Captain Zhou asked, "Who do you think's trying to harm us, and why would you even think that?"
Captain Wang nodded at Captain Zhang's suspicion. "Isn't it obvious? Every time we finally claw our way out of one mess, another problem drops right in front of us. Once or twice you can call coincidence, but this many times? No way it's just luck."
Zhou's expression turned grim. It wasn't just the two of them. Plenty of higher-ups were suspicious too. But no matter how they tried to investigate in private, nobody ever found proof.
That left only two possibilities. Either all these so-called coincidences really were coincidences, or the person behind them was someone inside their own ranks. If the culprit destroyed the evidence before anyone could dig it up, then of course nothing could be found.
There was no point in doubting whether the vaccines had been swapped midway either. Their mission hadn't just involved the Capital city and H Base teams. Xi Yu had been transferred from the Capital city base to H Base, and the R Base team had traveled with them too. Captain Zhang couldn't have switched the vaccines mid-route, and even if he had, there's no way everyone else would've covered it up this perfectly.
Which meant the vaccines themselves had been a problem from the very beginning.
But if that was true, things got stranger. Captain Zhang muttered, "When we went down to the fifth basement level, why did those humanoid mutants insist this stuff could restore them into humans? And why were the vaccines hidden behind those murals in the forest?"
The murals were suspicious in themselves. Who paints murals of mutants? Worse, they'd all seen mutants walking out of those murals with their own eyes. It made no sense.
He wasn't the only one who'd witnessed it either. There were already plenty of mysteries here. Captain Zhang wanted to say it outright: no matter how you looked at it, this didn't seem like something Blue Star humans could've made, not even with base technology.
But some things couldn't be said aloud. Everyone knew it though. For now, they had to deal with the immediate threat first.
Zhou glanced around. "Where are Lan Jin and the others?"
Captain Zhang answered, "I called them. They're running a shop in the commercial zone, a bit far from here. They'll need time to bike over. We'll hold on for now. They'll be here soon."
Driving or using a base shuttle would've been faster, but driving required licenses. None of them had one, and every driver had already hidden themselves away. They had no choice but to pedal. Luckily, the route was clearly marked, and the howls from the lab were loud enough to guide them. The four wouldn't get lost.
…
Just then, the walkie-talkies on their belts crackled to life.
"Attention, teammates, listen carefully. The mutants with tentacles are moving upstairs. Every single one of them has tentacles now. They're extremely aggressive, so stay alert."
A loud boom followed the message. The lab doors shook under a barrage of tentacles slamming against them.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
After three heavy strikes, the doors gave way. Tentacles surged out, writhing hungrily toward the superpowers waiting outside. Sensing the life nearby, the creatures grew even more frenzied. Tentacles lashed out, stabbing toward the superpowers.
The superpowers unleashed their powers to hold them back. One or two were manageable, but with more mutants pouring out, even their numbers weren't enough. The real nightmare was what would happen if even one person got injured.
And of course, what they feared most happened right away. Several front-line superpowers were grazed on the arms. They didn't even have to wait. Within seconds, the wounds sprouted tentacles of their own, and the infected superpowers turned on their comrades.
Captain Zhou's face went pale. "Fall back! Don't let them scratch you!"
But the superpowers were already being forced back. The distance was too close. Even trying to retreat was almost impossible.
The tentacles multiplied, forming walls of flesh that climbed over each other, reaching upward. Just as they seemed ready to drop from above, Lan Jin and her group arrived. Bolts of lightning tore across the front line, frying the nearest mass of tentacles and giving the superpowers a precious chance to escape.
Captain Zhang exhaled in relief when he saw Lan Jin. "Finally, you made it. A little later and we'd have been overrun."
Lao Gao grinned. "Sometimes timing's better than speed."
Captain Wang barked, "Hurry up! Be careful, don't get scratched. We just saw what happens. One touch and you'll sprout tentacles. The infection spreads insanely fast."
The four ditched their bikes and charged in.
Lan Jin's power was overwhelming. Lightning cascaded down, snapping through the writhing mass. The current leapt from one tendril to the next, passing along the whole cluster. In seconds, they were all convulsing, twitching straight, then collapsing in heaps.
But even collapsed, they didn't vanish like other mutants. The tentacles twitched, spasming as if to remind everyone they were still alive.
Faces darkened all around.
Captain Zhang muttered, "They're still alive? Even after that?"
He'd seen Lan Jin's lightning fell a giant serpent in a single strike. If a creature that huge couldn't endure, why were these much smaller things still moving?
Lao Gao frowned. "Stay back. The infection's too dangerous. And look, even after Sister Lan fried them, they're still twitching. That means they're not dead yet. If anyone gets too close and they lash out again, we're screwed."
As if on cue, a tentacle whipped free from the pile and snaked toward Lao Gao.
Huang Jinghe reacted instantly. Platinum Reaper flashed into a staff in his hand, and he smashed the tendril into the ground. He kept pounding it again and again until it stopped moving completely.
Lao Gao cursed loudly. "Holy shit, what the hell are these things? Just wait, I'll burn every last one of you!"