novelhk Chapter 310 Red Soil Project
Chapter 310 Red Soil Project
Yuan Bao slammed his notebook shut and looked up to see Zhou Hongyuan standing beside him with a tray of food.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked with a smile, his gaze fixed on the notebook in Yuan Bao's hand.
Bao Guo reacted quickly, grabbing the notebook and stuffing it into his bag: "Sorry, we're finished eating." He pulled Yuan Bao to her feet, "Let's go, little sister."
After leaving the cafeteria, the two siblings ran home and only dared to speak loudly after locking the door.
"He definitely saw it!" Yuan Bao paced anxiously around the living room. "That look in his eyes... he definitely recognized Professor Chen's notes!"
Bao Guo, his face grim, flipped through his notebook: "This mentions an experiment called 'Project Red Soil,' which supposedly greatly enhances the activity of medicinal herbs, but will lead to 'external manifestation of supernatural abilities'..." He suddenly stopped. "Good heavens, it says here that the experiment was urgently halted because a student involved..."
"What's wrong?" Yuan Bao leaned closer.
"...turned into a monster." Bao Guo managed to utter the last two words.
The brother and sister looked at each other, a chill creeping up their spines.
Yuan Bao and Bao Guo squeezed together at the desk, continuing to carefully study Professor Chen's notebook.
“Brother, look at this.” Yuan Bao pointed to a hastily written record, “'The active substances in red soil can resonate with the human nervous system. Long-term exposure can cause symptoms such as iris discoloration and elevated body temperature, and may eventually lead to…'” The rest was covered by ink stains.
Bao Guo frowned and turned to the next page: "This mentions a neutralizing formula that requires ginkgo leaves, cinnabar, and... what is this character?"
Yuan Bao leaned closer to examine it: "It looks like 'test subject blood'? This is too strange."
Bao Guo stood up and lowered his voice, saying, "Should we go check out the herb garden now?"
"Now?" Yuan Bao's eyes widened. "It's almost nine o'clock, the school gates are about to close."
“We have to go when no one's around.” Bao Guo pulled an old backpack from under the bed and started stuffing it with a flashlight, gloves, and a few small bottles. “If Zhou Hongyuan really has something going on, he'll definitely be on guard during the day.”
Yuan Bao bit her lip, recalling Zhou Hongyuan's amber eyes, and nodded: "I'll go change into a pair of sneakers."
Ten minutes later, the two quietly slipped out of the courtyard.
The September night breeze carried the chill of early autumn, and the streetlights cast dappled shadows under the sycamore trees.
Bao Guo rode his old bicycle, with Yuan Bao sitting on the back. Yuan Bao's backpack contained a notebook and sampling tools.
“We went in through the west gate, and the security guard there knows me,” Baoguo said in a low voice. “I chatted with him for about 50 cents today, and we became acquainted.”
Sure enough, there was only one old security guard dozing off at the west gate of Peking University.
Bao Guo greeted them familiarly, and the other party waved them in.
The campus was quiet, with only the lights of the library still on in the distance.
The herb garden is located in the northeast corner of the campus and is surrounded by a low wall.
The two went around to the back door and found that the iron gate was ajar.
"Something's not right," Baoguo said, pulling Yuan Bao back. "It should be locked up."
Yuan Bao peeked through the crack in the door and saw a faint light coming from deep within the herb garden: "There's someone inside."
Bao Guo took two pairs of medical gloves out of his backpack and handed one to Yuan Bao: "Stay close to me and don't make a sound."
They tiptoed into the herb garden, moving along the shadows of the bushes.
The air was filled with a rich aroma of herbs, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible, fishy smell.
As she went deeper, Yuan Bao noticed that the soil beneath her feet gradually turned dark red, just like what she had found the day before.
“Look over there.” Baoguo suddenly grabbed her and pointed to an open space in the center of the herb garden.
A white-clad figure was bent over, busy in the soil; it was Zhou Hongyuan.
In front of him were several glass containers filled with a dark red, viscous liquid.
The most chilling thing was that the surrounding plants swayed slowly even without wind, as if they were alive.
Zhou Hongyuan straightened up, his eyes gleaming with an eerie amber light in the moonlight.
He held up a test tube to the moonlight, and the liquid in his hand emitted a faint red glow.
“He’s cultivating that red soil,” Yuan Bao said in a breathy voice, his heart pounding like a drum.
Bao Guo nodded. Just then, Zhou Hongyuan suddenly turned in their direction, his eyes suddenly shining brighter.
"Who's there?" His voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.
Yuan Bao and Bao Guo held their breath and remained motionless.
Zhou Hongyuan put down the test tube and slowly walked towards the bushes where they were hiding.
Under the moonlight, his shadow was stretched long and distorted, cast onto the red soil.
"Run!" Bao Guo suddenly pulled Yuan Bao up.
The two turned and ran, followed by Zhou Hongyuan's angry roar and the sound of plants rubbing together violently.
Yuan Bao turned around and almost cried out in surprise—several vines were spreading toward them at an incredible speed, as if controlled by something.
"Don't look back!" Baoguo grabbed her and rushed out of the back door of the herb garden.
They ran desperately through the dark school paths.
Behind me, the rustling sound of vines scraping the ground grew closer and closer.
As he turned a corner, Baoguo tripped over a protruding tree root and fell heavily to the ground.
"Brother, are you alright?" Yuan Bao turned around to pull him, but a vine wrapped around her ankle.
Yuan Bao stared in horror at the vine—its surface was covered with fine red hairs, wriggling and tightening as if it were alive.
She kicked desperately but couldn't break free, and was about to take out a dagger from her spatial storage.
A bright light shone down, accompanied by a stern shout: "Stop!"
The vines recoiled as if they had been scalded.
Yuan Bao looked up and saw Professor Chen standing not far away, holding a flashlight that emitted a blue light.
The old man's face was ashen, and his eyes behind his glasses were fixed on Zhou Hongyuan, who was chasing after him.
“Professor…” Zhou Hongyuan stopped, the light in his eyes dimming slightly. “I was just catching a thief.”
"Enough!" Professor Chen shouted sternly. "I warned you not to continue the experiment!"
Zhou Hongyuan's expression twisted for a moment: "You taught me that science requires sacrifice!" He suddenly raised his hand, and the surrounding plants grew wildly again, rushing towards the three of them.
Professor Chen quickly took a glass bottle out of his pocket and sprinkled the powder inside into the air.
The moment the powder touched the plants, the vines withered as if they had been exposed to flames.
"Let's go!" Professor Chen pulled Yuan Bao up, and the three of them ran towards the biology building.
After retreating into the laboratory, Professor Chen locked the door and drew all the curtains before finally letting out a sigh of relief.
He looked much older than he did in class, and beads of sweat glistened on his forehead under the light.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the herb garden,” he said wearily, taking a first-aid kit from the cabinet to treat Yuan Bao’s scrapes.
"Professor, what exactly is that?" Bao Guo asked directly, "That red soil, and Zhou Hongyuan's eyes..."
Professor Chen paused for a moment, then walked to the bookshelf and took down a thick file.
He turned to a page and pointed to a photograph: "Twenty years ago, our team discovered a special rare earth element that could greatly promote plant growth and enhance medicinal efficacy. We called it the 'Red Soil Project.'"