73: Mysterious Maze

The blue light in the door crack was still flashing. Chen Wang didn't move. He stared at the widening gap, his fingers swiping across the kindling system interface. Energy was full, the shield was usable, but the map was still black, revealing nothing inside.

"Send the robot in first," he said.

Lin Wei nodded and retrieved a palm-sized robot from the engineering bay. Its casing was pieced together from old drones, and there were welded marks on its tracks. She pressed the switch, and the robot crawled along the ground into the passage.

The scene was relayed back to the screen in the vehicle. Ice covered both sides of the corridor, an IV stand lay askew on the ground, a hospital bed was overturned, and the sheets were frozen stiff. The air had a smell, like disinfectant mixed with burnt wires.

The robot moved forward for about thirty meters when the screen suddenly flickered. The camera turned to a fork in the road on the left, revealing a mummified corpse in a white lab coat leaning against the wall, a glowing stone embedded in its chest. The next second, the signal was lost.

"It's cut off," Lin Wei said, putting down the remote control. "There's strong electromagnetic interference over there."

Chen Wang leaned back in the driver's seat, his hand touching the pocket watch in his pocket. This place felt wrong.

"Can the system find the correct path?" he asked.

Lin Wei shook her head: "The compass is spinning wildly, and the scanner is slow to react. The wall reflections are also abnormal, it's as if... there are empty spaces inside."

Su Ling stood by the side door, her gun pointed outside. "We need to go in and check."

"Leave the vehicle," Chen Wang said. "Activate the shield and automatic alert. The three of us will go in."

The three put on their cold-weather gear, carrying weapons and toolkits. Su Wan remained in the vehicle, listening to their movements through her earpiece.

As soon as they entered the corridor, their feet slipped. There was blood on the ground, already black, leaving prints when stepped on. The lights overhead flickered, as if there was a loose connection.

"Make a mark," Chen Wang took a carving knife from his bag and drew a horizontal line on the right wall.

They walked fifty meters along the main path and reached a three-way intersection. To the left was the ICU, to the right was the Radiology Department, and straight ahead was the elevator lobby.

"Go left," Chen Wang said.

Ten minutes later, they were back. The horizontal line appeared on the opposite wall, reversed.

"We didn't take a wrong turn," Lin Wei touched the wall. "This place changed."

She turned on the scanner and emitted a low-frequency signal. The reading from the right wall was very low.

"This wall is fake," she said. "It's actually very thin, and empty behind it."

Chen Wang tapped it with a wrench, and it sounded hollow. He took out a cutter and cut along the seam. The ice cracked, revealing pipes inside. Tubes of various sizes were intertwined, some still flowing with a pale green liquid. There were labels on the brackets, with numbers identical to those outside.

"This is a cooling system," Lin Wei pointed to a large pipe. "It's similar to the prototypes I've seen before, but larger."

They squeezed into the interlayer. The space was small, allowing them to only walk bent over. Frost covered the pipes, making them cold to the touch. The deeper they went, the stronger the scanner's signal became.

"The source is below," Lin Wei looked at the screen. "B3 level, Central Pharmacy."

A maintenance ladder appeared ahead, leading to a ventilation shaft. The shaft cover was rusted shut, with pry marks on the side.

"Someone's been here," Su Ling crouched down to look. "The marks are fresh."

Chen Wang pushed the cover open with force. It was pitch black below, with only a tiny red light in the corner. He tied the rope and was the first to descend.

After landing, he turned on his headlamp. This was an equipment room, with a row of control panels on the wall, their lights still on. The main unit's interface in the middle was exposed, as if someone had unplugged the cable.

Lin Wei connected the kindling system and ran the cracking program. A few seconds later, a line of text appeared on the screen:

[Project No. 7 Terminated]

[Sample Escaped]

[All Exits Locked]

The words flashed, and the screen changed to a blurry face. The person was wearing a lab coat, their face thin and looking very tired.

Su Ling suddenly looked up: "That's Su Wan."

Lin Wei quickly took a screenshot. "The system records the time as seventy-two days before the apocalypse. This person... looks exactly like her."

Su Wan's voice came through the earpiece: "What did you see?"

No one answered. Chen Wang stared at the screen, then looked at the iron door on the other side. "Isolation Observation Area" was written on the door, a red light was continuously flashing, and cold air was seeping from the crack in the door.

"There's power inside," Lin Wei said. "The surveillance is still working."

Su Ling walked to the nearby distribution box, found the main line, and cut it with pliers. The red light went out, and the sound of machines from inside the door stopped.

Chen Wang pried open the side window and climbed into the control room. The room was covered in dust, and several papers were scattered on the table. He picked one up; it read "Neural Synchronization Rate Test Record," signed by "Dr. Tang."

The kindling system connected to the main unit and began copying data. When the progress reached 60%, the alarm sounded.

"Movement," Lin Wei pointed at the scanner. "B2 West side, a heat source is moving."

Su Ling immediately raised her gun, aiming at the doorway.

"It's not a large object," Lin Wei adjusted it. "Body temperature is like a human's, moving slowly."

Chen Wang continued to wait for the data. The remaining files were being packaged. Progress reached 85%.

Suddenly, the ventilation duct above them vibrated slightly. Something seemed to be crawling.

"Turn off the lights," Chen Wang whispered.

The three turned off their headlamps. In the darkness, only the kindling system's screen emitted a faint blue light. Chen Wang covered it with his hand, leaving only a slit.

After a few minutes, the vibration stopped.

The data transfer was complete. Chen Wang unplugged the interface and walked towards the iron door. The doorknob was frozen; he had to use a blowtorch to heat it before he could pull it open.

Behind the door was a long corridor with patient rooms on both sides. Each door had an observation window with scratch marks on the glass. At the end was a separate room, numbered "7."

Lin Wei's scanner beeped: "The signal is coming from below. There's a downward path in the ventilation shaft, leading directly to B3."

They returned to the equipment room and found the maintenance ladder leading downwards. The ladder was old and creaked under their weight.

Chen Wang led the way, a gun in his right hand and his left hand on the railing. Su Ling was at the back, ready to react to any situation.

Halfway down, Lin Wei stopped.

"Wait," she looked up. "Did I just... say 'the signal is below'?"

Chen Wang turned around: "You did."

"But my recorder doesn't have that part," she played back the recording. "That recording is empty."

Su Ling also noticed: "Communication was cut off for three seconds."

Chen Wang looked at the darkness below. The ladder led to a circular platform, surrounded by four passages. One of them had a sign that read "Central Pharmacy."

They walked onto the platform. There was water on the ground, making a sound when stepped on. The smell of disinfectant grew stronger.

Lin Wei looked at the scanner again and found the pointer indicating the path ahead.

"That's the place," she said.

Chen Wang raised his hand to signal caution. Su Ling walked close to the wall, her gun sweeping every corner. Lin Wei followed behind, her scanner continuously on.

As they neared the passage, black water suddenly surged from the drain at the edge of the platform. Small particles floated in the water, like bone fragments or teeth.

Lin Wei looked down and saw her shadow was distorted. It wasn't a lighting issue; the shadow was moving on its own.

She raised her hand, but the shadow didn't move.

"Don't look at the ground," Chen Wang whispered. "Keep moving forward."

The three quickened their pace. They were five steps from the passage.

Su Ling took her first step, moving her gun forward.

Her second step landed on a loose floor tile.

On her third step, her shadow suddenly raised its hand, but she herself didn't move.

Chen Wang yanked her into the passage. Lin Wei followed closely. Behind them on the platform, the accumulated water began to swirl, forming a small vortex.