"Mu Ke, you and Liu Jiayi go to the infirmary on the first floor and check for any relevant medical records. We need to find out why this group has been ingesting such large quantities of psychiatric drugs."
Bai Liu's gaze was steady and deep.
"These people should have been mentally sound when they first arrived in Antarctica. We need to determine what caused their psychological deterioration."
Mu Ke nodded and led Liu Jiayi downstairs. Before they left, Bai Liu tossed them two rifles and several boxes of ammunition.
"Be careful."
Mu Ke caught the weapon smoothly, loaded it with practiced efficiency, and secured it at his side.
Liu Jiayi handled hers with slightly more difficulty. Even though the rifle had been modified, it was still too long for her frame; she had to lift her arm higher than usual to steady it. Still, her posture was correct.
After everything they had gone through, they were all competent with firearms. Not at Tang Erda's level — he was a trained marksman — but skilled enough to hold their own.
Even Liu Jiayi was proficient with automatic and semi-automatic weapons. She avoided using them when possible due to her height and the recoil, but she was fully capable.
And right now, there was no alternative. In this freezing environment, conserving energy and relying on available supplies was far wiser than overexerting themselves.
Bai Liu then led Mu Sicheng and Tang Erda, took up his rifle, and followed the others downstairs. They were heading outside to investigate the basement beneath the helicopter hangar.
The two teams split up on the first floor.
Bai Liu stepped to the main entrance and saw that in the span of just one hour, the door had frosted over again. A thick white crust clung to the handle, hard and biting against his palm.
The cold here was extreme. The low temperature and hurricane-force winds compacted drifting snow so quickly that it hardened almost like ice.
Bai Liu glanced at the wind gauge mounted beside the door, which displayed the outdoor temperature and wind speed.
[-55.8°C | Wind Speed: 119 km/h | Force 12 | Category 1 Hurricane | No Exit Recommended]
Mu Sicheng, who had grown up in the south, had never experienced such brutal cold. Seeing the number — negative fifty-five degrees — made him feel even colder. It seemed as though icy wind had been driven straight into his bones.
While he lacked experience with extreme cold, he was familiar with typhoons.
He stared at the wind speed and swore. "Are you kidding me? That strong? On the coast, winds like this can rip up trees weighing dozens of kilos…"
Tang Erda's expression tightened. "You can't fly a helicopter in this weather. It'll be torn apart midair. If we want to reach another observation post, we'd need snowmobiles."
Bai Liu said nothing. He simply pushed the door open.
The wind roared inside instantly.
Beyond the threshold, there was no visible light — only dense, whirling snow that swallowed the faint glow above and reduced visibility to near zero.
The door rattled violently in the gale. Snow had piled knee-high at the entrance. The wind struck with such force that Tang Erda instinctively raised his arm to shield his eyes and was forced a step backward.
"Goggles on! Secure your sled lines!" Tang Erda shouted over the wind. "Tie the safety ropes around your waists! Don't get blown off balance! And watch for ice crevasses under your feet — don't fall in!"
Antarctic winds can exceed 35 meters per second — strong enough to knock down a fully grown adult with ease.
But that wasn't the most terrifying danger here.
The most terrifying danger was ice crevasses.
No one who had lived in Antarctica underestimated them.
The Antarctic ice sheet isn't uniformly flat. Temperature shifts cause melting and refreezing cycles that create deep fissures — some over a hundred meters deep. Snowfall often covers these crevasses, making them visually indistinguishable from solid ground.
One careless step could mean falling into nothingness.
Tang Erda remembered a story he had heard during his time stationed here — about a Japanese observer who went out to repair equipment during a storm and vanished on the way back.
Four days later, the team discovered his body in a shallow crevasse less than three meters from the station entrance.
He had fallen in and been unable to climb out.
The snow above him hadn't been thick, and in theory, it might have been possible to break through and escape.
But during the search efforts, snowmobiles repeatedly passed over the area. The weight compacted the snow above the crevasse, sealing it solid.
By the time he was found, it was too late.
Since then, stories circulated among researchers. On stormy nights, some claimed they could hear faint sounds near that crevasse — as if someone were calling from beneath the ice.
After several additional accidents over the years, the Japanese team eventually relocated its base.
Tang Erda had always questioned the supernatural embellishments. Antarctic stations regularly surveyed surrounding areas for crevasses.
But whether the story was entirely true or not, it ensured one thing:
No one forgot the danger beneath their feet.
So when Bai Liu insisted on going out, Tang Erda told the story as a warning.
After hearing it, Mu Sicheng went pale.
"Forget this. I'm not going. You two can go."
Bai Liu calmly ignored him and stepped forward into the storm.
The three men staggered through the hurricane, the safety ropes fastened around their waists in front and behind them, as they made their way toward the helicopter hangar. Fortunately, it wasn't far, and they reached it in short order. Tang Erda pulled open the flap door, and the three entered the basement in turn.
Mu Sicheng shook the snow from his coat, his teeth chattering. "Damn, the weather changed so fast! It wasn't this windy before!"
Bai Liu shot him a sharp look. "If you'd stayed out there a bit longer, without a satellite phone or a safety rope, maybe the wind would have blown you into an ice crevasse somewhere…"
Mu Sicheng froze, grass.
"But this is a game pool! I can still quit the game!" he said, his voice hardening.
"That won't necessarily save you," Tang Erda said, his tone tense under Bai Liu's gaze. "The deepest ice chasm here is a hundred meters. The temperature can drop to minus eighty-nine degrees. Fifteen seconds outside, and your body would freeze to near-unconsciousness. You wouldn't even have time to think about logging out before you died."
Mu Sicheng froze again, grass!
What kind of game is this?!
The basement Bai Liu entered had two levels.
The upper floor was used for light experimentation — not much equipment, and cleanliness wasn't a priority. A few sensors, hydraulic hammers, and other devices were stacked in corners, along with two large vats of pickled cabbage and radishes.
Tang Erda lifted a cover, and a sour, acrid stench rose instantly.
Mu Sicheng's nose twitched in disgust. The smell was pure and pungent — everything else in this freezing environment was frozen, and this was the first scent he'd noticed since entering the game.
"It smells like my grandmother's sauerkraut went bad," he muttered, gagging slightly and waving his hand in front of his face.
Tang Erda set the cover back down and regarded Bai Liu with a complex expression. "This sauerkraut was made Chinese-style. Edmond's people probably didn't know the method, so it failed — and now it stinks."
Bai Liu pondered. "But someone must have guided them to store food like this. That suggests the relationship between Tarzan Station and Edmond Observatory isn't as rigid as we thought."
Otherwise, the Tarzan staff wouldn't have gone to such lengths to instruct Edmond's people. Such guidance implies a certain level of trust — a subtle anchor of intimacy.
Bai Liu circled the tank, thoughtful, seemingly searching for something.
Mu Sicheng couldn't resist asking, "It's just two vats of sauerkraut. What are you looking for?"
"Looking for a production date," Bai Liu replied calmly.
"?" Mu Sicheng frowned. "Who makes sauerkraut and notes the date it was made? It's random…"
His words cut off as Bai Liu crouched beside the tank, wiping a dark, muddy spot in the lower-left corner.
A lab label was affixed there, neatly printed: [10/8, 12.14 kg radish].
It seemed they were marking it for some upcoming experiment.
Mu Sicheng's eyes widened. "How did you even know they'd posted a production date?!"
Bai Liu stood slowly. "This is a laboratory. Edmond is a scientist. He doesn't know how to make sauerkraut properly, so he used these vats for one purpose — to document the fermentation process."
"And following Dr. Edmond's meticulous approach, he had to make basic notes." He glanced up, a small smile playing on his lips. "Like the date."
Tang Erda crouched at the other vat, carefully feeling around the base. He found another label in the same spot.
"The date here is also August 10th," he said, tilting his head to Bai Liu. Then his expression darkened. "The plane crashed on August 7th. The fax from Tarzan Station suggesting Edmond stole the body parts was sent on August 8th. But this Edmond —"
"— Does it seem strange to be making and labeling two vats of sauerkraut on August 10th?" Bai Liu asked softly, rhetorically.
Tang Erda furrowed his brow, unable to make sense of it.
But Bai Liu didn't intend to answer Mu Sicheng's doubts. He continued toward the sliding doors leading to the second basement level.
Between the first and second basement levels was another sliding door, also apparently frozen, but Mu Sicheng had cut it open when he came down earlier.
The moment Bai Liu opened it, he understood why Mu Sicheng had grabbed the information and run.
A thick, strange stench, almost overpowering, rushed out, accompanied by dust and faint smoke that swirled through the air.
As the heating restored some warmth, the ice prisms at the top of the second basement began to melt, dripping like stalactites. Murky liquid pooled on the floor, forming a layer of dark grey mud and water, on which floated slides of unknown creatures and bits of plastic sealing material.
It was hardly a pleasant sight.
Mu Sicheng called urgently after him, "There's water down there! Rubber boots and gloves are by the stairs! Put them on before you go down!"
Bai Liu slipped into the boots, secured his rubber gloves, grabbed a plastic file folder to shield his head, and stepped carefully into the second basement.
The stench grew stronger, like the fishy odor of deep-sea creatures freshly hauled from the ocean, slippery and slimy, as if a sea serpent swam around him in the dusty, hazy air.
The water on the floor was shallow, just reaching the soles of his shoes, and Bai Liu moved carefully, bending to pick up slides and floating materials.
He vaguely recognized some of them — killer whales, lesser theropods, and several species of penguin.
The slides floating on the surface were essentially fat and epidermal pressings of these polar animals. Most of the other floating material documented the results of research on these creatures.
In the center of the basement sat a wide, heavy desk with four microscopes, a box of knocked-over slides, and two small test tube racks.
The test tubes were neatly arranged, the surface of the fixative slightly frozen, slowly melting as the temperature rose. The tissue inside had taken on a peculiar pink hue from staining.
As it warmed, the edges of the flesh darkened, and some tissue in the tubes began to twitch slightly, as if coming to life.
Bai Liu scanned the labels on the lids: [Penguin (killer whale, etc.) + Unknown Organism X free cell mix culture].
Amid the writhing, darkening flesh, one piece remained suspended, unmoving, bright red like freshly cut tissue. He could even see capillaries oozing blood into the fixative.
He clipped a small test tube from the rack — its label read differently from the others: [Unknown Creature: X].
The moment he removed it, the tissue in the other tubes reacted violently. Sharp vapors erupted, the formaldehyde evaporating instantly.
The small pieces of flesh began to divide and grow uncontrollably, crawling out of the tubes and merging into a basketball-sized, tentacle-covered, slimy black mass.
It had the smooth skin of a penguin or killer whale, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and newborn tentacles sprouting across its wings. The tentacles twisted and merged into its body, forming a pair of webbed, fishtail-like feet.
The mass screamed and flung its tentacles at Bai Liu. Tang Erda, at the stair entrance, recoiled, braced herself against the steps, shouldered her rifle, aimed, and fired.
Bang! Bang!
Two precise shots, and the mass lay still in the muddy water.
Tang Erda lowered her rifle, panting slightly. "I triggered the monster book. This should be one of the copy's monsters — Unknown Creature X Contaminant. Most likely a biochemically contaminated copy. Be careful not to encounter the source directly."
"Okay," Bai Liu replied calmly, tucking the small test tube into his fanny pack.
He finally found what he was looking for in a locked safe and had Tang Erda break the lock with her gun.
Inside was a chronological diary of experiments.
Bai Liu emerged from the underground lab, closing the door behind him, and followed Mu Sicheng, who was still reluctant to descend.
Behind them, the pile of "killed" creatures began to morph, fusing like molten asphalt. Slowly, human features emerged: face, limbs, posture. It shifted constantly, sometimes robust, sometimes elegant, sometimes with a monkey-like head, occasionally with curious eyes peering from the dark mass.
Eventually, it seemed to settle on a form, shedding its black, serpentine shell, revealing thin white arms and legs bursting from the mud.
A naked Bai Liu knelt in the water, eyes open with clarity, emitting a high-pitched, whale-like cry.
Scattered among the water and untouched by him, photocopied notes were strewn about:
["Cetacean tissues after mixed suspension culture of Unknown Organism X cells exhibit plant-like recombinant regenerative properties, with minimal regression of differentiation, inducible to redifferentiation …"]
["Cells display high intelligence; differentiated 'basketball tentacle-like lower organisms' (later referred to as basketballs) show differentiation across biological categories, including humans, birds, fish, and even ferns and ancient microbes …"]
["Whale cells dominate, producing whale-fish habits, forming smooth epidermal tissue around the 'basketball'. Cells gradually normalize; after a week, cells begin to die …"]
["Whale traits emerge pre-mortem, then molt… it was reborn! Shows learning ability! Controls the direction of differentiation… began differentiating toward humans after multiple molts!"]
["No. Stop the experiment. Ethically unacceptable. It will contaminate the human genome!"]