“Impossible!” Lin Pei shouted.

“Why would it be impossible?” Ke Liang retorted: “This door moves inward, and the grooves on both sides lock onto the pulley axles to lift it up. Once the chain breaks, the door springs back against the wall with no leverage points above. Opening it from the inside is nearly impossible.”

“I don’t believe it!” Lin Pei violently grabbed Shen Xin, holding his sword against her neck as he pushed her forward. “You all go first! I need to see this with my own eyes!”

Just as Ke Liang was about to say something, Gu Yu suddenly pressed his arm and asked Lin Pei: “Has the door toward the town direction closed too?”

“What did you say?!” Ke Liang and Wang Chaoqing exclaimed simultaneously.

“No wonder!” Gu Yu laughed. “I thought it was strange earlier—when Xu Huo opened the door, we could still see outside, but after we came through, the door closed and the chain broke. So it’s because of you.”

“Xu Huo returned to the town, and you didn’t want to give him any chance to come out, so you sabotaged the door, didn’t you?”

“Haha! You’ve brought this on yourself!”

“Shut up!” Lin Pei roared. “There must still be a way to open the door! Did Xu Huo give you the key to open it? Hand it over now!”

Gu Yu said mockingly: “You think we used some damn key of yours to open the door?”

“You thought you held the only clue, but there was never any key to begin with.”

“No key?” Lin Pei froze momentarily. “Then how did you open it?”

“By using our brains,” Gu Yu paused before adding: “Well, now it’s perfect—both doors are closed. Let’s all wait here to die then.”

As she spoke, she simply sat down and began tearing her clothes to bandage her wounds.

Ke Liang did the same.

Seeing this, panic rose in Lin Pei’s heart—he hadn’t gone through all that effort just to come here and wait for death!

Swinging his sword, he shouted: “Everyone move forward! Anyone who doesn’t go, I’ll chop her hand off!”

Gu Yu and the others gave him a dark look, then glanced at Shen Xin before reluctantly complying.

The five of them returned to the front door, and just as described, the chain had broken, and the door had retracted into the wall.

Lin Pei shoved Shen Xin aside and tried to open the door himself.

Only one of the two chains had broken; the other pulley axle had been stuck in the door earlier. However, after Gu Yu and the others attempted to lift the door using the single remaining chain, it gradually slid out and had now completely retracted into the wall.

Lin Pei frantically felt around the wall and slashed at the door more than a dozen times with his sword before finally having to face reality.

Gu Yu and Shen Xin supported each other, watching his actions coldly as she mocked: “If Xu Huo were here, he might have figured out a way. He was the one who guessed how to open the door. Too bad you got him killed.”

These words struck a nerve in Lin Pei. He suddenly turned back, grabbed Wang Chaoqing, and pushed him to the edge of the suspension bridge, glaring viciously at the other three: “Tell me how to open the door right now, or I’ll have to use someone as a stepping stone first.”

“Ahhh! I don’t want to die!” Wang Chaoqing waved his arms wildly, tears and snot streaming down his face as he stared at the Mutants leaping up at him from below. He screamed: “I’ll talk! I know too! I’ll tell you!”

Lin Pei pulled him back and rested his long sword on Wang Chaoqing’s shoulder: “Speak!”

Wang Chaoqing tremblingly explained the door-opening method. Lin Pei looked utterly astonished. “It’s that simple?”

“What? You don’t believe it even when told?” Gu Yu mentioned Xu Huo, her voice softening slightly. “It’s exactly that simple, but not everyone could have thought of it.”

Lin Pei snatched the flashlight from Ke Liang and shone it through the grille. After searching for a while, he suddenly pointed at a section of the wall: “There’s a maintenance scaffold over there that should lead to the west gate.”

“The entire wall interior is circular—we can reach the west gate from inside too.”

As he spoke, he tied his Spring Rope to an upper corner of the grille. “Come help.”

“You’re going to dismantle the grille?” Ke Liang said in shock. “It’s full of Mutants inside!”

“So what?” Lin Pei didn’t even look back. “Mutants can’t climb that high.”

“What good will going to the west gate do? The door can’t be opened from the inside,” Gu Yu said.

“We’ll only know once we get there!” Lin Pei roared back. “Even if we have to pry it open, we’ll get that damn door out!”

Gu Yu and the others exchanged glances before choosing to help, as this was their only chance to escape too.

After tearing open the iron grille, Lin Pei made Wang Chaoqing go up first. “Scout the path.”

Wang Chaoqing’s legs turned to jelly. “Bro, I don’t dare… I don’t have the skills…”

Just as Lin Pei raised his sword again, Ke Liang stepped forward voluntarily. “I’ll go first.”

He climbed onto the scaffold first, followed by Wang Chaoqing and Shen Xin. As Gu Yu was about to move, Lin Pei stopped her and went up himself, warning: “Don’t try any tricks, or I’ll push Shen Xin down to feed the Mutants first. Keep your distance.”

Gu Yu followed behind him with a dark expression, watching his back and wondering: He’s actually quite clever, so why is he so different from Xu Huo?

And is Xu Huo even still alive?

*

Dawn gradually broke, sunlight once again illuminating the silent town. Dolls littered the ground, clocks could be seen everywhere, and the high walls reflected the sunlight. Aside from the wreckage left by fights and explosions, everything in this town looked unchanged from yesterday.

“Crack!”

A piece of rubble fell from the ruins, the sound echoing in all directions, but no Mutants appeared. Not even any extra noises could be heard—those two Mutants seemed completely isolated by the metal door panel, utterly unaware of sounds outside.

But the reality was different because they were frantically attacking the iron window protecting the high-frequency instrument. They weren’t trying to damage the equipment but were targeting the person in the room behind the instrument.

Xu Huo, who had been lying on the ground all night, regained consciousness. The moment he opened his eyes, his pupils contracted into thin slits but quickly returned to normal.

Pushing himself up from the ground, his hand accidentally brushed against something nearby, creating a clattering sound that made the Mutants outside intensify their impact.

His awareness rapidly returned as he scanned the entire room. Unlike before he lost consciousness, his eyes now functioned like night vision goggles, allowing him to see everything clearly even in darkness—the overturned table, the leather case, the spilled serum vials and notes, and the empty syringe.

He was still alive and rational, which proved the serum had worked correctly.

Picking up the nearby syringe, he found the serum designation on its end—both were P0S.

The open notebook beside him clearly stated: “P0S serum is the completed version of the P0 potion, featuring more comprehensive defect suppression effects. Must be used at the very beginning of evolution.”

“If P1 Evolution Serum or other advanced versions are consumed, once second-stage evolution begins, the process becomes irreversible. Genetic defects will persist throughout the entire evolution process. Neither halting nor substituting with S-version serum can prevent mutation, death, and other conditions. S-version serum will become completely ineffective.”

“Before using P1 potion, Evolvers have minimal dependence on serums. Using S-version serum at this stage can interrupt the defect evolution process and initiate complete, perfect evolution.”

“Perfect evolution” was underlined for emphasis.

“Looks like I got lucky.” The S-version serum had precisely interrupted his mutation process, successfully transitioning him into perfect evolution.

Xu Huo chuckled softly as he gathered the items from the floor into the leather case. The moment his hand touched the case, the game interface popped up:

[Congratulations player Extra for finding an unclaimed item.]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep