Mutant Children

After closing the Information Panel, Richard used Flash to return to the Second Underground Floor.

Although the Mutant Agents from the Action Department would not be back anytime soon, he had no intention of sitting around and waiting for them.

After Flashing back to the Second Underground Floor, he saw Sabretooth grappling with his clone.

Though they were both human, Sabretooth and the clone were fighting like two primal beasts.

You slash me with a claw, I slash you back! You cut my throat, I stab through your eye!

Neither Sabretooth nor his clone used any particularly sophisticated fighting techniques.

Compared to the clone, Sabretooth possessed far greater combat experience and fighting skills.

But unfortunately, neither advantage allowed him to kill the clone before him quickly.

Not only that, he was finally experiencing just how annoying an enemy with Super Self-Healing could be.

"Need a hand?"

Seeing that the clone in front of Sabretooth was "completely unscathed," aside from his tattered, bloodstained clothes, Richard asked Sabretooth.

"No, I can handle it myself!"

Sabretooth responded quickly.

"Then take your time. I'll go check out the Third Underground Floor."

After saying that, Richard used Flash to arrive on the Third Underground Floor without waiting for Sabretooth's reply.

Although Sabretooth's informant had not provided any information about the Third Underground Floor and had only said that there might be something terrifying down there,

Richard could now determine exactly what was on the Third Underground Floor.

Sentinel Robots! The terrifying things Sabretooth's informant had mentioned were Sentinel Robots.

That meant the Third Underground Floor was most likely home to the Sentinel Robots' hangar, Maintenance Area, Monitoring Room, and the like.

Richard had not guessed wrong.

The moment he Flash-teleported to the Third Underground Floor, the first thing he saw was the Sentinel Robots' Maintenance Area.

The enormous Maintenance Area was filled with all kinds of tools and spare parts for Sentinel Robots.

Besides that, several mutant children were actually being held inside the Maintenance Area.

More precisely, mutant children locked in metal cages like laboratory mice.

After seeing these mutant children, Richard, who already had little goodwill toward the Department of Mutant Affairs, despised the Department of Mutant Affairs even more.

Mutants possessed superpowers that Ordinary People did not, but no matter what, mutants were still human.

Moreover, judging from their condition and the terrified expressions on their faces, they had all suffered inhumane treatment.

If nothing unexpected had happened, these mutant children had all been sent down from the laboratories on the Second Underground Floor.

As for why they had not been sent to Mutant Prison and had instead been sent to the Sentinel Robot Maintenance Area on the Third Underground Floor, the reason was not difficult to guess.

These mutant children should all possess fairly impressive superpowers.

They had been sent here so the Sentinel Robots could copy their superpowers.

Seeing the mutant children with terror written all over their faces, Richard walked straight to the metal cages holding them.

Then, the Masamune in his hand flashed out like lightning.

Sshk! Sshk! Sshk! Sshk!

The sharp Masamune easily sliced through the locks on the metal cage doors.

"Come out. It's okay now."

Richard said to the mutant children.

The cage locks had already been cut open. The mutant children only needed to give the doors a gentle push to leave the cages.

But after hearing Richard's words, not only did they fail to come out, they retreated in fear to the very back of the cages, curling their bodies into tight balls as they trembled and looked at him.

This...

Although Richard did not know what these mutant children had experienced, their current actions showed that they were all terrified of leaving the cages.

Or rather, they had suffered extremely severe psychological trauma and instinctively resisted leaving the cages.

Seeing this, Richard despised the Department of Mutant Affairs even more.

He did not consider himself a good person, but he had his own bottom line.

For one thing, he could never bring himself to conduct all kinds of horrific Human Experimentation on mutant children.

Not only that, he would not go around killing people like a deranged murderer just to Plunder more superpowers.

Looking at the mutant children whose faces were filled with fear, Richard took out several Disposable Phones he had prepared in advance from the System Space.

A Disposable Phone referred to a short-term, prepaid, non-contract phone that required no registration or contract.

In the United States, such Disposable Phones were common. They could be bought at supermarkets for cheap and were popular among criminals and other illegal operators.

To make tonight's operation more convenient, he had specifically bought several Disposable Phones while shopping for ingredients with Clarice at the supermarket.

Taking out a Disposable Phone, Richard dialed Clarice's number.

The call connected quickly.

"I'm on the Third Underground Floor. I found several mutant children with severe psychological trauma. Open a Spatial Gate and come take them away."

Richard said to Clarice.

"Okay!"

Clarice responded immediately.

A few seconds later, an irregular oval-shaped Spatial Gate appeared near Richard.

The moment the Spatial Gate formed, Clarice walked out of it and arrived before Richard.

"These little ones are afraid of me and won't come out."

Richard pointed at the mutant children in the cages and said to Clarice.

"Mm-hmm, leave it to me."

Clarice nodded, walked to one of the metal cages, and said to the mutant child inside:

"Come out. We won't hurt you. We'll take you away from here."

After saying that, Clarice raised her jade-white right hand and reached it toward the mutant child inside.

Perhaps because her tone was gentle, or perhaps because she was beautiful and a woman,

after hearing her words, the mutant child curled up in the corner of the cage hesitated for only two or three seconds before taking Clarice's right hand and climbing out of the cage.

Once the first one came out, the rest were easy.

Without much effort, Clarice coaxed all the mutant children out of their cages.

Under Richard's gaze, Clarice led the mutant children through the Spatial Gate and returned to the building rooftop from earlier.

Only after the Spatial Gate closed did Richard leave the Maintenance Area with the Masamune in hand.

After making a round of the Third Underground Floor, he did not encounter a single person besides the mutant children.

Not only that, he discovered that many things on the Third Underground Floor had been destroyed.

More precisely, they had only been destroyed recently.

Clearly, before he arrived, the staff on the Third Underground Floor had not only evacuated in advance, but had also destroyed the important documents and equipment they could not take with them.

Richard knew this because he saw surveillance footage in the Surveillance Room on the Third Underground Floor showing the staff evacuating and destroying things.

They really ran without hesitation!

Richard grumbled inwardly. Judging from the surveillance footage, none of the staff who evacuated were mutants.

Moreover, judging from their actions during the evacuation, they had likely prepared various evacuation plans long ago. They withdrew in an orderly manner without the slightest panic.