Both of these men were dressed in black soft armor, just like Cui Mao, remembered by Zhou Yi. Their muscular lines were clear, indicating long-term exercise.

One of them said, "We are from the Ninth Squadron of the Tianjin Knights. The one who mutated is our captain, Yao Yuan. My name is Fang He, and this here is Zhao Qiang. We learned about your situation from the Third Squadron."

"You're also here for Flying Star, right? We're willing to share all the information we have, in hopes that you can help save our captain."

More sources of information are always good.

Zhou Yi said, "I'll try, but I can't guarantee the outcome."

Fang He and Zhao Qiang immediately appeared relieved.

"As long as you take action, the chances will be much greater."

Then Fang He began describing their ordeal.

The Ninth Squadron representing the Tianjin Knights undertook this Star Axis bounty mission, executed by four knights. To reduce the load and move quickly, they did not bring any knight guards and arrived here by boat first.

But before they even landed, one of the knights began showing severe rejection symptoms in his enhanced body, leading to weakness and an inability to move, so he had to stay on the boat to wait for support.

The remaining three ventured into the main island.

Captain Yao Yuan, along with Fang He and Zhao Qiang, first visited the local natives and learned that Flying Star had fallen near the Rotating Garden.

He noticed that no one had entered Shadow Building yet, so he decided to set up a bonfire underneath it.

This was to signal to those who came later that the Tianjin Knights were already conducting a propulsion investigation here.

Later, Mechanical Knights and Bounty Knights also arrived, but after discovering them, they just observed briefly and then left.

The special mechanisms of the Forbidden Weapon Relics meant everyone was hesitant to initiate conflicts, as the first move was a significant advantage. If traps were set or local dangers deliberately concealed, later arrivals would easily find themselves in a disadvantageous situation.

Everyone maintained restraint as a result.

Fang He said, "Currently, the situation is, we're in Shadow Building, Mechanical Knights are examining a moving colossus, Bounty Knights are stationed around the Forbidden Weapon Alien, and Dead Sea Knights are in the Rotating Garden..."

Zhou Yi was puzzled, "You're saying the Dead Sea Knights are in the Rotating Garden?"

"Yes. They even greeted us when they arrived, and their numbers are not many; in this sort of thing, more people aren't always better."

Fang He continued, "Only the Mechanical Knights brought lots of equipment and had many people; their main target is actually the Alien."

Zhou Yi felt strange.

He and Qin Xie had searched long in Joy Valley and indeed, there were no other people inside.

But that was a matter for later.

Zhou Yi signaled Fang He to continue.

The knight from Tianjin recalled, "Once here, the captain led us to search floor by floor."

"This is a very old Dead Sea Alien, seriously damaged, with no signs of self-repair, and it did not prevent or reject us. We checked each room, finding only some birds and mice, nothing else."

"But as we neared the top floor, the situation changed."

Suddenly, a yipping sound filled Zhou Yi's ears.

A man carrying a little girl walked past him, talking to his daughter.

Another woman approached Zhou Yi head-on, passed through his body, and continued walking out of the building.

Suddenly, all the residents of the tube-shaped building came out.

These residents walked down the hallways, chatting, eating melon seeds, joking, whispering, with a mix of sounds overlapping.

News and music played along the corridor.

Zhou Yi and the two knights seemed quite out of place.

Fang He looked around nonchalantly and said, "This Alien produces illusions. We were scared at first, but later we found out they weren't harmful, just very life-like shadows."

Zhou Yi nodded slightly.

Fang He pointed at himself and his companion, "I specialize in reconnaissance, Zhao Qiang is good at operating equipment, and the captain has the best all-around ability. The captain asked us to wait for him on the 12th floor while he went into the 13th floor alone because there was a strong energy reaction on the top floor."

"We waited at the staircase for half an hour, and then saw the captain stumbling down. He was not alright, unable to speak, his enhanced body swelling and mutating, all over red and swollen... we quickly put him into the emergency bed."

He pointed to a metal box nearby.

Zhou Yi asked the two, "Can it be opened now?"

"Yes."

Zhao Qiang, who hadn't spoken until now, responded, unlocking the four clasps on the metal box and pulling open two iron doors to the sides.

A large amount of frost mist rose.

Inside, a man with pale skin lay there. He was dressed in black, his eyes tightly shut, his face covered with vascular patterns, seemingly influenced by something affecting his blood system, causing his facial veins to thicken and dissipate intermittently.

Yao Yuan was restrained by a belt on the emergency bed, kept in a sleep state in the low-temperature environment.

Zhou Yi noticed abnormal bulges on his chest. Those swollen areas on his distant body surface slowly writhed, as if some parasitic creature was moving inside him.

Zhao Qiang pointed to the swollen area on Yao Yuan's chest, saying gravely, "The captain's enhanced body organs are in the skin on his chest and back. The Light Imprint Structure implanted in the skin allows him to detect many subtle changes, preventing harm before it occurs."

"However, because of this, the mutated skin is tearing the muscles, seeking to extract the body's strength and separate from the body. In such circumstances, once the enhanced body separates, the captain is sure to die."

His face was full of worry, "The rejection reaction of the enhanced body usually results in swelling and pain, but this situation is severe mutation. The source is on the 13th floor, I don't know if Flying Star is there, but there's definitely a radiation source causing nearby enhanced bodies to have a severe stress reaction."

"But the captain forbade us from going there, he had said before, unless he returns safely from that side, do not go up. Neither our enhanced bodies' strength nor our endurance matches the captain."

Zhou Yi asked, "Why not take him out of here, away from the radiation source?"

Zhao Qiang replied gloomily, "Because it's unclear what the radiation source is."

"Some radiation sources accelerate the reaction further when distanced; we can't take that risk. We contacted the rear, and it will take at least 11 days for the rescue personnel to arrive. The captain can't possibly last that long."

"We've asked other knights here, but they also have no solution... so now we are in a dilemma."

Getting the gist of the situation.

Zhou Yi said, "I will go up and take a look; you stay here."

"Please, be careful on your way."

Two Knights stood guard on the ground floor.

Zhou Yi walked up the stairs, passing through the many phantoms of yesteryears.

His fingers touched the handrail, activating the energy input and opening a consciousness frequency match.

"Excuse me for disturbing, but what's the situation on the 13th floor?"

An old man's voice responded in his mind: "Hahaha, people gone, building empty, go now, go now, everyone has gone."

"Hello, can you hear me?"

Then, it changed to an old lady's voice: "Why come back? Look at this building, so old and broken, can't even sell it, it's getting more and more awful."

"..."

Followed by a man's voice: "Let's go, let's go."

A little girl said, "Daddy, I don't want to leave."

This was the first building life with which Zhou Yi was completely unable to communicate.

The tube building merely recorded the voices of former residents; it repeated the sounds of the past like a parrot, like a dithering old man talking to himself.

Zhou Yi was a bit stumped.

It seemed that although building lives were theoretically immortal, they could still exhibit conditions similar to senile dementia or mental anomalies.

But in this respect, they did seem more lifelike.

Zhou Yi continued to ascend the spiraling staircase.

The whole building was an octagonal ring corridor, resembling a huge atrium. With the absence of people, most areas lay in shadow.

The movement of shadows didn't add any vitality here, instead making it appear even more eerie and desolate.

Stepping onto the stairs leading to the 13th floor, Red Kestrel suddenly said, "There's a strong reaction of Death Light radiation above, a clear radiation source, which poses certain risks."

Zhou Yi switched to Mode 2, letting it take the first round of damage.

He arrived at the corridor on the 13th floor.

Zhou Yi immediately felt something was off, his body sustaining continuous damage.

-1

-1

…

Was it damage that ignored Defense?

Zhou Yi switched back to the initial machine form.

The damage numbers continued but were ineffective under high-intensity defense.

So, it was nothing serious.

It seemed the killing power of the radiation was limited.

Then Zhou Yi saw light coming from one of the rooms on this floor.

He walked over.

Inside, a young boy about seven or eight years old, barefoot and wearing an adult's clothing that trailed down to his knees, was evident.

The boy's right hand emitted a blazing red light, a fiery red high-temperature fluid slowly taking form in his palm, leisurely manipulated by his fingers until it turned into a smooth black cup.

Zhou Yi noticed that the stone table and cabinets in the room were filled with various cups—some smooth, some rough, in shades of brown, black, and a mixture of red and yellow.

The boy seemed to have a fondness for cups.

"Have you seen enough?"

The boy slowly turned his face, his gaze dark: "Why did you come here? Always pushing me. Do you know you're about to die?"

Zhou Yi smiled slightly: "Just came up to take a look, also searching for something."

Under the [Alert] perspective, a dangerous red aura emerged around the boy, signifying that he was a Class B life form.

From an external view, however, the boy appeared completely human.

Red Kestrel warned: "Zhou, he's a Mutant, be careful."

"What's a Mutant?"

Before he could get an answer, the boy in front of him looked shocked; he quickly approached Zhou Yi, sizing him up and down.

"This isn't right, something's off... Why aren't my radiations affecting your organs?"

"Normally, you should have mutated and rotted to death from my radiation, even enhancers can't remain unaffected…"

The boy looked puzzled: "Why are you completely fine?"

A resolute gleam suddenly appeared in his eyes: "You're not human! You're a problem!"

Zhou Yi: "…"

The problem is with you, kid.

"Since you're not human, no need for courtesies then." The Mutant boy's gaze hardened, and flames engulfed his body, surging towards Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was somewhat surprised.

So, the prison doesn't manage the life within the building?

He snapped his fingers.

"Mic master, music!"

Then the Boy's gaze suddenly became sluggish, the fire on his body instantly extinguished. He stood there dazed, his brain seemingly empty.

Zhou Yi stood with his hands behind his back.

Ever heard of mechanic anomalies?

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