193: Chapter 193 Calling Jiang Chen

Chapter 193: Call Me Jiang Chen

Late at night, ink-thick darkness tightly enveloped the entire building.

A few overhead lights emitted a pale halo, casting bizarre shadows along the long corridor.

After arriving at the fifth floor, Professor Zheng unconsciously lightened and slowed his footsteps.

Every sound of leather shoes hitting the ground felt like stepping on a taut heartstring.

On both sides of the corridor, cold iron bars gleamed with a chilling light, enclosing the wards like cages.

As though confining something that was slumbering.

Suddenly, the silent atmosphere was abruptly shattered.

A sharp, piercing scream came from one ward, echoing in the empty corridor.

This scream seemed to startle the patients in other rooms, and soon more bizarre sounds rang out one after another.

Some sounded like low roars from a hungry beast, some sounded like desperate pleas while undergoing torture, and others were inexplicable murmurs.

Various sounds intertwined, turning the entire floor into a living Hell.

Professor Zheng's expression was indifferent, his figure swaying unsteadily under the light.

His eyes swept alertly to both sides, and through the gaps in the iron bars, he could catch glimpses of blurry figures struggling on hospital beds, as if they would break through their cages at any moment.

Although he had worked at the Rehabilitation Center for over a month and there were many heavily armed soldiers stationed around.

But every time he came here, he still had an inexplicable sense of palpitations.

"Professor Zheng."

The soldier guarding in front of a ward saw a doctor coming over and spoke.

Professor Zheng stopped his footsteps there, tightened the messenger bag on his back, and nodded, saying:

"I am here to check the patient's body and draw blood for testing."

This was part of normal medical care work.

The soldier did not ask much, immediately pulled out the key, and opened the door of the ward enclosed by iron bars.

Creak—

The heavy iron door was pushed open, and then closed with a "clang".

Thud, thud.

Accompanied by the footsteps of leather shoes stepping on the ground, Professor Zheng walked into the room alone and glanced at the internal situation.

His gaze then focused on the patient confined to the metal bed, who was emitting faint wheezing sounds.

This was a rather elderly male patient, emaciated all over, with his limbs, neck, and waist tied down by restraint straps.

Despite his weak appearance of being terminally ill, his slowly opened eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, exuding a creepy chill.

In an instant, a certain light seemed to flash across the dark room.

The so-called "electricity generated in an empty room" probably referred to this sharp and exposed moment.

A gaze as tangible as substance focused on Professor Zheng, making all the hair on his body stand on end instantly, and he couldn't help but take half a step back.

Just like... being targeted by an extremely hungry man-eating beast.

Professor Zheng leaned his body against the wall and hurriedly turned on the light switch.

The bright light of the fluorescent lamp spilled over the entire room, which also made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"You came a bit late today..."

The patient lay on the bed and greeted him in a low, hoarse voice.

"There was a small accident."

Professor Zheng took a deep breath, trying his best to make his tone sound calm.

"Where are the things?"

The patient then asked again.

Professor Zheng did not answer, but stared closely at the other party and questioned:

"You promised me two weeks ago that as long as I brought you blood samples, you would resurrect my wife. Why haven't you acted yet?"

The patient merely glanced at him indifferently and said:

"From your eyes, I see humanity's most suppressed anxiety and psychological burden."

Upon hearing this, Professor Zheng could not help but become even more agitated in tone:

"Today is the last time. Even if you want it again in the future, it will be completely impossible, because soon I won't even be able to protect myself!"

While speaking, a trace of abnormal flush appeared on that refined, fair face, and his expression appeared somewhat hysterical.

A hint of an unfathomable smile appeared at the corner of the patient's mouth, and he comforted him by saying:

"Rest assured, young man, this old man always keeps his word."

"Not only your wife, I can even grant you a longer life as well."

"From the very first time I saw you, I knew you were very talented. You shouldn't waste your life as an ordinary person; you should join the cause of creating our great tribe..."

His speaking voice was low and hoarse, as if it had some kind of magic.

Soon, it caused the emotionally agitated Professor Zheng to calm down again.

"I hope you can keep your promise."

After taking a few deep breaths, Professor Zheng immediately made a decision and took out a reagent kit from his messenger bag.

After opening it, he saw five blood collection tubes and a syringe inside.

Seeing the blood plasma in the blood collection tubes slightly flashing with dark red light under the light.

The patient's eyes instantly brightened, and he couldn't help emitting a groan from his throat.

"Fresh, newly Awakened blood. This is the best nourishing Saint Grade..."

As the hospital bed emitted a teeth-aching creaking sound, his body struggled to raise his head slightly, sniffing his nose somewhat impatiently.

"So fragrant and alluring that one cannot stop, I really want to swallow it in one gulp!"

Seeing the crazy appearance he displayed, Professor Zheng couldn't help hesitating for a moment, stopping his hand from picking up the syringe.

The patient merely sighed a little, then calmed down immediately, and said in a deep voice:

"Same old rules, inject it."

Following the instructions, Professor Zheng drew blood from each of the blood collection tubes and injected it sequentially into the veins of his skin-and-bones arm.

"It's a pity the blood volume is simply too small to taste it personally."

Feeling the blood plasma continuously gurgling into himself, the patient's dark-yellow face seemed to gradually regain its radiance, whispering in his mouth.

"However, there will be plenty of hunting opportunities in the future."

"As for now..."

Speaking of this, his hands suddenly clenched into fists, his emaciated arms seemed to be injected with immense force, and he suddenly struggled upward.

Snap!

The highly resilient restraint straps made of multi-layered cowhide were instantly torn apart by him.

"Let us..."

Afterwards, he fixed his gaze on his confined waist and legs, exerting force once more.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

As the crisp sounds of cowhide snapping rang out continuously, the other several restraint straps were likewise effortlessly torn apart completely.

"Leave this cage together!"

Just as he finished the sentence, he had already straightened his body up from the hospital bed, regaining his freedom.

"You..."

Seeing this scene, Professor Zheng couldn't help being greatly shocked, scared into taking several steps back.

The patient's appearance was undergoing continuous astonishing changes.

Originally, his figure was so withered as if every ounce of flesh and blood had been drained away by years and hunger, with ribs clearly defined and joints ruggedly protruding.

At this moment, however, it was like a skeleton cast from fine steel, with every inch exuding a chilling resilience and emitting a cold, hard luster.

His somewhat hunchbacked waist and back also slowly straightened up, as if a powerful force was surging, gradually straightening and propping up his body.

When his hands, feet, and neck moved slightly, a series of "crack crack" crisp sounds burst out, like a poorly maintained mechanical device that needed some lubricating oil.

"It's not easy. The three demonic seeds planted temporarily turned out to be the least hopeful one that successfully grew."

"Perhaps, this is what is called finding a path to survival after being placed in a position of certain death..."

The patient stood straight, clenched his fists tightly, whispered, and examined his body.

Then he turned to face the completely blocked window, and with the faint light refracted by the alloy steel plate, he looked at his current appearance.

Turning back around, seeing Professor Zheng's face full of fear, he smiled slightly and explained:

"Don't be afraid. The few special blood samples you brought today just happened to allow this body to obtain enough Innate Origin Qi, initially restoring my original power."

Cold sweat oozed from Professor Zheng's forehead, sliding down his cheeks, and he couldn't help asking:

"What do you want to do next?"

The corners of the patient's mouth grinned slightly, revealing an extremely ugly smile.

Suddenly his figure flashed, appearing in front of Professor Zheng like teleportation, and grabbed him by the neck.

Just as he was scared into screaming loudly, he spat out a mouthful of ink-black vomit from his mouth, pouring it into the other person's mouth.

Then he let go of his hand and let him collapse onto the ground.

Choking and coughing repeatedly, Professor Zheng questioned in shock and anger:

"You... what on earth did you do to me?"

"To make you a glorious Undying as well."

The patient's gaze was stern, and as his thin lips parted slightly, his voice was low and carried unquestionable majesty.

"This old man is currently short of manpower, and your value is very high. Those who follow me in the future won't have such good empowerment treatment."

Upon hearing this, Professor Zheng was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help reaching out to touch his face and chest, vaguely sensing that some extremely dangerous change seemed to be happening inside his body.

"Professor Zheng, what happened?"

Just at this moment, the two soldiers stationed outside heard the commotion and pushed the door open to rush in.

When they saw that the patient who was originally tied up had actually broken free from the restraint straps, they immediately raised their guns to aim and ordered the other party to get down.

The patient raised his eyes slightly, looking at the intruders.

Suddenly, two dark red bone spurs grew out from behind his shoulder blades, instantly expanding in the wind and spreading open like wings.

Look at it without a single mistake!

Puff, puff!

The wings suddenly extended forward like sharp spears, instantly piercing through the chests of the two intruders.

The two soldiers' eyes widened in disbelief, and before their rifles could fire, they lost the strength to pull the trigger with their fingers.

They only felt their body's vitality rapidly flowing away, and the bone spurs thrust into their hearts were like blood-drawing pipelines.

Gurgle, gurgle.

Constantly absorbing blood, rapidly expanding, and even becoming brighter, slightly blooming with light.

In just a few seconds, two living people were sucked into dried corpses.

And the patient, replenished with nutrients, began to have plump skin and flesh, his complexion turning rosy, seeming a few years younger.

Gazing at the scene resembling the descent of a god or demon, Professor Zheng's mind was deeply shocked, experiencing an instinctive sense of submission.

His knees couldn't help turning soft, and he knelt on the ground, asking piously and timidly:

"Master, what should I call you?"

His voice trembled with fear, coupled with some unstoppable excitement.

"A title?"

The patient's brows furrowed slightly, as if recalling an extremely distant era, his mind somewhat chaotic and unclear for a moment.

After a long while, he slowly said:

"From now on, call me Jiang Chen."

Speaking of this, a ghostly green fire seemed to burn within his sunken eye sockets, and he suddenly raised his head and let out a wild roar.

This roar resounded through the entire building, like the trigger that opened Pandora's box.

Immediately, countless responding voices rang out afterwards, surging from all directions.

There were shrill howls, angry roars, and even more excited shouts.

All these sounds intertwined and converged, resembling an evil symphony of dancing demons from the depths of Hell, weaving an airtight hunting net that enveloped the building.

Bang!

The overhead fluorescent lamp could not withstand the sound wave impact and instantly shattered.

Outside, the crackling explosion sounds of light tubes came one after another, along with the helpless exclamations of the stationed soldiers.

"Hehe."

Inside the pitch-black ward, the patient who called himself "Jiang Chen" gave a cold smile and waved at Professor Zheng, saying:

"Let's go, welcome to the world of carnivores!"

"Next, open all cages, and you will command the clansmen to destroy this filthy place."

"I'd like to see, in this era, just how much power the imperial court and government still retain?"

Upon hearing this, Professor Zheng's heart chilled, and he immediately nodded in agreement.

He knew very well that ever since making a deal with the devil before him and selling his Soul at that moment, there was no turning back.

He could only bite the bullet and trudge forward step by step in this corridor resembling the path to Hell.

Behind him was the path swallowed by darkness, and ahead was also heavy fog, an abyss of unknown fear.

...

Rehabilitation Center, second floor.

The original security monitoring room had already been converted by the military into a heavily guarded defense center.

In front of rows of as many as a hundred glowing closed-circuit televisions.

Several monitoring personnel were still a bit sleepy, but upon hearing the tsunami-like roars coming from outside, their hearts couldn't help but shake.

They hurriedly retrieved the surveillance footage to quickly ascertain the situation.

"The source of the sound should be in the fifth-floor intensive care area, and room 513's door is open."

Immediately afterward, they switched to the camera view inside the room.

"Two soldiers have already been killed."

"Eh, why is it Professor Zheng? What is going on with that patient talking to him..."

Just at this moment, the lighting facilities were shattered by sound waves one after another, and the camera footage suddenly became pitch black, leaving only the outlines of human figures displayed by infrared.

The person in charge of the defense center tightened their expression and immediately issued a series of orders:

"Quickly sound the alarm, dispatch patrol personnel from other floors to assist in surrounding the fifth floor, and prevent the patients inside from escaping in the Chaos."

"Also notify the Special Investigation Team to go support in case of emergencies, and the situation here must also be reported to headquarters..."

While speaking, several more cameras suffered deliberate sabotage, and the on-site situation became even more confusing.

Meanwhile.

Two members of the Special Investigation Team stationed at the Rehabilitation Center were also startled awake from their sleep.

Hearing the various converging howls in the building, they suddenly realized.

"Not good!"

"It's the Ghoul's resonance effect. A Ghoul leader has appeared!"

...

Waves of sharp alarm sounds kept ringing, seemingly unable to stop at all.

The corridor was pitch black, and dazzling red light flickered frequently on the ceiling.

The originally orderly Rehabilitation Center had transformed into a chaotic and bloody battlefield.

Gunshots, shouts, screams, and roars constantly echoed across the floor.

Splashes of fresh blood splattered onto the ceiling.

Da da da—

Several soldiers wearing night-vision goggles held assault rifles, firing attacks while retreating backward.

In the darkness, monsters recklessly rushed forward one after another, taking a life in the blink of an eye.

As their numbers dwindled, extremely hurried footsteps rang out, and the remaining few soldiers, wearing panicked expressions, contacted each other through earpieces to assemble at another location.

The monsters uttered terrifying cries, still pursuing relentlessly.

None of them noticed that at this moment, a figure was lying on the ceiling, silently watching all of this.

Fang Cheng was originally hiding in the safety passageway.

Having previously followed Professor Zheng to the fifth floor, he found that there were basically sentries every three steps here, with duty soldiers and cameras everywhere, making stealth completely impossible.

So he could only wait for the other party to come out again.

Unexpectedly, less than ten minutes had passed.

This fellow actually caused such a huge commotion inside.

Fang Cheng couldn't help feeling a bit regretful in his heart.

If he had known earlier, he should have just killed him and gotten it over with.

There was no need to go looking for any mastermind behind the scenes.

Fang Cheng knew clearly in his heart that he could no longer wait, so he sneaked in amidst the Chaos, preparing to find Professor Zheng in the dark.

Doing this carried risks and future troubles, but he couldn't care about that much anymore.

After the other party caused such a huge commotion in the hospital area, the military would inevitably use thunderous means to suppress it swiftly.

Don't look at those monsters released from the wards; they looked ferocious and arrogant right now.

When the time comes, a few missiles washing over the ground, and they will all be blasted into ashes.

As carbon-based life forms, no matter how strong physical strength was, it couldn't compete with the large-scale weapons of mass destruction of a modern military.

Amidst the melee, Fang Cheng sometimes dodged the aftermath of gunfire, and sometimes swept his gaze quickly to search.

Suddenly, a somewhat frantic laughter reached his ears:

"Haha, bullets actually can't kill me! You guys are simply too weak!"

Hearing this voice, Fang Cheng's eyes hidden beneath his hood suddenly lit up brightly, locking onto his target like a hunting beast in the dark.