Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Yan Bubu recognized it was a tiger; he had seen them in zoos before, but they always lay listlessly in their enclosures, indifferent. Never had he seen one as ferocious as this.

Feng Chen had just put his dagger in the backpack at the back of the bus. Now, without enough time to retrieve it and no handy weapon nearby, he grabbed a nearby iron pot and desperately smashed it against the tiger's head.

After several loud bangs, the tiger roared in pain, trying to leap through the window. Feng Chen pushed its head out with the bottom of the pot.

"Go get my dagger; it's in the bag," Feng Chen shouted at Yan Bubu, who stood dazedly beside him, as he forcefully held back the tiger.

Yan Bubu snapped back to reality, his eyes frantically searching for the backpack.

"It's at the back of the bus," Feng Chen yelled.

The tiger kept trying to squeeze in, its sharp claws scraping against the bus, making a frightening sound. Feng Chen pushed with all his might against the iron pot, his feet braced against the handrail behind him, veins on his neck bulging under the strain, highlighting the muscles of his thin back and shoulders.

Yan Bubu found the backpack and frantically searched for the dagger. In his panic, he turned too quickly and fell with a thud.

He scrambled to his feet without pausing and rushed towards Feng Chen with the dagger, "Young master, here."

Feng Chen couldn't spare his hands to take the dagger; if he eased his grip even slightly, the tiger would pounce into the bus.

"Stab it," he managed to say, his face turning red and the words squeezed out between clenched teeth.

The handrail behind his feet was making loud noises, apparently coming loose. Feng Chen couldn't afford to relax, straining again, "Don't be afraid, stab it."

Without further hesitation, though his lips were trembling and legs barely supporting him, Yan Bubu followed Feng Chen's command. With a yell, he gripped the dagger with both hands and stabbed it into one of the tiger's paws on the bus.

The dagger penetrated the paw, but Yan Bubu's lack of strength made the strike shallow, provoking the tiger to furiously attempt to lunge into the bus.

"Keep going!" Feng Chen yelled, holding back the tiger, "Stab it hard."

Yan Bubu, pale with fear, pulled out the dagger and repeatedly stabbed the tiger's paw, his voice turning into a high-pitched, tearful shriek.

"Go away, go away, bad tiger, go away, awu beng ga ada wu xia, go away..."

Blood gushed from the tiger's paw, quickly staining its yellow fur red, trickling down the side of the bus.

Unable to bear the pain and unable to break in, the tiger finally gave up, slipping off the window with a thud and limping away from the parking lot.

Watching it disappear into the distance, Feng Chen dropped the iron pot, stumbled back, and collapsed, exhausted.

Yan Bubu stood frozen, still clutching the dagger, crying while looking at Feng Chen, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

Feng Chen, leaning against the bus seat, drenched in sweat, attempted to reach out to Yan Bubu but found his arms too weak to lift. He just smiled and breathed heavily, "Come here."

"Wuwu..." Yan Bubu shuffled over step by step.

"Put away the dagger."

Yan Bubu threw the dagger onto a nearby seat, still trembling violently.

"Sit beside me."

Yan Bubu sat down next to Feng Chen, sobbing as he hugged Feng Chen's arm. Feng Chen looked at the whirl of hair on his head and said softly, "Stop crying, it's okay."

Yan Bubu gradually calmed down, stopping his tears and just leaning against Feng Chen, occasionally sobbing.

"You did well just now," Feng Chen said.

Yan Bubu looked up at him with a face still wet with either tears or sweat, his dark eyes starting to brighten.

"Did I do well?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Feng Chen nodded, "Yes, you did well. You followed orders, responded promptly, and were decisive."

"I wasn't afraid of it. Even if two more tigers came, I could handle them," Yan Bubu boasted, his voice steady again.

"I used a little bit of magic just now, not too much. If I had used more, it would have died. I could also have kicked it like this, see, but I rarely use this move..."

As he spoke, he stood up and began to gesture.

Feng Chen watched him quietly, not commenting. When he had recovered enough strength, he got up and started to pack the backpack.

"We need to leave here soon, in case the tiger comes back for revenge."

Feng Chen's statement was understated, but he knew that the tiger must have fed on numerous corpses and possibly even live humans. Now that the available corpses were highly decomposed, even a tiger would struggle to eat them, and it would inevitably come back for them.

Yan Bubu, who was still enthusiastically demonstrating how he fought the tiger, stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in alarm.

"Put on your bag and fill it with water. We're leaving now to go to the research institute to change our identity chips, then head to the underground city."

It was evening, with the sun and moon hung opposite in the sky, making it unclear whether the light was from the sun or the moon.

Despite the high temperature, they doused themselves with well water from head to toe as they passed the well. The slightly cool water washed away some of the heat. Yan Bubu shook his head like a puppy, "Young master, pour it over me again, one more time."

Feng Chen wiped the water off his face and carried another bucket of water, "We have to go, we can't delay any longer."

The research institute wasn't too far, but it would take several hours to walk there. They walked for a while, then stopped to rest and pour well water over themselves.

Although the well water gradually warmed and lost its chill, pouring it over still brought some relief.

As the sun set completely, the city ruins were enveloped in faint moonlight, eerily silent.

Yan Bubu clutched the hem of Feng Chen's clothes, following him closely, feeling as if something in the shadowy depths of the ruins was watching them.

Feng Chen lit a lantern, illuminating the surroundings, and softly reminded Yan Bubu to watch out for bricks and cracks underfoot.

Woo...

A howl of some animal came from a distance, making the hairs on Yan Bubu's body stand on end.

"Young master, what's that howling?"

"It's nothing, just a dog."

Feng Chen's tone was calm, but he kept a dagger tightly gripped in his right hand.

Around nine in the evening, the two finally reached their destination, an industrial area near the outskirts of the city.

The terrain was wide open. All the tall factory buildings that once stood there had collapsed, except for a ten-story building standing quietly in the wilderness.

Feng Chen led Yan Bubu to the front of that building.

Under the lantern light, the building, despite large chunks of its wall peeling off and several cracks crisscrossing its facade, still appeared sturdy.

The surrounding wall was gone, so they walked directly to the main door. Feng Chen took out tools from his backpack and began to work on the electronic lock.

Yan Bubu held up the lantern, surveying his surroundings while asking, "Young Master, can we change our identities here?"

Feng Chen, without looking up, replied, "Yes. The Eastern Alliance Army had already retreated before the earthquake. They could only take a few important items with them. The device that can modify the biological chip is trivial to them, so they definitely left it behind."

With a click, the electronic lock was forcefully pried open, and a gust of cold air blew out from the opened gate. Yan Bubu felt a mix of comfort and eeriness, his arms breaking out in goosebumps and a chill creeping up his back.

"Let's go, inside." Feng Chen, carrying the lantern, walked in. Yan Bubu quickly hugged his waist, following step by step.

"Let go, how can I walk like this?" Feng Chen stopped and looked down at Yan Bubu.

Reluctantly, Yan Bubu let go and instead held onto a corner of Feng Chen's clothing.

The lobby was in disarray, with unimportant documents scattered on the floor, evidencing the East Union Army's hasty retreat. The elevator was out of service, so they had to climb the stairs, but fortunately, there were only ten floors, which wasn't too high.

The lower floors resembled a typical research institute with laboratories and preparation rooms. However, on the fifth floor, a closed metal door blocked the stairway upwards.

Surprisingly, the door's keypad was still operational, its green buttons glowing dimly, indicating that the building had its own independent lithostone power system. As long as the generator wasn't damaged in the earthquake, the lithostone could power the building for a long time.

"I've been here once with my father and remember the password," Feng Chen said, entering a series of numbers on the keypad, and the metal door opened smoothly.

As they stepped onto the fifth-floor staircase, the metal door closed behind them and lights suddenly illuminated the area brightly.

Yan Bubu squinted against the sudden brightness. Once his eyes adjusted, he realized that instead of more stairs, there was a small room with empty walls and a small door on the opposite side.

"Detection of unauthorized entry. Please present your access credentials immediately."

A mechanical electronic voice resounded coldly in the room. Yan Bubu looked around in panic but couldn't locate the source of the voice.

"Detection of unauthorized entry. Hold your access credentials in front of your chest, or you will bear the consequences."

Feng Chen walked towards the small door as if he hadn't heard the warning, pressing a button beside it. A screen appeared on the wall, and he quickly began typing on a keyboard below it.

"Unauthorized entry detected. Countdown begins now, ten seconds remaining."

As the mechanical voice spoke, Yan Bubu noticed small holes appear in the walls, emitting red beams targeting their foreheads.

"Young master, what is this?" Yan Bubu asked anxiously.

Unperturbed by the red dot on his forehead, Feng Chen rapidly typed on the keyboard, "Infrared targeting system."

"Ten, nine, eight—"

Yan Bubu put his hand over his forehead, "What is an infrared targeting system?"

"An infrared targeting system is exactly that," Feng Chen replied dismissively, as usual.

Yan Bubu seemed to understand and responded with an "Oh," but couldn't help but continue asking, "Then why is there a voice counting down?"

Feng Chen kept working, his eyes rapidly scanning the screen, "When the countdown ends, it means that we are about to..."

"Seven, six, five—"

"About to what?" Yan Bubu asked nervously, instinctively holding his breath.

"About to..."

The light from the display screen cast sharp contours on Feng Chen's face, accentuating his high nose bridge and determined eyes. Although a bead of sweat slid down his forehead, he remained composed.

"Four, three, two—"

As Feng Chen pressed the enter key, the mechanical countdown abruptly stopped, the red dots targeting them disappeared, and the small door in front silently opened.

Feng Chen let out a long sigh of relief and stepped forward, "It means we're about to enter the secret research lab."