Chapter 149: Underground Entrance in the Ruins
"It's back! It's back!"
Su Wanqing and Lin Che looked at her at the same time. The girl's face was full of fear, her body was shaking, and she kept repeating this sentence.
"It? What's back?" Su Wanqing walked up to the girl, squatted down, and tried to comfort her. "What are you talking about? Can you tell me?"
The girl shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "I... I don't know... I just feel... it's back..." She couldn't express what she meant exactly, she just cried helplessly.
Su Wanqing felt a splitting headache. The identity of this girl made her more and more confused.
Who is she? What is the connection between her and the pendant? "Lu Zhao, speed up the investigation of this girl's identity and make sure to find out her origins." Su Wanqing said, her voice full of seriousness.
"I understand." Lu Zhao replied.
Su Wanqing turned and looked at Lin Che. "Help me get the pendant."
Lin Che handed the pendant to Su Wanqing. He could feel a slight vibration coming from the surface of the pendant, which was so slight that it was almost imperceptible.
Su Wanqing took the pendant and looked at it carefully. The surface of the pendant was still smooth and delicate, without any abnormality, but she could feel that a strange energy wave was surging in it.
"This thing... is becoming more and more wrong." Su Wanqing muttered to herself.
She made up her mind. "For safety reasons, we must isolate the pendant for observation. Lin Che, find a lead box and seal the pendant."
“Yes,” Lin Che replied, and he immediately took action to look for a suitable container in the warehouse.
"Lu Zhao, I have something to deal with. You continue to monitor the movements of the rebels." Su Wanqing said.
"Got it." Lu Zhao replied.
While Lin Che was looking for the lead box, Lu Zhao's voice came again, and this time his tone was a little shocked.
"Su Wanqing, there's something unusual going on here. The virus data on the RV... spontaneously showed coding anomalies!"
"Coding abnormality?" Su Wanqing asked.
"Yes, the system seems to be automatically modifying the data. I tried to restore it with the old system, but found some fragmented information of the laboratory signal response left in it."
Lu Zhao replied, "This information seems to be related to the fluctuations of the pendant and the state of the girl, but the specific meaning needs further analysis."
Su Wanqing's heart skipped a beat. Virus data, laboratory signals, pendant fluctuations, the girl's condition... these seemingly unrelated information seemed to be secretly connected together to form a huge conspiracy.
"Lu Zhao, stop the restoration immediately, keep the original data, and don't destroy any information."
Su Wanqing said, "At the same time, speed up the analysis of this information and make sure to find out the connections between them."
"I understand." Lu Zhao replied.
Lin Che brought a heavy lead box, and Su Wanqing carefully placed the pendant in it and locked the box.
The lead box was heavy and cold, completely isolating the pendant from the outside world.
“Let’s handle it this way for now.” Su Wanqing said, her eyes swept over the girl and Lin Che, “We must find out the truth about the pendant and the identity of this girl as soon as possible. Otherwise, we may be in danger at any time.”
The girl was still curled up in the corner, sobbing non-stop. Lin Che stood aside with a solemn expression, as if he had sensed a bad premonition.
Su Wanqing stood in the middle of the warehouse, looking at the lead box with deep eyes.
"The lighting equipment is ready. Lu Zhao, come up and check the power system here." Su Wanqing's voice echoed in the slightly narrow underground passage.
She walked in front, the searchlight in her hand illuminating the front, and dust flew in the beam of light.
"I understand." Lu Zhao's voice followed closely. He was holding a portable detector and scanning the surrounding walls and ground.
"The structure here is very strange, like an underground space built by humans, and it is not small in scale."
The passage in front suddenly opened up and a huge space appeared.
There was a musty smell in the air, as well as a faint odor of disinfectant.
The entire area had been without electricity for a long time, but Su Wanqing discovered that some large equipment was still connected to backup power cords and the plugs were still plugged into the wall.
"Backup power supply?" Su Wanqing looked at the equipment with a hint of doubt in her mind.
"This shows that this place was once very important, or at least the operators thought it needed to be ready to start at any time."
Lu Zhao walked to a huge metal instrument, the surface of which was covered with complicated wires and pipes.
"I scanned it. The purpose of this machine is unknown, but it requires a lot of power and is equipped with multiple safety protection systems."
"Continue scanning and see if we can find some clues." Su Wanqing said, her eyes falling on a room at the end of the corridor.
The door of the room was closed, and there was a strange symbol engraved on it, which looked like a triangle wrapped in a spiral.
"That logo..." Lu Zhao frowned. "I seem to have seen it somewhere, but I can't remember where it is."
Xiao Ran walked to Su Wanqing and propped up the wall with his hands. "The walls here are very solid, much stronger than the buildings on the ground."
He tried, but found that he could not break the wall by brute force.
"Don't waste your energy. Let's see if we can find other entrances first." Su Wanqing said.
At this moment, Lin Che suddenly stopped and his expression became a little strange.
"There's something wrong ahead...
"What's wrong?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lin Che did not answer immediately. He just slowly raised his head and looked forward.
His eyes became somewhat empty, as if he had seen something unknown.
“That place… is very dangerous.” Lin Che’s voice was very soft, but full of warning.
"I... felt it."
Su Wanqing frowned. "Danger? What danger?"
Lin Che shook her head. "I don't know, but there's a... disturbing atmosphere there."
He paused, then said, "Try to stay away from there."
Su Wanqing ignored Lin Che's warning and decided to go and see for herself.
She walked slowly to the end of the passage, approaching the room step by step.
"Sister, be careful." The girl's voice suddenly came, and she grabbed Su Wanqing's sleeve tightly.
Su Wanqing gently patted the back of the girl's hand. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
When she walked to the door of the room, Su Wanqing found an electronic lock on the door.
Lu Zhao walked over and tried to crack the electronic lock.
"This lock is very complicated and requires a verification code." Lu Zhao said.
"I'll see if I can get around it."
Lu Zhao began to operate on the portable computer, trying to crack the electronic lock.
However, as he was cracking the code, the surrounding lights suddenly flickered and then went out.
"What's going on?" Xiao Ran asked.
"The electronic lock triggered electromagnetic interference, activating the backup power supply."
Lu Zhao said. "It seems there is some kind of emergency mechanism here."
At this moment, roars suddenly sounded in the passage. A large number of zombies rushed in from all directions, rushing towards Su Wanqing and her group frantically.
"Oh no! Zombies!" Xiao Ran shouted, and then quickly went into a frenzy state. His body began to swell and his skin turned red.
He swung his huge fist and smashed at the zombies rushing towards him.
"Su Wanqing, hold on!" Xiao Ran yelled.
Su Wanqing immediately raised her arm, and a faint light emanated from the jade bracelet, forming a translucent barrier that enveloped them.
The zombies crashed into the barrier, making dull sounds.
“Lin Che, use your water abilities! Slow down the zombies’ movements!” Su Wanqing ordered.
Lin Che nodded, slowly raised his hands, and a purple light flashed in his eyes.
A stream of water gushed out from his hands, covering the rushing zombies.
The zombies' movement speed slowed down significantly. They struggled in the water and were unable to move forward quickly.
"Clear the passage!" Su Wanqing said. "We need to find a safe shelter as soon as possible!"
In a frenzy, Xiao Ran was like a human tank, constantly ramming the zombies rushing up and knocking them away.
Lin Che used his water-related abilities to continuously slow down the zombies' movements, creating conditions for Xiao Ran.
Under the cover of Xiao Ran and Lin Che, Su Wanqing and Lu Zhao began to clear the rubble and debris from the passage.
Xiao Ran's strength was very strong. He easily moved a large amount of rubble and cleared a deeper exploration passage.
"Be careful!" Su Wanqing reminded Xiao Ran. "Don't over-consume your energy."
Xiao Ran curled his lips. "Don't worry, I can still hold on."
Just as they were clearing the passage, the girl suddenly let out a terrified scream.
She covered her ears tightly and whispered repeatedly: "These are not them... These are not them..."
"What's wrong?" Su Wanqing asked.
The girl didn't answer. She just shook her head and hid behind Su Wanqing, trembling.
Su Wanqing tried to comfort her, but the girl kept covering her ears tightly and refused to let go.
"These places... they don't like it here..." The girl's voice was soft, but full of fear.
Lu Zhao was scanning the surrounding walls and equipment, and suddenly he stopped.
"This... seems to be a cooling room," he said. "The nameplate above has a high-security level logo, which suggests that this may be related to the virus control project."
Lin Che suddenly stopped again, a painful expression on his face.
"There is a very dangerous aura ahead...," he said.
"Let's...don't get close."
Su Wanqing frowned. She knew that Lin Che's night personality rarely appeared on its own initiative. Once it appeared, it meant that something very dangerous was about to happen.
"We have to be more careful." Su Wanqing said. "This place may be more complicated than we thought."
She looked into the depths of the passage again, feeling uneasy.
"Lu Zhao, try to open this door." Su Wanqing pointed at the metal door at the entrance of the warehouse. The surface of the metal door was covered with complicated circuits and flashed a faint red light.
"Be careful, you don't know what's in there."
Lu Zhao walked to the door, took out a small cracking device from his backpack, and connected it to the control panel beside the door.
"This lock is a bit complicated, with multiple encryptions. It will take time." He began to operate the cracker, and complex codes kept scrolling on the screen.
"Time is a bit tight." Su Wanqing glanced around, "We don't know how many zombies are inside, so we'd better open it as soon as possible."
"I'll try my best." Lu Zhao concentrated his attention and tapped his fingers quickly on the cracker.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounded and the entire warehouse began to shake.
"Oh no! The door lock triggered electromagnetic interference and activated the security system!"
Almost at the same time as the alarm sounded, a low roar came from the warehouse door. Then, countless zombies poured out from the crack in the door and rushed towards Su Wanqing and his group like a tide.
"Get ready for battle!" Su Wanqing quickly raised her arm, and the jade bracelet on her wrist emitted a dazzling light. The light quickly spread out, forming a translucent light curtain that enveloped Su Wanqing and others.
The range of the light curtain is still expanding, trying to block the influx of zombies.
“Lin Che, use your water abilities! Slow them down!” Su Wanqing shouted at Lin Che.
Lin Che nodded, his eyes slightly closed, purple light flickering in his eyes.
He stretched out his hands and waved them lightly. A huge stream of water gushed out from his hands, wrapping around the rushing zombies like a long snake, greatly reducing their movement speed.
"Xiao Ran, charge forward! Clean up this garbage!" Su Wanqing shouted.
Xiao Ran roared angrily, his body swelled up rapidly, his muscles bulged like rocks, and his skin turned red.
He rushed into the zombie horde as fast as lightning, swinging his huge fists, and each punch could knock several zombies away.
"Be careful!" Su Wanqing reminded Xiao Ran, while also adjusting the range of the light curtain to ensure that it could cover the entire team.
The girl was so scared that she hid behind Su Wanqing, covering her ears with her hands and whimpering.
"So scary... So scary..."
Su Wanqing gently patted the girl's back and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, we are here."
While comforting the girl, she adjusted the formation, placing the girl between herself and Lin Che, making sure she had protection in front and behind.
“These zombies… there are too many of them!” Lin Che controlled the water flow, his face pale.
He could feel that his superpowers were being depleted rapidly.
"Hold on, Lin Che!" Su Wanqing encouraged. "We must hold this position!"
In the chaos, Lu Zhao still did not give up on cracking the door lock, but at the same time he was also recording the numbers on the warehouse equipment. He found that these numbers seemed to overlap with the data of the laboratory's initial project.
"These numbers are very interesting." He muttered to himself, "Perhaps they hint at some key research direction."
He tried to analyze these numbers using a portable computer, but there were so many zombies around that he had no time to take care of them. He could only record the information with difficulty while avoiding the zombies.
"Su Wanqing, report!" Lu Zhao shouted loudly.
"What's the matter?" Su Wanqing asked, using a light curtain to block a wave of zombie attacks.
"I recorded some equipment numbers. Preliminary analysis shows that they overlap with the data of the laboratory's initial projects. They may be clues to the research direction." Lu Zhao said quickly.
"Remember these numbers and analyze them as soon as possible." Su Wanqing responded.
In a frenzy, Xiao Ran was like a destructive machine, constantly knocking away the zombies that rushed towards him.
He moved swiftly and with incredible strength, but even so, he was unable to stop the continuous influx of zombies.
"These zombies... seem to be endless!" Xiao Ran said, panting.
"Don't let up! Keep fighting!" Su Wanqing shouted.
She noticed that the energy of the light curtain was being consumed as time went on.
If the light curtain's energy is exhausted, they will be in extremely dangerous situation.
Suddenly, the girl screamed and grabbed Su Wanqing's sleeve tightly.
"They...they are coming!"
Su Wanqing lowered her head and saw that several zombies had broken through Lin Che's water barrier and were about to rush in front of them.
She immediately increased the energy of the light curtain to keep the zombies out.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." Su Wanqing comforted the girl softly, while adjusting the formation to protect the girl behind her.
“These zombies… they are lingering.” Lin Che’s voice was filled with a hint of despair.
"We must find a way to get rid of these zombies, otherwise we will be overwhelmed by them sooner or later." Lu Zhao said.
"Is there any way?" Su Wanqing asked.
"I don't know." Lu Zhao shook his head. "The structure of this warehouse is very strange. We can't find an effective breakthrough at all."
At this moment, the door of the warehouse suddenly shook again. Then, more zombies poured out from the crack of the door and rushed towards them like a flood.
"Oh no! They are about to break through!" Xiao Ran shouted.
Su Wanqing gritted her teeth, concentrated all her energy, and increased the energy output of the light curtain.
The brightness of the light curtain suddenly increased, illuminating the surrounding area.
"Hold on!" Su Wanqing roared.
The light curtain was shaking violently, barely holding off the zombies' attack.
However, Su Wanqing knew that the energy of the light curtain was being consumed rapidly.
If they don't find a solution soon, they will be in dire straits.
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