Chapter 19: It Has Arrived

Hans and Neil didn't fire their guns, instead assisting Lin Ye by reloading magazines for him while he focused solely on taking pistols and shooting continuously.

Numerous blood-corpses crashed against the prison cell bars. With the pistols' firing rate limitations and Lin Ye needing time to aim, the bars quickly became deformed from the impacts.

Fortunately, the organization had done its job well - the bar quality was excellent, preventing the Mutation Creatures from breaking through immediately.

Though temporarily safe, Lin Ye grew increasingly uneasy the more he killed. Since entering the research facility, something had felt off about this place.

The first floor was covered in bloodstains, yet not a single corpse could be found.

The access control systems remained intact, yet the laboratories were completely trashed.

Only Dr. Caroline had survived, though she didn't seem the type who could have endured such chaos.

Right after the doctor finished communicating with the Captain, their comms were cut off.

Large numbers of selectively bred Mutation Creatures of unknown origin were attacking them.

It was as if someone wanted to achieve a certain goal, but their mind wasn't quite right.

"Boss! We're almost out of mags!" Hans shouted.

Lin Ye suddenly stopped shooting. He holstered his pistol, drew his long blade, and began stabbing the blood-corpses crashing against the bars one by one.

"You're going too slow! If the cell fails we're dead!" Neil didn't understand why Lin Ye had stopped. By his calculations, Lin Ye still had at least six mags left - with some persistence they could wipe out all the Mutation Creatures.

"No problem. The cell won't break. The creatures are almost gone. I'm conserving ammo - we'll need it later." Lin Ye calmly killed blood-corpses through the bars, using the opportunity to practice his blade techniques and cutting skills.

Before coming here, Lin Ye had mostly used kitchen knives. But chopping dead things versus moving targets felt completely different. Luckily one of the D-Class personnel he'd simulated had some melee weapon skills, so he wasn't starting from zero.

Still, compared to pistols, his blade proficiency remained too low.

Moreover, hacking at people with blades was extremely tiring - especially when hitting bone. The recoil pressed against his thumb joint, making half his palm go numb.

After cutting down over a dozen more blood-corpses, the incoming flood dwindled. As Lin Ye predicted, once they stopped shooting, the blood-corpse tide was ending.

"Finish off the last few. I need rest." Tossing the blade to Neil, Lin Ye reloaded both pistols with fresh mags and took all remaining ammunition.

After preparing, Lin Ye sat in a corner to rest. If his guess was correct, something would come for them soon.

"Shouldn't we escape now?" As a researcher, Dr. Caroline found the earlier events strange but hadn't dwelled on it, focused only on leaving.

Hans and Neil were different. As anomaly survivors, they needed no explanation from Lin Ye to start piecing things together.

"We can't leave, Dr. Caroline. Earlier you mentioned 'it' could hear. What is 'it'?" Lin Ye didn't believe they could escort Caroline out. The 50-meter-deep elevator alone posed a huge problem.

The intact elevator didn't mean the enemy couldn't destroy it - they needed us to descend safely while leaving an escape route.

With the underground facility compromised, how could the sole connection to the surface not be under enemy control?

The earlier knocking had been the clearest warning - likely signaling the Captain not to descend.

The Captain was undoubtedly strong, but even he'd be buried alive 50 meters underground if the elevator was destroyed.

The enemy hadn't killed Caroline before their arrival, didn't want the elevator destroyed, didn't want the Captain descending, and wasn't killing them - just exhausting their ammo.

Lin Ye could guess the enemy's intentions with minimal thought.

"...It's this facility's core secret and the organization's important project. Are you sure you want to know?" Caroline wasn't stupid - becoming a lead researcher on a major project in her twenties proved her talent.

After Lin Ye's prompting, she'd formed her own theories.

"Positive. Our survival depends on it." As D-Class personnel, how much worse could it get? It's not like they'd be demoted to the organization's first E-Class.

"The facility researches biological mutation. It's our primary achievement - the specimen with highest compatibility to the Human Evolution Blueprint, and the only one that hadn't lost control. Though judging by results, it must have gone rogue long ago." Caroline sounded dejected. Had the experiment succeeded, humanity might have gained power against this empty, unknown, insane world. But mutation proved ultimately uncontrollable.

"How do we fight it?" Lin Ye cared nothing for research - only surviving to complete the mission.

"While still weak relatively speaking, it's consumed every organism in this facility and completed initial mutation. Not just us - even that special ops Captain outside might not be its match. You should run - I'm likely its target." Despite this D-Class member's unusual competence, Caroline saw no way they could oppose it.

"Leaving you means suicide. It hasn't attacked you yet - that's why we're alive. After learning this much, you think it would let us leave alive?" Forget escaping - Lin Ye estimated they'd last under five minutes without Caroline before being overrun.

BOOM!

A violent tremor shook the ground like an earthquake.

Lin Ye sprang up, grabbed his blade, hoisted Caroline over his shoulder and ran for the exit.

He'd been waiting for this moment.

The Captain must be fighting that thing below. Though unsure how long he'd last, this was their only escape chance.

After two steps Lin Ye froze. A red-haired Caroline stood outside the lab, staring at them.

More accurately, staring at Lin Ye.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye drew his pistol and fired three shots through the lab window.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bullets froze midair, suspended between Lin Ye and red-haired Caroline by invisible force.

Lin Ye was at a loss. Caroline had been right - whatever could stop bullets wasn't something they could oppose.

Certainly not with his half-baked blade skills.

'Should I restart? But with something this powerful, even restarting won't help...'