Last Stand

He turned his head toward Xiao Xian.

Although Xiao Xian couldn’t understand Japanese, he could more or less guess what Yu Youhan was thinking.

Separated by gas masks and two layers of glass, the two men didn’t say a word, yet they understood each other perfectly.

Don’t retreat.

Take advantage of the chaos.

Kill them all, burn the documents, and destroy the drugs.

However, after the pocket-watch hands passed the agreed-upon time, no explosion came from outside.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Nothing happened.

Xiao Xian’s expression darkened.

Yu Youhan cursed inwardly as well. Either the fuse had malfunctioned, or there was something wrong with the timer on the bomb.

That was what frightened people most on a battlefield. It wasn’t death itself—it was staking your life on a gamble, only for half the gambling table to collapse beneath you.

Xiao Xian moved closer and lowered his voice. “What do we do?”

Yu Youhan looked toward the group gathered around the center of the laboratory.

Nearly everyone had crowded around the corpse, as if they were looking at some fascinating novelty.

In the corner, the light machine gun was still propped against the table. Only one experimenter stood guard beside it.

Yu Youhan raised a hand and pointed at that experimenter, then at the group of researchers.

Xiao Xian understood.

He walked over at an unhurried pace, deliberately lowering his head to adjust his cuffs, looking like a junior assistant who had been sent to move some equipment.

The experimenter didn’t pay much attention when he saw someone approaching. He was worried that the woman might get up, though, so one hand remained pressed against the gun as he kept his eyes fixed on that spot.

Xiao Xian raised his head and looked at him through the mask.

“Liangyou Icehouse. Remember?”

The man froze for a moment. He had just begun to open his mouth and say nani when Xiao Xian drew his knife and slashed it into the man’s throat.

“Take a deep breath. The dizziness is normal.”

The man clutched his neck and collapsed.

Xiao Xian wiped the blade on the protective suit, picked up the light machine gun, and lowered the muzzle toward the group of experimenters still trying to study the corpse.

He pulled the trigger.

Bullets swept across the room.

The experimenters toppled one after another. Clipboards flew into the air, glass bottles shattered across the floor, and chemical fluids spread into puddles.

Someone tried to crawl beneath a table, but the machine gun shattered his leg. He sprawled on the floor, yelling, “Yamete!”

“Now you remember to call for your daddy?” Xiao Xian cursed.

He fired another burst.

Yu Youhan charged into the laboratory as well. He snatched an alcohol lamp from the table and threw it onto the floor. The papers caught fire, their edges curling black. He focused on burning the files marked as experimental records.

One of the experimenters was still alive. He lay on the floor, reaching for a drawer.

Yu Youhan stepped on his wrist.

Inside the drawer was a pistol.

The experimenter screamed in pain, a fragment of Japanese spilling from his mouth.

“Ya…”

Yu Youhan bent down, took the pistol, and pressed it against the man’s forehead.

“When you’re reincarnated, don’t come back as a human. Come back as livestock!”

Bang!

After the shot, the experimenter went still.

Every experimenter and officer present was dead.

Xiao Xian lowered the machine gun and hurried over to Yu Youhan.

“Brother Han, the bomb didn’t go off. I have to go back and detonate it manually.”

Yu Youhan’s hands stopped for half a beat.

“If you go, you’ll die.”

“Doesn’t matter. Maybe I won’t.” Xiao Xian shoved the remaining ammunition belt into his arms. “Someone has to finish this. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Yu Youhan looked at him, then pulled a lighter from his pocket. It was one he had brought back after studying in Japan.

“Get out alive.” Yu Youhan handed him the lighter.

Xiao Xian smiled again, though the smile looked a little unnatural as he accepted it. “If we really do get out, you have to buy me lychees. I haven’t had any in ages.”

Yu Youhan’s throat tightened, but he still had to curse him. “What a pathetic request. That’s all you want?”

“What else? Have me marry a wife? I’d be willing.”

“All right.” Yu Youhan nodded. “I’ll buy you three hundred. You can eat until you get heatstroke.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Both of them knew perfectly well that the promise would probably never be fulfilled.

But when a person had reached this point, they still needed something to hold on to.

Xiao Xian turned and dashed out of the laboratory, his figure quickly disappearing into the corridor.

Yu Youhan didn’t look back.

He smashed the vials of drugs one by one, then threw every document that could still burn into the fire.

The flames climbed over the edge of the table. The smell of smoke mixed with the odor of chemicals, stinging his eyes until they watered.

The sound of footsteps outside grew denser.

The patrol guards charged into the laboratory!

“What happened? What happened here?”

The machine gun answered them.

Yu Youhan braced the stock against his shoulder and swept the doorway with gunfire.

The first row of guards fell as soon as they rushed inside. The men behind them were forced back into the corridor, their shouts and curses in Japanese blending into chaos.

The guards at the entrance quickly reacted and began firing into the room.

Yu Youhan immediately changed positions and returned fire from behind an experimental table.

Bullets struck the equipment, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

No matter how he hid, the laboratory was simply too small. He inevitably took a bullet, and half his arm went numb.

He gritted his teeth and pulled the ammunition belt forward. There were only a few rounds left.

He conserved his fire, targeting only those who exposed themselves.

A sergeant stuck half his body into the room. Just as he shouted for a charge, his head slammed back against the wall.

Blood flowed across the corridor.

Yu Youhan had been planning to smash the machine gun as well.

But it clicked empty.

A command came from outside the door.

“Fix bayonets! Charge!”

Yu Youhan held the pistol he had just taken and counted the rounds in the magazine.

Five.

Not enough for them to all die together.

Yu Youhan turned his head toward the enhanced drug and suddenly laughed.

The drug might make him lose his mind. It might make him drop dead on the spot. But perhaps it would allow him to kill a few more of those carrot heads.

“Weren’t you trying to create super soldiers?”

He snatched up the drug, tore open his protective suit, and plunged the needle directly into his arm.

“Then enjoy this.”

The drug entered his body. It didn’t even need to reach a blood vessel, yet after injecting only half the dose, Yu Youhan immediately lost all strength.

At first, he felt cold. Then a numb itch began burrowing out from between his bones.

Yu Youhan gripped the experimental table, his fingernails scraping across the metal edge. He heard people rushing in outside. He heard them shouting something. He heard the faint crackle of burning paper.

Xiao Xian’s remark about getting married drifted through his mind.

Oh, right. Xiao Xian was only fifteen this year.

He let out a quiet laugh.

“Lychees, right? Three hundred of them. Not one fewer.”

Several figures surrounded him.

Yu Youhan raised his head. Redness slowly spread through his eyes.

“What is this? Is this the man? What happened here?”

Even the guards who had arrived from outside had no idea what had happened.

They could only see the flames rising from the room and the bodies lying in pools of blood.

“It’s the Chinese! It must be a Chinese man!”

“But what’s wrong with his body…?”

Before the man could finish speaking, a hand shot up. Three fingers pierced effortlessly through his throat. Before the others could react, Yu Youhan leaped up from the floor, grabbed two more guards, and smashed them together.

That single collision was enough to send both men crashing to the ground.

But Yu Youhan didn’t stop.

He seized another guard and bit down.

Blood flowed into his mouth. He sucked at it with satisfaction, but the red in his eyes showed no sign of fading.

Unless something unexpected happened, he would become a beast.