Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse - Chapter 73

After Kirika finished allocating her CP and purchasing three Weapon Arts (two SP from today, one from her level-ups yesterday), the two set out to explore this floor of the underground laboratory which was now cleared of any hostile threats. Cyanide had asked Kirika what skills she bought so he could better plan engages, but she only winked and told him ‘you’ll see’. After that, he didn’t pry any further, knowing it was useless anyway.

Apparently, Luna’s powers had grown a bit more since Cyanide’s grown stronger as well, and she was no capable of hacking computers. To test that out, Cyanide went around this level of the laboratory and had her try hacking into the many computers around in separate rooms, and each time, it had been successful.

That was good and all, but… this also revealed one more inquiry. When browsing through the computers, Cyanide had discovered that all the files were wiped clean, like he was staring at a brand new device with full default factory settings set in place.

Whether that was an error triggered on Luna’s end, somehow wiping the files when hacking the computers, or if it was something else, Cyanide didn’t know, but he didn’t think it was because of Luna. After all, this laboratory was so clean and tidy that it was hard to believe any sort of research ever took place here. Or rather… any evidence of past research was long erased.

By who? That was the question.

It was almost as if someone didn’t want anyone else finding out about what was being researched here, and was trying to keep it a secret by wiping the place clean of any leftover evidence. Cyanide couldn’t shake that feeling—after all, no matter what kind of lab it was, there was bound to be some clues hidden around that would provide hints and insights onto what the lab was all about. And yet, here, there was absolutely nothing.

It was like it was a newly renovated place that was just constructed, and no work whatsoever had ever been done in here yet. It was strange, and oddly eerie.

After some looking around to no avail, Cyanide decided to simply head to the central room at the center of this level. It was the only place they haven’t checked out yet, and there was nothing else to do in the rest of this area.

Just as he turned around and prepared to head off, however, a voice called out to him from behind.

“Hang on, Cyanide. Come take a look at this.”

Cyanide stopped, then turned around and walked closer to the source of the voice—Luna, on a holographic panel. Beside her blindfolded, beautiful figure was a 3D transparent drawing of the room they were currently in, displayed on a translucent blue background and outlined with white lines. The lines moved and trembled occasionally, but otherwise it was quite stable.

“… What’s this?” Cyanide asked.

“A forensic scan ran on this room using the technological equipment attached to one of the computers,” Luna replied. “Theoretically, it should show everything that any sign of life should’ve left behind, but there is not a single speck in any of the rooms. Not even any fingerprints on any surfaces.”

“Hm… so this place really was wiped clean, reverted to a blank slate,” Cyanide murmured, rubbing his chin. “How peculiar.”

“We should check out the remaining room,” Kirika said from behind him. “Maybe we’ll find some answers there.”

Cyanide nodded, and together, the two headed for the central cylindrical room in the middle of the first floor of the lab, leaving Silver up here since taking he wouldn’t fit through the entrance. Surprisingly, however, upon opening the door using the Level Two Security Pass, what they found was not a room. Instead, it was an enormous cylindrical elevator, enough to fit quite a bit of people inside at once.

“Huh… there’s two other floors apart from this one, apparently,” Kirika said, glancing at the different buttons beside the sliding doors once they entered. “But didn’t the cameras only cover one of them…? What’s the final floor for?”

Cyanide narrowed his eyes and pressed on the shut door button.

“… Guess we’ll find out.”

*****

The two decided to check out the floor right below their current one first. After all, there was no telling what was at the bottom—might as well explore this floor first, where Luna had already hacked through all the security cams. Hopefully, they could find some more information here. The final floor was locked up and required a Level Three Security Pass to send the elevator to anyway.

Unfortunately, their plan already went haywire as soon as the elevator doors opened.

Since the layout here was similar to the floor above, directly ahead of the two was a long corridor. And in that corridor… were four mutants, right in front of them in a column.

The four purple-masked creatures froze momentarily at seeing the unexpected newcomers, but they quickly reacted and drew out rifles from their white lab coats’ pockets somehow, while one ran away for the security office to request assistance.

“Tch…!” Cyanide immediately acted, sliding underneath their bullet fire and using [Petrify] with his eyes.

Two of the mutants were instantly turned to stone as Kirika dashed up behind Cyanide and sliced the two statues to pieces, while Cyanide touched the last one and finished it off with [Touch of Malice]. He was already close enough to touch it anyway, so there was no point drawing any weapons.

The three weak mutants faded into shards of light and disappeared, but despite the swift execution, it was too late. The remaining mutant had already made it to the security office, and all around Cyanide and Kirika, the lights went from white to a dark flashing red. A blaring alarm was set off, and from the ground, tougher security mutants emerged from seeping black pools of liquid. One quick [Inspect] was able to tell—these guys were no joke:

[Name: Haunted Security Mutant (Stage Two)]

[Level: 30]

[HP: 2250/2250]

[Category: ???]

Level 30—in other words, they were even higher than Cyanide’s current level of 27. They could not fight this, and Kirika knew this too.

With a silent nod at each other, the two turned invisible and retreated, searching for a hiding location while the crimson alarm blared all around them.