LRAB Chapter 7: Nightmare!
Chapter 7: Nightmare!
Lu Xiaobai opened his eyes groggily.
The scene before my eyes swayed and distorted, a bizarre and surreal spectacle.
The colors are distorted, the lines are broken, and everything looks like a kaleidoscope that has been shattered and barely pieced back together.
He felt like he was floating in mid-air.
Or perhaps it's walking?
There was no solid ground beneath my feet, only a feeling of being stuck in a quagmire.
There were some oddly shaped things piled up in front of them.
The scene was strangely familiar, yet he couldn't remember anything about it for a moment...
Lu Xiaobai continued to "move" aimlessly forward along this rugged road.
What came into view were countless broken statues, depicting the outlines of some unknown monster, shifting and changing shapes in the dim and uncertain light.
Suddenly, a sound came from afar, sometimes near, sometimes far, with a hollow echo.
"Bai... hurry up..."
"...Why is it so slow..."
These sounds...so familiar...like a key suddenly being inserted into the lock of memory, trying to turn the dusty memories, bringing a sharp pain, yet unable to recall any images.
"good…"
"Wait for me!"
"You guys... don't walk so fast! Wait for me!"
Lu Xiaobai seemed to hear his own dry voice echoing in the air, carrying an anxiety that even he himself found unfamiliar.
An inexplicable panic instantly gripped his heart, tightening and tightening!
Front!
There's something ahead!
This is terrible! We must catch up! We must stop it!
The scene before me seemed a little clearer; at least I could tell that it was an endless, oppressive corridor.
He started running, or rather, his consciousness was driving this illusory body to make the motion of running.
He stumbled and struggled forward desperately.
The tattered trench coat was making a rustling sound.
However, no matter how fast he accelerated, the few blurry figures ahead, emitting a faint light, remained at that hopelessly distant distance.
They chatted and laughed, relaxed and at ease, as if they couldn't hear his desperate cries at all:
"Cecilia! Will!"
"Wait for me! Please! Wait for me—!"
Tears blurred my already distorted vision, immense fear swept over me, and a cold, suffocating feeling gripped my throat!
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery shattered again, then reformed!
The light and shadow stabilized instantly, and the colors suddenly became clear. He stood at the end of the corridor, with a figure clearly standing in front of him.
Her long, golden hair had lost its former luster.
Large patches of blackened grime and dark red scabs were haphazardly stuck to her pale, almost transparent cheeks.
That once elegant, form-fitting dress was now tattered and soaked with filthy stains, outlining her tall but slightly trembling figure.
But those eyes...
Like two emeralds covered in dust yet still beautiful, they pierced through the filth, gazing at him with unwavering tenderness.
That beautiful face, stained with blood, actually... managed to force a smile.
It outlines an extremely weak yet incredibly clear smile.
"white……"
His voice was hoarse and weak, like a sigh.
Then, something unexpected happened!
A thick, churning, and seemingly alive jet-black gas suddenly burst forth from inside her body!
They were like countless greedy black venomous snakes, frantically coiling around and gnawing at her body!
"No--!"
Lu Xiaobai's eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a silent roar as he rushed forward madly!
His hands erupted with blinding green light, and healing magic poured out like it was free!
He frantically rummaged through his clothes, pulling out bottles of various colors of medicine. The stoppers popped off, and the liquid splashed haphazardly all over her body!
invalid!
Completely ineffective!
The black aura possessed a despairing corrosive power, ignoring all light and potions!
He watched helplessly as her exposed skin began to swell and change color rapidly, cracking and peeling off like charred tree bark, oozing a nauseating yellowish-green pus!
This horrific festering sore started at her ankle and relentlessly devoured her calf, knee, and thigh... climbing rapidly upwards!
"Don't cry... my Bai..."
The face, being swallowed by darkness, still struggled to maintain that heartbreakingly gentle smile, its voice as soft as a feather falling to the ground.
"One last time... help me, sister..."
"I don't want...I don't want to become that...ugly monster...in front of you..."
Every word of that sentence was like a steel needle, piercing deep into Lu Xiaobai's memory.
Om-! ! !
The fog gradually dissipated as memories resurfaced.
The vivid smile, the desperate wail, the icy touch—all came flooding back to Lu Xiaobai.
Boom! ...
My vision was instantly swallowed by crimson!
The entire corridor! All the passageways! Everything in sight!
All of them burst into flames without warning!
The crimson sea of fire devoured the cold stone statue, emitting a chilling cracking sound!
Beneath their feet was no longer the cold ground, but a viscous, dark red liquid that emitted a strong, pungent, metallic stench!
In the very center of this infernal inferno and pool of blood and corpses, only a small, thin figure covered in terrible wounds remained, curled up on the ground.
He let out a heart-wrenching, desperate wail!
"!!!"
Lu Xiaobai suddenly woke up from the bed.
He instinctively touched the corner of his eye, his fingertips brushing against a cold, damp patch.
……
The next morning,
"Hey, young master, why are you up so late today? The sun's already high in the sky!"
A mocking voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.
Xu Si, a cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned against the doorframe and strode in before Lu Xiaobai could fully process what was happening.
He casually stretched out his arm and draped it over Lu Xiaobai's shoulder. A strong, pungent smell of smoke instantly enveloped them.
Lu Xiaobai frowned deeply, his eyes instantly turning as cold as ice.
He grabbed the cigarette Xu Si was holding in his mouth, and without even looking at it, tossed it away.
The spark traced an arc in the sky before falling to the floor of the hallway outside the door.
"Is there something you need?" His voice was hoarse from just waking up.
"Tsk!" Xu Si was taken aback by this impolite action and helplessly scratched his messy hair.
I thought to myself: This morning grumpiness is just too much!
Who has offended this little devil again?
Was it that arrogant Sandstorm Swallow from yesterday? Or that unlucky Zhang Chulan? It definitely wasn't because of my cigarette!
"Sigh, I heard it from Chairman Zhao," Xu Si tried to ease the tension, a roguish smile plastered on his face.
"Those 'earth-shattering' deeds you've been up to outside! Tsk tsk, I never would have guessed! With your small frame, you're incredibly bold! 'Magician,' you've been hiding your true colors well! Hahaha!"
His response was a merciless kick from Lu Xiaobai, which slammed into his shinbone!
"Ouch, damn it! That hurts!" Xu Si winced in pain, clutching his leg and hopping around. "Xiao Bai! You kicked the ground way too hard!"
Lu Xiaobai didn't even look at him. She threw off the covers, her face cold, and stormed out.
"Hey? Don't go! Wait! It's important! It's important!" At this moment, Xu Si didn't care about the pain anymore and limped after him.
……
After lunch, Xu Si drove Lu Xiaobai out of the city, making several turns before finally stopping in front of a rather new-looking villa.
This place isn't far from the company branch, but it's in a rather remote location, and it's very quiet all around.
There weren't many people around, which suited Lu Xiaobai's "semi-homebody" taste, who liked to stay in the lab.
However, the area around the villa is anything but quiet at this moment.
A dozen or so employees wearing dark brown "NaDuTong" uniforms were working hard.
A large truck was parked at the entrance, and they were chanting as they carefully unloaded one huge metal box after another from the truck.
The boxes varied in size; some looked like refrigerators, while others resembled strange machine tool parts.
Their surfaces gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen, and they looked utterly heavy.
Xu San stood in the center of the courtyard, holding a thick stack of blueprints, referring to them as he gave instructions:
"That one! Yes, the one marked '7A'! Put it in the east basement area!"
"Be careful! Don't bump into the corners!"
"That cylindrical one! Put it in the corner of the reserved laboratory on the second basement level!"
Several burly employees were working together to use their supernatural abilities.
His body shimmered with aura as he struggled to lift a silver-gray metal cabinet that wasn't particularly large, but was clearly unusually heavy.
The veins on their arms were bulging, sweat dripped down their chins, and each step they took made a thud on the ground.
Xu Si and Lu Xiaobai passed by.
"Look, do you see them?" Xu Si gestured with his chin, pointing to the boxes:
"Everything was packed up and shipped back from your precious laboratory in England, exactly as you requested!"
"Good heavens, they chartered two entire large transport planes! The shipping cost... wow!"
He clicked his tongue, his face a mixture of pain and astonishment:
"Little Bai, the speed at which you spend money, and your ability to 'make money'... you're a fucking monster! It's simply indescribable!"
At this moment, Xu San also noticed them.
He walked over quickly, carrying the blueprints, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Little Bai, you've come at the perfect time."
He flipped to a few pages of the blueprints, pointing to the complex structural diagrams:
"These big machines look like precision machine tools. Should we put them in the main laboratory on the second basement level, or...?"
Lu Xiaobai didn't speak, his gaze sweeping over the familiar metal boxes and equipment parts.
He looked up again at the villa that would become the new base, his eyes showing little emotion. He simply nodded slightly, signaling Xu San to continue making arrangements.
Xu San understood and immediately turned around to resume commanding the army.
It wasn't until it was completely dark and all the lights inside and outside the villa were turned on that the last piece of equipment was finally installed with great difficulty.
The employees, exhausted and drenched in sweat, could finally catch their breath.
Xu San wiped his sweat and nodded to Xu Si and Lu Xiaobai:
"That's about it. The basics have all been moved in. You'll have to handle the rest of the software and debugging yourself."
"You're probably the only one who can figure out these strange things."
This secluded villa, starting tonight,
This became the place where Lu Xiaobai, Feng Baobao, and Zhang Chulan, who was temporarily forgotten in the dormitory, would stay for a long time to come.
The air was still filled with the distinctive mixed smell of new furniture and metal equipment.