"If you insist on performing this experiment, then I'm the only one who can do it." He gripped the syringe, his azure eyes frozen over and his rate of speaking extremely swift. "You've done too many things already, so you better fucking live for me."
Lu Feng didn't hinder any of his movements. He merely looked on in silence, his cold green eyes like lakes that could not be disturbed.
He lifted his own sleeve.
On the vein at his wrist, a pinprick of blood indicated that he had already been injected with something.
"In half an hour, if I'm fine, you guys can use the extract."
The doctor stood in place, chest heaving, and stared at Lu Feng.
"You… you…" The rims of his eyes reddened with fury, and his voice was as hoarse and sharp as glass being ground. "You hopeless… self-harming dumbass."
"The loss of a single scientist will have no effect on the base, but the loss of an Arbiter? Have you not thought about it?"
Lu Feng gave no definite answer.
Just then, the harsh noise of a communicator sounded. The doctor's breathing had not yet evened out when he accepted the communication. After listening for three short seconds, his complexion changed.
"I'll head over right now," he said to the other party.
After hanging up, the look on his face was solemn. "Minor distortions have been observed again, and the base has raised the intensity of the magnetic field to its maximum. The moment when our line of defense collapses is upon us. I'm going to go hold an emergency meeting, and it'll take half an hour or so. You stay here and don't go anywhere unless everyone starts evacuating."
With those words, he hurried over to the door.
"Wait," Lu Feng called out. Dr. Ji's footsteps stopped, but in his lingering irritation, he did not turn back.
Behind him, Lu Feng asked, "Will An Zhe be unaffected by the distortion just like the spore?"
"Even if all of humankind dies, he will live."
"Thank you."
The doctor left, slamming the door shut behind him.
Still standing in place, Lu Feng turned to look out the window. Beneath the aurora, the dark gray city was an unbroken expanse of jungle. The aurora fluctuated, casting its mysterious gray-green light upon the buildings.
An animal's sharp howl rang out in the city.
That direction was the city's interior, the military's base. The howl that sliced across the sky was only the beginning. A moment later, more bestial roars burst out from that place.
The military base's emergency light suddenly lit up, but it swiftly went out again. At the same time, there came the sounds of sharp whistles and explosions, followed by a high-pitched evacuation alarm that enveloped the entire base.
But Lu Feng's gaze lingered there only briefly. Then he looked at the immense wilderness outside the base.
With a fluttering sound, a massive bat-shaped winged monster took flight from the distant mountains, followed by the rising shadows of thousands of its kindred that blotted out the sky.
The communicator lit up.
Lu Feng tapped out the laboratory's number on the communication interface.
A few seconds later, a message from Hubbard popped up.
"Understood, I'll be there in half an hour."
The total collapse of the magnetic field occurred right in this half hour.
On the open country around the base, monsters suddenly appeared from the skies and earth. It seemed that they had been in hibernation for a long time, and now the moment they had been waiting for arrived. Like a tide, they surged toward the base.
The emergency lights in the corridors flashed wildly. Emerging from the conference room, the doctor hurried in the direction of the laboratory, followed by two servicemen.
"Doctor, please evacuate with us as soon as possible."
"The military cannot protect the entire base. At present, the unmanned drones have already observed that the tide of monsters is advancing toward us. Ultimately, we can only take the artificial magnetic pole as our sole defensive position."
"I need to bring something with me," Dr. Ji said quickly. "Give me five minutes. Colonel Lu is also in the laboratory."
"Please evacuate with us immediately." The serviceman with the United Front Center's logo on his chest started speaking more forcefully. "It's special orders. After all personnel take refuge at the Magnetic Field Center, Colonel Lu's presence would further aggravate the crowd's confusion and trigger unnecessary conflict. Therefore, we can consider—"
"Shut up!"
The emergency alarm sounded at a higher pitch, and the ear-piercing beeps and red light combined. This was the highest level of wartime alarm, reminding people to promptly withdraw toward someplace safe. The corridor was filled with turmoil. The howls of the monsters in the distant wilderness were clearly audible, and the experimentation staff in their white coats and the soldiers were in great confusion.
The laboratory door was near.
But there was suddenly a disbelieving look in Dr. Ji's eyes.
The laboratory door was wide open. Before he had left, he had forgotten to lock the door amidst his heightened emotions.
He strode in and saw a soldier with a black strip of fabric wrapped around his right arm carrying a sniper rifle, his aim trained on a figure standing in front of the windowsill.
His pupils contracted—black fabric on the right arm was the symbol of the anti-trial movement.
The communicator lit up, but he was in no position to pay it any mind. He shouted, "Lu Feng!"
His voice was accompanied by the crack of a gunshot.
The figure by the window swayed, then fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Dr. Ji's eyes widened incredulously and his lips trembled. "No…"
"Don't move!" The armed soldier was soon brought under control by the two servicemen who had come with him. Dr. Ji strode in. Unable to care about anything, he knocked over some lab equipment on the way over, and fragments of broken test tubes scattered all over the floor. He went around a reaction cabinet and knelt in front of Lu Feng's fallen body while trembling. "Lu Feng? Lu Feng?"
The eyes had not closed, and the limbs remained unmoving. The doctor reached toward the blackened muzzle of the gun.
His communicator flashed once more. With one look at the sender, the doctor's gaze cooled, though he had been trembling all over merely moments ago.
One of the servicemen handcuffed the shooter, then walked towards the doctor.
"There's no need to come here." The doctor's voice rang out coldly in the laboratory. "Colonel Lu is confirmed dead."
The sound of military boots stepping on the ground paused.
"We regret to hear that."
The ashen-faced Dr. Ji gave a tiny smile.
"I'm not very surprised," he said, "with regard to how the Arbiter died."
PL1109 cabin.
Hubbard leaned against the cabin wall. He and Lu Feng could not be considered very good friends.
But it seemed that their relationship also counted as one where they'd risk their lives for the other.
"It took no small amount of effort to get that thing from your neighbor's place. I'm surprised you still kept it, though."
"It was well made," Lu Feng said. "According to Shaw Scott's testimony, you provided the specific data."
Hubbard smiled and did not continue this conversation topic.
"How did it feel to be confined?" he asked.
"It was all right," Lu Feng said.
With those words, he glanced at the others in the cabin.
A nearby officer said, "We all came back from the Underground City Base together, Colonel Lu. We guarantee that we won't report you to the military."
"There's no need to thank them." Hubbard wiped the gun in his hands. "It was only a siege of monsters. We're about to partake in combat again, and your plentiful experience against the enemy in the Underground City was obvious to everyone. We don't mind working with you again, as it's quite a bargain for both parties."
The officer said, "Assuming that the Colonel is still willing to serve the base."
Lu Feng's lips curled up slightly.
"Start checking the equipment," he said.
To one side, Hubbard was cleaning his weapon, a semi-automatic gun that was entirely silver in color. His fingers rested on the gunstock, where there was a scuffed patch with "Tang" faintly etched into it.
His gaze lingered on the string of letters.
The nearby officer asked, "Who is this?"
"A friend," Hubbard said. "I've known him for thirty-three years."
"That's so long."
Hubbard gazed at the word for a long time before smiling. "It's a bit of a pity."
"How come?"
"We were born together, but in the end, we weren't able to die together."
"How could there be something so good?"
"Indeed."
Lu Feng observed their conversation with arms crossed. With his eyes half-closed, no emotion could be discerned, and the others naturally didn't expect the Arbiter to be able to empathize with their feelings.
Not until Hubbard noticed something.
"What happened to your gun?" he asked.
Lu Feng said, "I gave it away."
Hubbard smiled. He seemed to have understood everything. When compared against the military's standardized supplies, this mercenary captain was obviously filthy rich. He took out a black pistol and handed it to Lu Feng, and the moment it was handed over, he murmured, "It'll be okay."
"Thank you."