With the information the survivors provided, Xie Wen soon found the experimental base built into the mountain, which had also served as their shelter.
That was only natural. This was where Caesar had pressed the detonator, making it the place farthest from the poison gas bomb's explosion back then, and also the safest.
"Benefactor, are you looking for the things the Science Unit left behind?" Chape said apologetically. "Unfortunately, we can only enter R District and parts of Building C. The Science Unit has to grant access before we can enter the other areas."
According to Chape, this base actually consisted of four interconnected research institutes, designated A, B, C, and D. Several of them had normally been locked up in the Third Research Institute in Building C, so they had access to parts of it. R District, meanwhile, was a public area where the institutes connected, so anyone could enter.
It was precisely because of this that they had found a chance to survive on this island blanketed in poisonous mist.
For Xie Wen, however, access permissions did not matter. If he encountered a sealed-off area, he could simply force his way through. He did not need to research SAD or human gigantification in this base, so he would not regret damaging it.
Thus, he did not bring a single survivor along, taking only the two Research Cats interested in the base's contents, the clingy Klee Meow, Shalmeow, the fun-loving Jinx Meow, and Shirahoshi, who had recently become inseparable from Jinx Meow.
What followed was simple. Xie Wen and the others searched the institutes one by one at a leisurely pace, slicing through any locked doors they encountered. They soon found the Artificial Devil Fruit in the largest building, Building B-the Second Research Institute.
The Artificial Devil Fruit, which