Chapter 958: The Scapegoat Arrives
"What's going on? Where are they?" the glasses-wearing man asked Xiao Meng beside him.
Xiao Meng was also surprised. "I clearly heard their footsteps!"
The two exchanged a glance and, without a word, turned back to search for the others. But as they passed through the areas they had just traversed, they found no trace of their remaining companions. Along the way, there were no signs of any struggle—the open doors and placed objects remained exactly as they were. It was as if those eight people had vanished into thin air!
The laboratory was brightly lit, yet the glasses-wearing man felt an eerie chill. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Search!"
While the glasses-wearing man searched for his companions, the eight missing players were also anxiously looking for their captain. However, they were no longer on the same floor. Although they had gone up and down stairs twice, they had never actually left the fifth floor where Xu Huo had taken them.
The control range of the spiritual realm had extended vertically, another benefit of further spiritual evolution. Of course, Xu Huo did not use his library tower, as the R1 laboratory itself was an excellent venue for execution.
The venue was complex, with numerous rooms, many of which stored pathogens or toxins. Even knowing the layout of the laboratory, the enforcement team could not move about recklessly. On the contrary, they would actively avoid high-risk areas to prevent more severe consequences.
Their fear of the virus made them more cautious.
Killing them might not be easy, but trapping them in the laboratory was not difficult.
Of course, some players were harder to interfere with, but Xu Huo only tried once with such individuals before skipping them.
The number of people moving within the R1 building was steadily decreasing. After repeatedly failing to contact his teammates, the baseball cap-wearing man took out a fluorescent prop and held it in his hand.
Under the glow, the overall appearance of the laboratory did not change much, but some traces that should not have been there appeared in the corridor.
A teammate stepped forward to identify them. "This is Da Liu's prop."
Following the trail of prop marks, they arrived at a cultivation room. Opening the door, they saw a man standing with his back to them.
"Da Liu?" the teammate called out, but the man did not turn around.
The baseball cap-wearing man and his teammate did not approach. Instead, they used a turning prop to make Da Liu face them. He was neither dead nor injured, but his eyes were vacant, lost in self-induced hallucinations. A foolish grin was on his face, and his right hand was fumbling around his crotch.
The baseball cap-wearing man's expression darkened. He had his companion wake Da Liu up, then turned to face the corridor and said, "Humiliating enforcement team players like this—you will pay the price!"
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a white spiral staircase appeared before him. Without hesitation, the baseball cap-wearing man leaped onto it.
He did not need to climb himself; the spiral staircase automatically transported him upward. The scenery around him kept changing, and soon they were no longer in the laboratory building. But the baseball cap-wearing man remained calm. When the staircase reached a certain height, he suddenly pushed off with both feet and jumped into the darkness.
Passing through the darkness, he landed on solid ground. Looking up, he saw a man dressed in clown attire standing ahead. Their eyes met, and one turned to run while the other gave chase.
"Hee hee!" A strange laugh echoed through the space. The baseball cap-wearing man followed the sound, but saw only darkness.
He was unsure if anyone was in the darkness, but in this space, only a glowing path connected him to the clown man. Everything beyond a meter was pitch black.
"Hee hee!" The sound came from ahead again. The baseball cap-wearing man focused and saw the clown man standing in front of a door, smiling at him as if waiting.
The baseball cap-wearing man slashed at the "clown man" with his sword, watching his figure disappear through the door before giving chase.
The two passed through six doors one after another. When they reached a white, doorless space, the clown man stopped and faced the baseball cap-wearing man. He kept a smile on his face, but his lips did not move as a voice emerged:
"Do you know about the SE virus?"
The baseball cap-wearing man paused slightly, about to speak, when the clown man continued, "Someone transported the original sample into W37. The virus is now spreading through the city."
"Wasn't it you outsider players who brought the virus sample here?" the baseball cap-wearing man gritted out. "Killing so many people just to clear the instance—people like you are a waste of food on this earth!"
The clown man dodged his attack, hopping and skipping through the space, repeatedly circling behind him to provoke him.
The baseball cap-wearing man soon realized he had fallen into the other's trap. After another failed attack, he turned and threw out a crescent-shaped prop.
A crescent door appeared ahead. He leaped into it without hesitation, but the clown man followed him in. With his hands behind his head, the clown man floated beside him in a graceful posture. No matter how fast the baseball cap-wearing man went, he could not shake him off!
Furious, the baseball cap-wearing man grabbed a micro-bomb and was about to throw it. But at that moment, the ever-elusive clown man suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm, speaking in a low voice, "Do you know who released the original sample into W37?"
The baseball cap-wearing man punched him, unsurprisingly passing through the clown man's phantom. But as the phantom dissolved before his eyes, he found himself back in the laboratory—he had been standing still the whole time!
Before he could process his shock and fear, a voice drifted to his ear: "W37."
The baseball cap-wearing man's pupils trembled. He spun around and saw several enforcement team members emerging from different places, all wearing the same bewildered expression. "What just happened?"
Before they could fully come to their senses, a call came from the temporary command center, informing them that someone had just forcibly broken through the blockade!
"Chase!" The baseball cap-wearing man hurried out with his team. When he met the colleagues who had been guarding the laboratory, he asked which direction the clown man had fled.
The colleague opposite him was taken aback. "What clown man? No one came out of the laboratory!"
The baseball cap-wearing man immediately caught on. He looked around: the teammates who had participated in the assault on the laboratory were now mixed in with other enforcement team players. Every face seemed familiar, and he could not tell the real from the fake at a glance!
Breaking through the illusion successfully was fake. The call from the command center was fake. The clown man had had so many chances to kill but did not—all to blend into the enforcement team and escape the laboratory!
Unwilling to let Xu Huo get away so easily, the baseball cap-wearing man quickly contacted the command center, ordering them to detain all players present.
Although they reacted quickly, the enforcement team was too large. The brief chaos before they could organize and screen everyone was enough for him to make several trips.
"Clown man... clown man!" The baseball cap-wearing man gritted out the name. Just as he was about to propose a city-wide manhunt, an enforcement team player approached and reported, "Team 13 has discovered an outer zone player wearing a clown suit at the 06 canopy pillar!"
(Chapter End)