402: Chapter 402 The Endless Staircase, the Monster Appears

Hum—

A low hum echoed through the lobby and quickly dissipated.

Cheng Jiashu, along with the two people he was carrying, vanished without a trace in that distorted vortex.

It was as if they had been completely swallowed by the pervasive grey fog, leaving not a single trace behind.

Minister Luo Lie gazed at the empty lobby, his sharp gaze swiftly sweeping across the surroundings.

The corridors, passageways, reception desk, and those few tightly closed elevator doors.

The field of vision here was wide open; apart from corpses all over the ground and pools of gradually cooling blood, not a single shadow of a living person could be seen.

According to Jia Sangyi, the distance of this kind of spatial leap should be very short.

Besides, the opponent had successively used abilities similar to teleportation several times just now, so the mental consumption must have been immense.

It was absolutely impossible for him to escape the range of his psychokinesis perception so easily.

Where on earth did they run to?

Minister Luo Lie's eyes flashed slightly, and he immediately called out via mental connection.

"Jia Sangyi, report the target's location immediately."

Dead silence.

"Jia Sangyi!"

After several consecutive calls, there was still no response.

Only chaotic static and some kind of eerie whispering echoed in his mind.

Minister Luo Lie's brows couldn't help but furrow tightly.

Ever since he led the team into the experimental zone tonight, all the unexpected changes they encountered exuded a bizarre and eerie vibe.

At this moment, he already understood in his heart what was going on with this special environment he was currently in.

This cold, viscous fog not only distorted the light but also cut off the sound.

It was more like an invisible cage, severing all connection between this place and the outside world.

"Thud! Thud, thud!"

A heavy and continuous crashing sound faintly came from deep within the passageway behind Exit No. 3.

That sound was as if someone was using their body, slamming heavily against that high-pressure metal airtight door over and over again, carrying a desperate madness, wanting to escape this cage.

Minister Luo Lie's eyes narrowed, and he quickly strode toward the passageway entrance.

Boom!

Just as he took a few steps out, a deafening roar came from within the passageway.

The floorboards of the entire level trembled violently because of it.

That thick airtight door seemed to have been forcefully smashed open.

The dense grey fog surged out like a breached tide.

Accompanied by heavy footsteps and the scraping sound of some rough object being dragged across the ground.

Minister Luo Lie stopped in his tracks, his gaze piercing through the heavy fog like a sharp arrow.

In the fog, one ferocious silhouette after another loomed vaguely, rapidly approaching this side.

Terrifying roars rose and fell one after another, as if the gates of Hell had already opened.

"Roar!"

A monster roared and rushed out of the passageway first.

It spotted Minister Luo Lie standing in the lobby at a glance, and those densely packed red compound eyes were filled with monstrous hatred and a desire for slaughter.

This monster stood over two and a half meters tall, its whole body's muscles knotted and bulging like tumors, and it even grew some kind of carapace-like substance.

Except for the head and limbs that could still be recognized, almost no human appearance could be seen.

Only a blurred tattoo serial number remaining around its neck could barely prove its identity.

This was a test subject that had escaped from a laboratory petri dish, seemingly having undergone some special mutation to turn into such a terrifying appearance.

The monster's massive body, like a heavy truck out of its cage, carrying a foul wind, slammed fiercely toward Minister Luo Lie.

Minister Luo Lie's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't even lift an eyelid.

He only slowly raised his right hand, opened his palm, and gently clenched it in the air toward the rushing test subject.

Hum—

An invisible force instantly enveloped that monster.

The running test subject slammed into an invisible wall.

Its massive body came to an abrupt halt less than five meters away from Minister Luo Lie, just like that being forcefully frozen mid-air.

"Uh…"

The monster let out a painful roar, its limbs struggling frantically, but it couldn't move a single bit.

An irresistible terrifying force was squeezing its body from all directions, and the bones throughout its body were emitting groans that couldn't bear the burden.

Minister Luo Lie's hand suddenly lifted upwards.

Boom!

That massive and heavy body was instantly lifted as if by an invisible giant hand, and smashed fiercely against the ceiling.

The sturdy reinforced concrete ceiling was instantly smashed into a huge dent, cracks spread like a spider web, and gravel and dust fell patteringly.

Before it could fall, Minister Luo Lie's wrist flipped again.

Bang!

The monster was smashed fiercely against the side wall again.

The thick steel plate wall was smashed inward, emitting a deafening roar.

Minister Luo Lie was expressionless, as if playing with a ragdoll, manipulating the monster's body to slam back and forth in the passageway.

Every impact made the entire floor tremble.

Finally, he relaxed his palm.

The test subject's bones were already completely shattered all over its body, and like mud, it fell heavily to the ground, leaving only weak gasps.

Minister Luo Lie stood quietly there, his eyes without the slightest ripple.

It was as if the violent monster in front of him was just an insignificant ant.

In the grey fog, more monsters swarmed out.

Among them were mutated test subjects with similarly bloated muscles and huge bodies.

There were also deformed monsters wearing tattered uniforms, seemingly mutated from guards.

Their eyes revealed dread, and threatening roars came from their throats.

But seemingly driven by some deeper desire, they still rushed out of the passageway scramble after scramble.

Minister Luo Lie raised his brows slightly, simply raising his hands, preparing to clear away this eye-sore trash all at once.

Dadadada!

Suddenly, a dense burst of gunfire exploded like firecrackers.

"Crossfire, suppress the exit!"

"Tap fire! Save ammunition!"

Accompanied by a burst of hurried footsteps, his subordinate pursuit team finally arrived.

The members quickly occupied favorable terrain, and the automatic rifles in their hands spat out deadly tongues of fire.

The dense rain of bullets instantly tore through the fog, precisely shooting into the group of monsters.

Screeching roars instantly resounded through the lobby.

Minister Luo Lie stood in the center of the battlefield, letting the bullet casings clink around him.

The light of the gunfire reflected on his cold mask and his unmoving figure.

Looking at the chaotic scene before him, he suddenly sneered, his eyes revealing a fierce light.

"None of you can escape."

Inside the safety passageway, it was pitch black.

Only the emergency lights cast an eerie green light, illuminating the walls covered in white frost all around.

Clank, clank, clank—

Hurried footsteps echoed in the narrow stairwell.

Four figures were holding guns, moving downwards rapidly in a standard tactical formation.

Sweat slid down their cheeks, but no one had time to wipe it.

They just wanted to leave this ghost place as soon as possible.

"Heh-heh… heh-heh-heh…"

The eerie laughter came from above the stairs once again.

As if ringing right behind their ears, lingering like a ghost, making one's hair stand on end.

"Damn it, hurry up!"

At the end of the team, A-Li, holding a gun to guard the rear, couldn't help letting out a low roar, his pace speeding up a bit more.

Officer Zhou Liang at the head didn't speak, but just made a gesture, signaling the other members to speed up.

The crowd rushed down through goodness knows how many floors, and a dazzling eerie green light appeared ahead once more.

The safety exit had arrived.

Officer Zhou Liang kicked open the fire door, and the four of them filed out, quickly occupying favorable terrain with their gun muzzles aimed at the darkness on both sides.

But when they saw the scene before them clearly, everyone froze.

They were extremely familiar with this relatively independent space.

That smashed door, the tilted fire hydrant box on the wall, and…

The two building security guards lying in the corner, still unconscious.

This was the fire-fighting anteroom on the 84th floor, and also the place where they had previously constructed a temporary defense line.

Past that anteroom door was the office area of Noah Pharmaceuticals.

They were back again.

"Fuck!"

A-Li retreated behind the door unwillingly and carefully glanced at the floor marker.

Then he smashed a heavy fist against the wall, making a dull thud.

"How many times is this, damn it?"

No one answered him.

Officer Zhou Liang looked at the two security guards lying on the ground, and his brows couldn't help frowning either.

Leaving the two of them here earlier.

Was both to save effort and to confirm whether he and the other members got lost due to perceptual deviations.

Now it seemed that it was indeed not a simple getting lost, but falling into some kind of dead loop.

"It seems like… we really encountered a ghost hitting the wall…"

The young member Xiao Jie, who had just joined last year, had a somewhat pale face, and his hand holding the gun was trembling slightly.

The most experienced veteran member A-Yang sat down with a thud, let out a long breath, and said:

"Don't waste your energy. Whether going up or going down, the result is the same."

Officer Zhou Liang squatted down, checked the condition of the two security guards, and after confirming they were only unconscious, he stood up.

His brows were tightly locked, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

The grey fog didn't know when it had become even denser.

Like they had life, they seeped in wisps through the cracks of the door, converging into a thin sea of fog on the floor.

A piercing chill permeated the air, and a layer of white frost had long condensed on the walls.

The temperature here was dropping drastically, turning into an ice cellar.

The only favorable thing was that the faint weeping and laughing sound had finally disappeared.

Officer Zhou Liang raised a hand to press his headset, and inside there was still only a patch of noisy static current.

Occasionally, a few unclear whispers would mix into those statics.

Like sleep talk, completely impossible to hear what was being said, yet making one's scalp tingle.

"Rest in place."

Officer Zhou Liang took a deep breath, and issued the order with a somewhat dry voice:

"If we run like this any longer, we'll only exhaust our stamina."

The four of them then sat down on the steps at the stairwell entrance.

Silence and darkness enveloped their figures.

"Could it be some kind of high-tech psychedelic device?"

Xiao Jie couldn't help speaking, trying to use science to explain everything before them.

"An illusion that can cover an entire building and also comes with forced physical teleportation?"

A-Yang glanced at him and twitched the corners of his mouth: "Do you take Noah Organization for aliens?"

"Then what should we do?"

A-Li irritably scratched his hair:

"We can't just be trapped to death here forever. How about we go through the corridor and try the District A passageway on the other side?"

The District B safety passageway where they currently were and the District A safety passageway on the other side of the building were separated by an entire open office floor.

"Forget about it."

Officer Zhou Liang shook his head: "It's not like you didn't see the situation over there."

Just a few minutes ago, they had tried this method.

But when they pushed open the anteroom door leading to the office area, the scene they saw made everyone's hearts palpitate to this day.

The fog inside had obviously become much thicker, almost completely blocking their vision.

In the corridor shrouded by the grey fog, many distorted figures loomed vaguely within it, accompanied by non-human roars and chewing sounds.

The four Special Investigation Team members only opened a crack of the door and were forced back by that terrifying aura.

If they chose to cross the floor horizontally, goodness knows what other dangers they would encounter during the process.

Unless as a last resort, no one wanted to set foot in that area even half a step further.

"Then… break the window and climb down?"

Xiao Jie then suggested again.

A-Li looked at him like he was looking at an idiot:

"Brother, it's over eighty floors up, and it's a stormy night. Do you think you're Spider-Man? If you fall into a meat patty, you can at least reach the destination in one step."

"Stop arguing, all of you."

Officer Zhou Liang interrupted their argument and made a decision in a deep voice:

"At the very least, we must first try to contact Captain Gao."

As he spoke, he raised his head to look above the stairwell, at that narrow ventilation window.

"Smash the window, write the situation clearly on the clothes with blood, and throw them downstairs. Captain Gao will definitely be able to observe the abnormality and receive the message."

"At worst, as long as a passerby picks it up and reports it to the police, he will also be able to know the situation here very quickly."

This seemingly primitive method was unanimously approved by everyone.

Soon, a white undershirt with blood-written words was tightly bound to a piece of glass used as a weight.

A-Li, having taken off his clothes, walked to the window, swung his arm, and precisely threw it through the hole into the pitch-black rainy night outside.

After successfully transmitting the call for help, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, their tense minds and bodies relaxing slightly.

However, the relaxed atmosphere didn't last more than a few seconds.

Pat!

Something suddenly dropped down from the stairs above their heads.

It happened to land on the steps in front of several people, splashing a spray of debris that stung their skin.

Everyone was startled, and when they saw clearly what had fallen, expressions of astonishment were revealed on all their faces.

It was actually that blood-stained garment bound with glass!

It had also returned to the 84th floor…

"Cough… cough-cough…"

Just at this moment, a burst of coughs broke the dead silence.

The two unconscious security guards unexpectedly woke up leisurely at this moment.

"You guys, are you okay?"

Officer Zhou Liang suppressed his inner fluctuations, immediately stepped forward, and explained their current predicament.

Then he asked about their previous experiences, hoping to gain a trace of a clue from them.

The two security guards looked blank, and listening to Officer Zhou Liang's words, their eyes were filled with panic.

One of them shook his head, his voice weak:

"We… we aren't clear. We only remember that when we went to patrol the floors, we saw a streak of grey fog spreading over, and thought gas was leaking somewhere… and then we didn't know anything anymore."

Hearing this, Officer Zhou Liang and the other members all remained silent without a word.

The stairwell fell back into dead silence.

"Actually…"

A-Yang, sitting on the ground, suddenly spoke up: "I've also experienced a similar thing before."

Everyone's gazes were focused on him.

A-Yang pondered for a moment, looking with profound eyes into the darkness shrouded by dense fog ahead:

"That was during a mission to Nanyang. At that time, we were pursuing a cult priest and ended up being trapped by him in a small town."

"The town was also full of this kind of dense fog, as well as all sorts of eerie figures. We walked for a full three days, and no matter how we walked, we couldn't walk out of that town, always returning to the starting point."

A-Yang's voice was very low, as if recalling past events he didn't want to remember.

"Later we found out that we weren't trapped in the town at all, but were pulled into an 'Inner World' by him using some kind of spell."

"Inner World?"

Xiao Jie exclaimed: "What is that thing?"

"An alternative space… that breaks away from reality yet attaches itself to the existence of reality."

A-Yang explained in a deep voice:

"An independent space usually created by the Mental Energy of some powerful entity or some special energy field distorting reality."

"Its Laws are similar yet different from the real world; time, space, and even physical Law might be distorted."

As he spoke, A-Yang pointed above his head:

"Just like that piece of clothing just now, which was clearly thrown outside the building, yet reappeared inside the building."

"Then how can we get out?"

A-Li immediately asked the key point anxiously.

"To walk out, we first have to figure out how this world was formed, find its core, or…"

Halfway through, A-Yang's words came to an abrupt stop.

He suddenly raised his head, staring fixedly at the place above the stairs shrouded by dense fog and darkness.

His pupils were contracting, as if seeing something extremely terrifying.

Everyone's hearts tightened, looking along his gaze.

In the darkness, something seemed to be moving.

"Heh-heh…"

That eerie laughter sounded once more.

Only this time, it was truly close at hand.

A white outline slowly protruded from the grey fog.

That was a woman's face, deathly pale without a trace of color.

She was facing everyone, revealing an eerie smile, as if greeting them.

That face then slowly moved downwards.

Below it, there was no neck.

Instead, it was a long, bloody, and constantly writhing… body.