Escape

"Squeak--!"

With a screeching sound, the Mechanical Insects slowly lifted the container that was pressing down on the burrow, revealing a dark opening.

Yan Fei and Lu Qianyu exchanged a glance and cautiously stepped inside one after the other.

The tunnel was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time.

Moreover, because the light was dim, almost pitch black, it was impossible to determine how long the cave was.

Yan Fei and Lu Qianyu had no choice but to press themselves tightly against the wall and slowly descend.

After descending about twenty meters, the tunnel suddenly came to an end, and the surrounding space abruptly became empty.

They stopped, released their strength, and fell into the hole.

Immediately afterwards, they landed one after another in the space below the cave.

It floated away, without making a sound.

With no light, everything around appeared blurry and indistinct, which made one feel a little uneasy.

In order not to reveal their location, they decided to have the Mechanical Insects emit a faint light not far away.

This way, you can see what's ahead clearly without being completely exposed to darkness.

Yan Fei and Lu Qianyu slowly groped their way in the darkness, taking each step cautiously.

After careful exploration, they finally determined that there seemed to be no one else in this place.

Moreover, judging from the messy furnishings and scattered experimental supplies, this place had clearly undergone a rather chaotic evacuation.

Various instruments and documents were scattered all over the floor, as if people had no time to care about them when they left in a hurry.

A moment later, Lu Qianyu suddenly stopped and murmured softly.

This is a cell culture room.

The sound was very soft, but it was quiet enough that Yan Fei could still hear it clearly.

He was startled and carefully observed the surroundings.

It includes a clean bench, biosafety cabinet, microbial incubator, and a semi-enclosed ventilation system.

The room was dimly lit and unusually large; it took him a while to realize that he wasn't familiar with the layout of a biological Laboratory.

This is none other than the cell culture room, a very important part of the biological Laboratory.

However, there are currently no samples in this incubation room, and all the machines inside the incubator are turned off.

Yan Fei didn't ask why Lu Qianyu was so familiar with the biology Laboratory; she simply gave him instructions.

"Pay close attention to the annotations in the data, documents, and research materials here."

"I have a feeling that we'll most likely find out why the Beastfolk are targeting the Demon Race here."

Lu Qianyu nodded and followed silently behind him.

More Mechanical Insects scattered and began to explore the Laboratory.

They searched the entire floor but found neither anyone nor much useful paper material.

Yan Fei deduced that the researchers here had evacuated long before the sandstorm arrived.

They also took all the important documents and experimental materials with them.

The two continued walking to the next floor.

As you descend the dark staircase, the scene on the lower level immediately comes into view.

The first thing you see is a huge, transparent glass panel.

Because all five floors have been opened up, they can even clearly see the layout of the bottom floor through the glazed glass walls.

Such a huge "water tank" filled with an unknown liquid is definitely not just a decoration in the Laboratory.

Most likely, it is a large liquid culture dish used to store and cultivate some kind of organism.

The stunned silence that followed didn't last long.

The two immediately realized that this place was for observation, recording, and experimentation.

In other words, there may be documents here that were not collected or destroyed in time.

Unfortunately, they were too late.

This place was recently "Shisui" by Zisui.

Even if some documents remain, they are just scattered data without any annotations.

Before this data was integrated, even the researchers who originally worked here were unclear about its specific impact on the experiment's progress.

This is part of the confidentiality work.

After observing for a moment, the two also noticed this situation.

After thinking for a moment, Yan Fei decided to change her strategy.

"Qianyu, look for any ledgers, consumable records, purchase lists, or similar documents."

Lu Qianyu immediately realized his plan.

Through this seemingly insignificant intelligence, they might actually be able to determine the research direction of this Laboratory.

They changed their search target and began searching quickly.

Meanwhile, in the deep sea Chongming City.

The previously peaceful atmosphere was suddenly broken, and things became unusually "lively".

"Quickly! Notify the city gate immediately! We can't let her escape!" a soldier shouted anxiously.

"Yes!" another soldier responded and dashed off like an arrow.

The glass streetlights throughout the underwater city all converge towards the same goal.

Hu Lingling's figure was barely noticeable in the crowd.

She was completely wrapped in a large, dark blue hooded cloak, as if she had blended into her surroundings.

However, her pursuers always managed to pinpoint her location precisely.

She was clutching a flat box tightly to her chest.

The box looked quite old, and it had some strange symbols engraved on it.

Hu Lingling naturally knew that it was because of these runes that her location was locked.

Just as her fingers touched the recording and modification technology, a piercing alarm suddenly went off.

The loud noise shattered the previous clamor in the Laboratory, bringing an immediate silence to the surroundings.

At this point, Hu Lingling found out.

That box has alarms and protective arrays on it.

But she wasn't good at solving formations, nor did she have time to stop and figure it out slowly.

To ensure the integrity of the internal documents, they dared not forcibly disassemble them.

As a highly skilled officer, her only option was to force her way out.

Now, she could only speed up her pace and evacuate Chongming City as quickly as possible before the arrival of the Sea Race's high-end combat forces.

As for abandoning this information...

It's out of the question.

Because this opportunity to obtain the information is only available once.

Currently, no Dragon King has been sealed away, the Crown Prince has left to contact other territories, and other civil and military officials are all busy with the construction of Chongming City.

That's why she was able to enter the Dragon Palace and the research institute so easily.

Next time, there might not be such an opportunity.

Behind her, a large group of menacing and shouting soldiers were reporting her movements.

They dared not lose them.

The mere fact that this guy in the black robe infiltrated the First Research Institute and successfully obtained the data on Soul Modification Technology is enough to warrant their death sentence.

If we catch the person now and they can atone for their crimes, there's still a glimmer of hope.

But what if they don't catch them?

They might be implicated, including their extended family and friends.

Desperate to survive, the soldiers gave chase to the thief.

Hu Lingling's escape mission has officially begun.

At the same time, part of the Demon Race's support force also arrived at the edge of the harbor in the West District of Shahai City.