Chapter 58: The Devil’s Sacrifice (08)
“Why are you here?”
A perfectly timed flicker of surprise appeared on Helan Duo’s handsome, almost divinely sculpted face.
Yu Jiao smiled. “Don’t pretend. eleven must have told you I was on my way.”
Just as Yu Jiao finished speaking, a warning that only she could hear came from her earpiece: “You’re here to do a mission, not to make enemies.”
It was Fu Sheng’s voice.
Yu Jiao sighed inwardly.
Such close surveillance and control.
The device, which combined listening and monitoring functions, was a white, stick-insect-like earring that rested along the curve of Yu Jiao’s ear, creating a chilling, foreign sensation.
Being manipulated like this, Yu Jiao was not in a good mood, and her attitude towards Helan Duo was not much better.
Seeing this, Helan Duo showed no annoyance. “I just can’t figure out what could be so important as to make the Madam forgo her evening check-up and grace my research lab with her presence so early in the morning.”
Helan Duo’s pale green eyes held a hint of a smile, but it didn’t reach them.
“He suspects you,” Fu Sheng said with certainty. “Just say that you were terrified after witnessing someone aberrate and die in front of you yesterday.”
Fu Sheng quickly suggested a few smooth responses, but Yu Jiao pretended not to hear.
Yu Jiao crossed her arms with a composed air and, as if she were the host, looked Helan Duo up and down.
An impeccable, light beige high ponytail, a flat, clean white undershirt beneath his lab coat, with every fold just right, faintly outlining his lean waist and two long, slender legs.
A perfect smile on his exquisite, handsome face, his long eyelashes slightly narrowed, his pale green eyes as if covered in a layer of frost.
Overall, Helan Duo looked no different than usual.
Finally, Yu Jiao’s slightly scrutinizing gaze fell on his name tag:
Apocalypse Cult
Name: Helan Duo
Position: Researcher
“You know why I’m here.”
After a moment’s thought, Yu Jiao answered.
“…”
Yu Jiao stared at Helan Duo without blinking, her hands, hidden in her clothes, slightly stiff.
Yu Jiao was gambling. Gambling that Helan Duo’s previous hints and help had a reason.
In her ear, Fu Sheng’s voice was a little anxious, one warning after another, making Yu Jiao’s head ache.
Helan Duo withdrew his gaze, took off a pair of goggles from the side, and put them on. Helan Duo turned and pressed a button, and the lab door slowly slid open, a mysterious, flowing light pouring out.
Helan Duo turned back and made an inviting gesture. “Madam, please come in.”
The warnings in Yu Jiao’s ear disappeared. Yu Jiao gathered her shawl and, with a graceful, noble step, entered.
***
This was completely different from the mad scientist’s lab Yu Jiao had imagined.
Bright, spacious, clean, and cold.
The Apocalypse Cult’s characteristic metallic white walls created a cold atmosphere. Strange-shaped experimental equipment was neatly arranged everywhere, and obscure calculation formulas danced on a floating screen, like a dense swarm of small insects.
What particularly caught Yu Jiao’s eye was a huge glass wall, behind which was deep blue water, surging quietly, like an aquarium’s viewing wall.
The water refracted the light through the glass, creating a series of rippling, jewel-like patterns that covered the walls and floor, injecting a touch of dreamy romance into the lifeless lab.
As Yu Jiao looked around, Helan Duo picked up a screen and stared at the data on it, his composed smile gone.
—The moment Helan Duo stepped in here, he entered a state of focus, as if he were separated from the surrounding world by a thin film.
“I still have things to do. Madam, please make yourself at home.”
With that, Helan Duo didn’t even glance at Yu Jiao and strode into the inner room, leaving her alone with the room full of instruments.
Helan Duo wasn’t the least bit on guard against her.
Yu Jiao raised an eyebrow.
Fu Sheng’s command came through Yu Jiao’s earpiece, telling her to look around and search for clues.
Yu Jiao tightened her shawl and walked through the cold, empty lab, looking around as if she were curious.
Her first discovery—
There was no carrier for eleven here.
It seemed Helan Duo was indeed very cautious.
Helan Duo didn’t even fully trust an AI like eleven, whose basic directive was to serve the cult’s followers. Then the question arose: why did he leave her here with such confidence?
Was Helan Duo fearless, or just incredibly careless?
Yu Jiao walked past a blue reagent that was bubbling and came to the huge glass wall. Looking at her clear reflection, her gaze darkened.
Second discovery—
Something was watching her.
From the moment Yu Jiao had stepped into this lab, a faint, almost imperceptible gaze had been on her.
Sharp, wet, like a cold, ghostly wind.
The appraisal of a predator at the top of the food chain, looking at a subordinate.
Yu Jiao tried to find the watcher through the reflection on the glass wall.
A camera? An experiment, hiding in the dark? Or a monitor Helan Duo had left behind?
Yu Jiao found nothing. But she did discover that the body of water behind the glass wall was deeper and wider than she had imagined, a bottomless blackness, like the throat of a monster.
After staring for a long time, the dense darkness seemed to be closing in, giving Yu Jiao the illusion of being swallowed by a monster.
…It wasn’t an illusion.
The spots of light refracted by the water were shaking violently. The deep water seemed to be being stirred by some behemoth.
Yu Jiao took a half-step back, her expression tense as she stared at the glass wall. Yu Jiao saw a beautiful, fluorescent light slowly rise from the depths and approach.
More and more… like a string of night pearls. In the faint, solitary light, Yu Jiao saw it clearly.
They were scales. A huge, long tail, made of glowing scales.
Brighter than the sun, softer than a laser, a multi-colored, beautiful, mysterious, blue-purple iridescence.
An increasingly strong sense of being watched came with it.
The huge aquatic monster flicked its tail, and in the magnificent, soft light, Yu Jiao met a pair of dark blue, beast-like eyes.
It swam in a winding path and stopped a short distance below Yu Jiao. Like a small animal, it studied her with a mixture of vigilance and curiosity.
“…”
For a long moment, neither Yu Jiao nor the monster moved, just looked at each other, one high, one low.
Fu Sheng let out a surprised whisper in Yu Jiao’s ear:
“It’s it! Experiment [Z0]!”
Yu Jiao paused.
Because of its position and angle, Yu Jiao could see the experiment’s appearance clearly.
Roughly estimating, its tail was about four or five meters long, like a fish, a snake, or a dragon, covered in beautiful scales. Its translucent fins were also very large, scattered along the front, back, and sides of its long tail, swaying slowly in the water, also emitting a soft light.
Like the legendary siren.
Yu Jiao suspected that its deceptively beautiful face was one of its methods for luring and killing prey.
Yes, it had a stunningly beautiful human face.
It reminded Yu Jiao of Helan Duo’s exquisite, perfect face.
—Even though the two faces were completely different styles, one holy and elegant, the other beautiful and alluring.
But they both had a similar… sense of unreality.
The favor of the creator. A very purposeful evolution.
Its expressionless face only added to the terrifying feeling of an artificial human.
“Can you get closer to it?” Fu Sheng urged. “I need to do an assessment and analysis.”
Yu Jiao was speechless. What am I, some kind of delicious bait? Do I have to jump into the water and sacrifice myself for the mission?
But to her surprise, the aquatic monster, its gaze fixed on her, flicked its long tail and slowly rose from the bottom of the water, gradually coming to eye level with Yu Jiao.
The distance suddenly closed. Yu Jiao’s breath caught, and she was forced to see the inhuman details of its body clearly.
Its long tail hung down. Unlike the mermaids in movies, its upper body was not soft human skin. Its back was still covered in armor-like scales, and its chest and abdomen were like those of a dragon.
The beautiful scales gradually faded at the point where its neck and face met. It had no hair, only layers of fins and long, soft spines, covered in scales, which looked like long hair when they floated in the water.
Such a bizarre combination of bodies, but its face had the texture of human skin, with only a few scattered, faintly glowing scales.
Its dark blue, beast-like eyes were like deep ice. They shifted slightly, and their gaze fell on the hairpin that was swaying behind Yu Jiao’s ear.
It tilted its head.
The corners of its eyes were long and slightly upturned. Because it had no eyebrows, it looked a little cold. But its eyes followed the swaying ruby on the hairpin, and it looked very pure.
Like a baby.
“…”
It suddenly moved.
Its eagle-claw-like hand rose—Bang! a sharp sound.
It startled Yu Jiao, and she took a step back. The ruby swayed even more violently.
But Yu Jiao saw that it had only pressed its hand against the glass wall, its long, sharp claws leaving a few shallow, white marks.
—It seemed to want the hairpin.
Yu Jiao hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and took out the hairpin, tentatively holding it up to the glass wall.
Just as the aquatic monster was about to move closer, suddenly! its expression changed. It turned its head with a fierce look and bared its teeth at something behind Yu Jiao. Its sharp, terrifying, shark-like teeth instantly reminded Yu Jiao of Yuan Cang.
After baring its teeth, the deceptive innocence and alluring humanity on its face faded. Threatening, beast-like lines appeared on its forehead, between its eyebrows, and on the bridge of its nose. The fine scales on its face glowed faintly—so the human skin texture was also a disguise.
It opened its mouth and let out a very high-pitched shriek. The cry was extremely similar to that of the strange Holy Sound Fish.
The shriek made several glass bottles in the lab explode. Amidst the chaos, a soft sigh came from behind Yu Jiao.
“So naughty.”
The next moment, a pleasant, cold fragrance enveloped Yu Jiao.
The aquatic monster bared its teeth threateningly, its back arched, as if facing a great enemy. Then, with a flick of its long tail, it instantly disappeared into the dark water.
The familiar, medicinal fragrance wrapped around Yu Jiao. She subconsciously took a half-step back, but bumped into a cool embrace.
Helan Duo wrapped his arms around her and, with his free hand, elegantly took off a nitrile glove, revealing his well-defined right hand. Helan Duo tapped the glass wall in front of him.
Glistening green characters appeared. Helan Duo operated it nonchalantly. A flash of electricity lit up the deep water, and then, a long, pained, and suppressed bestial shriek sounded, lingering for a long time.
Helan Duo withdrew his hand, leaned down, and whispered in Yu Jiao’s ear with a smile, “Naughty children who don’t listen have to be punished. Don’t you think so, Madam?”
Yu Jiao looked up.
The reflection on the glass wall showed their overlapping figures. Helan Duo straightened up and met Yu Jiao’s gaze through the reflection. His gentle, kind face was mottled and unclear because of the glistening, flashing characters.
This was the first time the two of them had been so close, breaking the social distance.
And it was the first time Yu Jiao had realized that he, who seemed so scholarly, was actually so tall. When Helan Duo looked down at people, he was as distant and cold as if he were looking at an insignificant ant.
Helan Duo’s gaze shifted and landed on the hairpin in her hand. With a gentle yet unyielding movement, Helan Duo took it and considerately put it back in her hair.
In her ear, Fu Sheng’s calm analysis sounded: “He might be suspecting you again. Because of your abnormal contact with experiment [Z0]. Although I’m not sure why [Z0] is reacting so specially to you for the time being, but now, you need to divert his attention.”
Yu Jiao didn’t think that Helan Duo, in leaving her here, hadn’t anticipated this development. In fact, this was very likely what he wanted to see.
But now, Yu Jiao did need to do something. To respond to his unreadable test.
Yu Jiao turned around and met the light, sweet, medicinal fragrance, and the green eyes that held a smile that didn’t reach them.
As Yu Jiao moved, her gaze paused and fell on his name tag.
Apocalypse Cult
Name: Helan Duo
Position: Researcher
—This guy really seems to be a very conventional person.
Every time Helan Duo changed his ID tag, his aura would also be slightly adjusted to match it.
A thought stirred in Yu Jiao’s mind.
Yu Jiao’s shawl slipped halfway down, and on her bare arm, the tender red wounds had not yet healed, crisscrossing and disappearing into her sleeve. They were from the ‘treatment’ last time.
Helan Duo’s gaze lightly swept over them.
“Dr. Helan.”
Yu Jiao looked up at him, tilted her head slightly, and said with a troubled look, “The scar-removing ointment you gave me was knocked over by the maid. Can you give me another bottle?”
Helan Duo paused, as if he hadn’t expected her to suddenly bring this up.
“Of course.”
As Yu Jiao gathered her shawl, her fingertips brushed against the wounds. Yu Jiao asked in a low voice, “This time, can you help me apply it?”
Her low voice and the light sound of the flowing water merged.
Helan Duo’s expression didn’t change.
They both knew that this was the clumsiest of seductions.
Before Helan Duo could refuse, Yu Jiao’s fingers hooked the lanyard of his name tag and pulled it taut. Helan Duo obediently lowered his head, completing the dog-training-like posture.
The distance between them closed.
Helan Duo still had a proper smile on his face. Helan Duo bent his finger and tapped the taut lanyard, saying ambiguously, “Madam, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”
Yu Jiao curled her lips into a smile.
“How is it inappropriate? The last time you saw the wounds on my body, your eyes were shining—”
But Helan Duo hadn’t made any substantial move. Instead, he had pushed Yuan Cang forward.
“—Don’t you just like to watch others ‘treat’ from the side? Ah, could it be that Dr. Helan is not confident in his own professional abilities?”
Yu Jiao deliberately raised her voice, her tone sarcastic. “Or is this your strange fetish?”
Helan Duo’s gaze gradually darkened. A few strands of his hair, as if they had escaped their discipline, fell down, like a few cracks on a perfect mask.
Yu Jiao flipped her wrist, and her fingers, one by one, rose and fell, wrapping the lanyard around her hand again, pulling him even closer. As Yu Jiao spoke, her breath messed up his hair.
It tickled his face, a slight itch.
Helan Duo seized Yu Jiao’s mischievous hand, about to use a less-than-proper countermeasure, when he saw her lower her eyes and, imitating his previous action, tap the name tag in her hand a few times. In the several options for the position:
[Doctor]
[Priest]
[Researcher]
[Family Doctor (Exclusive to Madam Yu)]
Yu Jiao clicked on the [Family Doctor (Exclusive to Madam Yu)] option—
Apocalypse Cult
Name: Helan Duo
Position: Family Doctor (Exclusive to Madam Yu)
Yu Jiao let go of his hand, satisfied, and, with a bright smile, patted the ID tag that had fallen back on his chest.
“Of course it’s more effective to have a personal diagnosis. Don’t you think so? My… private doctor.”