The night was like a piece of ink-soaked velvet, smothering every inch of the Arklay Mountains.
Chloe had been locked in the reinforced isolation room of The Ark’s underground laboratory for a full twenty-four hours.
The restraint straps on her wrists and ankles glinted with a cold, hard metallic light, biting into her skin, but they also restricted her movements.
She didn’t howl or struggle like the other crazed test subjects; she simply curled up quietly on the cold floor, using the pale emergency light overhead to observe the surveillance camera on the door.
The camera behind the glass dome rotated slightly, recording her every expression.
Chloe’s ears twitched slightly.
She could hear the footsteps of the guards outside—one, two, three steps—and then they stopped at the end of the hallway.
That was the interval during the shift change, the moment when security was at its laxest.
Her fingertips lightly brushed the floor, leaving behind a few very faint scratches.
Even while locked in here, her brain was still working at high speed.
The confrontation from earlier was still fresh in her mind: she had thought the security was thin and that she could control the situation with a single gun, but she hadn’t expected that seemingly weak researcher to be feigning from the start, waiting for the moment she let her guard down.
The moment the sedative was plunged into her neck, that cold, nerve-numbing chill had remained in her fingertips until now.
She closed her eyes, forcing herself not to think about the feverish heat she felt before losing control.
Just then, the alloy door of the isolation room emitted a low “hum” and slowly slid open to both sides.
Two men in black combat uniforms walked in; they wore gas masks, their expressions unreadable, with walkie-talkies hanging from their waists and weapons gleaming coldly in their holsters. Read the latest chapters at NovelPing.
They weren’t ordinary researchers from The Ark, but transport personnel from headquarters.
She recognized them at a glance—this was Umbrella’s USS, though she didn’t know if Hunk was among them.
A man stepped forward, holding a sedative in his hand.
Is this an execution, or are they taking me for surgery?
Chloe thought as she watched him jab the needle into her neck.
As the sedative took effect, Chloe felt her limbs go numb and her whole body grow heavy.
She wasn’t untied, nor was she taken out of the isolation room; instead, several transport personnel in full hazmat suits secured her directly into a black, sealed experimental transport pod.
The pod wasn’t long, just enough to accommodate her eight-year-old body.
Inside were hard restraint straps, and the breathing port was connected to a circulating air system.
There wasn’t a sliver of light or a single sound.
This wasn’t an escort; it was cargo transport.
“Sample confirmed: S01, Chloe.
Memory transplant surgery not yet implemented.
Mental resistance stable, no signs of losing control.”
“Destination: Arklay Research Facility, Underground Core Area.”
A cold electronic voice sounded outside the pod.
Then, the transport pod was locked tight, and the rollers made a dull sound as they slid across the floor.
Chloe curled up in the narrow pod, motionless.
The vehicle slowly drove away from The Ark and entered the long, dark mountain roads.
No one opened the pod cover during the entire journey.
No dialogue, no reassurance, no scrutiny.
She was like a piece of lifeless hazardous material, sealed tight and sent into the depths of the mountains where countless secrets were said to be buried.
After an unknown amount of time, the vehicle stopped.
The transport pod was lifted again, passing through several alloy gates that required multiple levels of authorization, descending further and further into the heart of the mountain.
This was the Arklay Research Facility.
It wasn’t until the pod was secured onto a base in the dedicated experimental area on the second basement level that the mechanical sound of unlocking came from outside.
The sealed pod slowly opened a crack, and at the same time, Chloe slowly woke up.