Chapter 752 – Variations Under the Night

Just as two guards passed with their flashlights, a red dot suddenly flickered on the Ceiling.

However, neither of the two noticed the anomaly above their heads; their gazes remained wandering aimlessly on the ground.

A few seconds later, a tiny red Jellyfish mysteriously appeared on a door they had just walked past.

When it first entered the Niepan headquarters, the master ball looked like just a rubber Toy, with nothing special about it. But now, it appeared crystalline, like an exquisite piece of art carved from crystal, with a droplet of blood seemingly frozen in the center, emitting a Red Glimmer from within.

After consuming 101 and the Long-arm Zombie earlier that night, the master ball had gained a substantial amount of nutrients. Especially from 101, who, though no longer intimidating, was still a Progenitor Zombie with a high virus content in his body. After absorbing them, the master ball had reached a critical point of another evolution.

At this moment, under Ling Mo’s Control, the master ball was firmly attached to the door, beginning to slowly contract its body.

After contracting to its limit, it slowly began to expand again, much like breathing.

But what it exhaled wasn’t gas, but threads formed of mental energy!

These threads were invisible to ordinary people, but to those with mental abilities, they emitted a faint white glow.

Centered around the master ball, these glowing threads spread out like a rapidly weaving web.

Meanwhile, Ling Mo, sitting against the wall, suddenly frowned, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

The psychic link between him and the master ball was supported by just one psychic tentacle, which was further split inside the master ball’s body, one part of it controlling a Zombie Puppet.

The Zombie Puppet had to stay inactive, as Old Lan and his daughter were crucial parts of the plan. But to control all these threads of mental energy, Ling Mo had to split the master ball’s half of the tentacle once again.

This split required dozens more!

If it weren’t for the master ball acting as an energy relay, Ling Mo couldn’t have managed such a feat from hundreds of meters away.

The process of splitting the Tentacle was like forcibly breaking a single thought into multiple parts. And that wasn’t all-each part had to be put into action simultaneously.

It was similar to how many people can draw a square with one hand and a circle with the other. But what if both hands were writing two different essays at the same time?

Or even more challenging, holding several pens between the fingers and writing eight different essays simultaneously?

Such a task is headache-inducing just to think about, let alone to perform.

What Ling Mo was doing was akin to this challenge. Each time a Tentacle split, it would intertwine with a thread of mental energy. And that wasn’t the end of it; he had to control each Tentacle to perform different tasks simultaneously, which was where the true complexity lay.

Within seconds, Ling Mo felt like his head was about to explode.

At this critical moment, his already condensed psychic light cluster began to fluctuate violently, providing the necessary support for his enormous mental consumption.

“What’s going on?”

Simultaneously, within the Dormitory Building, someone suddenly woke up from their bed, opening their eyes to the surrounding darkness.

This person hesitated slightly, then threw off the covers and slowly walked to the door.

When they held the door handle, they paused briefly but eventually opened the door…

When the white light on that room door turned bloody red, it signified that Ling Mo’s splitting and merging had completed.

The Tentacles paused for a moment and then started moving. They extended rapidly along the Corridor and walls, spreading in all directions.

One Tentacle followed the Keyhole, directly entering the room where the master ball was.

Other Tentacles, upon reaching certain spots, drilled directly into the floor.

This task was undoubtedly a significant mental strain for Ling Mo, but he had a personal battery!

“No brand of batteries can compare; the master ball really is one battery stronger than ten!”

Although this scene was eerie, it happened entirely in silence. The four people on the same floor continued walking around, completely oblivious.

“I still don’t understand how the Key just disappeared. And besides, the Key I was holding wasn’t supposed to be that one. How did it end up with me?” The Lab Assistant stopped in front of a door, looking frustrated.

Another person sighed, “Did you drop it in the toilet or something?”

“How could that happen!” the Lab Assistant exclaimed angrily.

“Well, I can’t think of any other explanation unless… a ghost took it from you…” As they spoke, the person’s expression suddenly became uneasy. “Hey, speaking of ghosts, when I was smoking alone on the stairs earlier, I vaguely saw a shadow…”

“A shadow? Are you trying to say you saw a ghost?” the Lab Assistant rolled his eyes and said.

“Of course not…” The person was confused themselves. They initially thought it was a hallucination, but now that the Key had inexplicably disappeared, they couldn’t help but wonder if there was some connection.

The Lab Assistant was already feeling frustrated, and now their companion had started talking about shadows.

What kind of shadows could there be in this building?

“Damn it! Such bad luck!” The Lab Assistant, holding in a breath of frustration, lifted their foot to kick the door.

Just before their foot could hit the door, there was a sudden “thud” sound.

And the sound came from right behind the door!

The Lab Assistant was startled, their kick halted mid-air, causing them to wobble and almost fall.

The other person didn’t notice this and asked curiously, “What’s wrong with you?”

“That… the door… it just made a sound!” The Lab Assistant pointed at the door, still in shock.

“…” The person paused, then looked at the Lab Assistant as if they were crazy, laughing, “Really? I just mentioned ghosts, and now you’re trying to scare me. How childish.”

“I’m not joking with you!” the Lab Assistant said defensively. Just as they finished speaking, the door suddenly shook again.

This time the other person saw it too but still furrowed their brows, not fully understanding.

The door only shook slightly, which was unusual but not exactly terrifying.

The Lab Assistant swallowed, slowly moving closer to the door.

“By the way, isn’t this the room with the Experimental Subject?” the other person suddenly asked.

“Yeah, but the door is locked from the inside, and the Experimental Subject can’t possibly break free. Too bad I lost the Key…” The Lab Assistant turned his head, preparing to press his ear against the door to listen carefully. Despite his words, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. A door doesn’t just move on its own, right?

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that made his blood run cold.

The door handle was slowly turning!

At the same time, a faint sound came from behind the door. But this slight noise was enough to freeze both Lab Assistants in their tracks.

“Click.”

That was the sound of the lock being opened!

The Lab Assistant was dumbfounded. How could this be possible?

The door was locked from the inside, unless someone used a Key to open it from the outside… Wait!

The Key!

Could someone have taken the Key?

Moreover, did someone use that Key to open the door while they were searching for it?

The Lab Assistant was stunned. They had been busy looking for the Key and didn’t think to check if the Laboratory doors were actually locked.

It was simple. First, the Key couldn’t have fallen inside the Laboratory. Second, without the Key, how could they open the doors?

As for someone else taking the Key… how could anyone else have gotten into the building?

Yet the scene before him shattered all his assumptions.

Not only was there someone else in the building, but this person had opened the door right under their noses and entered the Laboratory!

“Wait, with all those guards outside, no one saw anyone come in. I haven’t seen anyone else either. Besides, the door didn’t open earlier. Why now?” The Lab Assistant’s thoughts were in disarray; he couldn’t comprehend how all of this was happening.

“Squeak…”

As he saw the door slowly open, revealing a dark gap, the Lab Assistant suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He quickly retreated, shouting in a panicked voice, “Run!”

He saw it! In the darkness, those red eyes!

His companion regained his senses instantly. After a reflexive scream, he turned to shout, “Help…”

But before he could fully call out, it was as if his throat was suddenly clenched shut, and he went silent.

At that moment, the other Lab Assistant turned around, his eyes widening in shock, his hands and feet instantly turning icy cold.

In the Corridor ahead, an Experimental Subject, drenched in blood, stood there staring blankly at them.

In its hand, it held a limp figure which, upon closer inspection, was one of the guards!

The guard’s eyes were tightly shut, with an expression of terror still on his face. It was unclear whether he was dead or alive.

As if that wasn’t horrifying enough, more Zombies began emerging from the corner of the Corridor!

These Zombies weren’t moving quickly; their movements were even somewhat stiff. But to see them shuffling out one after another in the silence was utterly nightmarish!

Both Lab Assistants felt their bodies go limp, their hair standing on end.

What was going on? Why had all the Zombies suddenly come out?

There was no time to ponder this because a more terrifying sound came from behind them.

“Bang!”

That was the sound of the door being yanked open and smashing against the wall!

Despite being accustomed to seeing Zombies, interacting with them, and conducting numerous experiments, feeling a Zombie standing right behind them was a completely different experience. Their minds went blank, and their legs started trembling uncontrollably.

“Plop!”

The sound of Liquid dripping onto the ground was so crisp that it seemed to echo directly in their brains.

Was it saliva?

“Help… help…”

This was the last sound the Lab Assistant made before everything went black, and he collapsed to the ground silently.

The other Lab Assistant heard the thud of his companion hitting the ground and promptly fainted.