Chapter Thirty-Eight: Tape Disk

  The man standing in the Formosa jar was almost identical to Xie Lao San, whether it was his face, figure or temperament. The latter, who was the real Xie Lao San, was still locked in a room on the Golden Flower ship at this time, and his face had also been beaten into a pig's head by us.

  In this underground secret base left by the Japanese army, which is full of eerie atmosphere everywhere, this discovery undoubtedly makes us wonder. Is it possible that Old Third Xie and this underground base or the Japanese army that existed here have some kind of relationship? Or are they really just two people who look extremely similar, and what we see is just a shocking coincidence?

  "It won't be that simple. The two must be related! Xie Lao San is not a simple person." Yin Ye Jia said firmly.

  Xu Lai's teeth chattered with rage: "I knew beating him wasn't enough! That bastard, strip his skin off and see if he still dares to deny it. Hmph, best take this jar back together and see if he still dares to resist!"

  I didn't speak, but a wave of annoyance had been accumulating in my heart. First, it was someone with Cai Lingyu's head, and now there's another corpse that looks like Xie Lao San. Who knows what will happen next, maybe they'll find some remains of a man who looks just like me. Just thinking about it makes me feel suffocated. What did I do to deserve all these inexplicable and absurd things happening to me?

  We lingered in front of Xie Lao San's glass jar for a while, circling around it. Especially Xu Lai and Xie Lao San knew each other the longest, he stared with wide eyes, repeatedly confirming that this was indeed Xie Lao San, simply a born-and-bred one. Really couldn't see what 'gate' it had, we could only shift our feet awkwardly, after all, we couldn't keep staring at a naked man's butt, and turned to look at other jars instead.

  Fortunately, none of the remaining people were familiar to us, and what I feared most was the reappearance of another ghostly figure like Gui Ye 2.0 or Shi Dehai II. For some reason, a wild idea flashed through my mind - could it be that every physical body existing here corresponds to an identical entity in the outside world? Of course, this thought only lasted for an instant before I burst out laughing. It's one thing if Old Three were to exist, but what about those deformed creatures with multiple heads and limbs - would they really be called Nezha on the outside?

  "Huh, it seems like there's something here." Xu Lai shouted, this guy has the sharpest eyes. I immediately went over and searched in the direction of Xu Lai's pointing hand, and found that at the very back, under a glass jar, stuck in the gap against the wall was a tin round box.

  I carefully pulled out the round box, blew off the dust on it, and after opening the aluminum box, I gazed at it for less than a second before my eyes lit up: "Film disc! Let's look again to see if there are any more."

  Xu Lai and Gui Ye Jia shuddered all over, immediately perked up their spirits to search. We searched every nook and cranny of the large and small jars, including the dark side, and finally found another disk of the same tape on top of a jar.

  "Back to the projection room!" I grabbed two precious film reels and strode towards the 'door', this was the most valuable harvest so far, now I couldn't wait to see what was inside.

  Oni and Xu Lai had the same idea as me, when the three of us walked to the middle of the room, suddenly, our faces stiffened, our eyes focused on that "Xie Old Three" jar, and we were stunned.

  Strange, the jar soaked in formalin is empty, where did the corpse go?

  "Not good, that person isn't dead!" Oni no Yaiba slapped his thigh loudly, his gaze suddenly shifting to the water stain on the edge of the jar, and the footprints he had made extended all the way outside the door.

  We looked at each other and Xu Lai suddenly burst out: "Damn, we've been fooled!", then he didn't care about anything else and ran out of the door in a flash.

  Everyone lowered their heads to look and saw that the wet footprints continued all the way to the big door of Room 1 before stopping. Needless to say, that person must have run inside.

  We crept forward with our submachine guns at the ready, keeping low and holding our breath as we walked past. We pushed against the "door", which was locked. The door looked like it was covered in iron plating, or maybe even solid iron - forcing it open would be impossible.

  "Grass, I'm standing guard outside, you'll suffocate to death!" Xu Lai was furious, having been fooled once by Xie Lao San wasn't enough, now he's being fooled again by another "Xie Lao San".

  "It's too careless, who would have thought that someone could soak in formalin for so long!" I was filled with regret, and Oniichan retorted: "Anyway, it's all fake, who knows if that's really formalin."

  I was stunned: "Indeed, who would have thought it was so subtle at the time?"

  At this moment, all the lights in the hall went out simultaneously.

  Almost at the same time, bang! Three consecutive shots!

  An unexpected turn of events left us stunned. I clutched at my chest and fell to the ground, searing pain, only to hear Xu Lai let out a cry, no need to say, he was also shot.

  "In the darkness, Oni no Ya shouted: 'Where are you running to!' I only felt a gust of wind on my left side, and suddenly it appeared above my head."

  Then the "flower" board made a crackling sound, which lasted for more than a dozen breaths before it fell silent.

  In the darkness, I hastily turned on my spare flashlight. The first thing I saw was Xu Lai lying in a pool of blood, with a bullet hole embedded in his left arm and his other hand clutching at his chest. I comforted him: "Take it easy, I've also been shot."

  "Damn it, first a fracture, then poison, and now I'm getting shot at! Why is everything happening to me?! Waaahhh...!" Xu Lai was on the verge of tears, and I couldn't bear to watch. He suddenly grabbed me: "Bulletproof vest, give me the bulletproof vest!"

  I used all my strength to push him away, if you want a bulletproof vest, go cry somewhere else. The survival rule of the Military-Uniform Special Agent is: rather die with honor than live in poverty, pretending to be a saint will get you struck by lightning.

  Xu Lai was unreliable, I stood on high alert alone in the darkness for over a minute, and finally the lights came on.

  I looked up and saw that the oni had clawed out a large hole in the ceiling, inside which I could see many complex ventilation ducts. It was clear that there was an electrical outlet up there, and the person who fired the shot had aimed at our location just before the lights went out and opened fire. After one hit, they didn't care whether it was successful or not and immediately ran away. Given the oni's agility, the person's judgment was absolutely correct - if they had been a moment later, the oni would have probably counterattacked successfully.

  I stared at the ventilation duct above for a long time, but the oni never came down.

  Xu Lai cried and wailed beside me, making me feel annoyed and uneasy.

  "Spare me the trouble, huh? But why is your blood black?" I was about to scold him a few words, but when I lowered my head, I was shocked to see that the blood flowing out of Xu Lai's wound on his arm had gradually turned black.

  Xu Lai was told by me, and suddenly realized, his face turned green in an instant.

  "It's bad, that big centipede has venom in your body!" I immediately reacted and grabbed Xu Lai's right hand which had been invaded by the venom. As soon as I looked at it, I sucked in a breath of cold air, his whole hand was already pitch black, like the precursor to carbonization.

  Xu Lai was so scared that his whole body trembled, the hand I held shook constantly, and he stared at me with a terrified face: "I... am going to die..."

  For a moment, I didn't know how to comfort him. My lips moved, but the comforting words never came out. To be honest, no matter what I said at this point, it wouldn't have been convincing unless I could immediately provide a solution.

  Xu Lai seemed to have given up, lying motionless on the ground, his eyes dull and speaking nonsense in a corner. No matter how I urged him, he was unmoved.

  I let out a sigh, this person's will was already gone, only quietly waiting for death. I leaned against the 'door', anxiously waited for five minutes, didn't see the oni coming back, and there was no sound of my expectation from the air vent.

  I was really anxious and said to Xu Lai: "You watch here, I'll be right back."

  Xu Lai remained unmoved, I don't know if he heard or not, shook his head and went straight to the projection room.

  After entering the room, I closed the 'door', and got familiar with the operation of the projector. Since I had seen someone use it in a meeting before, I picked it up quickly. I randomly chose a tape and pressed it onto the projector.

  Click, turn off the lights, start the machine.

  After a few breaths, with the sound of whirring reels, a clear black and white image was immediately projected onto the screen.

  This is a silent record film.

  The scene opens in operating room 5, where seven or eight Japanese soldiers wearing yellowish-brown military uniforms assist two doctors in white coats to strap a man covered in blood onto the operating table. The man struggles with all his might, his mouth wide open as if screaming at the top of his lungs, his facial muscles distorted by extreme terror.

  Then, a doctor solemnly picked up a small insurance box, and another doctor helped take out what was inside.

  It is less than 50ml per bottle.

  The camera zoomed in on the doctor, who was professionally holding a syringe and drawing a small amount of liquid into it. His face was obscured by a mask, making it impossible to read his expression, but his eyes gleamed with an unusual intensity. I could vaguely recognize that this doctor was the same one who had discovered the Japanese corpse earlier.

  The doctor injected something unknown into the man's arm and everyone stood by to observe. The man soon fainted away.

  The screen seemed to have frozen, maintaining this scene for a long time.

  Even I, who am usually very calm, was completely blank at this moment. Subconsciously, I touched my right arm and felt a dull ache coming from it, I don't know if it's just psychological. I narrowed my eyes and muttered to myself: "These little Japanese are doing human experiments, if this mysterious thing is blue... then wouldn't that mean..."

  Just as I was indulging in wild thoughts, suddenly the scene moved! The man woke up instantly, and an incredible scene appeared. The man's body grew countless black hairs at a visible speed, covering his entire body, even his physique underwent irreversible changes. Five minutes later, a living person completely transformed into a... wild man.

  "Grass, it turns out those beasts were once human!" I suddenly stood up, and a stormy wave surged in my heart.

  Suddenly, the scene shifted and two doctors began pressing down on the "wild man", starting an autopsy.

  Just as I was fully focused on watching, the projector suddenly emitted a burst of black smoke without warning, and the film reel inexplicably caught fire.

  I was shocked and immediately tried to put out the fire, but the film burned too quickly. With my hands and feet in a flurry and lacking tools, I couldn't extinguish the flames no matter what. I knew it was all over; this reel of film was completely ruined.

  I could only watch as the film burned out, and after the fire had naturally extinguished itself, I let out a long sigh, tightly wrapping another reel of tape that I hadn't had time to examine around my back, and could only wait until I left this place before slowly studying its contents.

  As soon as I stepped out of the 7th screening room, I saw Xu Lai's upper body already crawling into the central 'hole', and when he poked his head out to see me, he became very flustered.

  "What's wrong with you!" I warned.

  Xu Lai's eyes flickered, and he trembled as he replied: "Below... below something is calling me... I... I..." Before he could finish speaking, Xu Lai endured the intense pain from his wound and quickly crawled down into the depths of the dark cave.

  I wonder if this guy has a screw loose in his head.

  At this moment, a sudden movement came from above, and an agile figure jumped to the ground with a thud, landing right in front of me.

  "Bad luck, the structure above is too complicated and was ruined by that person!" Oni no Tsukuriban had just returned and shook his head in frustration. Suddenly, he saw Xu Lai's figure getting farther and farther away inside the 'cave', his eyebrows immediately furrowed together, and he exclaimed in surprise: "Huh? Did my eyes deceive me? Is this kid really Xu Lai? When did he grow an extra leg?"