Chapter 517 - 511: Obvious Intent

A pathetic, whimpering cry echoed in her mind.

Xie Ning hardened her heart and ignored it, letting him cry.

’Kids... The more attention you give them, the harder they cry. Maybe if he just cries it out... he’ll fall asleep.’

Despite having no experience with children, Xie Ning was actually quite crafty when it came to dealing with them.

Xiao Huzi, standing to the side, had no idea that the two of them—one big, one small—had just been communicating in the spirit world.

He didn’t say anything when he saw Xie Ning close the lid of the storage case.

He glanced at the strangely deformed children. "Sis, the sandstorm outside is intense. What should we do with these kids?"

Although these mutated children probably didn’t feel the sand much, Xiao Huzi was still a little worried.

After all, no matter how he looked at it, these children were all just too young.

They were already in such a pitiful state. If something were to happen to them in the sandstorm, what would they do?

Xie Ning pulled a pile of colorful children’s raincoats out of her Space and put them on the kids one by one.

’It’s great to suddenly realize my Space has everything.’

As expected of her. When she’d cleared out Hengyue Square, Xie Ning had operated with the professional looter’s mentality of leaving no stone unturned, cleaning out countless shops from top to bottom.

This included trendy toy stores, makeup counters, and children’s shops that seemed useless at the time. She’d made a clean sweep of them all, whether they seemed useful or not.

As it turned out, a lot of things proved useful when it mattered most.

’Like right now, for instance. See? It’s all coming in handy!’

Xie Ning then took out a dozen or so cartoon helmets, fitting one on each child. To finish, she draped a large tarp over their heads. Perfect.

Xiao Huzi was happy, too. He helped Xie Ning fit the protective gear onto the children. "That should do it, Boss."

Xie Ning nodded and started pulling the metal cart toward the main entrance. "You should put on a hat and goggles, too," she told Xiao Huzi.

Although the sand worms outside had no interest in ordinary humans, the storm was so strong it would be agony to get sand in their eyes.

"Let’s head to the base entrance and meet up with the main group first." Xie Ning glanced at her wristband. The message was already sent.

Barring any surprises, they should be able to meet up with Gu Chen’s group within the hour.

Xiao Huzi followed her.

"Sis, are we really just going to let Chen Zhaowei and his people escape?"

Xie Ning thought for a moment. "For now, we don’t have much choice."

"But a guy like Chen Zhaowei... he wouldn’t run a shoddy lab like this just for some so-called ’Project Human Starfire’."

"My guess is, he’s not willing to just give up Subject Zero."

After all, it was the culmination of the lab’s entire effort.

"I have a feeling he’s hiding somewhere, waiting for the right moment to strike."

"He’ll emerge when the time is right and could catch us completely off guard."

"That’s why you have to stick close to me at all times. Watch out for him sending someone to pull a dirty trick."

After all, Xiao Huzi was now a thorn in Chen Zhaowei’s side; Chen Zhaowei must be desperate to kill him.

Xiao Huzi nodded quickly. "Right. I agree, he’s not the type to just let this go."

"I was by his side for over half a year, so I know a little about what he’s like."

"Chen Zhaowei is the type who holds a grudge over the smallest things."

"After taking such a huge, hidden loss, he’ll definitely try to get even."

Xiao Huzi clenched his fists, his voice turning cold. "Besides, Boss, your analysis just now was spot-on."

"A selfish bastard like Chen Zhaowei would never give a damn about the future of humanity or some ’Starfire’ legacy. He’s not that big-minded!"

"To be blunt, there’s a 99% chance he’s running this secret bio-mutation lab for his own benefit."

"I remember that for over a year after the apocalypse started, Chen Zhaowei didn’t have any superpowers."

"But a short while ago, he suddenly awakened a superpower in the Spiritual System, which completely surprised me."

"Because there’s a widespread rumor that awakening a superpower is extremely difficult—the global percentage of Superpower Users is only about one in ten thousand."

"They all say that if you don’t awaken a superpower within the first six months of the apocalypse, the chances of ever awakening one become very slim."

"For Chen Zhaowei to suddenly awaken a Spiritual Ability... I’m positive it has something to do with this lab."

Xie Ning was lost in thought.

Based on what Xiao Huzi said, combined with the details the researcher had revealed earlier, Xie Ning was almost certain that Chen Zhaowei had taken an Evolution Potion.

And he had been extremely lucky to avoid the tragic fate of his body exploding.

The Evolution Potion had granted him a special, and seemingly quite powerful, spiritual-type superpower.

So all that talk about preserving humanity’s legacy and having no choice but to use children as test subjects was nothing but a flimsy excuse from Chen Zhaowei.

His ultimate goal was most likely to create a legion of mutated Superpower Users who would be completely subservient to his commands.

Of course, if the experiments also resulted in him becoming a powerful Superpower User himself, that would be even better.

All those high-and-mighty things Chen Zhaowei had said before were nothing but bullshit.

"Ji Xiuming, you’re our only eyewitness now."

"Your life is important to us. So you have to remember: the moment you feel any mental discomfort or notice anything unusual, you must tell me immediately."

Xie Ning looked at Xiao Huzi, her expression grave as she warned him again.

Xiao Huzi nodded solemnly. "Don’t worry, Boss. I won’t be careless with my own life."

"The second I feel dazed or anything seems off, I’ll report it to you. I’ll stay on high alert and won’t give Chen Zhaowei and his people any opportunities."

Xie Ning nodded in satisfaction. Pulling the metal cart with one hand and carrying the silver storage case in the other, she left the lab building’s lobby with Xiao Huzi following behind her.

A blast of wind and sand howled, hitting them in the face.

A few of the mutated children, seemingly irritated by the harsh, windy environment, struggled slightly on the metal cart.

Xie Ning reached out to pat their little heads, comforting them. "It’s okay."

"It’s just a little windy here. Once we get back to our group, we’ll have a nice doctor take a look at you."

’If possible, I hope the authorities will take these poor children in.’

’It would be even better if they could find a way to suppress the mutation hormones in their bodies.’

’But the most important thing is that they aren’t used for any more bizarre human experiments.’

"Oh, right, Boss! I remember... there’s an underground warehouse not far from here. Chen Zhaowei and the others used it to store supplies, like reagents and medicine."

"Do you want to go check it out? I have a feeling Chen Zhaowei’s group left in such a hurry that they couldn’t possibly have cleared everything out."

’There’s no way they could have moved it all!’

Hearing this, Xie Ning’s eyes lit up and she nodded emphatically. "Good. Let’s go check it out now."