Translator: ThatLazyPotato
Translation Checker: 7qqy
Editor: yuki_shuichi
Neither of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw a familiar face. Bai Chunian put the pistol in the leather gun holder on his outer thigh, water trickled down from the collar on his neck and forged into the Dead Sea heart dagger in his palm. Rimbaud also raised his dorsal fin spikes and slowly walked against the wall to fight them at any moment.
Bai Chunian looked at Eris. His entire face seemed to have been fine-tuned by a plastic surgeon who was an expert in aesthetics. His facial features still had the richness of the Middle Ages, but those edges and corners were intended to cater to Aileen’s preferences, pursuing excessive extravagance. He had been polished so that he now looked only sixteen or seventeen years old. His innocent baby face concealed the bloodthirst and cruelty beneath his skin.
However, the basis of these experimental subjects were all pale and thin teenagers, made according to Aileen’s preference. This was something that nobody could completely change.
He was wearing overall shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. The cufflinks of the shirt, his leather shoes, and his stockings were all decorated with small gemstones, and the pleated lace on the collar of the shirt was adorned with ruby buttons. This heart-shaped ruby still had considerable weight and size after being polished and cut. It seemed that the original stone must not be small.
Bai Chunian could recognize it at a glance—it was the ruby stolen from Rimbaud by the Demon Envoy, Black Panther. He originally thought that Knicks would use it to rebuild the mechanical core for Eris, but looking at it now, only the clear essence was cut out and used as decorative clasps. So what mechanical core was driving Eris’ movements? Was it that Knicks found a more suitable gem?
“Big bro, what a coincidence.” Eris was only calling him affectionately on the surface, his mouth opened and lifted up. He looked at Bai Chunian sinisterly. He pushed open the S686 barrel in his hand that was engraved with retro patterns and filled with gold powder for decoration, threw two shotshells into it, and then closed the barrel with a click.
“You didn’t die?” Bai Chunian asked. “And you didn’t use the heart-shaped ruby, so how is your body moving?”
Facing several questions raised by Bai Chunian, Eris continued to think about them. He held his chin with a half-broken and still bleeding hand, looking serious and thoughtful. Eris wasn’t good at pretending, so his inability to immediately answer meant that he really didn’t know.
A hand was suddenly placed on Eris’ shoulder, stopping him from thinking. A blonde with blue eyes white alpha came forward from within the shadows.
Puppet Master was also here.
Bai Chunian gave up on the idea of killing Eris first before going deeper into the institute. Puppet Master was also a smart person; when he saw the Divine Envoy and the merman working together, he gave up on the idea of a head-on fight.
Puppet Master spoke first, breaking the stiff atmosphere, “Eris’ combat chip was burned out. We are here to find a suitable combat chip.” He extended his hand in a friendly manner, and his amiable attitude was like the conflict they had in the Berna Pharmaceutical Factory never happened.
Bai Chunian naturally also stretched out his hand, shaking hands with Puppet Master. “We were ordered to pick up Mr. Oslov. He’s the pharmacist here and our undercover agent.”
Their excellent psychological quality prevented their mutual micro-expressions from revealing any flaws, but they were also unable to see through what the other party was hiding.
Bai Chunian slightly smiled, thinking, “Nonsense, if you want to find a combat chip, it’s much easier to go to the breeding base and steal it there than to steal it from the headquarters. Are you trying to hint to me that Eris can’t fight right now?”
Puppet Master silently nodded, thinking, “Weapons aren’t needed for a rescue mission. Also, only having two people act doesn’t make sense. Anyway, they both are envoy-type experimental subjects, is the huge difference in IQ intentional? Is there a way to improve it?”
Seeing the two men openly and secretly confronting each other, Rimbaud scratched his head silently and recalled who Oslov was. Eris lifted the hem of his shirt and looked at his navel, wondering if what he had eaten was a combat chip.
“It seems this building is somewhat different from what we expected. If we’re going the same way, we can go together for a bit,” Puppet Master said.
“Sure.” Bai Chunian readily agreed. If there was an emergency, having two more A3-grade helpers would also increase the chance of winning by 20%. It was also a good idea to pull them to block the gun when necessary, taking care of two fugitives on the IOA wanted list while they were at it. It could also relieve the president of some subsequent pressure.
Bai Chunian spread out half of the map on the spot and hooked his hand toward Puppet Master. “How about you come over and share some info? This is the architectural drawing we drew.” What he took out was a blank map printed by Crawler, none of Professor Lin Deng’s annotations were on it.
Their sincerity was already placed on the ground, so Puppet Master said, “Taking the testing room route will be a bit better.”
A small number of the experimental subjects in Snow White Castle were from the Institute Headquarters. Puppet Master had mapped out the safest route according to their confusing dictation. After seeing Bai Chunian take out the map, Puppet Master was even more sure of the accuracy of his own planned route.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Let’s go, let’s go down the stairs. The testing room is minus fifteen floors.”
Rimbaud was crawling on the wall, his electro-optical tail flickering blue light in the darkness, and still holding a grudge against Eris. However, since Xiao Bai had decided to work together with them, he was going to leave it for now. Eris didn’t have much self-consciousness about infiltrating, he sat on the stair’s handrail, slid down it, and let out a “ya-hoo” sound from time to time. The terrifying and shrill laughter echoed in the deep stairwell.
Bai Chunian and Puppet Master walked down the stairs side by side, watching each other from the corner of their eyes. Puppet Master noticed that Bai Chunian was walking slightly on his tiptoes like a cat, not making any sound at all. Bai Chunian also noticed that Puppet Master really cherished his own hands, wearing a pair of black half-length gloves, and he wouldn’t carelessly touch anything. Other than that, he couldn’t get any other information because they were both wary of each other and both had their own hidden agendas.
“What do you think happened here?” Bai Chunian asked with his hands in his pockets. “There’s not a researcher or security guard in sight, and there’s also a major outage. Did they go bankrupt and run off? The news didn’t mention anything about it though.”
“We also just got here.” Puppet Master said, “We indeed haven’t seen anybody either. However, some of the areas and equipment do have tidal and wind energy storage as backup power sources. Let’s check to see if any of the machines are still running.”
They smoothly arrived on the lower fifteenth floor. The temperature also dropped, and a damp, cold feeling came over them.
There was no light here at all. The four of them were close to each other but couldn’t even see each other’s faces. Only Rimbaud’s tail emitted a blue light. In the pitch blackness, his translucent, glowing fishtail looked like a blue skeleton spine that was wiggling and crawling.
Bai Chunian raised a flashlight, and the strong light hit the ceiling, which was at least six meters high from the floor to the ceiling. The walls were covered with high-tech seamless silver insulation panels.
He sniffed and felt an imperceptible smell of blood in the air, thus, he flashed the flashlight in the most suspicious place, but the lighting range of the flashlight was too small, while the open space here was nearly 300 square meters. Searching inch by inch was too time-consuming.
A sudden, small sound came from the ceiling, it sounded a bit like stepping on a wooden floor. Bai Chunian shined the flashlight on the others. Their hearing wasn’t as sensitive as his, not picking up on the slight noise.
According to the control and monitoring equipment installed in this large space, this was the observatory in the testing room. Generally speaking, the researcher responsible for testing various functions of the experimental subject sat here and used control buttons to manipulate the testing process.
The equipment in here was all powered off and shut down. But it was also not bad, at least the surveillance was off and they no longer needed to hide from it.
Bai Chunian was walking around the equipment when he suddenly kicked a hard object under his feet and it rolled away. The seemingly loud sound resounded in the quiet and empty room.
It was only when he shined the flashlight over that he was able to clearly see it was an overturned thermo. Although the equipment was still intact, many chairs had fallen to the ground. The flower pot on the windowsill had been knocked over, and the broken pieces of the pot, as well as the soil, were thrown to the floor. Some messy footprints were left on the soil.
Bai Chunian crouched down to observe the footprint on the soil; it seemed to be a footprint left by running because there were traces of sliding. He lied on the ground and smelled the floor.
He was right, the smell of blood came from the floor, yet the floor was completely clean. There was not even a trace of blood.
“The chairs have been overturned, indicating that a sudden incident caused the chaos. However, if there was an intruder or an experimental subject violently resisted, it stands to reason that there would be some blood stains left on the ground.” Bai Chunian touched his chin and said to himself, “Then it could only be the alarm. The alarm notified that there was danger, which caused all researchers to evacuate urgently. As for the smell of blood on the ground, it should be before that, they happened to kill a runaway experimental subject and then called for cleaning of the blood.”
Only this speculation was the most logical.
Puppet Master was also looking for clues. He approached a console with a cup of spilled water on it, then took out a small plastic bag from his pocket. He sprinkled magnetic powder over the console’s buttons, switched the flashlight to a purple light, and shined it on the buttons.
Bai Chunian went over. “There’s no fingerprints?”
Puppet Master slightly nodded. “These consoles all don’t have any. It’s like no one existed in the first place.”
“Shit, it’s unreal.” Bai Chunian put his hands in his pockets. “Even if a person suddenly disappears from the world there should still be fingerprints.”
Eris shouted in their direction, “Hey, Knicks, come here and have a look. I recognize this thing.”
They went over, following the sound. Eris pointed at the entrance of the testing area. The entrance was double-layered, so one door needed to be opened first, they had to go in, close that door, and then the second door would open. The space between the double doors allowed up to two people to stand from front to back.
The electric lock on the door was actually turned on.
In order to avoid unexpected power outages causing accidents for the experimental subjects being tested, the power supply in the testing area was independent from the rest. After the main power supply was unexpectedly cut off, the backup power supply would be connected immediately. The backup power source uses tidal and wind power to ensure smooth power supply during maintenance of the main power source.
Rimbaud glanced at the door, lowering his head and boredly looking at his nails. “This is the first test for experimental subjects, I’ve taken it before.”
Rimbaud and Eris had stayed in the institute’s headquarters before, they were more familiar with the testing room compared to them.
The function of the testing room was to screen out defective experimental subjects and give the remaining grades for sales pricing.
And the first test was the easiest one—a red-green color blindness test.
Rimbaud said, “There will be an elevator coming up. One person goes in on the red light while two people go in on the green light. If you’re wrong, you’ll be destroyed on the spot, with the incinerator inside the door. After passing, we’ll be sent to the military testing room.”
Eris happily recounted his past experience, “I of course was able to differentiate green from red, I made the mistake on purpose. The floor opened up from below my feet, I fell inside, and fire spurted up. They thought I had been burned to ashes, so they opened the incinerator’s drawer. I jumped out of it and stuffed them all into it, then turned on the fire. Hahaha, if only the incinerator door was transparent, then I could’ve seen how they were begging me inside.”
Rimbaud frowned with his head inclined. He was very afraid of fire, so he didn’t dare get it wrong.
After their description, Bai Chunian understood the rules. The testing rule for color blindness was that when the arriving elevator lights up red, only one active target was allowed in the elevator. When the green light turned on, two active targets were allowed in the elevator. If the number of people was wrong or the elevator was empty, it would be recognized as a mistake, and the destruction device would be activated.
According to the markers on the map, if they didn’t have an ID card and didn’t take the elevator, passing through the testing area was the only feasible option.
“Let’s get on then. Who’s going first?” Bai Chunian asked, then gently held Rimbaud’s hand. “It’s going to be okay, I’ll hold you so you won’t get burned.”
Eris looked at both of them, then murmured, “I’ll go first. What’s there to be afraid of?”
After saying that, he casually tinkered with the electric lock, opened the first door, and went in. Puppet Master furrowed his brow, it seemed he didn’t approve of Eris’ nonchalant attitude, so he followed after him.
The lock automatically locked, and they began to wait for the elevator.
In actuality, it was a scissor lift, and the door inside was a steel sliding door with many intersecting grids. If it wasn’t as dark as it was now, then one could see what was going on inside the lift.
The pitch-black lift arrived, and it suddenly lit red.
The steel sliding door made a creaking sound from not being used for a long time and slowly opened to the side.
“You see that? It’s just that easy. The lift will take us to the Military Testing Area.” Eris jumped into the blood-red lift and stuck his tongue out at them. He flipped a baguette-like switch and the lift slowly took him up.
Bai Chunian watched them through the transparent glass—it was indeed that easy.
Eris slowly went up, and the second black lift rose.
The second lift stopped in front of Puppet Master.
It suddenly lit up red, lighting up the inside of the empty lift. An experimental subject with a dried-up face and two pitch-black empty eye sockets came rushing out of the lift. Its long and shriveled-up arms squeezed through the gap of the sliding door, roaring while lunging and clawing at Puppet Master.
It was so dry and thin that it looked like it hadn’t had any water or food for days.
Bai Chunian took a step back in surprise, yet Puppet Master remained indifferent. He stuffed a hand in his pocket, raised his left hand, and placed it onto its empty and gray eye sockets with compassion.
The steel sliding door ruthlessly slid to one side automatically, pinning and crushing the dried-up experimental subject.
Puppet Master went into the lift and lightly sighed. The lift slowly went up.
After they both entered, Bai Chunian pulled Rimbaud into the double-layered doors. The electric lock locked automatically, and the lift started to move up
“Bai Chunian held Rimbaud’s hand. “You scared?”
Rimbaud hung onto Bai Chunian’s body, his hands wrapped around his neck, and he chuckled next to his ears. “I really want to say I’m scared so that you can comfort me…”
The lift arrived in front of them, and it abruptly lit green.
However, behind the long stick switch, there was a skinny experimental subject stuck there with his hair covering his face. It was like a female ghost crawling out of a well, half-dead and groaning in pain.
Per the rules, only two people could get on the elevator when the light was green. The experimental subject inside was considered one, so only one more person could get on.
Bai Chunian patted Rimbaud. “You go, wait for me when you arrive.”
After the metal door slid open, Rimbaud went in and stood indifferently next to the female ghost-like experimental subject. He checked the condition of the stuck experimental subject.
“Your life is coming to an end. Wait until I get up there, I’ll help you end your life swiftly,” Rimbaud said to it.
Rimbaud also took the lift up.
Bai Chunian waited for the next lift. It was best for it to be a red light. If it was a green light and there was no living thing inside, then he should be able to climb up quickly with his feline skills.
The pitch-black lift arrived with a creak. Bai Chunian waited in silence.
The light lit green, and at the same time, a mummified experimental subject suddenly jumped out and screamed at Bai Chunian crazily. His face was only a thin skin wrapped around a skull, and his lips were all chapped and shriveled up.
Bai Chunian wiped his face.
He went in, bringing the roaring, ferocious mummy with him, and helplessly stood there with his arm around the mummy’s neck.
“Bro, I’ll have to trouble you, the lift needs two people in it.”
¤¤¤
The lift arrived, and when Bai Chunian got off, he neatly broke off the little mummy’s neck.
He looked up, and it was as Eris said, engraved on the wall were the words “Military Testing” in protruding letters.
However, only Puppet Master alone was waiting there.
Bai Chunian froze. “The others?”
Puppet Master shook his head.
Bai Chunian pressed the communicator and called for Rimbaud. “Wife, wife, have you gone up yet?”
“I have,” Rimbaud answered.
Bai Chunian breathed a sigh of relief. “Where are you?”
Rimbaud lifted his head, looked at the words “Intelligence Test” raised on the wall and tried his best to read it, “Intllce Est.”
Eris was next to him, holding the suspenders of his pants with both hands. He walked around and muttered, “Ah, here, I have never been here before.”
Thank You for the new chapter (｡’▽’｡)♡
Did eris not get a heart—
I got way too excited for my chip *dying rn
And demn lanbo 😭😂 <— dis me also because of u