Chapter 127 Rescue Plan Begins, The First Step of the Rescue

Chapter 127: The Rescue Plan Begins – First Step

Basement Level 12 appeared much more ordinary, with fewer people and seemingly normal experimental projects. Yu Xing stepped out of the elevator, observing that everyone on this floor was engrossed in their work, paying her little mind.

She quickly scanned her surroundings, noting the presence of surveillance cameras.

However, she reasoned that with so many floors and cameras in the research center, the monitoring staff might not be focused on this particular level. Moreover, with the chaos unfolding on Basement Level 22, most attention would likely be diverted there.

Yu Xing was taking a gamble, betting that Basement Level 12 was currently overlooked.

Her plan was as follows: as a specter, she possessed two abilities – possession and phasing through walls. The floor below, Basement Level 13, was where her grandmother was supposedly located. She could use her spectral form to pass through walls and observe the situation downstairs.

There was only one problem: while her spectral form allowed her to pass through walls, it did not grant invisibility. Ordinary people could still see Yu Xing in this state.

Therefore, Yu Xing had to proceed with extreme caution, striving to avoid detection.

She exhaled softly and slipped into the restroom.

A short while later, a woman lay unconscious in one of the restroom stalls, while a bone-chilling specter materialized within the room.

Once in her spectral form, Yu Xing decided to test her abilities. She lay on the floor and phased her head downwards, through to the floor below.

The research center’s floors shared similar layouts. Since Yu Xing was in the restroom, the corresponding area downstairs would also be a restroom. As her head emerged, she saw the restroom below.

Her current vantage point… was akin to the proverbial "chandelier view."

The restroom downstairs was quiet and empty. Yu Xing waited for a while, but no one appeared. She wondered if people on this floor never needed to use the restroom.

Just as she was muttering to herself, she heard footsteps above.

*Crap! Someone’s coming!*

Yu Xing quickly retracted her head. If she didn't, someone would soon enter the restroom and discover a headless female ghost sprawled on the floor. Such a shocking sight would undoubtedly spread like wildfire throughout the research center, perhaps even becoming a local urban legend.

After pulling her head back, Yu Xing swiftly hid in a nearby stall.

A moment later, someone pushed the door open. The person first tried the stall next to Yu Xing’s, found it occupied, then tried Yu Xing’s stall – also locked.

"Strange," the person muttered outside. "Who came to our floor to use the restroom?"

Taking advantage of the moment the person entered another stall, Yu Xing flattened herself against the wall and slipped out.

Thankfully, the walls here were quite thick. Half her body remained concealed within the wall, and her semi-transparent form made her difficult to notice without close inspection.

Yu Xing moved along the wall and entered the first laboratory. It was empty, save for a large machine emitting a steady "beep, beep, beep."

Yu Xing thought, *Luck is on my side!* She immediately lay down again, repeating the same action as in the restroom, phasing her head through the floor.

Peeking into the room below, Yu Xing saw another laboratory. However, instead of machines, it contained ten soldiers. They sat rigidly, weapons in hand, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

The sight, paradoxically, put Yu Xing at ease. The presence of so many soldiers on Basement Level 13 indicated its importance, indirectly confirming that her grandmother was indeed there.

Since her grandmother wasn't in this laboratory, Yu Xing retracted her head and moved along the wall to the next one.

The next lab contained only a small machine and a desk, where a female researcher sat, engrossed in writing.

Yu Xing circled behind the machine, using it as cover, then lay down and phased her head through the floor again.

This time, the room below was not filled with soldiers, but several young men and women in casual clothes. Among them, Yu Xing recognized Su Wenmo.

Now Yu Xing understood: this lab was occupied by Divine Chosen.

Su Wenmo, still sporting smoky eye makeup and a cigarette dangling from her fingers, was idly toying with it, looking bored.

Someone beside her asked, "I heard you know Yu Xing?"

Su Wenmo remained silent.

The person pressed on, "Is that Yu Xing really that powerful?"

"How should I know?" Su Wenmo replied irritably. "Why am I even here? I didn’t want to come…"

Yu Xing retracted her head, a slight pang of melancholy hitting her at seeing a familiar face. Since her grandmother wasn't in this laboratory either, she continued her search.

In the next laboratory, four people were gathered, discussing something. Yu Xing listened for a few moments but couldn't understand a word.

With so many people around, it was difficult to act discreetly.

However, she quickly came up with a good idea. Since she could phase through walls, why not hide directly inside a desk? By overlapping her body with the desk, she wouldn't have to worry about being discovered, especially since the desks here were large.

The office desks were spacious, with ample drawers and cabinets underneath – more than enough to conceal Yu Xing.

Seizing the moment when the four were distracted, she scuttled across the floor like a cockroach and swiftly slipped into the desk.

Just as she entered, she heard someone say, "Huh? Did something just zip by?"

"What?" another person asked.

"Just… something white," the first person said, glancing around but seeing nothing.

"Are you seeing things because you didn’t sleep last night?"

"Maybe…"

Yu Xing breathed a sigh of relief and continued to lie on the floor, phasing her head downwards.

This laboratory was quite spacious, with only one person inside. It was a petite woman in her twenties, dressed in simple black athletic wear, her hair tied in a ponytail. She sat alone in the lab, not interacting with any terminal, but simply sitting upright, eyes closed, as if meditating.

Yu Xing stared at her for a moment. Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes and looked up towards Yu Xing’s position.

*Oh crap!*

Yu Xing jumped, quickly retracting her head. *Was I spotted? No, probably not… I pulled back fast enough.*

Still, the woman’s keen senses truly startled Yu Xing. She had only stared for a moment, and the woman had already sensed something?

Yu Xing learned her lesson, no longer daring to stare at anyone.

As she prepared to move to the next laboratory, she heard someone near the desk say, "Don’t you guys feel really cold?"

"I do. Is the air conditioning set too low?"

"It’s freezing! Someone turn up the heat!"

Amidst their conversation, Yu Xing moved to the next laboratory.

Yu Xing found a good spot, lay prone on the floor, and poked her head through. With just one glance, Yu Xing’s eyes were fixated.

It was a small laboratory, filled with instruments of various sizes. In the center was a bed, where a white-haired old woman lay quietly.

Yu Xing gazed at the old woman. Even in her spectral state, her nose burned and her eyes welled up.

*Grandma… I’ve finally found you.*

Grandma lay on the bed, either unconscious or asleep. She had wasted away significantly since they last parted, her body gaunt and skeletal.

She was connected to various instruments by tubes, and the monitors beside her displayed her vital signs.

Besides Grandma, there were two women and a man in the laboratory, all observing the numbers on the instruments.

Seeing this, a surge of anger rose within Yu Xing. When they had parted, Grandma had been perfectly fine – how had she ended up like this?

Her hands unconsciously clenched. After watching Grandma for a long while, Yu Xing calmed herself. She retracted her head and lay on the floor of Basement Level 12, mentally reviewing her plan. She was ready. She was going to rescue Grandma.

Meanwhile, in the command center.

Miao Nianzhen exclaimed, agitated, "What? You’ve been experimenting on living people?!"

Secretary Wang nervously leaned back, raising his hands. "Please, don’t be so agitated. Our experiments were approved by the Federation; they are completely legal…"

"How could the Federation possibly approve such experiments?" Miao Nianzhen refused to believe it. "They are human beings! Living, breathing people! They are all citizens of the Federation!"

"If you don’t believe me, I can show you the approval documents." Secretary Wang wiped sweat from his forehead. He detested dealing with these Divine Chosen; they were all so crude, always resorting to violence.

"The immediate priority is to capture that girl," Secretary Wang said, his expression turning fanatical. "Didn’t you see it earlier? That girl displayed abilities – she used lightning. That’s… a power only the Divine Chosen possess. We succeeded. We’ve successfully created a Divine Chosen!"

His words instantly ignited the entire command room. Bai Lujun grabbed Secretary Wang by the collar and lifted him off the ground.

"What did you say?" Bai Lujun’s voice was laced with barely suppressed fury. "You’re artificially creating Divine Chosen?"

Miao Nianzhen also reacted, her face paling. "How could you do this? Divine Chosen are gifts from the gods to humanity. What you’re doing is blasphemy against the Moon God!"

The Divine Chosen’s aura was overwhelming, and Secretary Wang’s face turned ashen with fear.

Yet, he still didn’t believe he was in the wrong. Instead, he tried to persuade the others, "What’s wrong with what we’re doing? The world is riddled with pollution, and the number of Divine Chosen is far from enough. We need more, many more Divine Chosen! Relying solely on the Moon God’s blessings is too slow. Do you have any idea how few new Divine Chosen are born each year?"

He grabbed Bai Lujun’s hand, his pale face flushing red with excitement, his voice sharp with fervor. "But now it’s different. We can artificially create Divine Chosen. Soon, Divine Chosen can be produced like products on an assembly line. Can you imagine? An entire army composed of Divine Chosen…

No, it’s more than that. Divine Chosen level up too slowly. The entire Federation only has a handful of Level 6 Divine Chosen. One day, when we can artificially help Divine Chosen increase their power, perhaps we could have an army of Level 6 Divine Chosen…"

Miao Nianzhen thought he was insane. Utterly, completely mad. Only a lunatic could conceive of such an idea, only a lunatic would dare to.

"You’re truly mad," Miao Nianzhen said, taking a deep breath. "You will face the Moon God’s retribution!"

"The Moon God?" Secretary Wang’s expression contorted. "I’m blaspheming? This experiment was approved by the highest authorities of the Federal Government!!!"

His sudden outburst stunned everyone in the room.

Miao Nianzhen was also shocked. After a moment, she regained her composure, feeling a profound sense of absurdity. She couldn't understand why the Federal Government would approve such experiments. Didn't they know this was an act of sacrilege?

Decades ago, with the Moon God’s help, humanity had rebuilt its home in the wasteland. But now… why?

She couldn't help but recall the laboratory hidden beneath the giant tree in the core area of the twenty-fifth city. When she had learned that people were experimenting on living humans and pollutants there, she had felt nothing but hatred and disgust. She had thought that only followers of an evil deity could conduct such vile experiments.

But now she knew that it wasn't just cultists of evil deities who conducted experiments on living humans – it was also the Federal Government, which she had always seen as humanity’s last hope.

She looked at the monitor, where the surveillance footage was frozen on the face of the little girl. There were even children among the test subjects…

Yu Xing returned to the restroom, hiding in a stall, ready to execute her rescue plan for her grandmother.

She had already planned her next steps after finding her grandmother before coming here. She knew the defenses would be extremely tight, perhaps an inescapable net. Charging in and fighting her way out with her grandmother was nearly impossible. So she couldn’t use brute force; she had to find another way.

Then, an idea clicked: she could place the mech outside in advance. Once she found her grandmother, she would remotely control the mech to attack the research center from the outside.

This would create the illusion that she was attempting a violent breach from the exterior. The research center would descend into chaos, and the soldiers and Divine Chosen would be drawn outside. That would be the perfect moment to rescue her grandmother.

Yu Xing retrieved the mech's controller and set it to automatic attack mode, with the research center as its target.

After completing these preparations, she closed her eyes and pressed the button.

Outside the research center, Jiang Hui was observing from a distance. He didn’t know why he had suddenly appeared here, but he knew Yu Xing was behind it.

At the same time, he realized that Yu Xing had likely already entered the research center. So he remained nearby, ordering a pot of tea at a teahouse and observing the area. He wanted to witness firsthand what kind of "major news event" Yu Xing had promised.

Just as he was anticipating the spectacle, a massive figure abruptly appeared in the parking lot in front of the research center.

"BOOM!"

A gigantic, metallic, turtle-like creature suddenly materialized before everyone’s eyes.

The thing was enormous, several stories tall. It vaguely resembled an upright turtle, entirely green, gleaming with a metallic luster under the sunlight.

It looked like… a giant turtle-shaped robot.

For a moment, everyone stared at the object in shock.

What was this?

A new product from the research center?

Why had it suddenly appeared?

Under everyone’s gaze, the colossal figure raised its arms. The limbs rotated and transformed, taking the shape of two cannon barrels.

"FWOOSH…"

Two projectiles launched, arcing through the air before crashing into the research center’s building.

"BOOM!!!"

The explosion was deafening.

In an instant, the entire street echoed with the sound of collapsing buildings and the screams of bystanders.