Chapter 447: The Insider
Dr. Deng nodded, sharing the same opinion. "So it's best to search through the corpse pile now. The potion might be hidden there."
"You mentioned earlier that Professor Wu had a hobby of painting. Has anyone analyzed his works?"
In Xu Huo's view, Professor Wu's paintings all had a very unique perspective—most were from a low vantage point looking out the window, which should have some special significance.
"Psychological experts have analyzed it. They think he might have had a child, but the child died young," Dr. Deng said.
Xu Huo nodded. That made sense, but his painting style was too dark. Both inside and outside the window were filled with despair. This was definitely not the normal psychological state of a father mourning his child. He must have projected himself into the child's perspective, observing the surroundings from that angle.
He wondered how much this had to do with him hiding the S-grade Evolution Potion.
Regardless, they still needed to confirm whether the potion was in the corpse pile.
Chu Yuan and Gan Qing returned, bringing back the severely injured Wu Xiaonan, as well as Qiu Xiangdong, who had disappeared without a trace long ago.
Wu Xiaonan's face was deathly pale, with large patches of blood on her chest and back. Judging by the tears in her clothes, it should be a penetrating wound. Normally, she wouldn't have survived.
"Qiu Xiangdong helped me out," Wu Xiaonan said, struggling to speak. "Miao Yu and that Kong siblings are in cahoots. After you left, she suddenly turned on me and wounded me. She was the one who stabbed me with that sword. If Qiu Xiangdong hadn't used a prop to fake my death, I definitely wouldn't have made it!"
Qiu Xiangdong, dressed in a tropical-style shirt and shorts, nodded slightly. "It's nothing. I hid myself just to deal with this kind of situation."
"So you already knew there was something fishy about this Deep Blue Laboratory instance?" Xu Huo asked.
"A little bit." Qiu Xiangdong gestured. "I found it strange after arriving on the island. The instances departing from Sayre Coast all have some rumors circulating, but this Deep Blue Laboratory instance couldn't even be found in the underground market. After I left, I was followed for a while."
"This place is completely under the control of the Bolen Clan. For an instance to be so tightly sealed, there must be a reason. The Bolen Clan wouldn't just let outside players waltz in carelessly. So I figured there must be Bolen Clan people among us. That's why I hid in advance, mainly to protect myself."
"But who would have thought the Bolen Clan would be so insane, refusing to let any player leave alive."
"My profession is a firefighter. I lent a hand when Wan Yunrong was caught by Kong Cheng, but I didn't come out..." He said, looking at Xu Huo. "You probably noticed, right?"
Xu Huo nodded slightly. The fire hose that flew out at the time was in the wrong position and didn't belong to any of the other players present.
"Later, when you guys started fighting, I saw the situation was bad, so I seized the opportunity to save Wu Xiaonan." Qiu Xiangdong said frankly. "Don't blame me for not coming out to help. Those two Kong siblings are too fierce."
He looked at Chu Yuan as he spoke. "That coffin prop of yours looked like it was a pretty high level, but he split it open with one slash."
Mentioning this made Chu Yuan wince in pain. He had just gone over and seen the wreckage of his prop. Anger surged on his face. "Good thing we captured Dr. Deng, or we would have definitely died at their hands."
"Don't think too highly of it," Qiu Xiangdong said. "If it were you, would you just let us leave like this?"
No one present said a word. They were just stalling the Kong siblings for a while. If it dragged on too long, it was hard to say what would happen.
Qiu Xiangdong looked around at everyone and added, "There's still half the instance time left. I estimate they'll wait until tonight at most. And we can't really kill Dr. Deng."
Dr. Deng was only useful as a bargaining chip while he was alive. Killing him would be a scorched-earth move. If the Kong siblings hardened their hearts, they would really be in a bind.
"The only way now is to find what they're looking for."
Xu Huo glanced at him. "You know what they're looking for?"
"The potion." Qiu Xiangdong said. "I overheard their conversation. Also, I've searched all over the lab. The only place where something could be hidden is the corpse pile on the third underground floor. We need to go there."
Dr. Deng couldn't help but glance at Xu Huo, who simply nodded. "That's our only chance of winning."
The group acted immediately and took the nearest elevator down.
After they got out, Chu Yuan said, "There are so many corpses. How are we supposed to search? What if that potion is hidden inside a body? Do we have to cut them open to check?"
Dr. Deng made a disgusted face. "The potion has certain storage requirements. Even if sealed in multiple layers of containers, it can't be placed inside a corpse."
Chu Yuan pointed at the corpse pile with a speechless expression. "Do you think there's a difference?"
Dr. Deng wasn't sure either.
"The only way to know is to look." Xu Huo looked at Qiu Xiangdong. "You're a firefighter. Do you have a way to handle these corpses and mutant plants?"
"I do, but it requires multiple people to cooperate," Qiu Xiangdong said.
"Tell us how to cooperate first," Chu Yuan said, lifting his chin.
"Body collection bags." Qiu Xiangdong took out a black body bag and pointed at several rivets on it. "If different people pull on this bag, the corpses within the coverage area will be automatically collected. At the same time, it will expel all artificial traces inside the bodies, including jewelry and medical equipment."
"That sounds simple..." Chu Yuan reached out, but Xu Huo stopped him. He asked, "Are there any side effects?"
Qiu Xiangdong didn't lie. He said directly, "The workers will feel tired, but after one round of work, you can rest for ten minutes, and you'll be back to normal."
"How about we give it a try?" Wu Xiaonan said. "It's not realistic to check them one by one."
Out of caution, Gan Qing said, "We can cooperate, but you have to go first."
Qiu Xiangdong didn't hesitate. He opened the collection bag. "I need one more person."
"I'll do it," Wu Xiaonan said. "You just saved my life. I trust you."
Qiu Xiangdong and each held a rivet and pulled the bag open, opening facing down. The bag was like a black hole, automatically sucking the corpses in. Then the items on the bodies would fall out. Once they were clean, the bag would spit out the cleaned corpse and quickly suck in the next one.
The whole process took only a few seconds. So in three minutes, Qiu Xiangdong and the other had cleared a small mountain.
Moving corpses inevitably stirred up dust. The group put on protective masks. Seeing that Qiu Xiangdong and Wu Xiaonan really didn't seem to have changed much, Gan Qing and Chu Yuan also came up to help.
"Dr. Deng doesn't need to." Xu Huo grabbed the edge of the collection bag and motioned for Dr. Deng to stand behind him. "We're players. We have better stamina."
Qiu Xiangdong nodded. With the extra effort, the collection bag was enlarged a bit. "The more people, the bigger the bag's space, and the greater the workload."
So the group stepped back separately. The collection bag was like a high-speed machine, rapidly swallowing and spitting out the rotting corpses.
(End of chapter)