Chapter 2: Supernatural Anomalies

“It’s been more than three years since I fell into this damned place, and this is the first time I’ve seen a human!”
“You guys really should have just said you wanted to take me away; why shoot right away?”

After lying on the ground and eavesdropping for a while, Lu Xiao finally understood—they wanted to take him somewhere. Although he didn’t know where, his curiosity was piqued.

The seven-man squad exchanged glances. A low voice called out:
“Slip! Carry him on your back! You all retreat first! I’ll cover you!”

The one called Slip was the squad member responsible for testing. Upon hearing the order, he set down his testing equipment and hoisted Lu Xiao onto his back.

“Thanks... buddy!” Lu Xiao rasped.

Slip instinctively wanted to turn his head, but the sight of Lu Xiao’s face instantly suppressed his instinct with fear. Through clenched teeth, he forced out:
“N-no problem!”

Another male member bent down to pick up the testing device from the ground and gasped sharply.
“Fuck! Is this thing always this heavy?”

Slip snorted coldly without replying. The rest immediately dashed toward the direction they came from.

Dart was at the rear of the team, retreating cautiously while keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding darkness.

Soon, heavy breathing echoed from the shadows, chilling the emptiness of the street. Dart tensed, his gaze razor-sharp like a hawk’s.

In the darkness, a pair of crimson lights glowed like lanterns—eyes of some creature.

Lu Xiao sniffed, his desire to strike instantly gone.
“Filthy lizards!”

He had no idea how many of these creatures he had killed over the past three years. His only verdict on them was two words:
“Tasteless!”

He curled his lips, smirking silently.

A hissing sound, like a snake flicking its tongue, broke the silence.

A lizard about the size of a calf lunged out from the darkness. Calling it a lizard was only due to its head; its body was humanoid, crawling in a twisted, grotesque posture in the shadows—horrifying to behold.

Dart exhaled in relief.
“It’s a low-level lizardman!”

Without hesitation, he raised his weapon and emptied a magazine into the crawling lizardman.

“Wooo-woo-woo!”

The creature howled in pain, like a beaten stray dog. Dart quickly swapped magazines with a practiced click, ready to fire again.

The squad members sprinting ahead dared not look back.

Slip carried Lu Xiao at the center of the squad and shouted,
“Our captain is so handsome!”

Beside him, Xiao Yu panted and sighed,
“Now’s not the time to be joking around, Slip.”

Slip seemed to have great stamina—carrying someone for so long without any sign of fatigue.
“Well, why else would my codename be Slip?”

Dart’s heavy voice came from behind.
“How far are we from the gate?”

Xiao Yu raised her hand, revealing a watch on her wrist. A holographic map unfolded, dense with winding paths like a maze. A red dot blinked violently.
“The map shows one kilometer to the gate.”

Hearing this, everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief—except Dart, who remained vigilant.

He grabbed the radio and called out,
“This is Dart! One kilometer from the gate. Suspected Level 1 anomaly pursuing us. Prepare for extraction!”

“Repeat! One kilometer to the gate. Suspected Level 1 anomaly. Prepare for extraction!”

Static buzzed, then a fierce roar crackled over the radio.
“Extraction team, get ready! Bring containment object S069!”
“Ensure the safety of the field squad—or rather, the containment target!”

Noise erupted before the radio was abruptly cut off.

“Deploying S069? They must really value this containment target,” Slip whispered.

At that moment, Dart had to reassess Lu Xiao’s worth.
“Maybe that saying’s true—the entire squad’s value isn’t worth a finger of the containment target.”

Slip grinned.
“Though S069’s containment level is ‘Safe,’ deployment is always conditional.”

He glanced at the squad member who had fired the first shot and teased,
“You’re crazy, you know that?”

The man shivered.
“Why me?”

Slip snorted.
“Why? If you hadn’t shot, we’d have finished the mission ages ago!”

The man dared not argue—his shot that wounded the containment target had delayed the squad’s operation.
“Maybe... maybe so,” he stammered.

Dart’s heavy voice cut in.
“Enough, Slip. Stop joking around!”

The man relaxed, sensing the captain had a solution. But Dart’s next order made him break out in cold sweat.
“Liuguang, cut off your own palm.”

Liuguang froze. He glanced around—the other squad members kept their heads down, focused on moving forward, no one watching him.

Slip comforted him,
“Don’t worry. After you cut off your palm, S069 will reattach it for you.”
“If you don’t, when it’s time to pay the price, your body will suffer terribly.”

Liuguang shuddered again, then drew his dagger and, without hesitation, severed his palm.

The blade was sharp—the palm fell neatly to the ground.

Xiao Yu bent quickly to pick up the severed hand.

There was no time to treat Liuguang’s wound now.

He gritted his teeth as blood sprayed from the severed wrist.

The metallic scent of blood thickened in the air.

Lu Xiao, strapped to Slip’s back, watched intently.
“Tsk, tsk, that dagger looks really effective.”

Slip had just opened his mouth to respond when suddenly—
“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The sound startled Slip. He knew it well but had never heard it in the Dark Prison before.

“Captain! Dark Prison alert threshold reached! Supernatural anomaly approaching!”

Slip’s voice trembled. Even Dart felt a chill shoot down his spine.

Their calm minds were overtaken by fear.

Xiao Yu raised her wrist, voice trembling with tears,
“Three hundred meters to the gate!”

Three hundred meters—usually just a trivial distance for this squad’s training.

But now, it felt like an impassable chasm.

Heavy breathing echoed from the shadows, accompanied by the grinding roar of a chainsaw.

“Run!”

Dart shouted hoI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.