Chapter 145: Research and Development Centre

“Roddy!”

Chen Xiaolian waved frantically. Roddy caught sight of Chen Xiaolian who was standing inside the control room through the glass wall. Roddy was about to say something when he noticed the giant toad that was in the midst of shrinking back out from the door. The toad turned around and regarded Roddy with a pair of cold eyes.

“Holy shit! What the Hell is that thing?”

Roddy was shocked by the sight and he raised his sniper rifle, quickly pulling its safety lever.

“Roddy! Hurry up and retreat!”

Chen Xiaolian ran out through the other door of the control room and leaned over the rail. Next, he flipped and jumped down. Nagase Komi followed him and ran out of the room.

A loud booming sound rang out and the glass door blocking the toad was shattered. The toad rushed inside the room. Nagase Komi quickly slammed the other door shut and the incoming toad slammed headfirst onto the door. However, it was bounced backward.

“Guild Leader!”

Nagase Komi then jumped down the rails. “What do we do now?”

“Roddy! Card reader!” Chen Xiaolian shouted toward Roddy.

Roddy immediately understood what he meant. He pressed his hand onto the card reader device for the security fence door and activated his Mechanical Heart skill. The door was slowly raised and Roddy ran inside. Chen Xiaolian ran toward him from the other side.

“What the Hell is that thing on top?”

“Don’t worry about that first! Memory card!” Chen Xiaolian shoved the memory card toward Roddy.

“It is inside the control room,” Roddy looked at the toad that was slamming onto the glass door.

“I’ll think of something to lure it away. Then, you enter the control room,” Chen Xiaolian whispered. “I cannot operate any of the things inside. I’m counting on you for that!”

“… you be careful,” Roddy nodded his head.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at Nagase Komi. “Do not follow me. Your running speed is too slow. Follow Roddy!”

“Yes!” Nagase Komi gasped.

Chen Xiaolian turned around and ran up the stairs on the side again. After ascending the steps, he continued until he reached the broken glass door area. Then, he picked up a chair and threw it onto the giant toad!

With a bang, the chair fell onto the toad’s body before bouncing off.

“Come get me, bastard!” Chen Xiaolian roared. Then, he turned tail and ran.

Behind him, the toad jumped and was soon out of the room. It chased after Chen Xiaolian through the stairs, rolling down like a rubber ball.

Roddy pulled Nagase Komi and they hid themselves by the side. Chen Xiaolian ran as fast as he could from the toad, picking up whatever chair he could lay his hands on from the surroundings and tossing them onto the toad that was chasing him. This action of his incited the monster.

“We’ll head up!” Roddy brought Nagase Komi around to the other side and ascended the steps to enter the control room.

From their high vantage point, they could view what was happening in the hall below. From there, they saw Chen Xiaolian luring the toad further and further away.

Roddy suppressed the anxiousness within his heart and proceeded to work on operating the control panel.

…

After leading the toad back and forth through the hall, Chen Xiaolian ran back out of the security fence door and continued to lead the toad as he ran frantically.

As for the toad, it was in hot pursuit, chasing after Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian ran through and out of the earlier office room and back into the corridor. He saw that the monitoring control room was just before him. He then glanced to the side of the corridor where the storage room was located. Suddenly, he had an idea.

He quickly ran toward the door of the storage room and deliberately rapped down heavily onto the metal door.

As expected, a deafening sound resonated across from inside the room as the door was slammed from the inside, creating a huge ruckus.

Chen Xiaolian purposely leaned near the door and looked back at the toad. After the toad had moved closer, Chen Xiaolian sneered and gestured toward the toad with a hooking finger gesture. “Come! I found you a sparring partner!”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian produced the staff ID card and swiped it across the card reader device on the storage room’s door.

After several beeping sounds, the lock to the metal door popped open!

Without any hesitation, Chen Xiaolian immediately retreated. Quickly moving beneath an air-conditioning vent, he jumped up, caught and ripped apart the lid of the air-conditioning vent before pulling himself inside.

At the same time, he heard a maddening howl erupt from below.

The monster that was encaged within the storage room burst out wildly!

Its long body lay upon the floor and its mouth kept releasing threatening growls.

Bursting out from the storage room, this monster slammed head first into the wall on the other side of the corridor. With a bang, a concave appeared on the wall.

However, the monster was very resilient and it quickly crawled up. It turned around and saw the giant toad crouching upon the other side of the corridor.

The two monsters made eye contact!

The toad felt danger and quickly inflated its body as fast as it could, like an inflatable balloon. At the same time, its mouth uttered out a sharp sound. This sound resembled the bellow issued by a cow.

The other monster immediately reared up its body. Both its paws were placed on the floor and even its tail was raised.

After issuing a howl, the monster charged toward the giant toad! The two monsters became entangled with each other, and their immense strength pushed them to slam into a room beside the corridor. Banging sounds soon followed and continued without respite. Howling sounds also reverberated continuously from inside the room.

Chen Xiaolian crawled through the ventilation ducts as best he can. As he did so, he heard the roars getting louder and louder. Gradually, the sound grew distant. Clearly, the two monsters were fighting and chasing each other while moving farther away.

Chen Xiaolian made an estimate regarding his current bearing and crawled through the ventilation duct for a while longer before jumping out from another air-conditioning vent. Checking his surroundings, he found that he had arrived back inside the office where he found Mai Sumoku.

Chen Xiaolian bolted quickly toward the security fence door. Rushing in through the security door, he quickly shut it down again.

“Phew!” He released a sigh of relief. “That should buy us some time.”

No matter which of those two monsters ended up winning, their fight should be able to give them some time – however, Chen Xiaolian judged that the giant toad has a higher chance of winning.

The monster that was encaged inside the storage room has a very fearsome appearance. However, it was clear that it was a monster of the strength type. It was probably about the same as the monster Chen Xiaolian had encountered back in the rail car. Against the giant toad that was impervious to bullets and swords, the monster from the storage room would likely suffer defeat.

Chen Xiaolian ran up the stairs and re-entered the master control room. As he was entering, he heard Roddy shout out. “It is done!”

Roddy turned around to see Chen Xiaolian running inside. “How are you?”

“I am fine,” Chen Xiaolian exhaled deeply. “How did it go?”

“Done!” Roddy pointed at the control panel. “The self-destruct device has been activated! This process is irreversible and the countdown has begun. We now have sixty minutes before the self-destruct device goes… bang!”

Nagase Komi stared with bulging eyes. “Then… how do we get out?”

“There is a way. This place has an emergency evacuation passageway,” Roddy smiled. “Watch, the schematics is displayed on the display screen.”

Sure enough, a flat schematic diagram of the area appeared on the screen located in the middle of the control room. Upon the diagram were a green dot of evacuation and an arrow pointing forward.

“All right, our task is complete. Let’s leave this place at once!”

The evacuation area designated by the green dot was not hard to get to. After moving out from the master control room, they found the emergency evacuation door on the other side of the hall. Because the self-destruct sequence had been turned on, the emergency evacuation door has also automatically opened up.

The three of them ran into the evacuation door. They descended a flight of stairs through roughly five to six levels and found themselves facing an area that resembled a station.

There were six circular tunnels here, each of them were big enough for iron rails.

“It’s here! Look, there are shuttle rail cars on the rails. We can use the rail cars to leave this place!” Roddy pointed to the front.

Half of the outlets leading into the circular tunnels were empty while the other three has a metal rail car resting on its rails.

As the three of them ran inside the station, Roddy jumped first into the nearest rail car. After jumping inside however, his face sank.

“This is not right! This rail car is damaged!”

“Damaged?”

Chen Xiaolian was shocked.

The three of them quickly moved to check the rail car. The rail car was indeed damaged. There were traces of explosions and charred parts on the chassis area of the rail car. Many of its metal parts have broken down and its devices were filled with debris!

“Damn it! Check the other two!” Chen Xiaolian and Roddy separated and ran over to check.

However, they were met with disappointment!

The other two rail cars were also damaged.

One of the rail cars had its rear part blown to pieces.

“Damn it!” Roddy slammed his fist against the wall.

If it was just an ordinary malfunction, his Mechanical Heart skill would still be able to make the rail car operate.

However… the running gears have been damaged, leaving Roddy incapable of doing anything. His skill was Mechanical Heart, not Mechanical God…

“What do we do now, Guild Leader?” Nagase Komi’s voice was tearing.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at the rail cars for a moment.

He had no intention of climbing out through the tunnel on foot.

This tunnel was heading upward. Back then, it took them nearly an hour to reach this place. Although their bodies have been enhanced, there was no way for them to run upward at a speed of several hundred km per hour [1]

“We’ll head back!” Chen Xiaolian replied grimly. “Find another way out. This place could not possibly have just one emergency point!”

As they have no other options, the three of them ran back toward the emergency evacuation door and into the hall.

Right after they ran back in, they heard a loud rumbling sound.

The security fence door had crashed down!

Chen Xiaolian turned his head to check it out and saw a terrifying image!

The giant toad’s body has expanded until it was double in size compared to its earlier state.

Its huge body allowed it to finally slam down the security fence door!

For some unknown reason, the toad’s strength has increased significantly. Raising its head, the toad opened its mouth and issued out a furious roar before moving slowly toward them.

“Open fire!”

Chen Xiaolian’s MP5 fired out bursts of bullets. The three of them opened fire as they quickly retreated!

The sniper rifle in Roddy’s hands also fired out. The sniper bullet flew out, striking the toad’s body only to be bounced off as well.

The toad pummelled its way through, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Everything within the hall, the tables and chairs were flattened by it.

“Hurry! Use the left passageway!”

Roddy yelled out. Back then, he had memorized the entire schematic diagram and he now took the lead.

Chen Xiaolian finished the entire magazine on his MP5. Then, he threw it forward before turning tail and running away.

The left passageway led toward a flight of stairs. They descended it and found an elevator.

The three of them had no time to worry about the details. They simply swiped the staff ID card to open the elevator and rushed inside.

As the doors to the elevator was closing…

Bang!

Bang!

The toad slammed forward from the outside with an immense amount of strength, causing the entire elevator shaft to shake!

Fortunately, the elevator was still able to slowly descend.

They reached the bottom. However, before the elevator could fully stop, a loud crash came from over their heads!

It was as though something had descended from the skies, pounding directly onto the roof of the elevator! The top part of the elevator bent inward, forming a concave!

The ceiling of the elevator was broken and the resulting gaps exposed the toad’s body. Chen Xiaolian kicked Nagase Komi out of the elevator and pulled Roddy as they charged out of the elevator.

“Roddy!”

Chen Xiaolian shouted.

Roddy understood Chen Xiaolian’s intention. He turned around and pressed onto the elevator’s control panel. Roddy activated his skill and the doors of the elevator closed up instantly! Next, the buttons on the control panel released sparks of fire, indicating that the elevator doors have been sealed shut.

“Hurry! The elevator doors won’t hold it for long!”

Although the elevator was made from materials with special qualities, Chen Xiaolian did not place too much expectations on it.

Running out from the elevator, they found a quiet corridor. Furthermore, there were several metal security doors barring their path, all of them of the fence type. With Roddy’s skill, all of them were opened and closed after they entered.

After the three of them crossed through the third security door… Chen Xiaolian felt that those three security doors should be able to buy them some time.

“What is this place?” Chen Xiaolian asked.

“It looks like a research and development centre.”

1 Trivia: The fastest human footspeed on record is 44.64 km/h (12.4 m/s or 27.8 mph) set by Usain Bolt in the 2009 World Championship for the 100 m sprint. [Source: Wiki] ↩