Chapter 183: 183, No time left!

Soon, Ren Xiaosu ran against the flow of people to the rear of the crowd, where three experimental subjects were slaughtering over a thousand people behind them. When they spotted Ren Xiaosu charging toward them, one of the subjects abandoned its current victim and lunged at him!

But before it could reach him, Ren Xiaosu had already drawn his blade from the void. In that instant, his form did not pause—instead, he accelerated abruptly, his entire body slanting past the charging subject as if brushing shoulders.

The sharp black hilt was gripped in Ren Xiaosu’s reverse hand, and he felt the experimental subject’s body glide across the blade, its gray skin “unraveling” under the edge.

Each muscle fiber within that gray hide snapped one by one.

Then came the bones, severed with smooth, clean cuts.

Finally, the gray form split in two, spraying torrents of pale yellow blood!

At that moment, the fleeing crowd toward the gate was blocked by experimental subjects ahead, and instinctively, they wanted to retreat—not because going back meant survival, but because they didn’t know what else to do.

The stricken masses had already lost their minds as a group; they had never undergone shelter training nor faced the wilderness, so their primal urge to survive could not guide them to salvation.

When they turned back, they saw the experimental subject being dismembered.

The black blade, the youth radiating power and explosive force—those ferocious subjects seemed fragile beneath the blade’s edge.

A girl suddenly gasped in realization: “Isn’t that Ren Xiaosu, the refugee they forced to transfer from our class?”

Back then, they had feared he would bring disease and death. What had those who defended him said?

That day, a student of Jiang Wu had told them and the parents: “Help? We’re not helping him, and he doesn’t need our help. You know nothing of the world beyond the barrier—it’s a tragedy.”

At the time, no one understood what the student meant, but now, she grasped it.

This world had become so perilous, and those students who fled the wilderness to the 109th Barrier had clearly endured dangers alongside Ren Xiaosu, so they knew his capabilities well.

Such abilities might be useless within the barrier, but compared to this world, the barrier was too small.

The girl grabbed a middle-aged woman beside her and shouted, “Mom, it’s Ren Xiaosu! The refugee you forced to transfer!”

Her mother’s expression grew complex, but in this life-or-death moment, she had no time for other thoughts: “Do you know him? Call him back to save us!”

Now, the refugees driven back by the experimental subjects saw Ren Xiaosu slaying them, and someone immediately cried out, “Follow him, follow behind him!”

They acted as if they had found a savior, believing that staying behind Ren Xiaosu meant survival.

Yet after slaying one experimental subject, Ren Xiaosu did not linger but accelerated again, leaving the battlefield to avoid being surrounded by the remaining two.

His goal was to save people, not to stay here slaughtering experimental subjects!

In the blink of an eye, Ren Xiaosu had left both the experimental subjects and the refugees far behind.

Seeing it was impossible to catch him, the experimental subject turned back to the terrified refugees. The girl watched Ren Xiaosu growing distant and opened her mouth to call him back, but the experimental subject lunged forward, biting into her throat!

Her cry for help was forever silenced, her eyes filled only with despair and hollow emptiness.

Ren Xiaosu had never been a savior, and now, within this entire barrier, he cared only for one person’s life or death.

At that moment, the palace suddenly spoke: “Mission: Rescue the barrier residents.”

Yet even so, it failed to make Ren Xiaosu turn back.

The mission would be completed, but Yang Xiaojin was also a barrier resident—couldn’t saving her fulfill the mission?

Regarding the palace’s mission, Ren Xiaosu always had his own unique understanding.

As he raced desperately, Ren Xiaosu suddenly noticed an experimental subject crouched beside a dazed man. The man bore no wounds, seemingly merely knocked unconscious.

Ren Xiaosu evaded the subject as he fled, yet could not help but observe its peculiar behavior.

Logically, an experimental subject encountering a living person would pounce, but this one acted as if it had something more important to do.

It suddenly opened its blood-filled maw and extended its tongue, and Ren Xiaosu thought it was licking its lips before eating—only to be stunned when he saw the tip of the tongue coiled around a tiny syringe.

The next moment, the subject gripped the syringe and injected the gray liquid into the man’s neck vein!

A chill surged upward behind Ren Xiaosu. What was this subject doing?!

Earlier, Luo Ran had told Ren Xiaosu that these experimental subjects were conducting experiments, and at the time, Ren Xiaosu had wondered what else experimental subjects could do besides experiments. But now, he was shocked.

The man’s originally normal complexion turned gray at a visible speed, and his previously unimpressive muscles began to swell rapidly!

Before, Ren Xiaosu had assumed the experimental subjects aimed to kill all living targets, but now he realized they did not kill everyone.

What exactly was the liquid injected into that man?

Honestly, when Luo Ran mentioned “nanorobots” and “experimental subjects conducting experiments,” Ren Xiaosu had been somewhat dismissive. After all, civilization had collapsed, and technology was surely still in its early stages of revival.

But now, Ren Xiaosu suddenly recalled Zhang Jinglin’s words: “Technology never truly experienced a break in continuity.”

Zhang Jinglin’s exact words were: “It’s just held in the hands of a few.”

That was probably why the consortium could become a consortium.

Now, Ren Xiaosu likely understood why the experimental subjects had grown so numerous.

No wonder they attacked human barriers again—they needed food and to expand their population, so they had to seize new barriers and obtain fresh blood.

If the 113th Barrier hadn’t collapsed due to an earthquake, they might not have grown so rapidly, for their numbers back then were insufficient to breach a barrier.

But after expanding their population in the 113th Barrier, they had already gained enough strength to devour an entire barrier.

Ren Xiaosu knew he had no time left—he had to leave here with Yang Xiaojin as soon as possible.