Underground Experiment Center

Xiang Yang clicked her tongue, patted her chest, and said smugly, "There isn't any scene I haven't seen. Don't underestimate me."

Lu Ren said nothing. Or rather, he had no desire to speak to Xiang Yang at all. Her mindset was no different from that girl he had casually rescued before.

Seeing this, Xiang Yang said somewhat sheepishly, "The way up was probably destroyed by the impact."

Lu Ren remained expressionless. "So this passage is temporarily unusable?"

"Uh, I remember my dad saying there were emergency exits below, as well as several freight passages. This concealed elevator was only for researchers to quickly enter the Underground Experiment Center after clocking in."

Well, these people even had to clock in.

Lu Ren let out a breath. "Then let's go down and see what it's like."

The way above had been destroyed, and a giant bull stood guard there. Under such circumstances, Lu Ren could only look for another way out. As for staying here until the time ran out, this place was not necessarily safe either. In an unknown area, Lu Ren preferred to first get a clear grasp of his surroundings, then find the safest place and wait.

Besides, Lu Ren had no idea what else Xiang Yang was hiding. He would have to slowly strip her bare to find out.

After a pause, Lu Ren asked, "Who is your father? Why does he know so much?"

Xiang Yang no longer held anything back and readily replied, "He used to be Dr. Chen Guohua's assistant, so he knew a lot. He also knew how to close the dimensional rift."

"How old was he?"

"He was already seventy-one when he found me."

Hearing this, Lu Ren could not help glancing at Xiang Yang. Her face was calm, carrying a faint trace of gratitude. Clearly, she placed great importance on this matter—or rather, she was deeply grateful for the kindness of the man who had raised her despite not being her biological father.

"Your father probably didn't want you to come here, did he?"

"That's right. When he was gravely injured beyond treatment, he repeatedly told me that he hoped I would live seriously and search for a human survivor base instead of wandering around Haizhou City."

Repeatedly...

Lu Ren's expression turned strange. Given Xiang Yang's temperament, such repeated warnings would only make her want to give it a try.

Xiang Yang pulled out a notebook from her waist pouch. "My father was afraid his memory would decline, so he recorded everything here in this notebook. I've read through it over and over these past three years, and I already know it by heart."

Lu Ren's fingers twitched involuntarily as he casually asked, "Everything was recorded in there?"

"Of course not. My father said certain especially critical things couldn't be written in a notebook."

Lu Ren lowered his hand. "All right."

"What happened back then?"

"The moment the dimensional rift opened, contaminated energy spread throughout the entire Testing Center base. All the researchers, security personnel, everyone, was invaded by that energy and turned into monsters. My father happened to be inspecting the escape equipment at the time. Once the contamination alarm sounded throughout the base, he immediately activated the escape equipment. That allowed him to avoid the first wave of contaminated energy and survive."

Lu Ren's expression changed as he listened.

"So the place we're heading down to is where the contaminated energy is most concentrated?"

Xiang Yang nodded. "Of course. But don't worry. Since you haven't mutated from contaminated energy since you were born, that means you don't have a mutation-prone infected body. So even if the special energy is highly concentrated, it probably won't affect you."

"Probably?"

Lu Ren's expression darkened further. He could not accept gambling on probabilities like this. Letting others determine his fate was simply an irresponsible attitude toward his own life.

This feeling was extremely unpleasant. He still needed to seize every moment to further improve his strength.

Xiang Yang was a little nervous too. With a solemn look on her face, she said, "Don't worry. If you suddenly mutate, I'll definitely be the first to act."

Lu Ren's face remained blank. "Even if I mutate first, I'll kill you before that."

Xiang Yang said, "You're so ruthless!"

"There's no need for words with someone who drags others down with her."

"I..."

Xiang Yang was left speechless.

Honestly, if he truly belonged to this world and understood that Xiang Yang might be its only hope of salvation, he might have joined her without hesitation, even using his own life to forge a path forward for her.

Unfortunately, Lu Ren was not. He only wanted to survive seven days and leave this world already on the brink of extinction. Yet for some reason, he could not tell whether everything along the way had been coincidence or fate.

He had only wanted to lie low, yet he had somehow ended up here.

He should not have approached Xiang Yang in the first place. But it had been his first time encountering a human from another world, and he had truly found it novel.

He was still too young!

It took a full three minutes before the rail elevator slowly came to a stop. Judging by the descent speed, Lu Ren estimated that this Testing Center was at least a thousand meters underground.

"We're here."

Xiang Yang's spirits rose. She pulled out a dagger and warily watched the elevator doors that were about to open.

Lu Ren gripped his twin swords tightly as well, not daring to let down his guard in the slightest.

Who knew what monsters might be inside a Testing Center that had not been opened for decades?

When the elevator doors slowly opened, what came into Lu Ren's view was a silver-white metal corridor leading straight to a set of alloy doors. Fluorescent lights still operated along the corridor ceiling.

Aside from a long black trail on the floor that seemed to have been left by something dragged across it, the metal corridor remained spotless.

This scene felt strangely familiar!

Were there laser arrays here?

"This Testing Center is still running?" Lu Ren was somewhat surprised.

Xiang Yang nodded slightly. "My father told me that this Testing Center's energy source was a Cold Nuclear Reactor. Even without maintenance, it could continue operating for at least two hundred years. There was also a backup energy system, a Micro Fusion Reactor, which could maintain full-power operation for the entire base for at least a century."

"And the entire Testing Center has practically been shut down. If it's only maintaining electrical systems like the lights, then it could probably last for an extremely long time."

Lu Ren could not help pondering deeply. If what Xiang Yang said was true and energy had already been liberated in this world, then their exploration of the stars should have had tremendous momentum.

Perhaps they had even abandoned this planet.

"Where are we going first? Let me check."

Xiang Yang stopped walking, opened the notebook in her hands, and continuously flipped through it while muttering to herself.

"The entire experimental base has five levels. The first level is the office area. The second is the research project area. The third contains a High-Energy Particle Accelerator stretching for a hundred kilometers, and that's where the dimensional rift is. The fourth is the supply depot. The fifth contains the power assemblies for all the systems.

Where we need to go isn't far away: the monitoring center on the first level. From there, we can see the entire Testing Center, provided the monitoring system is still operational."

Lu Ren could not help giving her a sidelong glance. "Your thinking is very clear."

Xiang Yang said somewhat embarrassedly, "My father talked about these things around me every day. That was how the plan gradually took shape."

"Learning from what's available. I get it."

"What do you mean, learning from what's available? I'm inheriting my father's legacy. Let's go!"

Xiang Yang replied and was about to walk forward when Lu Ren grabbed her, his face grave. "This corridor isn't full of traps, is it?"

Xiang Yang rolled her eyes. "Have you been watching too many old movies? ...But there are indeed security systems."

Lu Ren said, "..."

Should he stay here? If he stayed here, would he get shot to death by lasers?

She pointed at the incredibly thick-looking alloy doors.

"The security system here will only activate if the password is entered incorrectly three times. But it's hard to say. This place hasn't been opened for nearly fifty years. Maybe the mechanisms inside have already rusted."