Chapter 3 The Hidden Laboratory
They spoke loudly. I guess they did not even have the slightest clue that there were people around them.

“Fanny, I’ve told you long ago- the task the higher-ups gave me of protecting you was far too simple. Just now, there were a few vagrants in the town that wanted to fight. Ha! I sent them to their maker with few pulls of my trigger! The only pity is that I dirtied my fighting gear in the process,” said the man who was armed rather happily, as he patted his bulletproof vest.

“Soldier, let me say this once more! Watch how you address me! It should be ‘officer’! Also, shape your attitude up! We’re now on a task, and there’s danger everywhere!” said the black haired girl know as Fanny in an icy tone. Evidently, she was a little angry.

“Furthermore, if you hadn’t taunted them in the first place, would they have struck? I’ll write this down in my report after this mission’s over,” Fanny continued. She drew her pistol from her waist and followed the small path which circled round the factory toward the Factory District. The armed man scratched his head somewhat awkwardly but still picked his gun up and followed after her.

I cannot guess their motives, but according to the journal I read in the manager’s room, perhaps their appearance has something to do with that matter of the waste water management plant. I decided to follow both of them to find out, and went down the block quietly, following them from a distance with bushes as cover. We walked past the weed-filled small path of the Factory District and a few big towers, before they arrived before a spacious factory building. A huge amount of animal and human carcasses were strewn nearby the entrance of the building.

“Officer, are you sure… that this is the place?” asked the armed man in an extremely serious tone. Even the weapon in his hand began to appear formidable.

“That’s right, the marking on the map points to this factory building,” Fanny said. She sounded very sure of herself, but she still took out the map to seek confirmation.

“Hey! I’ve a feeling that we’re being served as food to some wild beast. Will be turn into crap later?” said the man; even as he was observing the surroundings, he could not help teasing his superior.

“Shut up! Maintain your vigilance!” Fanny replied coldly, as distant as usual. The armed man really did not know how to adapt- did he not know that ice queens such as her did not like joking the most?

At this moment, a chilly voice was transmitted from the loudspeaker above the main entrance of the building, “Please produce your personal identification card. You have 30 seconds to do so. Non-employees should leave immediately, otherwise you’ll be removed by force.” The center plate at the bottom of the entrance twisted open to reveal a rectangle-shaped receptacle, and at the same time, a few sentry gun towers twisted out of the surrounding floor space of the building in a similar fashion, the muzzles directed at the two strangers. Fanny appeared unflustered even when facing the guns and drew out a card from her waist pouch and slotted it into the reader.

“Identity verified,” a voice prompt said, as the main entrance of the factory building began opening up slowly. The sentry gun towers went back into concealment; it was as if they had never appeared before.

After both of them walked in, the entrance shut itself automatically. By this time, my curiosity was already uncontrollable, and I took out the card I found in the manager’s office from my pocket for a look. A gold chip with special markings on it was embedded on the card, and it looked like the same color as the woman’s.

With the card in hand, I walked up to the main entrance and just like I expected, the voice prompted me to insert my identification into the reader, which I did.

“Identity verified.”

I heaved a long sigh of relief. To be honest, the carcasses around me made me feel uncomfortable, and if were not for the card in my hand, I would not have chosen to take such a risk.

As I entered the factory building, all I could see were mostly some rusted factory equipment. Of course, I would not believe it if anyone told me such tight security was only meant to protect these pieces of scrap. I spotted the shoe prints in the dust-covered floor and followed them, circling around a big pile of discarded equipment until I finally came to a cabinet made of galvanized steel that was more than two meters high. I opened it carefully and noticed that there was a gate made of alloy inside, along with a identity card reader to the left of it. I inserted my card in the reader, and the gate slowly opened; I could not help but grip the gun in my hand tightly.

After the gate was completely open, an underground passage appeared in front of me, a slightly pungent smell emanating from it. The lights on the wall of the passage were still on, surprising me. It was in the shape of a semi-circle and seemed new- its surface must have been coated with some special paint. Its roof was covered with various types of pipes and cables.

I walked down a long flight of stairs, arriving before the entrance of an underground facility. There was many rubbish strewn on the ground before me, and many equipment that I have never seen before were placed in the rooms at the sides of the passage. I searched the rooms carefully and found some military grade adhesive tapes, batteries and some useless yellowing journals. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few cartons of bottled water in a room shaped like a canteen, and they bore the mark of “pure water”. I opened one bottle, took a sip and found no strange taste. It was extremely refreshing, and the pure taste even made me a little intoxicated.

Such pure water was extremely rare to find- only filtered water was sold in Dick Town, and the filtration devices were already somewhat old. Even though water filtered from such devices would not kill anyone, there was always an indescribable weird taste which accompanied them; in fact, I had a half bottle full of such water in my tattered backpack. Although I could not bring all the bottles of pure water with me, as long as I had the identity card, I could always come back. I flung the bottle of strange-tasting water away and filled my backpack with a few bottles of pure water.

I then walked out of the staff canteen deeper along the passageway, and this part of it was pitch dark- the lighting circuitry in this area had already been damaged. I had no choice but to fish out the electric torch I got from security yesterday. I passed through the dark passage until I reached its end, where there was a lift. I hesitated a little as I looked at the indicator lights which were still on, but eventually I still pressed the button.

I entered the lift, and there were a row of buttons labeled “levels one to basement five” on the control panel in the carriage. Of course, since my motive was to scavenge for any useful resources, I would not directly start from the bottom most level. I pressed the button to the “basement one” level.

“Clunk–”

The entire carriage stopped suddenly just as the lift began to start, before it began to descend extremely quickly. A piercing sound of metal scrapping against metal accompanied my descent, and my heart nearly stopped. Could I be any more unlucky? Terrible mutants could not kill me, and the devious raiders could not stop me, yet I was going to get smashed into pulp in an old elevator that had not been maintained for years? The sudden loss of gravity made my knees weak, and I prevented myself from falling by supporting my weight with my hands against the walls of the lift carriage. Just when I was sure that I was going to turn into minced meat, the lift stopped suddenly. This time, however, there was no way I could remain standing, and I fell.

I sat down, my legs devoid of strength. It was only after a while before I got up gingerly and picked up the torch that had dropped to the ground beside me, shaking my somewhat groggy head.

Damned elevator!

I had to think of a way to get out of the lift- who knew when this rotten piece of junk would continue descending again. This concerned my life! I tried all the buttons on the control panel to no avail; the lift would not respond, and I had no idea which level I had descended to. I rubbed my palms together and tried to force the doors of the lift open, but they would not budge an inch. I looked around the carriage and saw the emergency exit hatch at the top- all I needed to do was to press the latch at the far side of the protective panel to release it. The roof of the carriage was too high for me, and I probably could not reach it even if I tried jumping. Furthermore, I did not dare try doing that in this piece of junk. All of a sudden, I could do nothing.

I sat in the carriage and there were strange sounds coming from the outside of its roof. Was it a mutated cockroach? What was that? The confined space made me feel frustrated for no particular reason at all. There was no point waiting, however, and finally I decided to give it a shot. I took out my revolver and took aim at the hinge of the lock to the control panel.

“Blam!”

The huge roar of the gun in the confined area nearly deafened me. Luckily, the lock was destroyed with one shot, and the protective plate fell off, exposing a rectangular hole which allowed a person to squeeze through. I took off my oily short sleeved shirt made of coarse cloth and tore it into strips, linking them together with knots. I then removed all of the bullets from my revolver and tied one end of the rope to its trigger guard. Even though I could not create a grappling hook, my improvised device had the same function.

Grabbing on firmly to one end of the string of cloth, I tossed out my gun from the escape hatch and heard it clunk on the roof of the lift’s carriage. I began pulling downward, and the revolver fell back down the hatch. After repeated attempts, I finally managed to secure the gun outside of the carriage. I tugged a few times to test the tolerance of the cloth and began climbing up with my arms.

After climbing out of the lift’s carriage, I saw that there was only one cable left supporting it- the others had snapped. The lift had gradually stopped because the wheels at its sides were distorted and jammed in their tracks. I lifted my head to look and saw that the lift had stopped between the fourth and fifth basement levels. As I was standing at the roof of the lift, I could easily reach the doors of the lift entrance on basement four, and I pried them open with a little force. Finally, I could leave this damned elevator.

I sat at the entrance of the elevator, feeling lucky that I could escape from my ordeal. When I lifted my head up, however, the scene before me made me tense up and draw my weapon instantly.

Blood! A fresh trail of blood began from the entrance of the lift up till the dark spots where the beam of my torch could not reach. I could even see discarded, blood-soaked medical gauze nearby.

Danger was nearby!