Chapter 152: Your Doom Has Been Delivered (35)

Ling琼 walked forward, and the guards automatically cleared a path for her, standing at attention with their weapons on both sides.

Her high heels clicked lightly against the mirror-clean floor tiles.

The young girl walking over was like a princess wearing a crown, stepping on a red carpet, advancing toward everyone with elegance and composure.

Those guards stood like knights on either side, guarding their princess.

Ling琼 stopped within the safety line. "Jiang Xunchu, I am here to pick him up. Is it convenient for you, Professor?"

The man in the white lab coat: "..."

The man in the white lab coat smiled slightly. "Miss Xu, are you looking in the wrong place? Why would Xunchu be here? I haven't seen him today."

"He didn't say it that way." Ling琼 raised her hand, and someone stepped forward from behind.

That person bowed respectfully, "Professor, Miss Xu knows everything."

The man in the white lab coat frowned slightly. "What are you talking about? What does she know? Miss Xu, do you know what kind of place this is?"

By the end of his sentence, the expression of the man in the white lab coat had turned serious.

"Do you know the consequences of trespassing here?"

"You exaggerate, Professor. I was brought in openly and aboveboard by them. How can this be considered trespassing?"

"..."

The man in the white lab coat looked at the guards.

They seemed no different from usual: expressionless, solemn, and rigorous.

Yet, somehow, they seemed a bit different...

The man in the white lab coat said, "Go and inform..."

Bang!

A bullet struck the floor right in front of the man in the white lab coat, startling many people in the back into screaming.

The rest of the man's words were cut short by the shot, and he looked at Ling琼 in shock.

These guards...

Ling琼 raised a hand to lower the weapons aimed at that side, looking at the guard who had fired with a hint of reproach. "Why are you shooting wildly? Don't frighten them."

The guard lowered his head and took a step back.

Everyone: "..."

Why were these guards listening to her so obediently?

Ling琼 added, "Professor, there's no need to waste time. Before I came down, I already helped you jam the signals here. None of you can contact the outside world right now. No need to thank me."

"..."

Cold sweat began to bead on the forehead of the man in the white lab coat. "You... What did you do to them?"

He had never taken this little girl seriously.

She looked like a delicate and pampered girl, the kind who was well-protected and had not experienced much of the world.

Ling琼 snapped her fingers, and the guards raised their weapons in unison, aiming them at the group.

Everyone: "!!!" You just said not to scare us!

The man in the white lab coat: "..."

The man in the white lab coat thought of those viruses.

But that was impossible...

Ling琼 tilted her head, her voice soft and light. "Professor, please take me to my darling now, won't you?"

She still looked innocent and gentle, without the slightest trace of sharp aggression on her.

Yet...

This was no innocence and gentleness at all.

She was a demon cloaked in an angel's skin.

The man in the white lab coat thought of a child he had once seen, someone who could utter the most cruel words in an innocent tone.

More cruel and terrifying than adults.

He was experiencing that same chilling sensation now, his hair standing on end.

The innocence of such children was pure evil.

...

The laboratory was divided into several zones designated by letters.

At this moment, Zone F was very quiet. There were almost no people here, and even if someone occasionally passed by, they made not a single sound.

Jiang Xunchu was immersed in this quietness.

He did not know where he was, only feeling that it was too quiet—so quiet that it made him extremely uncomfortable.

There was nothing around him; his body felt as if it were suspended in a void, drifting and tumbling at random.

"Do you see the light ahead?"

Light?

Jiang Xunchu instinctively searched for it.

Not far away, there truly was a cluster of light.

"Go over there, go take a look..."

Jiang Xunchu did not know whose voice that was, but he found himself unable to disobey its command and walked toward the light.

As he stepped into the radiance, the scenery around him suddenly shifted.

He was standing at home.

The half-cup of unfinished tea on the coffee table, the painting hanging on the wall, the curtains half-drawn...

Everything, absolutely everything, was familiar to him.

This was his home.

Certain memories in his mind seemed to be undergoing a process of extraction.

"Click..."

The front door was pushed open, and someone stepped inside.

"...Dad?"

"Xiaoxun? You didn't go to school?" Jiang Luyun asked with some surprise. He closed the door and walked in, carrying a suitcase.

Jiang Xunchu heard his own voice reply, "Yeah, I wasn't feeling very well today, so I didn't go."

Jiang Luyun instantly grew anxious. "Where does it hurt?"

"Just a bit dizzy."

Jiang Xunchu could not control himself; he could only speak the words he remembered saying in his past memories.

"The flu has been severe lately, and you certainly weren't paying attention. With Dad not by your side, you need to take good care of yourself." Jiang Luyun scolded him gently and told him to hurry up and measure his temperature.

He obediently complied.

When he came out, Jiang Luyun handed him medicine.

"Look at that suitcase." That voice sounded again.

Jiang Xunchu could not adjust his position, but his peripheral vision swept toward the suitcase.

It looked metallic, without any clasps, seemingly fitted with a fingerprint lock...

"What is inside the suitcase?"

The suitcase remained unopened, and Jiang Xunchu did not know.

That voice vanished, and Jiang Luyun's voice resumed by his ear.

They were just everyday remarks, asking about his studies and his life, just like whenever Jiang Luyun used to return home.

As they spoke on, he began to feel that this was how things were.

He was still at home, and nothing had ever happened.

"Go back to your room and lie down for a while," Jiang Luyun said. "After taking medicine, you need to rest properly."

He stood up and walked toward his bedroom.

Pushing open the bedroom door, however, Jiang Xunchu found something was wrong.

"Brother."

The young girl was sitting on his bed, her hands braced on either side of her thighs, her feet dangling in the air, swinging back and forth.

Her exquisite and delicate facial features carried a soft, gentle smile, and her dark, clear eyes reflected his own reflection.

No...

Jiang Xunchu instinctively moved to close the door.

Miraculously, he completed the action.

"You shouldn't be here."

This was his home.

She had no business appearing here.

Ling琼 stood up, walked across the carpet, hooked her arms around his neck, and kissed him directly.

Whether because he had forgotten how to react, Jiang Xunchu was caught squarely in the kiss.

Ling琼 simply pressed against his lips for a moment, shifting slightly, and whispered softly, "I'm here to take my brother back."

"Back to where?" This was his home.

"Back to the place where I am."

The place where she was...

Where she was...

Jiang Xunchu's chaotic thoughts gradually cleared.

This was his home before the apocalypse... which had long since ceased to exist.

Why was he here?

Jiang Xunchu felt a headache coming on as many hazy images flashed past, slowly growing clear once more.

He remembered now; he was in the base...

"What happened to me? Why am I here?"

"Do you trust me?"

"...Yes."

"The person outside—go kill him."

Jiang Xunchu's pupils constricted slightly. "...He is my dad."

"Your father is already dead, and you know that fact very well, don't you? That is fake. You must kill him to shatter this dream. I cannot help you, Brother; you have to do it yourself."