Chapter 529: Into the Dark Nest

With a guide at last, they no longer had to wander aimlessly in this pitch-black place.

The little monster was very cooperative, especially after Sister sweetly caressed its tiny face with a joyful kiss.

So the little monster obediently led the way, with Sister holding its leash and Lu Xin trailing right behind her.

They emerged from the restroom at the corridor’s end, continuing to move forward through the gloomy building.

After leaving the restroom, Lu Xin even checked with his lighter, noticing there was no urinal.

Had he really wandered into the women’s room??

!!

As they proceeded further inside the building, they could sense numerous bizarre and terrifying creatures lurking around.

They cowered in the shadows, chattering and clashing their claws as they watched the group intently.

After all, there were so many monsters in this building that even those who had squeezed into the restroom earlier were only a small fraction.

However, even if they were unaware of what happened in the restroom, witnessing the pitiful state of the little monster captured by Sister stirred an unusual fear in them. They peeked from afar, too frightened to come any closer to the siblings.

It was a pity—Sister had only managed to catch this one; there was no substitute.

At least this little monster was an honest one, trembling as it dutifully led them upstairs.

Following the stairs straight up to the seventh floor, they arrived at a room door under the little monster’s guidance.

“Big Brother, this must be the place…”

Sister’s excitement was evident as she pointed at the door, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

Lu Xin too sensed something amiss about this office; the closer he got, the more he felt an oppressive ‘crowding’ presence emanating from the door.

This building was already infested with a scattering of monsters, but behind this door, it was as if they were packed so tightly they were about to boil over—like approaching a terrifying hive.

“Have we entered the lair?”

Lu Xin sighed in resignation. Grasping the doorknob, he found it unlocked and slowly turned it open.

“Phew…”

As a narrow gap appeared, a flurry of fine turbulent air suddenly surged out from inside.

Countless sharp claws rushed straight for him. Instinctively, Lu Xin raised his hand to block the onslaught. Across his face, neck, and chest, it felt as if razor-sharp blades had sliced him—like colliding with several meat grinders at once.

Lu Xin remained calm, waiting for the barrage to subside before lowering his hand.

“Clack!”

His footsteps echoed crisply as he trod onto the room’s floor.

Immediately, Lu Xin realized that this room was unlike any other part of the building.

As the chaotic sounds gradually faded, he began to discern a rhythmic breathing emanating from the inky darkness—a slow, steady rhythm punctuated by faint snoring.

After enduring a barrage of eerie noises on his journey, the sound of breathing felt even stranger.

“It almost feels like I’ve entered a boys’ dormitory,” he mused.

Lu Xin stood in the dark for a moment before cautiously feeling his way forward.

He reached the opposite side of the door, where he could touch a thick curtain hanging on the wall.

Slowly, he pulled the curtain open from left to right.

“Rustle…”

As the curtain parted, a sliver of light from outside flooded in. Accustomed to darkness, Lu Xin’s eyes almost betrayed him in the sudden brightness. After a moment, his eyes adjusted to the distant glow of the streetlights, and he slowly turned around.

The room’s layout immediately came into view.

By the faint light, it was clear that this was a spacious conference room.

The room spanned over a hundred ping, with a long conference table set at its center, surrounded by numerous people sitting silently.

The light wasn’t bright enough to make out their faces clearly.

All he could see was that they maintained a meeting posture, their quiet breaths audible.

“So these are the high-ranking officials of Tianhe Security holding a meeting?”

Lu Xin’s mind stirred as he approached the table and pulled out his lighter.

“Snap!”

When the flame burst forth, he caught sight of the face of the person nearest to him.

For a moment, even he felt his scalp tingle with unease.

It wasn’t fear—it was revulsion.

The man, who looked like he held an esteemed position, was around thirty to forty years old—dressed impeccably and with a handsome face.

Yet on his face and body were countless gory holes.

From these bloodied holes, several ghastly pale creatures were crawling out, cowering and struggling.

These creatures were diminutive, fragile in appearance.

But judging by their looks, they unmistakably belonged to the same species as the little monster Sister had caught earlier.

Holding his breath, Lu Xin scrutinized them further before using his lighter to survey the other people around the conference table.

The more he looked, the heavier the chill running down his spine grew.

It was horrifying…

Twenty or thirty people around the table all looked just like the first man.

Each of them bore strange lesions, with countless underdeveloped little monsters burrowing inside their bodies. As sparks flew in every direction, the creatures scurried about—some even retreating back into the wounds…

This was unmistakably a hive.

A nest of mental monsters.

And the people around the conference table served as nothing more than hosts—almost like living soil.

They were nurturing these little monsters within their bodies.

No wonder there were monsters all over this building; this infestation had been growing for ages.

What was even more bizarre was that these people were still alive.

Their steady breaths and even the faint sound of snoring confirmed it.

They hadn’t died—they were merely asleep…

After some thought, Lu Xin reached out and grabbed a chunk of flesh from the thigh of a well-dressed woman before twisting it forcefully. He discovered that the woman was still in a deep sleep, completely unresponsive to such inhuman treatment.

“They really sleep soundly…”

Lu Xin murmured, “Is this the collective slumber of the entire city, all concentrated in this conference room?”

……

……

“That’s why after that mysterious mission, everyone involved seemed to have fallen prey to insomnia to some extent.”

“Yet the high-ranking officials of Tianhe Security went straight into this building for a meeting after the mission. In the eyes of others, they never left. But in reality, once they came in, they fell asleep and became…”

“…breeding grounds for these mental monsters?”

“Out there, people are plagued by sleeplessness, yet those in this conference room sleep soundly…”

“Is there any connection between these two states of sleep?”

“…”

Lu Xin sat at the conference table, slowly lighting a cigarette as he began to analyze the situation.

He was certain that these monsters were all mental monsters.

Since the incident at the Disaster Museum, he had grown adept at distinguishing the genuine from the fake.

Not rushing into any decisions, he took his time to observe the room.

This time, besides checking on what the Tianhe Security high-ups were doing in that ghost building, he also wanted to understand the real purpose behind their outbound mission. If he could locate one of their high-ranking officials, he might manage to interrogate them. After all, he had already witnessed the high-level, ruthless interrogation techniques of the Red Serpent, and he was eager to test his own methods…

But the Tianhe Security executives were sound asleep, utterly unresponsive—so he had to abandon that plan for now.

……

After a slow tour around the conference room, Lu Xin noticed several files lying on the table—apparently meeting materials. They weren’t many, so he collected them, stuffing them into his bag before continuing his search.

On the wall at the back of the room, he even spotted several sets of high-quality protective suits.

Considering Han Bing’s hardships and the lack of proper gear, he took one suit for him.

It wasn’t that he wanted to take more, but these items were unwieldy and bulky, making it hard to carry extras.

After finishing his inspection, Lu Xin performed one final task.

He tore off a large piece of the curtain, draped it over the middle-aged man seated at the head of the conference table—the one who appeared to hold the highest status—and bundled him up along with the mental monsters hiding within his body, securing them tightly against himself.

“So heavy…”

Lu Xin thought as he glanced at Sister.

In a swoosh, Sister slipped out of the conference room with the little monster, deliberately ignoring Lu Xin’s gaze.

Lu Xin was forced to carry the middle-aged man on one shoulder and lug the protective suit in his other hand as he trudged out.

Now, he couldn’t even open the door himself—he had to wait for Sister to open it.

Thankfully, Sister proved reliable. Not only did she open the door for him, but she also led the way, occasionally pointing out obstacles. Lu Xin, unable to even feel his way properly in the dark, had to inch forward step by step.

Once they reached the ground floor, Lu Xin was forced to pause for a rest.

As they exited, he watched Sister close the door behind her. After all, they still weren’t sure about the nature of the monsters inside this building.

They couldn’t risk letting them escape.

……

Just like when they had entered, Lu Xin continued to tread carefully along the shadowed edge of the building. Even though he was lugging a man on his shoulder and carrying a hefty protective suit, he didn’t let his guard down—this was his first infiltration mission as the Captain. And with Han Bing, a little girl no less, performing so well, he couldn’t afford to hold them back.

Of course, this only added to the physical strain on Lu Xin.

When he finally emerged from Tianhe Security’s base—moving cautiously, nimbly, and professionally—with the man dumped into his stinky minivan, he was utterly exhausted, his hands trembling from the effort of lighting his cigarette.

Yet he stayed alert, scanning the surroundings for any anomalies.

A proud feeling welled up inside him: his first stealth mission had been nothing short of perfect.

……

……

Unbeknownst to Lu Xin as he drove away in his dilapidated minivan, back at the Tianhe Security base, a group of guards in the monitoring room were staring dumbfounded at the footage. They watched as Lu Xin, under the scrutiny of a pack of vicious dogs, laboriously carried a man over the wall—more than once.

Not only did he haul the man out past the hidden cameras, but he also clambered back over, retrieving the protective suit.

On the first trip, he transported the man out and then came back for the suit.

On the second trip, he even patted the heads of a few snarling dogs, causing them to crouch and wag their tails frantically.

“Who is this guy, acting so cocky?”

One of the guards, watching Lu Xin calmly move away from the base, swallowed hard and muttered under his breath.

“No matter who he is, he’s definitely not someone we can mess with…”

The Security Captain’s voice trembled with fear as he added, “What kind of person can stroll in and out of that building unscathed?”

“When my key was suddenly snatched by a little hand, I realized we were dealing with a foe beyond our reach…”

He continued, his body shaking as if sifting chaff. The burly man’s voice was edged with an uncontrollable tremor: “But what shocked me even more was that not only did that thing steal my key, it actually returned it to me!”

“Quick, report to the Superiors—this is not someone we want to antagonize…”