Top-secret experiment

Horrible Monster

"Ah!"

Although he had mentally prepared himself, the sudden appearance of the terrifying ghostly face still startled Bao Shuai.

He fell to the ground with a thud, and only then did he realize that what was above him wasn’t just a decaying human head, but a woman standing on the ceiling, staring directly at him head-on.

Seeing Bao Shuai fall, the woman's head spun 360°, turning at an extremely eerie angle as she locked her cold, emotionless gaze onto him.

"Ghost!"

Bao Shuai screamed in terror, turning to run.

The woman remained motionless on the ceiling, coldly watching him, seemingly having no interest in chasing after him.

However, when Bao Shuai ran down the corridor and instinctively glanced up, the woman had appeared again above him, still staring down at him without expression.

“Teleportation? What is this?”

Bao Shuai’s heart sank as he quickened his pace, quickly turning the corner of the corridor. Ahead, he saw a dark path he hadn’t taken before. Without thinking, he dashed toward it.

The moment he entered the dark passage, the woman finally reacted. Like an angry cat, she dropped onto the ceiling, running after him on all fours, moving even faster than Bao Shuai, whose mutation had enhanced his speed.

A strange "clicking" sound echoed around them, alternating between light and heavy with a rhythmic pattern, resembling a limp person wearing thick-soled boots, stepping on wooden floors.

Bao Shuai recognized the sound immediately—it was the same footstep sound he had heard at the scene of the dismemberment case on the night of the 25th!

What was even more terrifying was that Bao Shuai’s mutated vision, three times sharper than normal, allowed him to see clearly—even in his panicked sprint—that the woman wasn’t running on the ceiling at all.

In fact, her hands and feet were several inches from the ceiling, meaning she was running upside down, stepping on the air!

Seeing this, and recalling the scene from that night, Bao Shuai finally realized why he had never seen the killer before—because she had always been standing right above him!

Not only on the night of the 25th, but also tonight.

No one knew when she had started targeting him—maybe when he first entered the building, maybe when he left the sanatorium, or maybe she had been hiding in his room all along!

Bao Shuai shivered at the thought, but now was not the time to be afraid. The extreme fear and sense of danger actually helped him become calmer.

Why hadn’t she chased him in the corridor, but as soon as he entered this passage, she went crazy?

Did she want to stop me from going into this passage?

If that was the case, then there must be something in this passage she was afraid of!

Bao Shuai suddenly had an epiphany, as if he had found a faint glimmer of hope in the midst of despair.

But this brief moment of distraction slowed his pace, and almost instantly, the woman caught up with him. She rose like a giant bear, standing on two legs, and swiped down with her hand.

Her movement was so fast it was almost unbelievable. Bao Shuai had no time to dodge and, in a panic, raised his arms to protect his head.

The blow landed heavily on his arms.

With a loud "bang," Bao Shuai felt an enormous force knock him backward four or five meters. His arms instantly went numb, and blood stained his tattered sleeves.

Fortunately, after his mutation, his physical abilities had greatly enhanced. Though the pain was excruciating, he hadn’t sustained fatal injuries. If this had happened before, he would have been done for.

Enduring the sharp pain, Bao Shuai rolled on the ground from the force of the blow and continued running toward the other end of the passage.

Seeing that Bao Shuai hadn’t been killed with one blow, the woman looked at her hand in confusion. Her hand was withered and thin, with long, black nails on each finger, about three to four centimeters in length.

Despite the tremendous force of the blow, her nails hadn’t cracked at all. Instead, they had sliced through Bao Shuai’s flesh like sharp blades.

With a cold expression, the woman extended her bright red tongue, licking the flesh from her nails. The sight of the blood seemed to stimulate her nerves, and a few hints of excitement appeared on her wooden face.

She emitted a low, beast-like growl before dropping onto all fours again, chasing after Bao Shuai.

After his mutation, Bao Shuai could cover a hundred meters in under five seconds, and within the blink of an eye, he reached the end of the passage. There were three rooms, but only one had the door wide open.

Without thinking, he darted into the room with the open door and slammed it shut behind him.

It was strange, though. The Tianyang building had been abandoned for so long that almost all the doors and windows were damaged, yet this door was not only intact but also much thicker than the others.

The moment he closed the door, the woman crashed violently into it, making a dull "bang" sound, like a large piece of furniture hitting the ground. Two deep claw marks were left on the door.

Bao Shuai felt a chill run down his spine and doubted whether this door could actually hold the monster outside.

Fortunately, after the crash, the woman seemed completely uninterested in attacking the door. But the eerie "clicking" footsteps continued, as if she was circling the room, unwilling to leave.

"As long as she can’t get in, it’ll be fine..."

Bao Shuai felt a little relieved and began to inspect the room.

Unlike all the other rooms, this one had a simple bed, a desk, a cabinet, and other living supplies.

It seemed someone had been living here. If the creature outside wasn’t the one he was supposed to meet, then perhaps it was the person who had lived here.

The room had no mirrors, no cosmetics, not even clothes. Only a faint smell of smoke lingered. The ashtray in the corner was full, and the bed near the door was somewhat dirty, suggesting that the occupant was likely a man.

But when Bao Shuai thought about how the woman outside seemed to match the conditions of someone who might live here, he suddenly lost hope.

He walked over to the desk and froze for a moment.

On the desk was a note that read: "The matter has been exposed. Take the stuff and leave quickly. Here are two tips: first, always be aware of what's above you, and second, the blue bottle on the shelf can help you."

Wasn’t this the note he had just thrown away?Bao Shuai’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively looked up at the ceiling. Fortunately, there was nothing there this time.

He sighed in relief, finally understanding the meaning of the note's message. It seemed that the person who had arranged the meeting realized the information had been exposed, so they left this cryptic note with some hints for him.

Under the note, there was an envelope, likely containing the items the person wanted him to take.

Bao Shuai stuffed the envelope into his jacket pocket, then approached the bookshelf. Sure enough, on the first shelf, there was a small blue bottle, about the size of a thumb. He placed the blue bottle into his pocket and began inspecting the books on the shelf.

The books were quite varied, but most of them were related to medicine. Could the person living here have been a doctor?

As Bao Shuai pondered this, he continued searching the room for anything useful. The furnishings were simple, with not much in the room—apart from some instant food, there was only a rusty steel knife.

At that moment, Bao Shuai regretted not preparing better. He had known from the start that this situation was dangerous, and meeting someone under these conditions was risky. Why hadn’t he gotten a weapon for himself?

If only he had stolen a gun from Officer Zhou, he wouldn’t be so passive now.

While lost in thought, Bao Shuai suddenly realized that the footsteps outside the door had disappeared. Had she left? Or was she lurking in a corner outside, waiting for him to walk into her trap?

Just as he was contemplating this, the room suddenly shook.

Bao Shuai quickly grabbed the steel knife and hid by the door, thinking that if the woman broke in, he would strike first.

However, the solid door remained silent, but the ceiling above him suddenly caved in with a loud crash. The grotesque woman fell from the ceiling and lunged at Bao Shuai.

Bao Shuai was startled, and in his panic, he lost grip on the note, which was caught by the updraft and blown out through the hole in the ceiling.

There was no time to worry about the note. Bao Shuai immediately flung open the door and fled. At the same time, a skeletal hand appeared in the spot where he had been standing, leaving five terrifying claw marks on the wall.

The woman, failing to strike him, let out a low growl and darted out of the door like a leopard, running along the wall.

In the brief delay, Bao Shuai had already reached the other end of the corridor. He quickly slipped into a room and slammed the door behind him.

The woman’s hollow eyes locked onto Bao Shuai’s position, and like a missile, she smashed through the door of the room.

Just then, a rusty steel knife suddenly shot out from the darkness, landing squarely in the woman’s chest and almost splitting her in two. The woman screamed in agony as she fell into the room, blood spraying everywhere like a fountain.

Bao Shuai, gripping the steel knife, leapt from behind the door and swung it toward the woman.

The woman reacted quickly, raising a clawed hand to block the strike. Her hard nails scraped against the steel knife, sending a shower of sparks flying. The sheer force of the impact numbed Bao Shuai’s hands, and he almost lost grip of the knife.

At the same time, the vicious wound on the woman’s chest began to heal before his very eyes, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Bao Shuai was shaken. Suddenly, he remembered the second hint from the note. He hurriedly took out the blue bottle, unscrewed the cap, and poured its contents onto the woman’s face.

A clear liquid poured out of the bottle, landing directly on the woman’s face. The liquid emitted a white smoke, like concentrated sulfuric acid, and the woman’s cheek immediately began to rot away.

The woman let out a piercing scream, and with her sharp claws, she frantically scratched at her face, tearing her skin open.

Bao Shuai didn’t hesitate for a second. He jumped onto the woman, swinging the knife wildly. Within moments, her chest was shattered.

But the woman seemed unaffected, as if she had no sensation at all. In her panic, she reached out and grabbed the steel knife with both hands.

Bao Shuai tried to pull the knife away and strike again, but to his horror, the woman’s palms suddenly split open into two large mouths, each filled with sharp teeth. They clamped down on the steel knife, snapping it into three pieces.

Bao Shuai was terrified beyond measure. Realizing that it was now a fight to the death, he instinctively bit into the woman’s throat.

The moment Bao Shuai’s teeth sank into her flesh, the woman’s eyes bulged wide, and her body began convulsing uncontrollably, like a wild, struggling shark.

Bao Shuai’s mind went blank, but he kept biting down on the woman’s throat, ignoring the searing pain in his mouth, refusing to let go.

Time passed—he didn’t know how long—until finally, the woman’s wounds stopped healing, and her struggles grew weaker. She slowly stopped moving.

Even then, Bao Shuai didn’t let go, still holding onto her throat. After several minutes of tense silence, he finally released his grip and collapsed to the side.

His breath was heavy, his heart pounding as if it might burst from his chest. His mouth burned with pain, and the foul, metallic taste of blood filled his throat.

The extreme fear had fueled him into a frenzy, and even now, he couldn’t calm down.

He had been cowardly and weak in the past—he couldn’t even bring himself to kill a chicken. But in this extreme situation, he had no choice but to fight back.

This time, he had won. He had survived. It felt like a baptism, as if it had completely changed him.

Bao Shuai laughed, excited yet bitter. His laughter echoed in the room, tinged with a sense of dread and sorrow for the future.

But that laughter only lasted a few seconds before it abruptly stopped.

Because Bao Shuai noticed something terrifying—the woman’s withered abdomen suddenly began to swell, expanding rapidly. Within two seconds, it looked like she was pregnant with a ten-month-old child.

Before Bao Shuai could process what was happening, the woman’s belly suddenly ruptured with a loud "pop." Amid the pouring blood, a grotesque, segmented creature crawled out—its size resembling a giant spider, with a diameter of over half a meter.

The creature extended its eight sharp, spiny legs. Its disgusting head, with two rows of round eyes, locked onto Bao Shuai, and its pincers opened wide, as if silently roaring at him.