Chapter 259: Fusion Experiment

A few minutes later, three figures in white coats pushed the young man from the adjacent room out of the room.

Jian Changsheng had been secretly observing them. Throughout the entire process, the young man showed no sign of resistance, lying quietly on the pristine white sheets as if awaiting his death. As the door closed, he was left alone in the empty room.

Or rather, a mushroom.

Upon seeing this, Jian Changsheng immediately flipped off the bed. However, the moment his feet touched the ground, he collapsed onto his knees with a thud.

A profound sense of weakness spread from his legs, as if someone had drained his strength. Jian Changsheng braced himself against the bedside with one hand, struggling to stand up from the floor, and frowned at the IV drip bag attached to him.

"Is this what's causing it?" Jian Changsheng pulled the needle directly out of the back of his hand.

He took several deep breaths by the bed. After a long recovery period, he finally regained some strength and cautiously moved to the door, peering outside through the small glass window.

Outside was a white corridor, lined on both sides with numerous identical rooms, which also appeared to be where test subjects were housed. He couldn't see further than that. Jian Changsheng looked up at the clock on the wall, and Chu Muyun's words echoed in his ears again:

"When you two enter the base separately, you will certainly be on different floors. Especially you, Xiao Jian. Test subjects are valuable materials for the base, so you will most likely be on the third floor, not too far from Aurora Lord's location."

"You can try to find Aurora Lord first. If you succeed, seize the opportunity to leave and head to the upper level for Red Heart to meet you. If you don't find him, wait for the right moment, then coordinate with Red Heart to infiltrate the lower level and let him search for Aurora Lord."

"Since you'll be on different floors and unable to use any communication devices, you'll essentially have to fight individually. Your only means of communication will be 'time'."

"The Aurora Base is deep underground, so there's no concept of sunrise or sunset; clocks will be everywhere. You should use a two-hour interval as a benchmark to attempt a rendezvous. The meeting point will be the passage between the test subject floor and the upper level. Generally, this area has the tightest security, so Red Heart might not be able to pass through alone."

"Due to too many uncertainties within the base, if you haven't completed the mission after 12 hours, abandon all operations and begin your withdrawal."

Nearly an hour had passed since entering the Aurora Base.

In another hour, it would be the agreed-upon time for their first rendezvous. Jian Changsheng hoped to find Aurora Lord before then, which would allow them to complete the mission and withdraw safely within two hours.

He had to act now.

Jian Changsheng cautiously opened the door and crept along the wall towards the other end of the corridor. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the rooms on either side; through the glass panels on the doors, he could see figures lying on beds.

"What... what in the world are these things?" Jian Changsheng's pupils contracted slightly as he clearly saw the forms of those figures.

The rooms near theirs were relatively normal; at least the occupants on the beds could be identified as human, though their arms were either swollen like the trunks of ancient trees or strange, eerie tentacles had sprouted from their bodies. Further down the corridor, in the deeper rooms, the 'things' lying there no longer resembled humans at all.

Some were viscous, black substances that seemed both liquid and solid. Others were green creatures with nine arms. Still others were covered in mysterious runes, their bodies seemingly defying gravity, plastered spreadeagled against the ceiling like motionless corpses.

These rooms were located deep within the facility, suggesting that the test subjects inside had been there for a long time. Even Jian Changsheng, who had weathered many storms, couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle at the sight.

"What exactly are they researching? Fusers?"

"But aren't Fusers considered 'heretics' hunted by the Nine Domains? For years, the Fuser faction has been universally condemned, like rats in the street... Is the Aurora Base actually conducting fusion experiments in secret?"

A silent shock filled Jian Changsheng. He continued deeper into the corridor, where he found a series of laboratories.

Substantial silver metal doors completely separated the laboratories from the corridor. Several different radiation and biohazard symbols were affixed to the doors. There was no glass for Jian Changsheng to see inside, but as he passed the entrances, he could hear intermittent sounds emanating from within the labs: heart-wrenching wails at times, chaotic shouts at others, and then strange, low growls from unknown creatures.

Jian Changsheng grew more certain of his judgment. He didn't stop here but continued forward, the numbers on the laboratory doors decreasing as he went deeper.

Laboratory 12, Laboratory 11, Laboratory 10...

When Jian Changsheng reached the end of the corridor, Laboratory 1 was right beside him. Just as he wondered where Aurora Lord might be, a massive glass screen appeared around the corner. It was a hemispherical main control center, filled with undulating machines he didn't understand, seemingly monitoring various data points.

Inside this laboratory, two or three figures in white coats were seated. Some were dozing, others were cracking sunflower seeds.

Beyond the colossal glass screen was a pitch-black space. If one walked up to the glass and looked down, they would see a massive stasis chamber standing at the bottom. Countless intricate pipes snaked around it, all ultimately connected to the chamber's surface, resembling a steel heart connected to innumerable blood vessels.

On the wall of that dark space, a large, crimson number '0' was clearly visible.

"Laboratory 0?" Jian Changsheng's eyes lit up.

Jian Changsheng now understood clearly. The immense glass screen before him was an observation center suspended on the second level of the true Laboratory 0. From here, equipment could monitor the stasis chamber's status while preventing anyone from making direct contact with it.

"Is the one in the stasis chamber Aurora Lord?" Jian Changsheng mused. "So Aurora Lord's true body is actually on the lowest, fourth level... but the research personnel can only monitor the stasis chamber from the third level and don't have permission to approach Aurora Lord."

"Elder Chu said that to collect the agents from the stasis chamber and analyze their composition, one would need to get close to it in person... Ultimately, he still had to find a way to enter the fourth level."

Jian Changsheng's gaze fell on the opposite side of the observation room, where a passage leading to the fourth level lay before him. At first glance, there were no signs of security or protective measures; it was unremarkable, like an ordinary section of a corridor.

"Time is almost up. I need to act quickly," Jian Changsheng's eyes showed determination.

"For this mission, I, Spade 6, must take first credit!"