The noise in the yard ebbed and flowed.
Pan Wendi and Fatty Hu, Xu Hao, and others were playing finger-guessing gas and drinking, their voices raised high.
The girls at Bai Ling’s table were also gathered together, chatting and laughing, forming their own circle.
In this lively atmosphere, the main table in the corner seed particularly quiet.
As if imrsed in another mysterious and unknown world.
Fang Cheng leaned back in his chair, looking deeply at the Professor, his face thoughtful.
Lin Chuqiao sat beside him, holding her juice cup with interest, listening keenly.
Li Dingjian and Xiao Shuai were equally holding their breath, ears open, afraid of missing a single word.
The Professor took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, and continued to narrate the mysterious Southern Ocean past to those at the table.
"At that ti, I felt sothing was wrong. We, a group of rcenaries who lick blood off the blade, have an instinctive alertness to danger."
"But those guys from the expedition team seed as if they had seen so priceless treasure, their eyes lighting up as they walked straight up."
"The leader, a Doctor, took out a complex set of instrunts from the tal case he carried, setting it up beside the stone platform."
"Then, the other three researchers took out many bags of plasma one after another, injecting the blood into the conduit connected to the instrunt."
"Blood?"
Li Dingjian frowned slightly, couldn’t help but interject:
"Is this still scientific research? It sounds more like witchcraft."
"That’s the most bizarre part."
The Professor gave a wry smile and adjusted his glasses:
"That instrunt seed to convert blood into so kind of bioelectrical energy, which flowed through the conduit into the groove beneath the crystal ball."
"As the blood kept flowing, the crystal ball spun faster and faster, its original faint blue light turning into a dazzling red glow."
"It wasn’t long before jet-black mist started spraying from the cracks in the walls around the stone platform, increasingly more, swirling around like sothing alive."
"At the ti, the rcenary closest couldn’t dodge in ti and was engulfed by the black mist."
"Just a few seconds later, he seed as though he had been splashed with strong acid, his skin turning black and rotting rapidly, his screams echoing through the cavernous temple, enough to make one’s scalp tingle."
Hearing this, Lin Chuqiao instinctively tightened her grip on her cup, her face slightly pale.
Seemingly rembering the dangerous situation once encountered in Mist Mountain’s Inner World.
"We were all scared out of our wits then, holding our guns ready to run outside, but those expedition mbers acted as if nothing had happened."
The Professor paused for a mont, then continued:
"They quickly opened several heavy luggage cases, took out sets of silvery protective suits, looking like the completely enclosed ones used by astronauts, but more convenient for movent."
"These people were clearly prepared, proficiently put them on, then the leader spoke to us through the mask, saying if we followed them inside, the reward for the mission would double."
"And he revealed that behind the door was an unexplored New World, full of Treasures that could transform mutants like us."
"Double the reward, plus the temptation to beco stronger... as the saying goes, n die for wealth, birds for food. How could we reckless adventurers resist?"
The Professor sighed, shaking his head in self-mockery:
"Back then, I was young and rash too, focused on returning to the East Capital for revenge, ready to storm Hell for strength."
"So, I too steeled myself and put on a spare protective suit, following them into the black mist."
Speaking to this point, the Professor hesitated briefly, seemingly recalling the scene carefully.
"Passing through the black mist felt like being thrown into a spinning drum washing machine, my mind spinning, almost losing consciousness."
"When I felt the ground again and stood up, the sight before us stunned us all."
"It was a forest as well. The sky was a hazy leaden color, and the air was filled with a faint sulfur sll."
"You can imagine, without protective suits and respirators, just the air there would ruin our lungs."
"Moreover, everything in that place looked magnified tenfold."
The Professor stretched his arms wide to make an exaggerated gesture:
"Ferns grew like towering trees, wild mushrooms by the roadside were like open giant umbrellas, and crawling beetles on the ground were the size of millstones."
"That world looked like an Earth millions of years ago, full of primitive wildness."
"We hadn’t walked far before encountering a giant, colorful mantis, the size of a car."
"Its front limbs were like two sharp scythes, slashing lightly to cut a brother who hadn’t fired in half."
"In the end, it was our desperate use of heavy weapons that blasted that monster into pieces."
"Just upon entering, we had lost two brothers, and imdiately differences arose in the team; many wanted to retreat, arguing to go back."
The Professor took a sip from his drink, seemingly buoyed by the alcohol, his mood lifted.
"At that ti, the leader Doctor said nothing. He simply dug out a crystal from the fragnted head of the mantis, like a blue sapphire."
"The mont everyone’s eyes glazed over."
The Professor reminisced about the scene, with a hint of brilliance in his eyes:
"Though we didn’t know what it was, just holding it, you could clearly feel a stream of pure energy flowing in the palm."
"That’s when greed overtook fear in the rcenaries’ hearts, no one ntioned going back anymore, everyone just wanted to keep going for more gains."
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