The bullet struck the mutated dog squarely in the chest, right where the heart should be. However, the creature—with its sparse fur and twisted limbs—merely gained an extra hole. Not a single drop of blood flowed, and its movements remained entirely unhindered.
Xin Ye clicked his tongue in annoyance. His transition from holstering his gun to drawing his dagger was as textbook-perfect as an instructional video. He loathed encountering these "mummified" mutants the most; their internal circulatory systems were so utterly malformed that there were no vital points to exploit. The only solution was to dismember them until they lost the capacity for movement.
Qiuqiu the cat leaped from Xin Ye’s shoulder, shifting into human form mid-air while retaining sharp claws. He dove straight into the rear of the pack, tearing through the body of a mutated cat without a hint of hesitation or mercy for his fifty-percent-kin.
Xin Ye was momentarily startled by the sudden movement, thinking to himself that it was a good thing the ceiling was high enough, or Qiuqiu would have cracked his head.
There were fewer than twenty mutants, but they weren't as fragile as the butterflies they had faced before.
By the time he finished carving through the mindless cats and dogs like vegetables, Xin Ye had sustained several minor injuries. Having anticipated that the "Shelter" mission would involve such risks, Mirror had prepared an improved rabies vaccine in advance. Mirror produced a syringe from a cold-storage box, emerged from the lens, and signaled for Xin Ye to roll up his sleeve so he could clean the wound and administer the shot.
After the injection, Xin Ye rolled his sleeve back down. Noticing that Tang Qiuqiu hadn't returned to his side, he looked toward the stairs to see if the boy needed medical attention.
Tang Qiuqiu was crouching amidst the pile of corpses, his cat ears pricked up. His sharp claws were poking at something, and his face—usually youthful for his age—bore a gravity that clashed with his appearance.
Seeing his intense focus, Xin Ye didn't interrupt. Instead, he quietly approached.
To Xin Ye’s surprise, Tang Qiuqiu didn't have a single scratch on him; only a few stray hairs clung to his uniform.
A cat ear twitched in his direction. Tang Qiuqiu looked up, holding something between his fingers. "Captain, look."
Xin Ye suppressed his brief flash of amazement and took the object. He used a tissue provided by Mirror to wipe away the scattered fragments of viscera. When the small sphere revealed its original metallic luster, he froze.
It was a metal sphere—identical to the one they had carved out of the sparrow.
He checked several other mutant corpses and found the same spheres in all of them. Following protocol, he had Tang Qiuqiu take photos for the record, then discreetly slipped one of the spheres into Mirror’s hand, signaling him to hide it.
Xun Yin took a keen interest in this move: [What do you plan to do with a stolen sphere?]
"I want to find someone to confirm what these metal spheres actually do. But to be honest, I can't think of anyone I can fully trust right now."
Xin Ye reached out and helped Tang Qiuqiu wipe his claws clean.
With the mutants cleared, it was time to regroup with the other team on the second floor. Xin Ye retracted Mirror. Just as he was about to move, he received a voice comms request from Leng Xianye. He hooked the earpiece over his ear and began walking upstairs with Tang Qiuqiu.
"Hello? Is the cleanup on your end finished?"
"Finished. But we encountered more than one wave of mutants," Leng Xianye’s toneless voice came through the line.
Xin Ye had already reached the landing. "More than one wave? Qiuqiu only sensed the ones coming from the floor below. Where did the other wave come from?"
"From the rooms along the first-floor corridor."
At that moment, Leng Xianye was standing before the door of the room at the end of the hall, watching Xing Yue and Lian Muyun conduct their search. He held an uncleaned metal sphere in his hand. "Xing Yue has a theory. The reason neither Qiuqiu nor her Endless Threads detected this wave is that they were intentionally lying in ambush inside the rooms. Given that they are essentially desiccated husks, standard biological detection is even harder to pick up."
"Also, we found metal spheres inside the mutants, just like the ones in the sparrow. We've logged them."
"Yeah, we found the same spheres here," Xin Ye replied, catching the subtext in Leng Xianye’s report. Perhaps because he had spent so long following Leng Xianye’s orders in the past, a one-sided tacit understanding remained. "Since there are still unknowns to investigate on the first floor, let's delay regrouping. You guys finish checking the first floor and then head to the basement. Qiuqiu and I will check the second floor and meet you there."
Having achieved his desired outcome, Leng Xianye gave a soft "Okay" and hung up.
***
Aside from the reception desk, the first floor was mostly comprised of animal holding rooms. The second floor, however, housed staff dormitories and administrative offices.
A quick observation suggested that the shelter had been run by a small staff. Xin Ye opened several dorm rooms; they were all singles, though the furnishings were spartan to the point of being bleak.
In contrast, the office in the center of the floor was luxuriously appointed. Sofas, famous paintings... all the standard trappings of an executive suite were present. The contrast reeked of a capitalist exploiting his employees.
After searching for a while without finding a single mutant, Tang Qiuqiu was starting to feel dazed. "Isn't this an S-class mission? So far, it feels like a C or B at most. Could Headquarters' ranking be wrong?"
The "Investigator" sat in the capitalist boss’s leather swivel chair, rummaging through the drawers. "Usually not. We should have at least that much trust in them. But this stage of the mission is indeed peacefully hypnotic. What is this? A way to lull the prey into a false sense of security?"
As soon as Xin Ye said it, he fell silent.
Xun Yin: [What is this indeed?]
Xin Ye: "What is this... why aren't you giving me more hints?"
Xun Yin suddenly took offense over an old grudge: [I am currently engaged in a unilateral cold war because of that argument where the fault was mine.]
Some people were just like that—perpetually nonsensical, and perpetually loud even when they were in the wrong.
Xin Ye, who had decided to turn over a new leaf since the Fish-Worm mission, decided to be just as shamelessly assertive. "Then I unilaterally decide that this unilateral cold war is over. Where is the mutants' trap? And where are the mutants themselves?"
[Outside the shelter. The cats and dogs, who haven't had a meal in a long time, have decided to handle their precious rations with care. They're planning a collective hunt.]
Xin Ye instinctively moved toward the window to check, but Xun Yin stopped him: [Don't bother. They aren't in your line of sight yet. They've formed a massive perimeter. I can only give you a countdown: 5:00 AM. In less than an hour and a half, they will launch a formal assault. The total number is far beyond what five people can handle through brute force.]
[Of course, if you try to leave the shelter early, they will attack early.]
"Just give me the solution." Xin Ye flipped through a staff roster but failed to find the name Wang Dongming.
[Logically, animals that were sold as commodities or abused should want to flee this place after mutating. But why haven't they? Why have they turned this place into a base for daily hunting?] Xun Yin thought of the neighbor’s dog, a silver-grey Schnauzer that would always run over for cuddles whenever it saw him in the garden. [Because someone they love is here. The more they love them, the less they want to leave.]
[After the apocalypse began, one employee chose not to leave. They stayed here with the strays until they succumbed to the climate changes and died.]
[Sometimes, dealing with mutants doesn't have to mean extermination. If you can make them lose their aggression, isn't the threat to humanity neutralized just the same?]
Xin Ye closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking back at the staff roster. "Yes."
With a clear objective, things became easier. Tang Qiuqiu’s "Felinization" ability, besides boosting his attack and defense, had a function he rarely used—he could understand the language of cats and communicate with feline mutants.
When asked about this ability, Tang Qiuqiu looked a bit lost, but since the Captain said it was needed, he would prepare himself.
Despite having a clear direction, Xin Ye decided to search every corner of the second floor to prevent any accidents in the dark corners or being sabotaged by a certain someone.
After a thorough search, he actually discovered a hidden room at a corner.
Tang Qiuqiu looked at the secret door with a strange expression. Xin Ye didn't notice the detail, checking with Xun Yin before opening it: "Is there anything weird inside?"
Xun Yin: [There are lots of weird things.]
Xin Ye: "Then should I open it?"
Xun Yin: [Open it! If you don't open it, why did I design a door here? For decoration?]
Xin Ye smirked and immediately prepared to turn and walk away.
If he didn't annoy this guy once in a while, he felt like he couldn't breathe naturally.
[STAY RIGHT THERE!!!] Xun Yin gripped his mechanical keyboard, which had started typing automatically, his temples throbbing. [Be a decent human being!!!]
He watched in despair as the plot on the screen progressed toward Xin Ye preparing to go downstairs to regroup with Leng Xianye’s team. Suddenly, a scheme formed. He cradled the keyboard like a guitar and began forced-coding. Finally, the frantic mechanical keys settled down.
Tang Qiuqiu ran to Xin Ye’s side and grabbed his sleeve, his voice soft and pitiful. "Captain, aren't you going to check that room?"
"I can feel that there are many mutants inside, and they are... mutants with no malice."
"Mutants with no malice?" The phrase caught Xin Ye’s attention, and he stopped.
Tang Qiuqiu nodded obediently. "Didn't you mention my ability to communicate with feline mutants? I heard voices coming from behind that door. The mutants inside are calling for help. They say if someone saves them, they promise not to attack and will even provide help."
Xin Ye knew this was Xun Yin’s doing, but he still checked seriously with Qiuqiu: "They only sent a distress signal because they sensed us outside. Mutants capable of that level of intelligence are far more advanced than the husks we just met. Their combat ability is unknown. Do you really want to go in?"
"I do... No, I mean, yes! If! If the mutants inside are lying to us, I'll definitely kill them," the cat-boy manifested his claws, his ears bristling in a defensive stance, yet his face remained pleading. "Let's just take one look to confirm, okay?"
"Fine." Xin Ye had always pampered Qiuqiu. He reached out to pat the boy's head and ears, keeping his gun and dagger ready. "Stay behind me. I'll open the door."
He returned to the hidden door, pulling Tang Qiuqiu behind him to ensure he could block any immediate danger. He placed his hand on the doorknob.
The doorknob was unexpectedly fragile. Before Xin Ye could even apply pressure, it fell to the floor with a loud *clatter*. The sound seemed to startle the mutants inside; there were some muffled noises behind the door, but it quickly went silent again.
Only after the mutants had calmed down and the silence was absolute did Xin Ye reach for the edge of the door and push gently.
The door slowly creaked open, the gap widening...
In the darkness, a pair of pale blue eyes appeared.
***
