Chapter 33: Weird Specimen Room 2
The elevator stopped at the third floor underground and the door slowly opened. In front of us was a long corridor with heavy metal doors on both sides.
Lu Zhao led them to a large door at the end of the corridor, which had an electronic lock and fingerprint recognition device.
"The permissions here are relatively high," Lu Zhao said, "but I still retain access rights."
He placed his palm on the identifier and then entered a password.
The door lock made a clicking sound and slowly opened.
A cold air rushed out from the door, bringing with it an indescribable smell - a mixture of disinfectant, formalin and some unknown chemical.
"Welcome to the specimen room," Lu Zhao said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice, "Here is where all the evidence from the experiments is kept."
They walked in, with Xiao Ran and Lin Che walking at the end, keeping alert.
Su Wanqing turned on the lighting system, and the lights came on one after another, illuminating the entire space.
This is a huge room with glass cabinets on all sides of the wall. Various specimens are kept in the cabinets - human organs, animal corpses, and even complete human bodies, all immersed in light blue liquid.
Su Wanqing approached one of the glass cabinets, inside which was a mutant mouse with six legs and a scale-like structure on its back.
"What is this?" she asked.
Lu Zhao walked up to her. "First-generation virus infection sample. This mouse survived three days after infection, twice as long as expected."
Su Wanqing moved to the next glass case, which contained a mutant dog with blue markings all over its skin and abnormally developed teeth.
"Look over there," Xiao Ran pointed to the other side of the room, "Are those human specimens?"
Lu Zhao nodded, his expression gloomy. "They are all volunteers."
"Volunteer?" Xiao Ran's voice was full of doubt.
"At least that's what the official documents say," Lu Zhao said. "In reality, most of them were deceived or were prisoners."
Su Wanqing noticed that there was an electronic tag next to each specimen, showing detailed data and date.
"This guy," she pointed to a male specimen in a glass case, "his left arm is completely mutated. It looks like some kind of carapace structure."
Lin Che walked over and looked at the specimen carefully. "This mutation pattern is very special," he said, "It's not random. The virus seems to be modifying the host's DNA purposefully."
"How is that possible?" Xiao Ran asked, "Viruses don't have thoughts."
"This purposeful mutation exists in all samples," Lu Zhao explained, "which is why we suspect that this virus is not of Earth origin."
They continued to move through the specimen room, each glass case housing specimens that displayed varying degrees and types of variation.
Some specimens were less mutated, while others barely resembled humans at all.
"Are these all the research subjects for you and your friends?" Su Wanqing asked Lu Zhao.
Lu Zhao nodded, a painful expression on his face. "We are all scientists on this project, but we don't know the ultimate goal. When we find out the truth, it's too late."
"Where is your friend now?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lu Zhao didn't answer, but walked towards a special glass cabinet in the center of the room.
This cabinet was larger than the others, reinforced with a metal frame on all sides and had multiple layers of warning labels on the front.
"What is this?" Su Wanqing walked closer to the special glass cabinet.
"S-0," Lu Zhao said, "the first sample brought back from the tunnel."
He pressed a button next to the glass case, and the baffle slowly rose, revealing the contents inside - a strange creature preserved in a transparent liquid.
The creature looked like some kind of bipedal creature, but its appearance was different from any known creature on Earth.
Its body is translucent, with its internal organs clearly visible, its skin is covered with blue markings, and there are six asymmetrical eye-like structures on its head.
"This is the original carrier," Lu Zhao said, "and the virus sample extracted from it is the beginning of everything."
Lin Che stared at the creature, his expression becoming extremely focused. He stretched out his hand, activated his water ability, and a thin layer of water formed in front of his palm.
The water film reflects the images of living things and displays various data streams at the same time.
"The virus structure in this creature is extremely unstable," Lin Che said, "It seems to be constantly adjusting itself to adapt to the new environment."
"Can you read its genetic information?" Su Wanqing asked in surprise.
Lin Che nodded. "To some extent. This may be the ability implanted in me by the laboratory."
His expression suddenly became tense. "Part of this creature's DNA structure is extremely similar to humans, with a match rate of about 97%."
"This is impossible," Su Wanqing said, "Except for chimpanzees, no other organism has such a high degree of similarity to human DNA."
“Unless,” Lu Zhao said, “it’s not from another planet, but from another version of Earth.”
The room was silent as everyone stared at the strange creature.
"Another version of Earth?" Xiao Ran repeated, "You mean the parallel universe?"
Lu Zhao nodded. "The goal of the Origin Zero project has never been interstellar travel, but dimensional travel. They believe they have found an Earth that is parallel to our universe, but the direction of evolution there is completely different."
"Why do we need to open the channel?" Su Wanqing asked, "Look at what this brings."
"Resources," Lu Zhao said, "technology, power. The world on the other side of the channel is rich in resources and may have more advanced technology. But more importantly, elemental power."
He pointed at Lin Che. "Your abilities did not appear by chance. According to our research, elemental abilities are related to channel radiation. After the small channel was opened, the radiation spread, causing a small number of people to mutate their genes and gain elemental control abilities."
Xiao Ran kept moving around, observing every corner of the specimen room.
“It’s eerie here,” he said. “It feels like we’re being watched.”
Lin Che also nodded. "I feel the same way."
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"We need to get out of here," Xiao Ran said, "and leave after we get the information we need."
Su Wanqing looked at the S-0 specimen, then at Lu Zhao. "Why do you think they started the ceremony early?"
Lu Zhao shook his head. "Not sure. Maybe it's because they finally gathered enough element holders, or maybe they discovered our actions."
At this moment, Lin Che suddenly raised his head, as if listening to something.
"There's a sound," he whispered, "the sound of metal rubbing against metal."
Xiao Ran immediately put his hand on the gun. "Elevator?"
Lin Che nodded.
"Someone is coming," Su Wanqing said, "We need to leave."
"This way," Lu Zhao pointed to a small door at the back of the room, "Emergency exit, leading to another elevator."
They moved quickly, with Lu Zhao leading the way. On the way, Su Wanqing noticed a small locker with "Personal Belongings" written on it.
"Wait a minute," she said, moving quickly toward the cabinet, which contained several notebooks, some photos, and personal items.
She grabbed two notebooks and some photos and stuffed them into her backpack.
"Okay, let's go."
They passed through the emergency exit and came to another elevator. Lu Zhao swiped his card to start the elevator.
“This elevator will go directly to the ground level,” he said, “avoiding the main corridor.”
The elevator slowly rose, and Xiao Ran and Lin Che stared at the door vigilantly.
"Do you think they will catch up?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lu Zhao shook his head. "Not likely. They don't know we're here. Probably just a routine patrol."
When the elevator reached the ground and the door opened, they quickly walked out of the building and returned to the car.
"What to do next?" Xiao Ran asked, starting the car.
Su Wanqing opened her backpack and took out the notebook she had just taken. "First, find a safe place and read these. Then make a plan."
Xiao Ran nodded, and the car drove away from the nuclear power plant.
In the rearview mirror, Su Wanqing saw the outline of the nuclear power plant gradually disappearing into the night.
Her jade bracelet vibrated again, as if reminding her of something.
"Tomorrow night," she whispered, "we only have one chance."
There was silence in the car, everyone was immersed in their own thoughts.
Lin Che looked out the window with a complicated expression. Xiao Ran was driving attentively, occasionally looking behind him through the rearview mirror.
Lu Zhao closed his eyes, as if recalling something.
Su Wanqing opened the first page of the notebook, on which was written a line of words in neat handwriting: "If anyone finds this notebook, please stop them from opening the passage. No matter what the cost."
(End of this chapter)
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