220: Gates of Hell

Chapter 220: The Gates of Hell. "Someone's there?"

Su Qingxue and Ninth Master also got out of the car, guns raised, spreading out in a tactical formation.

There was indeed a figure in the sentry box.

The person was wearing an old-fashioned dark green military coat and a Lei Feng Hat, sitting on a chair with their back to them, looking at something.

There seemed to be a cigarette held in their hand.

"Hey!"

Ninth Master shouted, "Buddy! Let us through!"

The person didn't move.

They didn't even turn their head.

Chen Mo stepped forward, his footsteps sounding exceptionally clear in the muddy water.

He walked up to the sentry box window and reached out to knock on the glass.

Knock, knock.

"Open up," Chen Mo said.

The person inside remained motionless.

Chen Mo frowned and reached out to push open the unlocked window.

A smell of decay wafted out.

He reached out and patted the person's shoulder.

The person's body swayed, and their head suddenly made a 'crack' sound, turning around at a bizarre angle.

"Holy crap!" Ninth Master jumped back in fright, nearly misfiring his gun.

That wasn't a living person.

It was a mummified corpse.

The skin had dried into brown leather, tightly wrapping around the bones.

The eye sockets were deeply sunken, with two glass balls stuffed inside.

Most bizarre of all, his chest had been hollowed out, and an old-fashioned mechanical alarm clock was stuffed inside.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The cigarette held between the fingertips had long since gone out, covered in a thick layer of ash.

"It's a gatekeeping scarecrow."

Su Qingxue walked over and examined it. "He's been dead for at least ten years. Someone turned him into a specimen."

"It's not just a specimen."

Chen Mo stared at the alarm clock in the corpse's chest.

The clock's hands weren't moving; instead, they were trembling at a certain frequency.

It was a receiver.

Chen Mo reached out and brought his own chest close to the alarm clock.

Thump—

The Biological Pump inside his body gave a sudden throb.

The alarm clock, which had been silent for ten years, suddenly made a crisp sound of gears engaging.

Click.

A row of red lights suddenly lit up on the console in the sentry box.

Following that was the sound of a heavy hydraulic press starting up.

Rumble—

The massive, rusted iron gate actually began to slide open slowly to both sides.

"The gate's open?" Ninth Master was dumbfounded. "Does this thing recognize its owner?"

"It doesn't recognize a person."

Chen Mo looked at the corpse. "It recognizes a heartbeat. This is a Biological Lock."

Only a heart with the same 'frequency' could open this gate leading to hell.

"Let's go."

Chen Mo didn't look at the 'gatekeeper' again. He turned and walked toward the car. "Since the host is being so hospitable, let's not keep them waiting."

The car drove slowly through the gate.

Just as the rear of the car passed through, the iron gate rumbled shut again.

The way back was completely locked off.

The scene inside the courtyard was even more desolate than the outside.

The fountain in front of the main building had long since dried up, filled with dead leaves and trash.

In the very center stood a massive statue.

It was a doctor in a white coat, holding a heart in his hand, looking down kindly at the earth.

Except that stone heart had been painted bright red, looking as if it were dripping blood in the rainy night.

"That statue..." Su Qingxue squinted her eyes. "It looks a bit familiar."

"It's Wang Daoming."

Chen Mo took a look. "A young Wang Daoming. It seems this is where he made his start."

He pushed open the car door, and this time he didn't close it.

"Get the gear."

Chen Mo pulled a heavy black canvas bag from the trunk and tossed it to Ninth Master. "Leave everything in the car except for essential ammunition and medical kits. Next, we're climbing stairs."

"Climbing stairs?" Ninth Master shouldered the bag and looked at the five-story main building. "This building isn't that tall."

"The Archives Office isn't above ground."

Chen Mo pointed at the ground. "It's underground. The map shows this place is an Anti-nuclear Bunker, at least ten floors deep."

The three of them organized their gear and stood at the entrance of the main building's lobby.

The glass doors had long been shattered.

The lobby was pitch black, looking like a wide-open mouth.

A cold wind blew out from inside, carrying a strange whistling sound.

It was the sound of wind passing through countless hollow spaces.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Ninth Master cocked his gun. "This place is too quiet. Since that heartbeat sound is a livestream, there must be living people inside. But I haven't even seen a ghost of a shadow."

"Maybe because..."

Chen Mo stood on the steps, tilting his head slightly.

His ears twitched.

Deep inside this building, in those intricate ventilation ducts, behind those thick walls.

There was a sound.

It wasn't footsteps, nor was it breathing.

It was the sound of some kind of soft tissue rubbing against the floor.

Rustle. Rustle.

Very dense.

Hundreds, thousands of them.

"What's wrong?" Su Qingxue saw Chen Mo's expression change.

"We're surrounded."

Chen Mo slowly took a step back, shielding Su Qingxue behind him. "They're on the ceiling."

Before his voice had even faded.

The ceiling tiles in the lobby suddenly exploded.

Countless dark shadows poured down like a black waterfall.

They weren't humans.

They weren't animals either.

They were... hands.

Thousands of severed human hands, with mechanical spider-like legs attached to the stumps, were densely crawling all over the walls and floor.

Their fingers nimbly gripped the floor, and a red electronic eye was embedded in the back of each hand, surging toward the three of them like a tide.

"This is the welcoming ceremony?"

Ninth Master looked at that writhing 'sea of hands,' and his scalp felt like it was going to explode. "What kind of hellish thing is this?!"

"It's the Scavenger prototype."

Chen Mo raised his revolver, his gaze cold. "They aren't here to kill."

A mechanical hand jumped up, lunging straight for Chen Mo's face.

Chen Mo didn't fire; instead, he reached out and caught the hand by its wrist in mid-air.

The mechanical hand's fingers instantly curled back, death-gripping Chen Mo's arm, its fingertips even piercing through his clothes.

It was measuring his pulse.

"Beep—"

The red light on the mechanical hand turned green.

It released its grip and lay at Chen Mo's feet like an obedient pet.

Immediately after, all the mechanical hands stopped moving.

They collectively moved aside, clearing a path.

A path leading deep into the lobby, straight to the underground elevator shaft.

"They are guides."

Chen Mo shook off the blood droplets on his arm and looked at the path paved with severed hands.

"It seems the host of that livestream is impatient to meet me."

"Let's go."

He was the first to step onto that path.

"Let's go see what kind of surprise my 'Creator' has prepared for me."

...That swarm of severed hands with mechanical legs didn't disperse.

They were like a pack of well-trained hounds, densely stacked on both sides of the path, their red electronic eyes following the trio's movements, emitting a sizzling sound of electrical current.

Ninth Master walked in the middle, his legs trembling violently, his gun muzzle waving around like he was directing traffic.

"They're staring at my ankles." Ninth Master swallowed hard. "I bet if I take one wrong step, these things will dismantle my remaining good leg."

"Don't look at them."

Chen Mo didn't look back, his pace light but fast. "Keep close. These are quality control inspectors on an assembly line. If your heartbeat falters, they'll judge you as a 'defective product'."

"What happens to defectives?"

"Recycled, dismantled, and reused."

Chen Mo pointed to a pile of dark red shredded meat in the corner. "Like that."

Ninth Master immediately shut his mouth, forced himself to adjust his breathing, and stared fixedly at Su Qingxue's heels.

Friendly Reminder: The website will be revamped soon, which may cause loss of reading progress. Please save your 'Bookshelf' and 'Reading Records' in time (screenshots recommended). We apologize for any inconvenience caused!