Chapter 378: Experimental Subjects
Because the dog was too large and eye-catching, Xu Zhi left it at the entrance. She found herself wondering if the dog could freely alter its size once it successfully advanced to the Named rank. Otherwise, walking around with such a massive creature was simply too conspicuous wherever she went.
After the guard left, Xu Zhi used her [Eye of Secrets] to observe the path leading deeper into the laboratory. She noticed that the extraordinary circuits engraved along the way were becoming increasingly precise, intricate, and numerous.
Xu Zhi did not recklessly step into the wide, stark white corridor ahead. Instead, she carefully analyzed and broke down every single circuit within her field of vision. Only after confirming exactly what lay inside did she step forward.
Just as the guard had said, to prevent intruders, a circuit had indeed been set up here to make people unconsciously lose their bearings and fail to find the correct entrance. However, by unraveling the core of the circuit and understanding its operational principles, she easily dispelled the “concealment,” ensuring she wouldn’t be ensnared by it.
Next was a [Magic Suppression Circuit]. To put it simply, within the area blanketed by this circuit, Extraordinaries were stripped of the ability to actively channel their extraordinary powers.
The power itself was still there, but it couldn’t be used.
Yet, after Xu Zhi walked in, her thralls did not disappear, though her [Eye of Secrets] had indeed gone dark.
Perhaps it’s because thralls are technically separate, independent entities?
Aside from these two setups, there were also surveillance circuits in the corridor. However, since she was unable to deploy any extraordinary powers, Xu Zhi naturally left the surveillance circuits untouched.
The [Magic Suppression Circuit] was colossal. Destroying it directly would take quite a bit of time. Furthermore, this circuit was indiscriminate. Under the premise that everyone was barred from using extraordinary powers, Xu Zhi actually felt the situation favored her more.
She was fully aware of all the hazardous zones within the corridor. By avoiding them, she easily bypassed this gauntlet designed for intruders and entered the actual experimentation area.
When Xu Zhi saw a closed, heavy door ahead that evidently required biometric authentication to open, she reached down and patted the Little Mutant in her pocket.
The Little Mutant scrambled out, leapt down from her pocket, and hopped onto the door. It began to grow rapidly. As its size ballooned, a network of seemingly frail rootlets bored into the seams of the door. They expanded continuously, shattering and severing the reinforced door right from its foundation. Thick black roots “broke through the soil” from inside the metal structure, after which the Little Mutant casually pulled its tentacles out one by one as if taking a stroll.
This wasn’t an extraordinary ability of the Little Mutant; it was pure physical instinct.
In that brief span of time, alarms began blaring overhead. Xu Zhi, however, remained completely unperturbed. The guards and the dog would help her hold off anyone trying to break in from behind, and with the [Magic Suppression Circuit] active inside, how could a bunch of researchers possibly pose a threat to her?
The door was forcibly demolished by the Little Mutant. Xu Zhi then walked past the threshold with a calm composure amidst the echoing alarms.
Behind the door lay a completely different sight.
Having heard the alarms, guards armed with specialized firearms had long been lying in wait behind the door. The moment Xu Zhi showed her face, she was greeted by a hail of bullets.
These firearms and munitions were custom-made specifically to deal lethal damage to Extraordinaries within magic-suppressed zones. There were even lasers and several grenades emitting a bizarre radiation.
The weaponry and equipment seemed remarkably comprehensive, but unfortunately, they were of little use.
The Little Mutant’s tentacles lashed out instantly, forming an airtight shield in front of Xu Zhi. Meanwhile, Xiaozhen soared out through the crossfire, and the black cat nimbly leaped past the guards to close in from behind. Even without using their extraordinary abilities, the two thralls took less than a minute to slaughter these heavily armed guards.
Once the gunfire ceased, the Little Mutant used its tentacles to sweep away the thick, drifting smoke before finally opening its protective ring to let Xu Zhi out.
“Well done.”
Xu Zhi praised her thralls.
It really was nice having her thralls around. In the past, she would have had to handle this entirely on her own. Although she couldn’t deploy her extraordinary powers, her self-healing ability and resistances were still functional. While these weapons likely couldn’t kill her, a single lapse in attention could still result in decent injuries that might hamper her subsequent actions.
Having dealt with these guards, Xu Zhi led her thralls toward the actual laboratory.
Very soon, she witnessed a scene that was entirely within her expectations. The underground laboratory was massive. She first walked through several deserted corridors and rooms filled with scattered, messy equipment before finally catching the sound of some chaotic voices.
The voice was roughly berating a companion, demanding why they hadn’t left yet, stating that everyone else had already gathered at the central laboratory, and asking if they wanted to die out here.
It sounded as though anyone who failed to reach the central laboratory would die. This likely didn’t refer to being killed by an intruder. Xu Zhi guessed that this place must possess some sort of automated self-defense protocol.
In his haste, the speaker failed to spot Xu Zhi approaching from behind. He simply grabbed his companion, packed up the last of their things, and rushed down a particular corridor. Xu Zhi quietly followed the two of them. After a few turns, she trailed them right into the so-called “central laboratory.”
Based on the paths she had traversed, Xu Zhi determined that the core layout of this underground laboratory closely resembled a spiderweb. Symmetrical, orderly corridors and rooms branching out in all directions formed various laboratory dorms and workshops, while the dead center of the web was the central laboratory—the place where the secrets were kept.
From a distance, looking through the glass at the end of the corridor, Xu Zhi witnessed a deeply unsettling sight.
She was currently approaching from one side of the central laboratory. This specific “lab” was immensely vast, and what was housed here were rows upon rows of capsule-like “nutrient pods.” Contained inside them were children roughly between the ages of three and ten. Each capsule was filled with a translucent fluid of various colors, which, judging by the hues, was likely liquid saturated with extraordinary energy.
Numerous tubes were inserted into these children for unknown purposes, though it was safe to assume it was nothing good.
Outside each capsule was an electronic screen. Displayed clearly on the screens were crude, undeveloped talent circuits.
In addition to that, there were strings of data and rank evaluations.
Evidently, these children were the experimental subjects, and the nature of the experiment spoke for itself.
While Xu Zhi was observing these subjects, a man walking past in a hurry caught sight of her figure. The very first instant he laid eyes on her, he realized she didn’t belong to this place and immediately backed away to flee.
It was a decisive move, but entirely futile. He was easily intercepted by Xiaozhen. As Xu Zhi drew close, he could only force himself to maintain a facade of composure, questioning her, “Who are you? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
Xu Zhi face was expressionless. “Cut the crap. Tell me if your circuit research achieved a new breakthrough recently, and what exactly it entails.”
The man’s face turned deathly pale. He hadn’t expected Xu Zhi to know about this. But since she did, it meant the situation was severe.
Looking at Xu Zhi’s cold gaze and remembering the notification issued by the supervisor, he immediately begged, “I can’t say. There is a binding oath circuit on me, and I’m just a low-level assistant. I don’t know much anyway. We can’t stay here, people are going to die!”
“How about this? You come with me into the central laboratory. I can point out the person leading this experiment—he’s the one who knows the most. Afterward, you let me go, okay?”
This guy…
Xu Zhi looked at him with surprise, genuinely unable to tell whether he simply lacked any semblance of backbone or if he was merely trying to dupe her.
