What Are You Going to Do?

But at this moment, after sensing Maria's sharp intent, they dared not be negligent and hesitantly raised their hands.

Everyone raised their hands.

But Maria coldly asked a different question.

I meant the door here.

The group exchanged glances, and most of them lowered their hands, leaving only three people still holding them up.

"Then close the door."

Maria whispered to herself as she silently walked out of the intersection where the group had initially arrived.

There is another door here, which may have originally been intended only to provide protection in special circumstances, and it also has its own internal self-defense capabilities.

But its builders probably never imagined that it would serve a different purpose today.

"Wait... wait a minute..."

Heratia was still gagging, but she struggled to get up.

She saw it; Maria had already retreated outside the door.

What does she want to do?

What is she going to do?!

"... close the door."

Maria wasn't the type to listen to people, especially at this moment when everyone heard those layers upon layers of dense, overlapping voices.

Even though they couldn't see who it was, they all felt a strong chill run down their spines.

This caused their bodies to react instinctively.

They also wanted to obey Heratia's orders.

But clearly, they were ultimately just a group of scholars, not soldiers.

Under Maria's chilling words, they almost passively controlled their bodies, step by step, slowly closing the heavy steel door.

Heratia realized that it was too late to say anything now, and could only stare blankly at Maria, who was standing calmly in the doorway, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Faintly, blue light and shadow began to flicker around her!

Throughout the entire ordeal, Maria remained expressionless and never once turned to look at her...

Secondly, everyone could see those densely packed creatures, resembling some kind of spider, with their slender spider legs and their backs swaying from transparent vesicles containing glowing blue dots!

These vesicles are stacked on top of each other, and a single spider can have at least dozens of such vesicles on its body!

They swarmed around, threatening to devour people.

But it was in that final moment that...

Thud...

The iron gate... was completely closed...

402

Chapter 402 What do you plan to do?

Maria...

Heratia stared blankly at the slowly closing iron gate, her expression shifting from initial calm to astonishment.

Her reason told her that this might be the best option.

Although she didn't know why Maria had given up her safety to stand at the door, she knew that in such an overwhelming attack, even the strongest person would make a mistake for a moment.

Any mistake can be fatal!

But her emotions kept resonating in her mind.

Self-blame, guilt, distress, and anxiety.

A mix of emotions welled up inside her, making it difficult for her to breathe.

What else can she do?

She can't do anything anymore.

She could only sit quietly on the ground, silently waiting for time to give her the final answer.

The researchers nearby grabbed various tools to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

The sound of swallowing wasn't loud, but everyone felt a slight tingling sensation in their nerves.

They were scattered about, occasionally turning and twisting their weapons to relieve their tense bodies.

The humid air makes people restless.

Every now and then, muffled thuds would erupt from the doorway, as if something had been slammed heavily against it, causing everyone to shudder.

Their expressions grew increasingly grim as they looked at each other.

Perhaps the sounds were too annoying, because nearby, Malitus, who had been rescued, was also slowly waking up, clutching his head.

"Where... is this place?"

He murmured, as if he had lost his memory, his face slightly pale.

After glancing at the solemn expressions on the faces of everyone around him, he became even more puzzled.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Malitus wanted to at least figure out what was going on, but no one there answered his questions.

Everyone's too busy panicking to have the energy to explain.

"..."

No one answered, and few even looked at him. At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on the iron gate in front of them, and their thoughts grew increasingly heavy.

But their behavior only made Malitus more and more puzzled.

After a moment of confusion, he could only turn to the only person in the room who might be able to answer his question.

Heratia...

Only...

Just as Malitus was about to ask a question, Heratia turned her head and gave him a cold look.

Although Heratia was trying to restrain herself, Malitus could still sense the resistance emanating from her.

Although Heratia understood that this was not Malitus's fault—after all, she was the one who needed to gather everyone together and save Malitus; Maria was merely following her lead.

But that doesn't mean she can think entirely rationally.

She will still feel anger.

After calming Malitus down for a while, Heratia turned her gaze back to the iron gate in front of her.

The rustling footsteps gradually subsided, but she never saw the scene she wanted to see until the sound completely disappeared.

Maria... no longer flung open the door like a goddess had before.

Everything was eerily silent...

Heratia lowered her head, her face silent.

Nearby, after conducting a few probes, the researchers turned their attention back to Heratia, seemingly waiting for her to give them an order.

Upon seeing Heratia struggle to her feet and nod, they did not hesitate and slowly manipulated the machinery to open the door.

"Bang!"

As the mechanical latch opened, the iron door popped open a crack.

Before anyone could even see what was outside, the nauseating stench of blood wafted towards their noses!

Within just a few breaths, some people were kneeling on the ground, panting.

Then, as the iron gate was fully opened, that crimson world appeared before everyone!

On the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling.

Within their field of vision, crimson dominated.

Not a single place is clean and intact.

No place can be called intact.

All that could be seen were rolled-up sheets of metal and broken wounds.

The entire corridor had become a broken and scarred road!

The fierce fighting that broke out there even led people to mistakenly believe that two tactical squads had fought there.

It was at this point that some people finally began to have doubts.

"Was she... really just a writer?"

Recalling Maria's recent battle, everyone had a genuine sense of unease about the matter.

Heratia, however, had no intention of explaining these questions. She simply looked around in confusion, and after a moment, her expression changed slightly.

"Where is Maria...?"

"Um?"

Hearing Heratia's reminder, everyone realized that although there were strange spider corpses everywhere, even covering the ground, they couldn't find Maria's body!

Where is she?

Everyone turned around in surprise to search.

Soon, someone noticed the problem.

"There are footsteps here!"

Following the sound, they saw a blood-stained footstep slowly moving into the distance on the ground.

This sight left everyone stunned.

"This is... something she left behind during the battle, isn't it?"

Some people have raised questions.

But soon, someone else gave a negative answer.

"No... look this way."

The group quietly made their way towards each other's location.

Outside this battlefield, which was completely stained with blood, there were even footprints!

This means that...

"She didn't leave these bloody footprints during the battle; she walked this way after the battle ended..."

Soon, someone provided the answer.

But several more problems soon arose.

Maria... is she still alive?

How did she survive? Were the monsters too weak? Or was Maria too strong?

Ultimately, how could someone who studies music possess such a level of combat ability?

Furthermore, why did she leave after the battle?

All of this piled up in everyone's minds, making their thoughts increasingly chaotic.

Especially after realizing that this research was destined to be extraordinary, many people's ideas became somewhat radical.

Everyone was utterly puzzled.

Meanwhile, Malitus, after listening to his companion's explanation and understanding what had happened, gave a reply.

"Could it be... that the battle never really ended? And that she left because she was being controlled?"

"..."