Chapter 62: The Pioneer Laut
Li Changsheng and his group traveled westward by water for several dozen kilometers before switching to the land route, heading another three kilometers south. Only then did they arrive at Rex’s research facility.
It was situated on the crumbling outskirts of a city, overrun with wild grass and scattered ruins. Along the way, they encountered few of the walking dead.
The main gate of the institute was tightly sealed by a massive metal door, faint currents of electricity crackling across its surface. Cui Zhiyun rifled through a box, produced a card, and swiped it through the magnetic reader by the entrance.
A sharp beep sounded, followed by a deep rumble as the heavy door quietly slid open.
Inside, long corridors crisscrossed in a maze, the walls lined with a dense array of monitoring devices, sensors, and instruments, recording every subtle change. The dim passageways were flanked by rows of tightly shut doors, each leading to various laboratories and research areas.
They walked on in silence. The institute lay as still as the grave.
A faint, intermittent buzzing echoed through the halls—some malfunctioning device, perhaps. Far ahead, a flickering energy-saving lamp cast blinking light, turning the corridor into a scene straight from a horror film.
Park Puseong shrank to the rear, stammering, “Zhiyun, is this really Rex’s institute?”
Cui Zhiyun nodded. “Last time I was here, there were plenty of staff. Something must have happened.”
She raised her head to the surveillance camera above, speaking softly, “Zoe, are you there?”
Her cool voice reverberated through the research facility.
Li Changsheng frowned, scanning the surroundings with caution.
A burst of static hissed overhead.
“…Captain! It’s you… I’m… control center…” A bright, delighted voice came through one of the monitors above, though the signal was poor, her words broken and laced with electrical noise.
“…Hurry… run… Pioneer… Laut out of control… monster…”
Li Changsheng and Cui Zhiyun exchanged glances. She tugged at his sleeve, murmuring, “It seems the Pioneer experiment has failed—they’ve created a monster. If anything happens, you leave first. Don’t worry about me.”
Li Changsheng drew her into his arms, his tone brooking no refusal. “You still have to take me to find the Sunflower. You can’t die yet.”
Cui Zhiyun gave a soft harrumph.
Li Changsheng added, “If things go wrong, stand behind me. Leave the fighting to me.”
Feeling the warmth radiating from him, Cui Zhiyun’s cold, beautiful face flickered with a trace of emotion.
At that very moment, disaster struck.
Li Changsheng darted forward, pulling Cui Zhiyun back several paces just as two bloodcurdling screams split the silence. An appalling sight unfolded before his eyes.
At the far end of the corridor, two tentacles had, at some point, slithered out—moving at a terrifying speed, they snatched up the two foremost bodyguards in an instant.
The tentacles twisted violently, and with two sickening cracks, the guards’ bodies were wrenched apart like bursting balloons. As they died, their hearts were ripped out and whisked away by the tentacles.
It was only then that the group saw the monster at the corridor’s end. It brought the stolen hearts to its mouth with a tentacle, chewing voraciously, a hideous grin stretched across its face.
“Laut!?”
Cui Zhiyun was slower to react than Li Changsheng, but now she saw the creature devouring human hearts, and her face turned grave.
“Damn it, that’s Laut?” Park Puseong scrambled up from the floor in terror.
Beside him, a bodyguard trembled uncontrollably, retreating in panic, clutching his M16 but too afraid to fire, lest he draw the monster’s attention.
Li Changsheng frowned, scrutinizing the creature called Laut.
Could such a thing still be called human?
Apart from a vaguely human head perched on its shoulders, the rest of the monster’s body had grotesquely transformed. Its limbs were thick as tank cannons, and two gaping maws had sprouted from its shoulders, from which the tentacles emerged. Its pupils were clouded and white—perhaps it was blind.
The monster Laut noticed them, its gaze sweeping over the group before fixing on Li Changsheng and Cui Zhiyun. It let out a chilling cackle. “The man who killed my darling, and the woman who wounded me. Excellent.”
Its voice was unspeakably horrific.
Just then, Park Puseong suddenly shouted, “Laut! Laut! I’m Han Jaeyong’s man. I’m here for the blood-food trade!”
Blood-food trade.
Han Jaeyong.
Li Changsheng and Cui Zhiyun both looked up.
Cui Zhiyun’s cool voice rang out, “Park Puseong, what are you talking about?”
He sneered. “Exactly what it sounds like. Just wait to become fodder for the Pioneer’s growth!” With that, he turned to the monster. “Mr. Laut, I’ve come for the sample reagent.”
Laut answered only with a cold sneer, a flash of contempt crossing his face. With a tentacle, he took out a blood-red reagent from his maw and tossed it to Park Puseong.
He caught it and, along with his bodyguards, hurriedly fled.
“Seems there’s a traitor in your group,” Li Changsheng observed, watching Park Puseong’s retreating figure.
“Mhm.” Cui Zhiyun’s icy gaze betrayed no emotion. She raised her pistol. “How do we fight?”
“How do we fight?” The monster Laut sneered. “How could vermin like you comprehend the power of the Pioneer reagent? You’re no match for a Pioneer!”
Li Changsheng ignored him. “The walking dead’s weakness is the head—so aim for the head.”
“Agreed, aim for the head. That’s just what I was going to say.” Cui Zhiyun nodded with a faint smile. Though still pale from her wound, that fleeting smile was as radiant as a hundred flowers in bloom, breathtaking in its beauty.
“Oh? Looks like we’re of one mind,” Li Changsheng replied.
…
Moo!
Laut clearly had no time for their banter. Retracting his tentacles and shielding his head, he let out a bull-like roar, dropped to all fours, and charged at them like a runaway truck.
Bang! Bang!
Cui Zhiyun fired several shots in quick succession.
But the bullets barely penetrated the tentacles before being squeezed out again.
She was taken aback.
Li Changsheng scooped Cui Zhiyun into his arms, darting aside. “The Charger’s skill—he can only run in a straight line, never turn. Just dodge him.”
As he spoke, a thunderous crash echoed—the monster Laut slammed full-force into the wall, embedding himself completely.
Cui Zhiyun raised her gun, but his hand stopped her.
She looked at Li Changsheng in confusion.
“Don’t waste bullets. Ordinary rounds are useless against those muscles. I’ll handle him. Cover me from behind. Wait for the right moment—shoot for his eyes.” With that, he set Cui Zhiyun down far to the rear.
Her leg was injured, after all, and she’d have trouble moving.
Cui Zhiyun locked eyes with Li Changsheng for a long moment, then nodded.
“Be careful.”
“No problem.”
Li Changsheng grinned, drawing a fire axe and tossing it in the air with his right hand, catching it deftly as it spun. In his left hand, a jet-black pistol materialized.