Chapter 1981: Chapter 1120: Research Base (2)
Outside in the world, she is indeed a High-level Apostle, but here, she’s just an old woman whose martial arts skills aren’t her forte. Three against one, she stands no chance.
Moreover... thinking of the hammer and wrench Yang Xiao and the others carried, it was obviously prepared for her.
In summary, tonight’s choice is unsurprising—go and die, or stay and have a slim chance of survival.
The driver was an elderly man, probably in his early sixties, wearing a dark blue suit paired with a shirt, tie, white gloves, dressed neatly and professionally, never spoke more than necessary during the ride.
Since the distance wasn’t far, only about a ten-minute drive, the taxi stopped at a relatively secluded location.
Before disembarking, the driver kindly advised whether she wanted to drive further to a place with more people before getting off. He also reminded her that there had been heinous crimes committed here before, targeting solitary women, the victim had been strangled alive, dying horribly.
Yandeta Chiyoda, eager to enter the tunnel, had no patience for his ramblings, paid the fare, and rushed out of the car.
The taxi departed, and after briefly orienting herself, Yandeta Chiyoda hurried toward the entrance of Youjian Mountain Tunnel.
Time is of the essence; she must seize this extremely rare opportunity.
To reach the entrance of Youjian Mountain Tunnel, she had to pass through a small grove. Wearing boots, her movement was somewhat hindered. As she struggled forward, she suddenly noticed flickering points of light behind a tree not far ahead.
In the faint moonlight, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes. It was two men leaning against a tree smoking. Because they wore black, she hadn’t noticed them immediately.
What made Yandeta Chiyoda’s skin crawl was that she recognized these two; they were the ones who were surveilling at Shirahata Station!
Knowing she was exposed, Yandeta Chiyoda turned and ran, but her escape was blocked. The formally dressed taxi driver stood not far behind her, waiting.
The driver pulled a piece of rope from his pocket, skillfully forming a slipknot whose opening size matched Yandeta Chiyoda’s head circumference; in short, it would fit.
At this moment, Yandeta Chiyoda completely panicked and screamed, "You... you can’t kill me! Do you know who I am? I’m from the Matsui family, I am Matsui Yiyong, your superior will surely... uh!"
The elderly driver wasted no words, stepped forward directly and kicked Yandeta Chiyoda to the ground. The two men in black rushed over, restrained her, put the rope around her neck, and used a tree branch to hang her up.
It seemed they thought Yandeta Chiyoda was dying too slowly. The two men grabbed her relentlessly kicking legs, each holding a foot, suspended themselves below her with their weight, and forcefully pulled downward, snapping Yandeta Chiyoda’s neck, her entire body slackened.
Looking up at the corpse, staring with dead eyes, the old man furrowed his brows, like something was unclear, and asked, "Did any of you hear what she was saying just now?"
"Didn’t hear it clearly, don’t know what she was mumbling, maybe she was scared and talking nonsense or speaking some dialect, anyway it doesn’t matter. She’s dead, we can go back and report." One of the men cleaning the scene answered.
The woman relied on her little cleverness, attempting to muddle through, little did she know it fulfilled their intent; they hadn’t acted at the station to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Strange woman..." The elder shook his head, failing to comprehend, and continued to instruct, "Clear the scene simply, let’s withdraw and leave the corpse. I’ll notify the police to handle it."
"Understood!"
On the other side, Yang Xiao and his team had already survived two waves of Ghost passenger chases, even escaping from the umbrella-wielding Water Ghost.
With sufficient reliable clues to support them, they hardly encountered much crisis, only facing minor trouble in the underground passage, but astute Chu Xi quickly grasped the essence and chose for the three to separate, thus avoiding it.
Even now, upon arriving at this Underground City, Xiao Lin Zhengyan’s heart was still beating wildly, the hardships of this journey were witnessed by his eyes, hard to imagine how Yamamoto Chunai managed it all alone the night before, with scarcely any reliable clues.
Yamamoto Chunai is a strong, brave, and equally intelligent woman, merely lacking a bit of experience.
Xiao Lin Zhengyan has already seen Yamamoto Chunai’s potential for the future, which will be terrifying.
"Let’s go in." Yang Xiao led the team up front, Xiao Lin Zhengyan followed in the middle, Takagi Reina brought up the rear.
Following the route marked by Yang Xiao earlier, the three bypassed an incomplete bridge, arriving at a strange area.
Here, they found several places resembling laboratories; more importantly, they discovered a "person" in a semi-transparent box covered by a black cloth.
To be precise, it’s a humanoid form collapsed on the ground, parts of its flesh merged with the box walls. Even more grotesque, the figure was split from neck to abdomen, exposed blood vessels trembled like snakes.
This scene terrified Takagi Reina, her face turned pale, she couldn’t help but step back repeatedly, asking in horror, "What...what the hell is this thing? Is it a Ghost?"
"Help... help me..." The severely mutated humanoid lacked eyes but its severely deformed lips still opened and closed, emitting a chilling voice, "I beg you..."
Seeing this, Xiao Lin Zhengyan’s legs weakened, he had to lean against the wall to barely stand. Such a scene even his worst nightmares hadn’t conjured; this was simply hell.
He never imagined, within his own country, there would be such a place, where people conducted such inhumane experiments. These people deserve to die!
Yang Xiao attempted to communicate with this "person", but the opponent’s mind was clearly shattered, asking several questions still yielded no answers.
Understandably, anyone detained here for decades in such a state would hardly maintain sanity.
This is a laboratory, and on the box containing this "person", there was a label, though tainted with stains and somewhat obscured—upon close inspection, the faint writing "甲7组31号" was visible.
"These beasts." Yang Xiao cursed softly, unsure of how many innocent lives were lost here.
From observations along the way, this is a large-scale experimental base, hidden here to avoid prying eyes.
The research conducted is extremely inhumane, the innocent victims serve as experimental materials, and through on-site investigation, Yang Xiao confirms that the research is linked to the Resentful Eye.
He’s found several empty boxes in the laboratory, made of material he’s familiar with—old-fashioned, used for preserving the Resentful Eye.
Not stopping, the three set off immediately, but before getting far, they heard a faint clapping sound from behind.
"It’s here, whoever is coming, it’s taking the same path we’ve just walked." Takagi Reina whispered a warning while staying vigilant.
Xiao Lin Zhengyan nervously swallowed, after all, this was the Source Ghost, powerful enough to defeat Kato Shinjiro.
"Perfect timing." Yang Xiao chose to linger nearby partly to further uncover the secrets here and partly... hoping to lure out the Source Ghost as soon as possible.
After all, the location is excellent, one of his three pre-selected ambush sites, substantially favorable for Takagi Reina and Xiao Lin Zhengyan to maneuver.
"It’s all yours, be careful!" Taking the radio receiver fragment, Yang Xiao set off alone, continuing towards the destination.
Takagi Reina and Xiao Lin Zhengyan stayed behind, waiting for the Clapping Ghost.
"Clap."
"Clap."
The Clapping Ghost moved swiftly; between the first heard clap and the next two claps, the Ghost had reached the entrance of their street.
"It’s here, be prepared!" Takagi Reina softly warned.
