Tomb raiding: Today is another day I don't want to go home.

Chapter 132 The Surviving Experimenters

"Um... Master just, just..." Just what?!

As a powerful system capable of generating emotions, Qi Yu was forced to the point of being speechless. It looked at Yan Huai, then at Zhang Qiling, and found disbelief in both of their eyes.

"The master probably felt... that your eyes and eyelashes were in pain! That's why he wanted to blow on them for you, that must be it!"

Zhang Qiling: "..." I don't believe it.

He sheathed the black gold ancient sword, glanced at Yan Huai with a strange expression, and then walked towards the wall at the end of the passage.

Yan Huai, feeling that he had done something terrible, closed his eyes tightly in annoyance, looked at Zhang Qiling's receding figure, opened his mouth, and finally followed a few steps behind her meekly.

As for the blood-stained mark left unnecessarily by Black Glasses in the middle of the passage... Hmm~ For the ghosts to see~

Inside the third level of the Wang family's underground palace, Black Glasses was leaning against the wall, cursing and rubbing his aching back. This was the scene Xie Lianrui saw when he gracefully jumped down the mechanism passage.

"Xie Lianrui!"

"Hey!"

"You bastard!" Black Glasses pointed his finger at Xie Lianrui's nose, gritting his teeth. "You knew perfectly well that Master Hei was standing on the mechanism, yet you pressed it before Master Hei even left. What were you up to, you stinking Taoist priest!"

"Qi Shanren, I already warned you!" Xie Lianrui spread his hands innocently, then softened his tone reassuringly, interrupting the curse that Black Glasses was about to unleash, "Oh dear~ I know that with Qi Shanren's abilities, there's absolutely no chance of anything going wrong. Besides, since the Wang family let us in, they certainly won't let us stumble in a small passageway. Relax, relax~"

"Is this the same thing?! Let me tell you, this is a work injury, you have to pay me!" Black Glasses tugged indignantly at the strap of his big black bag, only to find his hand covered in something slippery. "What is this thing?"

"It's ridiculous," Xie Lianrui replied calmly.

"Dog blood..." Black Glasses looked down at the ground. Good heavens, no wonder the smell was so strong. The ground was covered with a mixture of old and new dog blood, and even the original stone bricks were covered with a thick layer. "Is the Wang family trying to ward off evil spirits?"

“Once I escaped from the second floor of the underground palace, but I didn’t expect to escape into the passage above,” Xie Lianrui gestured with his lip toward the closed mechanism above his head. “It was a bit far away and there was no light, so I could only vaguely hear some things from those few members of the Wang family. This dog blood should be poured in by small teams like theirs, and they send people to pour it in every once in a while.”

"So, there's something evil in this third floor?" Black Glasses twirled his fingers. The dog blood on his body hadn't completely dried and solidified yet, but it had been there for some time. Presumably, the Wang family had sent someone to empty it at most a day ago.

Xie Lianrui shook his head, he didn't know either: "At that time, the Wang family on the second floor of the underground palace quickly discovered that I was missing and searched for me everywhere. In the end, I was captured and taken back, and most of my memories were erased. As for what is in the third floor of the underground palace, I don't know either, but I should never have been inside."

"Let's go further in then!" Black Glasses casually glanced around, then pointed in a direction.

"Okay!" Xie Lianrui had no objection.

But it wasn't exactly an opinion; Yan Huai was definitely feeling the torment, because Zhang Qiling had been ignoring him since earlier! (?﹏?)

The footsteps that followed him sometimes came near, sometimes far; they were Yan Huai's stubborn sorrow. He truly didn't know how to explain the breath he had just exhaled!

Unable to control himself? Ha, Zhang Qiling would probably chop him up, but if he doesn't explain, it seems even worse, like now, one "can't speak", and the other can't speak.

then......

"Zhang Qiling..."

Yan Huai's tone was pitiful and soft. When Zhang Qiling heard it, he paused slightly and looked over, but his expression remained unchanged.

But it is precisely because of this that Yan Huai's petty nature will once again shrink back.

But he had finally spoken. Zhang Qiling was still waiting, so Yan Huai swallowed and took two steps forward: "Ahem, what I did just now, I really didn't mean to. I just thought your eyes looked a little different, so I couldn't help but blow on them. Please don't be angry, okay..."

Zhang Qiling's expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this. Why did Yan Huai's tone sound like he was...whining? Besides, what could be different about his eyes? Furthermore, he...wasn't angry.

Qi Yu, inside Zhang Qiling's consciousness, was almost at its wit's end. Even its data analysis hadn't detected any anger in Zhang Qiling, so where did its master get that information from? However, it couldn't say anything about it and could only let the two of them do whatever they wanted, since they couldn't be separated anyway!

"Not angry."

"Hmm?" Zhang Qiling's answer surprised Yan Huai. She wasn't angry? Then why did Zhang Qiling turn around and leave just now? He could sense that Zhang Qiling's reaction just now was different from the latter's usual temper. If she wasn't angry, then what was she?

Yan Huai thought so, and naturally asked the same question. However, before Zhang Qiling could reply, a faint, almost imperceptible, warm breath came from a corner of the passage not far from the two of them.

Yan Huai listened intently; it was a person, and an injured one at that.

Zhang Qiling didn't speak. After Yan Huai made a gesture, he and Yan Huai crept towards the source of the sound, with Yan Huai in front and Zhang Qiling behind.

thump--

The man fell to the ground with a muffled groan. He was already within ten meters of Yan Huai's bloodline aura, but Yan Huai could not sense any other bloodline aura except for the smell of blood. This could only mean that he was just an ordinary person.

But how could there be ordinary people in the Wang family's underground palace?

With a sense of doubt in his heart, Yan Huai stepped out of the corner and, together with Zhang Qiling, turned his gaze to the person on the ground. The next second, a look of surprise flashed in both of their eyes—the person, who was already weak and unconscious, had lost half of his right arm, and the bloodstains seemed to extend to the end of the passage.

Yan Huai crouched down and approached the man, his gaze falling on the severed arm. The missing arm must have been torn off by something. The clothes were tattered and old, and the exposed skin was covered with bruises and bloodstains. But from the vein in his left arm, Yan Huai seemed to understand his identity.

—In a small, negligible bruise on his arm, there was an extremely tiny pinhole; he must have been an experimental subject captured by the Wang family.

From Wang Jue's memory, he only knew that the Wang family's underground palace had three levels. The first level was used to raise disguise beasts, which were the mutated wolves that Yan Huai had just crushed. The second level was a laboratory, and the third level... seemed to be a tomb.

But no matter which level it was, Wang Jue never entered, not because he lacked the authority, but because he instinctively rejected it.

Later events proved that this rejection was not unfounded. When Wang Jue and the Demon Mother were separated, imprisoned, and used by Wang Quan, they had been here, but their childhood memories were already blurred. In addition, Wang Quan had erased some of the former's memories. The reason why he was able to suddenly remember outside just now was entirely due to the stimulation from the Demon Mother.

The passage under our feet should be the connecting passage to the second floor of the underground palace, which means it leads to the laboratory. Therefore, the person in front of us must have escaped from the laboratory.

What a lucky escape!

But how did he escape? And why was he able to escape?

As Yan Huai pondered, he took out a first-aid kit from his spatial storage and began to caress the poor little man's severed arm, which was being experimented on.

Zhang Qiling stood guard to the side, his gaze occasionally sweeping over Yan Huai.