“Calm down, both of you. I’m sure there’s been some misunderstanding here.” Shen Congyu’s voice was gentle, under different circumstances, it might even have been soothing.
“Sorry, can’t calm down.” Sheng Wei raised her gun and opened fire on the nearby glass containers holding the children.
Bang bang bang, crash, crash. The researchers instinctively threw up their arms against the rain of shattered glass. Fragments landed on Jiang Lin’s skin.
In the chaos, Zhou He seized the moment, gathering the other children under his arms as they ran, heads down, straight for the exit. Shen Congyu stood at the center of it all, thinking about something no one could read on his face.
Liquid leaked from the shattered containers, spreading in sticky puddles across the floor. The children inside slid down limp with it and collapsed to the ground. The whole scene had descended into chaos.
Shen Congyu’s expression darkened with rage. “I don’t think the two of you can afford the damage to my laboratory.”
He shoved aside a researcher blocking his path with open disgust.
“Why not just stay here as experimental subjects instead? That would settle the debt nicely.”
Jiang Lin and Sheng Wei stood back-to-back, guns raised, watching the researchers warily.
Heavy footsteps sounded at the door. A squad in black combat uniforms appeared, dragging several children with them.
“Chief, we’ve recovered all of them. Orders?”
“Lock them up, them and the children both.”
“Yes!”
The black-clad men carried the recaptured children toward Jiang Lin’s group.
She trained her gun directly on Shen Congyu.
“Let them go. I’ll stay and be your experiment instead. Otherwise we all stay here together, having researchers for company on the road to hell wouldn’t be so bad.”
The instant she finished speaking, every weapon in the black-clad men’s hands swung toward her. One shot and she’d be turned into a sieve.
“Miss, they’ll be staying, and so will you. No one’s leaving today. But don’t worry, it’s just an experiment. You might not even die. You’ll simply become more… perfect.”
Shen Congyu studied her with real interest.
“Let’s find out, then.”
The instant he finished speaking, Jiang Lin opened fire on him directly.
The black-clad men tackled him to the ground to shield him while the rest turned their guns on her.
Sheng Wei had already gone numb. She shut her eyes, bracing for the pain.
Bang bang bang, bang bang. The pain never came. Instead, only the sound of ice shattering against the floor. Confused, Sheng Wei opened her eyes to find bullets scattered everywhere, all frozen solid in blocks of ice.
“Holy—!” She turned to stare at Jiang Lin, who looked completely unbothered. “Why didn’t you say you were this strong?”
She’d genuinely thought they were about to be turned into sieves, and the whole time, the woman beside her had been holding back.
Jiang Lin ignored her, continuing to fire toward Shen Congyu. The black-clad men’s suits likely had some bulletproofing, but against a machine gun’s sustained impact, pain and force were unavoidable. Soon those who’d been shielding Shen Congyu lay knocked flat, some collapsed on top of him.
Feeling the weight pressing down, Shen Congyu boiled with fury. He’d never been this humiliated in his life.
“Useless! Get them off me!”
Jiang Lin didn’t let up, and Sheng Wei joined in. The researcher suits lacked the heavy-duty helmets of combat gear, and Jiang Lin’s ears had started to ache. The gunpowder smell hung thick in the air.
The black-clad men stopped underestimating them and threw themselves fully into the fight. Every researcher besides Shen Congyu fled, those who couldn’t escape crouched in corners, heads down, trying to disappear.
At that moment, Zhou He broke free of the man restraining him, still dragging another child along.
“Run!”
The captured children were young and quick, they scattered toward the exit through the chaos. Worried about stray bullets, Sheng Wei seized an opening and hurled a fistful of dirt at the black-clad men.
“What the hell, what are these two women?” one cursed. Their vision blurred by dust and worried about hitting each other, they had to pause their fire.
“Run!” Jiang Lin leaned close to Sheng Wei.
The two moved fast and light toward the exit. The black-clad uniforms had advanced protective gear, their goggles auto-cleaned instantly, but Sheng Wei gave them no time to recover, scattering more dust in every direction.
Soon they’d left the room behind. On the way out, Jiang Lin kept firing at any equipment she passed, causing as much damage as she could manage.
The black-clad men were already in pursuit. Their gear likely lacked bulletproofing, so Jiang Lin turned and raised an ice wall to block incoming fire while Sheng Wei’s weaker earth ability kept scattering dust to disrupt their vision.
The once-immaculate laboratory was now a ruin. Shen Congyu followed behind the black-clad men, hands trembling with rage. His prized experiment had been largely destroyed.
“If you let those two get away today, none of you are getting out of this alive.”
Jiang Lin and Sheng Wei had reached the elevator area. Sheng Wei threw up another cloud of dust, and in the brief window it bought them, Jiang Lin swiped the card to open the elevator.
The two retreated inside as the doors closed and the car began to rise, the pursuing men unable to catch up in time.
Bullets thudded against the sealed doors, not a single crack. Bulletproof material, clearly. Jiang Lin finally let out a small breath, her hands, still gripping the gun, numb and trembling from the recoil.
The elevator rose back to their original entry level. Zhou He looked toward it warily, ready to run at any sign of trouble, he could tell the difference between being caught by patrol guards and being caught by researchers.
The moment they stepped out, Jiang Lin formed a large, human-shaped block of ice at the elevator doors, jamming them and triggering an error.
“Sister!” Zhou He called out, low and excited. Sheng Wei signaled for quiet and opened the back door. Unfortunately, patrol guards had just arrived, noticing the missing security detail, and were approaching in confusion.
Sheng Wei left the children inside first and came out with Jiang Lin, ditching their guns behind them.
Li Hao had already arrived with his team.
“Need any help? Where are the security guards supposed to be here?”
“Some kind of disturbance over that way. Those two guards ran off after it,” Sheng Wei said, low-voiced, pointing vaguely. “You should go check.”
Li Hao suspected nothing and led his team off in that direction, searchlights swinging with them.
Once they’d gone far enough, Jiang Lin freed the children immediately, gathered her patrol uniform, and led them toward the broken section of wall. Sheng Wei stayed behind to cover their retreat, watching the far side, then pulled a grenade from her uniform, lit it, and threw it in the opposite direction.
The explosion pulled every eye toward it. Jiang Lin’s group made it safely to the wall, and with Sheng Wei sweeping their tracks with earth, she guided the children out one by one.
By the time they’d all exited, only Zhou He remained outside, the rest had already scattered and vanished into the base.
Jiang Lin sealed the wall and prepared to leave. The laboratory had already descended into chaos, staying any longer risked exposure.
“I’m Sheng Wei, captain of the Sixteenth Patrol Squad.”
“Jiang Lin.”
The two exchanged names calmly and withdrew from the research facility under cover of darkness. Jiang Lin changed back into her patrol uniform and discarded the research suit somewhere else entirely.
Meanwhile, Shen Congyu and the others used a backup elevator. Emerging from the main entrance, they were immediately met with chaos.
“What’s going on?” he asked a nearby guard.
“Someone threw a grenade near the experimental grounds. Patrol’s already investigating.” The guard hesitated, glancing up at Shen Congyu, his appearance was wildly different from a normal researcher’s, covered in dirt, thoroughly messy.
“Take me there,” he ordered.
“Yes!”
At the grenade site, Li Hao and his patrol were already investigating. Seeing Shen Congyu and his black-clad escort approach, Li Hao immediately recognized who he was.
“Experiment Chief, your orders?”
“Did you see two research staff come out the back door just now, possibly with a group of children?”
“Reporting, Experiment Chief, no children, but two research staff did come out and mentioned some kind of disturbance here.”
“Idiots! Go after those two immediately, they’re intruders.” Shen Congyu was nearly beside himself. The front entrance had tight security, so anyone slipping in or out had to have used the back door. But the walls there were high and electrified, how had they managed it so cleanly?
By the time they reached the back door, the area was empty. Shen Congyu swiped it open and found the elevator still stuck in a malfunction state, jammed by ice and unable to close.
The black-clad men dug the two research staff and one guard out of the soil nearby.
“Experiment Chief, looks like they stole the uniforms of these four and slipped in that way,” one reported.
Shen Congyu glanced at the four unconscious figures. “Are they dead?”
A black-clad man checked their pulses. “Not dead, just unconscious. Heavy blow to the neck, by the look of it.” The bruising was obvious.
“So many people on patrol and guard duty, and two women managed to slip in and out completely unscathed. What good are any of you?” Shen Congyu had never been this furious. “Search, now! How does a group that size vanish right under your noses?”
Li Hao led the black-clad squad in a thorough search of the facility, but they turned up nothing.
After parting ways with Sheng Wei, Jiang Lin ran nonstop back toward District 99. Along the once-empty road, faint figures of patrol officers began to appear, she guessed the lab had sent out reinforcements to search for them, but under 110’s guidance she avoided them all and made it back to her courtyard.
Meanwhile, Shen Congyu, still empty-handed, returned to the B2 lab. Surveying the scattered dirt and ruined equipment, his face beneath the research suit had never looked darker.
The zombie on the table had shaken off its sedative again, screaming and thrashing against its restraints. Shen Congyu’s eyes went cold. He pulled out a handgun and shot it dead on the spot.
The gunshot echoed through the empty lab, and the sound seemed to settle some of his fury. He walked to a room at the end of the corridor and dialed a number with no saved name.