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62: Will all humanity enter a new era?!

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!…”

Rounds from sub-machine guns and assault rifles poured out at a rate of 20 to 30 per second, and the dense barrage slammed into the green monster’s body.

Blood spurted from the creature and splattered across the walls and floor.

The bullets could hurt it!

At once, every soldier perked up, hope igniting in their eyes.

As long as their guns could wound the creature, they could kill it.

A monster that could be killed was nothing to fear!

The soldiers split into two teams and laid down interlocking fire that barely paused as they reloaded with practiced ease, advancing steadily to drive the creature back into the lab or gun it down outright.

At the same time, crackling sounds came from several labs along the corridor, as though something inside had been startled by the gunfire and was now struggling to break out.

“Dr. Lin! Get out of here, now!”

Captain Zhao squeezed his trigger while turning his head to shout.

However, he saw that Lin Zhiwei wore an unusually complicated expression.

A mix of shock, confusion, and even a trace of delight crossed her face.

It was the first time Captain Zhao had ever seen such rich emotion on her normally calm, all-controlling face.

Why would she show that expression at the sight of this giant monster?

Before Captain Zhao could think further, a shrill scream suddenly rang out ahead.

He jerked his head around, pupils contracting.

The huge green monster charged through the hail of bullets, swiped its claw, and sent the two lead soldiers flying as blood instantly painted the floor red.

The other soldiers froze at the sight, their guns faltering.

After taking so many rounds it could still strike back?!

Worse, it now seemed even faster than before!

At that moment, the monster’s eyes glowed crimson; it had entered a blood-crazed frenzy and killed anyone in sight without mercy.

“That damned beast… everyone, fall back now!!!”

The moment he saw his men killed, Captain Zhao burned with rage and ordered an immediate retreat.

At the same time he yanked a grenade from his belt, a look of grim resolve flashing in his eyes.

The surviving soldiers and researchers spun around and sprinted toward the elevator, their footsteps echoing in the corridor.

Captain Zhao pulled the pin, hurled the grenade at the green monster, and then ran for his life.

“Boom!!!”

A deafening explosion rocked the entire lab.

Dust flooded the hallway, several lights shattered, and visibility dropped to almost nothing.

“That grenade is way stronger than the ones in movies; is it custom-made?”

Watching from a distance outside the research facility, Shen Yi looked genuinely amazed.

The blast was unbelievably powerful!

With a grenade like that he could have taken out the mutated black spider with ease!

“That mutated green dog is still alive? How is that possible…”

Shen Yi frowned, disbelief flashing in his eyes.

With the lights blown and dust everywhere, he could not see the dog clearly, but he sensed a dark mass in the haze radiating intense hostility.

Hostility that strong could only be the mutated green dog.

Only a living creature emitted such an aura.

Yet, after that blast it was still alive?!

Shen Yi found it unbelievable.

First it had taken a torrent of SMG and rifle fire, then a vicious grenade, and it was still breathing?

What kind of monstrous vitality was that?!

If such mutants existed everywhere, perhaps it was understandable why the country could not mount a quick rescue.

Shen Yi picked a new hiding spot and kept watching in silence.

He wanted to see just how much punishment that dog could take.

Meanwhile, Back on the first floor, Captain Zhao clenched his fists, his face frighteningly dark.

Although the mutated green dog had finally been blown apart, his team had lost 4 brothers.

The other survivors were equally grief-stricken, their eyes brimming with rage and resentment.

They looked at Lin Zhiwei and the two researchers with complicated, almost reproachful eyes… had the scientists not insisted on returning, perhaps the losses would have been smaller.

Rationally they knew sacrifice was part of a soldier’s duty, but emotionally they still found it hard to accept.

“Dr. Lin, we have retrieved the other data, but nothing more can be taken from the basement; can we leave now?” Captain Zhao asked, forcing his voice to stay calm.

“You can go back.”

Without even lifting her head, Lin Zhiwei scribbled in her notebook, her tone as placid as if nothing had happened.

Immediately, Captain Zhao nearly lost his composure.

What did she mean, ‘go back’?

We lost so many men protecting you, and now you refuse to leave?

Then what had their sacrifice been for?!

“Dr. Lin, what do you mean by this?” Captain Zhao raised his voice, anger barely suppressed.

Still focused on her notebook, Lin Zhiwei replied, “My research has made a major breakthrough, and I need to refine it further. Once finished it will prove my previous direction correct… or perhaps it already has, because the husky has come back to life and still possesses enormous vitality, a relatively benign evolution…”

“Experiment? Evolution?”

Captain Zhao was stunned.

He seemed to have caught a key point.

Could the huge mutant on basement level 3 have been an experimental subject?

Had this woman created it?

“Captain Zhao, take the data back first; I’m staying to help Dr. Lin! If her direction is correct, all humanity will usher in a new era!” a male researcher exclaimed, his eyes shining with fanaticism.

Captain Zhao stared at the three research-obsessed scientists, feelings churning inside him.

They had apparently forgotten the recent carnage and saw only their so-called progress.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay calm.

“Dr. Lin, we can’t gamble with your life; please leave with us. The helicopter picking us up will arrive in no more than 5 hours!”

“If you miss it, you may never get another chance to leave Shancheng!”

Captain Zhao spoke heavily, trying to persuade her.

Lin Zhiwei finally looked up, her gaze cool and unruffled.

“Science is never smooth sailing. Death is painful, but if my work yields enough value, every death will be worthwhile.”

“Therefore I will not leave Shancheng, and you should stop wasting time persuading me; take the others and go.”

Captain Zhao fell silent.

He glanced at his remaining soldiers, then at Lin Zhiwei and the two zealots, and finally clenched his teeth.

“Our mission is to protect you; if you refuse to leave, we will stay and guard you, even if we die doing so!”

Lin Zhiwei ignored his righteous declaration and remained immersed in her notebook, her expression shifting as she thought.

“She’s like an emotionless robot…”

Captain Zhao sighed silently and turned to order his men to set up defenses.

His feelings were impossibly tangled.

On one hand he understood a scientist’s persistence; on the other he could not accept such reckless risk.

After cooling down he pondered the male researcher’s words and sensed something unusual.

“What does it mean to usher all humanity into a new era?”

Captain Zhao frowned.

If the basement monster was created by Lin Zhiwei, what did that prove?

That she had the ability to cause trouble?

Or that she possessed the power to change the world?

Seeing Captain Zhao’s confusion, another male researcher explained, “The mutant you saw on basement level 3 was actually a husky… a dog.”

“A husky?” Captain Zhao and the others recalled that the creature had barked like a dog, though its size and shape were nothing like one.

“Yes. It was Dr. Lin’s pet dog before the apocalypse, but it mutated afterward.”

The researcher paused and then continued, “Dr. Lin injected the mutated dog with genes extracted from Sample 001, triggering a second mutation… no, an evolution… on top of the first.”

“That is how it became what you saw.”

“According to our calculations it should still have been asleep; we gave it 5 times the usual sedative dose…”

“Yet, strangely, it woke up early.”

The researcher grew puzzled himself and muttered, “Why did it wake early? That makes no sense… did it mutate again and become immune to sedatives?”

Or, did someone wake it?

But the door was locked; who could have entered?

How strange.

After hearing the explanation, Captain Zhao was even more perplexed, yet he cared more about another issue:

“What did you mean when you said that if the research is correct, all humanity will enter a new era?”

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