219: Brave the Lab

The lights in the corridor were a deathly pale, and the air was thick with a mixture of the heavy scent of disinfectant and the smell of rusting metal.

The alarm had not yet sounded—perhaps the destruction at the entrance hadn't triggered the central System yet, or perhaps this soon-to-be-abandoned site had long since fallen into neglect.

But the scent of a living person could not be hidden.

The first wave of encounter occurred at the first corner.

Three armed personnel, dressed in the same gray uniforms but with better equipment, were hurrying over, clearly having received a vague emergency communication from the guards outside the door.

They were well-trained, moving in a tactical formation with their muzzles already raised.

However, their "tactics" were useless in the face of speed that transcended common sense.

A white shadow flashed past.

Wei Ziqing didn't even give them the chance to pull their triggers.

He kicked off the corridor wall, his body refracting in a sharp-angled line that defied physical intuition, instantly cutting into the gap in the middle of the three-man squad.

Sword light spilled out like a cold moon; it wasn't seeking lethality, but rather a "contact" of ultimate efficiency.

Swish! The first sword strike feinted toward the face of the enemy on the left. In the moment of the enemy's horrified block, the sword tip dipped like a venomous snake, lightly "tapping" the outside of his gun-holding wrist.

Swish! Almost simultaneously, the sword blade whirled, turning into a hazy shadow that shrouded the man in the middle. He hurriedly retreated and raised his gun, but the sword shadow suddenly vanished. A real, stinging pain came from his side—the thrust, reinforced by the armor, precisely sliced open his protective suit, leaving a wound that wasn't deep but was enough for toxins to invade.

Swish! The enemy on the right finally caught a trace of the trajectory. He barely managed to chase it with his muzzle and pulled the trigger! The bullet whistled out, but it only pierced through a lingering white afterimage.

The real Wei Ziqing had appeared beside him like a ghost. The spine of the bone sword struck the side of his neck with a gentle force. It wasn't a cut, but the paralyzing toxin on the blade, picked up from the first two men, seeped in through this contact.

From the encounter to the white shadow flashing past, and then to Wei Ziqing rushing deeper into the corridor without stopping, the entire process took less than three seconds.

"Ugh!"

"My hand!"

"Can't... can't move..."

Behind him came the clatter of guns hitting the floor, the muffled thuds of bodies collapsing weakly, and the horrified, incomprehensible whimpers squeezed from their throats.

The three men were like skin bags with their bones removed, twitching slightly on the cold floor. Their consciousness was clear, but they had completely lost control over their bodies.

Wei Ziqing felt no ripples in his heart. Worry, anxiety, and anger had all turned into the driving force for his advance, and the sense of extension from the sword in his hand, which felt as if it were connected to his own muscles and bones.

He didn't know the way, but his intuition, along with the vague sensation of some "abnormal energy" or "dense life reaction" ahead coming from the armor, guided him to charge deeper into the core area.

The alarm finally wailed shrilly, and red lights began to rotate and flash.

But this only made the defenders more desperate.

The second wave of interception unfolded in a wider corridor with many rooms on both sides. This time, the opponents were prepared and had even set up simple cover; crossfire had already formed.

"Fire!"

Bullets formed a scorching metal storm, pouring toward the white shadow at the corridor entrance.

Wei Ziqing moved. Instead of retreating, he pushed his speed to the limit! Under the deep red goggles, the trajectories of the bullets seemed to become clearly visible.

He wasn't tanking them head-on, but advancing with a rhythmic, small-scale, eerie footwork. His body moved left and right, sometimes crouching, sometimes leaning. Every movement allowed bullets to graze past the armor by a hair's breadth.

The bone sword in his hand frequently turned into a ball of white light. It wasn't blocking—that would be too much effort—but rather, at the critical moment, using the tip or side of the blade to extremely precisely "tap" the side of bullets aimed at his vitals, causing them to deflect slightly.

Ding! Ding! Dang!

The subtle sounds of collision were mixed with the deafening gunfire. He was like a god of death dancing in a hail of bullets, rapidly closing the distance.

The defenders' psychological defenses quickly collapsed along with this impossible scene. The gunfire began to grow disorganized.

Now is the time!

Wei Ziqing's figure suddenly accelerated, instantly cutting behind the cover on the left. Sword light erupted like a blooming pale flower, making it hard to distinguish between the real and the illusory.

One gunman felt as if his vision was filled with sword shadows. In his panic, he tried to block, but as soon as his arm was raised, his wrist felt cold and numb, and his weapon fell from his hand.

Another man saw the sword tip heading straight for his throat. Terrified out of his mind, he leaned back with all his might, only to feel a stinging pain in his ribs.

The commander in the middle was the most valiant, roaring as he pulled out a tactical knife to counterattack. Sparks flew as the knife clashed with the bone sword, but after only two exchanges, Wei Ziqing's sword style changed abruptly.

He appeared to be retracting his sword as if exhausted, but just as the opponent's old strength was spent and new strength had yet to be generated, the blade struck like a snake's tongue. The sword tip pierced the gap in the shoulder joint at an incredible angle.

Numbness.

Like the most terrifying plague, it spread rapidly among the defenders with every seemingly minor but extremely precise stab or scratch.

Fingers pulling triggers lost their strength, arms supporting bodies went limp, and legs trying to stand firm betrayed their consciousness.

Thump! Thump, thump!

The corridor soon fell silent, leaving only the sound of the alarm and the bodies slumped on the ground, eyes wide with terror but unable to move.

Not a single scratch had been added to Wei Ziqing's white armor. He glanced at the door signs and directions scattered on the floor, his gaze locking onto a corridor leading further down where the lights were more concentrated.

Without staying for a moment, he sprinted away.

A heavy hermetic door appeared ahead, appearing to be the entrance to some independent laboratory or sample area. The electronic lock on the door flashed red.

Wei Ziqing didn't have the patience to find a password or crack it. He gathered his strength slightly, and as he raised the bone sword, a more solid glimmer seemed to flash across the blade.

The Sword Intent of "Thousand Illusions Bone Erosion" could also be concentrated at a single point to carry out the reality of "Bone Erosion"!

The sword light wasn't a slash, but rather like a high-speed rotating drill, or as if countless phantom-stacked "taps" had been thrust into the same position in an instant!

Every "tap" precisely hit the fragile connection of the door lock structure.

Qiang! Qiang! Qiang! Ssss—!

The metal wailed and sparks flew. The lock area of the heavy hermetic door was actually "eroded" into a hole by this highly concentrated "illusory strike"!

Immediately after, Wei Ziqing retracted his sword, turned sideways, and delivered a heavy kick!

"Boom!!"

The entire distorted hermetic door collapsed inward, and dust filled the air.

The room was brightly lit, filled with many flickering instruments and culture tanks, most of which had stopped operating, leaving the place in a mess.

A middle-aged man in a white lab coat and glasses was hurriedly stuffing the last few data disks into a briefcase, clearly lagging behind in the emergency evacuation.

The loud bang of the door being violently broken open caused his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. The briefcase fell from his hand, and the data disks scattered all over the floor.

He looked up in terror, watching the white armor, stained with a few battle marks and exuding an even greater Evil Qi, slowly walk in through the dust. Especially facing those deep red, emotionless goggles, his legs went weak and he almost sat on the floor.

Wei Ziqing stepped in front of him. He didn't raise the bone sword, but the sword tip pointed diagonally at the ground, and the cold pressure already made the researcher unable to breathe.

"Speak," Wei Ziqing said, his voice through the armor's voice changer sounding low and with a metallic grinding texture, leaving no room for doubt. "The 'Armored Man' brought in today—where is he being held?"

The researcher's teeth chattered. Seeing the fate of his colleagues on the ground who could only stare after being paralyzed, his psychological defense completely collapsed:

"I... I don't know about any Armored Man... Today, today Mr. Zhu brought back a person in a coma wearing strange black and red armor... He was sent directly to the 'Emergency Processing Room' on the bottom floor... That place is for temporary detention and..."

"Location!" Wei Ziqing interrupted him, his tone even colder.

"Go... go straight down this main corridor to the end. There's a freight elevator. The password is... is *****,

Go down to the bottom floor, B3, turn right out of the elevator and go to the end... There, there are signs there... Don't kill me! I'm just in charge of data recording!"

The researcher was incoherent, wishing he could pour out everything he knew.

Having obtained the key information, Wei Ziqing didn't spare him another glance. With a flash of his figure, he had already rushed out of the laboratory and was speeding toward the end of the main corridor, leaving behind only the researcher slumped on the ground, gasping for air as if he had survived a disaster, amidst the mess and the flashing red alarm lights.

B3, Emergency Processing Room. Lawyer Shen, hold on.

(Happy New Year!)