Chapter 165
Chapter 165: The Final Protectors [Part 1]
When they neared planet ‘h.e.l.l’, they could see the planet clearly from the large display. The outside of the planet was gray and blurry. Lung fired many probes to test various parameters of the planet. Although the level of air pollution exceeded acceptable limits, Lung, Cillin and the gray cat could still handle it without putting on a protective suit.
Looking at the footages transmitted back by the probes, the planet had undergone a big change. However, it wasn’t entirely the b.l.o.o.d.y red color Lung had mentioned earlier. It was simply a brown yellow background mottled with some b.l.o.o.d.y red color.
"The pictures from several dozens of years weren’t like this. Back then there was more blood red color than there is now. The planet’s current appearance is probably caused by the movements of its crust." Lung said.
"Eh, what’s that?!" the gray cat couldn’t hold itself from jumping off Cillin’s shoulders and onto the control panel. The machine was closer to the display.
Looking at the footages transmitted back by one of the probes, an unknown animal with thick black fur over ten meters tall suddenly scuttled out beside a mountain rock. Its sole was shaped like a hoof, and it bared a mouthful of sharp teeth when it bellowed. There were traces of blood on its body, but it was blue in color instead of the usual bright red.
This ferocious beast ran with all its might as if there was something it from behind. Suddenly, a shadow flashed by and knocked down the ferocious beast with great impact.
"A dog?" the gray cat c.o.c.ked its head and said uncertainly as it stared at the new creature.
The thing that had knocked down the ferocious beast looked like a dog, but it wasn’t an entirely accurate description. A careful look revealed that it had a lot of traits that differentiated it from a dog such as its claws, its face etc&h.e.l.lip; At any rate, it just gave off the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
The ‘dog’ bit at the ferocious beast’s neck the moment it was knocked down and did not let go no matter how hard the beast struggled. When the beast finally shook it off, the dog’s mouth was holding a large chunk of meat. As the ferocious beast bled more and more, it lost its initial speed and vigor and was bit again by that ‘dog’ not long after it attempted to escape. More and more wounds appeared on its body as the dog tore mouthful after mouth of flesh off the body of the ferocious beast that was three times its size, seemingly wanting to shred its prey into pieces.
The bluish blood scattered all over the place. Gradually, some smaller sized carnivores began to show their heads. None of them hastened forwards because the ‘dog’ was still there, however.
By now the ferocious beast had stopped struggling and died completely. After confirming that the ferocious beast was completely dead, the ‘dog’ finally panted as blue blood dripped off the sides of its mouth, and its body covered in sticky blood. No longer paying attention to the big fellow that was mangled beyond recognition, it lifted its feet and left, leaving behind a trail of bluish footmarks.
When the ‘dog’ had left, the small carnivores that were stretching their heads and looking about finally rushed forwards to enjoy their completely effortless and delicious meal.
"That is a h.e.l.lhound." Lung said.
Cillin summoned the footage of the dog-like creature from before, "This is them?"
"They are created by humans, and are not pure canis." Lung lay back on his chair and said slowly, "These creatures have both human genes and the dog genes in them. They may be dogs that were injected with human genes, or humans who were injected with dog genes. Sometimes a wolf’s gene would be used as well, but in the end those people discovered that dog genes are more effective than wolf genes because wolves are too wild and hard to control, whereas dogs are easier to control.
Before the planet has experienced its calamity, these fellows were used to watch over other lab creatures such as the convicts that are to be used as test subjects, or other animals. They could memorise the scent of each test subject, and it’s not just the surface scent but the scent of their very gene. No matter where these test subjects escape to, they will always be able to track them down. They will track their targets for an eternity until they meet their own death.
Later on the planet met its calamity, and a large scale earthquake and violent crustal movements caused nearly all of the original defense web to become paralysed. Volcanos erupted and caused the whole world to become gray and blurry. The viruses inside the research base leaked out, and the test subjects escaped. The rampant viruses and test bodies completely changed this entire world. Later on, the rulers of the planet would find that this planet was no longer habitable.
Given enough time, the viruses and test subjects could have been resolved. But the same cannot be said to the increasingly frequent crustal movements of the planet. In the end, they abandoned this planet and left behind an entire planet of viruses and ‘monsters’ that had escaped from the research labs. There were also these ‘dogs’ that took upon hunting down these escaped ‘monsters’ as their eternal objective. Later on, the planet earned its name ‘h.e.l.l’, and these ‘dogs’ were known as ‘h.e.l.lhounds’. They are also the final protectors of this planet."
"So you’re saying that some of these creatures are actually humans who were genetically modified into this horrific appearance that is neither a man nor a dog?" Cillin said.
"Yeah." Lung switched scenes and selected a slightly unclear footage from a number of footages transmitted by the probes. There was too much flying dust in that particular area, and it caused some parts of the scene to become blocked. However, the critical part of the footage was still relatively clear, "That is a h.e.l.lhound whose original form was human."
Cillin and the gray cat looked at the creature together. Unlike the ‘dog’ from before, this one had a shape and a face that was closer to a human being’s. However, its entire body was covered in long fur just the same and dragged a tail behind its back as well. Its ears were slightly sharp, and it ran like a wild animal using both its arms and its legs. It no longer walked with its legs only like a human being. Some of its bellows could be heard from the footage as well. Other than the fact that it looked a little like human, Its lifestyle and its habits were no different from a wild animal’s.
These test subjects had been raised this way from the moment they were genetically modified and created. This meant that the people of the research base did not treat them as human beings from the very beginning.
Some of the hair on the gray cat’s tail stood up on its end. Suddenly, it wondered what might happen if it was caught by those crazy scientists? Oh my meow how scary!
"We going in?" Lung arranged the parameters collected from the planet’s environment on the panel so that Cillin and the gray cat could have a more comprehensive read.
"We’re already here, so of course we’re going."
Cillin wasn’t afraid of these things. Moreover, he was curious if the research bases left behind any valuable information after the calamity. Plus, the amount of viruses on this planet was bountiful, and if these ferocious beasts could survive these viruses then he should be fine with his const.i.tution as well. Plus, it was easier to find some things that were buried deep underground at a place with frequent crustal movements.
Since the planet’s outer atmosphere were gray and blurry, Cillin and Lung decided against site specific teleportation and initiated entry by piloting a s.p.a.ceplane that was modified by Cillin instead. The stars.h.i.+p was
After pa.s.sing through the gray, blurry strip, Cillin then saw the planet’s landscape. It looked about the same as the footages transmitted back by the probes. They quickly found a place with high sea level and parked their s.p.a.ceplane there after scanning around and finding no large ferocious beasts in the area.
The moment he walked out of the s.p.a.ceplane, Cillin immediately sensed the restlessness of this planet. He took out a small syringe about the width of a finger and pressed a b.u.t.ton beside it. The syringe began to absorb the air. There were a couple layers of filters inside the interior of the syringe. The filters would perform different absorption processes according to the physical and chemical characteristics of the viruses.
After he was finished collecting the sample of microorganisms in the air of this place, he put the syringe away and looked towards the near distance. The gray cat had long since ran out to tease the small animals hiding inside their underground holes.
Lung took out a round metallic ball, and after activation several tentacle-like objects stretched out of the deep recesses of the ball. The ball hovered in midair as the tentacles pointed towards a particular direction.
Lung beckoned, "Hey Cillin, there’s water around here!"
Places with water would have a much greater variety of species. Perhaps they would be able to see even stranger lifeforms.
"Time to go, stupid cat."
"Alright, right away!" the gray cat chased after Cillin and Lung after stretching a paw inside the hole and grabbing around once.
Chapter 165: The Final Protectors [Part 2]
They hadn’t walked for long before they discovered a stream. It was probably formed by the snow high above the mountains that had melted into water. There were some animal bones beside the stream, and they looked like they had been there for quite some time. They were probably hunted and killed when they came here to drink some water. Cillin looked at the deep bite marks around the neck bones and surrounding skeletons and said, "This is probably the work of a ‘h.e.l.lhound’."
"Yeah, they normally hunt down fugitives only and will not eat them. These bodies only benefited other animals." Lung played with the water of the steam and answered.
"Should we look around?"
Lung nodded in agreement, "This mountain was probably formed due to the crustal movements just a hundred years or so ago. Maybe we can find some ancient fossils in this place. These are all money, man!"
The facts proved that their trip was worth it.
Lung’s detector discovered the fossil of an ancient creature. Of course, there was no way young master Lung would dig out the fossil by himself. He ordered the robots to bring over the necessary tools with a long distance remote control and tossed the fossil right up the s.p.a.ceplane once all the processes were complete.
Cillin had also taken the opportunity to obtain some samples. The samples of ancient creatures were too expensive, and there weren’t many people who were willing to spend money to buy them. Naturally, Cillin did not let such a golden opportunity pa.s.s by.
While Cillin and Lung were busying themselves with the ancient fossil, the probes they sent out earlier sent back a transmission.
"Looks like we’ve found the location of that former research base." Lung looked at the transmission and said.
Looking at the transmission sent back by the probe, the research base wasn’t too far away from where they were. Therefore, Cillin and Lung extended their hoverboards and flew towards the place directly.
The research base was buried a long time ago, and it was impossible to find an entrance on the ground’s surface. Cillin and Lung scanned out an underground map and chose a spot to dig a hole into the place.
The spot they chose was one of the many pa.s.sages of the research base. They would quickly find the pa.s.sage after they went down the hole they dug. Since this place had been buried for too long, there were plenty of volatile gases made of deadly poison in the air. Therefore, both Cillin and Lung had put on a mask. As for the gray cat, this fellow wasn’t afraid in the least.
"I heard that people were dispatched in search for this research base many times to see if there was anything good left behind in the past. However, they found nothing either because they never found the base, or because it was too buried too deep when they did find it. At the time, the base was probably buried deep underground due to crustal movements. It had only risen back to the surface level after many crustal movements later. We are lucky, or we would not have been able to enter this place. Who knows when the base will be buried deep underground again after this." Lung said happily.
There were suspended energy lamps at the front of the pa.s.sage, lighting the many corpses on the floor in clear sight. Judging from the skeletons they did not look like humans, but that was only appearance wise. It did not meant that they were not once humans. There were plenty of convicts in this Sector, and it was common practice to select some humans who fit the standards of an test subject for experimental purposes.
After they walked out of the pa.s.sage, they saw some rooms they were either tightly shut or opened. However, judging from their appearances these rooms were used to store basic tools and materials.
After venturing deeper into the base, they began to find some isolated research labs and some places were used to preserve research specimens. Only two of the liquid tanks used to preserve the research specimens were still intact. The rest were broken.
Inside the intact liquid tanks were two modified monsters who were so beyond recognition that they were unable to identify even their eyes. One of the monsters was probably an adult test subject, but the other monster was an unborn infant. A severely deformed infant.
"These chosen convicts would be given specific food to consume, and some successful research subjects who went through all of the experiments would be used to reproduce offsprings. If their offsprings were excellent, then they would be used further as a work parent* with a wider range of research value&h.e.l.lip; this is especially true for lifeforms at infant stage." Lung said.
*basically, it means that they’ll be used like a tool to produce more offsprings.
Both Cillin and Lung knew very well the madness of mad scientists. These were a kind of people who were unrestrained by both laws and morals. For the sake of their research, forget unborn infants, newborn infants or young children, they would use even themselves as a research subject. They were ruthless towards others, and even more ruthless towards themselves.
The specimens in the next storage room were the h.e.l.lhounds. Some of the research subjects sealed inside the liquid tanks looked like humans, and some looked like dogs. In reality, one could find the traces of both lifeforms on every research subject. It might be their noses, their eyes, their mouths, their ears, their claws&h.e.l.lip;
There were quite a number of newborns among the specimens. They were probably failed subjects. The most cla.s.sic failed subjects would also be sealed off as a research record.
"I heard that there aren’t that many h.e.l.lhounds in the first place. Out of the successfully researched h.e.l.lhounds, the excellent ones would be picked out to breed the next generation. The same process of reproduction by excellence continued to the third generation, the fourth generation and so on&h.e.l.lip; before the calamity, all h.e.l.lhounds were born by excellent parents. At the time, excellent h.e.l.lhounds would be sold to other prisons to watch over the prisoners. However, a h.e.l.lhound’s function was much diminished at the prison zones, so some of them were used as tools of entertainment by the prison guards. The prison guards would have them kill each other, so the fates of these h.e.l.lhounds were either to die or be crippled. Therefore, true h.e.l.lhounds only exist in this planet ‘h.e.l.l’." Lung said while staring at a baby that was neither man nor dog who had not yet even opened its eyes sealed inside a liquid tank.
"Don’t they know how to resist?" the gray cat asked.
"Resist?" Lung gave it a smile, "All those who resist are dead. It doesn’t take long for the researchers to identify which specimens may possess rebellious traits after they were born, so they killed any specimens like that right away."
The gray cat s.h.i.+vered. As it thought, it was best to stay far away from a scientist or something.
After looking at a few other rooms, they arrived at the place where the research subjects were imprisoned. The sealed cage was filled with all kinds of corpses. The life support system was still functioning normally, so the test subjects trapped here had probably killed each other. Some were torn to shreds. When there was no food, the companions beside them could be turned to food too.
The other cage held some of the more troublesome test subjects. They could only imprisoned separately, and they had to be tethered with special chains. Some of these tethered test subjects were either h.e.l.lhounds or something else. Regardless of whether their skeletons looked like humans or animals, judging from the locations they were imprisoned in and the chains that were used to tether them, these fellows all wielded powerful abilities.
Hmm?
Cillin noticed a fellow that looked like a dry corpse. Its body was tethered with special chains, and the undulations of breathing were absent. It looked just like a dead body.
The gray cat swayed its tail as a hint to Cillin: This fellow is alive.
Cillin and Lung exchanged a glance before they approached carefully towards it.
They opened the cage’s door, but the ‘dry corpse’ did not move at all.
The chains used to tether the fellow were all snucked at a collar, and its length could not be determined since half of the chains were blocked by its body. They looked at the scratch marks on the floor. There were a lot of scratch marks within a certain area, but beyond this area there were no scratch marks. The chains on the earlier research subjects weren’t too long, and it was about the same range as these scratch marks.
When Cillin approached the research subject, he suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right. Lung did not continue to walk closer either. Right now they were still more than two meters away from that line of scratch marks.
Cillin looked at the fellow that was like a dry corpse once more. Suddenly his eyelids jumped, and he grabbed Lung and retreated backwards abruptly. At the same time, the fellow who was crouched at the corner like a dry corpse opened its eyes and pounced towards them. Its forelimbs abruptly stretched out, and its outstretched claws were almost two meters long. The activity scope of the fellow that looked like a dry corpse had exceeded the scratch marks on the ground by more than a meter!
This was a well planned trap!
The scratch marks on the ground were done on purpose. It was to fool its prey into thinking that they were outside of its activity scope, when in reality they had already entered its predatory area.
The body that was like a dry corpse erupted with unexpected power, and Cillin did not doubt in the slightest that this fellow’s claws could easily cut them into many ribbons. Even though they were wearing masks, they could still sense the rot and stink that was rus.h.i.+ng towards their face.
Its movement was very quick. It had acted the moment Cillin decided to retreat.
Cillin raised his gun while in retreat and fired three times. He shot two bullets into its eyes, and one bullet into its head.
Pak!
The head of the fellow that was like a dry corpse exploded and splattered gray blood everywhere.
Looking at the now dead and headless fellow, and then at the chains that had been broken, Lung exhaled slowly, "From now on, if we run into something like this in the future, we shoot immediately! Shoot first talk later! And we’re not getting close to it no matter what!"
(E/n: guess who didn’t play dayZ)
The gray cat walked close to the fellow that had its head exploded, looked at it and sniffed, "What a strange scent. I don’t know what species it belonged to."
"It’s probably a mix of genes of several types of ferocious beasts, and specifically those creatures with strong endurance. Otherwise, there’s no way this fellow could have lived until now." Lung said.
Cillin looked once at the place where the chain had been pulled loose. The fellow had bitten a small hole on the chain before this, or there was no way it could have pulled free so easily. However, the fellow had blocked this hole from view earlier.
It knew how to set traps, and it knew how to block the hole on the chain from view. Everything it did was planned.
"Are all these research subjects this intelligent?" Cillin asked.
"I’m not sure, but since they’re successful research subjects, they should be pretty formidable."
Dididi——
While talking, the alarm on Lung’s hand began to ring rapidly. Both Cillin and the gray cat had noticed the abnormality as well.