This villain is too popular.

Chapter 390 The Same Scar

[Explorer Assessment: Abandoned Factory Basement]

"Come here! Over here!"

The little girl tugged at Chen Kong's clothes and tiptoed into a hidden entrance at the back of the factory.

The entrance was entangled by dense vines, the leaves of which were stained with black oil. Several broken bricks were piled up around it, and without careful observation, it was impossible to tell that there was a passage leading underground.

Clearly, this is the children's 'secret base' that they've kept hidden for a long time.

Chen Kong followed the little girl down the steps. The steps were covered with a thick layer of dust, and each step kicked up tiny particles.

The air was thick with the dampness typical of coastal cities, along with the sour smell of expired canned goods, which made Chen Kong frown.

The further down the passage went, the dimmer the light became, until the little girl pulled a small flashlight from her pocket, its casing already dented and battered.

With the help of the dim light of their flashlights, the group finally made their way to the iron door to the basement.

"reached!"

The little girl stopped and struggled to push open the creaking iron gate in front of her.

When Chen Kong stepped through the door, he discovered that it was an abandoned cannery.

Several rows of iron shelves stood around the perimeter, piled high with empty cans.

Some of the can lids were rusted and deformed, and some were covered with dried brown stains, clearly indicating that they had been opened and eaten from.

In addition, there were several old, yellowed, and curled newspapers scattered on the ground.

The date on it is blurry and can only be vaguely seen as an old newspaper from about half a year ago.

"Um... how long have you been hiding here?"

Chen Kong squatted down and picked up an empty can.

Hearing this, the little girl looked up.

Her eyes had no pupils, only a milky white turbidity, yet they could accurately align with the direction of the dust.

"I don't know. All we know is that we were playing hopscotch in the open space behind the factory that day when we suddenly heard a loud 'boom,' followed by shouts, explosions, and a very fierce 'howling' sound."

Her voice paused, her small hands unconsciously clenching the hem of her clothes, her tone filled with lingering fear.

“Mom told us to run fast, saying ‘those things’ were coming, so we ran here.”

"When Xiaohao and I used to play hide-and-seek, we always hid here and no one ever found us."

Those things
Chen Kong's heart sank. He knew without a doubt that it was the scene when the star beasts breached the city.

The reason these children have survived until now is either because they have a good hiding place or because their life force is very weak, which is why they were not discovered by the first wave of beasts.

He knew this so clearly because when he and Chenxing were children, they survived by hiding in their room after the Star Beasts breached the city, thanks to the biscuits and water left by their mother.

Just as Chen Kong was lost in a brief recollection because of the little girl's words.

The cameraman suddenly spoke up.

"Ms. An, are you alright?"

The cameraman stood at the door, looking at An Qin who seemed off, and asked her curiously.

Just now, when deciding whether or not to bring the children, Anqin frowned and said, "Bringing them along will slow us down."

But when Chen Kong and he insisted on protecting the child, she eventually followed silently.

From the moment she entered the passage, she walked at the very back, her head down, the hood of her hoodie pulled low, as if deliberately avoiding something.

Anqin stiffened visibly when she heard the question, then slowly raised her head and replied in a slightly hoarse voice, "It's nothing, I'm just worried that it's not safe here."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the empty cans on the shelf before quickly looking away.

“You know our situation. We don’t have much time to waste here. We need to make plans as soon as possible.” The cameraman nodded, and the camera panned to the depths of the warehouse.

“You’re right. Although my detectors show no star beast signals here for the time being, the pursuers could appear at any moment. We have at most one minute to settle these children.”

That being said, the cameraman's gaze toward Anqin was full of contemplation.

Anqin's unease wasn't just a simple matter of 'worrying about safety'. From the moment she saw the children, her shoulders were tense, and even her breathing was more rapid than usual.

Did she recognize these children, or did this place remind her of something?
For a moment, the entire basement fell into an eerie silence, something that had not occurred in the previous two assessments.

It was as if, for some reason, the raccoon keeper had not been able to find their location for the time being, thus giving them a long-awaited moment of peace.

Seeing that the cameraman didn't say anything more, Anqin didn't say anything more either, and silently walked into the depths of the warehouse, wanting to check if there were any other exits.

But just as she turned around, her hoodie got caught on a protruding metal hook on the shelf.

Wow!

Her hoodie slipped down, revealing Anqin's fair neck.

On the left side of her right neck, there was a faint scar. The scar was peculiar in shape, as if it had been scratched by something sharp, leaving three thin, parallel marks.

At this moment, the camera suddenly gave Anqin's scar a close-up.

Immediately afterwards, the camera quickly cut to the little girl not far away.

On the right side of the little girl's neck, there was a scar that was almost identical.

However, the little girl's scar was darker, as if it was a new wound that had not fully healed, while Anqin's scar was very light, obviously an old wound from a long time ago.

However, it wasn't just the viewers on the 13 stations who noticed this detail.

There's also a cameraman with a '360-degree' field of view.

In an instant, he seemed to understand something and made a decision.

Just as he was about to follow and ask what was going on, a loud 'boom' suddenly came from above, shaking the warehouse's iron frames and sending dust falling down.

Hearing the roars of the alien beasts overhead, the cameraman immediately said, "Be careful! I sense a large number of alien beasts approaching here! And it seems they've already discovered this place."

Upon hearing the cameraman's words, Chen Kong instantly tensed up. He reached out and shielded the two children behind him, and the Void Rune quietly activated.

A pale blue star energy enveloped his entire body, ready to deal with any star beasts that rushed in.

But just then, Anqin suddenly turned around and said in an unusually calm tone, "I'll hold them off. You take the children and go through the back exit."

"I just saw a ventilation duct at the very back of the warehouse that leads to the woods outside the factory."

"No! It's too dangerous for you to go alone!"

Chen Kong immediately retorted, even if they were just temporary teammates, he couldn't bear to watch An Qin face the star beast alone.

"We can be together."

"There's no time."

Anqin interrupted him, reached out and pushed open a hidden door at the very back of the warehouse. Sure enough, there was a ventilation duct half a meter wide behind the door, big enough for a child or an adult to climb through.

Without waiting for Chen Kong to persuade her further, she turned and walked out of the basement.

The moment she opened the door, the howl of the shadow wolf overhead rang out clearly, and black mist seeped in through the crack in the door, wrapping around her ankles.

Anqin didn't turn around, but simply raised her hand to put the hood of her hoodie back on, her voice coming through the crack in the door.

"Don't worry, I'm a little better than you think."

Watching Anqin's retreating figure, Chen Kong ultimately decided not to waste any more time and followed her advice.

(End of this chapter)