LABMY CH93.2

Wang Li had thought it through. Normally, this “Mr. Bai” was quite easygoing. Last night, he didn’t actually kill them, and now he was even letting them go.

Following “Mr. Bai” clearly had a higher chance of survival than going out alone.

Aunt Liu yanked him back, “Are you crazy? Aren’t you afraid of him?”

She paused, carefully glanced at Jian Yuanbai, and lowered her voice, “Aren’t you afraid he’ll kill you?”

“Besides… Shen Nian is very likely infected. When that happens…”

By then, they would become Shen Nian’s food.

Wang Li didn’t respond and simply knelt down, “Please, Mr. Bai.”

Jian Yuanbai originally didn’t want to agree, but when he heard the title “Mr. Bai,” a thought crossed his mind. He still needed someone to cover for him while pretending to be Shen Nian’s stepfather. So, he said, “Suit yourself.”

In the end, aside from Wang Li, Su Su also chose to follow them. Aunt Liu hesitated over and over again. Seeing the wound on her son Wu Tian’s neck, she was already terrified of Jian Yuanbai. Moreover, she was genuinely afraid that if Shen Nian turned into a monster, Jian Yuanbai wouldn’t kill Shen Nian but would instead target them.

Watching the others leave, Aunt Liu pulled Wu Tian, “Son, let’s go.”

Wu Tian touched his face gloomily, “Where are we going?”

Aunt Liu: “Let’s find a car first.”

She knew how to drive. The priority now was finding a vehicle. “Preferably one that’s unlocked.”

They were lucky. They actually found a car, and there were even a few packs of biscuits inside, likely left by the owner as snacks.

Wu Tian looked at Aunt Liu, who had been sitting in the driver’s seat for a while without moving. He pushed her, confused, “Mom, what are you thinking? Drive!”

Aunt Liu suddenly turned her head. Her eyes were spinning crazily, rolling to the far left and then suddenly upwards, darting up and down, left and right in a frenzy. Yet, she said with a stiff smile, “Alright, son. Mom’s driving now.”

In that instant, Wu Tian’s heart nearly stopped. He couldn’t speak. His throat felt blocked, and his body instinctively shrank back. His hand was on the car door handle, but he was too weak to open it.

He cautiously called out, “Mom?”

Aunt Liu’s eyes rolled even more violently, and faint scales began to surface on her face. Her expression and speech became dull, “What is it, son?”

Wu Tian didn’t respond this time. With a soft click, the car door opened, and Wu Tian bolted out without looking back.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered—back at the supermarket, his mom had been swiped by the monster’s tail.

How ridiculous. The one who was infected wasn’t Shen Nian—it was his mom.

No… no… no.

He couldn’t run. Hearing the footsteps chasing behind him, Wu Tian abruptly stopped. He knew he couldn’t outrun his mother, who had already mutated.

He remembered that during the early stages of mutation, there was still some rationality left, just like that monster in the supermarket.

Looking at Aunt Liu, who was quickly catching up, Wu Tian forced himself to suppress his fear and said, “Mom, why did you get out of the car? You don’t want to drive?”

Aunt Liu’s sluggish brain was confused by Wu Tian’s words. She momentarily forgot that it was Wu Tian who got out of the car first.

Wu Tian quickly added, “Then I’ll drive, Mom.”

Saying this, he hurried back to the driver’s seat. When Aunt Liu approached the car door, he suddenly slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

Bang!

A loud crash echoed. Wu Tian’s eyes lit up with joy—he did it!

Without a single glance at Aunt Liu, whom he had just run over, Wu Tian pressed on the accelerator, trying to escape this place. But after all, he had never learned how to drive. The only reason he successfully hit Aunt Liu was that she was too close. After driving just a short distance, he crashed into the roadside guardrail.

The crash wasn’t severe. Wu Tian was unharmed. Still shaken, he got out of the car and saw, not far away, a blood-covered figure slowly rising from the ground.

One of Aunt Liu’s eyeballs had rolled to the ground and was spinning wildly, but her body staggered to its feet.

Terrified, Wu Tian turned and ran.

Behind him came frantic footsteps and Aunt Liu’s increasingly distorted voice:

“Son… son… Mom doesn’t blame you… why are you running?”

“I’m your mom… don’t run, let’s go together… don’t run, okay?”

With her words, Aunt Liu kept closing in on Wu Tian, her voice becoming more and more insane:

“Are you afraid of Mom? I’m your mom! Why are you afraid of Mom?!”

Bang!

Wu Tian was pinned to the ground. Aunt Liu’s face pressed against his, her eyeballs spinning as if they would pop out of their sockets.

“I’m your mom, Tian Tian… Are you afraid of Mom?”

“Don’t be scared… don’t be scared…”

She extended her abnormally long tongue, thick and slimy, with disgusting fluids dripping onto Wu Tian’s face.

Wu Tian trembled with fear, “Mom… I’m not afraid… Please, get up…”

Aunt Liu shook her head, “You’re crying. Don’t cry, son. Let Mom wipe your tears.”

Her abnormally long tongue suddenly pierced through Wu Tian’s eyeball.

A horrifying scream echoed through the streets as Wu Tian struggled violently, like a fish on a chopping board.

His screams grew louder and louder until, suddenly, they stopped.

Only the chilling sound of chewing and bones being crushed echoed in the cold, gray sky.

The world seemed to grow colder.

Aunt Liu—or rather, the monster she had become—slowly stood up. Her face was covered in scales, her long tongue hung out, and sharp bone spikes protruded from her back.

Step by step, she staggered into the gray, misty world.

The place where it once stood was now a glaring pool of blood and flesh fragments, silently narrating what had occurred.

If anyone had witnessed this scene, they would have been shocked by how quickly Aunt Liu mutated, as if her pollution had been suppressed all along and suddenly erupted with unstoppable force.

But no one saw it. Only the dented, headless car on the side of the street bore silent witness to this tragedy.

Jian Yuanbai and the others had no idea what had happened to Aunt Liu. They drove out of the city and onto the highway, quickly leaving Z City.

Once they passed through the next city, they would reach S City.

Wang Li, who was driving, glanced at Jian Yuanbai through the rearview mirror and cautiously suggested, “Why don’t we find a place nearby to rest?”

“We’ve been driving all day,” he hurriedly added, “I’m not saying I’m tired, but driving while fatigued can easily lead to accidents.”

Despite his words, his fear of Jian Yuanbai was evident.

Shen Nian silently glanced at Jian Yuanbai, thinking about how terrifying the man must be to make Wang Li this anxious. But then, remembering the psychological trauma Jian Yuanbai had caused him, Shen Nian chose to remain silent, feeling a strange sense of shared suffering.

Jian Yuanbai cast a glance at Wang Li and said flatly, “You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

“As long as you don’t do anything, I won’t do anything.”

Wang Li visibly relaxed. He found a suitable spot, turned off the engine, and got out of the car.

Carrying their bags, they entered a motel. The door wasn’t locked and opened with a gentle push. Inside, it was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the night wind echoing through the hallways.

Wang Li glanced at Jian Yuanbai, but seeing that he had no intention of checking for monsters, he dared not speak up.

He wanted to suggest they stay in the same room for safety, but knowing Jian Yuanbai would never agree, he and Su Su simply followed him toward the rooms.

Even if they couldn’t share the same room, staying in adjacent rooms was better than nothing.

The night was dark, with only dim night lights mounted every ten meters along the corridor.

Suddenly, a faint rustling sound echoed, making Wang Li and Su Su tense up and look around in fear.

They saw nothing, but the rustling grew louder and more intense.

In the darkness, the sound resembled the scuttling of insects, and the dense, crawling noise sent chills down their spines.

“Mr. Bai… Did you hear that?” Wang Li asked nervously, trembling.

A soft “plop” sound echoed, barely noticeable amid the rustling.

Shen Nian felt something crawling on him. He reached out and grabbed it, bringing it to his eyes. It was a black, palm-sized creature with a human face… and it was smiling at him.

In the dim light and due to his severe nearsightedness, Shen Nian couldn’t see clearly. He held it out to Jian Yuanbai. “What is this?”

“Nothing, just a spider,” Jian Yuanbai replied.

As he spoke, the spider moved in Shen Nian’s hand.

“F***!”

Shen Nian jumped three feet high and immediately flung the human-faced spider away. At that moment, the sound of countless things falling filled the air.

Realizing that the most reliable person around was Jian Yuanbai, Shen Nian didn’t hesitate to shout, “Little Dad!”

Jian Yuanbai wasted no time. He scooped Shen Nian up and bolted. With Shen Nian’s poor eyesight, he couldn’t be left to run alone.

Wang Li quickly grabbed Su Su and yelled, “What are you waiting for? Run!”

From the ceiling, countless human-faced spiders poured down, forming a brown, wriggling carpet that chased after them.

To Shen Nian, it was like a moving brown mass. His scalp tingled. “Little Dad, can’t you do something about them?”

Jian Yuanbai glanced back. “There are too many. We’d have to set them on fire.”

“Besides… these things seem…”

Shen Nian asked, “Seem like what?”

“I can’t explain,” Jian Yuanbai replied while sprinting up the stairs to the second floor.

Suddenly, a voice called out, “Over here!”

In one of the rooms on the second floor, someone was waving at them.

Jian Yuanbai didn’t hesitate and rushed in with Shen Nian. Despite carrying someone, he was just as fast as Wang Li and Su Su.

As soon as they entered, the door slammed shut, and the iron door instantly turned red-hot.

The sizzling sound of burning filled the air, and the smell of scorched flesh seeped through the cracks. The sound gradually faded, leaving only silence.

Either the spiders were burned to ashes, or they had retreated.

Curious, Shen Nian reached out to touch the iron door, which had returned to its original color.

“Don’t touch it,” Jian Yuanbai said, grabbing his hand. “It may look cool, but it’s still hot enough to take your skin off.”

The person who saved them added, “He’s right. If you touch it, your skin will peel right off.”

Jian Yuanbai nodded. “Thank you.”

The man shook his head. “No need to thank me. In times like this, we should help each other.”

“But I didn’t help you for free. Do you have any medical supplies?”

Jian Yuanbai glanced at him, appreciating his honesty. “I have some hemostatic medicine. Will that help?”

“Perfect,” the man replied.

Jian Yuanbai put Shen Nian down and retrieved the medicine from his backpack.

Before Shen Nian and the others could thank him, the man said, “Thanks for the medicine, but under the current circumstances, it’s best if you don’t stay in the same room with me for too long.”

“I’ll take you to another room. Lock the doors and windows, block the drains, and don’t open anything until morning.”

Wang Li, still terrified of the spiders, immediately agreed, “Yes, yes! We’ll stay together for safety.”

The man looked troubled. “It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you. It’s just… inconvenient.”

With a sigh, he led them inside the suite, where a man with a burnt back lay on the bed. Even through the burn, the bite marks were visible.

“I’m Qu Wenxuan, and this is my college roommate, Yang Jinhang,” he explained. “He was bitten by a pollutant. I can’t guarantee he won’t mutate.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Li and Su Su instinctively took a step back. Remembering what happened with Jian Yuanbai earlier, Wang Li didn’t dare suggest locking Yang Jinhang in with them.

Jian Yuanbai spoke up, “It’s fine, I can help.”

Shen Nian immediately grabbed him, his eyes full of disapproval. He glanced at Wang Li and Susu, then at Yang Jinhang lying on the bed, and said to Wang Li and Susu, “You two wait outside.”

After the two left, Shen Nian pulled Jian Yuanbai aside and lowered his voice, saying, “Do you know how dangerous it will be if others find out about your ability? If people learn that you can eliminate contamination, you’ll be in great danger.”

“Are you really going to save this person?”

Jian Yuanbai: … Huh?

“You can save him?” Qu Wenxuan, who was standing by the bed, suddenly spoke up.

Faced with Shen Nian’s wary gaze that turned to him, Qu Wenxuan smiled apologetically, “Sorry, after awakening my abilities, my five senses have been enhanced a lot.”

Qu Wenxuan walked over and looked at Jian Yuanbai with a determined expression, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but if you can save him, my life is yours.”

For the first time, Jian Yuanbai felt that his mind and Shen Nian’s were completely on different wavelengths. When did he ever say he could save Yang Jinhang??

What he meant by helping was that if Yang Jinhang mutated, he could help… eliminate him.

Shen Nian looked at Jian Yuanbai, who only wished he could turn back time. He swore he would never speak so carelessly again. How could he even dare to say he could eliminate pollution?

The system suddenly said, “You can try.”

Since Aunt Liu’s incident happened not too far from where they had left, and the system had already received rewards from several small-world missions, it could detect the situation clearly.

“You might be able to suppress the pollution. Just maybe.”

At this point, Jian Yuanbai couldn’t tell Shen Nian that he had been bluffing, nor could he guarantee that the system was right. He could only say to Qu Wenxuan, “I can only try. If it doesn’t work—”

Qu Wenxuan interrupted, “If it doesn’t work, then it’s fate. I won’t blame you.”

And so, he listened to Shen Nian’s nonsense theory about Jian Yuanbai’s so-called supernatural ability. For a moment, he couldn’t decide whether to believe it or not.

However, after Shen Nian revealed the wound on his back and shared his experience, Qu Wenxuan’s doubtful gaze turned firm, and he looked at Jian Yuanbai with admiration.

From the system, Jian Yuanbai learned that he only needed to keep Yang Jinhang by his side. At that moment, he felt like he was witnessing some bizarre cult ceremony.

This was truly a “Long Aotian’s Cult Believer Recruitment Conference” belonging to Shen Nian.

The heavily injured Yang Jinhang was shaken awake. His consciousness hadn’t fully returned, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Qu Wenxuan’s anxious face, his mouth moving as if saying something.

Yang Jinhang struggled to listen and heard Qu Wenxuan urging him, “Jinhang, hurry up and say: ‘My fate is mine to control, not the heavens. I refuse to become a monster, not even the heavens can change me!'”

“Hurry up and say it!”

Yang Jinhang blinked several times, unable to process what was happening.

Am I… dead?

I must be dead, right?

Otherwise, why would I be hearing Qu Wenxuan making me say such cringe-worthy lines when I’m on the verge of death?

Am I now trapped in some strange fantasy after death?

I haven’t even read that many “Long Aotian” novels…