When the guards at the front saw it was Brother Li leading them, they quickly stepped aside to open a path. After Brother Li brought them in, Lan Jin asked, "Where are they being kept?"
Brother Li replied, "On the third basement level. That floor has the most individual rooms and the largest space. Let's go down together and take a look."
After speaking, Brother Li led the four of them into the elevator. When they exited, the security checks were even stricter. First, they were inspected layer by layer for any wounds, then tested for fever. Only after that were they allowed to swipe cards to enter.
It was not only Brother Li's card that was required. Their four residence permits also had to be recorded. After swiping one by one, they were finally allowed inside.
Of course, that was still not the end. As the howling grew louder, they still did not reach the right place. Lao Gao could not help but ask, "I didn't think this place was that big when standing above ground. How deep did you people dig into the mountain?"
Naturally, no one was going to answer Lao Gao's question.
Brother Li simply pretended not to hear and said, "Here, here, we're almost there."
After turning a corner, they finally arrived before a massive, thick iron gate. Once the card was swiped and they went through, what greeted them was a heavy transparent glass door.
Lao Gao was speechless. "Seriously? Was all this necessary? We've only walked for two or three minutes, but we've already passed five or six gates."
Brother Li said, "If you were injured by them, you would understand why. These doors were all added after the last time the base had chaos from insect powder. They are reinforced anti-ballistic glass. I am not worried about the glass breaking, but I am worried they might topple the entire door. If that happens, we're finished."
The glass was indeed tough. Without a special angle, anti-ballistic glass would not shatter easily. But whether the whole thing could be knocked over was another matter.
On this point, the four of them understood well. Back when they were still in the residential complex, their doors had been repaired several times, whole panels at a time.
So now, hearing Brother Li's concern, they could sympathize completely.
…
At first, their attention had only been fixed on the glass door itself. But once they looked through the glass and saw the people being held one by one inside, all of them stumbled back in shock.
Lan Jin pointed at the figures inside, her voice trembling with disbelief. "Th-this… what is happening?"
Lao Gao was even more shocked, shouting, "What the hell, is that really them? Don't try to fool us with random people!"
It was only then that Brother Li spoke. "Why would I trick you? Look carefully and you will know. Even if you do not recognize others, Brother Zhang is unmistakable. The one held right at the front, isn't that him? We were also shocked that they turned out like this. But from the information I gathered, this seems to be the normal reaction."
Ling Jiang pointed inside in disbelief. "This? Normal? Normal my ass."
Huang Jinghe quickly agreed. "Exactly. This is nothing like what we were told before."
They were not exaggerating. These people's madness was hundreds of times more terrifying than those who had consumed insect powder.
All of their eyes, the whites completely drowned in blood red, were horrifying enough. But the nightmare did not stop with their eyes.
Because contact with these things caused an intense burning heat, most of them had stripped off their upper clothes. Their torsos looked as though they had been soaked in blood, as if every cell in their bodies had opened tiny holes to let blood seep out drop by drop. Of course, it was not endless bleeding, otherwise their bodies could never produce enough.
Even so, the blood covered their entire bodies, staining every corner of the cells. They had become blood-drenched creatures, crimson from head to toe, wild with madness.
Rather than looking like a natural reaction to contact with plants while waiting for an ability to awaken, Lan Jin felt more as though they had been infected with some terrifying disease, some toxin that was producing a chemical reaction in their bodies.
In short, there was nothing about them that looked normal. There were no visible wounds, yet drenched in blood as they were, how could anyone say they were fine?
Just as the four of them were struck speechless, Brother Zhang, the one held closest to the gate, let out a terrible roar and slammed himself against the iron bars in front of him.
Brother Li said, "Don't think nothing is happening just because they are grabbing the bars without reaction. The bars are electrified, but look at him. He shows no response at all."
Then Brother Li pointed upward. "Look closely. See those cracks at the top of the bars? If they manage to tear it open, do you think this door will hold?"
…
It clearly would not hold.
"Honestly, not just this door. Even the guards I stationed outside would not be able to hold them back. At this point they look as if knives and bullets would do nothing," Brother Li said worriedly.
"But… is this really normal? Did you ask how many days they must stay like this before returning to normal? And with all this blood loss, are you sure they will not simply die from it?" Lan Jin asked sincerely.
"I asked about that already. As long as they endure, they will be fine. This is because they were directly injured by plants. Their reaction is more immediate and more violent. If it were just insect powder, it would not be like this at all."
Even if Brother Li spoke so, there were still too many suspicious points. And even if they asked, Brother Li might not give honest answers, so the four of them kept their silence.
After thinking for a while, Lan Jin asked, "Can you open a small gap in the door? I want to test with my ability, use electricity on them."
Brother Li hesitated. Ordinary electricity had proven useless, but maybe ability-based electricity would be different. At last he agreed. "A small gap is fine. I will have two people force it open for you."
But Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe did not need anyone else. The two of them stepped forward, each gripping one side of the door, and with an easy pull opened a gap.
Lan Jin extended her hand through the gap and unleashed her lightning ability on Brother Zhang.
The frenzied Brother Zhang convulsed, letting out a long, sky-shaking roar before suddenly falling silent.
For a moment, they all thought it had worked.
But then, all at once, Brother Zhang became even more crazed than before. Within moments, he ripped the already cracking bars apart, tearing a corner wide open.