186: Don't you think this is beautiful?

Chapter 186: Don't You Think This Is Beautiful? "Did it work?"

Ninth Master was overjoyed, "Fatty, you're amazing! Did you flash their operating systems?"

"N-not that easy..."

Li Ke stared at the progress bar on the computer screen. "The firewall is too thick. I can only temporarily disable their friend-or-foe recognition system. It should last about thirty seconds!"

"Thirty seconds is enough!"

Old Ghost slammed the car into reverse, then quickly shifted into first gear, pressing the accelerator through the floor.

Boom—!!!

The golden cup - car model let out a dying roar and crashed through the two monsters blocking the way, charging through the gate Li Ke a mad bull.

"Turn left! Head toward the fountain!"

Chen Mo closed his eyes, catching the faint distress signal amidst the loud engine noise and the wind.

"There's no road there!" Old Ghost shouted.

"Crash through it!"

Bang!

The golden cup - car model smashed through the garden's wooden fence, rolled over a patch of expensive tulips, and executed an emergency brake drift in front of a giant European-style fountain.

The car body slid sideways.

Perfectly blocking the monsters chasing them from behind.

"Get out!"

Four people and one dog tumbled out of the car.

This was the core area of the Sanatorium.

White mist surrounded them.

Deep within the mist stood a massive, circular white building.

It looked Li Ke a giant burial mound, lying lifelessly on the island in the middle of the lake.

"Is this the main building?"

Ninth Master gasped for breath, glancing at the slaughtering knife in his hand, whose edge was already chipped. "This is damn creepy."

"Don't make a sound."

Chen Mo suddenly raised his hand.

It was too quiet around them.

Quiet, as if they were inside a vacuum seal.

The crazed "Scavenger" units from before hadn't followed them.

They stopped in the shadows at the edge of the garden, watching the intruders silently, Li Ke a group of gargoyles guarding the graveyard boundary.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Li Ke hugged his computer, trembling.

"Because this is the 'Exhibition Hall'."

Chen Mo pointed around the fountain.

The mist had dissipated slightly.

Only then did the group realize the area around the fountain wasn't empty.

Many people were standing there.

Or rather, what used to be people.

They were wearing patient gowns, frozen in various poses.

Some were playing chess, some were reading, and some were gazing into the distance.

But if they looked closely, they would see that a thick, clear layer of resin coated their skin.

Their eyes were open, but their pupils were dilated.

Their chests were motionless.

"Wax figures?" Ninth Master tentatively poked the nearest "old man."

The touch was hard.

But it had a strange elasticity.

"They are not wax figures."

Chen Mo walked up to a "young girl."

The girl was sitting in a wheelchair, holding a bouquet of dried lilies, an eternal smile fixed on her face.

Chen Mo lowered his head and pressed his ear against the "young girl's" chest, which was encased in resin.

Thump... thump.

After a long pause, an extremely faint vibration came through.

Li Ke an ant knocking on a door.

"They are still alive."

Chen Mo raised his head, his gaze terrifyingly cold.

"Wang Daoming injected them with some kind of hibernation drug, slowing their metabolism, and then sealed them using high-molecular resin."

"Turning them into the... furnishings here."

"Ugh—"

Li Ke couldn't hold it in anymore and retched, leaning against the fountain wall.

"Are th-these still human?"

"In his eyes, they are not human."

Old Ghost squatted down and inspected the young girl's arm.

Beneath the transparent resin, they could see that a blue liquid, not red blood, flowed through her veins.

"This is Perfluorocarbon Artificial Blood... only found in top-tier laboratories."

Old Ghost's voice trembled. "He is using these living people for live anti-corrosion experiments."

"Clap, clap, clap."

A solitary round of applause suddenly came from deep within the mist.

The main door of the white building slowly opened.

A man in a white suit and gold-rimmed glasses walked out, pushing a wheelchair.

Sitting in the wheelchair was the emaciated old man from the video, Lin Changfeng.

However, Lin Changfeng was now dressed in a crisp tuxedo, and his face was even made up, making him look Li Ke a gentleman about to attend a banquet.

Except for his eyes, which were full of despair and ash-Li Ke lifelessness.

"Chen Mo."

The man pushing the wheelchair spoke with a smile.

His voice was gentle and smooth, without a trace of malice.

"See how well I've taken care of your teacher."

"Wang Daoming."

Chen Mo tightened his grip on the iron rod in his hand.

The man waved his hand. "No, no, please call me the 'Curator'."

He pointed to the living people sealed in resin around them.

"Don't you think this is beautiful?"

"No pain, no aging, eternally frozen in the most perfect moment."

Wang Daoming pushed up his glasses, a hint of madness flashing across the lenses.

"Chen Mo, I heard your hearing is twenty times sharper than the average person's."

"Then can you hear..."

He suddenly pulled a remote control from his pocket.

It was the switch that controlled the life support systems of these "exhibits."

"The sound of these works of art breaking?"

Click.

He pressed the button.

Crack! Crack!

The resin shells on the surrounding "statues" suddenly emitted a grinding, cracking sound.

Immediately after, the people sealed inside began to convulse violently.

Their mouths opened wide, wanting to scream, but no sound came out due to vocal cord atrophy.

Only Chen Mo could hear it.

The sound of hundreds of hearts beating wildly from intense pain at the same time, and then bursting.

It was the wailing of hundreds of souls being instantly torn apart.

The massive sound wave rushed into Chen Mo's eardrums Li Ke a tsunami.

"Ah—!!!"

Chen Mo clutched his ears in agony and fell to his knees.

The sound was too loud.

So loud that blood streamed from his orifices.

"Hahahahaha!"

Wang Daoming laughed uncontrollably. "What a magnificent symphony!"

"Chen Mo, this is the welcoming gift I prepared for you."

"Do you Li Ke it?"

Ninth Master's eyes turned red, and he roared, "I'll kill you!"

He raised his knife and prepared to charge forward.

"Don't move!"

Wang Daoming's surgical knife gently pressed against Lin Changfeng's carotid artery.

"Take one more step, and I'll sever his windpipe."

"Just Li Ke slicing an apple."

Ninth Master froze.

All paths were blocked.

Behind them were mechanical monsters eyeing them menacingly.

Ahead were hundreds of innocents dying in agony, and a hostage being held captive.

And their only trump card, Chen Mo, was currently curled up on the ground in pain due to overloaded auditory shock.

Despair.

True despair.

"That's right."

Wang Daoming nodded contentedly.

"Stand still and behave."

"The surgery will begin immediately."

But right at that moment.

Chen Mo, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly let out a laugh.

The laugh was soft, mixed with bloody foam at the corner of his mouth, making it especially chilling.

"What are you laughing at?" Wang Daoming frowned.

Chen Mo slowly raised his head.

The whites of his dead-fish eyes were now bloodshot, frighteningly red.

"I'm laughing because..."

"You are too noisy."

Chen Mo released his hands from his ears.

In his hand, a coin had appeared sometime earlier.

It was the crystal chip coin Li Ke had given him in the car earlier, engraved with the cracking program.

"Li Ke!"

Chen Mo used all his strength to flick the coin into the air.

"Time to receive guests!!!"

That was their secret signal.

The instant the coin reached its apex.

Li Ke, who had been hiding at the back, fiercely hit the Enter key.

"Received!"

Zzz—!!!

The coin suddenly released a burst of powerful electromagnetic pulse in the air.

It wasn't an ordinary EMP.

But a directional jamming wave targeting specific frequencies.

This was not just Li Ke's technology; it was the resonance frequency of these control crystal chips that Chen Mo had painfully forced himself to hear during those few seconds of agony.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The surrounding shattered resin shells suddenly stopped vibrating.

The eyes of the mechanical monsters instantly went dark.

Even the remote control in Wang Daoming's hand emitted a puff of black smoke.

The entire area fell silent.

All electronic devices were instantly paralyzed.

Except for... the most primitive slaughtering knife, devoid of any electronic components.

"Heh."

Ninth Master grinned, showing two rows of gleaming white teeth.

"Now, it's our turn to perform surgery on you."

"The kind without anesthesia."

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