"Don't celebrate too soon. We still don't know what's ahead," Lin Xue said, throwing cold water on his excitement.
The two continued forward and climbed for about another ten minutes before finally reaching the end of the pipe. At the end was a ventilation grate, and through its bars, they could see what lay below.
The inside of the base was far larger than they had imagined. The enormous space was divided into several levels, each with a different function. The vent they were in was on the second underground level. Below was a long corridor, with laboratories lining both sides. The laboratory walls were transparent, allowing them to see what was happening inside.
Chen Hao saw a scene that filled him with fury.
Inside one laboratory, a black-robed man was pressing a civilian-looking man down onto a stone platform covered in eerie runes. In the black-robed man's hand was a black dagger, wreathed in black mist. He chanted some kind of incantation, then drove the dagger into the man's chest.
The man let out a miserable scream, his body trembling violently. A gray light drifted out of his body and was absorbed by the dagger. His face rapidly turned ashen, his hair went white, and his skin shriveled, like dead wood drained dry of life force. A few seconds later, the man had become a dried corpse, and the black-robed man casually tossed him aside.
Chen Hao clenched his fists. The blade of the Sword of Light trembled slightly, as if it had sensed its master's rage.
"Calm down." Lin Xue held Chen Hao's hand. "Our mission is to destroy the core research, not save people."
Chen Hao took a deep breath and nodded. He knew Lin Xue was right. If they rushed out to save people now, they