Chapter 211: Yongsheng Pharmaceutical Foundation (17)

Chapter 211: Yongsheng Pharmaceutical Foundation (Seventeen)

"Zhu Ning, I'm in so much pain." Cao Wei's voice sounded so genuine, he pleaded bitterly, "Help me, please help me."

Cao Wei said, "I know what you want to ask. I found the key documents for the experiment. Take me out, and I'll give them to you right away."

Zhu Ning's hand trembled. It was too real, exactly the same voice, with human emotions, and even knowing they were looking for the documents.

If this was the real Cao Wei, she might have mistakenly killed her own teammate.

After calming down for a moment, Zhu Ning asked, "Where did you find them?"

"The laboratory," Cao Wei answered immediately, "We entered a very strange laboratory, where the truth about Divine Descent lies. Really, I am Cao Wei. Please take me away; I don't want to die here."

Cao Wei didn't want to die, his emotions were completely genuine, and he might have struggled like this before his death.

Zhu Ning lost her sight, she was almost driven mad by this state.

She longed to open her eyes and see clearly who was in front of her, the desire had already surged up.

Zhu Ning understood why Dr. Fu had gouged out his own eyes. He had known early on that the eyes were the gateway. When he first saw the ghostly shadows, he must have wanted to close his eyes, but the contaminated area kept inducing him, making it impossible to control not opening them.

Now, even Zhu Ning felt this urge, wanting to gouge out her own eyeballs.

"Mental health decreased by 5%"

Don't imagine, everywhere is a trap, can't open your eyes, can't imagine.

Her legs stiffened, only regaining her senses after hearing the system prompt. She moved her legs woodenly, continuing forward.

Seeing Zhu Ning move, Cao Wei shouted, "Don't go! Zhu Ning, don't go!"

Zhu Ning dared not continue talking to him. This path must be correct. If the contaminants were inducing her to open her eyes, it proved that an attack could only be made through the eyes.

Cao Wei said, "Please, don't go, don't leave me here alone..."

Zhu Ning knew Cao Wei. The first time they met, he mocked Li Nianchuan for being a cleaner. After the Mechanical Oceanarium incident, he openly admitted his abilities.

He was straightforward and outspoken, always without ill intentions, valuing brotherhood heavily.

When the Gray Eagle team members were killed, Cao Wei was willing to enter the contaminated area, risking his life to uncover the truth.

Zhu Ning had seen him mock others, seen him show off, seen him act tough.

But she had never seen him beg.

A person as proud and arrogant as him, if he really had to die, might have acted coy, waving them away: "I'm dying, you guys go ahead!"

He might have said, "Take revenge for the Gray Eagle team when you get out."

Unfortunately, Zhu Ning had no chance to hear Cao Wei's true last words, because the contaminants behind her kept using his voice to plead, "Zhu Ning, Zhu Ning, save me, don't let me die here..."

She gritted her teeth and moved forward silently, Cao Wei's pleas lingering like a curse.

Cao Wei should already be dead, and Zhu Ning couldn't change that.

For the first time, she witnessed the cruel face of the contaminated world. The dead suffered, and the living could not find peace.

Zhu Ning had no choice but to carry the pain of her fallen teammates forward.

To uncover this damn truth, they had already sacrificed two people, only to receive vague information.

In that instant, she understood the investigation team sent to Floating Sand Island by Bao Ruiming years ago, only one survivor bringing back an insignificant barnacle shell.

The lives of investigators and demon hunters were too cheap.

With two lives weighing heavily on her, Zhu Ning's steps grew heavier, Cao Wei's voice still echoing in her ears, making her doubt whether it was just her hallucination.

Perhaps she had gone mad long ago, without even realizing it.

Suddenly, Zhu Ning's hand touched something. There was an obstacle ahead, she had finally reached the end of the corridor.

Zhu Ning felt like walking in a fog, encountering a high wall. She reacted for a moment, pulling herself out of Cao Wei's pleading cries.

At the end of the corridor seemed to be a door.

This was the end, possibly the laboratory Cao Wei mentioned. Zhu Ning's hands searched, eager to open the door quickly.

What should have been a simple action of opening a door became her greatest enemy at this moment; she couldn't find the doorknob.

She searched for a while, growing increasingly frustrated, almost wanting to remove her helmet and open her eyes, then remembering she had a system interface.

"Use the universal key?"

Zhu Ning clicked yes. In this eerie underground hospital, the existence of the system gave her a bit of security.

The door creaked open. She remained silent for a moment before choosing to open it.

She couldn't see what was behind the door, unable to judge the danger. Zhu Ning stepped inside, the door closing behind her.

Entering the room, Zhu Ning felt a different kind of panic.

Complete unknown fear. She had a rough idea of the places she had walked through before, but here, she had no concept at all.

How big was this room? What was it used for? Were there more doors inside?

Without eyes, even if there were clues here, she couldn't see them, how could she deduce the truth?

Closing her eyes was a means, but now it seemed to merely delay the speed of death. She couldn't live like this forever.

Zhu Ning changed her approach. She stood still and used her Metal Manipulation ability.

The room was filled with the tinkling of metal objects. The computer on the desk, the chair, and the equipment all trembled before gradually settling down.

There were metallic objects.

Zhu Ning's Metal Manipulation range was twenty meters. She couldn't sense what these objects were specifically, only their size.

It seemed to be some kind of laboratory with various instruments.

Like a blind person feeling an elephant, Zhu Ning slowly pieced together a rough idea in her mind, but it remained vague.

After she put down the metal object, she heard a thud, followed by a faint moan.

In a state of complete uncertainty, even the slightest sound could trigger a reaction. Zhu Ning immediately went into combat readiness, wary of any unknown attacks.

"Zhu Ning..." she heard a voice calling: "Is that you, Zhu Ning?"

Someone called her again; this time it was Chu Ling's voice. Zhu Ning didn't dare respond. The contaminated area was too cunning; she wouldn't fall for the same trap twice.

"It really is you," Chu Ling said, whether crying or laughing, "you finally came?"

Before Zhu Ning could react, Chu Ling continued: "I have the data. Take it and leave. We're probably not getting out of this place. Tell them the Gray Eagles did their best."

Zhu Ning felt a lump in her throat at these words. Chu Ling kept talking, saying they had entered the lab and found the original data. There was nothing else here, urging Zhu Ning to leave quickly and not worry about her.

As she listened, Zhu Ning felt that Chu Ling sounded very real, but then she doubted it, unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

She interrupted Chu Ling, asking, "Where are you?"

Chu Ling: "In the cabinet ahead. Cao Wei put me in there. I sensed your Metal Manipulation just now."

Chu Ling had been waiting to die here. She shut down her other functions, entering a hibernation state, prepared to stay if she couldn't get out, deciding to preserve the data while sleeping, waiting for the next group to come in.

But she sensed Zhu Ning's Metal Manipulation. Being a mechanical being, she woke up quickly.

Zhu Ning closed her eyes and tried to use Metal Manipulation to sense. She felt the lab like a blurry, vast net spreading out.

After struggling for a while, Zhu Ning found a cabinet on the left side. It must have been used to store experimental materials, a cold storage unit, and a chill hit her as she approached.

Feeling around, Zhu Ning soon touched Chu Ling's head, which was covered by a protective helmet, encased in a layer of frost.

Continuing downward, she expected to feel a body but instead touched a shelf.

Chu Ling was just a head, placed in the cabinet.

"Cool, right?" Chu Ling said, "I'm the team's hard drive. They said, even if the end comes, if my head is cut off, the aliens will find the data in my brain."

Chu Ling's head had been completely mechanized, with an anti-contamination membrane inside her brain, so she didn't need to wear a helmet; her core wouldn't be infected.

Chu Ling's tone was light, but Zhu Ning wasn't.

Chu Ling's level of mechanization was high; she could lift a truck. Being reduced to just a head was a sign of utter despair.

Chu Ling: "Cao Wei is dead."

Zhu Ning lifted her head, saying, "I know, I... I saw him."

"He died heroically," Chu Ling's voice choked, "I don't know what he was trying to prove, leaving me here. If I saw you, I was supposed to give you the data. I'm glad we met; I can die in peace now."

Holding Chu Ling's head, Zhu Ning felt a strange sense of security despite the eerie nature of the situation. "You won't die. Did he say anything before he died?"

Chu Ling: "Yes, he told you to avenge the Gray Eagles."

With the addition of the Leopard Team, both teams' grudges were now on Zhu Ning's shoulders.

Zhu Ning: "I don't even know if I can get out."

Chu Ling: "Then forget it."

Zhu Ning almost laughed, "Are you being too casual?"

"I don't want to pressure you," Chu Ling said, "just remember to take my brain out."

She seemed exhausted, lacking energy in her speech. Zhu Ning hurriedly asked, "Why did you come down without leaving a signal?"

"We did," Chu Ling sighed, "we sent you a message when we found the underground entrance. You didn't reply, so Cao Wei said to go down first and explore. Once we descended, the signal was completely lost."

Zhu Ning: "That's when the human-machine interface failed."

"Yeah," Chu Ling said, "I didn't know at the time. I thought you were just busy and couldn't reply. I left markers along the way. Did you see them?"

Zhu Ning: "No."

They had only found a warning sign at the observation post, which now seemed unlikely to be from Chu Ling and Cao Wei.

Zhu Ning: "Did you leave footprints when you came in?"

"Footprints?" Chu Ling: "We didn't see anything. What footprints?"

Zhu Ning's heart sank. That meant the worst possibility: someone had followed Chu Ling and Cao Wei in.

Was it a contaminant? Or a lurking killer?

Killers usually lay in wait deep within, looking for the perfect moment to strike.

Chu Ling also understood the severity of the situation, asking, "Is there someone else in this contaminated area?"

Zhu Ning nodded, it was highly likely. If this was a trap, they would ensure no one could escape.

Given Yongsheng Pharmaceutical's style, they might leave no survivors.

Zhu Ning couldn't see and felt danger lurking everywhere; that person could strike at any moment.

Zhu Ning asked, "How did you and Cao Wei survive?"

Why wasn't Chu Ling contaminated?

The story was too long, so Chu Ling only highlighted the key points, "After we came in, we were attacked. The hospital is full of monsters, like shadows, they can rush over with just a blink."

"We found a pattern, we couldn't blink, but it's hard to resist," Chu Ling didn't want to elaborate on Cao Wei's specific death, "And later, the things you imagined would become real. Something came out of Cao Wei's brain, he knew he couldn't survive, so he drew the fire to his own death."

Zhu Ning felt oppressed listening to this, as if Chu Ling had sketched out the last moments of Cao Wei's life in just a few words.

Like Zhu Ning, Cao Wei was infected internally. To avoid hindering Chu Ling, he made arrangements for her and then left.

Zhu Ning changed the subject, "How did you ensure you weren't contaminated?"

To be honest, Zhu Ning, holding Chu Ling, didn't know what state Chu Ling was in. Was she also blind?

"I?" Chu Ling smiled bitterly, "I've been mechanized."

Zhu Ning was taken aback but quickly understood the meaning of those words. Except for one leg, which remained human, everything else about Chu Ling had been mechanically modified.

Humans can't control their blinking frequency, but machines can, as long as the program settings are adjusted.

Chu Ling could die with her eyes open, her door could remain closed forever.

Zhu Ning couldn't see, but Chu Ling could.

Zhu Ning experienced the true meaning of 'surviving against all odds' for the first time, as if a blind person had been given a pair of eyes.

Zhu Ning asked, "What's around us now?"

She couldn't see and desperately wanted to know what was in the room.

"I suggest you don't know," Chu Ling paused, "The room is full of shadows, right next to you."

While they were talking, someone had been standing inside the room, staring straight at her.