Chapter 187: Lantern Flower

The time was 16:20 in the afternoon. Lin Xian rode his motorcycle at high speed through the streets of the small town towards the large chemical plant. Tall distillation towers and many silver storage tanks appeared in their sight.

The vehicle rolled over a road full of debris and drove in through the collapsed gate of the chemical plant, arriving at an open area. Looking around, many areas of the chemical plant were flooded with sewage, and strange-colored water flowed on the ground in some places. A pungent smell filled the air.

Shu Qin and Da Lou also arrived in a jeep from the other side and drove into the chemical plant gate.

“Captain Lin.”

Shu Qin took out a simply drawn map and said to Lin Xian, “We checked the area where those Aberrations retreated last night, and then we searched all the main roads in and out of this small town. We can basically confirm that it should be a circular area covering the entire Rain Town. If we’re not mistaken, this chemical plant is the central area.”

Lin Xian nodded upon hearing this and looked back at the huge distillation tower. “Then it should be here.”

Vroom~

On the other side, KIKI had already adjusted the drone and sent it into the air, letting it fly along the chemical plant.

On the screen, the entire chemical plant was empty. KIKI looked at the screen and said, “I don’t see anyone. It seems pretty normal.”

“It can’t be normal.”

Lin Xian raised his hand, and a light flashed. He created a small telescope and handed it to Shu Qin. “Shu Qin, find a high point and keep an eye out.”

“Okay.”

Shu Qin nodded, took it from Lin Xian’s hand, and then slung her Remington M96 behind her back. With a move, she stepped on a nearby concrete pillar and leaped onto the chemical plant’s raw material pipeline. Then she quickly climbed towards a high-架 tower.

“Da Lou, guard the gate and the road.”

“Okay, Brother Xian.” Da Lou took out the Gatling gun and walked towards the gate.

After arranging everything, Lin Xian took out two gas masks, threw one to KIKI, and after they put them on, they walked towards the largest chemical workshop.

“Hey, Lin Xian, did you scan a set of that TRP powered armor that guy was wearing earlier?”

KIKI followed quickly. When she encountered strange liquids on the ground, she would float up lightly and follow behind Lin Xian.

“I wanted to, but I can’t just say, ‘Brother, don’t move, let me touch you,’ can I?”

“Pfft~”

KIKI didn’t expect Lin Xian to suddenly say something like that and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Hahaha~ You’re so silly. Then why didn’t you do it when he wasn’t paying attention? Or, let me knock him out?”

Lin Xian was speechless. No matter what, Ding Qing and the other person had saved them just now. Even if the other party might have ulterior motives, he couldn’t just attack them for no reason. And that kind of powered armor was quite complex. It would take more than a moment to scan it.

“Be careful, don’t get distracted.”

Lin Xian didn’t want to chat with KIKI. At this moment, his attention was highly focused, and he was constantly observing the surroundings.

“By the way, why didn’t you call that fire-breathing idiot in this situation?” KIKI said.

“We’re just here to scout. If we sense something is wrong, we’ll leave immediately. There might be more than one convoy in this town, as well as Impersonators and Aberrations. It’s more reliable to leave an Esper behind.”

“Hee~ Really? I thought you were worried about your Teacher Chen~” KIKI didn’t seem to have any sense of urgency and teased with a smile.

Lin Xian didn’t expect this little girl to be in the mood to tease him in this situation. He wanted to laugh and said, “What, are you jealous?”

“Tch~ Jealous of you, my foot.”

The two of them turned left and right under many large pipelines and finally arrived at the building below the tallest distillation tower.

An iron gate with the words ‘No. 1 Initiator Workshop’ written on it appeared in their sight.

The iron gate was half-open at this moment. A cold wind whistled out, and a hollow sound kept coming from inside.

“Let’s go in and have a look. If something’s wrong, we’ll retreat immediately.” Lin Xian’s heart tightened. He took the rifle from his back, raised his hand to create a small steel shield, and walked in directly.

Whoosh~

In an instant, an extremely hollow airflow rushed towards them. As soon as they walked in, they saw a huge metal preparation kettle high up, a large yellow-painted cantilever crane in the air, and below was a sunken workshop with rows of tall silver storage tanks. Looking around, many of the storage tanks had already toppled over, and a large amount of colorless liquid had almost submerged the storage tanks by 1/3. The entire first basement level of the workshop looked like a black swimming pool, bottomless.

Although the liquid looked colorless, Lin Xian didn’t think it was pure water.

He walked to a nearby storage tank and looked at it. He immediately frowned. “Good heavens, 70% tert-butyl hydroperoxide…”

KIKI asked upon hearing this, “You know this?”

“I learned it in high school chemistry.” Lin Xian’s gaze turned to the huge metal preparation kettle, and his expression became grave. “That should be for preparing lye.”

“What do you mean? Is it very dangerous?”

Lin Xian looked at KIKI, who was flying in the air. “The tert-butyl hydroperoxide probably didn’t leak. That stuff is flammable and explosive. It can also explode from vibration and friction. If this pool was full of it, this chemical plant would have been gone long ago. I estimate it’s all accumulated rainwater or something else. But if the lye preparation kettle on top falls and hits the storage tank, this one-kilometer radius will disappear.”

Hiss~

KIKI’s face immediately changed upon hearing this. She looked nervously at the huge metal preparation kettle. “Heavens, that’s so scary.”

Lin Xian was just about to retreat when he suddenly noticed a faint orange light flashing behind the preparation kettle and the storage tank. He immediately moved and ran along the metal passage towards the front. KIKI, seeing Lin Xian’s action, also flew over and followed.

As their perspective changed, a corner of the orange object gradually revealed itself.

The more they ran, the more solemn their expressions became, because what appeared in their sight at this moment was a strange plant several meters tall.

It was a plant that grew out of the chemical liquid pool below. A thick, dark green flower stem stood tall and then drooped down in a curve. On it hung a flower shaped like a lantern flower, with a diameter of one or two meters. The stamens inside were like a string of red flesh buds emitting a faint red light. The lantern-like petals were orange, with fine patterns on them.

This huge plant grew in a chemical solution, and it looked extremely strange in this chemical plant full of metal storage tanks.

“Wow, such a big flower?” KIKI’s eyes widened when she saw this scene. She couldn’t help but say, “Is this like our Hell Black Chrysanthemum, a Blood Calamity Plant?”

Lin Xian’s first reaction at this moment was the same as KIKI’s. He took a breath and said, “I was thinking the same thing, but…”

He stared intently at the flower in front of him. The red and orange light presented an extremely strange feeling, which was somewhat chilling.

And the appearance of such a thing in front of them was indeed a bit abrupt.

“But what?”

“It looks like a plant, but it doesn’t quite look like a plant.”

I don’t know if it was Lin Xian and KIKI’s illusion, but at this moment, they both felt that the red and orange light seemed to be flickering, and the lantern flower was also slowly rising and falling.

KIKI’s face was pale. She stared blankly at this scene and muttered in a low voice, “This flower… is it”

“Breathing?”

As soon as these words came out, Lin Xian felt goosebumps all over his body. He had the same feeling.

At this moment, a crisp sound came from his backpack. Lin Xian’s heart tightened. He guessed what it was. He immediately opened the backpack chain, quickly created a metal clip in his hand, and then threw out the two glass test tubes.

Clatter~

The metal test tubes shattered into pieces. The two white parasites fell to the ground, motionless, seemingly dead.

“What’s wrong?”

“This thing is strange!” Lin Xian’s face darkened, and he immediately had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, under the red light of the lantern flower, the two white parasites seemed to suddenly come to life. They extended their claws and shot out, falling into the deep pool of chemicals.