Feeling that the other woman had already exposed her own face to save her, Jiang Lin thought it would be awkward to stay hidden, so she removed her helmet too.
The two studied each other. Sheng Wei found herself grudgingly admiring the logic, under normal circumstances, shouldn’t they just pretend nothing happened and go their separate ways? Why take off the helmet at all?
“How did you get in there, and how’d you get out?” Sheng Wei had personally watched Jiang Lin crawl through a hole nearby, yet when the patrol arrived, no hole was there. That made no sense, that many people, that much light.
Jiang Lin answered without blinking. “I have a construction-type ability.”
Sheng Wei froze. Since the apocalypse began, most abilities fell into five elemental types: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, familiar, easy to accept. But construction-type? What was that supposed to mean?
“Can you make another hole?”
“Yes.” The system could reclaim purchased items anyway, she could just put the wall panel back in storage.
“Then please, open it again,” Sheng Wei said, dead serious.
A little confused, Jiang Lin did as asked. The intact wall suddenly split open again, wide enough for one person.
“Thank you.” Sheng Wei looked at the sudden breach with some surprise, Jiang Lin’s arrival had just solved a major problem for her. Slipping through this small gap was undeniably the safest way in.
【Mission: Because of a failed experiment, your world has become unrecognizable. Even now, in the laboratory of the First Base, unethical research continues. Will you choose to stop it?
Mission reward: Mystery Gift Pack ×1】
Jiang Lin, who had been about to leave, froze at the sudden mission prompt. As a child, though the Blue Star had already been damaged, there had been no yellow sand on the wind, and plants had still grown from the earth. The memory of small weeds swaying on the orphanage grounds surfaced in her mind, and she withdrew the step she’d been about to take.
“What are you going to do? I mean… I could come with you.” She wasn’t good at talking to strangers.
The girl in front of her, clearly about to leave a moment ago, why had she stopped again? Sheng Wei, who hadn’t planned to explain herself to anyone, found the words coming out anyway.
“I think they’re using base children for experiments. My little brother went missing a few days ago. Everything I’ve dug up points to this laboratory.”
“Your guess might be right. I saw someone carrying an unconscious child in through the back entrance just now.” Jiang Lin thought back to what she’d witnessed earlier.
A flash of cold worry crossed Sheng Wei’s eyes. She stepped out of the shadows and drew two heavy machine guns.
“Well? Interested in coming in with me?” Sheng Wei looked her over. She’d only brought a spare gun as backup, never expecting to find a fearless partner in the dark.
Jiang Lin took a breath and picked up the second gun. This was the first time she’d willingly walked toward trouble.
“Didn’t expect you to be this strong.” Sheng Wei was a little surprised, the gun wasn’t light, yet Jiang Lin lifted it without effort.
Patrol would circle back soon. Before their assault, they needed to squeeze through the gap.
“Can we make the hole a little bigger?” Sheng Wei asked quietly, mid-crawl.
“No, we can’t.” Jiang Lin’s usually still face twitched. Was this really the moment to bring that up?
“Fine.” The two continued their awkward squeeze through.
Sheng Wei brushed the dust off and picked her gun back up. “Get ready. We go in now.”
Jiang Lin: Huh?
Before she could react, Sheng Wei had already charged ahead, the heavy gun looking almost weightless in her hands.
Well, no turning back now. Jiang Lin gritted her teeth and followed. The night gave their patrol uniforms some cover, and the guards near the back gate clearly didn’t expect such a reckless approach.
Before the searchlights could sweep their way, Sheng Wei reached the door and hooked a guard’s leg out from under him with her own, then delivered a clean strike to the back of his neck. He dropped instantly.
From the other side, Jiang Lin swung her gun into a second guard’s neck, knocking him out in one blow. She’d killed plenty of zombies before, this was her first time against a living person.
“He’s fine, just unconscious,” Sheng Wei said, sensing Jiang Lin’s unease even through the helmet.
“Strangely smooth. These two weren’t very alert.” She searched the unconscious men as she spoke.
“Damn it, no keycard on either of them.” Sheng Wei sounded irritated, though she understood, guards rarely had that level of access.
Jiang Lin said nothing, simply began stripping the uniforms off. Sheng Wei looked briefly confused, then caught on and joined in. The two of them quickly changed into the guards’ clothes.
As for the real guards, Sheng Wei buried them lightly in earth, leaving only small breathing gaps. Under cover of night, the patrol passing by didn’t notice one guard looked slightly shorter than usual.
“You really need to eat more. How’d you end up this short? I’ll give you one of my eggs at lunch from now on,” Sheng Wei whispered once the patrol had passed.
Jiang Lin stayed silent. She didn’t feel like answering that.
Before Sheng Wei could tease her further, the back door slowly opened. Jiang Lin moved fast, knocking out one of the researchers before Sheng Wei even reacted, if she remembered right, these were the same two who’d carried the child inside earlier.
Sheng Wei blocked the door and dropped the second one. They repeated the process, changing into the researchers’ suits and burying the two beside the guards.
It wasn’t clear what kind of experiment was underway inside, the research suits were complicated, full-body coverage, and it took real effort just to put them on. The bigger problem was hiding the guns.
Sheng Wei quickly broke hers down and tucked the pieces inside her suit. Jiang Lin, not knowing how to reassemble a weapon and being thinner besides, simply had hers strapped to her back, the loose, full-coverage suits hid everything anyway.
Because of the suits, iris and fingerprint scans were off the table. Sheng Wei eventually found access cards on the two researchers. Beyond the back door was nothing but an elevator glowing faint blue. Jiang Lin cautiously swiped the card.
The doors slid open.
“Identity verified: access granted to Basement Level Two. Beginning descent.”
Jiang Lin felt her nerves spike. Outside, in the dark, blending in had been easy, but inside the laboratory, everything was brightly lit, and she worried they’d be spotted the second the doors opened.
The elevator opened on B2. Researchers bent over lab tables, scalpels in hand, working over their subjects. And on the operating table, a zombie?
A chubby researcher noticed them and asked, confused, “Why are you two back already?”
Jiang Lin hid behind Sheng Wei, standing on tiptoe, trying to make herself smaller.
“Oh, we left something behind. Might’ve been knocked loose by that kid,” Sheng Wei said vaguely, voice lowered.
The researchers were too absorbed in their work to pay real attention. The chubby one asked once and moved on. Jiang Lin let out a breath and followed Sheng Wei as they casually turned down a corridor.
“Hey, Zhao Yi, what’s going on with you? That side’s where the zombies are kept.” A voice from behind sent a chill down Jiang Lin’s spine.
“Ah, my head’s really not working today. I should get some proper rest tonight.” Sheng Wei tensed but calmly turned and joked with the speaker.
To reach the other side, they’d have to pass the group again. Jiang Lin, terrified of being made, went rigid. Sheng Wei angled her body to shield her and kept walking.
The researcher who’d spoken glanced after them with faint suspicion. “Why are Zhao Yi and Wang Juntao sticking so close today? Even came back together to grab things.”
“Focus on your data, don’t get distracted,” Shen Congyu cut in. He looked very young, but he stood at the center of the group, a closer look showed everyone here quietly deferred to him as their leader.
A flicker of unease crossed Shen Congyu’s mind. He glanced up, catching only a glimpse of Jiang Lin’s shrinking figure as it disappeared around the corner. Had Wang Juntao always been that short?
“Chief! The strong sedative’s wearing off.” A nearby researcher’s voice pulled his attention back. Frowning, he injected another dose into the zombie on the table.
Zombies were mutated humans, and sedatives meant for ordinary people barely touched them. Even his newly developed high-strength formula could only keep one docile for about two hours.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Lin and Sheng Wei had gone still. The scene ahead was simply too much to process.
The room was lined with large glass containers, each holding an unconscious child, every one wrapped in tubing.
Some already showed clear signs of zombie mutation, others still looked human.
Sheng Wei’s fury peaked. She pulled the machine gun parts from inside her suit and assembled them piece by piece as she advanced toward the room beyond.
Inside was a large iron cage holding roughly ten children. Jiang Lin finally recognized one small familiar face, the same girl she’d met that day.
She made a silent gesture for quiet. A little boy stood up from the corner.
“Sister?”
“It’s me.”
“Sister, it really is you. Be careful, the ones guarding us will be back soon.” As soon as he finished speaking, footsteps sounded behind them.
“Aah… aaaaah!” Before anyone could stop it, the returning researcher let out a sharp scream.
Sheng Wei dropped the pretense entirely. The suppressed gun in her hands struck the researcher’s leg directly.
“Talk. Where’s the key? Otherwise I put a bullet in you before they even get here.”
Clutching his leg, the researcher tossed out a key in a panic.
“Take it, take it! Don’t kill me! I was forced into this, I never wanted any part of it!”
Sheng Wei ignored him, threw the cage open, and pressed the stolen access card into the little boy’s hand.
“Zhou He, when the chaos starts, take them and run. Elevator, straight up.”
She’d barely finished briefing her brother when chaotic footsteps arrived.
What came into Shen Congyu’s view was a researcher on the ground clutching his leg and wailing, alongside two “researchers” holding machine guns.
Seemed like two annoying little flies had slipped into his laboratory. He wondered whether they’d manage to fly back out of his territory. He’d never experimented on an adult subject before.
A faint, barely-there smile curved at the corner of Shen Congyu’s mouth. He spread his hands, as if trying to calm the two people aiming guns at him.