The two immediately quickened their pace and hurried down the passage toward The Hive!
The spot the Red Queen had chosen earlier happened to be a surveillance blind spot. She had deliberately blocked the sound and kept her conversation with Alice as brief as possible, so they had not delayed for long. As a result, the middle-aged man in the control room on the base's lowest level had not noticed that the Red Queen at his side had already betrayed him!
Watching the two reappear on the surveillance monitors, the middle-aged man raised his wineglass and took a light sip. Yet his gaze rested on a location along the route shown on the map, and a teasing glint like that of a hunter toying with prey flashed through his eyes.
In order to obtain the virus antidote as quickly as possible, Chen Mo and Alice began running down the passage. With their eyesight, although the emergency lights' red glow was faint, it was enough for them to see what lay ahead.
Before long, a set of enormous fans that filled the entire passage appeared before them.
The fan assembly consisted of more than a dozen huge six-bladed metal fan blades. Each blade stood six or seven meters tall, making it look like a massive turbine engine installed inside the passage!
To be safe, Alice took out a flashlight and carefully examined the inside of the fans.
She soon discovered that the blades seemed specially designed. Their leading edges were extremely sharp, like blades, and these fans appeared to serve a defensive purpose as well!
However, the virus antidote was inside The Hive, and this was the only path into it. They had no other choice!
Fortunately, the power in the passage was currently out. As long as they got through