Chapter 151: Arrival

It was impossible to tell when this abandoned factory had first begun undergoing modifications. After entering through the main gate, there was only a single path leading straight to the innermost depths.

Along the way, the six of them were intercepted by all sorts of bizarre obstacles—mutated animals, genetically altered humans, and laser beams. If all of these had been set up within a single week, Mei could not help but marvel at the enemy's efficiency!

However, faced with increasingly stronger enemies and this game-like obstacle course of intercepts, Mei and the others felt extremely annoyed, as if they were being played with.

"Truly courting death!" Mo Chen muttered coldly after finishing off a half-human, half-machine monster, flicking the blood off his blade.

If the country A people had unleashed all the forces under their command right from the start, Mei's group would have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers and unable to break through the defense lines easily. Instead, the enemy chose to disperse their personnel, sending out no more than ten opponents at a time, which made every breakthrough effortless for them.

"I really don't know if they're overly confident or just completely dismissing us," Lin Shaojie couldn't help remarking.

"The door ahead should be the final one. What the country A people are plotting, we'll find out soon enough!" Mei looked at the metallic door not far away, a chilling glint flashing in her eyes.

She wanted to see what kind of trump cards the enemy still held that made them so confident as to toy with the six of them like this.

Easily bypassing the password lock on the door, it swung open, revealing a remarkably spacious and brightly lit room.

A desk, a chair, a computer, and a person. Other than that, there was nothing else in the room, which spanned three to four hundred square meters.

"Welcome, everyone! You've had a hard journey. Please, take a seat!" A blond man with gray eyes greeted them with a smile from behind the desk. He tapped his fingers a few times on the keyboard in front of him, and suddenly six circular holes appeared on the floor. Immediately after, six silver semi-circular metallic chairs rose from the ground and slid automatically in front of Mei and her companions.

Yet the six of them merely glanced at the chairs, none of them intending to sit down.

"Are you the boss of the final level?" Mo Chen asked slightly tilting his head, the corners of his eyes lifting in a slightly wicked expression.

"You could say that. But I prefer people calling me Doctor!" The man crossed his hands and placed them on the desk, introducing himself unhurriedly.

"You knew we were coming all along?" Mei asked, looking at this so-called Doctor.

"Indeed!" he admitted generously, casually revealing to Mei and the others, "Not only that, I even know why you came here. You were the one who breached our database initially, weren't you? What a lovely little angel!"

He gazed at Mei, emitting a sincere expression of admiration, a burning light in his eyes.

"Oh? Is that so? Then tell me, why exactly did we come?"

"I thought you'd ask how I found out. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to know who betrayed you?" he asked, looking at Mei with growing interest.

Mei stared at him for a moment before speaking: "Since you're so eager to show off, I'll indulge you. Tell me, how did you know we were coming?"

The man chuckled. It was clearly he who had kindly and proactively offered to clear their doubts, yet now it had somehow turned into satisfying his desire to show off?

"Very well, thank you for giving me this opportunity to show off! This person here is someone you should all be quite familiar with!" He tapped his fingers lightly, and a photo projection suddenly appeared on the wall to his right. The person in the photo was someone Mei and the others knew extremely well.

It was none other than Xiao Keren—the one with dual elemental abilities, a special spatial storage, and overwhelming luck, whom Qu Wen媛 had always referred to as the original female protagonist!

In the photo, Xiao Keren was looking up slightly at the person beside her, her expression deeply focused, her face carrying the innocence and shyness of a young girl.

Mei had seen such an expression on her before; in the past, Xiao Keren frequently wore this exact look when gazing at An Ziyou. However, the person beside her in the photo was obviously not An Ziyou.

In other words, had she changed the object of her affection?

"What did she tell you?" Mei masked the thoughts swirling in her eyes and asked.

"You don't seem surprised, nor disappointed. Can you tell me why?" Seeing her reaction exceed his expectations once again, his interest in Mei deepened further, prompting him to ask.

"You talk way too much! Are you trying to buy time?" Seeing the man constantly answering questions with counter-questions, Mei frowned slightly, her tone growing impatient.

"Of course not! I just want to understand you a bit better. After all, we probably won't have another chance to chat so calmly in the future! How about this, let's exchange questions. We'll take turns asking, and the other party will answer. What do you say?" the man proposed, clearly reluctant to end the conversation just like that.

Mei thought for a moment and finally nodded. "Does what you asked just now count as a question?"

"Naturally it counts!"

"She's not my friend, and there's no personal bond between us. Why on earth would I be disappointed?" Mei replied matter-of-factly.

"You mean you never trusted her to begin with?" The man raised an eyebrow, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Are you trying to break the rules?" Mei said indifferently.

"Ah, my apologies. Please go ahead with your question!" He made an apologetic gesture and waited for Mei's query.

"Where is the energy source?" Mei didn't hesitate, cutting straight to the point.

"It seems you know a great deal! The energy source is right here, of course. In fact, everything related to the zombie virus research is right here. Otherwise, how could we be so certain you would come?" He didn't evade the question, delivering the answer readily.

As for the extra details he included, was it because he was convinced that the few of them wouldn't succeed today?

Besides, he apparently didn't know as much as she had assumed!

Mei raised an eyebrow slightly, analyzing the underlying meaning of his words.

"Can you tell me what method you used to get here in just three days?" she asked her second question.

"Driving! Since you had no idea when we would arrive, how on earth did you manage to set this place up so thoroughly in such a short amount of time?"

"This place was modified by us long ago. Regardless of whether you hacked our database or not, we would have relocated here anyway. The only difference was a matter of timing!" he explained dismissively, before making another request: "May I have the honor of seeing that vehicle of yours? I am genuinely curious about a vehicle with such extraordinarily high performance."

"Can I take a look at the energy source? I'm quite curious about the thing capable of causing genetic mutations!" Mei slyly posed her own question before answering his.

After all, the rules hadn't stated she couldn't do that!

"Heh, you cunning little thing. If I say no, does that mean you won't satisfy my curiosity either?" Instead of getting angry at Mei's obvious loophole exploitation, the man simply burst into laughter.

"Take a guess!" Mei still refused to answer him directly.

"Alright, it seems if I don't give you an answer, you won't reply either. The energy source is right here; if you want to see it, I'll let you have a look!"

His fingers danced across the keyboard, and the floor opened up once more, revealing a silver cylindrical pillar rising from the underground. At the very top of the pillar, a black crystal rested beneath a transparent glass dome.

Found it at last!

Feeling that familiar energy fluctuation, Mei felt a wave of relief accompanied by a surge of excitement!

Judging by its size, this piece of the Dark Source should be the complete remainder!

She hadn't expected the people of country A to possess such a massive fragment of the Dark Source; no wonder they had managed to cause such a massive commotion.

"Since you're so generous, how could I possibly be petty? A'ye, take the energy vehicle out and show it to him!" Mei said, simultaneously shooting a glance at Ye Jingxuan.

Receiving her cue, Ye Jingxuan stepped forward in silence, raised a hand, and the energy vehicle instantly materialized inside the room.

Having never seen a vehicle of such peculiar shape before, the man couldn't help but leave his seat and walk over to inspect it closely.

"Is this a hover vehicle? What is the power source? Do the symbols on it carry any special meaning? What material is the body made of? I've never seen anything like this before!" he muttered to himself as he examined it.

While his full attention was riveted on the energy vehicle, Mei silently approached the pillar holding the Dark Source. Gathering dark-type energy at her fingertips, she slowly corroded the transparent dome above it.

The dome's purpose seemed solely to isolate energy radiation, offering virtually no resistance against corrosion. Within mere seconds, Mei's fingers pierced through the cover.

Yet the exact moment her finger penetrated the barrier, a plume of white mist instantly surged out from the opening she created, rapidly spreading through the entire room.

"Ah, ah, ah, my little angel, why are you in such a hurry? I still wanted to chat with you a bit longer! Oh well, too late now!" Amidst the mist, the man's voice sounded genuinely regretful.

Then, he snapped his fingers. The mist was quickly evacuated, and immediately afterward, Mei and the others saw that the room had somehow filled with a large number of people!

"Is this your backing? Do you honestly believe these people can keep us here?" Mei asked, her expression unchanged as she looked at the thirty-odd mutated beings that had suddenly appeared around them.

"Of course! With the two of you stripped of your abilities, these people are more than enough. Rest assured, I won't kill you! You will become my most perfect experimental subjects, true transcendent warriors!" As he spoke, the man's expression turned fanatical!

"The thing I hate most in this lifetime is being used as a test subject! Originally, I only planned to take the item and leave, but now, hand over your life as well!" Mei toyed with the Dark Source fragment for a moment, stored it away in Cyril's spatial storage, and then cast an icy gaze at the man.

"Children who talk big really aren't cute at all! Did you think the white mist just now was merely for obscuring vision? That's our newly developed drug capable of stripping away people's abilities simply through skin contact! Holding your breath won't help either. Now that you've lost all your abilities, can you still hope to fight my experimental subjects?" The man shook his head, looking dissatisfied with Mei's failure to grasp her current situation.

At this, Mei wore a sarcastic smile. Just as she was about to speak, a massive explosion echoed from outside, and the ground shook violently a few times.

Immediately after, a wave of mental fluctuation transmitted directly to Mei's wrist.

*Little sister, I've come to pick you up!* (To be continued.)