Chapter 2791: Bloody Labyrinth
Before, the infection of the ‘Taotie Virus’ was limited to the ordinary ‘soldiers’ and ‘workers’.
These fellows, whose brains had been ‘purified’ many times to the point that they were completely blank, were as innocent and naïve as children. They were most likely to be attacked by various kinds of mental drugs.
However, with the multiple experiments and mutations of the ‘Puppet King’, the targets of the ‘Taotie Virus’ were gradually upgraded from ordinary people to special professionals. The cleaners, the purifiers, the lurkers, and the middle-level and low-level commanders of the God Bless Army were not spared.
But this time, the highest-level member of the Sanctuary who turned into a zombie turned out to be a priest.
Almost all the priests were the kindest people with pure bloodlines, firm beliefs, and pure ideologies. They were responsible for performing the ‘Holy Light Ritual’ for a large number of people of the Sanctuary, monitoring the thoughts of thousands of people, and guarding against the pervasive extraterrestrial devils. They were the core of a combat unit.
Take Chasing Light for example. There was only one ‘Grand Sacrifice’ and two ‘Small Sacrifice’ on such a large warship. Their status was even higher than that of the captain, the first mate, and the fire control officer. They were the real managers.
But what was happening right now was that one of the ‘minor sacrifices’ had been infected by the Taotie Virus and degenerated into a certain… strengthened, mutated version of a zombie. The fingers and face of his boss, the only ‘major sacrifice’, had been gnawed away. Then, he had spread the virus and fled to the depths of the engine compartment.
It was a rarely-seen infection of the Kindest Beings.
It was also the reason why the ‘Yaksha Squad’, a rarely-seen, cursed black team, had come to ‘Light Chaser’ in the first place.
“In my opinion, you are too stupid.
Maintaining the pride of the Immortal Cultivators and the memory of the people of the imperium, Yun Haixin’s mellow voice was filled with cold mockery all the time. “There’s a saying that ‘it’s better to let go of something than to let go of it’. It is the natural instinct of human beings to enjoy delicious food. How can you forbid it? Even if you have been eating the tasteless paste since you were born, you can only suppress your taste buds. Once your taste buds are opened, it will be like a flood that cannot be stopped.
“What do you mean by ‘best of the world’? What do you mean by ‘priest’? Hehe. When you taste the sweetness of human flesh, don’t you forget your beliefs and loyalty?
“If they had tasted all the delicious food like the Immortal Cultivators did, they wouldn’t have been so crazy about the flesh and blood of human beings, no matter how infected they were.
The commanders of the teams of the purifiers and the cleaners happened to squeeze into the narrow cabin. Yun Haixin’s outrageous declaration made them all dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
Their dullness made Yun Haixin even more excited.
It was as if he had fallen into the depths of the Sanctuary as an Immortal Cultivator. The only fun he had was to ‘bully’ the puppets.
“Why are you pretending to be shocked?
Yun Haixin was smiling more and more brilliantly. Even the black mist covering her eyes was thinner for a moment, revealing a pair of clear and cynical eyes. “Isn’t that what you think in your heart? ‘The most firm believers of the Good Race, the priests who are blessed by the holy light all the time, how can they be attracted by flesh and blood and end up being pathetic ghouls? What’s wrong with our faith and our holy light?!’ Have you never thought that way? Don’t you want to taste… blood?”
The cleaners and the purifiers looked at each other in shock and panic. They could not help but step back and squeeze to the door.
“Ha. You are scared. It means that you not only have thoughts but also delicate emotions.
Yun Haixin narrowed her eyes. The mist in front of her eyes turned into two swirls. Her mellow voice was full of enchantment and evilness. “This is a paradox. Do you know what a paradox is? Your leader could not control the entire Sanctuary Alliance and the universe with a bunch of idiots whose brains were empty. They had to ask for the help of some… people who were a little bit smarter.
“However, as long as one is a little bit more intelligent, when faced with a complicated environment and absorbing a lot of information and data, one will always have their own thoughts and emotions, and then doubt everything around them.
“Therefore, although the Heresy Interrogation Bureau is supposed to be an organization to deal with the heretics, the idiots who join the organization are the most likely to become smart, emotional, learn to hide themselves in front of the holy light, and… suspect that the entire world has ‘fallen’ into the new heresy.
“I can feel that you are about to become heretics or even ghouls. I have a lot of experience in that. Really. I can smell the scent coming from your brain, the scent that you are trying to hide. Are you sure that you are not infected by the Taotie Virus?”
The twitching expressions on the faces of the purifiers and cleaners were too intense to be concealed.
“Over the past three years, 11.4% of the members of the Heresy Interrogation Bureau have fallen into heresy, which is far more likely than any other organization in the Sanctuary.
Yun Haixin was not going to let go of the poor purifiers and cleaners. The mockery on his face was even more intense, making his handsome face somewhat twisted. “Is this the ‘Heretical Investigation Bureau’ or the ‘Heretical Cultivation School’? How hilarious!”
“Hey, has it ever occurred to you that you are actually just some kind of ‘experimental subjects’? The higher-ups summoned you to the Heresy Interrogation Bureau because they wanted to see how long you would struggle before you became heretics?
The few purifiers and cleaners seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.
“Haha. I was just kidding. 11.4% was just a random number that I made up. It’s nothing like that. It was just a harmless joke.”
Yun Haixin’s smile remained unchanged. She pointed at her brain and gestured at her throat, before she said softly, “However, your performance in the joke was not very satisfactory, which means that you will be cleared by the ‘Yaksha Squad’ soon, just like your predecessors.
“Let’s see how long you rookies can last this time!”
The purifiers and cleaners finally couldn’t bear it any longer and collapsed. They were whimpering, with confusion, suspicion, and desperation in their eyes.
It seemed that, even if Yun Haixin did not ‘clean’ them up, they would still be committing suicide.
“Enough. Stop playing.”
Chu Zhixiao watched the ‘rookies’ of the regular cleaning troops coldly. It was not until this moment that he said casually, “Seven Star has sent the detailed intelligence, the battle plan, and the map of the bottom-level reactor area to Red Pig. The infected ritualist should be hiding in the center of the bottom-level reactor area. However, he has at least two hundred ghouls with him. Be careful. That is the real power output area of the starship. Try not to make a fuss.
“When have I ever made a big fuss?”
Yun Haixin looked at her long and narrow fingers and said, “I always talk but never fight. You should tell that to the Titan.”
“Cut the crap. Let’s go!”
Chu Zhixiao glanced at the purifiers and cleaners who were still shivering in shock and said coldly, “Keep your troops on alert outside and don’t let anybody in or out. Also, block all the information and waves inside so that the Taotie Virus does not spread further. Do you understand?”
“Red Pig, Black Dream, let’s go!”
Chu Zhixiao patted the round spider tank and rushed into the engine compartment.
“Hey hey hey, don’t compare me to this silly spider tank, alright?”
Yun Haixin mumbled half-truthfully and followed Chu Zhixiao. “You think I’m your pet, too?”
The deeper they went into the engine compartment, the darker the lights were, the denser the steam spurting out of the broken tubes, and the thicker the smell of blood.
They seemed to have entered a forest of steel that was wreathed in fog. Very soon, they could not tell east from west, nor could they see any cleaners or cleaners.
Gasps and cries were echoing nonstop.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Occasionally, water droplets would fall from the sky and splatter on their helmets and crystal suits. When he touched them with his hands, he discovered that they were sticky blood.
Chu Zhixiao suddenly stopped.
When the fog in front of him was cleared, what was lying on the ground was an incomplete corpse. Half of the body had almost been eaten up.
“Ah!”
However, when she squatted down to check, the ‘body’ suddenly opened its eyes and lunged at her with an earsplitting shriek.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Chu Zhixiao did not even blink. He raised his right hand and slashed the ghoul into dozens of equal-sized pieces, which fell to the ground.
“Ah!”
“AHHHHHHH!”
More ghouls jumped out of the mist, from behind the twisted power tubes, and from under the rusted reactors.
The ghouls that were transformed from ‘soldiers’ and ‘workers’ were not enough to cause any trouble to an ‘ultimate weapon’ of Chu Zhixiao’s level even though their appetite had been increased by dozens of times. All they did was hinder her vision and her footsteps.
Chu Zhixiao was strolling in the rain of blood, unleashing his killing instinct as if he were breathing.
But after she slayed almost a hundred ghouls, the environment around her suddenly turned weird.
The mist made of white steam turned blood red.
The bright gray tubes and the rusted red reactors turned into the internal organs of a certain bloody beast.
Her feet were buried in mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Hands that did not have skin but only muscles and bones extended out of the pool of blood and grabbed her legs desperately. Some of them even slithered forward like boas and tied up her limbs. Some of them were trying to crawl into her crystal suit through the gaps.
“Hungry, hungry!”
Chu Zhixiao heard countless screams.
Countless scarlet eyes emerged from the fog and stared straight at her. Below the eyes were pale white teeth that were emitting a cold glow.
Thousands of ghouls surrounded her from all directions.
Some of the ghouls were even hanging upside down from the sky, dragging their intestines, while they grinned hideously at her..