Chapter 159: Gold Ingots and the Black Mass

In Jiang Yan’s understanding, those separately preserved body tissues were probably meant for organ transplants or something similar.

After all, she’d overheard Xue Dazheng and that old man Mo talking before.

But it seemed what they were discussing was something else, unrelated to this.

Still, what were they doing with so many carefully selected human specimens?

Previously, Jiang Yan had thought Xue Miaomiao and her group were just taking advantage of the disaster to build a base and make a fortune.

Now, she realized she had underestimated them.

These people were clearly well-prepared, and it looked like they were secretly conducting some kind of experiments.

As for what exactly, she had no idea.

Jiang Yan didn’t dwell on it further. She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and, clutching her submachine gun, forced herself to keep moving forward.

On her shoulder, Huabao was both “navigating” for her and giving her a science lesson:

“Jie jie jie!” (cackling) “Mom, organs transplanted from donors—even if processed and refrigerated—can only survive outside the body for up to seven days!”

Listening to its explanation, Jiang Yan’s steps halted in front of a glass swing door.

The glass was transparent, with a faint blue sheen, very thick, and reinforced with a layer of metal grating inside.

Looking through the grating, she saw a room of over a hundred square meters.

In the center of the room was a large, one-meter-high round pedestal.

On top of the pedestal sat a glass-like box.

The box was huge, about three meters on each side.

Around it was a mesh woven from fine golden threads.

Jiang Yan’s alertness shot to maximum in an instant.

“Jie jie jie! Mom, the gold bars are inside!” Huabao suddenly changed the subject, exclaiming in delight.

Jiang Yan moved closer to the glass door for a better look.

Sure enough, behind that golden mesh box, the areas along three walls were stacked with metal cases.

Those cases were identical to the ones she’d seen earlier in the conference room.

Jiang Yan began searching for the door lock.

That’s when she realized: the glass door had no lock.

That was odd.

No lock—how did people get in and out?

No time to think it through, she simply raised her submachine gun and sprayed the doorframe with bullets.

Bang bang bang! Shell casings clattered to the floor, but the glass door didn’t budge.

Jiang Yan frowned. “...” This glass door was made of extremely thick, high-quality bulletproof glass.

Not that it was impossible to break.

She had plenty of explosives in her storage space.

But that would be risky.

After a moment’s thought, and checking to make sure no one was around, she pulled out a heavy-caliber machine gun from her space.

She set it up in a good spot, changed her earplugs, and unleashed a barrage at the door.

The heavy machine gun was powerful—holes were instantly blasted through the glass door.

Jiang Yan quickly put the machine gun away, took out a fire axe, and smashed around the holes.

The door broke open.

Not a big hole, but enough for her to crawl through.

The man-eating flower had already slipped inside ahead of her.

After confirming there was no danger, Jiang Yan crouched and crawled in as well.

The air inside was noticeably better.

There was even a faint, fresh, sweet scent.

Jiang Yan was puzzled, but to be safe, she kept her gas mask on.

Holding her submachine gun, she carefully scanned the room.

Aside from a stack of neatly piled cardboard boxes in one corner, the rest were all metal cases.

The cases had combination locks.

Jiang Yan, armed as she was, opted for brute force.

She cracked one open at random, and was greeted by a dazzling golden glow.

She picked up a bar—heavy.

Looking at the engraving: [999, 1000g].

Jiang Yan’s breath caught.

1000 grams??!!

These weren’t gold bars—they were gold bricks!

There were about forty or fifty cases here. Jiang Yan was completely stunned.

She took a deep breath, forced down her excitement, and asked Huabao:

“Huabao, are all the other cases filled with gold too?”

Huabao couldn’t wait—he’d already rolled up a few gold bricks and stuffed them into his mouth.

“Jie jie jie! Yes! All of them! Mom, I’ve got a feast again!!!”

Without hesitation, Jiang Yan got to work.

The metal cases were all lined up close together. In just a second, she’d swept all the gold-filled cases into her storage space.

She was about to go check out the glass box covered in gold mesh when—“thump!”—a faint noise came from the stack of cardboard boxes.

Jiang Yan’s brow furrowed.

She pointed her gun at the boxes and strode over.

“Who’s there?”

Huabao jumped down from her shoulder ahead of her.

He could only sniff out gold, silver, and jewels.

As for anything else, Jiang Yan’s nose was sharper.

Huabao simply waved his two little leaves and flipped the boxes open.

A thin, elderly man in a white lab coat, hair white as snow, was curled up on the floor, clutching his head.

Jiang Yan couldn’t help but suck in a breath.

She’d been careless.

She really hadn’t expected anyone to be here, guarding so much gold.

And it was someone who looked like a scholar or a lab technician.

Beside him was a small case, about the size of a standard medical kit.

“Who are you?”

The man trembled, head down, silent.

Huabao was about to approach, but the man’s body shook, and his hands—still clutching his head—suddenly darted up, jamming two fingers into his nostrils. After two muffled groans, his body convulsed and he collapsed to one side.

Jiang Yan froze, instinctively taking two steps back.

That was clearly cyanide poisoning.

Huabao was about to hook the small case with a leaf, but—bang!—a puff of smoke erupted from it.

The box self-destructed...

“Huabao, come back,” Jiang Yan called.

Huabao quickly checked the rest of the boxes, then hopped back onto Jiang Yan’s shoulder.

Frowning, Jiang Yan walked toward the strange glass box in the center of the room.

Inside was a large, pitch-black, wrinkled mass—she had no idea what it was.

“Jie jie jie! Mom, it’s gold! 999 purity!” Huabao pointed a leaf at the golden mesh outside the box and immediately started gnawing away.

Jiang Yan: “...”

She didn’t stop him, but asked, “Huabao, do you know what’s inside?”

“Jie jie jie! Mom, I can’t see clearly yet. Looks like a cylindrical jelly!”

“Jelly...” Who the hell makes jelly a meter in diameter—and so ugly...

Well, as long as it wasn’t an organ.

In less than half a minute, Huabao had devoured all the golden mesh covering the glass box.

“Mom, now I can see what’s inside—it’s a Tai Sui! A black Tai Sui!!”

Tai Sui??

Jiang Yan’s confusion deepened.

“Jiang Yan!” Ye Qing’s voice suddenly called from outside.

No time to think, Jiang Yan reached out and swept the Tai Sui—box and all—into her storage space."