Volume 4, Chapter 35 – The Monster in the Biochemistry Department

“What happened?”

Kario, the squad captain in charge of the gate, was quite familiar with this person in charge, and he asked with a frown.

“Our movements were exposed. We were hit by a government army raid and lost half our supplies.” The man was so anxious his eyes were practically bulging as he spoke while walking. “I’m worried the base’s location has been exposed too. We have to report this to the two supervisors and let them decide.”

“What?”

Hearing the shocking news, Kario’s expression changed abruptly.

“Supervisor Dante is still at the testing ground. As for Supervisor Rainer, you’ll have to find him yourself. There’s no time to waste. We split up—you go find those two supervisors, and I’ll go brief the battalion commander.”

“Got it.”

The man in charge nodded heavily. “Just dump those supplies in the warehouse for now and leave them there!”

The two split up at once, without the slightest hesitation, while the drivers outside steadily drove the trucks into the warehouse.

The situation was urgent, so no one paid any attention to the shipment itself.

None of them had any idea that Anran and Aila were hiding inside one of the crates.

“I’m a little hungry.”

Anran rubbed her slightly flattened stomach. She had been busy for most of the day without eating, and it really did feel uncomfortable.

She took out a high-calorie chocolate bar from her clothes and replenished a bit of her Stamina. Then she pressed her ear against the crate.

Just like before, after waiting for a moment, she discovered that the sounds around her gradually faded away.

Silence settled over her mind, and the only thing she could hear was her own faint breathing.

Anran opened her computer, quietly lifted the crate lid, and then released a spider-type robot.

Very soon, the view outside appeared on the screen.

The “technology” in the game was far more convenient. As long as you built something according to the blueprint and its durability and similar stats hadn’t been depleted, it could run smoothly with ease.

Anran discovered that she was still on the truck.

The Morningstar people had driven the truck into the warehouse, and before they even had time to unload it, they had already rushed off to deal with other matters.

Like she was playing an ultra-realistic 3D exploration puzzle game, Anran controlled the spider robot as it crawled forward through this tiny world.

It slipped out through the gaps in the truck. The warehouse outside was dimly lit, but not so dark that nothing could be seen.

The warehouse was huge. The truck was parked near the entrance, while in the area farther back, all kinds of things were stacked in separate categories. She could also see a conveyor belt passing through the warehouse wall, though there was no way to tell where it led.

There was a door beside the conveyor belt, though, which presumably led to the same place.

The door was closed, but the conveyor entrance was not.

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Anran guided the spider robot onto the motionless conveyor belt.

If goods from the transport warehouse were going through here, did that mean the conveyor led to the laboratory?

Anran decided to go in and take a look.

Clang!

But just then, a noise suddenly came from nearby, and Anran quickly made the spider robot hide in a corner.

A moment later, the door was pushed open.

Three people in white lab coats and masks walked in at once.

“Looks like the raw materials have arrived,” said the one in front.

His gaze fell on the trucks lined up in two rows. His brows knit slightly, and he said in an annoyed tone, “Where are the people who delivered these? The materials are already here, so why hasn’t anyone come to unload them?”

“Supervisor Rainer, should I go call them back right now?”

White Coat No. 1 beside him spoke up immediately.

“That bunch is full of useless freeloading trash. They can’t even handle something as simple as transporting goods. Once our research produces real results, all these pieces of trash can be thrown out as cannon fodder!”

Rainer impatiently waved his hand. His words were full of dissatisfaction toward the guards. “Forget it. Go get a few assistants and move the raw materials for the adhesive fusion agent into the lab first. We need to hurry.”

“Yes, Supervisor Rainer.”

White Coat No. 1 turned and went to fetch people.

For a moment, only Rainer and White Coat No. 2 remained in the warehouse.

Rainer, head of biochemical research and development at Morningstar’s Vike Mountains base.

The target of the faction mission [Tracing the Source II].

Worth 35,000 EXP and one [Recon Quadrotor Drone] blueprint.

Basic information on Rainer flashed through Anran’s mind.

And Basic Scout showed—

Name: Rainer

Age: ?

Race: Human

Gender: Male

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Level: 21

Main Class: Biochemical Fiend Lv21

Other details unknown.

Level 21?

Anran’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Aside from the level 23 boss Heloise, this Rainer was the highest-level NPC from an opposing faction that she had encountered so far.

His main class, Biochemical Fiend, was also not a class she could easily read.

Was it a combat class, or a research class?

Or did it combine both?

No matter what, as long as that class was capable of combat, then with his absurdly high level of 21, Anran had no confidence that she could kill him quickly, even with Aila’s help.

She might even end up getting herself killed here.

Because of that, Anran quickly gave up the idea of rushing out right now to kill Rainer.

Instead, she used Scout on White Coat No. 2 beside him.

Name, age, and the like were all question marks.

Level: 15

HP: 410/410

Stamina: 420/420

Main Class: Biochemical Researcher Lv15

That much Stamina?

Anran was astonished.

Was this person a researcher, or a Morningstar soldier?

Her own Stamina was only 506 even now, and that was with the bonuses from all sorts of titles. The other party was only one level higher than her.

Even so, puzzled as she was, Anran knew these people were no weaklings.

They were nowhere near as easy to deal with as they looked on the surface.

Deep inside the enemy’s lair, if she wasn’t careful enough, she really might die here.

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Before entering the warehouse, she had kept her phone on the entire time. Nine Songs had probably already pinpointed this place. From here on, all she could do was hide herself as much as possible and wait for the right opportunity.

Very soon, two carts were pushed out from behind the door.

Following them came White Coats No. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

“Go find it,” Rainer said.

“Yes.”

Several assistants began searching truck by truck. The spider robot was hiding on the conveyor track and could not see what was happening, but before they got to the truck Anran was in, they found the raw materials they wanted.

Then the group pushed the carts away, and with a bang, the door closed behind them.

Anran continued controlling the spider robot forward along the conveyor belt. It was dark here, but there were raised edges on both sides of the belt, so she didn’t need to worry about the robot falling off.

After crawling forward for three or four minutes, she could finally see the exit ahead.

There was no one in view, so Anran controlled the robot to slowly approach the exit.

What came into sight was a room filled everywhere with machinery and equipment, with the words “Raw Material Processing” hanging on the wall.

At this hour, only the machines were running quietly.

The robot made a circuit of the processing room. The door leading outside was unlocked, and the half-closed door panel trembled slightly. It seemed as though a deep, low howl could be heard from beyond it.

Just as she was about to move farther ahead, Anran heard activity outside.

“The Equipment Department’s already been notified, but nobody in the Biochemistry Department can be reached at all. The calls won’t go through, and the doors are shut tight. The crisis is right on top of us, so what the hell are these people doing?”

Step—

Someone stomped the ground in anger, and leather shoes gave off a crisp sound.

The Biochemistry Department was the real key to Anran’s mission this time.

She had already completed the [Infiltration I] mission, and the requirement for [Infiltration II] was to infiltrate the Biochemistry Department. The EXP reward was even 3,000 higher than the prerequisite mission, [Infiltration I].

“I’ve already contacted the higher-ups. Their attitude is very firm: everything in the lab must be evacuated as soon as possible. If there isn’t enough time, then even if we have to stack lives to do it, we have to delay them as much as possible. The higher-ups are also sending more people here.”

“What exactly is the Biochemistry Department researching?”

“Who knows. I only heard it might be a new weapon capable of turning the tide of the war.”

“A biological weapon?”

“No idea.”

Anran listened in silence.

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It was obvious how much Morningstar valued the Biochemistry Department, and they were even sending more manpower. She had no idea how many people Nine Songs had sent over.

If she didn’t act quickly, they might get away.

Beep beep…

“…”

“There’s unusual activity at the outer checkpoint. Let’s go.”

After a burst of hurried footsteps, the warehouse fell quiet again.

After waiting a moment, Anran continued controlling the spider robot forward.

It slipped out from behind the door.

Outside was a bright white corridor.

The howling was coming from the far end of the hallway.

The corridor was long, and the lights gradually grew dimmer. At a glance, it seemed to stretch on without end.

Nor was it especially empty. Both sides were crowded with things, which was why Anran dared let the robot sneak forward.

It moved deeper into the corridor.

In the view…

Hm?

A strange image suddenly flashed across the left side of the screen, and Anran hurriedly turned the spider robot to the left.

Then she saw a horrifying scene—

They were bright yellow pupils, their very centers covered in a dense grid of interwoven red and yellow patterns that made one’s scalp crawl.

The creature with those eyes had an equally terrifying face.

Sharp teeth occupied half its face, and drool kept dripping from them.

Its facial muscles sagged like muddy sludge that might slide right off at any moment.

That face was pressed tightly against the glass wall on the left, and those eyes were staring fixedly at the spider robot.

Could this…

be the unknown ferocious beast mentioned in the mission?

“Roar—”