Chapter 33: The House That Hunts (Part Six)

Chapter 33: The House That Hunts (Part Six)

"Professor Chu, someone has entered Experiment No. 777."

In one of the laboratories, an entire wall was covered with surveillance data. Today, the usually stable data showed a sudden fluctuation, creating an exaggerated peak.

The man referred to as Professor was very young. He wore a white lab coat and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, with deep-set features that exuded a somewhat gloomy aura.

"An abnormal energy fluctuation," said the researcher, tapping on the keyboard. "Someone really went in there."

By "went in," he meant entering the true interior, not just the exterior.

The researcher asked, "Could it be the Cleaning Center?"

Another researcher replied, "Impossible. Recently, under Xuan Qing's leadership, they've been undergoing internal reforms and have few missions."

Within the Cleaning Center, most cleaners and demon hunters were undergoing concentrated training. Those who had not passed the evaluations were not allowed to accept missions, causing the center’s mission volume to sharply decrease within a week.

The Cleaning Center hadn’t managed this house for so many years; it was unlikely they would suddenly come to purify it now.

Moreover, they knew all the mission lists of the Cleaning Center for the next three days, and Experiment No. 777 was definitely not on the list.

"Could it be... him?" the researcher asked.

Professor Chu fell silent, hesitating to speak. Prometheus? What is he planning?

He asked, "Where is Experiment No. 777 now?"

"Rome City District, Building 22, Floor 13," another person answered. "It's a residential area with high occupancy and a dense population."

This meant they couldn't use thermal weapons to level the place. If it were in a remote area, they could simply seal it off externally.

But in a densely populated residential area, successfully bypassing the Public Security Bureau and quietly resolving the issue was almost impossible.

"What should we do?" the researcher asked.

Experiment No. 777 had existed for fifteen years, and they didn’t want to give up their years of hard work.

Its experimental data was invaluable, and they had been continuously monitoring its growth data.

As a pollutant, it could recognize its master and track them, and it was slowly growing, even learning to hunt autonomously, which was quite rare.

If it were purified now, their years of effort would be wasted.

Sending someone over would be too late; the green door recognizes its master, and outsiders can't open it.

An intruder entering the green door has only two outcomes: first, purifying the green door; second, being assimilated by the green door.

Usually, it's the latter, so there's no need to worry too much.

The researcher said, "We don't need to intervene, like last time."

After a moment of silence, Professor Chu decided, "Send someone over to wait outside and find an opportunity to kill the intruder."

The researcher agreed, thinking Professor Chu was overly cautious.

Although Experiment No. 777 was merely rated as a C-level polluted area, due to its bizarre internal structure, no one had ever returned alive.

...

At the Public Security Bureau detention center.

Ding Chaojie clung tightly to the bars, feeling someone pressing closely against his back. He dared not breathe deeply, and he was the only one in the detention cell.

Ding Chaojie slowly turned his head, and sure enough, a green door was right behind him, pressed against him.

The green door had opened slightly, and inside, it seemed as if black lines were writhing in the air.

"Please," Ding Chaojie pleaded, "I didn't mean to."

"Can you please leave me alone?"

"I'll bow to you; I didn't mean to kill you; it was an accident, an accident."

Ding Chaojie kept whispering his pleas, but the green door slowly opened wider.

Snap—

Ding Chaojie froze, loosening one finger from the bars. Someone was prying his hand open!

"Please, don't come closer! Ah!"

A second finger was pried open, and despite his efforts, he couldn’t stop it.

Snap, snap, snap! All ten fingers were forcibly pried apart.

Suddenly, Ding Chaojie felt a weight on his right leg, as if a hand had grabbed his ankle.

In the surveillance video at the Public Security Bureau detention center, the guard responsible for watching the monitors was dozing off and didn’t see what was happening inside the detention cell.

In the video, Ding Chaojie was initially holding onto the bars, but then, as if someone invisible was prying his fingers apart, breaking each one.

His face twisted in pain, and he screamed uncontrollably, like a puppet unable to control its limbs.

Then, Ding Chaojie took a step backward, moving backwards step by step.

The surveillance video flickered.

Bang—

The green door closed, and Ding Chaojie vanished into the detention room as if he had never been there.

...

Zhu Ning's foot touched the ground.

She had seen many corpses before, and this sensation was unmistakably that of a body. Had she just stepped into a crime scene?

She felt like an NPC stuck in a game glitch, able to retreat but unable to move forward.

At this point, there was no turning back. Even if there were a female ghost behind her, it would be better than facing an empty room.

Zhu Ning took another step back, fully entering the space behind her.

She stumbled and steadied herself against the wall. Beneath her feet lay a highly decomposed male corpse, with its back sliced open as if something was trying to burst out from within.

It resembled a failed mutation caused by pollutants.

He remained in a prone position, his fingers curled tightly around the edge of the baseboard, as if desperately trying to escape before dying.

Zhu Ning emerged from behind the wall of televisions. This was the first time she entered another space from such an awkward angle, and her first reaction was to touch the wall again.

Her palm could not pass through; the wall had become solid. Could she only enter but not leave?

The house was abnormally damp and cold, with the helmet's display showing a mere sixteen degrees Celsius.

This space was equally quiet, with no one speaking except for the slight sounds Zhu Ning made.

Out of caution, Zhu Ning did not turn around after entering the alternate space. Instead, she took another step back, carefully moving her foot away from the corpse.

Suddenly, her entire body stiffened, feeling something moving at the back of her neck.

Although the Cleaning Center uniform covered all her skin, it simulated the sensation of skin, making it very sensitive.

Now, Zhu Ning felt an itch at the back of her neck, as if... a clump of hair had fallen behind her.

Zhu Ning was brave enough, but her heart still raced uncontrollably in that moment.

Drip—Drip—

A drop of water hit her helmet, making a dull sound. In the utter silence, the sound of the water drop was very clear. She silently lifted her head.

And then she met the sight of a pale face. A woman hung upside down from the ceiling.

The woman wore a red dress, her limbs spread out on the ceiling, her long hair hanging down, brushing against Zhu Ning's shoulders.

Drip—Drip—

The woman's pale face was wet, with moisture seeping from her pores as if she had been soaked in a well overnight.

Zhu Ning took a moment to comprehend what she was seeing.

The woman's limbs were stretched out, as if held by some suction to the ceiling, and on her back was a large... snail shell?

The entire shell was a pale yellow, even adorned with a beautiful black spiral pattern. Upon closer inspection, the shell grew from her spine.

Snail... person? Was this a pollutant?

No wonder there was no sound; snails don't make noise.

Zhu Ning glanced around with her peripheral vision. The alternate space looked exactly like Huang Yaruo's home, like a mirror image, but with the furniture arranged oppositely.

If the sofa was on the left in the previous house, it was on the right here. The two rooms were symmetrical but visibly older and more dilapidated.

The furniture was covered in thick dust, the dining table littered with rotten food and wilted flowers, and the walls were covered in mold and moss.

There were six snail people in the living room, some wearing suits, some athletic wear, and one in light pink pajamas. From their attire, one could deduce who they might have been before.

As soon as Zhu Ning entered, these snail people seemed to share a collective consciousness and suddenly turned to look at her.

Snails being soft-bodied creatures, the snail people's limbs were even softer. They slowly began to crawl toward Zhu Ning.

But snails moved so slowly that in this eerie, damp house, a room full of human-faced snails crawling towards you was unsettling.

Despite their slow movements, which should pose little threat, she felt a strange sense of unease. These creatures were even more terrifying than pig-headed people.

The fish people and pig people she had encountered before did not have human faces. When you saw them, your brain recognized them as monsters.

But the snail people were highly anthropomorphic, looking almost identical to humans.

The snail people behaved like snails, able to climb higher and leaving a long trail of slime wherever they went.

The environment was ideal for snails, very damp, with the interior overgrown with green plants. Next to the sofa, a cluster of red mushrooms had grown, making it seem like a giant incubator.

This must be the true polluted area.

Zhu Ning suddenly understood how the 2500 cubic meters of pollution were calculated. A single home wouldn't be larger than a swimming pool, but if the space extended endlessly, it would be possible.

Zhu Ning had visited three polluted areas, and this was the first one where she desperately wanted to leave. It was too bizarre, making her want to stay for just a moment less.

Clues, the clues to get out were on the snail people.

The remaining five snail people looked like ordinary people. There was a male snail person near the television who stood out.

The man had a square face and a very muscular build, unlike an ordinary person. Before becoming a pollutant, he might have worked in security.

His wrist seemed to have a watch, emitting a faint glow.

Wait, Zhu Ning frowned. That wasn't a watch; it was a Cleaning Center employee bracelet.

The Cleaning Center employee bracelet is a symbol of identity, used to contact the Cleaning Center and receive support from various departments when necessary.

Even if you die in some contaminated area, the positioning function will show your last known location, making it convenient for someone to recover your body later.

There are three types of employee bracelets: silver for cleaners, black for demon hunters, and pure white for technical or managerial staff.

Zhu Ning would never make a mistake; the snail person was wearing a black employee bracelet on their wrist.

Is he a demon hunter? Demon hunters far surpass cleaners in both mental strength and physical fitness, something Zhu Ning deeply understood after being beaten for three days in the arena.

A demon hunter once died here?