"Huff… huff…" Shěn Fēng sprinted wildly through the deserted, dilapidated streets, carrying weapons and ammunition. The shock from the explosion just moments ago had been too intense; the Brain Apes hadn't found his trail yet. At the same time, the appearance of thousands of Ape Cavalry immediately startled the wild animals living in this urban jungle, causing rats, rabbits, foxes, and deer to scamper everywhere. This, in turn, agitated flocks of birds, turning the ruins of Huīchéng into a cacophony that further masked Shěn Fēng's movements.
Shěn Fēng even encountered a fox running alongside him. They glanced at each other, did not attack, and each fled for their lives. This showed that, to some extent, these Brain Apes had replaced humans as the dominant species. Soon, Shěn Fēng appeared before the Huīchéng Epidemic Prevention Center building.
After the Petrification Disease broke out, epidemic prevention became the central focus. Epidemic Prevention Centers in every city underwent massive renovations, with largely similar internal structures and layouts. Shěn Fēng's arrival immediately attracted the attention of some skinners inside the Epidemic Prevention Center building. As he had predicted, the Epidemic Prevention Center in every city had become a nest for the skinners.
Without any hesitation, Shěn Fēng improvised, making several large torches. He wrapped them with rags previously soaked in fuel and stuck them all over his chest and back, making him resemble a giant candied hawthorn skewer. He then lit all the torches with a match, took a deep breath, pushed open the doors of the Epidemic Prevention Center, and charged in.
Seeing Shěn Fēng, the dozen or so skinners hiding inside immediately roared and charged forward, intending to tear him apart. However, before they could reach Shěn Fēng, they were already being scorched by the flames, letting out cries of pain and retreating. The heat from the flames was far more intense than sunlight, a truly agonizing experience for these skinners!
The surrounding flames made Shěn Fēng sweat profusely, yet it also brought him a sense of calm. Just as he had thought, these skinners were terrified of fire! Although they looked formidable, they had a fatal weakness, and when targeted, they were nothing more than pushovers. Using boiling water before had been a bit foolish. The thought of being skinned and then roasted by fire made his scalp tingle.
"Kill… me…" "…Dead…" A group of skinners surrounded Shěn Fēng, wailing incoherently, but dared not approach. This sudden intruder was like a porcupine, leaving them with no way to attack!
Shěn Fēng quickly bypassed the skinners and rushed to the elevator. Unlike the one in Qi City's Epidemic Prevention Center, the elevator in Huīchéng's was still operational! He wondered if, after years of disrepair, it might just fall halfway up… He had to take the chance! Gritting his teeth, Shěn Fēng opened the elevator doors and rushed in.
Inside the elevator was a statue of a woman with a pretty face, seemingly the former elevator operator. She still wore a professional smile, though her clothes were tattered. Shěn Fēng sighed, took a towel from his bag, and covered the statue of the elevator operator. The elevator shook, and the lights inside flickered erratically. After about a minute, it reached the top floor of the twenty-story Epidemic Prevention Center building.
The elevator doors opened, and Shěn Fēng immediately stepped out. A few skinners wandering on the top floor saw him and rushed forward, only to retreat with screams as they were scorched by the flames again. Shěn Fēng ignored them, walking directly to a metal door in the center. According to the structural diagrams of the Epidemic Prevention Center he had seen earlier, this should be the core research laboratory of the entire facility, where a vast amount of research data was stored on the computers. It contained the most cutting-edge information on the Petrification Disease research conducted by humanity in this world, and its security measures were the most stringent.
Before Shěn Fēng stood a solid alloy door, twenty centimeters thick, capable of withstanding artillery fire. More and more skinners gathered in the corridor. These former Incinerators, driven by an subconscious attachment to the Epidemic Prevention Center, treated it as their lair and roamed its floors. Thousands of Incinerators once existed in every city, thus leading to thousands of skinners. They seemed to particularly favor the top floor; nearly a hundred skinners had gathered around Shěn Fēng. If not for their fear of the flames, they would have attacked long ago.
The torches inserted into his body had burned down significantly, even singeing Shěn Fēng's hair, yet the research lab door remained closed! Despite the passage of nearly a decade, the electronic access control system of the research lab was still faithfully operational. Shěn Fēng frowned, his gaze shifting to the surrounding skinners as he began to examine the tattered remnants of their clothing. Incinerators were not mere incinerator cleaners; high-ranking Incinerators also participated in the decision-making processes of the Epidemic Prevention Center. In a sense, they were like an army. Therefore, some of the highest-ranking Incinerators possessed access to the top-tier research labs!
Soon, Shěn Fēng's eyes landed on a former Incinerator wearing a tattered white lab coat. The coat bore a badge with the title "Captain of the Huīchéng Incinerator Corps." That was him! Shěn Fēng quickly drew his pistol, wrapped it in cloth, and charged towards the skinner. Before the other could react, Shěn Fēng pulled the trigger.
"Bang!" The muffled gunshot, wrapped in cloth, sounded like a heavy hammer hitting the ground. The Brain Apes probably hadn't searched this area yet, so it wouldn't attract their attention. The bullet pierced the skinner's heart instantly. He slowly slumped down, a flicker of relieved joy flashing within the depths of his Chaos Consciousness before he fell silent. Without pausing, Shěn Fēng drew the dagger from his waist, gritted his teeth, and with a determined resolve, gouged out the skinner's eyeballs, placing them on the access scanner of the research lab's alloy door.
A green beam of light shot out from the scanner, beginning to scan the iris. "Verifying identity. Huīchéng Incinerator Corps, Shí Chánglěi. Clearance level, one."
The alloy door, sealed for years, creaked open. Shěn Fēng immediately slipped inside. As soon as he entered, the door closed again, blocking the predatory skinners outside. The torches Shěn Fēng had stuck in his body abruptly extinguished. He inwardly acknowledged how close that was; his sweat, which had dried from the heat, now poured out profusely. He took out a bottle of water, dropped the eyeball in, and placed it securely. Only then did Shěn Fēng slump onto a chair, gasping for breath. The heavy sprint, the scorching torches, and the high-stakes tension had left him utterly exhausted, unwilling to move an inch. He looked up to see a vast laboratory filled with electronic screens and various incubators. A dozen or so figures in white lab coats stood like statues in different poses, their faces frozen in expressions from the moment they were petrified. They looked as if they were in the middle of an experiment, ready to move at any moment.
He gulped down half a bottle of water. Shěn Fēng knew he was temporarily safe. His objective wasn't to confront the Brain Apes but to find the reason for their emergence. After resting to regain some strength, Shěn Fēng stood up and walked to an electronic screen, pressing the dust-covered power button. The system, dormant for years, began to operate again. The statue standing before the screen was an old man wearing glasses, clearly the head of the Epidemic Prevention Center. Shěn Fēng used the ID card from the statue to log in, and the entire database of the Huīchéng Epidemic Prevention Center was displayed before him! Watching the various data and files appear on the dust-covered screens, Shěn Fēng's breathing quickened. Perhaps, this time, he could complete a part of his main quest.
"Tat-tat-tat-tat…" Just then, the crisp sound of gunfire echoed from the street below, piercing the air! Shěn Fēng frowned and immediately rushed to the window, peering down through a gap in the blinds. Dozens of Ape Cavalry had already appeared on the street in front of the Epidemic Prevention Center, firing at the skinners within the surrounding buildings.