Chapter 90: Chapter 86 Eruption

The leaden clouds hung low, and a strong wind began to blow outside the window.

The trees along the side of the road bent in the wind, their leaves rustling.

Plastic bags, posters, and leaves danced in the wild wind.

“The wind is so strong today,” Chen Xing, who was sitting by the balcony, looked out at the street, enjoying the prelude to a rainy day.

The living room TV broadcast switched abruptly, showing a local news alert.

“Urgent appeal! We interrupt with breaking news: a severe biochemical leak has occurred in the suburbs of Jincheng New District. All roads leading to the suburban area are now completely blocked. Please stay at home and do not go out unnecessarily.”

Buzz~

The phone vibrated.

Chen Xing checked his phone. Gong Yilan had sent him a message, “There’s been a serious incident in the suburbs of the New District, stay home.”

Suddenly, the phone vibrated again with a message from his mentor, who was thousands of miles away.

“I’ve already contacted Sister Gong for you. She will send someone to protect your family, so just stay at home.”

Ding-dong~

The phone screen vibrated.

A text notification from the local authorities advised all citizens to cooperate actively, reduce travel, and avoid going to the western suburbs.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

A torrential downpour began with a roar.

Drops of rain pummeled the dry road, leaving marks that were quickly absorbed by the ground, fading rapidly, only to be followed by new raindrops.

The sound of rain hitting the tree leaves crackled, while the neighbor’s awning made a rapid drumming noise under the intense rain.

“What’s happening?” Liu Yuzhen in the living room sensed something was wrong.

She might be older, but she was far from foolish.

And the citizens weren’t fools either.

Emergency news broadcasts and text notifications.

Just a biochemical leak?

The Aunt Zhang who went downstairs to buy groceries wouldn’t think so either.

She opened the residents’ group chat for the community, where messages flooded the screen.

This was a police family residence community; people here had more inside information than the average person.

Intense winds roared in the sky.

A large blue and white bird descended from above and landed on the road outside, a man in a suit on its back holding an umbrella.

Chen Xing recognized the man; he was the delivery man from the Universe Commerce Guild who had come last time.

To prevent panic, the man with the umbrella came up the stairs.

Chen Xing explained to his family that this was an expert Sister Gong had sent to protect them.

“Hello, I am Senior Beast Tamer Qi Sheng,” said the man in the suit, introducing himself courteously.

…

The jarring sound of alarms reverberated in the laboratory.

The normally pristine white lights turned a piercing red, with the red alarm flickering incessantly.

Hearing the alarm, the mentor said decisively, “Let’s go!”

He called out, signaling the younger researchers to follow him.

“Mentor, what about it?”

The young researcher pointed to the creature whose feet were chained up.

The mentor hesitated for a moment; this creature was one of his proudest experimental subjects.

Its bloodline was a complex mix of many monster generations, with countless types of monster blood running through its veins. Take the wings on its body, for instance. The three pairs of wings each came from a different type of monster.

The Thunder Drumming Finch, the Dark Fallen Eagle, and the Death Herald Crow.

This also endowed it with three attributes: lightning, fire, and darkness.

Previous subjects with multiple monster bloodlines generally suffered from bloodline collapses and died quickly.

But Subject 079 had managed to survive, seemingly in good State. Its only drawback was its nervous weakness; it often became intermittently crazed.

Just this last point alone disqualified it as a proper Beast Taming subject.

Because the most critical requirement for a Beast Taming subject is obedience.

What use is a Beast Taming subject that doesn’t obey?

He had joined the experiment in its later stages and thus had no access to its most core aspects. He didn’t know where those above got so many different hybrid monsters with distinctive bloodlines.

Even more amazing was that these hybrid creatures had all survived.

“Leave it here; the official personnel will come and take care of everything.”

The monstrous creature with an eagle’s face and human body looked at the two people, “Release me, freedom.”

The instructor urged repeatedly, “Where are you going to take it after you’ve led it away? It can’t be registered, how will you handle your second Beast Taming.”

The young researcher felt that the instructor made sense, so he packed valuable equipment into a box and casually removed the key from his waist, tossing it on the ground nearby.

When he turned around, he accidentally kicked the key, which spun for several rounds on the ground before finally coming to a stop by the feet of the creature with the eagle’s face and human body.

The instructor noticed the young researcher’s subtle action but said nothing.

After packing up their belongings, they walked through the narrow corridor, only to suddenly discover shards of glass strewn all over the floor in front of them.

The young researcher’s pupils contracted. The glass containing the Catastrophe Beast had shattered, and the glass room that should have held it was empty; the Catastrophe Beast had already flown the coop.

They walked a few steps, just about to round the corner.

Suddenly, a slender claw hooked onto the wall, leaving a long scratch, and the metal wall cladding cracked.

A massive head emerged from around the left corner. Six eyes stared directly at them, and a blazing heat emitted from its body. Even through a distance of nearly half a meter, the young researcher could feel the scorching waves radiating from the Catastrophe Beast.

“Come with me, I’ll take you out of here,” the instructor said to the Catastrophe Beast.

“I guarantee you’ll have enough to eat every day and never feel hunger again.”

The Catastrophe Beast, whether it understood or not, slowly lowered its head.

The instructor’s finger traced a Beast Taming contract on its forehead.

The Hexagram’s light flickered and finally turned into a tremendous white light that enveloped the Catastrophe Beast, and then it disappeared on the spot.

The young researcher was dumbfounded. So you just spirited away the lab’s guard?

And you won’t let me take that eagle with me.

Seeming to guess his thoughts, the instructor advised meaningfully, “I’ve been here for fifteen years. This Catastrophe Beast grew up under my care, which is why it chose to follow me.

You can’t control that eagle, better to go back and find a Beast Taming cub to slowly nurture.”

“Instructor, what exactly are they researching here?” the young researcher asked through gritted teeth.

He knew the instructor certainly had the answer.

After a moment of silence, the instructor revealed, “They want to merge elemental monsters with ordinary ones, to create beings that can control the forces of nature.”

“This place is very dangerous. It could be submerged by an erupting volcano at any moment. Let’s get out of here and talk more.”

The young researcher was puzzled.

An erupting volcano?

There are no volcanoes in Jincheng, right?

Wait a minute—

Linking the instructor’s recent words, he suddenly thought of a possibility, his face turning ashen.

Madmen! They’re all bloody madmen!

…

In Jinzhou’s New District, Xinghua Road.

“Please, local residents, cooperate with the evacuation immediately, please, local residents, cooperate with the evacuation immediately.”

On the stormy street, cars drove past, blaring the looped message through loudspeakers.

Community office staff members knocked on doors, urging local residents to evacuate quickly.

“Li Xi, stop packing that junk and move it!”

Li Xi’s wife boarded the van, yelling loudly at the house.

Li Xi carried a big box to the van’s trunk.

“What are you doing with these things?” Li Xi’s wife grumbled. She turned around for a look and instantly saw the most conspicuous item on top of the big box — a large framed wedding photo.

Li Xi, braving the rain, went next door to help the elderly Mrs. Zheng, who had poor hearing, onto the vehicle.

The van’s engine roared to life and started moving.

After driving down one street, a thunderous boom suddenly echoed from the distance.

Through the driver’s window, thick grey smoke columns could be seen rising into the sky a few kilometers away, piling up and darkening the sky as if a grey curtain had been hung, overlaying a somber filter.

Bang!!

Another loud explosion, this time closer.

This time Li Xi heard someone shouting, “The dam has collapsed!”

The reservoir was not far from the street, situated downstream, which meant it posed little threat to the residents.

But the dam collapse was just the beginning; part of a hillside also roared down following the failing dam.

The streets trembled, and numerous hairline cracks emerged on the road surface; not far away, a bulge appeared in the ground.

“There’s a monster!”

Behind the collapsing hillside, a dark hole was revealed, and within that hole, traces of human construction were visible.

Indeed, it was like a fountain.

Countless oddly shaped monsters spewed forth from the hole like water from a fountain.

He also saw a fish-like monster, remarkably similar to the one fished out of the reservoir a while back.