Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Old Miao’s beat-up minivan rattled down the street.

With the Ghost Festival almost here, many people had come specifically to the Old City District to buy paper offerings.

Pedestrians carried paper houses and paper effigies with red cheeks painted on their faces.

The van windows were filthy and covered with gray tint. As they passed the people on the street, it was as though a bizarre filter had been laid over the entire world.

Qin Ying heard herself ask in a voice utterly devoid of emotion, “The depths of the Cuiping Area have always been sealed off. Only people with approval from the relevant departments can enter.”

“What exactly is in there? Who brought these things out?”

Old Miao kept both hands on the steering wheel.

Dean Tan sat in the passenger seat, turning his head to look out the window without saying a word.

“Many years ago, the Cultural Preservation Bureau launched a large-scale operation in Cuiping Mountain.”

“A lot of people died that time. A lot.”

Old Miao put a cigarette between his lips. “Some colleagues survived, but for certain reasons, they became our enemies.”

Twenty years ago.

Qin Ying’s thoughts were a mess, but she committed that number to memory.

With a creak, the van stopped at the hospital.

Old Miao clearly had no intention of saying any more, so the topic had to end there.

Qin Ying did not keep pressing. She could investigate slowly later. There was no need to expose herself by acting too eager.

She opened the door and got out, only to find that Old Miao had parked in front of a two-story building behind the hospital.

The sign hanging out front read Infectious Diseases Department, but the entrance had been screened off with red and green plastic sheeting.

Qin Ying brushed past an armed SWAT officer.

She followed Old Miao and Dean Tan to a ward. Zong Li was standing outside the door.

His Black Trench Coat was torn and ragged, covered in slashes. He treated the no-smoking sign in the corridor like a joke, smoking one cigarette after another.

What was strange was that there was not the slightest smell of smoke in the hallway.

Watching him smoke, Qin Ying realized this was no longer as simple as inhaling deep into his lungs. He was truly devouring the smoke, with no need to exhale.

Seeing Qin Ying and the others arrive, Zong Li greeted them. With a flick of his tongue, he flipped the still-burning cigarette into his mouth, chewed it like a spicy snack stick, and swallowed it down.

As he chewed, he said, “Zhang Lang still needs a bit of time to recover. The guy we caught is over there.”

Zong Li pointed toward the end of the corridor.

As they passed the ward door, Qin Ying turned her head for a look.

Through the observation window, she saw a… person sitting on the hospital bed with his back to her.

From that hunched, useless-looking posture, it had to be Zhang Lang.

Zhang Lang’s Black Trench Coat-the kind he and Zong Li insisted on wearing even in the heat of summer-was draped beside the bed.

Qin Ying’s footsteps halted.

Half of Zhang Lang’s body looked normal, while the other half had warped into something grotesque.

His body resembled a rabbit’s, covered in soft fur. On the side of his head that was slightly turned, there was a sharp beak like a falcon’s.

Behind him grew a snake-like tail.

Human and Monstrous Beast had been mixed and stitched together in an eerie fusion.

Qin Ying considered herself fairly adaptable, but seeing Zhang Lang with his back to her still left her stunned for a moment.

Sensing her gaze, Zhang Lang’s entire body shuddered.

He quickly yanked over the Black Trench Coat draped to one side and covered his head with it. At the same time, like a startled rat, he darted down and crawled under the bed to hide from Qin Ying’s eyes.

Despite his speed, with Qin Ying’s current eyesight, she still clearly saw that the moment the Black Trench Coat wrapped around Zhang Lang’s body, his half-mutated form changed.

It was like an old television with bad reception, the image stuttering and leaving behind a blur. Beneath the cover of the coat, his body returned to the shape of a normal human.

Qin Ying understood. No wonder these two lunatics insisted on wearing trench coats in July.

She did not hide her expression, and Zong Li saw it.

Because Qin Ying had helped them capture someone, Zong Li was rather friendly toward her. He stepped sideways first, blocking Qin Ying’s line of sight.
Only then did he give a wry smile. “Now you know we’re not lunatics, right?”

“If it weren’t necessary, who’d want to wear that thing and make a spectacle of themselves in this heat?”

From the first time Zong Li met Qin Ying, he had seen the look in those big eyes of hers-the look people gave idiots. Now that he had the chance, he finally defended himself.

After saying that, he licked his lips. There were still bits of chewed-up tobacco on the tip of his tongue. “Zhang Lang is timid. He needs some time to calm down. You go ahead. I’ll stay with him.”

Qin Ying nodded at him and continued down the corridor.

Her expression did not change, but she bit down on the inside of her cheek.

Zhang Lang’s condition was very similar to Han Lie’s.

It was just that their beast forms were different.

But why had Zhang Lang clearly retained his mind, while Han Lie had become so dumb and muddled?

Was it because they couldn’t acclimate to the environment inside and outside the Box?

Qin Ying forced down the urge to scratch her head and swallowed the bellyful of questions she had.

Fortunately, Old Miao noticed her curiosity and said in a low voice, “Some people in the Emergency Management Department are a little special.”

“Zhang Lang has been fused with…” Old Miao lowered his voice even further. “A Monstrous Beast armadillo.”

“It’s a special gene extracted from an ancient fossil. After editing, it was fused into him. It’s a completely different species from modern armadillos.”

“Armadillos have an excellent sense of smell and are good at running and digging. Their drawback is that they’re timid.”

Since these were all common knowledge, Old Miao told her everything in one go.

“And the trench coats they’re wearing?” Qin Ying also lowered her voice as she asked.

Old Miao spread his hands. “That, I don’t know. I only know they’re standard issue for members of the Action Team.”

“They can make the body look like a normal person’s, so they don’t stand out.”

Even after hearing all that, Qin Ying had no fewer questions in her heart.

The Jade Balance Army in the World in the Box also used some method to fuse with Monstrous Beasts, but Han Lie and the others were all normal.

At least before Han Lie suffered those burns this time, he had always maintained a human form.

Why were the people outside the Box so incapable that they had to rely on external objects just to keep a human appearance?

Qin Ying lowered her lashes, hiding the contemplation in her eyes.

As if joking, she said, “Then, has anyone fused with something like a dragon, a phoenix, or a Qilin?”

“Wouldn’t that just let them sweep through everything?”

Dean Tan, who had been listening all along, finally gave a laugh. “What are you thinking? What level do you think those things are?”

“Never mind that we can’t even find genetic samples. Even if we did, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to withstand them.”

When the subject turned to the medical field, Dean Tan sounded somewhat emotional. “Zhang Lang being able to fuse with an armadillo already makes him one of the most outstanding survivors.”

“And even so, he still has very serious aftereffects.”

“You might not believe this, but Zhang Lang used to be famously bold and reckless.”

As the three of them talked, they came to a stop in front of a door.

After entering, they walked down a deep corridor and passed through four rounds of checks before finally reaching their destination.

Before the door opened, Qin Ying had already smelled the rich floral scent of Xuncao Flower.

As the door gradually opened, Qin Ying saw the person strapped horizontally to the operating table behind it.

He was young. His permed hair was slightly curled and very fashionable, while the tracksuit on his body had been torn to shreds and was covered in bloodstains.

But he was human. A perfectly normal human being.

He had been strapped down like Hannibal Lecter, and his face had been beaten until there was hardly an intact patch of skin left.

At the mechanical sound of the door opening, he looked over.

In those swollen, narrowed eyes was a pair of brown irises, staring straight at Qin Ying.

As he stared, he suddenly split his mouth into a grin, revealing a mouth missing three teeth.

“We finally meet.”

“I missed you so much.”

His voice was low and hoarse, the kind of deep, breathy voice popular with heartthrobs. “I’ve always wanted to see you.”