Visa On Arrival Chapter 3

Experimental Subject

It has been so long and there is no movement. Let us leave first. They already know our location; we cannot stay here any longer. Chen Rong reached out, hesitated for a moment, and lightly touched Qi Ranyue’s face with her fingertip.

Qi Ranyue snapped back to her senses and nodded. Led by her hand, she walked toward that door.

The moment her hand touched the doorknob, her entire body froze. One second, two seconds. The two of them exchanged a look and nodded to each other in encouragement.

Click.

The doorknob turned, and the door slowly creaked open. There was only silence in the next room.

The first room was empty.

The second room was empty.

The third room was still empty.

Empty, empty, empty.

It was clearly empty, clearly devoid of anything, yet her heart beat faster and faster. That kind of emptiness was not reassuring; it was as if the space had been cleared out in advance, a trap set and waiting for them to step inside.

Pushing open the next door, both of them froze. What lay before them was not a room, but a vast space. It was immense, as large as a school playground, stretching beyond the horizon with row upon row of objects arranged in an orderly fashion.

When they saw clearly what those things were, their stomachs churned.

Glass. Giant glass containers, each taller than a person, filled with liquid. Floating inside that liquid were the monsters they had just encountered.

One, two, three… they were uncountable. Row after row of neatly arranged specimens.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of formalin.

Moving her gaze up from the jars soaking the monsters, she could see tubes connected behind the glass.

They were as thick as fists and transparent, with something like blood flowing through them. Starting from the bottom of each jar, these tubes extended to the next, eventually merging into a thicker main trunk that stretched up into the invisible darkness overhead.

It did not look like a display; it looked like a system—a living system. Those tubes were like the circulatory hubs of a human body.

Shocked by the scene, Qi Ranyue whipped her head around to look at Chen Rong. Are these experimental subjects? Why do they look so much like the animal carcasses in your lab? Images of what she had seen in Chen Rong’s laboratory flooded back to her.

Rows of specimens in the lab—mice, rabbits, frogs soaking in formalin… all labeled. It was too similar to the sight before her, so similar it was hair-raising. The only difference was that these jars did not contain rabbits, mice, or frogs.

Qi Ranyue looked at Chen Rong, but Chen Rong was not looking at her; she did not even seem to hear her speaking.

She just scanned the area, circle by circle, from top to bottom, left to right, from near to far, before suddenly looking up to stare at the ceiling lost in the darkness.

Qi Ranyue suddenly did not dare to make a sound. She watched as Chen Rong moved between the rows of jars, looking here and there, sometimes crouching down to push aside piles of rotten cardboard boxes or rummaging through desk drawers.

As Chen Rong rummaged through the chaotic mess, Qi Ranyue noticed her movements were fast and practiced, as if she had entered a professional work mode. The scene felt surreal. A thought suddenly popped into her head: Was this professional instinct? Perhaps she was looking for clues to exit the game.

In a place where monsters could be anywhere, she could actually work as if she were in her lab—organizing files, searching for records, and analyzing data.

Qi Ranyue took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Fine. She silently applauded her in her heart, thinking, I really admire you. Sigh, this is a bit absurd.

Xiaoyue, come here. Chen Rong was flipping through dusty, yellowed documents page by page.

Qi Ranyue leaned in to read the text.

Printed on the cover were the words: Experimental Project No. #3-6 – Specimen Cultivation and Observation Records.

Below that was a date—two years ago.

She turned to the second page, which contained photographs. They were pictures of the monsters inside the glass—weak and on the verge of death.

She continued to the second, third, and fourth pages… every page was filled with data: height, weight, physical fitness, dietary habits, lifespan…

Every page was data, recording the survival duration of each batch of monsters and their reactions to various drugs…

Every page had a signature: a person named Dr. Ran.

On the final page, there was a single line: All experimental subjects failed. Prepare to move to the next stage.

She closed the file and remained silent for a few seconds.

Raising her hand to rub her chin, she stared at the monsters in the glass jars, seemingly lost in thought or talking to herself. These are all failed experimental subjects. Their life cycles are so short. These people probably wanted to extend their lifespans, or rather, find a way to make them survive.

Maybe these experimental subjects themselves were meant to nourish something above.

But what is it? What was the purpose of reviving these things?

Who would be willing to spend so much money to invest in an underground laboratory to revive something like this?

Why build it under an amusement park? And even lure tourists down here? Do they want to use people as sacrifices? Or do these things eat people?

Chen Rong wanted to say more, but Qi Ranyue clamped a hand over her mouth.

Stop talking. Why are you acting like this is real? Qi Ranyue’s voice was hushed, almost inaudible. Please, I am really afraid a real one might be mixed in.

She froze for a moment and looked at Qi Ranyue, the terrifyingly calm expression in her eyes not yet fading.

Don’t be afraid. These things won’t wake up. They are failed experimental subjects, Chen Rong said seriously.

But don’t forget, even if these specimens can’t wake up, what if there are living monsters in this place? Haven’t you seen those movies? The ones where an amusement park hosts a zombie outbreak theme, and a real one ends up mixed in… Qi Ranyue felt her rationality momentarily lose gravity at Chen Rong’s experimental obsession and curiosity in such a situation. It finally condensed into a lump in her throat, a burning, wordless warning.

Chen Rong suddenly snapped out of it.

Sorry. Let us go then.

Mhm.

In the few rooms after leaving the laboratory, there was still no sign of any monsters.

They moved slowly, filled with trepidation the entire way.

They entered another space, which was very different from the previous ones.

It felt like a vast, flat meadow.

In the deepest part of the darkness ahead, there was a light. It was not the conical beam of a flashlight swallowed by the dark; it was a massive expanse of light, a piercing white-to-blue glow, as if reflected off a giant screen.

As they continued forward, they discovered that the dark areas at the edge of the light were shadows cast by buildings.

Is that the Safe Zone? Qi Ranyue’s voice was full of surprise and joy as she pointed.

The silhouettes of the buildings were of varying heights, arranged in an orderly fashion.

As if seeing a glimmer of hope, Chen Rong tightly gripped Qi Ranyue’s hand and pulled her toward the white light.

While running, Qi Ranyue glanced back.

With just one look, the scene was seared into her eyes like a branding iron, impossible to forget for the rest of her life.

Densely packed monsters had all stopped about a dozen meters away from them, as if blocked by a transparent barrier. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on them simultaneously. There was no anger in those eyes, no expression—only a completely hollow gaze. It made her skin crawl. She did not know what they were waiting for or why they had not rushed forward to attack or seize them, but she knew they were all watching.

Qi Ranyue felt the weight of their gaze. That look did not belong to this world or any living creature; it was a stare from the other side of the barrier, watching them through these monsters.