Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 297 – Collective Rebellion

In the central control room, although no alarm was sounding, the stream of red data representing abnormal biological signs was more heart-stopping than any shrill siren.

“Find out! Find out what’s happening right now!”

The middle-aged woman slammed the folder in her hand onto the console like a shrew, her usual elite demeanor completely gone.

She pointed at the surveillance footage of the Sector B cafeteria on the screen, her finger trembling. “What is going on there? What are they doing?”

On the screen.

The cafeteria, once as orderly as a graveyard, was now a chaotic mess.

…

Sector B Cafeteria.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

The soldier who had first dropped his cup was now curled up on the floor, clawing desperately at his throat as if trying to cough up his lungs.

But the gray fog in his eyes was receding at an astonishing rate.

What did it feel like?

It was like being a person locked in a dark box for three whole years, only for someone to suddenly rip the lid off, letting the blinding sunlight pour in without reservation.

It was the light of what was called the “self.”

His name was Zhao Tiezhu, a peak level-four strength-type Evolved being.

He remembered how he had gotten here. He remembered the researchers telling him this was a new Evolution Serum developed by the Federation that could raise his evolution level.

Then, he had become a bystander in his own body.

He had watched, helpless, as he expressionlessly killed his comrades who tried to escape. He watched himself eat that shit-like nutrient paste like a dog. He watched himself raise a butcher’s knife against the comrades he had once sworn to protect with his life.

That despair of being fully conscious yet unable to even move a finger was ten thousand times more terrifying than death itself.

But now.

The force that had bound him like chains was being washed away, dissolved by a gentle, warm current.

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“Ahhhh!!”

Zhao Tiezhu abruptly straightened up, letting out a roar that had been suppressed for far too long.

This sound was no longer the roar of a beast, but a cry filled with the fury of human emotion.

He saw clearly now.

He clearly saw the iron cup on the table, still half-full of water.

The water!

There was something wrong with the sip of water he had just drunk!

Zhao Tiezhu snapped his head up, his eyes, now restored to clarity, meeting another pair of eyes that had just regained their spirit.

It was his squad leader, Wang Gang.

Neither of them spoke.

There was no need for words.

During those three hellish years, though their souls were imprisoned, they could still sense each other’s pain.

That tacit understanding was forged from blood and tears.

With just a single look from Wang Gang, Zhao Tiezhu moved.

Without any hesitation, Zhao Tiezhu snatched the cup from the floor. Not caring how much water spilled out, he turned and lunged toward a young soldier in the back row who was still eating mechanically.

He was a new recruit, his eyes still a hazy gray, just about to bring a spoonful of mush to his mouth.

“Drink this, damn it!”

Zhao Tiezhu pinched the recruit’s chin with one hand and shoved the cup against his lips with the other.

“Mmph… Gulp…”

The recruit struggled instinctively, but against the brute force of a level-four strength-type Evolved being, his struggles were like an infant waving its arms.

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The half-cup of water, along with the dirt from Zhao Tiezhu’s hand, was forcibly poured down his throat.

At the same time.

Similar scenes were playing out frantically throughout the entire cafeteria.

The dozens of soldiers who had already regained their senses charged toward the water barrels as if they had gone mad.

No cups?

Then use bowls! Use plates! Or even just hoist the barrels up directly!

“Hold him down! Don’t let him move!”

“Pour it! Pour it down his throat!”

“Fuck! Don’t waste it! That’s life-saving water! Not a single drop can be spilled!”

The once dull and deathly silent cafeteria instantly turned into the scene of a brawl.

But this was the strangest mass brawl in history.

The ones doing the hitting had faces streaked with tears, while the ones being hit looked completely bewildered.

But as soon as the water went down their throats, within a minute, the one who had been hit would immediately join the ranks of the hitters, turning to hold down the next unlucky soul.

This fission-like rate of transmission was fast enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

…

“They’re crazy… They’ve all gone crazy…”

In the central control room, Bald Head stared at the surveillance footage, his mouth agape enough to fit a lightbulb.

Although he was a crude man, he could see that this was definitely not some riot or virus infection.

What kind of virus-infected people would feed each other water?

“There’s something wrong with the water!”

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The middle-aged woman reacted extremely quickly. She spun around and yelled into the communicator, “Cut off the water supply! Cut off the water supply to all sectors immediately! Quick!”

However, it was too late.

Since Lin Fan had dared to make a move, he had calculated the timing perfectly.

The water circulation system of this underground base was simply too efficient, and it was also the peak period for water usage during mealtime.

The spiked “Holy Water” had long since flowed through the pipes and into every soldier’s stomach.

Even if they cut it off now, the residual amount left in the pipes was enough to “turn” all the remaining men.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

The red alerts on the screen seemed to mock this group of so-called Federation elites. Sector B, Sector C, Sector D… The green dots that originally represented “absolute obedience” had all turned into a glaring scarlet.

This wasn’t an abnormality in the soldiers’ vitals; this was a collective rebellion.

“How is this possible… How…”

The middle-aged woman collapsed into her chair, her lips trembling, not even noticing that her delicate gold-rimmed glasses had slipped to the tip of her nose. “That was something given by the lords of the Dragon Clan, how could it possibly…”

“Shut up!”

The old man who had been sitting in the head seat slammed his hand on the table.

His face, like old tree bark, was now covered with fierce blue veins.

“What are you panicking for! As long as the control is still in our hands, they’re just a bunch of brainless beasts!”

The old man shot to his feet, his once-stooped body suddenly standing ramrod straight. A cold, viscous wave of Mental Strength, with him at its center, spread out wildly in all directions like a tide.

A Mental Strength Evolved being.

And a terrifying existence at peak level-six, with one foot in level-seven.

This was his trump card, the reason he could sit securely in his position and make everyone obey his every word.

It was also the source of their confidence to contend with those old diehards in the capital.

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“Kneel… for me!”

The old man roared, the whites of his eyes showing. That immense Mental Strength traveled along the base’s internal communication lines and sensor devices, transforming into countless invisible whips that lashed viciously at the minds of the soldiers who were regaining their clarity.

He was re-establishing the connection.

He was forcibly suppressing those awakening consciousnesses.

Everyone present held their breath, looking at the old man with hopeful expressions.

As long as he made a move, there was no mess that couldn’t be handled.

Those country bumpkins were, in the end, just country bumpkins.

However.

One second.

Two seconds.

The old man’s body suddenly began to tremble violently.

The expected scene of absolute obedience did not occur, nor did the data stream turn green again.

Quite the opposite.

The old man felt that his mental tentacles had not lashed the soldiers’ minds, but had struck a wall.

No.

Not a wall.

It was an ocean.

A vast, boundless, sacred, and majestic golden ocean.

Before that ocean, his vaunted peak level-six Mental Strength was like a drop of murky, dirty water—so minuscule it was laughable.

“What… What is this…”