Captain Zhang asked, "There are a lot of mutant creatures out there. Why do they all look so different? Is there a reason for it?"
"I can't say for sure," replied another humanoid mutant behind the glass. "This is the first time something like this has happened on Blue Star. For everyone, this is still just an experimental phase. No specific animals were chosen. Almost every common species was included."
"I have a question too," Lan Jin said, interrupting cautiously. "I heard you became humanoid mutants after being swept by a green light. Do you know how that green light was created? Was it only inside the forest? Shouldn't we destroy whatever's creating it? What if… What if it sweeps over us when we leave?"
Lan Jin shivered at the thought. She definitely didn't want to turn into a half-human, half-beast creature.
…
At her words, everyone on their side frowned deeply.
Inside the glass enclosure, a feline humanoid mutant twitched violently, its reaction sharp and guilty. Fear flickered in its eyes.
None of the humans were fools. Instantly, they sensed something was wrong. For their own safety, they instinctively backed away several steps. The atmosphere shifted. Suspicion hardened their gazes as they stared at the mutants, no longer warm or cooperative.
The change unsettled the mutants, who grew panicked. "What's wrong? Don't leave. We haven't finished explaining!"
"We're not leaving," Captain Zhang said, cutting straight to the point. "You've been watching us through those monitors. Tell me—what's the thing we took from the safe?"
The mutants froze. Every one of them stiffened, confirming the item's importance. But that raised another question. If they wanted it so badly, why not take it themselves? Why send a rescue signal and wait for outsiders?
Surely they could open a safe that small, especially with their strength. Even if they couldn't, all four chips were in this forest. They could've found them eventually. Why bring strangers into this and risk being exposed? Like now, when they were cornered and helpless.
But the truth was simple. They couldn't leave. Not just the forest—they couldn't even step outside this villa. No matter how close the chips were, they couldn't retrieve them.
And with their beast-like bodies, they couldn't even inject themselves with medicine. Helping one another was impossible.
In the end, they'd had no choice but to send out a distress signal for help.
…
Whether that was the full truth or not, only they knew.
Lan Jin didn't want to dig deeper. She instinctively stepped back again, trying to distance herself from this tangled mess. But she underestimated her own importance. Her strength had been carefully observed through those monitors. To the mutants, Lan Jin—not Captain Zhang—was the most dangerous person in the group.
The moment she moved away, they panicked. "Don't go! Please, don't leave!"
Lan Jin frowned. "Why does it matter to you where I go? You think a few words can stop me?"
They knew they couldn't stop her. That was why their voices turned pleading. "Please… Even if you leave, at least give us the vaccine you took from the safe."
Captain Zhang immediately seized on that. "Vaccine? Are you saying those vials contain a vaccine? What kind of vaccine? Can it turn you back to normal?"
Zhou Zhi, who had been silent, pulled Captain Zhang aside and whispered, "I doubt it."
Captain Zhang glanced at him questioningly.
Zhou Zhi explained, "Before they turned into this, no one even knew humans could become like this. If this is still experimental, there's no finished cure. At best, this vaccine is a prototype. If we inject it, anything could happen. We can't predict the outcome."
They were already standing near the door, so Ling Jiang overheard everything. As Zhou Zhi finished speaking, Ling Jiang stepped forward.
"You're saying the vaccine could be what caused this?" Ling Jiang asked. "If they want us to take it out, maybe they're trying to spread it, turn everyone into them. But I thought it was that green light that did this."
Zhou Zhi thought for a moment, then said, "The green light is suspicious. But that doesn't mean this vaccine isn't, too."
Everything was suspicious. Captain Zhang felt his head pounding. "So what do we do?"
No one gave him an answer. He was the captain. Decisions fell to him.
Their murmured conversation drew an impatient response from the mutants behind the glass. "Why are you whispering out there? Just say it to our faces! Come in already!"
They'd already finished talking, so Captain Zhang stepped back inside.
But his heart was heavy.
Surrounded by conspiracies, he couldn't tell truth from lies. His instincts screamed that these mutants weren't trustworthy.
And in that moment, Captain Zhang finally understood what Lan Jin had been feeling earlier. Retribution always came around. Now he, too, knew what it was like to be trapped in a web of schemes, utterly powerless.