buy the raw novel from the official site (Jjwxc/GongziCp/Others) to support the Author. It's also given me more motivation to translate more novels for our happy future! My lovely readers, I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do.(≧▽≦) Ps: Feel free to point out if there is any wrong grammar or anything else in my translation! (≧▽≦) Thank you 😘