Invincible through Touching Corpses

The group continued forward, quickly passing through the second underground level and arriving at the third.

The scene here was just as Lin Xinghai had imagined—a living hell.

Not a single corridor or room was intact. Everything was either twisted or warped.

In many places, one could even see slight signs of melting, a result of the explosion’s intense heat.

As they hurried toward the weapons depot, the path became increasingly difficult to navigate. Eventually, it was completely blocked. The violent explosion had not only destroyed all the surrounding Alloy walls and paths but had also crushed them together, forming a thick "wall."

"Let’s go," Kong Hua said finally. "Under these circumstances, the enemy probably can’t get near the weapons depot either. The facilities here are almost completely destroyed, so they won’t be able to detonate the intercontinental missiles remotely. If we’re careful, we won’t have to worry about them trying to take us all down with them."

His original plan had been to leave a squad here to dismantle the nuclear warheads and transport them out, but now he had to abandon that idea.

No one objected, of course. They soon found a barely passable staircase and descended to the fourth underground level.

Lin Xinghai had initially assumed the fourth level would be damaged to a similar extent as the second. However, he was stunned to find that it was remarkably well-preserved. The surrounding Alloy walls showed little sign of being twisted or warped, and more than half of the lighting fixtures on the walls were still functioning normally.

"What a high Defense Level!" Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but exclaim.

"They must have mixed in a lot of Second Level Biological Alloy. What an expenditure! The cost of building an underground base like this could pay for ten ordinary bases of the same scale." Kong Hua touched the wall, quickly making his assessment.

At the same time, he unleashed his Perception Power without reservation. He was now even more curious about what exactly was being researched in the labs on these two bottom levels.

Lin Xinghai did the same almost simultaneously.

Although the Alloy here also had a strong blocking effect on Perception Power, that required a completely sealed environment. If even a tiny gap was left, like the crack under a door, Perception Power could slip through easily.

And after the sympathetic detonation in the weapons depot, even with this level’s greatly enhanced defenses, it couldn’t possibly be completely unscathed. The Alloy doors to many rooms were twisted and deformed to varying degrees.

Under these conditions, while Lin Xinghai couldn’t survey the situation inside every single room, he could at least examine about half of them.

When he got a clear look at what was inside these rooms, his expression changed instantly.

Many of the rooms contained transparent containers, and inside them were... people!

These people were submerged in a special solution, their bodies covered in all sorts of tubes, floating motionlessly.

But Lin Xinghai’s Perception Power told him with certainty that these "people" were alive.

However, their bodies had all undergone some degree of mutation. Some had scales appearing on their skin, others had grown thick fur, while some had arms that had become as thick and long as an ape’s. There were even those who resembled Zombies, with their teeth sharpened and their fingernails transformed into Sharp Claws.

"General Kong, do you know what those are?" Lin Xinghai asked, shaken.

He knew Kong Hua must have also perceived the situation here.

"They’re secretly carrying out the ’Corpse-man Plan’." Kong Hua was both shocked and furious.

"So these are ’Corpse-men’?" Lin Xinghai’s gaze was complicated. He knew that the government was also conducting experiments in this area.

"Yes and no. You can consider these to be failed products."

"The ’Corpse-man Plan’ our country is conducting starts directly with the zombie virus. The overall goal is to optimize the virus, reduce its harm to the human body, and make it controllable. Furthermore, before any human trials, extensive animal testing is performed to ensure it’s viable."

"So, in the end, the Corpse-men injected with the zombie virus don’t have any changes to their appearance, but they can possess some Zombie abilities. You can think of this ability as a Zombie Superpower."

"But the research here is clearly different. They aren’t optimizing the zombie virus. It seems they’re purely trying to make the test subjects stronger. What’s more despicable is that they’re conducting human experiments directly. And the test subjects here... they’re probably from the Mercenary Corps that have gone missing in this area." As he spoke, Kong Hua’s eyes filled with rage.

After hearing Kong Hua’s explanation, Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief. ’As long as the government’s ’Corpse-man Plan’ isn’t what I imagined.’ Otherwise, he would have found it rather hard to accept.

After hearing Kong Hua’s explanation, he even felt a flicker of interest in these Corpse-men. He was also curious what it would be like if Martial Artists like them possessed Zombie abilities.

Of course, Lin Xinghai soon had no time to ponder these things, because the armed personnel patrolling the fourth level had already discovered them.

Kong Hua, for his part, decisively ordered the Sharp Blade Camp to attack.

BANG BANG BANG!

RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

In an instant, a volley of gunfire erupted. Seeing this, Lin Xinghai immediately raised his weapon and pulled the trigger.

Under his spray of bullets, the two armed squads that had just rushed over collapsed to the ground.

However, the defenses on the fourth level were clearly much stronger than those on the levels above. Just as two squads fell, more teams heard the commotion and rushed toward them.

In an instant, the battle became white-hot.

Lin Xinghai scanned the other areas with his Perception Power and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. ’The armed forces on this level are substantial—at least a thousand strong.’

More importantly, as some of the room doors opened, squads of Combat Robots began to charge out one after another. Although the exact number was still unclear, Lin Xinghai believed they definitely outnumbered the armed personnel.

The Sharp Blade Camp had detached some of its members to escort the wounded, leaving only about 200 people. If a real fight broke out, they would probably be at a disadvantage very quickly.

Of course, this thought only flickered through Lin Xinghai’s mind for a moment before he dismissed it. After all, Kong Hua, a Divine Demon Realm expert, was present.

He didn’t need to worry about such things at all.

However, when Lin Xinghai glanced at Kong Hua, he was surprised to see the man’s brow furrowed, his face filled with a grave expression.

"Raphael, I didn’t expect it to be you. Didn’t you barely escape with your life at the border last year? I never thought you’d have the guts to come to our Hua Country," Kong Hua said coldly.

Although his voice didn’t sound loud, it contained a certain Power that allowed it to travel an extraordinary distance. Echoes of his words resounded through nearly every corridor on this level.

"You said it yourself, that was last year. My strength is now at the Divine Demon Realm Middle Stage. What can you do to me?"

"However, I don’t have time to stick around and play with you. I’ll be taking my leave. But I’ve left you some little gifts to enjoy. Oh, by the way, your Hua Country’s Mercenaries make for excellent test subjects, hahaha!" Raphael’s voice also traveled from a distance in the same manner.

As his voice faded, the underground base actually began to shake.