Chapter 63

Bai Yi’s group very quickly rushed towards Yu Han’s location using the indicated pathway, but the research facility was frighteningly large. Moreover, even though the defence system was deactivated, that didn’t mean that the doors were open. Perhaps the time taken to open each door wasn’t long, but every second was precious now. If they really let Yu Han’s team release the experimental monsters, then they were all screwed.

“Martin, how are the experimental monsters in the research facility locked up?”

“Although the activated cells have a chain infection capability, but it isn’t like the T-virus which can infect even the dead. Hence, the defences aren’t as strict as in zombie movies. In reality, gene-fused monsters are actually just powerful beasts. Large-sized experimental monsters are locked up individually, normally one to a room. As for those smaller and colony-type lifeforms, they are kept together. Other than those mutants, the prison for the experimental monsters did not require any special preparations either.” Martin replied after hearing Bai Yi’s questions.

“That means that it’s impossible for the experimental monsters to all be released at once, unless the main artificial intelligence gets hacked?” Bai Yi asked.

“That’s right!” Martin nodded while sprinting with the others.

“I hope that they won’t be so reckless.” Bai Yi said and jumped down from a flight of stairs. After falling for more than 10 meters, he pushed off the railing and landed on flat ground. He then raised both his hands and Hong Qi Hua threw Momo over to him.

A terrified scream pierced the air and Momo landed into Bai Yi’s arms.

After a while, Momo finally opened her eyes and looked at Bai Yi shyly. Bai Yi smiled at Momo and placed her on top of Sharpei, letting Sharpei run along with everyone else. Bai Yi had already told everyone in the team before to not go out of their way to look after Momo just because she was small. They had to let Momo get used to New Zealand now. To put it simply… to let Momo get used to facing danger.

……

After getting attacked by the defence system, Yu Han’s team were even more certain that they had entered the truly important place, the core area. One couldn’t help but admit that humans had this kind of psychology. The more guarded a place was, the more important it felt. If something was placed simply in front of them, they would actually feel suspicious about it.

Yu Han’s team was just like this.

Bearing with the pressure along the way, they destroyed the weapons on the sides of the corridor, and finally arrived in front of a door.

Yeye’s image appeared on the small screen in front of the electronic door and prepared to tell them to leave this place and the experimental monsters. However, the moment Yeye appeared, Yu Han’s team whose nerves were extremely tense from the attacks before immediately fired their guns at the screen. With a few gunshots, the small screen immediately started to smoke.

“Hey!” Yeye revealed a dumb look, as if she only reacted after being stunned for a long time.

“Idiots, morons, dumbasses… Hehehehe.” Yeye swore for a while and started laughing to herself. She then hummed an unknown song happily while reactivating the defence system.

Just like what Bai Yi and the others guessed, Yeye had her own autonomous consciousness now, but she was still restricted by her programming. She could not go against the responsibility placed onto her by her creators – to prevent the experimental monsters from escaping.

To fulfil this role, Yeye’s artificial intelligence would analyze the situation immediately and produce the optimal solution. This included making Bai Yi’s group stop them, or appearing to warn them not to proceed ahead… However, in truth, the autonomous consciousness that Yeye had did not care at all if the experimental monsters escaped. It didn’t matter to her even if they really did.

So Yeye only fumed for a while when Yu Han’s team destroyed the digital screen. She immediately did not bother about it anymore, and prepared to activate the other defence systems while humming her song.

“Hmmm~~~, should I just use the poison gas? But due to the Progenitor’s destruction, the ventilation system is spoiled as well, so I can’t use it normally. Ah, stopping the experimental monsters from escaping doesn’t mean killing them, so I shouldn’t do that.” Yeye hummed her song and muttered to herself. Actually, the processing speed of her artificial intelligence was very fast. She had answers to these questions long ago, just that Yeye liked to say things out loud just like a real human would.

“Something seemed to appear on that screen just now.” Khina said, holding a submachine gun in her hands and carrying a machete on her back.

“What was it?”

“It seemed to be an image of a person, but it was destroyed the moment it appeared.” Khina looked at Moses. Moses was one of the newcomers, a white male that now looked like a lion from his neck up. A thick mane of hair dozens of centimeters long grew from his neck.

“Noel, continue opening the door.” Bentham said to the man carrying the laptop after pulling his claw back from the wall, a giant hole appearing in the wall itself.

“Ok!” The man walking in the back cautiously came to the front and started hacking the system.

More than 10 minutes later when everyone started to get impatient, the door finally opened. The lighting system inside automatically switched on and everyone stared at the scene inside wide-eyed.

They were now at a walkway, but this walkway was extraordinarily large. Over the heads was a simulated sky, making them feel like they’d returned to the surface again. The walkway formed a giant circular shape, and on the sides of the walkway were countless individual rooms. Without even approaching the rooms, everyone could feel an immense pressure. They could also see a ladder heading towards the center in front of them.

“This place is?” Yu Han said in puzzlement. This didn’t seem like a place for researching drugs.

At this moment, Bentham felt his body go cold. This shape, this environment, there could be no mistake. This was the place used to imprison the experimental monsters! All the prisons formed a circular shape, while the giant cylinder in the center connected all the prisons. Other than letting various experimental monsters switch rooms, there was also a huge platform in the center for the experimental monsters to battle each other. They could use that to test the experimental monsters’ fighting strength as well as collect other data.

Bentham looked at the platform and immediately recalled the scene of him battling for his life with other monsters, his eyes turning bloodshot instantly.

“ROARRRR!”

A berserk roar shot out from Bentham’s mouth, and powerful soundwaves shook everyone until they almost fainted. With this roar, the monsters trapped inside the rooms started to become agitated and rowdy. After a while, Bentham finally turned his head around and his eyes filled with murderous intent made everyone subconsciously be on guard.

“Relax, I’m one of the few LV2 experimental subjects, I can already control my own emotions. If I were at the LV1-2 Brutal Stage, I would’ve probably started killing already.” Bentham placed one hand over his eyes and said in a low voice.

Yu Han and the rest stared at Bentham involuntarily after hearing his words. LV1-1 Binging Stage, LV1-2 Brutal Stage…and LV2 Metamorphose Stage, these were the names given by the researchers, but what exactly was the difference between them?

“Are we still searching here?” Noel asked.

Bentham looked at the huge walkway, and walked towards the side to a reinforced glass window. A gene-fused monster laid inside, but it didn’t have many changes and it also appeared to be very skinny. Bentham knew with a look that it hadn’t been long since it assimilated with the activated cells, so there wasn’t much of a change. Moreover, with the long period of starvation, it was already very good that it could still survive.

The powerful experimental monsters would of course be imprisoned at the bottom-most level, there would definitely not be any at the entrance area.

The rest of them came over and took a look as well. The gene-fused monster looked at everyone and gave a low growl. It slowly stood up, and in its eyes flashed a ravenous hunger.

Bentham walked towards giant cylinder in the center, and saw the big platform at the center.

That’s the place!

In Bentham’s head, countless fighting scenes and experiments appeared in his mind. Bentham then turned around to call everyone to leave this place, but he suddenly looked at a passageway cautiously. The rest of them saw Bentham’s actions and listened carefully. After a while, they finally heard some hurried footsteps rapidly approaching their location. All of them looked cautiously in that direction and held their own weapons firmly.

After a while, Bai Yi’s group finally reached their destination. They looked at the heavily damaged passageway and the wide-open door. Bai Yi gripped his broadsword tightly and tightened the hook gun on his back, then walked step by step slowly inside.

‘Kachi Kachi’ they could hear sounds of guns being raised and all of them became anxious.

At the opening of the passageway, Bai Yi’s group appeared and just happened to be opposite where Yu Han’s group was on the observation deck.

Although they had all changed greatly, they wouldn’t fail to recognise each other now that they met again. In reality, Yu Han also thought that they might encounter Bai Yi’s group in the research facility, just that he didn’t expect that it would really happen. Both sides aimed their guns and stared at each other. What would they do?

“Long time no see.” Bai Yi spoke first.

“Oh, thanks to you, it really has been quite long.” Actually, it hadn’t been that long either, but in the New Zealand now where they weren’t even sure if they could survive to the next day, it seemed like a long period of time.

“Then, what do you think?” Yu Han stood on the observation deck and looked down at Bai Yi.

“Leave this place, the experimental monsters are locked up here. If anything happens, neither of us will gain anything.” Bai Yi said seriously.

“How do you know so well? Also, why should we listen to you?”

If Yu Han’s group had the intention to leave this place before, that intention changed with the appearance of Bai Yi. As we say, people’s attitudes had very strange rebellious natures, especially towards the group of people who were their enemies. Yu Han couldn’t help but suspect that Bai Yi had a deeper motive, such as… something really important was being hidden here.