533: Chapter 533 The Adventure Begins

Konks stowed his drone and pulled an arm-thick Picometer-level thermal fusion cutter from the side pocket of his backpack.

He didn't understand the principles behind this thing; supposedly, it utilized some kind of directed energy at the subatomic level.

Regardless, the company claimed that in the civilian field, there was nothing it couldn't cut—it was just a massive energy hog, and expensive to boot.

He found an angle and aimed the cutter's emitter at the gap between the metal door and the rock.

Adjusting the power, he took aim.

"Zzzzt—"

A faint, almost invisible beam of ghostly blue light shot out, precisely sinking into the junction where metal met rock.

It sliced through rock and steel like a knife through tofu.

This was the power of technology, the scent of money.

After about twenty minutes, he had cut an opening in the heavy metal door large enough for a person to pass through while crouching.

The severed chunk of metal fell into the darkness inside with a loud clang, sending back a hollow echo.

Konks switched off the cutter and put it away.

He didn't go in immediately, instead first tossing in a small Environmental probe ball.

The sphere rolled into the darkness, extending several probes; a few seconds later, data was transmitted back.

[Internal Environment: No oxygen, presence of multiple inert gases and unknown compound residues.]

[Radiation Dosage: Moderate.]

[Structural Stability: Partially fragile, caution advised.]

[Life Signs: None.]

"The zombie lab déjà vu is getting stronger..." Konks grumbled internally, but his hands didn't stop.

He checked the gas supply mode of his protective suit, inspected his weapons and tools, took a deep breath, bent over, and crawled through the opening he had personally cut.

Inside was total, all-consuming darkness.

The helmet's floodlights automatically clicked on, two pillars of light piercing the darkness to illuminate the scene ahead.

A wide corridor covered in dust and debris stretched forward, its walls made of heavy concrete.

In some places, it had already cracked, revealing the rusted rebar inside.

Broken lines and cables hung from the ceiling like dead vines.

Debris and wreckage that no longer resembled their original forms were scattered across the floor.

The air felt as if it had been frozen for a millennium, thick with the smell of dust, rust, and a mixture of certain chemical agents.

Despite being separated by the protective suit, he still felt as if he could smell it. This was because the AI annotated the analyzed odor components in a corner of his vision, and it couldn't be turned off.

Words and images could also bring a sense of smell.

"This place... it's an Innate horror movie protagonist—no, a Holy Land for horror movies," Konks whispered, his voice echoing in the sealed helmet to give himself some courage.

He activated the scanner, advancing slowly while letting the AI continue to build the internal structural map.

The corridor was very long, leading all the way down at a gentle slope.

Most of the rooms on either side had their doors wide open or were damaged, containing overturned cabinets, shattered containers, and metal skeletons that could vaguely be identified as workbenches or instruments.

There were no bodies, no bloodstains, and even very few traces that anyone had ever lived here for a long time.

Things like personal items, decorations, or domestic waste were missing.

This was very unusual.

If this were a disaster bunker or a shelter, even if everyone had evacuated or died, there should have been more traces of human presence left behind.

It was too clean—so clean it looked as if it had been thoroughly purged, leaving only the architectural frames and heavy equipment wreckage that couldn't be moved or were worthless.

Furthermore, the architectural style and structure were completely different from the current Hive City of the Void.

This place was more rugged, placing more emphasis on structural strength and functionality.

It was full of the atmosphere of the old industrial era, a completely different path from the smooth designs of the Void that utilized Fusion with biological aesthetics.

"This doesn't look like something they would build now," Konks muttered to himself. "Unless... it wasn't built by them?"

As he went deeper, the 3D model gradually became more complete.

The scale of this underground structure was beyond imagination; it wasn't just a few simple rooms, but a massive multi-layered facility.

Based on structural characteristics, the AI labeled several possible areas.

A central energy core, a suspected storage area, a large laboratory cluster, a data processing center, and a specifically marked block.

[Structure exceptionally stable, possesses independent heavy-armor protection; likely a high-security area.]

"Well, that obviously looks like a place you can't just wander into."

Konks thought for a moment and decided to give up on exploring that spot.

At least, he couldn't go in this time.

The storage area.

Konks turned his gaze toward that location.

According to conventional logic, if this place had been abandoned or evacuated in an emergency, the storage area would be the most likely place to have items left behind that were too late to take or deemed unimportant.

Things like archives, samples, or forgotten equipment—those were all pieces of evidence that could be used for analysis.

He pulled up the shortest path to the storage area.

He needed to cross more than half of the laboratory district and then go down one level.

Let's go.

The scene in the laboratory district was even more dilapidated.

Some complex instrument benches, covered in pipelines and interfaces, lay overturned and blanketed in thick dust.

In some places on the walls, faded and peeling signs and symbols remained.

Konks had the AI try its best to analyze them, but most were blurred and difficult to distinguish.

He noticed some details.

The interface specifications of some instruments had subtle differences from the standard interfaces used in current Void laboratories.

The technology tree here seemed to have a strong connection with the current Biotechnica of the Void, yet there were differences.

With growing questions, Konks found the passage to the next level: a shaft for a freight elevator.

The elevator platform had long since disappeared, leaving only the deep shaft.

He released a small Floating searchlight from his backpack to illuminate the way down.

It was about thirty meters deep.

He checked the grip and cushioning functions of his Exoskeleton, then took a deep breath and began climbing down the maintenance ladder protruding from the shaft's inner wall.

The shaft wall was cold, and the slight friction of his gloves grabbing the metal ladder was amplified in the dead silence of the shaft, sounding exceptionally clear.

He tried not to think about what might be below, focusing instead on the depth reading on his helmet display.

Twenty meters... twenty-five meters... thirty meters.

He reached the bottom.

His feet landed on a hard metal grate floor.

It was even darker and more humid here, and that stale smell in the air seemed even thicker.

The searchlight's beam swept across, illuminating the area ahead.

It was an even vaster space with a higher ceiling, lined with rows of massive, heavy metal cabinets.

Some cabinet doors were tightly shut, while others were twisted and deformed, or even violently forced open, leaving them empty.

This was the storage area. Or rather, it used to be.

Konks's heart rate quickened slightly.

He had the Floating searchlight rise to provide more even lighting, while he began cautiously picking his way through the rows of metal cabinets.

Most of the cabinets were empty, or contained only some worthless mounting brackets, with a thick layer of dust accumulated on them.

He reached the depths of the storage area.

The cabinets here looked sturdier, and some even had complex electronic locks, though they had long since failed.

He tried opening a few; they were either empty or contained only some unidentifiable carbon-based residues.

Just as he was about to feel disappointed, he stopped in front of an unremarkable metal cabinet near a corner, partially recessed into the wall.