Chapter 209 The Threat of the Third Floor
The monitoring signal on the main console was rolling with heat source warnings. Lu Zhao lowered his voice and said, "The third core is in the underground energy research area. The map shows it is in the deepest part."
Su Wanqing uttered a muffled sound, slowly took off her sweaty gloves, and zoomed in on the map. "The elevator has completely stopped, and all the main lines have been cut off, leaving only one maintenance passage."
"Let's try at the stairs." Lu Zhao hid the backup chip in his inner pocket, checked his backup power supply and pistol again, and stood up.
Su Wanqing tightened the waterproof belt of her protective suit, looked up and said, "You can only take the emergency stairs. It will take about 20 minutes to go down. Don't stop."
They pushed open the iron door behind the sign and entered a spiral stairwell that was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
There was thick dust under our feet, and there were deep shoe prints every two steps, mixed with a dry fishy smell.
Lu Zhao raised the flashlight and when the light shone on the wall, he saw a mess of scratches.
The marks were in a mess, some of them looked like they were left by a person with all his strength after his fingernails broke off.
“They can disguise themselves.”
Su Wanqing lowered her head and used the flashlight to see more crooked words below. "Ignore anyone who is talking."
A cold wind blew in from the stairwell. Su Wanqing took a breath and continued to go down.
As they turned the corner, the two stepped on a broken piece of badge with the "Department of Energy" logo remaining on it. Lu Zhao kicked it away with the tip of his shoe.
"The third floor seems to have been completely sealed before. It's all blood, and most of it must have been dried for a long time.
There is no sound around now, something is wrong." Lu Zhao continued in a low voice.
“The main passage light strip was broken in half, so we could only rely on the corridor lighting.
If we go on like this, we will only have the jade bracelet and the emergency kit to rely on." Su Wanqing looked at the jade bracelet and confirmed that it was still silent and had no abnormal fluctuations.
The two quickly reached the second and third platforms, where only a broken gas helmet and a rusty transport truck were left.
Just as he was about to go down further, a red warning light suddenly lit up.
The security light boxes at the four corners of the platform flashed repeatedly, several laser lines crisscrossed and fell, and the temperature in the stairwell rose suddenly.
The ceiling slider was pushed open, revealing two automatic defense turrets. The gun barrels were driven by mechanical arms and slid towards the two people.
The alarm system broadcast repeatedly: "Biological contamination alert, unauthorized genetic pattern detected, cleanup procedures initiated."
Lu Zhao pursed his lips and rushed directly behind the nearest stair corner shelter, saying loudly: "There should be a lock-up process in sixty seconds, and we must go through it."
Su Wanqing turned around, hid behind a fallen metal plate, and looked down at the jade bracelet. It was still completely silent, without any energy prompts.
The only thing we can rely on is the short countdown on the big screen and the gap after the laser scanning is interrupted.
"You count as I move, and I'll be in front." Lu Zhao took out the signal jammer from his sleeve and tried to temporarily block the laser path. "I'll try to block the two beam ports, and you go to the left along the wall."
The moment he pressed the start button, the two laser beams were cut off, and Su Wanqing quickly rushed to the entrance and exit of the next platform.
The defensive turret reacted extremely quickly, three red lines swept towards her feet, and the metal floor was instantly covered with scorch marks.
Su Wanqing held her breath, seized the blind spot in the flamethrower, and waited for Lu Zhao to move to her side during the defensive gap.
The two men were one step apart, and every time they moved forward a few feet, the laser behind them would brush against the corners of their clothes and shoot out dust.
Just before the countdown reached zero, the last security zone malfunctioned temporarily. The two men struggled to get through the gap in the thick hatch on the third floor, and the defense system behind them made a mechanical locking sound.
After entering the third-floor passage, all external lights slowly went out, leaving only an emergency light occasionally flashing overhead.
The fresh air smelled thin, and there was no wind deep in the corridor. The water on the ground reflected the deformed lines.
Lu Zhao slowly took off the dusty mask, breathed in, raised his hand to press the wound and said, "Look there."
Su Wanqing looked in the direction of his hand and saw a figure standing against the wall a few meters away. He was wearing a white researcher's coat and leaning stiffly against the door frame with his back to the light.
The doorplate reads "Energy Experimental Area Control", but the light cannot reveal the details.
Lu Zhao asked tentatively: "Are you the maintenance worker here?"
The figure still did not move. Su Wanqing thought for a moment and asked, "The building has been evacuated. Why haven't you left yet? Do you need help?"
As soon as the words fell, the figure suddenly turned around strangely. His face was painted with cracked paleness, and the area below the tip of his nose was covered with a network of black blood vessels.
His eyes were fixed on Su Wanqing and Lu Zhao.
At that moment, there was a suppressed sense of danger in the air. Su Wanqing was stunned, but the jade bracelet did not show any energy fluctuations.
Lu Zhao whispered, "It can shield the energy field, the bracelet has no reaction."
The "person" in front of him suddenly raised his hand, imitating the same gesture as the researchers in the base, but his movements were stiff and distorted at an inappropriate time.
Su Wanqing took a step back, and Lu Zhao pulled her, "Let's go!"
The mutant suddenly accelerated, rushed forward with twisted steps, and spread his arms.
Lu Zhao pushed the pistol against the other party's chest, but was slapped away by the other party.
The gun flew to the corner of the wall, and the monster took advantage of the situation to raise his hand and grab his shoulder.
Lu Zhao gritted his teeth and hooked the monster's wrist with his elbow. The monster was too strong and dragged him back.
Su Wanqing rushed forward and hit the monster's wrist with the jade bracelet, but there was no energy response.
The monster was able to fluently imitate the human movements of blocking, grabbing and parrying with their hands, and there was not a single weird roar from beginning to end.
"It can use tools!" Lu Zhao shouted, and picked up an experimental iron rod lying on the ground and swung it towards the monster's leg.
The monster suddenly stopped moving, and actually started to pick up the stick in the same way, completely copying Lu Zhao's movements, pressing forward step by step.
Su Wanqing seized the opportunity, stepped on the back of the monster's hand, used the force to pull out the hidden knife, and slashed the monster's arm fiercely.
Black blood flowed out, but the monster ignored it and continued to reach out to drag Lu Zhao into the shadows.
A long cut was torn on Lu Zhao's shoulder, and the blood quickly soaked his sleeves.
He yelled, "Bracelet!"
Su Wanqing stared at the jade bracelet. As her breathing rose and fell, the jade bracelet suddenly became extremely hot.
Then, a blinding blue energy barrier exploded, sending the monster two meters away.
The air was filled with the stench of burnt flesh. The monster fell to the ground and twitched a few times. After turning over, it began to imitate Lu Zhao's crawling posture and fled into the depths of darkness.
Su Wanqing quickly squatted down and checked Lu Zhao's wound. Seeing that he could still support himself, she handed him a piece of disinfectant cloth.
"They are different from the zombies I encountered before. They are too smart. They know how to escape and can actively imitate."
"The bracelet's energy reaction is stronger than before, but it only lasts for a moment. I don't know how much energy is left." Su Wanqing wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
Lu Zhao rubbed his arm: "They can shield the energy waves of the virus. Most detection equipment may be fooled by them."
Su Wanqing stared at the jade bracelet, but saw a surge of blue light on the surface of the bracelet, casting a misty blue light uncontrollably.
The light pointed straight at a closed laboratory at the end of the corridor.
The entire passage was pitch black, with only that soft blue line suspended in the air without any movement.
Lu Zhao stood up by holding the wall. "Is it leading the way?"
Su Wanqing was not sure, and whispered, "We can only follow it. If we stay where we are, we will only run into those things again."
The two of them walked forward, following the blue light of the jade bracelet, and gradually entered the long corridor.
After passing a bend, I saw another unmarked experimental door. The blue line bent and focused here, illuminating the faint green light at the edge of the door.
When pushing the door, the jade bracelet suddenly lit up a blurry image, and a female researcher in a white coat appeared in the center of the void, looking extremely flustered.
She leaned against the wall and recorded the message in a selfie-like manner: "If you can see this, it means the reset has begun... The third core is the lock and the key... We must not let them collect all seven..."
Before the video ended, there was a slight noise of metal friction and something being dragged coming from behind the door.
The blue light suddenly disconnected and the image collapsed and disappeared.
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