Chapter 324: Gearing Up for Water Buffalo City

Lu Xin hadn’t actually figured out how to go about visiting his family.

He had only decided that he needed to go.

But Chen Jing this enthusiastic leader who insisted on accompanying him to visit his family had clearly thought things through more thoroughly than he had. Lu Xin didn’t know how much time she’d spent arranging everything but following her downstairs now felt remarkably smooth.

At the end of the corridor a server led them down the stairs to the third-floor kitchen. There another “helpful” server kindly guided Lu Xin and the others through the kitchen down to the hotel’s first floor. This way they avoided the lobby exiting directly into an alley through a long-abandoned back door that hadn’t been opened in ages.

“Although what we’re doing isn’t illegal Central City is overly cautious. They might even be watching us for our own good having arranged people to keep an eye on the hotel surroundings beforehand. We could just walk out boldly of course but that would be unnecessarily troublesome. So I made a few extra preparations on certain steps to make things more convenient.”

“The ones Central City assigned to watch us are just ordinary agents heh heh…”

“They haven’t reached the point of luxury where they’d use Ability Users just for surveillance which makes things convenient for us…”

…

Leaving the hotel went smoothly. Chen Jing looked relaxed and offered Lu Xin an explanation.

Lu Xin actually found it quite amusing.

He sometimes felt his leader treated him like a child.

But he had no intention of calling her out. She was the leader after all as long as she was happy…

“Just leaving the hotel isn’t enough right?”

Gecko tagged along muttering under his breath, “Team Leader do you even know the lab’s exact location? And have you thought about how we’re getting there quickly? All our vehicles are being watched by Central City right now aren’t they? Are we supposed to run there? …Even leaving the city we can’t show any passes…”

Lu Xin thought about it and realized Gecko had a point.

He felt a little relieved that his leader was with him.

Otherwise if Central City didn’t let him leave he wouldn’t know what to do…

…Would he have had to fight his way out?

“It’s already arranged.”

Chen Jing casually addressed his concerns with a single sentence then led them out of the alley behind the hotel.

The alley opened onto a wide road out back just as several large trucks rolled up in a line.

Chen Jing pulled open the door of one truck and climbed in.

Before Lu Xin could react he heard Little Zhou shouting happily from a truck behind them, “Brother Lu ride in this one!”

“Hm?”

Lu Xin paused for a second then shot Chen Jing an admiring glance before pulling open the door and getting in.

Old Zhou the driver was looking at Lu Xin with a tearful moved expression:

“Brother Lu you’ve suffered for us going on the run like this…”

Lu Xin was baffled for a moment. “I haven’t? I haven’t broken any laws up to now…”

“Yes yes yes.”

Old Zhou nodded repeatedly. “You’ve done nothing wrong it’s this damned world that’s wrong!”

Lu Xin: “…”

…

The convoy already had passes for entering and exiting the satellite cities so leaving the city was naturally very convenient.

Besides the outbound searches were much laxer than the inbound ones. Coupled with the fact that these trucks were hauling all sorts of junk even the guards by the steel drawbridge couldn’t be bothered to check everything thoroughly. They just waved them through.

Then the convoy drove straight onto the wide road outside the city kicking up dust as it headed southwest.

They stopped briefly along the way to pick up some things. Gecko and Chen Jing joined Lu Xin in the back of Old Zhou’s truck. Inside sat a dark metal case the convoy had just retrieved. Its lid was open revealing various weapons.

There were shotguns homemade handguns submachine guns revolvers and even a few watermelon knives.

“Even I didn’t expect a simple cooperation mission would turn into a solo operation. We came to Central City as a Support Team so bringing too many weapons wasn’t practical. And because things happened so quickly there was no time to procure more from arms dealers. So everyone will have to make do. Luckily this convoy was a big help. Their weapons… are surprisingly plentiful.”

Chen Jing said with a smile then picked through the weapons selecting a handgun and holstering it on her thigh.

“Plentiful is right you could open a rural weapons museum…”

Gecko muttered while rummaging through the case. He stuffed submachine guns shotguns a semi-automatic rifle and bullets of various calibers into his backpack. It was a decent-sized bag but he crammed it so full that muzzles poked out from the opening bristling like some bizarrely appealing flower arrangement.

After Gecko’s picking the case looked noticeably emptier. Lu Xin glanced over and saw only the watermelon knives left.

He didn’t mind though just asking Gecko for his two guns back.

Among the three of them Gecko likely had the greatest need for firearms and the strictest requirements.

…

“Now it’s time to share intelligence.”

Chen Jing pulled a tablet computer from her backpack looked at Lu Xin and smiled. “Since you decided to visit family on your way back to the hotel do you know where Chen Xun… your relative is right now?”

Gecko’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me neither of you knows?”

Neither Lu Xin nor Chen Jing paid him any attention.

“The location I overheard them whispering about back at the chemical factory. It’s a place called Water Buffalo City.”

As soon as Lu Xin spoke Gecko beside him froze. *How come I didn’t hear that?*

Chen Jing gave him an approving look. “If I’d known I wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. I should have just asked you directly.”

From her tone it seemed she already knew too.

Lu Xin didn’t explain that it wasn’t him who heard it but his Sister.

He couldn’t be blamed. His Sister liked to wander after all. So while Xia Chong had him and the support personnel from Qinggang organizing related materials in an office she hadn’t stopped moving exploring here peeking there. Before long she’d picked up all sorts of information both relevant and irrelevant including their mention of a place called Water Buffalo City.

After Chen Xun and the kidnapped Zhao Shiming left Satellite City Seven they rushed there overnight.

They were so hasty they didn’t even cover their tracks well and were quickly tracked by Central City’s Undercover Units. Since their arrival was confirmed it could also be confirmed that the final lab was located there.

…

“Water Buffalo City isn’t far from Central City only about three hundred kilometers. By helicopter it’s reachable within two hours. However Central City’s reputation attracts large numbers of wasteland wanderers who establish one settlement after another. Water Buffalo City is one of them. A survey three months ago indicated that Water Buffalo City now houses at least one hundred thousand people.”

Since Chen Jing could name it she clearly knew the location and had obviously studied the information about it already. “It’s precisely because of these people that Central City needs Ability Users to handle this matter.”

“Rather than simply resorting to long-range weapons of mass destruction!”

…

After finishing her explanation Chen Jing’s expression grew serious. “Now that we know the location there’s something even more important.”

“What Black Table your relative is doing right now…”

“But this time entering the city we have no backup and no Information Analysis Team providing real-time data checks and updates. Therefore we need to understand this mission beforehand. Central City has more intelligence than us but chose not to share much of it. Fortunately Researcher Mo Yi still made inferences about this mission and provided some materials.”

As she spoke she took out a tablet from her black backpack lit up the screen and swiped gently.

“Whether it’s the 1021 Special Pollution Incident triggered by Black Table last night or the secret lab beneath the chemical factory it’s clear that the essence of their experiments involves the development research and exploitation of a particular special mental entity…”

“That would be the power codenamed ‘Life’ among the thirteen abnormal mental entities.”

…

“Life?”

Lu Xin stiffened slightly his expression turning serious.

He remembered when Mom left she specifically warned him to be careful if he encountered monsters or situations related to the Third Stage or the thirteen special mental entities… This meant they were very dangerous!

“Yes. Although Central City clearly doesn’t want us knowing the specific research details of the secret lab under the chemical factory nor did they tell us what parasitic items they lost Dr. Mo Yi still deduced some clues from the remaining traces and equipment in the secret lab. Dr. Zhao Shiming was responsible for research into this type of mental entity.”

Chen Jing spoke gravely “Black Table likely possesses this mental entity as well.”

“Furthermore we can infer when they obtained it.”

“When the Red Moon incident first occurred the Moon Eclipse Research Institute had already collected samples of the thirteen abnormal mental entities. However the chaos gripping the world at that time also affected the Institute. It went through relocation betrayals experiments losing control and many other incidents. Among these the ‘Escaped Lab’ incident dealt the heaviest blow to the Institute even impacting its later development…”

…

Lu Xin and Gecko listened silently. No one dared to be careless now.

“This mental power has terrifying characteristics.”

Chen Jing swiped on the tablet a few times then handed it to Lu Xin. “Other mental powers can affect people or animals but few directly interfere with reality. Spider-type Ability Users twisting their bodies to perform actions unimaginable for ordinary people is already a rare phenomenon of mental power interfering with the physical body…”

“But the mental power codenamed ‘Life’ is different. Its only currently known function is to directly affect people or rather interfere with reality. It has this codename because it can imbue anything with intense uncontrollable vitality. For instance take a piece of flesh cut from a body it can grant this flesh the characteristics of life.”

“…Additionally the original parasitic item carrying this mental power was itself a piece of flesh.”

“…Flesh from an unknown creature.”

…

Listening to Chen Jing’s explanation Lu Xin’s brow furrowed slightly.

He thought of many things: the brain-like monster encountered in White Tower Town the Hell Group he met before the writhing fleshy monster seen in the detention center. They clearly weren’t human-shaped nor were they the kind of mental monsters only he could see. They were monsters with real physical bodies even life… Was this the reason?

Were they all born because of this mental entity codenamed ‘Life’?

So even though they shouldn’t possess life from any logical standpoint they still did.

Ugh thinking about it closely it’s kind of disgusting.

“Holy crap if that’s the case isn’t it basically confirmed?”

The more Gecko listened the more horrified he became. “If creating God’s Body sounded like a crazy joke then research on the mental entity codenamed ‘Life’ could actually make that joke a reality…”

“A distorted reality most likely of course.”

…

“Right now this is all the information we have.”

“As for how far Black Table has progressed in researching ‘Life’ and what their goal is this time we arguably don’t know much more than you do. Investigating the truth was part of our mission anyway.”

Having said all this Chen Jing let out a soft sigh. “You two can look over the materials first.”

Lu Xin and Gecko nodded turning their attention to the tablet.

Displayed on the screen were records of various studies and experiments conducted on the mental entity codenamed ‘Life’. Scrolling down revealed a frightening amount of data though most of it consisted of pure experimental observation results.

For example flesh parasitized by the ‘Life’ mental entity gains abnormal vitality.

This vitality includes devouring other organisms for growth displaying strong aggression and reproductive tendencies.

Flesh parasitized by the ‘Life’ mental entity can withstand temperatures below 300 degrees Celsius. When facing temperatures above 300 degrees it can also be burned to death or turned to ash. However the subsequent remains still have a chance of polluting fresh flesh upon contact turning previously non-living fresh flesh into small living monsters…

Most contaminated flesh shows no obvious signs of intelligence.

In one hundred experiments the probability of observing a stable state in contaminated flesh was zero.

After D-level personnel came into contact with contaminated flesh the contact area first showed signs of extensive flesh decay. Soon new flesh buds possessing aggressive and devouring characteristics emerged from the decaying flesh. These buds parasitized the D-level personnel spreading continuously. Ultimately the D-level personnel were completely contaminated transforming into flesh monsters with no trace of intelligence.

The entire contamination process took thirty-four minutes.

Weaknesses: High temperatures various weapons capable of destroying the parasitic mental entity and strong pollutants can all cause damage.

However due to its high-intensity growth ability none of these weaknesses are fatal…

…

“Feels kinda scary…”

Gecko watched for a while subconsciously shrinking his neck and swallowing hard.

“I’d say it’s kinda disgusting.”

Lu Xin handed the tablet back to Chen Jing thoughtfully. “Tastes like rotten meat…”

*Swish!*

Chen Jing and Gecko simultaneously whipped their heads around to look at Lu Xin. Even Chen Jing’s expression was clearly a bit stunned.

Lu Xin felt awkward and quickly explained “I was guessing…”

Gecko and Chen Jing glanced at each other adjusted their expressions and put on faces that said ‘We believe you’.

Chen Jing relaxed slightly let out a breath glanced at the time and said “At the convoy’s top speed we should reach Water Buffalo City within three hours. Once there our team will infiltrate the city trying to avoid conflict with Central City and find the lab’s location within this abandoned city where a hundred thousand wanderers gather.”

She turned to Lu Xin. “What will you do after finding your relative?”

Lu Xin took a moment to process then his face calmed as he said softly “This relative of mine enjoys cutting living people open without anesthesia likes researching this disgusting flesh and even turns people into madmen…”

“So…”

He paused a gentle smile spreading across his face hinting at a genuine excitement that made his voice even softer:

“Of course I’ll have to persuade him to turn over a new leaf and ensure he doesn’t walk the path of crime again…”