247: Emergency registration

Chapter 247: Emergency Registration. "The Doctor said that he is his most perfect 'Prime Body,' and it's impossible for him to have died in the explosion."

"Understood."

The leader made a hand gesture.

The three of them fanned out, advancing in a tactical formation.

One of them was walking straight toward the pipe where Chen Mo was hiding.

Chen Mo gripped his dagger tightly.

He was in terrible shape right now.

His left arm was useless, he had lost too much blood, and his stamina was at barely thirty percent of its usual level.

A direct confrontation would mean certain death.

He had to be fast.

The man reached the mouth of the pipe and raised his flashlight to shine it inside.

At the exact moment the beam of light swept in.

Chen Mo grabbed the shriveled rat corpse from earlier and hurled it out.

*Thud.*

The rat corpse hit the opposite wall with a crisp thud.

"Who's there?"

The man instinctively swung his muzzle toward the source of the sound.

Now.

Like a lurking crocodile, Chen Mo slid silently out of the shadows.

Instead of standing up, he stayed low to the ground and delivered a sweeping kick.

*Bang!*

Caught off guard, the man slammed heavily into the filthy water.

Before he could cry out, Chen Mo was already on top of him, pinning his gas mask with his right hand while slamming his left knee hard into the man's Adam's apple.

*Crack.*

The throat bone shattered.

The man convulsed violently twice and then went still.

Without a moment's pause, Chen Mo drove the dagger in his other hand directly into the gap at the neck of the man's combat suit.

His heart throbbed once more.

A surge of life force, far more powerful than that of the rat, flooded into his body.

"Refreshing."

An unnatural flush appeared on Chen Mo's pale face.

He felt as if he had taken some kind of drug; his exhaustion vanished, and he even regained a bit of sensation in his broken left arm.

"Old Third? What's going on?"

Hearing the commotion, the other two quickly closed in.

"It's nothing."

Chen Mo lowered his voice, mimicking the dead man's tone. "Stepped on a dead rat and slipped."

In the darkness, two flashlight beams hit him.

With his back to them, Chen Mo was stripping the combat suit off the corpse.

"Be careful, this place is full of radioactive waste."

The companion cursed and lowered his muzzle.

In that split second.

Chen Mo whipped around.

He didn't have a gun in his hand; instead, he grabbed the still-warm corpse and shoved it forward as a meat shield.

*Puff, puff, puff!*

Several muffled gunshots rang out.

Blooms of blood erupted from the corpse.

Using the body as cover, Chen Mo lunged out low to the ground, his dagger flashing like a cold light as it slashed across the ankle of the man on the left.

"Ah!"

The man cried out in pain, losing his balance.

Chen Mo rose with the momentum and smashed an elbow into the man's temple.

The man's gas mask shattered, and he collapsed like a pile of mud.

The remaining leader reacted with lightning speed.

Instead of firing, he dropped his rifle, drew a tactical straight-blade knife from his leg, and swung it at Chen Mo's neck.

He was an expert.

Chen Mo dodged to the side; the blade grazed the tip of his nose, shearing off a few strands of hair.

"Good reflexes."

The leader sneered. "Too bad you're a cripple."

Noticing the abnormality in Chen Mo's left arm, he aimed every strike at Chen Mo's left blind spot.

Chen Mo was forced back step by step.

Behind him was the subterranean river filled with highly corrosive sewage.

"Die."

Seizing an opening, the leader kicked Chen Mo in the chest.

Chen Mo let out a muffled groan and fell backward.

But he didn't fall into the river.

As he fell, his toe hooked the other man's ankle, and at the same time, he threw the dagger from his right hand—not at the man, but at the rusty steam pipe overhead.

*Clang!*

The dagger sank into the pipe.

*Hiss—!!!*

Scalding high-pressure steam erupted instantly, blasting right into the leader's face.

"Aaaaah—"

A blood-curdling scream echoed through the narrow sewer.

Even with a mask, the extreme heat was enough to cook the skin off his face.

Chen Mo scrambled up from the ground and picked up the dropped straight-blade knife.

*Squelch.*

The world went silent.

He walked over to the still-twitching leader, crouched down, and picked up the headset whose communication light was still flashing.

"Hello."

Chen Mo panted as he spoke into the headset.

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.

"Chen Mo?"

That cold, sinister voice spoke again.

"It's me."

Chen Mo looked at the three corpses on the ground and said calmly, "Your people's quality is lacking; I won't be paying the registration fee."

"It doesn't matter."

The voice chuckled. "That was just an appetizer. Since you don't like my 'Scavengers,' I'll have the real 'Doctor' perform surgery on you."

"I'll be waiting for you down there."

Chen Mo applied pressure with his fingers and crushed the headset.

*Zzzzt.*

The static vanished.

Chen Mo stripped the combat suit off the leader. Though it was a bit large and stained with blood, it was at least bulletproof and could block some of the radiation.

He did a quick sweep of the bodies.

Three guns, five magazines, two high-explosive grenades, and a military-grade emergency injector.

"Quite a haul."

Chen Mo tucked the emergency injector into his outer thigh pocket; this was for Ruan Qiushui.

For himself, 'eating' was enough.

He walked back to the pipe.

Ruan Qiushui had woken up at some point.

She leaned against the wall, her pupil-less eyes staring at Chen Mo, a faint, ghost-like smile playing on her lips.

"The way you kill..."

She spoke weakly, "It's truly ugly."

"Right back at you."

Chen Mo threw a bloody combat vest at her. "Put it on. If you don't want to die, don't complain about the smell."

Ruan Qiushui didn't move.

She raised a pale hand and pointed to her mouth.

"Hungry."

"..."

Chen Mo rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you eat those three guys just now?"

"Dirty."

Ruan Qiushui spat out a single word. "I want to eat that."

She pointed at Chen Mo's left shoulder, which was still seeping blood.

"In your dreams."

Chen Mo walked over, roughly pulled the vest over her, and hoisted her onto his shoulder again.

"Deal with it. I'll treat you to a buffet once we're out."

"I don't eat at buffets."

Ruan Qiushui lay on his back, her voice faint as a mosquito's buzz. "I want to eat... the Doctor's heart."

Chen Mo paused.

"What a coincidence."

He looked at the pitch-black tunnel ahead. "I'd like a taste too."

The path ahead was blocked.

The leader's terminal showed that all surrounding exits were sealed, and thermal imaging Drones were patrolling.

Going up was a dead end.

That left only down.

Chen Mo looked at a nearby iron manhole cover that had been welded shut.

It was engraved with a red skull symbol and a line of faint, small characters:

[DANGER: Untreated Contaminated Zone - Do Not Enter]

That was the entrance to the "Old City District."

The true ruins of this city from before the Lighthouse was established.

It was said that things a hundred times more terrifying than Mutant Rats lived there.

But for the current Chen Mo, it was the best possible cover.

"Hold on tight."

Chen Mo pried open the manhole cover with the straight-blade knife.

A musty smell, more pungent than rot, wafted out.

"Where are we going?" Ruan Qiushui asked.

Chen Mo jumped down.

His body fell through the darkness.

"To hell."

He answered amidst the sound of the wind.

"To register an emergency appointment for that so-called Doctor."

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