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Chapter 404 My Cousin is Very Strong, Biological Samples from the Glacier
Ripples spread outwards, and the gray fog surged violently.

laugh--

The black line, like a sharp blade, sliced ​​through the canvas, quickly tearing and expanding to both sides.

In the blink of an eye, the opening quickly formed a constantly rotating, pitch-black vortex.

Sensing the spatial fluctuations, Fang Cheng had already clenched his fists, assumed an offensive stance, and was ready for battle.

His gaze remained firmly fixed on the center of the vortex.

There were faint, star-like points of light flickering there, as if something was rapidly approaching.

A chilling gravitational force distorted the light, tearing at the surrounding air and emitting a faint, sharp shriek.

Before Zhou Liang and the others could react...

The vortex then shuddered suddenly, as if it had burped and "spit" something out.

Two figures stumbled and fell, crashing heavily onto the cold floor.

No, it should be three people.

A woman in a researcher's uniform, with long, disheveled hair, struggled to her feet, her eyes filled with lingering fear.

A handsome young man was kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily, his hair soaked with sweat.

Another one was thrown aside by the young man before he fell; he was a naked, muscular, strong man.

At this moment, however, his eyes were closed and he was unconscious.

The black vortex then rapidly contracted, eventually converging into a single point and disappearing.

The last ripple in the air was quickly swallowed up by the returning gray fog.

An eerie silence fell over the office lobby once again.

All eyes were focused on these three uninvited guests who had appeared out of nowhere.

At this moment, everyone's faces were filled with disbelief, and a thought arose in their minds simultaneously:
How come there are still experts?

"You are……"

Zhou Liang instinctively raised his gun to aim, but as soon as he spoke, he froze.

His gaze fell on the panting young man's face, and his pupils contracted slightly.

This face... he knew it all too well; it was exactly the same as a certain big star on TV and in posters.

Isn't this Cheng Jiashu?

The man whom Captain Gao Jin called the "Smiling Devil," who cooperated with the Special Investigation Team, and whose code name was "White Owl"!

Ali finally saw it clearly, and his brain completely shut down.

Look at that man wearing a demon mask, exuding a menacing aura, and then look at this genuine Cheng Jiashu who just appeared.

His lips trembled, and he stammered as he asked:

"I...I'm not seeing things, am I? Really...is there another White Owl?"

Zhou Liang was deeply shaken.

The previous guess was correct; the identity of "Bai Xiao" actually represents two people.

He couldn't help but turn his gaze to the man wearing the demon mask.

It's likely that this guy who tears monsters apart with his bare hands and treats killing as child's play is the real killer who gives Noah's organization and the special search team a real headache.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, Captain Gao chose the wrong partner...

In an instant, Zhou Liang broke out in even more cold sweat on his back.

On the other side, Fang Cheng's brows furrowed slightly.

Just moments before the vortex appeared, he suddenly felt a familiar consciousness forcibly establish a link with his memory palace.

The feeling was like being a lighthouse in a boundless ocean, being targeted as a navigational beacon by a ship that had lost its way.

Looking at Cheng Jiashu who had appeared here, Fang Cheng had some guesses in his mind, but also more doubts arose.

"So you really are Cheng Jiashu!"

Xiao Jie's surprised voice broke the silence first, but he quickly realized the situation was inappropriate and changed his words:
"No, no, we're on a mission right now, I should call you White Owl... no, you should be called Smiling Demon."

"How did you end up here? Where's Captain Gao? Can you get in touch with him?"

He kept asking questions like a fan meeting their idol, his eyes sparkling with the light of a fan seeing their idol.

"Mr. Cheng Jiashu, I really enjoy listening to your songs. When will you release a new album?"

"Xiaojie!"

Zhou Liang quietly stopped him from losing his composure.

Cheng Jiashu slowly stood up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, raised his hand to touch his cheek, but found nothing.

The iconic mask he used for disguise had already been shattered during his previous fierce battle with Luo Lie.

He gave a wry smile and decided to face everyone with his true self.

When his gaze swept over Fang Cheng, who was wearing a mask, his eyes paused slightly before turning to the suspicious and uncertain special search team members.

"Are you from the Special Investigations Team?"

"Report sir!"

Zhou Liang immediately stepped forward and stood at attention, quickly pulling out his identification from his pocket:
"I am Zhou Liang, a second-level administrative officer from the Dongdu City Detective Division, and also the leader of the Night Owl Operation team."

“These are all my teammates: Ayang, Ali, and Xiaojie.”

As he spoke, he took the initiative to introduce himself and build rapport.

His tone was shrewd, and he proactively elevated Cheng Jiashu to the position of "commander".

The intention was clear: to win him over to their side.

If the unfathomable White Owl beside them harbored murderous intent, they would at least have a greater chance of fighting back.

Fang Cheng glanced at the special investigation team's law enforcement certificate in Zhou Liang's hand.

The familiar golden shield and crossed blade emblem caused the corner of his mouth behind the mask to twitch slightly.

This kid has a new ID.

"Looks like I came at the right time."

Cheng Jiashu patted the dust off his clothes, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion and self-deprecation from surviving a disaster.

He glanced at the twisted monster remains scattered on the ground, then turned his gaze to Fang Cheng, who was wearing a demon mask, and said in a relaxed tone:
"Thank you. If you weren't here, I'm afraid I would have died in that godforsaken place."

Zhou Liang was taken aback upon hearing this:
"Commander Cheng, so you two know each other?"

Ali's already confused mind was now even more muddled, staring blankly at the two "white owls".

"good."

Cheng Jiashu shrugged and pointed calmly at Fang Cheng:

"Let me introduce you. This is my distant cousin. Our families are closely related by blood and share the same feelings."

“For someone with abilities like me, it is very easy to lose my way in a place like this where space is unstable. I need a close blood relative as an ‘anchor’ to accurately locate myself and complete the space jump.”

This explanation makes perfect sense, Zhou Liang recalled what Captain Gao had mentioned.

The Smiling Demon needs a living person as a coordinate when it uses its abilities.

It's somewhat plausible that his cousin, dressed similarly, would appear here at this moment.

"So, you don't need to be nervous. He's just here to help out with a small task."

Cheng Jiashu seemed to have grasped the tense atmosphere from his observation just now, and added this as a special gesture.

As he spoke, he turned to look at Fang Cheng, a smile on his face:
"Cousin, don't you think so?"

Just helping out with a small favor? Ali and the others recalled the ferocious way this "cousin" had charged into the monster horde and wreaked havoc earlier; it didn't seem like he was "helping out" at all.

It was more like a pure, enjoyable massacre, or, to use a trendy term among young people, a monster-hunting and leveling-up session.

Fang Cheng simply stared at Cheng Jiashu quietly, his crimson eyes behind the mask flickering slightly.

She knew that Cheng Jiashu should have already recognized her.

At this moment, he was eloquent, both rescuing both parties from the predicament and explaining to himself why he had suddenly established a mental link with him.

Although he still had many doubts, Fang Cheng did not point them out.

She simply made a soft "hmm" sound through her nostrils, as if to cooperate with his performance.

With Cheng Jiashu's brief explanation, the tense atmosphere at the scene finally eased.

Since everyone is "one of us," things become much easier.

"So... Commander Cheng, did you succeed in your mission? Did you get your hands on the classified information...?"

Seeing this, Ali couldn't help but ask.

Cheng Jiashu took a military-grade encrypted USB drive from Cui Xiuying and casually tossed it to Zhou Liang.

"These are the experimental data you requested. They contain all the evidence of the Noah Organization's crimes against human experimentation since World War II."

Zhou Liang instinctively caught the USB drive; it was ice-cold to the touch.

He clutched the small object tightly, which was related to the lives of countless people and the honor of the special search team, and for a moment he was in a daze.

"I've brought the people with me as well."

After Cheng Jiashu finished speaking, he pointed to the two burdens behind him:
"Next, we need to figure out how to leave this building safely."

Fang Cheng's gaze fell on Cui Xiuying behind Cheng Jiashu, and on the unconscious Majima Goro.

The scene of his exhilarating duel with Goro Majima in the courtyard six months ago flashed through his mind.

At that time, this karate master was full of vigor and confidence, whom he regarded as the most formidable opponent he had ever faced.

Now, however, it has become this weak, inhuman, ghost-like state.

Fang Cheng couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.

My thoughts drifted back to the note that had been casually handed out earlier, and to Choi Soo-young's response:

"After leaving the hospital, Mr. Mashima will continue his treatment here and will participate in a life-threatening major surgery tonight."

This clever woman clearly guessed something from that probing question.

Someone who could ask Choi Soo-young, "Where is Majima Goro?"

They were either acquaintances who had crossed paths with Goro Mashima in Tokyo before, or skilled individuals dispatched by the Mashima family from Japan to search for their missing eldest son.

Therefore, her response was both a way of probing her own identity and a way of revealing crucial information to potential helpers, essentially sending out a distress signal.

At that moment, Cui Xiuying also noticed Fang Cheng's gaze.

The grotesque mask filled her with fear.

But for some reason, those scarlet eyes gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had seen them somewhere before.

"Commander Cheng, the situation here is very bad."

Zhou Liang put away the USB drive and began to explain the situation with a serious expression:
"We're trapped. This building is like a maze; no matter which way we go, we always end up back where we started."

It should be the 'other world'.

The experienced Ayang picked up the conversation and added:
“I encountered a similar situation during a mission before. It was an alternate dimension that overlapped with reality, where the laws of physics were distorted.”

"If we can't find the right way out, we'll just be trapped in this building forever with those monsters."

Your guess is correct.

Cheng Jiashu nodded slightly in agreement, clearly already aware of this.

“We’ve tried going up the stairs in the emergency exit before, but we can only reach the 86th floor at most.”

Zhou Liang organized his thoughts and continued:
"Above that, there was only gray fog and darkness. If you continued to pass through, you would return to the 84th floor."

"But if you go down, it seems like there's no end in sight. As time goes by, the building's staircases get deeper and deeper, like gradually leading into hell."

"However, in any case, we will eventually return to the 84th floor."

After hearing Zhou Liang recount the special search team's experiences, Fang Cheng considered for a moment and then began to share his own unique experiences:

“I climbed up the building from the outside. When I got to the 83rd floor, I was swallowed up by a cloud of gray fog that spread down. Then I just kept going around in circles between the 83rd and 86th floors.”

His words were simple and clear, but the information they conveyed sent a chill down the spines of Zhou Liang and the others.

Climbing an eighty-plus-story skyscraper with bare hands on a rainy night?

Just how monstrous is this person's physical condition?

Fang Cheng ignored the shock of the crowd.

He appeared calm on the surface, but was inwardly somewhat anxious.

While observing the enemy situation outside the Noah Building, Fang Cheng sensed Xu Hao's distress call from inside the building, who was attending a Noah Organization meeting, through telepathic resonance.

The thought was intermittent, very faint, and filled with fear and despair.

Fang Cheng tried to establish a stable spiritual connection with him.

However, the previously lightning-fast signals of consciousness seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, almost completely interrupted.

It wasn't until Ah Yang talked about the other world that Fang Cheng realized that it was this gray fog that had blocked his senses.

What happened to Xu Hao? Is he still alive?
This thought kept swirling in Fang Cheng's mind.

It's important to know that Xu Hao's only condition for agreeing to become his inside man was that his life be guaranteed.

Fang Cheng also made a solemn vow for this.

As long as Xu Hao did not intend to betray him but was put in danger because of him, he would definitely do his best to save him.

If I break my oath, I will lose all my strength and die a terrible death.

Fang Cheng didn't care whether the vow would actually come true.

What he cares about is that he must keep and fulfill the promises he makes!
At present, dealing with the Noah Organization is secondary; rescuing people from the top-floor conference hall is Fang Cheng's primary objective for this trip.

After listening, Cheng Jiashu nodded:
“Our situation is similar to yours. We escaped from the laboratory and encountered the same gray fog.”

"Floors 86 and 87 are Noah Pharmaceuticals' core experimental area."

Cui Xiuying, pale-faced and speaking weakly, interjected:

“Especially the 87th floor, which is the most confidential area, where all human experiments are conducted.”

"We...we just escaped from there. Could this strange gray fog be related to the laboratory?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jiashu's expression immediately turned serious, as if he were recalling a shocking scene.

"I saw something in the deepest part of the laboratory on the 87th floor."

“It was a huge red eyeball, soaking in a huge container. I suspect it is the source of this ‘inner world’.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Cui Xiuying standing behind him, his gaze filled with inquiry:
"Miss Cui, do you have any information you can share about this red eyeball?"

"Red eyes..."

Cui Xiuying shook her head blankly:

“I didn’t know such a thing existed, but I do know that the secret project being carried out in the laboratory behind that door was only established about five months ago.”

"Moreover, it was completely isolated, and only our department head, chief researcher, and a few mysterious high-ranking leaders could enter and exit the area."

"It is said that they were studying a biological sample excavated from under the ice of the Himalayas."

(End of this chapter)