165: dragon

Lu Jianchuan walked at the front of the team, trailing just a step behind the captain, "Mountain Leopard." The headlamp on his helmet sliced a swaying field of light through the narrow, dust-and-rust-covered passage ahead.

The air was foul, a pungent cocktail of ancient mold, chemical residues, and a faint, unsettling scent of sweet blood. Occasionally, his boots crunched on shattered glassware or dried, unidentified stains.

Zhou Zihui was positioned toward the front-middle of the group, flanked by experienced team members for protection.

Lu Jianchuan could sense the boy's slightly tense breathing, but his steps were steady and his gaze swept the surroundings alertly. That constricted long tail of his also seemed to be subtly adjusting its posture beneath the monitoring suit, ready to react to any sudden situation.

The passage wasn't straight; forks in the path or downward-stretching stairs appeared from time to time.

The team moved with swift professionalism. The lead members' life detectors and radiation/evo factor scanners worked continuously, feeding rough structural maps and energy hotspots within dozens of meters ahead onto the miniature displays inside everyone's helmets.

"Twenty meters ahead, metal sealed door. Suspected main corridor gate," the lead member's lowered voice came through the encrypted channel.

The team approached silently. The heavy metal door was shut tight, its surface scarred by impacts and burns, though the locking mechanism remained intact. A member carrying specialized breaching equipment stepped forward wordlessly, attaching a small device to the lock area. A few seconds later, with a low, muffled thud, the internal structure of the lock was destroyed by a directional blast. Another member immediately stepped up, inserting a hydraulic crowbar into the gap. With their teammates' combined strength and a bone-jarring screech of metal friction, the heavy door was slowly pushed open just wide enough for someone to slip through sideways.

Beyond the door, the space suddenly opened up into a relatively wide hall, though it was equally in shambles.

As the light shone in, it revealed numerous overturned metal racks, the remains of shattered glass containers, and the casings of instruments that had been violently smashed or incinerated.

Most of the large cylindrical culture tanks were empty, their walls stained with dried grime and a few suspicious strands of organic tissue. Several smaller storage lockers had been pried open and were completely bare.

"The cleanup was rushed," Captain Mountain Leopard said, crouching to run a finger over a drag mark on the floor before glancing at a nearby smashed terminal. "Most of the transportable equipment and core samples were moved. For the sensitive items they couldn't take... they chose to destroy them on the spot."

Lu Jianchuan's gaze swept over the mess. Indeed, this looked more like the ruins of a hastily abandoned battlefield than an orderly research facility.

However, in some corners, beneath overturned filing cabinets, many paper documents lay scattered. A team member quickly stepped forward, carefully collecting the papers that hadn't been completely defaced or burned.

"Captain, I've found a large number of paper experimental records and some fragments of electronic storage media that weren't fully destroyed."

The member flipped through them quickly. "The contents involve... 'catalyst-type 7' and its variants, experimental reports on human intervention in evo factor concentrations... and early research notes on the compatibility between 'neuro-weaver' Parasite and host."

Lu Jianchuan's brow furrowed deeper. These were direct evidence of Prometheus's dangerous human experiments, confirming the origins of the various monsters they had encountered.

They had clearly prioritized destroying electronic data cores and live samples during the evacuation, but these paper records—either due to their sheer volume or perceived lower value—had been abandoned, becoming precious clues instead.

"Seal and take everything. Watch for bio-contamination," Captain Mountain Leopard ordered.

The team didn't linger. Following the persistent and increasingly clear high-concentration evo signal on the detectors, they continued deeper into the lab. Along the way, they passed several more looted rooms and corridors.

Danger didn't just come from potential surviving specimens.

At the entrance to the deeper levels and several corners, the lead members keenly spotted anomalies—tripwires that almost blended into the environment, slight bulges of pressure plates, and unnatural reflections from the wall vents.

"Traps. Simple triggers, likely connected to explosives or the release of toxic gas/anesthetics."

The lead member reported calmly, without a hint of surprise. To a professional GUPA tactical squad, these passive traps set in an abandoned stronghold—lacking maintenance and proper camouflage—were as conspicuous as beacons in the night.

Professional EOD technicians and scouts stepped forward, their movements precise and rapid. Disarming tripwires, isolating pressure plates, sealing suspicious vents... the entire process was quiet and efficient, as if practiced countless times.

Those traps, hastily set in hopes of delaying or killing any newcomers, failed to cause even a ripple before the true experts, who disarmed them wordlessly.

"Amateur," Captain Mountain Leopard commented lowly over the channel, though it was unclear if he was referring to the trap-setter or the Prometheus evacuation team that left them behind.

Lu Jianchuan did not lower his guard. He knew the real threat likely wasn't these crude traps, but the signal source on the detector that was getting closer and fluctuating more intensely. That thing had been left in the deepest part for a reason; it couldn't possibly be unguarded.

An indescribable, murky heat wave—a mix of high-concentration ozone, cloying nutrients, stale blood, and the distinct scent of some... massive biological entity—hit them full in the face.

The space behind the door was pitch black, with only the intersecting beams from the team's helmet lights barely illuminating a small area ahead. It was an exceptionally vast and tall circular space, seemingly the core area at the very bottom of the entire laboratory.

The evo factor reading on the detector stabilized at that moment, clearly showing: 0.05%. This value was above the standard for ordinary individuals with overt potential and slightly higher than Lu Jianchuan's previous 0.038%, but it was far from reaching Zhou Zihui's terrifyingly high levels.

However, while the reading wasn't high, its fluctuations were abnormally stable and possessed a rigid regularity. It didn't seem like a natural living organism, but rather a signal source that was being forcibly constrained or held in a special state.

Right in the center, where the light barely reached, an indescribable, massive, and silent silhouette lurked in the darkness.

As more lights converged, the thing's appearance became clear, sending a wave of instinctive dread and horror through everyone who saw it.

It was a... "Dragon."

It had antlers like a deer's from myth, covered in messy, dull-colored hair and scales, with limbs ending in sharp, curved talons like a raptor's.

But its main body was a thick, long serpentine trunk covered in irregular protrusions and discolored patches.

Various biological traits were forcibly mashed together in a way that defied natural laws, looking more like a horrific toy cobbled together by a clumsy child using different animal parts.

Yet, the most unsettling thing wasn't the grotesque appearance itself.

The creature seemed to be in an unspeakable state of immense agony. The parts belonging to different species—the antlers, the hair-covered skin, the scaled trunk, the talons—were not stably integrated.

Looking closely, one could see the edges of these parts "flowing" slightly, as if countless tiny living things were squirming and crashing beneath the skin, trying to break free from the shell. It was as if these forcibly combined tissues were still engaged in a never-ending cycle of rejection and conflict.

This caused its entire form to exist in a state of subtle but constant distortion and trembling, as if it might fall apart at any moment.

It had originally been coiled inside a shattered, specialized containment pod in the center of the room, with thick alloy chains and injection tubes broken on the floor. The moment the door was breached and outside light and air rushed in, the creature's previously lowered head snapped up!

There was no roar, only a raspy gasp squeezed from deep within its throat, a mix of pain and some extreme longing. Its dull, bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the doorway—the gap that symbolized the "outside world" and "freedom."

In the next instant, the instinct for survival overrode the paralysis of pain.

"Scatter!" Captain Mountain Leopard's sharp command exploded over the channel.

The distorted Dragon-like creature moved! It didn't fly; instead, with a clumsy, frantic, yet exceptionally swift motion, it clawed at the ground. Its long body erupted with disproportionate force, and like a startled giant python, it charged straight toward the doorway—the general direction where Lu Jianchuan and Zhou Zihui were standing!

Lu Jianchuan's pupils constricted. He had lost the superhuman reactions and strength of the armor, but his extensive combat experience and enhanced neural reflexes remained. The moment the creature lunged, he had already retreated toward the side and rear, narrowly avoiding the head-on collision that carried a stench of gore.

Zhou Zihui, positioned behind and to the side of Lu Jianchuan, was equally quick to react.

A fierce glint flashed in the boy's eyes as the muscles beneath his monitoring suit tensed. His constricted long tail, like a whip that had been waiting for its moment, suddenly lashed out from behind his waist. With the sound of breaking wind, it slammed hard against the side of the charging Dragon-like creature's body, intending to knock it off course or stall it.

*Thud!*

A dull impact rang out. The long tail struck the target squarely, even tearing a shallow wound in the flesh covered by messy scales and hair.

However, the attack's effectiveness ended there.

The creature seemed unable to feel pain, or perhaps pain had already become its normal state. Its body only tilted slightly from the blow, its momentum barely slowing.

What was even more alarming was that as soon as Zhou Zihui retracted the tip of his tail, the flesh at the fresh wound began to squirm and proliferate at a rate visible to the naked eye. A thin layer of strangely colored new tissue covered the wound within seconds. Though it looked fragile, it effectively stopped the "damage."

A powerful regenerative ability!

"Roar—!" This time, it seemed even more frenzied by the attack, letting out a muffled howl of pain and charging even more haphazardly.

It didn't stay to fight; its goal seemed only to "get out." When the first strike missed, its distorted body slammed violently into the metal doorframe and the adjacent concrete wall, producing a deafening crash as debris flew everywhere.

Without stopping for a second, it relied on brute force and its staggering regenerative ability to rampage through the narrow entrance passage and the slightly larger space outside!

It knocked over abandoned instrument racks! It trampled the documents scattered across the floor! Its thick tail swept around, smashing fragile lab benches and remaining glassware into pieces!

The entire underground space seemed to shudder under its frantic collisions, with dust and debris falling from the ceiling.

The GUPA members scattered and dodged with practiced discipline, trying to find an opening to control or shoot it. However, while the creature's movements were clumsy, they were completely unpredictable, and its regeneration was so incredible that it was difficult to effectively contain it for a moment.

It was like a living cannonball, bouncing frantically and struggling in pain within a confined space, wanting only to break through all obstacles and escape this Hell that had given it endless agony. Chaos instantly enveloped the survey team that had been orderly just a moment ago.