Chapter 89 Safe Reunion

Ruan Ning, carrying the flames, moved swiftly through the ravaged corridor like two silent shadows.

Her mental power acted like a sophisticated radar, bypassing several rooms with abnormal energy responses that might conceal dangerous experimental residues.

Based on the simplified structural diagram they had seen before and the on-site signs, they located the areas marked "Document Archives" and "Precision Instrument Backup Storage." The doors were locked, but with the precise cutting power of the large fire, they were quickly opened.

The inside was also a mess, with documents scattered all over the floor, instruments overturned, and covered in a thick layer of dust. But compared to the outside, which had been completely destroyed by monsters and later arrivals, this place was at least relatively "intact"—disorganized, but most of the things were still there.

Ruan Ning's gaze swept quickly across the area.

She wasn't a researcher, but some experiences from her past life and common sense allowed her to discern approximate value.

Those heavy hard-shell folders marked "Top Secret," "Experiment Log," and "Gene Map," along with scattered portable hard drives and dedicated memory cards, and several small, relatively intact precision instruments encased in a specially designed shockproof box, were all stored in her spatial storage. These were the items most urgently needed by the base's research institute and most likely to contain valuable information.

At the same time, she deliberately left some seemingly important but actually relatively ordinary or obviously damaged documents in her large backpack. These were the mission items she was preparing to hand over, enough to prove her team's "gains" and "efforts".

The fire wasn't idle either; its keen sense of smell seemed to be able to distinguish the odor of certain special materials or chemicals. It nudged a locked cryogenic storage cabinet in the corner with its nose.

Ruan Ning carefully opened the box, revealing rows of sealed test tubes and sample bottles. The labels were blurry, but words like "active," "mutant," and "extract" were faintly visible.

She is equally cautious about the space she collects, as these could be key samples for studying viruses or mutations.

The search process was efficient and quiet. The screams and sounds of battle coming from the control room in the distance gradually faded away, whether the monsters had been cleared out, most of the people were dead, or the battlefield had shifted.

Ruan Ning didn't care; she had already achieved part of her goal.

"Let's go, let's meet up up there." Ruan Ning patted Da Huo's head, slung his backpack containing some "mission items" over his shoulder, and quickly left the area, retreating to the ground along another relatively safe fire escape route.

It's on the ground floor, near the main entrance of the West Research Institute.

Lin Yan and Zhou Min stood back to back, surrounded by seven or eight zombie corpses, their heads hacked to pieces or pierced. Both were slightly out of breath, their bodies splattered with blood, but their eyes were alert, fixed on several new targets emerging from the side corridor.

"Why hasn't Ruan Ning come up yet?" Zhou Min asked anxiously. Her mental power could sense the chaotic energy fluctuations and roars coming from downstairs, but she couldn't penetrate the layers of floors to determine Ruan Ning's specific situation.

"Trust her." Lin Yan gritted her teeth, brandishing her knife to meet another lunging zombie. "She told us to come up, so she must be confident. Let's hold this place and not let these things block our retreat!"

Just then, familiar, deliberately heavy footsteps came from the side passage, along with Da Huo's low, soothing snores.

"Ruan Ning!" Zhou Min turned around in surprise.

Ruan Ning and Da Huo walked out of the passage. Apart from being covered in dust, they seemed to be unharmed. Ruan Ning's backpack even looked a bit bulging.

"Are you alright?" Lin Yan quickly dealt with the zombie in front of her and moved closer.

"It's nothing," Ruan Ning replied briefly, her gaze sweeping across the hall. "I've made some gains. How's it going on your end?"

"We cleared out some scattered zombies, but didn't see any of those monsters come up," Zhou Min said, still shaken.

"Yes, the monsters are mainly down below, they're 'trapped'." Ruan Ning said calmly, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her. "Let's hurry up and go up to see if there are any valuable items left behind on other floors, or anything that other teams 'didn't have time' to take."

Lin Yan and Zhou Min immediately understood the implication of her words. With chaos erupting below and many teams likely preoccupied with their own survival, it was the perfect opportunity to plunder and better conceal their true spoils.

The three people and the dog immediately sprang into action. Ruan Ning led the way, Da Huo guarded the flanks, while Lin Yan and Zhou Min brought up the rear and kept an eye on the surroundings. They went up the stairs, quickly searching each floor.

The situation was similar on the second and third floors, with severe damage and few valuable items. Occasionally, members of other teams would be encountered, all looking panicked, some even injured. When they saw that Ruan Ning's team was in relatively good condition, they all showed surprise or wariness, quickly exchanging information or avoiding each other.

Ruan Ning listened expressionlessly, casually stuffing a portable environmental monitoring device that appeared to be in relatively good condition into her backpack (quest item +1).

They didn't go for more. On the fourth floor, in what looked like a senior researcher's office, Ruan Ning "discovered" an encrypted paper report on the "Preliminary Correlation Study of Extraordinary Energy and Life Field," locked in a fireproof safe, as well as several pieces of rare metal materials that might be used for precision instruments (she kept these too, leaving some scraps in her backpack). Then she decided not to delve any further.

"That's about enough." Ruan Ning glanced at the setting sun outside the window. "It's getting late, we should go down. We need to evacuate early tomorrow morning, and the camp won't be peaceful tonight."

They retraced their steps, clearing out several zombies that appeared out of nowhere along the way.

When they returned to the outside of the research institute, a number of superhumans who had completed their search or were forced to retreat had already gathered there. The atmosphere was somber and tense, and many of them were injured. They were talking about the terrifying monster on the second basement floor and the heavy casualties suffered by Thunder Leopard and Venom Fang's team.

Ruan Ning's team discreetly blended into the crowd, found a corner to rest, and awaited any further instructions from the military. Da Huo lay quietly at Ruan Ning's feet, eyes closed, but his ears twitched occasionally.

Lin Yan and Zhou Min sat close together, silently checking the equipment, occasionally glancing at Ruan Ning.

They knew that what happened next was far from simple, but Ruan Ning didn't say, and they wouldn't ask. All they needed to know was that their captain had led them out of danger once again, and had even inflicted heavy losses on some of the enemy.

Ruan Ning closed her eyes slightly, her mental energy contained, as if she were resting. In reality, she was quickly taking stock of the newly acquired items in her space, thinking about how to maximize the value of the "mission items" in her backpack, and how to deal with Shen Yao's possible reaction after returning to the base.

During the trip to the research institute, the roles of hunter and prey were reversed several times.