Chapter 166: Assault

“The person who met with your father back then was indeed me, but I was only following orders. At the time, several other renowned biologists were also involved in the research,” Shintaro Ikeyama said hesitantly.

“What were you researching?” Ayano Eiko asked, suppressing her anger.

“Hybrid gene fusion technology.”

“So, the monster from last time was also your creation?”  

“Yes. It was one of the experimental subjects that escaped from the old laboratory.”  

“One of them? Interesting choice of wording. Before undergoing your experiments, it would’ve been called *a person*, wouldn’t it?” Lei Yin interjected with a cold sneer.

Ikeyama looked at him with terror. Compared to Ayano Eiko’s physical blows, he instinctively found this man far more frightening.

Although she had already guessed as much, Ayano Eiko still felt a jolt in her heart. She had always resisted the idea that her most respected father could have been involved in such inhumane experiments. But the reality clashed cruelly with her hopes.

“How did he die?” she asked weakly.

“He committed suicide,” Ikeyama replied.

“I don’t believe you. You killed him to silence him,” Ayano Eiko said coldly, glaring at him.

“It’s true, he really did commit suicide. I swear on my honor that every word I’ve said is true.” Seeing the resentment in her eyes, Ikeyama instinctively covered his crotch with his hands. Lei Yin nearly burst out laughing at the sight.

“Don’t swear on something you don’t have. Hey, don’t lay hands on him yet—let him finish talking,” Lei Yin interrupted when he saw Ayano Eiko ready to strike again.

She glanced at him and managed to hold herself back.

“Your father really did commit suicide. At the time, the experiment had made groundbreaking progress, but your father started acting very strangely. He became addicted to alcohol and drugs.”

“My father? Using drugs?” Ayano Eiko asked in shock, unable to imagine such behavior from him.

“Yes, we only found out by chance. Someone reported his condition to the higher-ups. But before they could issue any orders, your father acted first.”

“He committed suicide?”

“No. Late one night, he went to the lab and destroyed all the files, documents, and computer data stored there. Finally, he set the entire laboratory on fire. He didn’t escape and was burned to death along with the lab.”

Ayano Eiko was stunned, utterly unable to speak.

“Keep going,” Lei Yin prompted with a tap on Ikeyama’s shoulder.

“Because your father destroyed all the data and samples, the research project was completely paralyzed. Almost everyone involved in the project faced repercussions. I was exiled to work as a lowly employee in an overseas oil company for five years.” Bitterness flashed in Ikeyama’s eyes as he recounted this, clearly still resentful about those events.

“Later, for some reason, the higher-ups decided to restart the project and brought me back.”

“Looks like you’ve done well for yourself, climbing from a lowly employee to the Tokyo Governor,” Lei Yin teased.

“I earned this position through my own efforts. Do you know how much money I had to spend on those greedy senators to achieve what I have today?” Ikeyama snapped angrily.

“Do you know who you’re talking to?” Lei Yin asked with a smile.

“S-sorry, I didn’t mean it. Please forgive me,” Ikeyama quickly apologized, realizing his precarious situation.

Lei Yin ignored him and turned to Ayano Eiko. “Hey, have you heard enough? We need to leave soon.”

The female inspector, looking somewhat dazed, slowly stood up.

As Lei Yin approached, Ikeyama’s face turned pale with fear. “I’ve told you everything. What do you want from me?”

“Relax, I don’t plan to kill you. I’m not as unreasonable as someone here. Since you’ve been so cooperative, it’s only fair I repay you.” With that, Lei Yin punched him, knocking him unconscious.

“Are you thinking about killing him?” Lei Yin asked, looking at Ayano Eiko, who was glaring intently at the unconscious Ikeyama. 

Ayano Eiko said nothing, but the hatred in her eyes spoke volumes.

“But now isn’t the right time,” Lei Yin explained. “He’s a critical supporting actor in this drama. If you kill him now, you’ll end up in trouble, and this whole play will come to a premature end.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll understand when we get out. Let’s move.”

Eiko glanced at him, then looked again at the unconscious Ikeyama Toshi lying on the ground, before finally following Lei Yin out of the room.

After running roughly 100 meters, Eiko noticed that the man wasn’t retracing their original route but instead was heading down a passage she hadn’t seen before.

“Where are we going now?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re getting out. Or did you plan to spend the night here?”

Despite her growing annoyance, she restrained herself and asked, “How do you know where the exit is?”

“Sorry, that’s not something I intend to tell you.”

If she could, she’d have loved to kick him.

The two of them ran, Lei Yin leading and Eiko following, until they arrived at a space that was about half the size of a basketball court, filled with various equipment and machinery.

As they approached a metal door, Lei Yin suddenly lunged toward Eiko, tackling her to the ground and rolling them both over repeatedly.

Thinking they were under attack, Eiko instinctively tried to break free. At that moment, a hail of bullets swept through the air, striking exactly where they had been standing and rolling moments earlier.

Lei Yin held her close as they dove behind a large machine, shielding them from the relentless gunfire.

When the shots ceased, the voice of the middle-aged man named Eguchi echoed from ahead. “Who are you?”

Lei Yin ignored him. Pulling a handgun from his waist, he turned to Eiko. “Do you have a gun?”

She nodded and produced her P5 handgun to show him.

Lei Yin called out loudly, “Are you the one in charge here?”

“Who are you, and why are you meddling in this?” the man retorted.

“Maybe because life’s been too boring,” Lei Yin replied mockingly.

“You dare mock me?” Another burst of bullets flew toward them in response.

Ignoring the reckless retaliation, Lei Yin glanced at his watch and muttered to himself, “It should be about time.”

Eiko gripped her pistol tightly, her ears tuned to the sound of Eguchi’s approaching footsteps.

From a firepower perspective, Eguchi’s submachine gun gave him a significant advantage. However, with two of them on their side, they still had a chance to win—or so Eiko reasoned.

She quickly realized, though, that their side had the true upper hand. Lei Yin had, at some point, retrieved a compact submachine gun from a small backpack he carried.

Despite now having equal firepower, Lei Yin didn’t immediately counterattack. He seemed to be waiting for something.

When Eguchi was less than 100 meters from their hiding spot, a sudden and massive explosion shattered the tense silence. The force of the blast nearly knocked Eiko off balance.

Eguchi was equally stunned. Before he could process what had happened, another explosion followed, slightly weaker than the first due to its distance.

“You bastard! What have you done?” Eguchi shouted.

“Relax,” Lei Yin called back. “I’m not stupid enough to blow up this basement—I’m still down here, after all. I only destroyed that Ikeyama’s mansion aboveground. How else could I make sure enough reporters would show up?”

“What?” Eguchi exclaimed in shock.

At that moment, Lei Yin leaned out from behind the machine and opened fire in Eguchi’s direction with his submachine gun.

Though he was shooting blindly, the sheer volume of bullets forced Eguchi to dive for cover.

Eguchi now had no choice but to abandon his mission to kill them. He needed to leave the area before the reporters arrived. Covering his retreat with sporadic gunfire, he began to withdraw.

As Eguchi retreated, Lei Yin immediately led Eiko further down the passage.

After running nearly 300 meters, they entered another chamber, slightly larger than the previous rooms. The sheer scale of the underground facility far exceeded Eiko’s initial expectations.

It was here that Lei Yin suddenly came to a halt.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t speak.”

Ayano Eiko noticed a strange look in his eyes.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, so quiet that she could clearly hear her own breathing. Affected by the man’s tension, she raised her gun nervously, scanning the entrances to the passageways connected to the room.

After a while, she began to hear increasingly distinct panting sounds.

Someone’s coming? She quickly aimed her gun toward the direction of the noise.

Suddenly, Lei Yin handed her the portable submachine gun.

“Take this. I might not have time to look after you later. Take care of yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious? That Eguchi guy must have released those things before he left.”

“You mean the test subjects?”

“Just listen to the sound.”

“Can we escape?” Eiko frowned.

“Unlikely. You’ve seen their speed before. Normal humans can’t outrun them.”

“But in the passageways, we could use the narrow space to our advantage. With continuous fire, we might have a chance to kill them,” Eiko calmly analyzed.

“Good suggestion. Do it your way, then,” Lei Yin replied.

As Lei Yin spoke, the beast-like panting sounds grew louder. He could even smell the bloody stench emanating from their mouths.

“What are you planning to do?” Eiko didn’t understand why he handed her the submachine gun.

“I plan to face them head-on,” Lei Yin said with a smile.

“You’re insane.” Eiko looked at him as if he were a lunatic.

“What I do is my own business. Stop talking and leave now,” Lei Yin said, not bothering to explain further.

After giving him a long, meaningful look, Eiko bit her lip, took the submachine gun, and ran toward the passage ahead.

“Hey, don’t die! I don’t want to owe you one!” she suddenly shouted loudly after entering the passage.

Hearing her words, Lei Yin smiled. It seemed she misunderstood him—he had no intention of dying young.

At the entrance of the passageway, Eiko saw Lei Yin standing in the center of the hall. To her surprise, he didn’t draw his gun but instead pulled out a thick-bladed long knife.

He’s not using a gun but a knife? Is he seriously insane?

But there was no time for her to dwell on her shock because she saw five creatures—monsters straight out of a horror movie—charging into the hall from the left passage.

Under the light, she clearly saw that two of them resembled the wolf-like creature she had encountered before. Their bodies were covered in tawny fur, their faces grotesquely twisted and deformed, and their black claws were long and sharp.

The other three were covered in reddish-brown fur, with protruding canine teeth exposed outside their lips.

All five monsters wore tattered pants and walked upright, but it was hard to imagine they had once been human.

The creatures kept some distance from each other, but upon seeing Lei Yin in the center, their eyes turned blood-red, and saliva dripped from their mouths.

Even someone as composed as Eiko couldn’t help but turn pale at the sight of five monsters appearing at once.

Initially, Lei Yin hadn’t understood why the previous creature only drank human blood without eating flesh. Logically, beasts wouldn’t stop at drinking blood alone. But later, he realized that the creature might have retained a shred of human consciousness, subconsciously rejecting the act of eating flesh. However, its animal instincts drove it to crave blood.

Judging by the ravenous appearance of these five creatures, they probably wouldn’t even leave human bones untouched.