Die jenseitige Schmiedin

Kapitel 1

Chapter 1

August, the height of summer.

The temperature 300 meters underground was bitterly cold, and the entire laboratory had been paralyzed since the power was switched on. The air conditioning was out of order, and the cold air blowing in through the pipes howled through all the rooms.

"thump--"

The trash can near the door suddenly tipped over, and Yu An, who had just woken up, was thrown out.

There was thick, disgusting blood on the ground, and not far away was a distorted, mangled corpse with its face pressed against the ground.

The body was dressed in a blue laboratory lab coat, with a small red fish embroidered on the back of the coat near the shoulder blades. The fish had a chubby tail.

Yu An's eyes were unfocused as he stared at the fat tail, panting heavily to relieve the pain.

After a while, before the pain had subsided, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from the door behind him.

Yu An turned around reflexively, and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing who it was.

It was Selina who took care of him.

He struggled to his feet, his voice hoarse and broken as he spoke: "Selina, what happened here? Someone...someone is dead."

He remembers clearly that he was still unwrapping his eighteenth birthday presents before going to sleep.

Among his birthday gifts was a sleep capsule given to him by his father, with a few letters written on it by his father.

Fond dream.

Sweet dream.

The father hoped that he, who always had trouble sleeping, would have a sweet dream.

Yu An slowly climbed into the capsule after washing up. Then, just now, he woke up to find himself no longer in the capsule, but thrown into a trash can.

Yu An's mind was in a daze for a moment. He wanted to ask what was going on with the bloodstains and the corpse, and he also wanted to ask who had abandoned him.

He was in poor health from a young age, and when he was four, his family doctor said he was going to die.

After hearing what the doctor said, the father smoked all night.

The next day, he was sent to the Secret Shield Research Institute for treatment, where he stayed for fourteen years.

The full name of the MiShield Research Institute is the MiShield Biological Research Institute, and it is also known as the Institute of Infectious Disease Medicine. It is the world's leading research base for cutting-edge biological and medical research.

Yu An has always considered this place her home.

He looked at Selina, who was still silent, and a look of confusion flashed in his eyes: "Senina, why aren't you talking to me?"

Selina's hair was tied up, and her glasses were nowhere to be seen. Her face was deathly pale, and her bloodshot eyes looked unfocused.

Upon catching Yu An's voice, Selina's nails, which were hanging by her sides, suddenly turned a ferocious purplish-red.

Yu An didn't notice her fingernails. In his view, Selina's clothes were clean, and apart from her strange expression, he couldn't see anything unusual.

The two remained locked in this stalemate. Just as Yu An's headache became unbearable and he was about to ask Selina for a painkiller, Selina, who had been standing motionless, suddenly opened her mouth towards him.

Yu An: "!"

Yu An's pupils contracted sharply for a moment. He instinctively dodged to the side, his voice trembling with fear: "Selina!"

The moment she opened her mouth, Slina's originally pale face was covered with bluish-purple veins, and blood actually dripped from her bloodshot eyes. Her fingernails, like sharp eagle claws, seemed to leave afterimages as she grabbed at Yu An.

Yu An hid in a sorry state.

He looked at Selina, who resembled a demon, and his head, which had been throbbing since he woke up, now felt like it was about to explode.

"I...I am Yu An!"

He spoke hurriedly, trying to make Selina recognize him.

Selina has taken meticulous care of him for over a decade, always by his side during his treatments. She treats him like her own child and would never harm him.

Unfortunately, this thought vanished the moment Selina lunged at him and pounced on his face with her teeth.

"It's over."

Yu An thought desperately that he was going to be eaten.

Selina had previously praised his soft cheeks, and now that she was going to nibble on them, she naturally started with his face.

Yu An struggled but couldn't move, so he closed his eyes and waited to be devoured.

At the critical moment, a figure stood at the door.

The next second, "Bang!"

A bullet pierced Selina's forehead, splattering a flower of blood.

The sound of gunfire made Yu An's ears ring. He opened his eyes and watched as Selina slowly fell down, as if in slow motion.

In the instant she collapsed, Selina's bloodshot eyes briefly cleared. She reached out and, with her last bit of strength, slipped a small object into Yu An's pocket.

Yu An had a headache and earache. The series of unexpected events had left him completely dazed, so he didn't notice Selina's subtle actions at all.

"Meng Han, check it out."

As the gunshots subsided, a tall man lowered his gun and led his squad in. He turned his head and gave instructions to the soldiers beside him.

Upon receiving the order, Meng Han quickly tossed the body that had fallen on Yu An aside and squatted down to routinely check its condition.

"Hey little one, how are you feeling? Do you have any wounds?"

Meng Han asked with concern, his slightly chubby face looking kind and approachable. However, his right hand remained tightly gripping the gun, the safety engaged.

Yu An ignored the soldier.

He was still looking at Selina, who had been thrown to the ground not far away. There was a huge, round, bloody hole in her back, and small bloody claw marks next to it.

It felt as if a pair of tiny claws had ripped Selina apart from inside her chest cavity.

Yu An stared intently at the bloody hole, his whole body trembling.

Meng Han wasn't annoyed that the boy in front of him wasn't cooperating. He remembered that Major General Pei had a younger brother who was about the same age, so he smiled and said, "Brother Pei, you take this kid. I'll keep watch at the door."

Pei Si glanced at the boy sitting on the ground, said nothing, and walked over in a few steps.

He bent down and personally flipped Yu An over. Seeing that the other party was unharmed, his tense expression suddenly relaxed: "Very good, no injury."

After the inspection, Pei Si routinely asked, "I am Pei Si from the Sixth Army Corps of the Western District, here on a mission. You must now truthfully answer my questions: your name, place of origin, and why you are here?"

The location of this secret shield laboratory was exposed two weeks ago. Because it is said to have the world's most advanced intelligent security measures and various resources, many forces want to take it over.

But looking at the endless stream of corpses, it was clear that no one had succeeded yet.

Pei Si's words clearly indicated that she was treating Yu An as an outsider.

Yu An, who had barely managed to stand up, watched the man in front of him open and close his mouth, but all he could hear was a buzzing noise.

A few seconds later, Yu An looked at Pei Si's face blankly and asked, "What are you saying? I can't hear you."

Whether it was because the gunshot was too close or because the persistent headache caused a neurological disorder in the brain, Yu An experienced temporary hearing loss due to various stimuli.

Pei Si choked on the spot.

He smiled helplessly and gave up trying to talk to the little deaf boy.

"Follow me, I will protect you." Pei Si gestured and left with Yu An.

This place is too dangerous. In less than two hours since he led his team in, nearly half of them have already been lost.

The consequences of leaving the boy here are obvious.

Pei Si is a soldier, and his mission, in addition to carrying out his duties, is to protect the people.

The Secret Shield Research Institute had a complex layout; every tightly closed research room, once opened, could be a terrifying place. Yu An followed them, stumbling and unsteady.

Although he couldn't hear Pei Si's words clearly, he did say his own name.

This person protected him, so he should be polite.

Upon hearing his name, Pei Si casually said while changing the magazine, "Yu An, An means peace. Your parents must hope that you will be safe and sound."

Yu An tried hard to decipher the other person's lip movements, and with his gradually recovering, faint hearing, he nodded blankly.

Pei Si saw him nod and couldn't help but pinch his cheek, seemingly talking to herself, "This silly little thing really looks like my younger brother."

A moment later, after dismantling another haunted laboratory and dealing with the monsters inside, Pei Si quietly handed two candies from her shirt pocket to Yu An.

Yu An's stomach growled twice because she was hungry, and he heard it.

Time passed second by second.

Yu An's cheeks were chubby, covered in candy. He obediently played the role of a little deaf person, but in reality, he could already hear people talking.

Forced by circumstances, Pei Si couldn't avoid talking to Yu An when speaking to her teammates.

However, he raised an eyebrow at the "little deaf man" beforehand and warned him, "Our conversation is confidential and must not be leaked, understand?"

"Don't worry, Brother Pei. Xiao An is very obedient. He's been with us all this time and hasn't held us back at all."

The remaining team members spoke up for Yu An.

Not only did Yu An not hold them back, but when they were breaking into the lab, he casually selected a spot that allowed them to get lucky and enter the area where weapons were stored, allowing them to replenish their ammunition in time.

Everyone in the team assumed that Yu An was a walking lucky charm.

"Listen carefully to what I have to say. Our destination this time is the biosphere in area A. We are currently on the edge of area A."

Pei Si's tone was solemn: "Area A is most likely the most dangerous place in the entire research institute. No matter what happens inside, I want you all to deal with it as calmly and seriously as possible."

"Complete the mission and return alive." He promised, "When we get back, in addition to the promotions you receive from above, I will give each of you a car from my personal assets. Those who don't want the car can get cash instead."

Pei Si's identity is not only that of the second youngest major general in the legion, but he is also a genuine rich kid.

Yu An listened to them talk for a long time, and finally they came up with the mission.

"Remember our mission," Pei Si repeated in a low voice, "annihilate all life forms in the Area A, Biological Zone 1, at any cost."

"yes!"

The team members answered in unison, but Yu An was so frightened that he swallowed all the candy.

Area A, Room 1, is where he lives!

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Author's Note: