The sewer was pitch black, and Bai Lixin was the first to go down.
The flashlight’s bright beam illuminated the surroundings. The foul-smelling sewer didn’t seem much different from an ordinary one.
He had explored the nearby area during the day, so it felt somewhat familiar.
While he surveyed the surroundings, a “creak” sounded from above. He raised the flashlight toward the ceiling and saw that the sewer cover was already being closed.
At the same time, Bai Lixin heard a chat notification sound from the system.
He opened the chat window and found a message from Glasses.
[I’ve closed the sewer cover. What should I do now?]
Bai Lixin: [Lock the door, move the bed back to its original position, and pay attention to the outside. Also, stay safe and protect yourself.]
Glasses hesitated for several seconds before replying, [Okay, God Xin, understood.]
The moment Xia Chi entered the sewer, he immediately approached Bai Lixin. He held up the flashlight and looked around. Like typical sewers, the ceiling of this one was semi-circular, and the hard limestone was exposed in some places, revealing metal frames.
The place they stood on should be a central sewer mainline. Murky water flowed continuously in a channel towards one direction, occasionally carrying floating garbage.
Bai Lixin placed the flashlight in the sewage ditch.
Among the garbage on the water surface were leftovers of their food, plastic bags, hair and other waste.
He had already checked these during the day and found nothing extraordinary.
The garbage was very ordinary domestic garbage. Equipment such as syringes used in experiments should be specialized medical waste and are not processed through this sewer.
Xia Chi frowned and pinched his nose. “It’s so stinky, Brother. But the sewer looks quite normal.”
Bai Lixin: “A bit of stench is okay.”
Xia Chi: “What?”
“Brother, do you have some special fetish I don’t know about, like a love for bad smells?”
Bai Lixin: “If the sewer smells good to you, do you think it’s a sewer problem, or that it is your own problem? Isn’t that scarier?”
Xia Chi instantly imagined the scenario Bai Lixin described, showing a disgusted expression. “Ugh, brother, you’re so gross. I don’t like eating shit.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Did I lead your thoughts in that direction?
What I meant is that a normal body is always stronger than a weird one.
Are the flowers of the motherland a little too imaginative?
Tan Yue, don’t you have anything to say?’
A flash of inspiration shone faintly in Xia Chi’s mind.
Bai Lixin discreetly looked at Lin Xiao, the man in the suit who followed them down. Even in this messy environment, his suit remained neat without a single wrinkle. His hair was combed back neatly, showing no signs of disorder.
Unlike Xia Chi, who looked like fleas had crawled all over him, Lin Xiao stood calmly, his facial features unchanged.
Bai Lixin: “Lin Xiao, don’t you find it smelly?”
Lin Xiao revealed a polite yet distant smile. “It stinks, but I can bear it. Don’t be fooled by my seemingly pampered appearance, I have strong endurance. In extreme cold or pain, I can endure.”
Bai Lixin silently withdrew his gaze. “Let’s go.”
The three walked in the direction of the water current, with Bai Lixin leading. They proceeded at a moderate pace, and Bai Lixin kept waving his flashlight, scanning the surroundings.
In the spacious sewer, there was only the sound of rushing water and their footsteps.
Suddenly, amidst the gushing water, there came an odd “gurgling” sound. Bai Lixin instinctively shone his flashlight into the wastewater, revealing small bubbles rising in the murky water, each bubble expanding due to water tension and then bursting one by one.
There were three beams of light hitting that location at the same time.
As soon as they heard the sound, Xia Chi and Lin Xiao also directed their flashlights there.
Xia Chi abandoned his previous noisy demeanor, exchanged a glance with Bai Lixin and pulled out a dagger from his backpack vigilantly, entering a combat state.
Bubbles emerged from the water again. Beneath the flashlight’s glow, they vaguely saw something swimming slowly below the water’s surface.
The next second, the water surface erupted. A dark figure leaped out and soared to a height of two to three meters above the water.
Xia Chi’s gaze and the flashlight’s beam instinctively followed the black figure. When he saw what it was, Xia Chi breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s just a fish.”
What leaped out was a pitch-black fish, resembling a catfish.
Xia Chi remembered reading about it before; catfish exhibit strong resistance to harsh living environments, thriving even in sludgy and foul drains.
He had read news about people intentionally breeding catfish in such places. Because there are no natural enemies around, the catfish could reproduce rapidly, increasing sales. Because of this, he refrained from eating catfish. He always felt it was one of the dirtiest fish.
‘It’s not unusual for catfish to appear in a smelly place like this… Ahhh, what the hell!’
The catfish turned over in mid-air, turned to face them, and Xia Chi finally saw catfish’s face clearly.
The head that should have one fish mouth now had three. Its head looked like it had clusters of tumors, which looked disgusting.
Xia Chi first thought this was the body distortion caused by environmental pollution, but when the fish made its next move, it almost sent him away on the spot.
The “catfish” opened its eyes.
Yes, eyes.
What Xia Chi thought were small grape-like tumors simultaneously opened in the middle, revealing enormous black eyeballs.
Xia Chi didn’t bother counting, but roughly estimating, there were at least dozens of them.
These round, shiny black eyeballs seemed to have individual thoughts, rotating in different directions, the whites of the eyes flying all over.
Swaying its tail in mid-air, the “catfish” opened its mouth, exposing irregular, sharp, and ugly teeth.
Xia Chi was almost sent away by its grotesque appearance. He stood still for a second, staring at the “catfish.” When he saw it getting closer, he looked at Bai Lixin uncertainly: “Brother, why do I feel like it’s rushing towards us?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
As his words fell, the once calm wastewater erupted again, with an even louder noise. One catfish monster after another, with sharp teeth exposed, rushed towards them.
Bai Lixin: “Run!”
After speaking, he grabbed Xia Chi, who was still in confusion, and swiftly ran deeper in the sewer.
While running, Bai Lixin’s gaze silently scanned behind and around him. These aggressive catfish monsters seemed to be targeting them. With strong elasticity, they continuously leaped out of the water and plunged back in.
Some catfish monsters reached the shore. They didn’t wait to die in place and used their strong fins to crawl forward.
Some returned to the wastewater, while others continued chasing along the shore.
Behind Bai Lixin and Xia Chi was a row of these catfish monsters, but behind Lin Xiao, there was nothing.
Xia Chi, who was running behind Bai Lixin, panted and shouted, “Brother, what the hell are these things?”
Bai Lixin: “I don’t know. Probably special species.”
It seems that merfolk are not the only ones in the Special Species Laboratory.
Xia Chi was about to burst into tears. “What happened to the beautiful and dreamy merfolk? Why did the painting style take such a drastic turn when we got to the sewer? This script is wrong.”
Bai Lixin turned his head slightly. Lin Xiao jogged alongside them, maintaining a constant pace. Even under high-speed movement, his breath remained unchanged.
The relentless pursuit of catfish monsters continued behind them, and they soon reached a junction where the sewer split into two.
“Xia Chi.” Seeing the junction, Bai Lixin instinctively shouted behind him, “Which way?”
Xia Chi, who was suddenly cued into action, froze for a moment. He felt something sticky touch his ankle and instinctively looked down. A catfish monsters had already reached his feet, and was attempting to climb on him with its cold fins.
“Ah, to the right, right, right!” In that instant, all the hairs on his body stood on end. Xia Chi accelerated and rushed to the front, pulling Bai Lixin’s hand and leaving behind a cloud of dust.
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Is the explosive power under fear so strong?’
After turning at the junction, Bai Lixin looked back. The catfish monsters had obviously slowed down at the junction. Some stopped pursuing, while others continued to rush towards them.
At that moment, the water’s surface erupted once again.
