Drip-drip— drip-drip—
The sound of dropping blood continuously echoed.
In a dim small wooden cabin, Lin Bai opened his eyes groggily. His nose twitched slightly as the room was filled with a strong smell of blood.
Lin Bai looked around and was horrified to discover that he was bound by a rope around his wrists, hanging from the ceiling. Around him were countless other people hanging, their status unknown between life and death. The floor of the room was already stained red with blood.
Lin Bai moved his body slightly, feeling the rope binding his hands. There was no sign of loosening.
'Damn, it's tight. What kind of hellish place is this?'
Lin Bai looked down and saw a large hole in his clothes, as if his body had been cut open before.
'Don't tell me I was actually slashed? I remember sleeping in the dorm, how did I end up here?'
His memory still remained at Brothers' BBQ. He got drunk, and then...
Lin Bai began to swing his body, but no matter how he swung, the rope tied to the ceiling showed no signs of loosening. Instead, his swinging caused the rope to cut into his hands, leaving trails of blood. Lin Bai winced in pain.
"Damn it, I just turned 18, my life has barely begun. Is it going to end here?"
Just as Lin Bai was lamenting, a female voice sounded in his head.
"If you sacrifice half of your life, you can gain tremendous power. Are you willing?"
"Who are you? I don't need it."
Just then, heavy footsteps came from the doorway. Thud, thud. Lin Bai narrowed his eyes slightly and stopped making noise.
A creaking sound came as the heavy iron door was opened.
A burly man about 1.8 meters tall, wearing a yellow safety helmet and construction site clothes, walked in.
He left bloody footprints on the blood-covered floor. Lin Bai observed this person carefully and was horrified to see that the man's rough face was stitched with countless lines. His skin and body were full of burn marks, as if his skin was made up of different people's skin, making one feel nauseated.
The man held a huge axe in his hand. He cut down a rope, dragging a corpse out.
As he dragged it, the corpse made a scraping sound against the ground, leaving a trail of blood...
Lin Bai immediately felt an overwhelming sense of fear. His strong survival instinct made him swing more forcefully, ignoring the severe pain in his wrists as he kept swinging.
With Lin Bai's efforts, the old rope finally showed a slight sign of loosening. Lin Bai was immediately delighted and swung even more vigorously.
After successfully breaking free from the rope, Lin Bai fell onto a bloodstained haystack on the ground.
Panting heavily, Lin Bai steadied himself. He dared not be careless and moved cautiously inside this morgue, feeling around for items on the surrounding corpses.
Soon after, Lin Bai found a handgun and police badge on a corpse dressed in a police uniform...
But why was this badge different from the ones he'd seen before? Lin Bai looked at the badge in his hand with confusion.
It read: E City Mutation Investigation Bureau 5-32, Li An.
After putting away the badge, Lin Bai sneaked to the door and peered outside through the crack. The surroundings were a wilderness with a small road leading to the main road.
'Have I been brought to some small warehouse deep in the mountains?'
From outside came occasional sounds of an axe chopping meat and a concrete mixer running...
Each time the sound of chopping meat came, Lin Bai's heart tensed a bit more. But looking at the handgun in his hand gave him a tremendous sense of security.
'Whatever this person is, one shot and he'll behave, unless he's a ghost.'
Lin Bai tried to gently push open the door, but the old unmaintained door made a long, thin "creak." Lin Bai cursed under his breath.
"Not good!"
Lin Bai hurriedly rushed out of the room and flipped into the bushes nearby.
Sure enough, soon after, the burly man came to the iron door. The moment the man walked into the room, Lin Bai suddenly rushed out, closed the iron door, and dropped the iron bolt, locking the man inside.
Seeing the now tightly closed door, Lin Bai leaned against it, panting.
"Should be safe for now, right?"
The man kept ramming the iron door with his shoulder, making a series of loud noises.
Lin Bai carefully observed his surroundings. Nearby was a cement mixer, a brick mold, and many blood-red bricks on the ground.
"Don't tell me those are from the corpses..."
After exploring the area, Lin Bai found a three-wheeled vehicle nearby. He patted it.
'Although I don't have a license, I can still ride a three-wheeler.'
Just as Lin Bai mounted the shabby three-wheeler, the door suddenly erupted with a series of loud noises. Lin Bai looked back in horror to discover that the man had used his axe to split the iron door in half.
Those blood-red eyeballs stared fixedly at Lin Bai... Lin Bai looked at the man's eyes in terror.
"Seriously, bro? The iron door—you just split it open like that?"
Lin Bai hurriedly stepped on the accelerator, trying to start this shabby three-wheeler quickly.
With the sound of the engine starting, just as the man split open the iron door, Lin Bai successfully started the three-wheeler and drove onto the small road beside, heading towards the main road with his not-so-proficient driving skills.
Just when Lin Bai thought he was safe, the man began running unhurriedly behind Lin Bai's vehicle, chasing him. A pair of eyes stared fixedly at Lin Bai, while the giant axe in his hand continued dripping fresh blood.
After driving a kilometer away, Lin Bai looked back and saw that not only had the man not been shaken off, he was getting closer and closer.
Lin Bai was shocked.
"I'm going at least 60 miles per hour! Are you Superman or something?"
As the man got closer, the female voice sounded again.
"If you sacrifice something, you can gain power to easily kill him. Are you willing?"
"Thanks, I don't need it."
Holding the gun, Lin Bai felt a huge sense of security.
Seeing the man approaching with the giant axe, under the threat to his life, Lin Bai had no choice but to take out the gun and shout:
"Stay back or I'll shoot!"
The man made no response, only continued pursuing Lin Bai.
Lin Bai gritted his teeth and fired several shots at the man. Although he had never used a real gun before and his accuracy was poor, with continuous firing, a few shots hit the man's body.
The man splattered green blood, but surprisingly, his pace did not slow down at all. Seeing this, Lin Bai became even more terrified.
"Monster!"
At this moment, a hand was placed on the back of Lin Bai's three-wheeler. The man had finally caught up to the tail of Lin Bai's vehicle. He grabbed the shabby three-wheeler with one hand, lifted it high, roared, and smashed it heavily on the ground.
With a loud "bang," Lin Bai was thrown out with the vehicle.
His entire body was pinned to the ground by the deformed three-wheeler, unable to move. Multiple wounds appeared on his body, and in the intense pain, Lin Bai slowly lost consciousness...
Lin Bai's head was splitting with pain. In his foggy state, he saw the man drag him to the cement mixer.
The man held the giant axe, attempting to split him open.
Just as the man raised the axe and was about to bring it down.
The female voice asked again.
"If...?"
Before the voice could finish, Lin Bai, looking at the axe about to split him in half, hurriedly said:
"I accept! If you have a way, hurry up!"
"Since that's the case, I'll help you break a seal."
At this critical moment, a strange power surged within Lin Bai. A seal inside his body seemed to be released, and his body began to change.
Originally about 1.8 meters tall, he began to shrink, turning into a white-haired girl about 1.6 meters tall.
The girl opened her eyes with her remaining consciousness, caught the giant axe with one hand, and threw the man and axe aside, clicking her tongue in disdain. Then she summoned a blood-red light that gathered between her fingers. With a flash of red light, the light turned into a beam that shot out, instantly piercing through the man's head.
After the man died, a black crystal emitting black mist, rated D-class infection crystal, condensed on his corpse.
The girl picked up the crystal, ate it, and licked her lips, revealing a satisfied smile.
After all this, Lin Bai lost consciousness again and collapsed, turning back to his original form.
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A squad wearing police uniforms arrived at the scene. An officer supported Lin Bai and felt his nose.
"Captain, he's still breathing."
Another officer approached the burly man's corpse.
"Preliminary judgment: this person shot the head with a handgun, killing a D-class infected being. Source of infection unknown."
Another officer came over to report.
"Captain, our previously dispatched officer Li An, who was searching for the location of the infected, is dead. His body is in the wooden cabin..."
An 18-year-old girl with black long hair, wearing a police uniform, walked over. She nodded to the officers and then looked at Lin Bai.
"Send some compensation to Li An's family."
Chi Xiaoyu clenched her fists in anger, looking at the young man on the ground. She couldn't help but feel pained as she touched his face.
"Captain, I suggest we send him to the hospital for examination first. This person appears to have no external injuries, just needs to be checked for signs of infection," an officer said with concern.
Chi Xiaoyu nodded.
"You take him there. I'll handle the aftermath and come over to question him later."
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