"You're courting death!" The short old man's mind was clear, but his expression was sinister. "You're courting death!" He suddenly retreated, and the door to the laboratory slammed shut, isolating him from Lu Yin. The next moment, the laboratory shook as a black stream of air emerged from all directions, filling the entire underground area in the blink of an eye and sealing off all escape routes.
Lu Yin frowned and pressed his pike against the door. He suddenly exerted some force, causing the door to crack open. There was a loud explosion as the door completely shattered. There was a loud roar as the zombie charged out and rammed into Lu Yin.
Lu Yin dodged with Secret Sidestep, and the zombie charged into the black stream of air. Its roar came to an abrupt end, and its entire body twitched before completely vanishing.
Lu Yin's scalp went numb, and he leapt into the laboratory, only to be greeted by the short old man's berserk attacks. The short old man had put on his metal coat, and Lu Yin dodged with Secret Sidestep. The void split open where he had been standing, and the entire forest was pierced through.
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed. The short old man was only a Cruiser, and his Hunter rune lines came from his metal coat, which could defend against a Hunter's attacks.
"Keke, I didn't think that such an interesting test subject would show up. Stay here and accompany my little babies!" The short old man laughed maniacally as his body rammed into Lu Yin.
Lu Yin's eyes widened, and his forcefield tree appeared. Its branches immediately bound the short old man. "Thirty Stacks, Hundredfold Shockwave Palm!" Dozens of explosions shook the ground and caused the void to crack. The powerful palm force sent the short old man flying into the black stream of air outside the laboratory.
The metal coat cracked open, and the black stream of air flowed through the cracks. The short old man's mournful wails could be heard.
He had never expected that Lu Yin would be able to injure a Hunter as an Explorer. A metal coat that could withstand a Hunter's attack was not bad, but there were differences in strength, and Lu Yin's attack had just surpassed that.
The wails quickly disappeared.
Lu Yin stared outside the laboratory. What exactly was this black stream of air?
It could not spread out, or else Shenwu Continent would be finished.
Just as Lu Yin was thinking of a plan, the black stream of air seemed to have a mind of its own as it surged towards the small old man's metal coat. It did not seem to be spreading, but rather … absorbing.
What appeared in front of Lu Yin's eyes was a monster that exuded a black aura, and its rune lines had multiplied by several times.
"Keke, since I dared to create death energy, why would I be afraid of it? Stay here!" The short old man's entire body was emitting a black gas, and even his facial features couldn't be seen. He was like a cloud of smoke as he viciously charged at Lu Yin. He didn't seem to know any battle techniques and could only use such primitive attacks.
Lu Yin dodged and stared at the short old man, "Did you just say death qi?"
"Hehe, little brat, have you heard of death aura as well?" The short old man laughed strangely and charged at Lu Yin again.
Lu Yin dodged again. "The Specter Race's death energy?"
"You're quite knowledgeable. Even within the Neohuman Alliance, there are many people who don't know about the Specter Race, but an outsider like you actually knows about them. This makes me even more interested in you. Right, I remember now. You're the one who brought people to destroy Mingdu and destroyed the Neohuman Alliance's largest experimental base on the Shenwu Continent. You seem to be quite famous."
Lu Yin dodged with Secret Sidestep, and the two of them moved underground, one chasing and the other dodging. It was quite a comical sight.
"Don't even think about escaping. You won't be able to. Stay here, or else I'll go to Shanhai City and capture that little girl." The short old man laughed strangely.
Lu Yin's gaze turned sharp. "You were the one who poisoned Ming Zhaoshu?"
"Keke, that's right."
"Why?
With your strength, it wouldn't have been difficult to kill him. Why poison him? "
"It's just an experiment. I'm not interested in anything else other than my treasures. The data on Ming Zhaoshu's poisoning is precious experimental data. Don't worry, once he's dead, that little girl will be next. None of them will be able to escape. They're all my experimental data and my treasures. Keke."
Lu Yin's gaze turned cold as he stared at the short old man. He circulated the Sirius Art around his body, and the short old man charged at him. Every movement was clearly seen, but Lu Yin didn't act rashly. Instead, he dodged to the side with Secret Sidestep and raised a hand to press down on the short old man. Just as his hand was about to touch the black gas, he suddenly pulled back and retreated a hundred meters.
"What you're creating isn't death energy," Lu Yin said in a low voice.
The short old man sneered. "What do you know? This is death energy."
Lu Yin raised his head. If it was death energy, there was no way he wouldn't recognize it. When he had fought with Faceless in front of the Sea King's Trident, he had sensed death energy. He could sense it, and he could even suppress it.
Faceless was a member of the Specter Clan, and Lu Yin had guessed that it was because he had suppressed Faceless' death energy that Faceless had treated him with respect and even obeyed his orders.
Regardless of whether Lu Yin's guess was right or wrong, it was true that he could sense death energy. However, the black gas in front of him didn't give him that familiar feeling. It looked like death energy, but it definitely wasn't. It might just be a type of poisonous gas.
"This isn't death energy," Lu Yin repeated.
The short old man was enraged. "It's death energy! It's death energy! I can create death energy! This is death energy!" As he spoke, he looked a little crazy as he viciously charged at Lu Yin.
Whether or not this was death energy was something that Lu Yin would know with a single test. Lu Yin had once merged with a Specter Clan member's body, and he knew how terrifying death energy was. This was also the reason why he hadn't put on his universal armor to face this attack head-on. He couldn't guarantee that his universal armor would be able to withstand death energy, and he had been intimidated by it. But now that he was sure that this wasn't death energy, there was nothing to be afraid of.
Lu Yin raised his spear and took advantage of the short old man's charge to boost his seven-lined battle force. He thrust the spear forward, and it flew out of his hand and ruthlessly pierced into the short old man's body. The old man was pinned to the wall, and the defensive items that had blocked the spear's attack were instantly shattered.
The short old man howled in anguish, and this time, he was truly howling as fresh blood flowed down the wall.
The black gas actually flowed into the short old man's body through his bleeding wound, and an even more mournful howl rang out. The short old man only lasted for ten seconds before he turned into nothingness just like the zombie.
Where he had been standing, the black gas fused with his blood and transformed into black blood that corroded the ground.
Lu Yin looked at the puddle of black blood on the ground and used his star energy to create flames that burned the black blood into nothingness.
Sure enough, it wasn't death energy, as it wasn't that easy to get rid of.
Lu Yin retrieved his spear and the short old man's body vanished, leaving behind only a pile of clothes on the ground.
The black gas did not cause any damage to the clothes at all, which was quite strange.
Aside from the pile of clothes, there was also a stone tablet and a bottle. Lu Yin picked them up and looked at them. The stone tablet was very thin, and it was similar to a book. The pages could be flipped, and each page recorded some data from an experiment.
"Optimal kill count for the giant zombie — 2,395 zombies."
"Analysis of the composition of death energy …"
…
There were many pages on the stone tablet, and each one was very thin. Most of the information recorded was incomprehensible, but there was one page that caught Lu Yin's attention because he saw Ming Zhaoshu's name.
"Experimental Subject Ming Zhaoshu, Cruiser realm power level, comprehended a forcefield, comparable to a Hunter. Poisoned Death No.91, estimated to last for at most a month …"
This page recorded Ming Zhaoshu's daily changes, from his diet to his mood, to the speed at which he handled government affairs, and so on. Below each change was the short old man's analysis.
Lu Yin read through the entire page and felt an inexplicable chill.
Ming Zhaoshu was like an experimental subject that was being observed, but he was completely unaware of it.
How was the short old man observing him?
Distance did not mean much to powerhouses like them, and it did not take them long to cross the entire Shenwu Continent, so time was not an issue. However, Ming Zhaoshu had comprehended a forcefield, and yet he was being observed in such a manner. If he could do that, then what about Ming Yan?
Also, what was this poison called Death No.91? Lu Yin thought of the bottle on the ground and looked at it. Could it be this?
There was a drop of colorless liquid in the bottle, so it was very likely that this was the poison.
His domain swept through the underground and dealt with the zombies in the other laboratories. Lu Yin then buried the underground space and walked out.
As soon as he emerged, he saw an Explorer's rune lines rapidly approaching him.
It was a middle-aged woman, and Lu Yin found her familiar. He suddenly recalled that she was one of Ming Zhaoshu's maids.
He suddenly understood why the short old man had been able to monitor Ming Zhaoshu's every move. So this was the reason.
The middle-aged woman arrived at the top of the underground space and skillfully found the tunnel that led to the underground space. However, as soon as she entered, she retreated with a pale face and leaped up to leave.
"Since you're here, then stay," a calm voice rang out. Lu Yin moved and flicked his finger, causing a gust of wind to shatter the woman's knee and knock her to the ground.
She looked at Lu Yin, who was sitting on a tree and looking at her indifferently. "It's you?"
Lu Yin jumped down from the tree and walked to her side. "So you're the one who poisoned Ming Zhaoshu, and you're also the one who sent news of his situation here."
The woman was terrified, and her face went pale. "I-I didn't want to! That monster poisoned me, and if I didn't do as I was told, I would have been eaten by other monsters. I beg you, please don't kill me and don't tell His Majesty. I beg you."
"Aside from poisoning Ming Zhaoshu and sending news here regularly, what else were you ordered to do?" Lu Yin asked.
The middle-aged woman hurriedly replied, "Nothing else. He only told me to monitor His Majesty and nothing else."
Lu Yin took out a bottle. "Is this the poison he asked you to use?"
The woman looked at the bottle with deep fear in her eyes. "Yes, this is it."
Lu Yin nodded and slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground and die.
Lu Yin had found the cause and solved the problem, but there was no cure for Ming Zhaoshu's poison. The last page had specifically mentioned a poison called Death Poison Number 91, and the short old man had no way to cure it himself. That was why he had poisoned Ming Zhaoshu. He wanted to use Ming Zhaoshu's experimental data to create an antidote. At the same time, as long as Ming Zhaoshu died, Shenwu Continent would descend into chaos, and war would break out everywhere. This would also allow the old man to obtain more experimental subjects and blood to feed the giant Corpse King.
The short old man's plan was very good, and he had killed two birds with one stone. Lu Yin was glad that he had found the old man, as even if Ming Yan had succeeded the throne, she would have suffered the same fate as Ming Zhaoshu.
Lu Yin now deeply understood why the entire universe viewed the Neohuman Alliance as a great enemy, and why they would be destroyed if they encountered them. This organization possessed the deepest darkness and was devoid of humanity.