Chapter 52: Unexpected Discovery
Xiao Ran carefully pushed open the iron door, and the light from outside made the four of them squint their eyes.
They had already climbed several hundred steps and their leg muscles ached.
"It looks like it should be the exit of some kind of maintenance passage," Xiao Ran said softly, "but we are still inside the building."
Outside the iron gate was an empty corridor. The light tubes on the ceiling flickered faintly, illuminating the closed doors on both sides. At the end of the corridor was a fluorescent green exit sign.
"We should go in that direction," Lu Zhao said, pointing at the exit sign. "According to the map, it should lead to the ground floor."
The four were about to take action when they suddenly heard the sound of metal colliding in the distance.
“Someone is coming,” Lin Che said vigilantly, “We have to find a place to hide.”
Su Wanqing quickly looked around and found a vent above her head.
“We can go from there,” she said, pointing to the vent. “I can sense it leads quite far.”
Xiao Ran jumped up without saying a word and removed the metal cover of the vent.
Lu Zhao took out a portable tool from his backpack and assembled it into a simple footrest to help everyone climb up.
“Hurry, the sound is getting closer,” Lin Che urged, crawling into the ventilation duct first, then reaching out and pulling Su Wanqing up.
Lu Zhao and Xiao Ran followed closely behind. Xiao Ran was the last to enter. He carefully put the cover of the vent back in place. The four of them lay in the narrow duct, holding their breath.
After a while, footsteps and voices were heard in the corridor.
"Are you sure the signal came from this area?" asked a deep male voice.
"Yes, the system shows that someone has entered the backup control room in Area B," another voice replied, "All data has been accessed."
"Damn, did they get the information?"
"Not sure, but the backup system has initiated the automatic destruction procedure."
The footsteps gradually faded away, and the four of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"They know we took the information," Lu Zhao whispered, "We must leave here as soon as possible."
Lin Che led the way in front. The ventilation duct was winding and sometimes forked. Every time they reached a fork in the road, Su Wanqing would choose a direction based on her intuition.
"Left," Su Wanqing pointed to the pipeline on the left and said, "It feels safer over there."
They crawled along the pipe on the left, which was narrower than the previous one. The four of them had to crawl completely prone, their knees and elbows constantly scraping against the rough metal surface.
After crawling for about twenty minutes, Su Wanqing began to feel tired.
Her arms were sore and her knees ached from the prolonged friction.
Just then, the ventilation duct in front of her suddenly emitted an ominous sound of metallic fatigue.
“Be careful,” Lin Che warned, but it was too late.
With a loud bang, the metal plate under Su Wanqing's feet broke. She screamed and fell down.
“Wanqing!” Lin Che shouted and immediately crawled towards the fracture.
Su Wanqing fell from a height of about two meters and landed on a tiled floor.
Her knees hit the ground and she gasped as a sharp pain came over her.
"Su Wanqing, are you okay?" Lin Che's voice came from above, and his face appeared at the entrance of the broken ventilation duct.
"I'm fine, I just scraped my knee," Su Wanqing replied, looking around, "This is some kind of laboratory."
Without saying a word, Lin Che jumped down from the ventilation duct, followed closely by Lu Zhao and Xiao Ran.
The four found themselves in a closed space. The room was not large, but was very compactly arranged.
The walls are covered with various charts and photos, a lab table is placed with a laptop and various instruments, and several glass cabinets are filled with test tubes and petri dishes.
"Where is this place?" Su Wanqing asked, trying to stand up, but staggered because of the pain in her knee.
Lin Che immediately supported her, "Don't move, let me see your injury."
He squatted down and carefully rolled up Su Wanqing's trouser leg, revealing her scraped knee.
The wound was not deep, but it had begun to bleed.
"Fortunately, it's just a superficial wound," Lin Che said, taking out a clean handkerchief from his pocket and gently bandaging Su Wanqing's knee. "This should stop the bleeding."
"Thank you," Su Wanqing said gratefully.
At the same time, Lu Zhao had walked to the experimental table and looked at the laptop.
"This computer looks new," he said. "It may still be in use."
Xiao Ran checked the door lock of the room vigilantly. "The door is locked from the outside, but it looks like no one has been in this laboratory for a while, and there is a layer of dust."
Lu Zhao turned on his laptop, the screen lit up, and a password was required to log in.
"Let me try," Lu Zhao said, his fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard, "I'm familiar with this type of security system."
Lin Che helped Su Wanqing stand up, and the two began to check the information posted on the wall.
There were some experimental data charts and micrographs, as well as some handwritten notes.
"These are virus research materials," Su Wanqing said in surprise, pointing to a chart, "This records the changes in virus activity at different temperatures."
Lin Che carefully examined another photo. It was a microscopic photo of a human cell infected by some substance. The edge of the cell showed abnormal blue fluorescence.
“These photos were taken three months before the outbreak,” Lin Che pointed out, “proving that they had been researching the virus for a long time.”
Xiao Ran walked to a filing cabinet and began to look through the documents inside. "Here are some paper files that might be useful."
"I'm in!" Lu Zhao suddenly shouted excitedly, "I cracked the password and entered the system."
The other three immediately gathered around and looked at the file directory displayed on the screen.
"What are these?" Su Wanqing asked.
"Experimental log," Lu Zhao quickly browsed the file name, "from four years ago to a few days before the virus outbreak."
He clicked on the most recent file, and a paragraph of text appeared on the screen: "Subject 7 showed the expected immune response to the modified T-27 virus strain, and vital signs are stable.
Experimental subjects No. 12 and No. 15 have shown abnormal symptoms, and the cell mutation rate has exceeded expectations. The experiment needs to be terminated immediately and the samples need to be processed. The latest progress will be reported to the headquarters tomorrow, and we look forward to obtaining more experimental resources. "
"This is simply horrible," Su Wanqing said softly, "They are using people as experimental subjects."
Lu Zhao continued to search through the files and suddenly stopped in front of an encrypted video file. "What is this?"
Lin Che took a closer look and said, "The file name is 'T-27 Final Test'. It should be an experimental video."
Lu Zhao tried to open the file, but the system required a higher level of permission.
"Let me try," he said, and began to crack the code again.
At the same time, Xiao Ran found a thick folder in the filing cabinet, which was full of experimental reports.
"Here is more information about virus experiments," Xiao Ran said, flipping through the pages quickly. "They call this virus the 'T series', and the goal is to develop a viral vector that can recombinant human DNA."
Lin Che walked to the drawer of the lab table and began to search the items inside.
In the bottom drawer, he found a USB flash drive with the company logo on it.
“Look at this,” Lin Che picked up the USB drive and showed it to the others, “The logo on it is ‘New Era Biotechnology’, the same as what we saw in the file before.”
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Su Wanqing recognized the logo, "This is the company behind 'Shadow'!"
Lin Che handed the USB drive to Lu Zhao and said, "You can try connecting it to the computer and see what's inside."
Lu Zhao took the USB drive and inserted it into the computer's USB port. The system automatically recognized the device and displayed the files in the USB drive.
"Oh my god," Lu Zhao said in amazement, "There are a lot of research data and video files in here."
He clicked on a video file and the screen showed a white laboratory with a researcher in protective clothing standing in front of a transparent isolation cabin.
Sitting in the isolation cabin was a young man who looked nervous.
"Experiment Log 27-B," the researcher said into the camera. "Observation of the volunteer four hours after injection of the T-27 virus."
The camera turns to the man in the isolation cabin, and he begins to show abnormal symptoms: his skin turns pale, his eyes become bloodshot, and his breathing becomes rapid.
"Blood pressure increased, body temperature 38.5 degrees," came the researcher's voice, "and reaction speed increased by 20% compared to the previous sample."
The following scene made everyone gasp: the man suddenly began to twitch violently, his eyes turned a strange yellow, and his teeth seemed to become sharper.
He began to bang against the walls of the isolation chamber, roaring like a wild beast.
"Perfect." The researcher's voice sounded unusually excited. "This is the effect we wanted. Now let's start the second phase of testing."
The video ends here, and the four people look at each other, too shocked to speak.
"This confirms our guess," Lu Zhao finally broke the silence, "The virus is indeed man-made, and the purpose is to create these variants."
"But why?" Su Wanqing asked puzzledly, "Why would you deliberately create such a disaster?"
Lin Che shook his head. "It may be related to the 'Biological Reset Project'. They seem to think it is some kind of evolutionary process."
Su Wanqing walked over to a pile of scattered documents and began to look through them. Suddenly, a document labeled "Ultimate Goal of the Project" caught her attention.
"Everyone, look at this," she said, picking up the document. "This may be the key." The document began: "Human evolution has stagnated for thousands of years, and natural selection can no longer push us forward. Through the T series of viruses, we will screen out individuals with high-quality genes, and they will become the starting point of the new human race. Only after biological reset can humans break through their own limitations and embrace the next stage of evolution."
"They treat this as some kind of evolutionary experiment," Su Wanqing said in shock, "thinking that only a few people are qualified to survive."
Xiao Ran continued to flip through the notes in his hand. "There are some records about carriers of special genes mentioned here," he said. "Some people are naturally resistant to viruses and can even gain superpowers."
“Just like us,” Lin Che said, “This also explains why some people gain elemental abilities after being infected.”
Lu Zhao hurriedly operated the computer and copied all the information he could find into the USB drive. "We have to save this evidence. The data in the computer may be remotely deleted at any time."
Lin Che began to check the layout of the laboratory, looking for a possible exit.
He found a small door half-open in a corner of the laboratory.
"Where does that lead to?" He walked over, pushed open the small door, and found a narrow passage inside.
“This looks like a maintenance passage,” Lin Che said, taking out a flashlight and shining it. “There is a staircase at the end of the passage, which may lead to an underground garage or other exit.”
Lu Zhao finished copying the data, unplugged the USB drive and put it away. "We have to go. We have been delayed here for too long."
Su Wanqing stood up, and the pain in her knee had eased a little.
Lin Che came over and supported her.
"Can you walk?" he asked concernedly.
"I can walk," Su Wanqing nodded, "It's much better than before."
Xiao Ran packed up a few important paper documents and stuffed them into his backpack. "Take these with you. They might be useful."
"Let's go," Lu Zhao said, "Let's leave through the maintenance channel and try not to alarm anyone."
The four of them carefully passed through the small door and entered the narrow maintenance passage.
The light in the passage was dim, with only Lin Che's flashlight providing a weak source of light.
They made their way along the passage, hoping to find a safe way out.
Lin Che walked in front, the flashlight illuminating the road ahead. Su Wanqing followed closely behind. Although her knees still hurt a little, it no longer affected her walking.
Lu Zhao and Xiao Ran stood guard at the back to make sure no one was following them.
Sure enough, at the end of the passage there was a staircase leading upwards. It looked like no one had used it for a long time, and the stairs were covered with a thin layer of dust.
“This should lead to somewhere on the ground floor,” Lin Che said softly, “We have to be careful.”
He had just stepped onto the first step when he heard a muffled sound in the distance.
The four of them immediately stopped and held their breath.
"It came from the direction we came from," Xiao Ran whispered, "Maybe someone discovered that the laboratory was invaded."
"We have to speed up," Lu Zhao said, "but keep it quiet."
The four of them quickened their pace and climbed up the stairs, trying to make each step as light as possible. Despite this, their heartbeats seemed particularly obvious in the silent passage.
(End of this chapter)
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