Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 276: Chapter 273: Miscalculation

Chen Xing stared at Chen Dingbang.

’Is he the masked man?’

”You think I’ll believe you?” She laughed, then broke free from her restraints with a twist of her hands and sat up. ”If I talk, you’ll just kill me sooner!” As she spoke, she flexed her wrists.

Chen Dingbang wasn’t the least bit surprised.

This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in action.

He’d lost count of how many times he’d watched the video of her first escape from the Research Institute.

He glanced around the white room, then pointed. ”You see them? All those little red dots?”

Chen Xing followed his finger.

Sure enough, there were more than twenty little red dots positioned at various angles throughout the room.

”Those are all things that can tear you to shreds in an instant! And... you know what? You can’t use superpowers in this room.”

That, Chen Xing found curious.

”We’ve installed a superpower suppression system in this room,” Chen Dingbang said smugly. ”So, even though you broke your restraints, you can’t leave! And if you try to force your way out, these cute little red dots won’t be happy about it!”

They had spent a long time researching ways to restrain Chen Xing.

Superpowers were everyone’s greatest strength now. As long as you could suppress them, you could make anyone fall in line.

Chen Xing smirked. ”But you forgot, I can also disappear in a flash, can’t I?”

Chen Dingbang’s expression stiffened.

”And don’t forget, I can blast an invisible man so hard he has to run for it naked.” The moment she saw his reaction, Chen Xing knew. He was the masked man.

”Isn’t that a superpower?” Chen Dingbang was about to lose his mind, but Xu Anguo grabbed his hand. ”Didn’t he just tell you that superpowers can’t be used in this room?”

Chen Xing looked at Xu Anguo, finding him utterly ridiculous. ”Why don’t we test that theory?”

’A father who won’t even help his own daughter?’

’Judging by his attitude, it’s no wonder I’ve been experimented on here for so many years.’

With a slight movement of her hand, a dozen or so arcs of electricity shot out, precisely destroying more than ten of the red dots.

This time, it wasn’t just Xu Anguo who lost his composure; even Chen Dingbang was stunned.

They had tested this room more than once. When a Superpower User entered, they became as helpless as a normal person.

How?

It had no effect on her at all?

Both men retreated simultaneously, Xu Anguo making sure to pull Chen Dingbang behind him. ”Shanshan, I already told you! I only brought you in for a check-up because I saw you fainted!”

”Oh.”

”Tell Father, how are you... how can you still use your superpower?”

”Don’t you know about elemental superpowers? You mean your suppression methods don’t work on Superpower Users with special attributes?”

”Oh?” Xu Anguo replied, gathering his own superpower in his hand.

Chen Xing narrowed her eyes, watching him.

’So... Xu Anguo is a Superpower User with a special attribute, too?’

It only took two seconds for Xu Anguo to realize he’d been tricked.

He couldn’t use his superpower at all.

”That wasn’t your superpower?”

”Heh.” Chen Xing sneered. ”For that, I have your precious confidante to thank. If he hadn’t tried to electrocute me, allowing me to absorb all that power, I really would have fallen into your hands today!”

”Fuck!” Chen Dingbang cursed under his breath.

’How could he have known that his attack would end up helping her?’

His hand slammed a button on the wall, and an iron cage instantly shot up from the floor and down from the ceiling, trapping Chen Xing inside.

Knowing it wouldn’t hold her for long, he pulled Xu Anguo out of the room.

At that moment, the red dots in the room opened fire on her from all directions, like machine guns.

In a flash, she entered her Jiezhi Space, reappearing a moment later in the hallway.

Xu Anguo and Chen Dingbang were gone.

The many researchers who had been standing in the corridor earlier had also vanished.

”You damn girl, you’re good! I miscalculated this time!” Chen Dingbang’s resentful voice echoed through the hall.

Chen Xing’s mind immediately went to the helipad outside. Just as she was about to give chase, his voice echoed again. ”Don’t even think about coming after us. Your precious Lu Haoran is locked up somewhere in this base, and you have half an hour to save him! See that red digital display to your left? The base is rigged with bombs just like it. When time runs out, they’ll all go BOOM at once. Lu Haoran, along with all your other companions here, will be turned to ash!”

’Damn you!’

After smashing a few surveillance cameras, Chen Xing released Meng Hu and began searching the base at top speed.

They had captured Lu Haoran. If he died like this, wouldn’t that be exactly what Xu Anguo wanted?

There were numerous doors in the hallway. Chen Xing opened them one by one.

She found several large research labs, but inside were only a dozen or so test subjects.

Their subject numbers were all under one hundred.

After a moment of post-awakening confusion, they were noticeably calmer than the previous ”lab rats” she had encountered, whose numbers had been in the ten thousands.

Chen Xing told them to escape quickly while she continued her search for Lu Haoran.

With only two minutes left, she found an unconscious Lu Haoran in a room behind the one she had been held in.

His face was pale and his eyes were sunken. He had lost a lot of weight in just a few days.

Chen Xing pulled him directly into the Black Cat Space. The Little Poison Grass was growing inside, so he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.

By the time she ran outside at top speed, a series of explosions rocked the base, and she quickly ducked back into her Jiezhi Space.

She didn’t have time to retrieve her SUV; it was completely destroyed in the blast.

The waterfall was blown apart, its water scattering and falling like a goddess scattering blossoms.

The moment the columns of water fell, the surrounding desert seemed to come to life, instantly shriveling and hardening into solid ground.

However, the parts of the desert only touched by droplets quickly receded a great distance, leaving a large gap.

Chen Xing was speechless. ’So, this sand is actually sentient?’

’Or are the cacti causing this?’

Now that there was an open space and no one around, Chen Xing took out a van.

She had a plan.

If she came across any of those ”lab rats” in the desert, she would definitely save them.

What happened after they got out of the desert, or if she never ran into them at all, was none of her concern.

After stocking the van with some ready-to-eat food, she finally brought Lu Haoran out.

They were already on the road, and it was quite a while before Lu Haoran finally woke up.

His eyes were vacant. He stared at Chen Xing for a long time before asking, ”Who are you?”

”Chen Xing.” She had expected this.

’The Research Institute had wiped the memories of more than just one or two people.’

”Where am I?” Lu Haoran’s mind felt completely blank.

”The desert,” Chen Xing said without explaining further.

Lu Haoran turned to look at Chen Xing. After a moment, he suddenly said, ”You seem very familiar.”

Chen Xing glanced back at him.

”I think there are people up ahead...” Lu Haoran pointed forward.

In the darkness ahead, a dozen or so figures in white were trudging onward, huddled together and shivering from the cold.

And less than fifty meters to their left, a pair of eyes was watching them, drawing closer and closer.