Aksay

"Wait, you guys...you guys want to go in?"

The head of the city management department, who had just managed to escape a robbery, opened his eyes wide and couldn't believe it.

Andre: "Yes." He observed the strange look on the supervisor's face and asked, "Why, is there something different here? Or do you know what's going on here?"

The supervisor waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, if you hadn't specifically said today that you wanted to protect this place, we would have always thought that this was just a bunch of dilapidated houses. Normally, no one would notice this remote place where even birds don't shit. Even homeless people and thieves don't come here. I guess when they are demolished and high-rise buildings are built in a while, these dilapidated houses will probably not be able to be saved."

He scratched his head and looked back to confirm that there was indeed no one else except the three of them. He couldn't help but worry: "This place looks eerie to me, so I usually avoid it. Do you want me to send some people in to protect you? Otherwise, what if there is something dangerous inside..."

Andre thought for a moment, exchanged glances with Luo Chen and Xu Cheng, then smiled and refused: "No, thank you, we can go in by ourselves."

The matter of soul evolution has not been clarified yet, and they don't know what is inside Aksai. No one knows whether bringing unfamiliar people in will cause trouble.

Supervisor: “But…”

The grief and anger in his heart was about to turn into reality. He was really afraid that something might happen to these three people. By then, not only would his position be in jeopardy, but even his life might be in danger. Then this day next year would be the anniversary of his death.

Perhaps it was the ever-changing and vivid expressions on his face that touched the "rock-hearted" Andre, and Wang Chu finally mercifully agreed to let them send someone to guard the door.

"From now on, if we haven't come out within a day, you can send someone in to look for us."

The supervisor nodded vigorously, with the words "fulfilled the mission" written all over his face.

...

When she walked into the gate of the Aksai Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Center, Luo Chen discovered that everything here was completely different from what she saw at the door.

The first word she felt was "big". This place was much bigger than she had imagined. From the outside, all she could see were a few shabby houses, but once she walked in and took in the overall view, she realized that this was more like a town than a research center.

On the long-unrepaired dirt road, countless dilapidated houses and small buildings were located on both sides of the road, stretching as far as the eye could see. The wind blew, picking up the fine dirt and sand on the ground, forming a yellow vortex that swirled low between their legs. But apart from the sound of the wind, there was no other sound here, only endless loneliness.

It suddenly occurred to her that exploring the place in one day was a pipe dream.

Andre also felt a little embarrassed, and coughed several times, then said: "I didn't expect this place to be so big, but we should find the core area here as soon as possible and explore it. I think most of the buildings here have been weathered, and I don't think we can explore anything."

His guess was correct.

Soon, they found out why this place was so big.

“Is this a dentist’s office?”

After walking for a while, they finally found a small house that was relatively well preserved and did not seem to be in danger of collapse for the time being, and walked in.

Luo Chen saw a white coat on the clothes rack at the door. On the wall was a huge poster about a dental clinic's promotional activities. There was also a recliner in the room that was obviously used for patients to lie down while seeing a dentist. On the coffee table next to it were several rusty tools.

Xu Cheng: “It looks like it.”

Luo Tan wondered, "So, this is not just a research center? Otherwise, why are there so many living buildings?"

Xu Cheng: "No, this is the research center itself. As far as I know, many research centers for confidential projects occupy a large area. In addition to the necessary facilities and equipment for experimental research, researchers are also equipped with daily auxiliary facilities so that they can focus on their research without any distractions, and they don't even need to contact the outside world."

Andre was very interested: "Oh? I haven't heard of this before, for example?"

"for example..."

Xu Cheng was stunned, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't think of any convincing example.

So strange, where did he know this? In the book, or in the movie where he saved the world?

How come he can't remember anything at all?

He turned to Andre and said embarrassedly: "I may have remembered it wrongly, I..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard Luo Tan exclaim in surprise: "There's actually a rat here!"

What?

The half-finished words were instantly swallowed into Xu Cheng's throat. He and Andre looked towards Luo Chen at the same time. At the door of the small clinic, a little mouse was about to sneak in. The next second, its two small eyes as big as soybeans faced the three of them, and then it squeaked in surprise and ran towards the door.

Luo Tan: "Follow it! There might be food where the mouse is going!"

And where there is food, there may be something special!

What's more——

What if this cute-looking mouse is actually a laboratory mouse? They can follow it directly to the laboratory!

I don’t know how many houses it ran through, but finally, the mouse climbed up several steps and then crawled under the door of a three-story building.

The three people who followed the mouse at an astonishing speed stood in front of the building door, panting and looking at each other.

Luo Chen: "Isn't the door locked?"

Xu Cheng volunteered: "I'll give it a try."

He put his hand on the door handle and pulled it out: "The door is unlocked, great..."

Before he finished speaking, Luo Tan and Andre heard a cough: "Cough cough cough cough!"

"What's wrong with you?"

The next second, Luo Chen and Andre, who had just walked to the door, also burst into similar coughing sounds.

It's really, really annoying!

Decades of pent-up dampness, resentment, and humidity all came together at the same time, impacting Luo Tan from head to toe.

The door of the small clinic was open before, and the air circulation was normal, but here... Luo Tan finally knew what the smell was like from a door that hadn't been opened for decades.

What's more, in addition to the pungent smell of smoke, Luo Chen also smelled a faint sour odor.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak--" The little mouse jumped out, holding a piece of rotten food in its claws that was unrecognizable from its original appearance.

"Is this...the cafeteria?"

What came into view was a spacious cafeteria. Rows of tables and chairs were covered with thick dust. Some tables even had plates that had not been cleared away. The rotten food on them was so unrecognizable that it could no longer be recognized. There was a slightly strange smell.

Andre analyzed: "It seems that they left in a hurry and didn't even have time to pick up the garbage."

The stairs, which had fallen into disrepair over the years, were shaky and unsteady, but they still ventured to climb up a distance. Then, they looked up and found that the two floors above were also cafeterias with the same appearance, and there were also plates that had not been cleared away.

Luo Chen was a little disappointed. She originally thought that the little mouse could lead them directly to the laboratory, but unexpectedly, it actually led them to the cafeteria.

It seems that loving to eat is really the nature of mice!

Just as they were about to leave, Luo Chen caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye: "Wait, what is that?"

Luo Tan blinked hard to confirm that what she saw was real. She said to the other two people in surprise: "This is actually a map!"

Xu Cheng's eyes lit up: "What?"

Andre walked over quickly and said with a smile: "You have a very good eye!"

In fact, it is normal to have an evacuation route map posted at the door of a public place like a cafeteria, but they have seen several yellowed notices and posters in the small clinic and here along the way. They almost need to concentrate to recognize the handwriting on them, and they didn't find any useful information. Therefore, they have turned a blind eye to this kind of posted papers. Unexpectedly, they almost missed the most critical map!

Luo Chen's eyes swept across slogans such as "hospital", "dental clinic", "supermarket", and "hotel", and finally located the word she wanted to see the most - "research center"!

Luo Tan pointed to the location of that place and asked: "Is their research carried out there?"

Andre's expression was relaxed and happy. "It seems that the other buildings should be used for living facilities. I didn't expect that we could find them so easily. It's great. I hope that when we get there, we can find their research results at that time."

Luo Tan was full of confidence: "It will definitely work! We are not far from there now. The research center is in the center of the entire area. We have already walked half the distance! We just need to walk a little further to the northeast and we will be there!"

She reached out and took a picture of the map with her cell phone.

At this time, she noticed a point on the map: "Hey, there is a small door on the side of the cafeteria that leads directly to the kitchen. Should we go and take a look?"

Xu Cheng and Andre agreed to stop by and take a look. After all, since they had already found the location of the research center, they had plenty of time to explore!

They quickly found the kitchen following the instructions on the map.

This kitchen is also very large, separated by a curtain in the middle. One side is the food preparation room, and the other side is hidden behind the curtain, which should be the place for cooking.

Luo Chen's eyes fell on a piece of today's menu posted on one side wall of the preparation room. Ever since she discovered the map, she has paid close attention to these pieces of paper with text on them.

The menu was printed with rows of dish names, but what caught her attention was a line of handwritten words in the blank space below the menu.

The handwriting was not beautiful, and was even a little crooked, so she observed it for a long time before she could barely recognize what was written on it.

She read out, "Professor Xu's child is coming today, so let's order his favorite teriyaki chicken drumstick."

Andre came up and asked with a smile: "What is this?"

Luo Tan: "It seems that the cafeteria uncle wrote a memo to himself?"

Behind them, Xu Cheng was stunned when he heard those words.

Luo Chen shifted his eyes away from the menu and skipped to lift the partition curtain in the middle of the kitchen.

The next second, Xu Cheng and Andre heard a scream that shook the heavens and the earth and made the gods weep: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh——”

"What's wrong with you?"

Xu Cheng broke out of his own thoughts and rushed over in one step.

Andre was not far behind and quickly ran to Luo Chen's side.

Luo Tan opened her eyes wide, staring at the scene in front of her, her chest heaving, and for a moment, she felt her heartbeat had risen to 200 beats per minute.

As she had expected, behind the curtain was indeed the kitchen's cooking table.

But on the cooking table, there was a pot with a spoon stuck in the pot, and the handle of the spoon was firmly held by a hand.

The owner of the hand was standing in front of the cooking table.

It was a skeleton wearing a chef's hat and a chef's robe!