Married by Paper, Loved by Fate 37

38: Orthodontic Restoration

The smell of the liquid instantly diffused through the air.

The beast-men, who were struggling against the mutated creatures, suddenly found that the mutated creatures had lost interest in them and had switched their targets, charging towards the experiment subject with roars.

Tens of thousands of mutated creatures covered the experiment subject like a curtain, tearing at it fiercely. The experiment subject let out an angry, sharp roar, and its claws slammed down, instantly crushing a dozen mutated creatures into bloody pulp.

But the number of mutated creatures was too great; even an elephant would fear a thousand ants.

The beast-men watched this scene and dropped their weapons, stunned.

“What’s going on? Why are they fighting amongst themselves?”

“Who cares? It’s good for us that these disgusting things are killing each other.”

“These mutated creatures should be able to tie down the experiment subject for half an hour, enough time for us to escape.”

“Let’s go, let’s go, don’t waste any more time!”

Just as Lu Xiao was about to leave with Shen Tang, she urgently patted his steel-like eagle claws and said anxiously, “No, don’t go yet, put me down first!”

“Shen Tang, this is not the time for your wilfulness. If we don’t go now, it will be too late!” Lu Xiao’s deep voice carried a hint of anger.

Shen Tang felt helpless. Lu Xiao must have thought she was being reckless again. She pouted and gestured towards the abandoned factory, “Do you remember the energy core? While that experiment subject is tied up and can’t move, let’s hurry to the underground laboratory and get the polluted core!”

“Hurry and put me down, or it really will be too late!”

After a moment of struggle, Lu Xiao did not put Shen Tang down and instead plunged into the abandoned factory with her.

Upon landing, he transformed into human form, and a specially made combat suit instantly enveloped his strong, slender body. Shen Tang didn’t have time to see anything good.

Lu Xiao didn’t miss her lingering gaze of regret and frowned deeply, saying in a low voice, “Behave.”

Shen Tang awkwardly turned her head away, no longer looking at him.

There was no staircase leading underground; the only way down was by elevator.

The two walked to the damaged elevator entrance. The elevator was completely destroyed and unusable.

The space below was empty and visible at a glance. The surrounding walls were covered with broken wires and steel pipes.

Shen Tang’s fear of heights was almost triggered. “How are we supposed to get down?”

“Don’t scream later,” Lu Xiao grabbed her collar and leaped forward, jumping down the elevator shaft.

Holy crap!

He just jumped!

Didn’t you even discuss it with me?!

Shen Tang forcefully suppressed her instinct to scream, afraid of attracting the experiment subject outside.

Lu Xiao landed steadily with Shen Tang.

Shen Tang’s legs felt weak and numb. She lurched forward, her weight almost causing Lu Xiao to stumble too.

Lu Xiao frowned, silently withdrew his hand, and looked up at the laboratory before him. He had been here once before, but unfortunately, he was no match for the experiment subject and was forced to retreat.

Shen Tang looked around the abandoned laboratory in astonishment. Pale, flickering light tubes shone above. Along the corridor were rows of glass tanks, filled with various deformed creatures. Some were humanoid embryos with gills, while others were mammals with extra limbs. They all had their eyes closed, as if sleeping.

The most eye-catching was the cylindrical glass tank in the center of the room, much larger than the experimental tanks in the corridor. It was empty, its walls shattered from the inside, spilling glass fragments onto the floor. Some viscous green liquid remained at the bottom.

This glass tank must have contained the experiment subject.

Lu Xiao paid little attention to these things. He strode directly to the reagent rack. Various instruments were placed on it, along with several broken test tubes. The liquid inside had dried, leaving dark brown stains on the ground.

Shen Tang asked curiously, “Who founded these laboratories?”

Such large-scale illegal laboratories were unlikely to be the work of an individual; there must have been an underground organization.

“I’m not sure. No matter in which country, setting up illegal laboratories to research mutated creatures is a serious crime. Once caught, they will be brought to justice,” Lu Xiao said indifferently, turning the glass bottles on the rack and trying them one by one.

When he turned a vacant bottle in the third row, a secret passage opened in the wall ahead.

Shen Tang followed him into the secret passage and saw the energy core placed in a bulletproof glass container at the very front.

It was like a sphere, emitting a faint blue light. Yellow-green patterns were wound around its surface—the energy core was corrupted and polluted and needed to be purified before use.

Lu Xiao conjured a wind blade from his palm, cut through the glass, and retrieved the energy core.

Soon, Shen Tang heard that familiar sharp cry again.

Oh no!

The experiment subject was chasing them, run!

Lu Xiao threw a miniature bomb in the laboratory and quickly transformed into his beast form, grabbing Shen Tang and flying towards the elevator shaft. As they were about to fly out of the door, they narrowly missed the pursuing experiment subject.

The experiment subject let out an angry, sharp cry and swung its claws towards the sky. Shen Tang was almost hit, but thankfully the golden eagle made a sharp U-turn, narrowly avoiding a tragic fate.

The sky was the hawk’s battlefield!

The moment the factory exploded, Lu Xiao’s speed surged like a supersonic fighter jet, creating sonic booms that sent ripples of energy waves through the air!

In the blink of an eye, the smoke-billowing factory quickly disappeared into a black dot. Shen Tang suddenly felt a loss of weight and began to froth at the mouth, almost fainting.

“Slo-slow down… Big brother, slow down!”

She hadn’t died at the hands of mutated creatures, but she was about to die at his.

Lu Xiao remembered he was still holding onto her and slowed down, flying towards a certain direction in the dense forest.

The group escaped, and the light brain regained signal.

They arrived at a location to regroup.

Hearing the eagle’s cry from high in the sky, the people below looked up and saw Lu Xiao returning with Shen Tang, cheering loudly.

Lu Xiao landed and transformed into his human form. Shen Tang’s legs gave out, and she collapsed on the ground, vomiting uncontrollably. Fortunately, she hadn’t eaten much that day, only spitting out a few mouthfuls of sour water, and looked thinner and more haggard.

Seeing her pitiful state, everyone felt a flicker of pity in their hearts.

“We really owe you this time, Shen Tang. Without you, we wouldn’t have made it out alive.”

The beast-men’s perception of Shen Tang changed.

The former Shen Tang was fat, ugly, and stupid, like a rat from a sewer, disliked by everyone and avoided.

But now she had become much more beautiful and had kindly helped them escape the factory. The beast-men’s disgust towards her dissipated.

[Beep! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden mission: Winning Hearts (2). Reward: Orthodontic Restoration. Does the host wish to receive the reward immediately?]

Shen Tang was overjoyed to hear the system’s notification in her mind. This reward was great! She had long endured her rotten teeth, crooked and full of cavities, with some gums even decayed. No matter how many times she brushed her teeth a day, she felt a faint smell.

Shen Li, that scoundrel, had even told her at the time that her teeth were too ugly and told her to shut up when she smiled, hurting a young girl’s self-esteem.

She wanted to fix her teeth now and make those scoundrels look at her with new eyes!

Dylan