Chapter 187

Ying Duo was the first to squeeze through, and after Shen Zexi and the others exchanged glances, they too passed through the opening one by one.

The view before them suddenly opened up brightly.

It was a wide metal corridor, its sides lined with neatly arranged yet heavily rusted metal doors, broken wires hanging from the ceiling, and the floor covered in thick dust.

This was not a natural mine cave, but rather an underground base that had been abandoned for an unknown number of years.

【You have entered an unknown area: "Old World" Research Institute Ruins, current exploration progress: 0.1%】

"Where… have we blown up to?"

Qi Hengyu murmured that the place was clearly abandoned for a long time, and no one had been here for an unknown number of years.

Shen Zexi's expression grew increasingly solemn as he lightly ran his hand over the heavily rusted metal door, vaguely discerning a designation D-253 and a crest he had never seen before.

It was a complex geometric figure, its center seemingly surrounded by abstract lines resembling a broken chain or a DNA helix, its style stark and imbued with an old‑era industrial feel.

He had never seen this crest, and it did not belong to any organization he was familiar with.

"It looks… like a symbol from the Old World era."

Chen Mo Zhi looked at the symbol and, unusually, spoke up.

Many Old World theories were discarded after the emergence of Mutation; the physical and chemical laws that the Old World once adhered to have largely been lost in today's society.

Only a few Old World documents survived; the Chen Family had collected several, and Chen Mo Zhi had read those books as hobby material a few times.

In one of them, a book titled "Biology," the pattern appeared.

"So, that means the history of this place must be traced back to the Old World?"

Shen Zexi furrowed his brows, recalling the Co-Absorption cultists that had just appeared nearby; this was not a good omen.

"No matter what this place is, we have to find a way out first; there may be other exits here..."

So, isn't this just a DNA double helix?

Ying Duo silently stared at the symbol, while Yang Yixie couldn't help his mouth twitch.

So the game's background design is truly lazy—physical laws have been reduced to the Seven Great Laws and Mutation, and every unreasonable problem is simply blamed on Mutation.

The five began to cautiously explore forward along the corridor; Ying Duo's flowing hair remained tightly hidden beneath a hood, and only the glow of the ore lamp illuminated this underground relic forgotten by time.

They passed room after room; some doors were tightly shut, some ajar, and inside were mostly tilted cabinets and remnants of instruments whose purposes they could not identify.

After walking for a few minutes, Shen Zexi discovered a door slightly different from the others; it was sealed by a precise energy lock and bore a sign with blurred lettering.

Shen Zexi strained to decipher the text, "....... files...... data area?"

He tried to push it, and the door opened outright; perhaps due to its age, the energy lock was essentially defunct.

"Let's go in and take a look," Shen Zexi suggested, since these were Old World files, perhaps they could find the underground base's schematics, which might contain information about an exit.

The scene inside the archive room was worse than they had imagined; countless metal filing racks were arranged, but most had collapsed, and paper fragments and rusted metal sheets littered the floor.

The few split up to search everywhere, but Shen Zexi suddenly noticed something amiss, crouched down, and examined the floor closely.

The dust here was still thick, but compared to other areas it was much thinner.

Someone must have been here before, but that was a long time ago.

"The facilities here seem to have undergone some repairs?"

Following these traces, Shen Zexi discovered a hidden door in the archive room; he tried to push it open, and it still emitted a harsh creak, but it was far better than the doors that had completely merged with rust.

Ying Duo circled the archive room, found no interactive point, and upon hearing that, rushed over immediately.

The few continued deeper, and this hidden door eventually led to another better‑preserved metal door, which bore no markings.

Behind the door was a relatively small room, which appeared to be a laboratory.

The walls were lined with glass cabinets and metal storage cabinets, and in the center stood a workbench covered with various long‑rusted interfaces.

"Split up and investigate; do not touch any unknown liquids or devices."

Shen Zexi whispered, and the group immediately dispersed.

Qi Hengyu and Luo Jinyou inspected the room's corners and ceiling, Chen Mo Zhi was more interested in the residual crystals and stains on the workbench, and Shen Zexi headed toward the storage cabinets with less dust.

Ying Duo, however, saw a large amount of interactive golden light.

Unlike the others conducting a meticulous side‑by‑side search, Ying Duo went straight for those golden lights.

For example, a pile of unlabeled reagent bottles on the reagent table, but due to their great age they seemed to have lost their original efficacy.

The others were accustomed to Ying Duo's hopping around; as long as he didn't cause trouble, it was fine.

Finally…!

While interacting with a desk, Ying Duo successfully activated the desk's built‑in hidden compartment.

With a light "click" sound, the hidden compartment popped out.

Inside was a single document pouch wrapped in kraft paper; the pouch's surface bore no markings, but a faint golden aura emanated around it.

Gold!!!

Ying Duo didn't hesitate to take out the pouch, which felt slightly heavy in his hand.

He immediately unwrapped the pouch, taking out a thick stack of yellowed yet relatively well‑preserved papers, filled with dense formulas, design sketches, and handwritten notes.

The paper's material was special; even after years it had not become severely brittle.

At the top of the document, the title boldly read: "Tianmian City Air Train Design Draft"

【Story Item: Air Train Design Draft (Gold)】

【Description: A genius designer left this manuscript here; it is the original design for the Air Train's energy system, and the sole proof of a certain unknown past.】

【Note: Please decide the fate of this story item carefully; different recipients will lead to different story developments.】

Golden quality!

Still a key item that can affect the story's direction!

Because it was a document‑type item, Yang Yixie immediately chose "Collect".

The next second, the contents of the document in Ying Duo's hand were quickly scanned and turned into an electronic file that could be accessed at any time in the game system.