396: Chapter 396 Eye Techniques, Monster Specimens

Hum——

After a low hum, Cheng Jiashu's figure condensed once more within the distorted space.

The intense feeling of weightlessness instantly receded, replaced by the stability of having his feet firmly on the ground.

He opened his eyes abruptly, and after his vision blurred for a split second, it quickly became clear.

Finding himself inside a narrow cubicle.

The air was filled with a faint mixture of disinfectant and a certain peculiar odor.

A faint fluorescent light came from overhead, barely illuminating the surroundings.

Looking up, before him was a closed cubicle door, and the place where he stood—beneath his feet was actually the lid of a flush toilet.

This is... a restroom?

Just as this thought popped into Cheng Jiashu's mind, he saw a figure glued to the wall not far ahead, looking rigidly at him.

That person was wearing the iconic blue uniform of Noah Pharmaceuticals, with long hair tied back behind the head and a mask on the face, covering half of it.

The other party was clearly startled by the sudden turn of events, and her eyes were filled with astonishment.

From her slightly trembling eyelashes and slender body, Cheng Jiashu deduced that this was a female.

The two faced each other, close enough to feel each other's breath.

The dim light and narrow space inside the cubicle made this encounter somewhat awkward.

Cheng Jiashu raised an eyebrow slightly, his voice passing through the mask as he asked:

" You are the insider arranged by Officer Gao? "

The female researcher's face revealed a pale pallor from a long wait, appearing somewhat morbid in the dimness.

Her lips trembled slightly, seeming as though she wanted to say something, but stopped herself, simply nodding in response.

It seemed that this woman had been hiding alone in this small, dark, and odor-filled cubicle for a very long time.

Her spirit was in a state of high tension and exhaustion.

" Don't be nervous. "

Cheng Jiashu slowed his pace of speech, trying his best to make his voice sound more comforting, then chuckled softly:

" It seems my positioning is still quite accurate. "

What he called "accurate positioning" was precisely the secret of the eye technique "Mind's Eye Instant" that he had mastered.

This was a rare ability, using the eyes as the core medium to manipulate the instantaneous folding and traversal of space, able to ignore physical obstacles along the way.

The only limiting condition was that when activating the ability, an "anchor point" must be set in advance.

Within the range of his vision, as long as he could clearly see the target, he could instantly traverse himself from his current position to the vicinity of the target point, keeping the error basically within one meter.

However, the target of this operation was hidden within the inner core area of the building.

Under such circumstances, when the target far exceeded visual range or was blocked by obstacles, an anchor point capable of being perceived by his consciousness and establishing a mental connection was needed.

In other words, a self-aware "living coordinate".

Only thus could precise transmission across the heavy defenses of the Noah Building be achieved.

To ensure the smooth progress of the plan, Cheng Jiashu frankly told Gao Jin the conditions required for him to execute his eye technique.

Thus, Gao Jin arranged for this researcher of Noah Pharmaceuticals who was willing to act as an insider, entering Cheng Jiashu's Secret Realm in advance, planting a "mental imprint" deep within her consciousness to serve as an anchor point.

As a condition of exchange, Cheng Jiashu must, after obtaining the experimental data, help her rescue a friend imprisoned by the Noah Organization and ensure their safety.

" ...This is the restroom in the core area of Noah Pharmaceuticals. "

The female researcher finally spoke, her voice carrying a slight dryness.

" I can take you inside the laboratory, but you must keep your promise and help my friend escape this den of devils. "

When saying this, her gaze was extremely firm, carrying a hint of pleading within it.

Cheng Jiashu chuckled lightly, completely unconcerned about her doubts:

" Rest assured, with my ability, taking two people away is still quite easy. "

The confidence overflowing in his words made the female researcher's tense body relax slightly all at once.

The two said no more, silently walking out of the cubicle and gently pushing open the restroom door marked with the female symbol.

Outside was a quiet corridor, the lights sparse and dim, with the footsteps of patrolling guards occasionally coming from not far away.

Although Cheng Jiashu used the living coordinate to directly infiltrate the core area of Noah Pharmaceuticals, bypassing the outer laser monitoring network.

But to reach the truly confidential laboratory, he still needed to bypass the strict patrolling guards and the final layer of multi-defense control Systems.

" Walk this way... "

The female researcher motioned in a direction, and although her steps were somewhat stiff, her professional training allowed her to quickly regain her composure.

" Stop. "

Just as the two moved to the corner, she suddenly stopped her footsteps again, her breathing becoming rapid.

Accompanied by a slight "click" sound, a surveillance camera was slowly turning over, on the verge of bringing them into its monitoring range.

At the same time, a sound of approaching footsteps came from not far away, which was the routine route of the patrolling guards.

" Hold tightly to my hand, don't let go. "

Cheng Jiashu instructed in a nearly whispered voice.

Without finishing his words and without the slightest hesitation, his left hand instantly grasped the female researcher's wrist, a faint light flashing in his eyes.

At the moment when the guard's footsteps grew closer and closer, and the camera was about to aim at them——

Hum!

Along with a hum hard for ordinary human ears to capture, the figures of Cheng Jiashu and the female researcher vanished almost simultaneously like two phantoms blown away by the wind.

The sound of the guard's leather boots resounded through the empty corridor, and the camera slowly swept across the spot where they had just been standing.

Showing that it was completely empty here.

And when the guard holding a rifle brushed past and headed to the next patrol point.

The two had already bizarrely appeared in a blind spot at the end of the corridor.

The female researcher's chest rose and fell as she panted slightly.

She could feel that in the short span of less than a second just now, her body was being pulled by an invisible force.

As if her Soul had been stripped away and instantly returned to its place, that extreme sense of dislocation made her dizzy.

Cheng Jiashu's breathing remained steady, however; his eye technique displayed astonishing efficiency and precision in short-distance "instant flashes".

Even while carrying a person, it would not produce the eye-catching spatial distortion phenomenon like long-distance traversal.

In this way, the two carefully groped forward.

Utilizing Cheng Jiashu's eye technique, cooperating with the female researcher's familiarity with the internal routes, they narrowly avoided surveillance and patrols several times.

Finally, the two arrived before a thick metal door.

This was the final barrier leading to the laboratory.

" Be careful. "

The female researcher had completely adapted to the tense atmosphere of stealth, and she reminded in a low voice:

" There are vibration monitoring devices here; even the slightest vibration from touching the door panel could trigger an alarm. "

She stepped forward first, skillfully pulling an access card from her pocket and pressing it against the card reader.

Then, the screen beside the metal door lit up, and a red beam of light shot out, landing precisely on her eyeball to perform an iris scan.

Beep!

The alarm device made a slight sound, and the indicator light turned from red to green.

The heavy metal door silently slid open to both sides, revealing a pitch-black passage.

At the other end of the passage was the most confidential experimental area of Noah Pharmaceuticals.

The two cautiously stepped inside, and the metal door behind them immediately closed again.

Darkness enveloped everything here.

The entire space was frighteningly silent, and only the low roar of the air conditioner blowing from the ventilation ducts overhead could be heard.

That was the sound of the laboratory's constant-temperature System operating uninterrupted throughout the night.

After passing through another access control point, before them was a relatively spacious area.

The indicator lights on various precision instruments flickered with red and green light spots in the darkness, outlining vague contours.

The air was permeated with a mixed smell of formalin and some unknown chemical substance.

Making Cheng Jiashu somewhat unaccustomed to it, unable to help wanting to sneeze.

" The right side is the data room, and most of the confidential archives are there. "

The female researcher's voice lowered further, pointing in the direction and quickly introducing:

" The left side is the culture room, and living body experiments are conducted there. "

Cheng Jiashu's gaze swept across, and his sight suddenly fell on the left side.

He was attracted by a passage stretching straight into the depths of darkness.

At the end of the passage was an even heavier giant steel door, on which a red dot was continuously flashing.

It should be a more stringent monitoring equipment.

Cheng Jiashu felt curious in his heart and couldn't help asking:

" Where does that passage lead? "

The female researcher looked along his gaze and shook her head:

" That is another experimental area, belonging to the highest confidentiality Rank of the headquarters; even researchers like us have no right to enter. "

" Perhaps... more covert biochemical experiments are being conducted inside? Obtaining the experimental data this time is enough for us; there's no need to branch out and create extra complications. "

Cheng Jiashu nodded and asked no more.

The female researcher then walked towards the data room on the right, opening the door with familiar ease.

Inside, a computer screen glowed faintly; she quickly sat down, her ten fingers flying across the keyboard to input a long string of complex passwords.

After entering the System, an encrypted software icon on the desktop was clicked, and a password box popped up again.

Without hesitation, she entered another row of passwords, and the software then opened smoothly.

The female researcher stared fixedly at the screen, quickly conducting a search.

Soon she found a hidden entry, and after confirming it was correct, she took a USB flash drive from her portable bag and plugged it into the computer.

This USB drive was handed to her by Gao Jin. Modified by the technical department of the Special Investigation Team, it could use System vulnerabilities to obtain administrator privileges and lift USB restriction policies.

The progress bar jumped rapidly on the screen, lines of file names and pictures scrolling past like a waterfall.

Cheng Jiashu leaned closer to the screen; the powerful perceptual ability of his eye technique allowed him to instantly capture a lot of information.

Those were shocking human experimentation records—illustrated with text and pictures, and even attached with photos or videos.

Every single record was detailed to a hair-raising degree:

On such-and-such month and day of such-and-such year, what kind of genetic modification was carried out on a certain experimental subject, or what unknown potion was injected, from the cellular level to organ response, all data were presented in meticulous detail.

Seeing this, the female researcher then explained a few sentences:

" The recording years of these materials can be traced back as early as sixty years ago... which is the World War II period, when the Japanese military secretly carried out an experimental project code-named 'Tree of Life' in the Xia Country. "

" After the defeat, this project was not completely destroyed, but fell into the hands of the Noah Organization, and the research project was also able to be preserved. Today, some of the materials are stored in the database of this computer. "

Speaking of this, a trace of complex light flashed in her eyes.

" For us internal researchers, these experimental data only have some reference value, and much of the content is already outdated. "

" But for the Xia Country... as long as these pieces of evidence are made public and ignite public opinion, the Noah Organization will completely lose its footing in the Xia Country! "

Just as the data transmission progress bar of the USB drive reached one-third, a burst of footsteps suddenly came from outside the data room, moving from far to near.

" Someone is patrolling! "

Cheng Jiashu immediately perceived the abnormality, his pupils slightly contracting.

The female researcher's body suddenly tensed up, instinctively holding her breath, her heart almost jumping to her throat.

The two suddenly stood motionless in the darkness like two statues.

The footsteps stopped, and the flashlight beam swept a few times.

The patrolling guard seemed to stand in the passage behind the access control, conducted a routine check, and then left the place.

The footsteps receded, turning out to be a false alarm.

The female researcher took a deep breath, and her body relaxed again.

She looked at the slowly transmitting progress bar, then raised her wrist to glance at the watch time, her expression suddenly turning anxious.

" We must move quickly. After eleven o'clock, someone will come in to do cleaning work, and we must rescue my friend before then. "

Hearing this, Cheng Jiashu was somewhat surprised:

" The laboratory still needs to clean up in the middle of the night? "

" It's not the kind of cleaning you think. "

The female researcher shook her head, her tone carrying obvious urgency:

" It's hard to explain all at once; we'll talk after we get out. Now is the time for you and Officer Gao to fulfill your promise. "

Since Cheng Jiashu had made a promise to save someone, naturally he would not break his word.

With a little doubt, he followed the female researcher out of the data room, walking towards the culture room on the left side.

The temperature here was much lower than outside, and an ice-cellar-like chill permeated the air.

As they penetrated deeper, the surrounding darkness seemed to become even thicker.

Occasionally, faint blue light penetrated from the depths of the passage, exuding a chilling coldness.

When they arrived at the culture room, the scene before his eyes instantly caused Cheng Jiashu's pupils to shrink sharply.

Rows of huge glass cylinders, as many as dozens of them, stood neatly in the darkness.

Every cylinder was filled with faint blue culture fluid, gleaming with an unsettling luster under the dim light.

And within that blue liquid, naked human bodies were clearly soaked.

Their muscles were all unusually developed, blood vessels knotted like earthworms, and their bodies presented a bizarre curled-up posture, with many tubes inserted into their heads and backs.

Some could still barely recognize human facial features, only their eyes were somewhat hollow.

Others had distorted faces, deformed limbs, and skin covered with mutated tissues, like monster specimens soaked in formalin.

" These... are all human specimens? "

In Cheng Jiashu's voice, a trace of suppressed shock could not help but be carried.

The female researcher's expression was unexpectedly calm; perhaps accustomed to this scene, her voice did not have too many ripples:

" No, a portion of them are still alive. "

" These are life-maintaining culture dishes, containing experimental subjects captured by the Noah Organization in the Xia Country region over the years. "

While speaking, her gaze suddenly cast towards one of the culture dishes, her originally calm eyes instantly turning soft and complex.

Cheng Jiashu looked along her line of sight; that was a similar culture dish.

Immersed inside was a man with a bald head, a stout figure, and similarly abnormally developed muscles, but in form he could barely still be called a human.

His eyes were tightly closed, and tiny bubbles continuously emerged around his nostrils and mouth, clearly still possessing vital signs.

Cheng Jiashu's gaze moved below the culture dish, where the identification label clearly read:

" Serial number 1053, collateral branch of the Dongying Majima family Bloodline, Majima Goro. "

This man was the friend the female researcher wanted to rescue.