The scalding water landed on the Skinners, immediately bringing excruciating pain!
Without skin, this pain was amplified dozens, even hundreds of times!
Although the Skinners' minds were chaotic and crazed, they could still feel pain. They immediately began to howl and dodge the streams of water like wild beasts.
With a large sprayer in each hand, Shen Feng unleashed a frantic torrent, creating a circle of water three to four meters in diameter around him, forcing all the Skinners to keep their distance, not daring to approach.
This thing was way more useful than a pistol or a submachine gun, not least because it had no recoil whatsoever.
Having forced back the surrounding Skinners, Shen Feng reached the elevator doors.
Unfortunately, after several years, although much of the equipment was still running thanks to the solar power system, the elevators were completely out of commission.
Fortunately, the lab he was heading to was underground. Shen Feng immediately ducked into the stairwell entrance, spraying water as he ran down.
The Skinners in the lobby didn't leave. Instead, they followed behind Shen Feng, maintaining a safe distance of a few meters, ready to swarm him at any moment.
'This is... not good...'
After all, boiling water wasn't a lethal weapon; it could hardly cause any real damage.
And yet, the number of Skinners he encountered along the way was only increasing!
By the time the boiling water in his two sprayers ran out, he had reached the entrance to the third basement level.
This was Lab 1 of the Epidemic Prevention Center, the place where vaccinations were administered!
The automatic door was still operational. Detecting Shen Feng's presence, it slowly slid open.
Shen Feng darted inside and froze.
Before him stood a room packed with more than twenty Skinners!
Most of these Skinners were still wearing thick work uniforms and hazmat suits, which, though old and worn, were largely intact.
At the same time, the nearly thirty Skinners who had been trailing Shen Feng also followed him in, trapping him between them.
Holy shit!
Shen Feng cursed inwardly, his stomach lurching with fear. He grabbed his last two sprayers and started frantically spraying boiling water, forming a defensive circle as he ran toward a corner of the lab.
This was Plan B for his trip: the hyperbaric oxygen chamber!
Upon seeing Shen Feng appear, the Skinners in the lab let out a roar and lunged at him, their howls frantic and chaotic:
"Burn... Burn him!"
"Hurts... It hurts..."
"Kill... me..."
"Skin... Skinning..."
Unlike the Skinners outside, these ones were protected by their clothes and didn't fear the boiling water. Being splashed only made them more frenzied!
The hyperbaric oxygen chamber looked like an egg-shaped iron room. Its door was open, and it had clearly been out of operation for who-knows-how-many years.
Shen Feng tossed the sprayers, pulled two grenades from his belt, and sprinted toward the entrance.
The closest Skinner was only two or three meters away; he could even feel a few drops of pus splash onto his face!
He made it!
He bit the pins of both grenades, pulled them hard, tossed them out, and dove into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, pulling the hatch shut behind him and dropping to the floor!
The chamber was plunged into darkness. He could only hear the Skinners outside rushing to the chamber walls and beginning to pound on them, trying to break in and tear the last normal human being to shreds.
Shen Feng's heart hammered in his chest. He covered his head with his hands and braced for the impact.
Outside, after a few long seconds, the two grenades exploded simultaneously. Thousands of steel balls and countless fragments erupted in a grand fireworks display of death, spraying in all directions!
Flesh and blood offered no resistance in their path, and was relentlessly torn, cut, and churned into pieces!
Dozens of Skinners were riddled with holes by the dense spray of steel balls before they could even let out a wail!
The grenade's steel balls then ricocheted around the sealed laboratory, causing secondary damage.
Inside the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, Shen Feng, lying on the floor, felt a muffled thunderclap travel up from the ground. The deafening shockwave nearly made him vomit.
The sound of ricocheting steel balls faded. Shen Feng slowly got up, his face pale and his whole body trembling.
Just then, a shadow in the darkness suddenly lunged at him, grabbed his neck, and opened its cavernous mouth to bite his face!
BANG! BANG! BANG! Shen Feng frantically pulled the trigger of his pistol, firing into the attacker.
The attacker fell to the ground. It was a Skinner that had been hiding in the hyperbaric chamber, now as dead as could be.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Shen Feng didn't stop, emptying the entire magazine until the firing pin just clicked on an empty chamber.
"Bleeeargh..." He finally threw up.
Everything that had just happened was beyond what a normal person could endure; the intense stimulation had triggered a gut reaction.
"Ptooey!" Spitting out the remnants of food from his mouth, Shen Feng wiped his lips and felt much better.
'I was too careless.'
'I didn't expect the Skinners in the Epidemic Prevention Center's lab to be wearing clothes. I was almost skinned alive by those monsters.'
Taking a deep breath, Shen Feng slung the shotgun from his back, kicked open the warped door of the hyperbaric chamber, and walked out with his weapon raised.
Outside was a scene of carnage. The two grenades had wiped out all the Skinners.
Shen Feng tried not to look at the horrific remains. He first rushed to the entrance and bolted the lab door, then started searching for the lab's refrigerated cabinets.
The first batch of the problematic vaccine had been distributed in large quantities and should be stored in these refrigerated cabinets.
Sure enough, after opening a cabinet, he was met with rows of test tubes and syringes.
Many of the contents had been shattered by the earlier explosion, but fortunately, there were plenty left.
Shen Feng quickly found a syringe based on its label, which read: "Petrification Disease Type 1".
'This is it!'
Feeling like he'd struck gold, he took out the syringe. At the same time, he pulled out his phone, opened the True Apocalypse Game, and spoke:
"Obtained vaccine sample injected into Skinners. Requesting mission reward."
A line of text flashed on the phone screen:
Please place the vaccine sample in a sealed medical case.
'A sealed medical case?'
Shen Feng glanced around and saw a stainless-steel medical case in the corner. Its surface had a dent from a grenade's steel ball but hadn't been pierced.
He immediately opened the case, placed the vaccine sample inside, and closed it again.
Just a few seconds later, another line of text appeared on the phone screen:
Reward issued.
Shen Feng couldn't help but sigh in relief; for once, there was no new mission.
He immediately opened the medical case and saw that it once again contained several booklets.
'The game's rewards are still so stingy...'
He picked up the first booklet and glanced at it, and his breathing instantly became ragged:
Defender 3 Wheeled Armored Vehicle Operation Manual
The second booklet was another document:
Qi City Epidemic Prevention Center Application for Equipping Wheeled Armored Vehicles for Epidemic Prevention Work
The third booklet was a weapons operation manual:
Incinerator Weapons Operation Guide (Including Heavy Weapons)
'The Epidemic Prevention Center actually has wheeled infantry fighting vehicles!'
'And tons of heavy weapons!'
'Perfect, just perfect. Now I can get to the Capital National Academy of Sciences!'
Shen Feng immediately took out all three booklets and began to read them carefully.
The Qi City Epidemic Prevention Center's armored vehicle was indeed the Defender 3 model. It used honeycomb-structure tires that didn't need to be inflated, so even after seven or eight years, they should be fine.
The armored vehicle was stored in the parking garage on the fourth basement level, where there were also sealed tanks of diesel fuel.
The Epidemic Prevention Center's armory was far better stocked than the Qi City Police Department's. It contained not only police firearms like pistols and submachine guns, but also automatic rifles and grenade launchers—it was practically a small arsenal.
After quickly reading through all three booklets, Shen Feng carefully put them away, picked up his shotgun, and headed for the fourth basement level.
Thanks to his earlier lure, he had basically cleared out all the Skinners in the underground lab in one go. With just a few stragglers left, his shotgun was more than enough to handle them with ease.
After taking out four or five Skinners along the way, Shen Feng finally arrived at the parking garage on the fourth basement level.
His footsteps echoed in the parking garage. The few remaining sound-activated lights flickered on, revealing a hulking beast lying dormant in the darkness.
It was the Defender 3 Wheeled Armored Vehicle!