Chapter 31 Thirty-one Spirits Behind

The corridor was covered with carpet, which made the footsteps outside sound very insignificant. If the people coming had not been talking, Toru Amuro might have ignored the noise.

"This is terrible. Aren't there other people doing odd jobs? Why do we have to be movers?" One of them said with resentment, "Oh my God, my project has just found a key point!"

"Just be content. It only happens once every two months," another person consoled. "Once these tourists leave, we won't have to pick up the food ourselves."

"Tsk!" The man sneered loudly, "Who knows what the higher-ups are thinking? We are just staying here peacefully... Okay, okay, stop glaring at me. I won't say anything... By the way, do you know who is coming this time? I still want to try to give some advice."

The person who tried to dissuade him remained silent for a while, and kindly reminded him, "Master Gin, please don't do anything stupid."

There is no doubt that in their eyes, asking Gin for advice is like asking for death. The former really gave up the idea when he heard it, and muttered awkwardly: "Why is it Gin again? Forget it."

The two people outside seemed to have walked near the storage room where they were. The spirit behind them in mid-air saw this and squeezed his eyes towards Amuro Toru, then flew through the wall and observed openly.

Relying on her racial advantage, Chijiang Nayue easily saw the attire of the two people outside, and then raised her eyebrows with interest.

White coat?

"Thanks for your self-awareness." The brown-haired man with a haggard face looked quite shrewd. He sighed. From the sound of his voice, this was the more stable person in the previous conversation. "Miyamura, who dared to give suggestions to Gin-sama last time, even the experimental rabbits he was assigned this time were sick. Maybe Miyamura hasn't finished the project yet, and the rabbits will die first. Then he will have to deal with it himself... Alas."

The man next to him had a stubble on his chin, looking rather burly, with a look of schadenfreude on his face: "Is there such a good thing? Anyway, the project of Miyamura is rubbish, so this can be considered as saving resources for the higher-ups."

The brown-haired man nodded in agreement: "Indeed."

Each of them was pushing a small silver cart filled with lunch boxes. The wheels of the cart seemed to have been treated with noise reduction, and there was no sound at all when rolling on the carpet. No wonder Toru Amuro in the utility room couldn't hear it.

When they talked about this, Chijiang Nayue's brows were already tightly wrinkled because of a familiar word.

Afterwards, the two men stood in front of the wall opposite the utility room. The bearded man reached out his hand and skillfully groped on the empty wall for a few seconds. He then pressed a certain brick and clicked a few more times on the invisible keys on that brick.

A metal door slowly opened in front of him, and misty white cold air rushed out from the open gap. The light behind the door also shone on the faces of the two people outside.

"Let's go! I have to go back and continue before the inspiration leaves me!" The bearded man stretched his back and pushed the cart to the door first.

Relying on the fact that she could not be seen, Chi Jiang Na Yue easily passed through the wall that had closed again after the brown-haired man entered the room, and saw the scene inside clearly.

This is a pure white corridor that looks extremely clean, as if someone is always responsible for cleaning it. There are several closed doors on the walls on both sides, with small windows on the door panels.

Chijiang Nayue took a closer look and through the window could see that the rooms were filled with all kinds of familiar research instruments.

At the end of the corridor was a silver-gray elevator - that was probably the real passage leading to the lower floor - the brown-haired man and the bearded man pushed two carts into the elevator and followed them in.

The light outside the elevator came on, the door closed, and they disappeared from Chijiang Nayue's sight.

…

Toru Amuro didn't have to wait long in the utility room. After a while, he saw the smart boy behind him floating back to his side.

"What's going on?" He subconsciously took a step forward, his expression serious, "What about Yue Jun? Is there something wrong?"

"Eh - why do you ask? Actually, I didn't see anything, but now I know how to get to the lower level." Chijiang Nayue waved her hand and said, "It's best to suspend the action tonight. If those who go back are discovered, you will be implicated as well. Come back tomorrow."

That makes sense, but...

"If it's really nothing, can you hold back your murderous aura for a bit?" Amuro sighed, rubbing his arms, and made a helpless joke, "The murderous aura of the spirit behind me is colder than that of Gin. I don't want to be the first person to be frozen to death on this cruise ship."

As soon as he finished speaking, the young man with a cold look in his eyes and expression calmed down like a ball that had been stabbed with a needle, and he obediently put away the murderous aura that filled his body.

"I think I know what the lower level is used for." Chijiang Nayue said slowly, "If I'm right, it's the organization's laboratory."

The hidden laboratories on cruise ships are conveniently used to house researchers who are equally secretive.

In this case, it is obvious to what extent they are committing illegal acts here, right?

At least, Toru Amuro immediately thought of that. His brows were furrowed and his voice was dry: "Human body...experiment?"

"Yes."

The black-haired boy leaned against the wall, his eyes dark, and he pulled the corners of his mouth: "Do you want to guess again, what is the mission of Gin here?"

...to replenish the experimental subjects for the laboratories here.

Toru Amuro understood immediately and couldn't help but ask again.

"But that doesn't mean..."

"Ah, you mean the 'experimental rabbit'?" Chi Jiang Na Yue didn't look at him, and explained to Mr. Undercover in a light tone, "This is normal. There are always times when verbal communication is needed. You always have to pull a fig leaf for your own activities. Besides-"

He raised his head and looked at Toru Amuro, and his words fell heavily in the air: "In their eyes, once the experimental subjects enter the laboratory, they are no longer human beings. Even if they are still alive and kicking, they are just 'experimental rabbits'."

Chi Jiang Na Yue was very familiar with the layout of the small rooms on both sides of the corridor, because he had seen those devices and instruments countless times in the organization's experimental base.

Of course, Chijiang Nayue could immediately understand that the experimental rabbits mentioned by the two researchers actually meant humans, because he had been referred to by such a derogatory term before.

However, this part of the memory is not so gloomy for Chijiang Nayue anymore. After all, the researchers who participated in his experiments and called him behind his back are now covered with grass several meters high.

He is still mostly playing his past self.

Akae Nazuki then smiled at the unpleasant-looking Amuro Toru and pointed her index finger at the ceiling: "Okay, let's go back first."

—

Now that he knows the nature of the lower level, Amuro knows that this is no longer something he can investigate alone. However, in order not to alert the enemy, he cannot contact the police yet and can only wait until he reaches the shore.

And he finally understood why those strange ghost story-like rumors were circulating about the Linorea.

"The lights are on - every day when there are tourists, researchers have to go upstairs to get their meals, so they can only find a time to avoid tourists."

The ghost behind him was sitting on the railing, shaking his legs, counting on his fingers and saying, "There is also the sound of faint music. Being able to hear this at least proves that the sound insulation work on the lower floor is not very good. It is better for tourists to hear the music than to hear the screams of the experimental subjects."

"As for the method of entering there," Chijiang Nayue laughed sarcastically, "the researchers in charge of this part of the organization are usually rotated, and they are all rats in the sewer... Anyway, in order to avoid the need for frequent updates of certification for other methods, this method can only be used."

"They probably didn't expect that this would be a good deal for us." When he said this, his expression finally became cheerful.

“Maybe we need to say thank you to them.”

Toru Amuro, who was leaning against the railing nearby, cleared his throat and held back his laughter.

The little devil's weird skills are growing day by day, and he has to admit defeat.

According to the plan they revised this morning, they still have to go downstairs tonight, but they have to make some other preparations before that.

The corridor they checked was indeed not under surveillance, but Chi Jiang Na Yue, who had passed through that door, found a lot of surveillance probes inside. This meant that if they wanted to sneak in, they had to make some preparations in the daytime and then cover the surveillance of the night operation in real time.

This task was taken over by Akae Nazuki on his own initiative. He could completely help with the invasion and replacement of surveillance by possessing Amuro Toru.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that long-term possession was not good for Amuro Toru, Akae Nayue wanted to say that he could directly use Amuro Toru's body to perform a perfect infiltration - as I said, he is an intelligent killer with rich experience.

Of course, they did not forget their original purpose of coming to the Linorea this time, which was to find clues related to eight years ago from the captain and the deputy captain. However, the answers that the lower level can provide now are obviously more readily available and more likely to be closer to the truth.

After all, they still don't know why Chijiang Nayue boarded the cruise ship at that time, and now it seems that it is very likely related to the laboratory on the lower level.

"Remember what I said yesterday?"

Akae Nazuki suddenly said to Amuro Toru.

Amuro Toru immediately understood that Akae Nazuki meant "go directly to find Gin". He should have refused directly like he did yesterday, but the word "refuse" lingered between his lips for a long time and in the end he did not say it out loud.

He was able to refuse as a matter of course yesterday because when they went to find Gin, they could only find out his mission at most, or use it to deal with various means to deal with Toru Amuro.

But now it is not that simple. They are going to look for Gin now, and what they can learn more about is the laboratory on the lower level and the death of Akae Nazuki who could not escape.

He really didn't want to do that.

Amuro Toru pressed his eyebrows, and the words he said were inflected, but he finally compromised: "Okay."

"Don't worry." Akae's scarf fluttered naturally behind him, as if it was blown by the sea breeze. The sun fell on his face, and he turned to smile brightly at Amuro Toru, as if he was talking to himself, or as if he was comforting the other person, "I don't feel any pain anymore."