Chapter 55: The Memories of Zhang Kui

Seeing Su Wan's resolute attitude, Lin Xiao nodded and handed her an oxygen mask. "Be careful."

The two put on their oxygen masks and walked into the mine shaft one after the other.

Lin Xiao adjusted the elasticity band of his oxygen mask, and the beam of his headlamp pierced the turbid air inside the tunnel.

The moment he stepped into the tunnel, the soles of his boots trod upon some viscous liquid—blood.

To be precise, it was a pool of blood that had dried up into a sticky, shoe-clinging mess.

"Ah—"

This sight almost made Su Wan scream, but she immediately clamped a hand over her mouth.

Three mutilated corpses lay on the ground in various tragic states:

The cross-eyed man's head looked like a watermelon crushed by a hydraulic press, skull fragments splattered radially against the rock wall, brain matter mixed with blood already semi-coagulated to form an eerie pink foam.

As for the other two blond underlings, one had his entire face smashed inward into his cranial cavity, while the other had the upper half of his face completely obliterated, leaving behind only a bloody, gaping hole.

"Beasts!" Su Wan said angrily.

This was by no means a normal killing, but rather done to satisfy some cruel and morbid sense of amusement.

Lin Xiao sighed. "Those who sup with the devil rarely come to a good end."

Although the cross-eyed man and his cohorts were hardly decent people, their offenses hardly warranted such a fate, and seeing them end up this way was inevitably sigh-inducing.

Especially the cross-eyed man; Lin Xiao had viewed his memories and knew that, to a certain extent, he was also a pathetic wretch.

He picked up a few tarpaulins left behind from the mining area, covered the corpses, and then walked toward a backpack not far away.

He had seen this backpack in the cross-eyed man's memories; it was the one Jin Baolai had given him.

"Rip!"

Lin Xiao yanked open the zipper, and inside lay precisely the four hundred thousand and more in "blood money."

Yet what it bought was not Lin Xiao's life, but their own lives instead.

"Let's go!" Lin Xiao sighed, picking up the backpack and walking deeper into the cave.

The two passed through the winding tunnel and arrived at the cavernous hall from earlier.

The headlamps and flashlights illuminated a hellish scene within the mine.

The moss on the rock walls was completely carbonized, the ground covered in glass-like molten residue, and right at the center of the explosion...

"Ugh..."

Su Wan only had to glance at it before she turned away, bending over to dry retch.

A body was curled up in a depression in the rock wall, its entire form covered in a web of charred, cracked, hard shells like an ancient tree struck by lightning.

Newborn pink tissue squirmed like maggots through the gaps in those hard shells.

Most terrifying was the head—the right eye had completely evaporated, while the left eye had eerily regenerated halfway, a turbid crystalline lens still stuck with unpeeled charred skin.

Could this thing be Zhang Kui?

Su Wan couldn't help but associate it with the charcoal-like steak she had cooked the first time she ever stepped into the kitchen.

Although her stomach had been churning with discomfort, the thought that this was the handiwork of her boss—who had beaten a powerful Tier-4 esper into such a miserable state—suddenly filled Su Wan with a surge of pride.

Wow!

This was the masterpiece of her boss!

It was proof of her boss's peerless strength!

With that thought, Su Wan suddenly found the lump of black charcoal on the ground immensely pleasing to the eye.

Just as Su Wan was proudly sizing up Zhang Kui, Lin Xiao had already briskly stepped forward.

He drew out a pair of spiritual power handcuffs and cleanly cuffed Zhang Kui's charred wrists.

Amidst an annoying screech of friction, the handcuffs automatically adjusted to the appropriate size.

Lin Xiao let out a breath of relief inwardly; the spiritual power handcuffs were specialized restraint items designed for espers, possessing the effect of blocking the flow of spiritual energy.

Once cuffed, Zhang Kui would never be able to use his abilities again.

Even if he managed to recover, he would pose no threat whatsoever.

"All done?" Su Wan had regained her composure.

"Not yet, wait for me a moment." Lin Xiao shook his head.

The main event was next. Suppressing his discomfort, Lin Xiao pressed a hand against the back of Zhang Kui's charred head, his consciousness instantly invading the sea of memories...

Zhang Kui's sea of memories was even more chaotic and fragmented than the cross-eyed man's just now!

Perhaps because he was on the verge of death, his entire sea of memory was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Every memory fragment Lin Xiao caught sight of flickered erratically, as though it could shatter at any second.

This made him realize that he would probably only be able to view at most two memories.

He immediately activated the Leiyin Wood pendant and inputted keywords: "Jin Baolai, Yue Chongguang, Memory Amber, Valley Camp..."

The next moment, a somewhat fractured memory appeared before his eyes, and Lin Xiao plunged into it without hesitation...

A dim cabin, lingering with a faint scent of sandalwood.

Jin Baolai's obese body was sunken into a leather armchair, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest.

Lin Xiao's burly physique was slightly stooped, head lowered as he stood in the shadows, looking exceptionally submissive.

"How are the experimental results at Camp 37?" Jin Baolai's voice carried a hint of impatience.

"Almost there..." Zhang Kui answered cautiously. "Another month and it will be completely finished."

"We can't wait any longer. Yue Chongguang is investigating too aggressively; we simply don't have that much time! Go and take care of it right now." Jin Baolai shook his head and sighed.

Lin Xiao keenly noticed that when the name "Yue Chongguang" was mentioned, a trace of apprehension flashed through Jin Baolai's eyes.

"But... we're just that close!" Lin Xiao said with regret. "Can we stall..."

"A man should not covet the very last bite of food; getting most of the results is enough." Jin Baolai's tone allowed for no argument.

Zhang Kui's fists cracked as he clenched them. "Why must this old man insist on crossing us? Should I go and wipe him out?"

"You underestimate Yue Chongguang too much." Jin Baolai sneered. "Whether it's his personal capability or his unfathomable background..."

He suddenly lowered his voice. "Still, he won't be jumping around much longer. Very soon, there will be nothing left for him to manage."

A look of confusion crossed Lin Xiao's face.

"Don't stir up trouble!" Jin Baolai waved a hand. "Go and clean up Camp 37."

"Clean it up?" Lin Xiao hesitated. "What about the researchers? They are all talents..."

Jin Baolai's gaze turned exceptionally cold. "Even talents cannot be left behind. I leave their disposal entirely to you."

Having obtained his boss's permission, Lin Xiao revealed a cruel smile:

There were plenty more heads to squeeze and play with, and some of them were even clever ones!

...

...

The next moment, as this memory finished playing, Lin Xiao's consciousness returned once more to the sea of memories.

Experiments? What experiments?

What was Camp 37?

Did it have any connection to the valley camp in Yue Chongguang's memories?

Instinctively, Lin Xiao wanted to find out more, but for some reason, he could no longer extract any more valuable memories from Zhang Kui's mind.

It was as though those memories had been deliberately wiped clean beforehand.

Thus, he had to settle for second best, plucking a fragment of a past painful memory from Zhang Kui's mind.

Having harvested this trophy, he withdrew from the sea of memories...

Seeing Lin Xiao open his eyes, Su Wan asked, "All sorted out?"

Lin Xiao nodded. "Everything's done. Time to clean up."

"Clean up?" Su Wan had never dealt with this before.

"I plan to drag him to the entrance of the mine shaft first."

Lin Xiao bent down, his right hand gripping tightly onto the handcuffs on Zhang Kui's wrist, and pulled with a sudden burst of strength!

It didn't budge...

Lin Xiao: (一`´一;)

That must have been an accident. He exerted all his might and pulled again!

It moved... but only by an inch...

How awkward...

Lin Xiao suddenly realized that he simply couldn't lift a bulky man like Zhang Kui!

Just as he was feeling awkward, Su Wan piped up, "Not strong enough to carry him? Shall I do it?"

Lin Xiao: (눈‸눈)

That seemed even more awkward...