BFET Chapter 17

Emotions

On the way here, Xie Yi remembered how many chairs were left where he had taken one earlier.

Chairs?

Shen Shu looked past him, glanced at the space behind him, and nodded, “Okay.”

Shen Shu quickly returned, dragging three rusty iron-backed chairs. Xie Yi reached out to take them, but Shen Shu avoided his hand. “Captain, let me do it. Your hand…”

“No need.” Xie Yi refused, reaching out again to forcefully take the chairs. He turned and swung one, stabbing it into the Corpse Reef.

Using the chair, Xie Yi pried open the Corpse Reef, but didn’t see what he expected.

He pondered for a moment, then squatted down and used Abyss to cut through the part of the Corpse Reef that was attached to the ground. Then, using the chair as a lever, he forcefully flipped the entire other side of the Corpse Reef.

A putrid stench of blood and decay burst out.

Xie Yi tossed aside the chair and looked at the area where the flipped Corpse Reef had been –

It was filled with densely packed yellow egg sacs, varying in size, as if breathing. On closer inspection, something seemed to be moving inside.

A few unhatched egg sacs still clung to the overturned Corpse Reef corpse, making it look like these things were the Corpse Reef’s eggs.

“Mid-level Mutated Entity Corpse Reefs don’t seem to have the function of laying eggs,” Shen Shu said from the side.

Indeed, current collection records for Corpse Reefs only show them constantly creating dried corpses through the mother body, with no new mutation characteristics discovered.

At least, not before this situation. Xie Yi squatted down, examining the egg sacs.

Unlike the string he’d scraped off his hand earlier, these egg sacs didn’t have mouthparts. They looked unhatched and unaffected by the death of the Corpse Reef mother body.

“Not destroying them?” Shen Shu looked at the egg sacs with a cold expression. “Does the Captain intend to wait for them to hatch?”

“What’s your rush? Didn’t you learn at the base that before cleaning up in this situation, what should you do first?” Xie Yi didn’t look up, switching his Smart Terminal to photo mode to save some images.

Then, he took out a palm-sized, oval-shaped glass bottle from his Space Button.

This was provided by the Research Institute, specifically for collecting and preserving live Mutated Entities. The bottom had a bullet-shaped pollution crystal that could simulate a polluted environment while allowing the preserved live entities to enter a dormant state.

Xie Yi carefully extracted one egg sac from the dense cluster, placed it in the glass bottle, and put it away.

Then, he picked up the gun that had been tossed aside, removed the empty magazine, and was just about to insert the High Pollution Dissociation Bullet magazine when Shen Shu, who had been watching him the whole time, reached out and took it away.

“Captain, let me do it.” Shen Shu said softly to him. Without waiting for Xie Yi to react, he stepped forward, raised the gun with both hands, and fired several shots at the egg sacs.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

You Xue hadn’t even entered yet, but she could vaguely hear the continuous gunshots from the doorway.

Alarmed, she quickly pushed open the door and strode inside. Seeing the curled-up things on the ground, she immediately recognized them as dried corpses that had crawled out of the Corpse Reef.

Judging from the appearance of these dried corpses, the mother body had clearly been cleaned up.

Second floor.

Xie Yi saw You Xue as she came in. He immediately raised his hand and pressed down on Shen Shu’s shoulder. “That’s about enough.”

Shen Shu paused his firing for a moment, then quickly fired a few more shots before stopping and turning back with a smile. “Just an empty magazine.”

“What are you doing up there?” You Xue shouted up at them. “Wasn’t that Corpse Reef dead?”

Xie Yi signaled to her, “Come up and see.”

“What’s this?” As soon as You Xue came up, Xie Yi tossed her the glass bottle containing the egg sac. After asking, she saw Xie Yi’s hand. “You’re injured?”

“It’s nothing, just the live, evolved part of the Corpse Reef in the bottle.” Xie Yi briefly explained. “Go extract the Tagging Anchor information here first.”

“Okay.” You Xue nodded, carefully putting away the glass bottle containing the egg sac, and then quickly went upstairs.

After watching You Xue go upstairs, Xie Yi turned back to look at the Corpse Reef corpse that Shen Shu had shot to pieces.

Although Corpse Reefs, as Mutated Entities, could re-mutate and revive as long as the corpse remained, it probably wouldn’t be so easy after being hit with two magazines of High Pollution Dissociation Bullets.

Huh? What’s that—

Xie Yi’s gaze suddenly stopped. He walked to the Corpse Reef corpse, squatted down, and used Abyss to pick out something from the corpse.

It was a Smart Terminal.

Although the surface of this Smart Terminal was mostly corroded, the model was still recognizably from several years ago.

Xie Yi looked down at it for a moment, then wiped the Smart Terminal clean and put it away.

…

Xie Yi and Shen Shu had just returned from the mall’s pump room and happened to meet You Xue, who was coming downstairs to find them.

“The Tagging Anchor here in the mall ran out of power a week ago and has self-sealed,” You Xue said. “According to the information extracted before sealing, the pollution concentration index in this area has been steadily increasing for the past month.”

“It can’t be ruled out that it’s affected by this Corpse Reef here, which has evolved characteristics. After all, its location is too close,” You Xue said. “We may need to extract a few more Tagging Anchors to determine whether it’s a single factor or the overall pollution concentration in the Mid-Section Zone is increasing.”

At this point, You Xue paused. “But before that, I’m applying to find a more suitable place to bury the Tagging Anchor and reconstruct the area’s pollution monitoring system.”

Hearing this, Xie Yi looked at her and asked, “Reason?”

Under normal circumstances, once the Tagging Anchor’s tagging point is determined, it’s not allowed to be easily changed, considering the construction of the overall pollution monitoring situation in the Enclosed Zone.

“When I replaced the new Tagging Anchor just now, I found that the coverage area of this area overlaps with the previous tagging point, and there’s also a blank space between it and the next tagging point,” You Xue explained. “I don’t know why the points were chosen before, but now that we’re replacing the Tagging Anchor, if there are no special circumstances that need to be avoided, I suggest adjusting it.”

“Okay.” Xie Yi nodded. “Send each of us a copy of the suitable Tagging Anchor points for replacement. We’ll go confirm them.”

You Xue acted quickly. After getting the Tagging Anchor point locations, Xie Yi and Shen Shu split them up.

There were a total of five, not far from the mall where they were.

The two acted separately, moving back and forth quickly. In the end, they confirmed that two of the locations had become marshy terrain and couldn’t be used, but the other three were fine.

Finally, after testing, You Xue chose the point farthest from the original point, near an abandoned fountain pool.

“Okay.” After completing the adjustments, You Xue stood up and said, “It takes eight hours to complete the initial construction. We’ll have to come back once then.”

Xie Yi nodded, looked at the darkening sky, and signaled to the two of them, “There’s a temporary Safety Zone nearby. Let’s go there and rest for the night.”

Temporary Safety Zones are set up in C-level and below Enclosed Zones and are maintained regularly.

In old city Enclosed Zones like Zhou Shan, the locations are generally air-raid shelters, which have a higher safety factor than other types of Enclosed Zones.

Following the map markers, the three of them quickly found the place.

It was a small underground air-raid shelter.

The shelter was equipped with simple basic facilities. Not only did the emergency lighting work, but there were also drinking water sources and hot water available.

“Wow, it’s worthy of being a temporary Safety Zone in an old city Enclosed Zone! There’s even hot water!” You Xue’s eyes lit up when she saw the hot water. Her mind was filled with the thought of taking a shower!

Xie Yi and Shen Shu both narrowed their eyes at the same time. Although they didn’t show it as obviously as You Xue, they clearly had the same idea.

Especially Xie Yi, who had just had close contact with the Corpse Reef during the day.

Among the three, You Xue, as the only girl, was given priority.

Xie Yi, as the captain, put himself last, so the second was naturally Shen Shu.

When Xie Yi finished washing up and came out, Shen Shu was sitting cross-legged on one of the only two cots in the shelter, dozing. You Xue was already fast asleep on the other cot.

Hearing the movement, Shen Shu opened his eyes.

Seeing him look over, Xie Yi asked, “Why aren’t you resting?”

Shen Shu’s gaze landed on his arm. “Because I’m waiting for the Captain to come out so I can reapply the medicine for you.”

Hearing this, Xie Yi was stunned. “No need, I can do it myself. You…”

Before he could finish speaking, Shen Shu had already gotten up from the cot and walked over. As if he hadn’t heard what he had just said, he slowly said, “Captain, let’s go over there.”

Xie Yi: “…”

Fine, it wasn’t a big deal anyway.

As the bandage tape wrapped around his left forearm was slowly torn off, a series of slight tugging pains were transmitted.

Xie Yi lowered his eyes to look at Shen Shu, only to see that his lips were drawn in a straight line, his expression focused and serious. “Hey, Shen Shu.”

“You…” Xie Yi frowned, feeling like he couldn’t find the right words to continue speaking for a long time. After a few seconds, he simply asked directly, “Are you in a bad mood?”

Shen Shu’s movements paused. “No.”

Shen Shu put the removed bandage tape on the table next to him, then smiled at Xie Yi. “What makes the Captain think I’m in a bad mood?”

The straight line of his lips was erased by the smile that was pulled up. Xie Yi was silent for a moment, then said, “Oh, I must have been mistaken.”

After the brief exchange, the surroundings returned to silence. Shen Shu finished applying the medicine, re-bandaged it, and released the hand he was holding Xie Yi’s arm with. “Okay, Captain.”

“Okay, thanks.” Xie Yi moved his hand. This time, Shen Shu didn’t wrap too many layers, and his whole arm felt lighter. “Go rest. Come relieve me later in the second half of the night.”

Shen Shu smiled and agreed. He stood there for a moment without moving, watching Xie Yi turn around. The smile on his face instantly disappeared.

In a bad mood?

Shen Shu lowered his eyes, his self-murmuring voice barely audible. “So this is what it’s like to be in a bad mood.”

Images flashed through his mind of Xie Yi’s hands covered in blood, that piece of bloody, fleshy skin full of mouthparts, and that wound.

After a long while, he sneered, his pupils revealing an inorganic coldness. It’s all mine, anyone who touches it deserves to die.

Xie Yi, who had already walked to the door, found a place to sit down, closed his eyes and rested for a moment, then opened his eyes again and took out the Smart Terminal he had picked up from the Corpse Reef corpse from his Space Button.

Every year, many people on field missions don’t come back. No one can say for sure whether they will be the next one.

Xie Yi stared at this Smart Terminal for a long time, and suddenly really wanted to go back to Jiangbei to take a look.