Chapter 197: The Antidote Became a Death Warrant?

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: The Antidote Became a Death Warrant?

"Liang He! This is bad! Liang He!"

Early in the morning, Liang He heard Xu Yi’s booming voice. Just as she was wondering how he had the time to come back, she realized he was screaming about a disaster.

The Mojin King Tiger half-closed his eyes, gazing toward the front door as Xu Yi clumsily tried to open it. Finally, the Canglan Hunting Eagle couldn’t stand watching anymore and flew over to help him unlock it.

"MEOW..."

Woken from his sleep, the Mengji Snow Leopard lazily propped himself up and stretched. His feline eyes glared at Xu Yi in displeasure. Frightened, Xu Yi slammed on the brakes, coming to a dead halt five meters away.

"Doctor Xu, what’s with the frantic rush this early in the morning?"

Liang He rubbed her sleep-filled eyes, forcing herself to focus on him. She truly couldn’t fathom what could make him so anxious. If it were truly urgent, Lan Zhuo or Hoder, who were already in the service area, could have just called for her. Failing that, a simple message via the Light Brain would have sufficed. Why make Xu Yi run all the way here?

"Liang He, something terrible has happened!"

"What’s wrong?"

She and Lan Zhuo had successfully created the toxin-suppressing pills just yesterday. Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be any life-or-death emergencies involving the beastmen right now.

"Last night, when Hoder delivered the pills to the Sixth Service Area, the Animal Research Institute..."

Through Xu Yi’s explanation, Liang He finally pieced together the sequence of events. When Hoder dropped off the pills, the Animal Research Institute simultaneously claimed to have produced an antidote. Because Liang He had mentioned that her pills used poison to combat poison, Huo An and Xu Yi deliberated and decided to directly inject the animals with the antidote instead, hoping to prevent any further accidents.

Thus, the antidote was rushed to the Sixth Service Area overnight.

"At first, after the injections, the animals’ conditions did improve, but then...!" Xu Yi said.

Just as Huo An and Xu Yi thought the antidote was working, those animals instantly mutated into Fierce Beasts! Their bestial instincts took over entirely, and they began attacking everyone in a mad frenzy. Because of this, Huo An had sent the physically defenseless Xu Yi back to deliver the news, while Hoder stayed behind in the Sixth Service Area to clear out the Fierce Beasts.

"Are you saying that the animals turned into Fierce Beasts *because* their poison was cured?"

Liang He furrowed her brows, immediately realizing the true motive of the mastermind behind the scenes. This had been a trap from the very beginning. She had wondered why the poisoner hadn’t just used a deadlier, more potent toxin. As it turned out, the enemy’s goal was to give them a false sense of hope before plunging them into absolute despair. It was also likely a deliberate ploy to exhaust everyone’s time and energy.

"Thank goodness you brought Xuan Jiao back with you," Xu Yi added. "Otherwise, we definitely would have injected him with the antidote right away."

Xuan Jiao was an SSS-level Beastman, making his importance self-evident. Since the antidote was developed by the Animal Research Institute, Huo An and Xu Yi had trusted it on instinct. If the Iron-eating Beast had truly mutated into a Fierce Beast, his combat power would have been far more terrifying than an entire horde of them combined!

More importantly, Liang He cared deeply about Xuan Jiao, and since he hailed from Blue Star, she inevitably would have tried everything to restore him to normal. That desperation could have led to the Rebel Army seeking her out to propose a twisted trade.

"Did you bring the antidote?" Liang He asked. She needed to analyze exactly what caused those animals to mutate.

"I brought it!"

Xu Yi dug into his backpack and pulled out several vials of the antidote he had snatched up in his haste to leave. He only had them because Huo An had reminded him to bring some, likely anticipating that Liang He would need samples.

"Go wake up Lan Zhuo. We’re heading to the medical room."

Liang He threw on her coat, bumping right into Silver Shuttle, who had run over to see the commotion after hearing Xu Yi screaming.

"Silver Shuttle, could you please prepare breakfast for them? Thank you!" Liang He pointed to the fluffy animals. The situation was urgent, and since she didn’t have the time to tend to them herself, she could only entrust their care to Silver Shuttle.

"Ah? Oh, okay! Don’t worry, I promise to complete the mission!"

Liang He and Lan Zhuo plunged into work in the medical room. Because they needed to test the reaction between the toxin and the antidote, Liang He moved Yin Qi into the activity room, asking Silver Li and the others to keep an eye on him.

"What’s going on? Didn’t you finish making the pills yesterday?"

Silver Feather, who was a step slower coming downstairs, still didn’t know what had happened. It wasn’t until Xu Yi gave him a rundown of the situation that he frowned, staring toward the medical room.

Meanwhile, back at the Sixth Service Area, Huo An and Hoder were still engaged in fierce combat with the mutated Fierce Beasts.

"Everyone, try to strike the Fierce Beasts’ pressure points using the method Liang He taught us! Do not kill them outright!"

After Liang He’s return, Huo An had specifically asked her to make time to train the Guard Team and the Law Enforcement Team. That training was paying off right now. Subduing a Fierce Beast by striking its pressure points was evidently much faster and less exhausting than their old methods. It also spared the beasts’ lives, leaving open the possibility that they could be cured in the future.

"Chief, I have a situation to report!"

Huo An had just knocked down a Fierce Beast when he heard a shout from behind. After confirming that the current situation was manageable, he signaled for Hoder to keep fighting while he seized the opportunity to retreat to the rear.

"What is it?"

Taking a closer look at the man, Huo An remembered that he was a staff member sent by the Animal Research Institute to deliver the antidote and lend a hand.

"I just noticed that another batch of animals didn’t mutate into Fierce Beasts after being injected with the antidote. Do you have any idea why?"

As a researcher, he couldn’t subdue the Fierce Beasts like the others, so he had focused on staying out of the way while trying to find a solution to the problem. Thus, while everyone else was battling the beasts, this man had returned to the laboratory to figure out the cause of the mutation.

"Are you saying some animals *didn’t* turn into Fierce Beasts?"

Huo An frowned tightly. He glanced at the frantically attacking Fierce Beasts outside and suddenly realized that their total numbers were indeed a bit low.

"I remember now. Those animals must be the ones that took the pills Liang He made. To observe their condition, Xu Yi and Lan Zhuo kept them locked up separately. Could it be..."

Sensing a potential breakthrough, Huo An quickly followed the researcher to check on those animals and confirmed that they showed no signs of mutating.

"Chief, could you show me these pills you mentioned?"

The researcher had never encountered a situation like this before. Filled with curiosity, he hoped to pinpoint exactly why these animals had been spared. It might even aid the Institute’s research into developing a cure for the Fierce Beasts.

"Alright."

Huo An poured a few of the pills Hoder had delivered into the researcher’s hands. Watching the man hurry back into the lab, Huo An opened his Light Brain to contact Xu Yi, instructing him to relay the situation to Liang He.

Upon receiving the message, Xu Yi was struck with sheer disbelief. Could the pills Liang He previously fed to the animals actually have the ability to suppress the Fierce Beast virus?

"Liang He, do you know what’s going on here?"

After hearing Xu Yi’s report, both Liang He and Lan Zhuo spontaneously stopped what they were doing to ponder the connection. Recalling how Hello Poison had once explained the principles behind this formula to her, Liang He offered a potential explanation.

"The formula of the pills relies on fighting poison with poison to suppress toxins. Perhaps the Fierce Beast virus is, at its core, a type of toxin itself. That might be what indirectly caused this outcome."

Liang He’s explanation held some merit, but it still required verification.

"If that’s the case, we’ll focus our research in this direction. We absolutely cannot let the Rebel Army succeed!"