Chapter 232: The Lake Research Institute

Under the cover of night, the vast Shijiu Lake presented an eerie calmness under the starlight, with a light breeze stirring up tiny ripples.

The *Infinite*, having just rushed out of the Eerie Tide that erupted at Hengshan Pass, sat quietly on the tracks by the lake. The night wind was cold, the Yunjiang Plain began to cool down, and white mist began to emerge from the carriage connections.

Inside the carriages, the lights were glowing, and people were constantly walking in the carriage corridors.

In Carriage 5 and the defensive carriages behind it, many people were unloading ammunition. The PX-05 engineering robot in Carriage 12 was busy laying out the ammunition supply chain for the 1130 weapon station.

Shu Qin and Da Lou were taking people to check the condition of every carriage.

In Carriage 3, the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, which had absorbed the smoke emitted by the black centipede, was emitting a faint glow. Within the flower stamen, tiny spots of crimson began to appear.

"The Dark Mark is starting to manifest."

Ding Junyi observed the changes in the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in detail and said to Lin Xian behind her: "Judging from the reactions of the survivors at the station, everyone doesn't really recognize or understand the fact that humans can be marked."

"It's not that they don't recognize this fact, but that they don't recognize me."

Lin Xian said: "In the apocalypse, trust between people is already thin, which is why I wanted to convey this information through the Phoenix Society."

Ding Junyi responded coldly: "The mark currently cannot effectively quantify the threat value, nor can it be visualized through other methods. Simply put, we can currently evaluate the intensity of the next attack through the red light of the disaster plants, but even if others know, it is very difficult to prevent."

Lin Xian nodded: "Learning to judge the threat of dark creatures and raising a gun to resist is the most important thing. Everyone knows that blind flight is destined to fail, and then the sparks of resistance will rise."

"To put it nicely, it's called burning the boats; to put it bluntly, it's called a rabbit biting when cornered."

Ding Junyi looked up at Lin Xian: "The interesting thing is, this might give us a few more choices for our escape to the east."

"Are you talking about whether to kill or to flee?"

"Yes."

Lin Xian was noncommittal: "I'm worried that if the Dark Mark has a quantifiable threat value, even if we escape from the pursuit of powerful Eerie Entities, the next one we face won't necessarily be any simpler. Unfortunately, currently, judging from that bait mark at the station, this point should exist."

Ding Junyi saw that Lin Xian seemed somewhat pessimistic and said: "Science shouldn't be rigid, but your idea is even more rigid than a textbook. The mark we received in the climbing passage—after arriving at Jiazhou City, we only encountered a large number of Eerie Entities besieging us. This shows that although the mark has strength and weakness, it is also related to whether this jungle hides powerful predators."

Lin Xian's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he said wistfully: "Eh, you're right."

Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses: "Is this the only thing you came to find me for?"

Lin Xian coughed lightly: "No, besides checking the Dark Mark we've been contaminated with, I'm also planning to go to that research institute to investigate."

"Do you need me to follow?" Ding Junyi said directly.

Lin Xian nodded: "I will first arrange for a robot to go in and investigate. If the danger level is not high..."

"If the danger level is not high, then don't call me to go," Ding Junyi said with a straight face: "You know, I prefer..."

"Good, I know."

Lin Xian understood immediately, hurriedly turned around, and returned to Carriage 1, preparing to have Kiki operate that PX-05 robot to cooperate with the drones to first investigate the internal situation of the SIID Foundation laboratory.

*Woo~*

Two drones flew out from the roof of the train at this time. At the same time, the industrious PX-05 robot also flew out from the entrance of Carriage 11 and, under Kiki's manipulation, flew rapidly toward the damaged test site sky screen.

"Eh, strange~"

In the Carriage 2 information center, Kiki looked at the surveillance screen in front of her, controlling the robot while frowning: "How come there's not a single person left."

"You can't tell from the outside; you have to enter the underground research institute," Lin Xian said at this time.

"But it really looks like a large-scale evacuation took place..." Chen Sixuan looked at the picture on the screen in confusion.

"No way."

Kiki looked suspicious: "Such a big research institute, did they just move out and run away because we showed up?"

Lin Xian slapped her on the forehead: "Focus."

"Ouch~"

Kiki glared at Lin Xian fiercely and then focused on manipulating the robot again. From the drone's high-altitude view, the Qingshui Town test site was empty and silent. The PX-05 robot slowly entered through the passage Lin Xian had come out of earlier. In the picture, the previously busy laboratory, various research rooms, and corridors were all empty.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian's expression grew even more solemn: "Strange, could it be that you silly girl was right?"

It was truly bizarre for an organization capable of capturing large Eerie Entities for experimental research to be empty for no reason, but to say it was because of Lin Xian, even he didn't believe it.

However, looking at the situation before him, Lin Xian began to have ideas.

"It seems we have to go in and see the situation for ourselves."

"Could there be an ambush?" Shasha, who was on the side, popped up a sentence.

"If there were an ambush, they would have acted already. And our goal is to find them, so it doesn't matter." Lin Xian's face showed coldness, and he directly started calling his troops: "Da Lou, Fire Brother, Shu Qin, Little Girl, and Director Ding, come with me. Everyone else, guard the train."

At this time, Lu Xingchen gave Lin Xian a wink. Lin Xian saw this and walked over, only to see Lu Xingchen leaning over with a somewhat strange expression and whispering to him:

"Brother Lin, can you arrange for me to guard the train tonight?"

Lin Xian frowned and looked at him: "Why, you don't want to go?"

Lu Xingchen's gaze swept over the research institute on Kiki's screen intentionally or unintentionally, and he said in a deep voice:

"I'm ashamed, this Venerable One just has some resistance to this kind of claustrophobic underground place."

Lin Xian nodded upon hearing this: "Good, then you guard the train."

"Thank you, Brother Lin," Lu Xingchen responded. Lin Xian didn't say much more. He knew Lu Xingchen wasn't the type to fear death, so there must be some reason he didn't want to go. Lin Xian didn't dig into the bottom of it, so he took Da Lou, Shu Qin, Kiki, and Ding Junyi off the train.

Bringing Ding Junyi this time was mainly because Lin Xian wanted to see what this research institute was specifically researching on a daily basis, and whether there were any scientific research instruments that could be used, so he could get them onto the train.

*Swoosh~*

The cockpit door opened. Lin Xian took several main members off the train, preparing to return to the Foundation research institute to investigate.

Just after getting off the train, a damp and cold night lake wind hit them.

Ding Junyi followed behind. Although it was night and they were about to explore a dangerous organizational site, she still had her hands in her pockets, following behind with a calm expression. That demeanor was as simple as if she were preparing to attend some scientific seminar.

Lin Xian was a bit worried and signaled to Shu Qin on the way, asking her to take more care of this scientist on the train.

Although the very inconspicuous little green grass seedling on Ding Junyi's head indicated that she might already possess an ability, for now, Director Ding still belonged to the 0-combat-power personnel in Lin Xian's eyes.

The five people drove a car up. Because there was no platform, the off-road vehicle was moved down directly by Kiki using her ability. Then Lin Xian drove, and the group drove toward the direction of the collapsed forest.

Along the way, Lin Xian noticed quite a few traces of vehicles and even aircraft parked on the ground, as well as a large number of empty equipment boxes, discarded documents, etc., scattered all over the ground.

"It seems their retreat was very urgent." Shu Qin was very good at observing details and said at this time: "Although it's a bit chaotic, it doesn't look like they encountered any Eerie Entities, because there are no signs of a firefight and no corpses."

Ding Junyi sat by the window, looked at the mess outside, and said: "Abandoning such a large research institute must have required some kind of determination. Perhaps they sensed some crisis in advance, such as some heaven-defying lake monster appearing in this big lake, which would eat this research institute together at night."

!

As soon as these words were out, Lin Xian almost threw the steering wheel away.

"Hey, Sister Ding, don't scare us." Kiki looked at Ding Junyi, who was shocking everyone with her words, in surprise: "If that's the case, wouldn't we all be finished?"

"Not necessarily," Ding Junyi said with a straight face: "With the abilities of you few, you should be able to survive one or two."

Lin Xian:...

Driving in from the damaged curtain wall, the off-road vehicle stopped in a place similar to an indoor parking lot. At this time, this underground research institute still had an electrical system, and many passages were still lit.

The 5 people got off the vehicle with alert expressions, and a sense of emptiness hit them.

*Whoosh, whoosh~*

The wide corridor was full of mess, and wind was constantly blowing out from the basement. Ding Junyi followed behind the few and said: "It might be that lake water is pouring in underground, causing the airflow below to blow out. We need to pay attention to the situation of flooding when we go down."

"Hmm." Lin Xian knew that this research institute was built by the lake and had a black water test site built underground, which must be connected to Shijiu Lake.

If lake water appeared to be pouring in, it meant that the underground structure had been damaged.

"Sure enough." Kiki walked to an information screen in the corridor at this time, and there was still evacuation information on it: "The system notifies that underground floors 11 and 12 have been flooded. It looks like they might have indeed evacuated because of this reason."

The few explored inside all the way and found that there was not a single person left inside or outside the Foundation research institute. Because the electrical system was still running, Kiki directly picked up the mobile terminal and began to connect to the internal system of the research institute.

"The internal system has self-destructed and logged out, leaving only the basic system to maintain the base's operation. Eh, Qingshui Town test site..."

Kiki looked at the mobile terminal and became more and more shocked. She ran two steps and brought it to Lin Xian: "Lin Xian, look, many access control doors used to contain experimental bodies in the test site in the system have failed, and the isolation devices between the test site area and the internal office area have also had problems."

Lin Xian frowned: "In other words, the monsters they locked up might have all run out?"

"Definitely!" Kiki shrank her neck and looked at the wide research areas around her with suspicion, worrying: "In other words, the things we encountered in the Qingshui Town test site might have already run into here."

*Dong! *

At this time, an airflow surging from underground happened to blow a research room door shut, making a loud *dong* sound. The sound echoed in the empty, unmanned research institute, making it somewhat creepy.

*Zzz~* The lights in the corridor flickered in unison due to unstable voltage, making the atmosphere inside somewhat gloomy.

Da Lou, feeling the chill, lifted the Roarer K23 electric rotary machine gun in his hand and looked around alertly.

"Team Leader Lin, what did you encounter here?" Shu Qin asked.

"Some things that don't look like Human-Ghosts or zombies." Lin Xian said in a deep voice: "I estimate they are things made by the Foundation, and there must be Eerie Entities among them. I have seen a big guy in a big pool before."

Ding Junyi frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Has the biological research level here reached the point of being able to carry out variant development?"

"I'm just guessing, not necessarily certain." Lin Xian said.

After speaking, the few had already arrived at the underground elevator location. At this time, the elevator was still able to operate normally. Lin Xian said to Kiki: "I remember we saw that big ability research hall on the 9th floor, right?"

Kiki nodded, sliding the mobile terminal in her hand: "That's right. If you want to find a medical cabin, it should be in..."

Upon hearing this, Shu Qin gave her a meaningful look and said, "Poor people have only heard of this thing on television; they say it only takes 30 minutes to treat leukemia, but it costs 3 million."

Shu Qin looked at her meaningfully upon hearing this and said: "Poor people have only heard of this thing on TV. They all say that treating leukemia only takes 30 minutes, but it costs 3 million."

"Yes." Ding Junyi said: "The train has a Twin Star nuclear power system to provide electricity, which can support the operation of this set of equipment. If the train has this set of medical system, we basically don't need to be equipped with medical personnel. However, this kind of equipment is very precise and easily damaged, so we must take protective measures."

Lin Xian also had a big head upon hearing this. He hadn't thought that the medical cabin was so complicated and involved radiation problems.

"Let's go and see first. These are all problems to worry about later. Just as Director Ding said, such expensive equipment, maybe they have already moved it away."

*Ding~*

Lin Xian pressed the elevator, and the elevator door opened. At this time, everyone's expression changed suddenly.

A thick smell of disinfectant hit them. The smell was even thicker than in a hospital.

Lin Xian frowned and led the few people who were alert and walked out of the elevator slowly, finding that the space on this floor was very large and even divided into many areas.

"Gene R&D area, tissue regeneration engineering area, cell culture, molecular genetics, biochemical area... This is even larger than the biological research institute of Underground City No. 9." Lin Xian said in a deep voice.