Despair

The floors of The Hive Underground Laboratory were very far apart. Even though they were only going down one level, it felt as if they had walked down seven or eight flights of stairs.

The corridor Bai Zhou and The Tuner were taking only led from Level 1 to Level 2.

To reach the 3rd Floor, they would have to enter Level 2 and then find another stairwell leading down, which was a real hassle.

The Tuner had actually discussed this with Bai Zhou.

The Tuner said, "His design is way too impractical. Every time you go down a level, you have to take a different stairwell. It's as if he deliberately made it harder to enter or escape the Hive."

Bai Zhou said, "The research being done in different floors and areas of the Hive isn't the same, and the researchers work in different fields. Each person is only responsible for one part of a project, so it makes sense to restrict where people can go."

"After all, these are secret experiments that can't see the light of day."

The Tuner said, "But the Hive has elevators. They can go down several floors at once."

Bai Zhou said, "You saw the elevator area on Level 1. It had already been damaged, but there was an access-control system there. The floors researchers could reach probably depended on their clearance."

"Putting aside the Red Queen, the security system, there would definitely be Security Personnel too."

"And most importantly, if something went wrong, the elevators could be controlled."

When Bai Zhou and The Tuner were on Level 1, they had checked on the elevator. At the time, its doors were closed and the lights weren't on.

Of course, whether or not the elevator had power, neither of them dared to use it.