Chapter 215 – Offending Certain People
The smoke visibly thinned, and there was no time to delay.
Tu Ran grabbed its swaying tail in one swift motion.
The tail, as thick as a wrist, was covered with hair as sharp as steel needles. Even through her gloves, Tu Ran could feel the sharp sting.
Suddenly being grabbed by the tail, the ape-like alien shuddered and quickly pulled its tail free, turning its head toward Tu Ran’s position and baring its teeth in warning.
Its movement was so fast that Tu Ran’s palm burned with pain.
She clenched her teeth, not making a sound.
The smoke was thick, the ape-like alien blinked a couple of times, unable to see anything.
It remained cautious, stretching its arm towards the spot where Tu Ran had been standing, trying to feel for something.
It touched nothing.
At that moment, Tu Ran pressed herself against the metal door like a gecko, just out of the monkey’s reach.
Taking advantage of the moment, Tu Ran placed both palms against the door.
“Mountain Collapse and Earth Crack!”
A loud boom echoed through the narrow corridor, like the roar of a dragon from beneath the earth. The deafening sound reverberated, causing the ground and walls to tremble.
The heavy metal door cracked, the fissures spreading rapidly from the center where Tu Ran’s palms had been. Judging that the cracks had spread far enough, she quickly pulled her hands away.
The door shattered into pieces, fragments crashing to the ground one after another.
The ape-like alien flinched again, stepping back two paces, warily eyeing the broken metal door as it scratched its head with its claws.
A Herog monster guarding the outer layer retracted all its tentacles and approached the ape-like alien, making strange noises, “Woo-woo, chee-chee.”
The ape-like alien responded with a few “chee-chee, wah-wah” sounds.
Min Tao and Shen Yunhe, who were only a few inches away from the two aliens, pressed their bodies tightly against the wall, barely daring to breathe.
They heard the sounds of the aliens, guessing they were communicating, but couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Tu Ran had a superpower called [Language Talent], allowing her to easily understand the conversation.
The Herog monster asked, “You opened the door? Can we get out now?”
The ape’s voice was full of self-doubt: “Did I open it? Could a little metal shard really pry the door open?”
It knew using a small metal shard to pry open a door was unrealistic, but the door was now undeniably open. Its limited brain capacity couldn’t comprehend the possibility that another creature might have helped it.
The Herog monster didn’t care about any of that. “Oh-ho! Let’s run!”
It shoved the ape, and the two aliens squeezed through the broken metal door, one after the other.
Although Tu Ran and the others hadn’t spoken, they shared an unspoken understanding, pressing themselves against the wall without moving.
As the ape-like alien and the Herog monster ran out, the other aliens crowded around, rushing into the passage, shoving and jostling to escape.
In the corner formed by the door frame and the wall, Tu Ran curled up into a tiny ball, her body no bigger than the foot of a giant creature.
The entire passageway shook from the stampede of the aliens, and through the thinning smoke, Tu Ran could see all sorts of feet and paws passing by.
Some had two toes, others resembled chicken claws, human hands, and the paws of cats, dogs, and pigs—every kind imaginable.
Five minutes later, all the aliens had passed, and the passage finally fell silent.
The smoke had completely dissipated, and Tu Ran spotted Shen Yunhe and Min Tao, who were similarly covered in dust, huddled in a corner, barely daring to breathe. She stifled a laugh.
Min Tao: “…”
Shen Yunhe: “…”
The two ignored her, standing up and brushing the dust off their clothes.
Tu Ran took a couple of steps forward and looked outside. It was a scene of chaos—piles of aliens’ corpses lay scattered across the ground. Most had been killed by the poison gas, while some were still struggling to get up. The base’s gun turrets immediately detected the movement, adjusted their aim, and fired a rapid burst of bullets.
Tu Ran could clearly hear the aliens’ cries of pain before they died, along with curses filled with resentment. She withdrew her gaze. “Let’s go,” she said.
The three of them passed through the broken door.
As they walked over the debris from the shattered metal door, which was nearly twenty centimeters thick, Shen Yunhe exclaimed, “How did that monkey manage to do this?”
Tu Ran continued walking ahead, acting indifferent and not responding.
From the rear, Min Tao casually remarked, “Aliens always have unexpected abilities. There’s nothing they can’t do, only things you can’t imagine.”
Tu Ran nodded in agreement. “Brother Min is right.”
The passageway to the underground space resembled a spiral slide, sloping downward. After winding through a dozen turns, they finally arrived at the underground level.
The underground space was the true research facility of the Songwu Research Base, composed of rows upon rows of laboratories. The researchers of Songwu had worked here, but after activating the self-destruct mode above, they had all evacuated, leaving the place deserted.
When the three arrived, they were greeted by a vast, white expanse.
Amid the haze, they could see the figures of aliens thrashing and struggling.
The underground section had also activated its automatic gas-spraying system. Unlike the large, open area above where the gas was thinner, the confined underground laboratory had a much higher concentration of gas. Aliens that couldn’t endure it were already collapsing one after another.
A map appeared in front of Tu Ran’s visor, sent to her by Xie Xu. It clearly outlined the escape route through the underground lab, highlighting the location of the emergency escape elevator, and automatically plotted the best path for her to follow.
Tu Ran began walking in the direction indicated by her visor.
During this time, Xie Xu had taken full control of her helmet.
They could now communicate more easily, without Min Tao or Shen Yunhe overhearing.
“Why did the anesthetic spray in the aliens’ glass containment suddenly stop working?” Tu Ran asked.
She hadn’t forgotten that it was the sudden halt of the anesthetic spray that allowed the aliens to wake up, break free from their glass enclosures, and escape. This triggered the base’s self-destruct program, closing the exit doors and forcing them to find another way out.
Initially, she suspected that Diao Hongzhi might have sabotaged things out of revenge. But on second thought, she realized that with Diao Hongzhi’s rank, he wouldn’t have the capability to pull off something like this.
The Songwu Research Base was ranked in the top ten of all Federal Government bases. Although not a large facility, it was the first laboratory to discover parasitic creatures and successfully isolate them from the human body.
This base had made significant contributions to the study of Threshold aliens and was considered one of the Federation’s leading research institutions.
A place like this gathered top talent from all forty-two states of the Federation. There was no way Diao Hongzhi could have bribed someone here to do something so dangerous.
For something this complex, Tu Ran could only think of the Wells family—people who had the motive to get rid of her.
“Have you offended anyone recently?” Xie Xu asked from the other end.
“Certain people from the Wells family. They want me dead.”
“Why?”
Tu Ran pressed her lips together, debating whether to tell him or not.
It didn’t seem like telling him would cause any harm.
“Xi Chunzhi once had an inner core, but the Wells family people took it from her. They also wanted to take her for experiments. Considering I might cause them some trouble, they decided to get rid of me first while I was back from the Threshold,” Tu Ran explained briefly.
“Xi Chunzhi is in a coma because they took her inner core?”
