Su Jin smoothed his clothes and pulled open the door.
Waiting outside was Sun Ya, his face visibly puffy.
Su Jin offered a smile. "Elder Sun, it looks like I really am immune to the infection. Those flesh bulbs are vital to us. I spent last night testing my abilities—both my strength and speed have improved. Defending against zombie attacks should be much easier now."
"That's wonderful. It looks like the situation is going to change drastically. Surviving might not be as difficult as we thought, but we still need to be rigorous." Sun Ya managed a strained smile. "We should continue observing your condition later on."
Noticing that something was off, Su Jin frowned. "Elder Sun, did something happen yesterday?"
Sun Ya looked uncomfortable. Hesitating for a moment, he sighed helplessly. "Something did go wrong. We made a rookie mistake... The laboratory mice are missing. Two of them. We haven't found them yet, but I've already moved everyone up to the sixth floor."
"Is it serious? Were they infected mice?" Su Jin asked, his expression turning grave.
"No," Sun Ya said, though he quickly added, "We ran tests and found that organisms aren't infected a hundred percent of the time. It depends on the mass of rainwater they absorb; naturally, the greater the mass, the higher the chance of infection. Mice turn very quickly, so the ones we confirmed to be fine after testing were moved to a separate cage.
"It's the mice from that cage that went missing. But no matter how we examine it... there's simply no way a mouse could escape from that cage. And we turned the whole room upside down without finding a trace.
"The strangest part is that after the first mouse vanished, we reinforced the cage and monitored it in real time. The mice showed no signs of trying to escape. But after we stepped out for about an hour, another one was gone when we came back."
"Where are the remaining mice now?"
"Still in the fifth-floor laboratory. Old Wei put on several extra layers of clothes and is watching them inside. He doesn't even dare blink."
"Take me there!"
Su Jin stepped out first, leading Sun Ya back down to the fifth floor.
Inside the side bedroom serving as the lab, Wei De sat on a chair with his arms crossed, eyes glued to the rat cage.
The cage was woven from thick wire, placed inside a glass tank, and weighted down on top with a thick wooden plank and stones.
Crude though it was, from every conceivable angle, there was no way a mouse could escape.
"Elder Wei, notice anything?" Su Jin got straight to the point.
Wei De shook his head in frustration. "Everything's fine when someone's watching, but the moment you leave, they vanish... I honestly can't make heads or tails of it. If only we had electricity and a video recorder."
"I have one. Where are my things?" Su Jin asked.
Sun Ya's face lit up. "No one touched your stuff. We moved everything up to the sixth floor for you."
"Alright, wait for me a moment."
Ten minutes later, Su Jin returned to the room.
After clearing the porn off his phone, he plugged it into a power bank, opened the camera app to start recording, and mounted it in front of the cage, adjusting the angle.
Outside the door, Wei De and Sun Ya watched in shock, whispering in low voices.
"What kind of device is that? It's so clear. That had to be fingerprint unlock, right? What kind of technology is that?"
"Truly unbelievable... Capacitive? Ultrasonic? No, impossible, it's far too small. But it must be using a lithium battery. The power consumption must be enormous if it requires an external battery pack."
"I saw the interface on that device, and the exterior design... That is definitely a civilian product. Not a single country in the world is capable of manufacturing something like that. Could this kid be an extraterrestrial? Or maybe he got his hands on alien technology? Could this rain be connected to him?"
"Hiss... Now that you mention it, he does slip into written phrasing sometimes and constantly uses bizarre metaphors. He really doesn't seem normal."
"Shh, keep it down, he's looking over."
"What are you two chatting about?" Having finished setting up the phone, Su Jin walked out of the room.
"Ah, nothing, nothing!" Sun Ya said, sounding a bit flustered. "Uh, Xiao Li, what model is that video recorder of yours?"
"It's an imported new model. Let's head out for now and check back later." Su Jin paused, then continued, "The way I see it, we're severely short-handed, and we've waited long enough. I'm going downstairs to dissect the rest of the corpses and recruit some more people. We can come back and check the recording together later. You two should head upstairs and rest. With the door locked, no matter how good those mice are at squeezing through gaps, they won't make it out of this room."
"Right, right, you go ahead." The two old men hastily stepped aside to clear a path.
Su Jin glanced between them. "What's wrong with you two?"
Sun Ya squeezed out an apologetic grimace. "Uh... I'm sorry, Xiao Li. We botched things up."
"Ah..." Su Jin chuckled, shaking his head. "Elder Sun, you two are the experts here. At a time like this, we're in this together. Minor hiccups are inevitable. As long as everyone is safe, nothing else matters. I'll be going now."
Once Su Jin walked out, the two elders stared at the empty doorway and swallowed in unison.
"Do you think he really is an alien?" Wei De asked immediately.
"I can't think of any other explanation. It's just that we can understand the principles behind that technology. It doesn't seem advanced enough for interstellar travel, does it?"
"Why don't we just ask him straight out? Keeping it bottled up is driving me crazy!"
"No!" Sun Ya pressed a hand against Wei De's chest, speaking with a bitter tone. "There's no need. We've spent these past few days around Xiao Li. You've seen what kind of person he is—everything he does is for our benefit. The rain most likely has nothing to do with him; he doesn't know anything about it.
"He saved our lives, and an entire house full of people depends on him. To tell you the truth... during the two days when he was unconscious, I felt worse than when my wife passed away years ago.
"What if we lay it all out, and he peels off his skin to reveal a monster underneath... How am I supposed to keep living after that?!"
"I don't think that's likely," Wei De analyzed. "Looking at the way he operates that device and its dimensions, it fits human proportions. Besides, the script on it looks like pictograms... He's probably from a species similar to ours."
"Even a slight difference is unacceptable! Aside from looking the way he does right now, I won't accept any other form!"
Sun Ya took a deep breath, sounding thoroughly exhausted. "Old Wei... let's just pretend we didn't notice anything. We'll support him wholeheartedly, and that's that. None of us can handle any more turmoil."
"True... Xiao Li is a good kid. I don't have anything to complain about either." Wei De sighed, but a second later, he shifted the subject. "Say... that girl Qingdai is pretty special. Do you think Fu Hu got cuckolded by an alien years ago, and the kid isn't even his?"
"Tsk, good grief... You're an old man who barely makes a peep, so how did you get such a wild imagination?!" Sun Ya glared at him, barking in exasperation. "We don't even know if he is an alien!"
"I'm just brainstorming with you."
"Stop brainstorming! You can't just research everything! What if you dig up trouble? Let's go!"
Chapter 35