Chapter 894: Underlying Logic 1

Going deep underground a hundred meters, the spreading spiritual power like a sphere scanned layer by layer the blown-open underground facilities.

A large number of broken, melted wires were exposed.

Through the drilled cross-section, Lin An could faintly see some strange columnar devices, like life-support systems for submerged organisms.

"Lin An, what is that?"

His eyes flickering, Mo Ling pointed at a shattered rectangular glass tank around seventy meters underground at the fault line.

Broken green nutrient fluid dripped, and a corpse with only half a body hung amid the ruins.

In appearance, it resembled a skinned frog, with the lower leg muscles abnormally hypertrophied.

"Some kind of..."

"Biological experiment?"

Lost in thought, Lin An watched the images fed back by the spiritual power scan.

This massive underground complex reaching 170 meters deep had most of its area piled with various biological corpses.

At a glance, from mammals to primates, any species in the ecosystem could be seen.

The entire experimental center resembled a specimen exhibition hall.

Tens of thousands of dissected limbs and malformed, sutured creatures filled a hall-like building.

The purpose here seemed to be studying the differences between different organisms.

It was as if they were searching for something...

Suppressing his doubts, Lin An didn't pay too much attention to the horrifying scene in the underground location.

But, as he descended rapidly, he also noticed an anomaly.

In the entire underground complex, aside from the corpses present in that core experimental lab shown in the fragmentary images, no trace of humans could be found elsewhere.

Logically, the crystal skull first appeared here, then spread to the surface.

As a huge research institution, how could it possibly lack personnel?

He had prepared for the possibility of infected people here, ready to act at any moment.

But Lin An never expected that the experimental center, which logically had the biggest problems, would instead be utterly peaceful.

It was quiet as a graveyard.

His brows furrowed slightly.

Lin An uncertainly gave his own speculation.

Had the humans here evacuated early? So the remaining personnel were stationed in the above-ground part of the building.

But if they had discovered the problem early, why would the core personnel in the lab not have fled instead?

The mystery was thick.

In the pitch-black underground depths, everything was filled with the unknown.

"Boom!!"

"Zizzle-zizzle"

Controlling the remaining high-frequency weapon, Lin An carefully drilled through the last ten meters.

Under deliberate control, worried about blowing up the lab, he used only earth-piercing bombs to break open the space above the core experimental lab.

The sword blade spun, like a tunnel boring machine, quickly drilling through the hard underground structure.

In less than two seconds, a dim underground space flashing with red alarm lights suddenly appeared.

"Come on, let's go in!"

Without hesitation, after confirming there were no infected inside, Lin An raised a spiritual power shield and rushed in with Mo Ling.

Before his eyes was a dim hall; at its center stood a silver metal pillar providing support, running through the underground power supply equipment.

Electricity flickered, obviously the original power system had stopped, switching to backup power.

A quick glance.

Around the hall were several metal doors, appearing to lead to different areas.

Living body comparison, biological data, genetic comparison, spiritual research...

Quickly scanning the signs on the alloy doors, Lin An rapidly locked onto his destination.

Core control room!

It was a black metal sliding door, with a flickering red point gleaming at the lock, as if it had been locked shut.

The corpse was inside.

On the nearby wall, many identity-verification devices were embedded.

The alloy door, 120 millimeters thick, could withstand high explosives.

Looking at the locked door before him, Lin An's mouth curled with an inexplicable smile.

Another locked door?

Although there was no password, he couldn't get the iris or fingerprint.

But for someone like him, skilled in high-end lock-picking techniques, there is no door in this world he cannot open.

He swung a sword.

"Shrie!"

Spiritual energy erupted, like a knife into butter, and the thick metal plate was easily torn apart.

Violently cutting open the alloy door, after carving out a person‑high circular opening, Lin An slightly turned his head, took Mo Ling's hand, and stepped straight inside.

For a moment, Mo Ling couldn't help but lift her head to look at Lin An's profile, her face full of oddness.

So violent...

But she really liked it.

Inside the laboratory, three corpses lay in different postures within the small room.

The electronic screen mounted on the wall had long gone dark, and harsh red light filled the entire laboratory.

The layout and structure were similar to the weapons testing facility I had visited before.

Looking at the corpse beside his feet, Lin An's eyes flickered as he compared the victim's appearance.

Those present were almost all stricken with fear; the man slumped at the doorway had a large bullet hole on the back of his head.

Brain matter spattered onto the door, clearly indicating he had been shot from behind.

Before dying, he wanted to escape this place.

The other two corpses sat upright in chairs; one, a researcher with a pistol hooked on his finger, caught Lin An's attention.

His appearance... was exactly like what I had seen in the fragments.

Of the two who died in the chairs, one committed suicide—namely, the armed researcher.

The other, however, stared wide-eyed in terror, his body bearing no wounds; it seemed he had been frightened to death.

What... did they see?

Carefully observing the small laboratory, Lin An found nothing else unusual.

Even the metal box that had held the crystal skull in the fragment visions had vanished.

After turning on the screen, the information displayed was also indecipherable.

Evolutionary pathways, ancient human simulations, biological data comparisons, fear psychology research—summarized...

At a glance, almost everything was literature and research data.

Lin An, somewhat puzzled, opened a few files and flipped through them quickly, then frowned slightly.

He did not find what he wanted to see.

For example, research reports on memes or the skull.

The former—there appears to be no research on memes in this region; the latter perhaps was not stored in the computer.

No more wasting time.

Recalling the incomprehensible scene from the vision and that repeated whisper.

Lin An drew a deep breath and suddenly activated the dead's revival.

Standing aside, Mo Ling looked nervously at the corpses.

The one Lin An revived was precisely the researcher who held a pistol.

A ripple flashed over, as if life had been infused.

Only to see the researcher, who had lain supine on the chair, suddenly open his eyes and stare blankly at them.

The living and the dead converse.

"You."

"What are you researching?"

Lin An asked softly, standing in the shadows, the red alarm light flashing.