One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Nie Lingfeng gently lifted the cover, revealing a crack. Brighter, more indoor-grade artificial light, carrying the smell of disinfectant, shone through. He cautiously peeked out and quickly scanned the area.

Outside appeared to be… an abandoned storage room? Or perhaps a junkyard attached to a large equipment room. The space was small, crammed with old instrument cases covered in thick dust, broken pipes, and rusty tool racks; the air reeked of dust and machine oil. The room had no windows, only a tightly closed, heavy metal door. Above the door, a green "EXIT" indicator light was illuminated.

They seemed to have... entered directly into some inconspicuous corner of the base through the piping system.

Nie Lingfeng breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although the process was somewhat tortuous and full of surprises, he had finally succeeded in infiltrating. Moreover, this path seemed to be even more hidden than expected.

He gently pushed open the cover, jumped out first, and then pulled Chen Duo up as well. The two stood back on solid (though dusty) ground and quickly looked around.

Chen Duo looked curiously at the piles of clutter around her, her emerald eyes gleaming like a cat's in the dim light. She stretched out her little finger and gently poked a dusty wooden box next to her, its contents unknown. Dust fell in a flurry, and she quickly withdrew her hand, wrinkling her little nose. (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)

"Don't touch anything," Nie Lingfeng whispered a warning, walking to the metal door and pressing his ear against it to listen again. Outside was a quiet corridor, with a faint, rhythmic hum of machinery in the distance, but no approaching footsteps.

He tried turning the doorknob; it was locked, but could be opened from the inside. The door was a heavy fire door with excellent sound insulation.

Nie Lingfeng turned around and gestured for Chen Duo to be quiet and ready. Then, he slowly pressed down the doorknob and pushed the heavy metal door open a crack.

Brighter lights, carrying the cold scent of metal and disinfectant, belonging to a modern research facility, streamed in through the crack in the door. At the same time, the faint, rhythmic hum of distant machinery could be heard, along with… an extremely faint, unsettling, low growl, seemingly emanating from the depths of the earth, a mixture of pain, madness, and hunger…

The roar was extremely faint, blocked by the thick walls and doors; if Nie Lingfeng hadn't been so perceptive, he would have barely noticed it. But it was definitely there, and from more than one source, seemingly originating from the deepest part of the building, like a dungeon imprisoning countless desperate beasts.

Chen Duo heard it too, and her face instantly tightened. A hint of disgust and wariness flashed in her emerald eyes, and she subconsciously moved closer to Nie Lingfeng.

They've finally entered the secret base of the Yaoxing Society.

What awaits them is far more than just cold instruments and researchers in white coats.

The metal door closed silently behind them, completely isolating the dusty, abandoned storage room. Before them stretched a futuristic, silver-white corridor, a stark contrast to the previous environment.

The corridor was approximately three meters wide and four meters high. The walls and ceiling were made of a single piece of high-strength alloy, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflecting the soft, cool white light emitted by the shadowless lamps embedded in the ceiling. The floor was covered with light gray, finely textured, non-slip plastic flooring, spotless and gleaming. The air was filled with a strong but not pungent smell of disinfectant, mixed with a very faint ozone odor, similar to that produced when new electronic devices are powered on.

The entire corridor was eerily quiet, save for the extremely low, steady hum of some unknown piece of equipment operating in the distance, like the breathing of a sleeping giant. Apart from that, not even a whisper of wind or a sound of footsteps could be heard. At intervals along both sides of the corridor stood a heavy, silver-white, airtight door, completely closed. The doors bore no markings, only a small electronic screen, about the size of a palm, which was currently in a dim standby state.

Everything here exudes a cold, orderly, and uncompromising sense of order, creating a stark contrast with the natural ruggedness of the surrounding mountains and the filth and rust of abandoned pipes. It's as if you've stepped from a wild world into a high-level biological laboratory or a sterile operating room.

Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo stood at the doorway, quickly adapting to the changes in light and environment. Nie Lingfeng immediately spread his senses like radar, but he frowned slightly because the walls and floor seemed to be mixed with some special material that could absorb or interfere with mental perception. His perception range was severely compressed, barely covering about twenty meters around him; beyond that, it became blurry, as if viewed through frosted glass. Moreover, the energy fluctuations returned by his senses were unusually "clean," containing only the standard energy flow of instruments, without any obvious active life force belonging to "humans" or "beasts."

"So clean..." Chen Duo muttered softly, her bright green eyes curiously taking in the gleaming silver walls and floor, seemingly a little unaccustomed to such an overly "clean" environment. She subconsciously glanced down at her shoes and trouser legs, which were covered in dust and moss, then looked at the spotless floor, a rare, slightly embarrassed expression—like "I'm sorry I've made someone else's house dirty"—on her small face. (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)

Nie Lingfeng noticed this as well. Having traversed mountains and pipes, they were inevitably covered in dust, mud, and rust, making them stand out starkly from the sterile environment here. But they couldn't worry about that now.

"Never mind that, let's find our way first," Nie Lingfeng said in a low voice, his gaze quickly sweeping across both ends of the corridor. One end extended deeper, where a T-shaped intersection could be vaguely seen. The other end was a dead end, with only a double airtight door that looked like the main entrance and was much thicker than the other doors.

He chose the path leading deeper into the woods and gestured for Chen Duo to follow. The two moved quickly, their footsteps barely touching the wall. The specially designed non-slip rubber floor absorbed most of the sound of their footsteps, and combined with their precise control of their strength, they moved almost silently.

As Nie Lingfeng passed through the first airtight door, he tried to penetrate it with his senses, but the effect was poor. He could only vaguely sense that there was a relatively enclosed space behind the door, with a few weak, seemingly "standby" life reactions, but no signs of activity. The electronic screen on the door lit up slightly as he approached, displaying the words "LOCKED" in red, along with an interface that required fingerprint, iris, or password verification.

It seems the access control system here is very strict. Without proper authorization, it's difficult to enter these private rooms.

They continued forward and soon arrived at a T-junction. Nie Lingfeng cautiously peeked out, looking to the left and right. The left corridor was longer, with more doors on both sides, and what appeared to be an elevator at the end. The right corridor was shorter, ending at a double-glazed door with an observation window. Behind the door seemed to be a larger, brightly lit open space, where they could vaguely see figures in white coats moving around, as well as the outlines of some complex instruments.

Is this the laboratory area? And it seems like someone is working there.

Nie Lingfeng immediately turned back and made a "hide" gesture to Chen Duo. The two retreated to the shadows of the T-junction, pressing themselves against the wall.

"There are people over there," Nie Lingfeng said in an almost inaudible whisper. "Let's not go there yet. Let's go left and see where the elevator leads, or look for ventilation ducts or fire escape routes."

Chen Duo nodded, indicating that she understood. She also heard faint sounds coming from the other side, sounds that belonged to "normal" people, which made her breathe a slight sigh of relief. Compared to the deathly silence just now, where only the hum of machines could be heard, the presence of "people," even if they might be enemies, made her feel less "eerie."

The two turned around, intending to continue exploring along the left corridor—

"Waaaaah—!"

That unsettling, low growl that had been faintly heard underground before rang out again! And this time it was clearer, and even closer!

The roar didn't come from the direction of the laboratory they had just seen on the right, nor from the elevator in front, but... it seemed to come from beneath their feet, or from deep within the wall beside them! The sound was a mixture of pain, madness, hunger, and an indescribable sense of blasphemy and distortion, as if it came from the abyss. It penetrated the thick soundproofing materials and the barrier of the special alloy, like a cold venomous snake, crawling into people's ears and piercing their souls!

Even more bizarrely, this time the roar seemed to contain some intermittent, metallic, and meaningless syllables, which sounded... somewhat similar to some of the syllables in the blasphemous whispers that Master Agong uttered before his death last night!

Chen Duo trembled, gripping Nie Lingfeng's sleeve tightly. Her face instantly paled, and her emerald eyes filled with instinctive disgust and a hint of...uncontrollable fear. Her perception of "filth" and "evil" was far more sensitive and direct than Nie Lingfeng's; the roar seemed to scrape directly into her mind, making her extremely uncomfortable, even nauseous. (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)

Nie Lingfeng's eyes narrowed. This roar was not something an ordinary wild beast or a crazed monster could produce. The chaotic, insane, and twisted mental pollution it contained originated from the same source as the power of the "Cave God" and the "Blood Moon" of Luodong Village! Yaoxing Society was indeed conducting extremely dangerous research related to "that being"! Moreover, the research subject seemed to be imprisoned deep within this base!

The roar lasted for about ten seconds before gradually weakening and disappearing. The corridor returned to its cold, deathly silence, filled only with the hum of machines. But in the air, it seemed as if the chilling aftertaste of that roar still lingered.

From the laboratory on the right, there was a faint commotion, as if the people inside had also been startled by the roar. Footsteps and hushed conversations could be heard, but they quickly subsided, as if they had become accustomed to it.

"What...what is that?" Chen Duo loosened Nie Lingfeng's sleeve and asked softly, her voice trembling slightly.

"I'm afraid it's the 'thing' that Yaoxing Society is researching here," Nie Lingfeng said in a deep voice, his eyes cold. "It's the same kind as the 'Cave God' of Luodong Village. Or rather, it's a 'product'."

His vigilance reached its peak. This place was more dangerous than he had anticipated. Not only did he have to contend with high-tech security and well-trained guards, but he also had to be wary of the imprisoned, unknown "experimental subjects" who had been corrupted or modified by the power of "that being." Moreover, judging from the commotion just now, the researchers here seemed quite familiar with this situation, and perhaps... they were actively "stimulating" or "observing" these experimental subjects.

We need to be more careful.

"We need to speed things up and find the core area and control room." Nie Lingfeng made a decisive decision. "Left, let's go."