Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 193 - 184 The Doctor’s Secret Room 1

Chapter 193: 184 The Doctor’s Secret Room 1

Chen Long’s death would cause tremors at the stronghold, blurring even the space—this statement made it sound as if Chen Long was the pillar of this isolated real-world space. When the pillar collapsed, the stronghold would naturally be on the brink of destruction.

However, if Chen Long were indeed the pillar, it would be difficult to explain why he could temporarily leave the stronghold and kidnap Changan. No, perhaps the problem lay in the words I used. "Pillar" was a term that could confuse things. Even if he were the foundation of this isolated reality’s existence, it wouldn’t affect his ability to travel to the real world.

Of course, there was a second possibility—perhaps Chen Long was just an ordinary "dreamer," and in the past when the demon hunters killed him, the number of slayings had been precisely enough to destabilize the dream world.

That’s why the girl, Lu Chan, had said the method was "to kill everyone" instead of just "to kill Chen Long."

"...But there must be an insurmountable threshold to this method, right?" I quickly realized.

"That’s right..." Lu Chan sighed, "If the earthquakes and blurring at this stronghold had continued for a bit longer, I believe it would have crumbled completely. It’s a pity that Dr. Silver Mask used the power of restart to restore everything to its original state afterward."

The advantage of this method was that it could destroy the stronghold without having to kill Dr. Silver Mask, but the downside was that Dr. Silver Mask would certainly not ignore a stronghold on the verge of destruction. Ultimately, one still needed to kill that unkillable Dr. Silver Mask.

Moreover, there was now a second threshold—Chen Long himself.

The reason Chen Long was easy to kill back then was that he merely had achieved level. But now, not only had he stepped into the Great Success Rank, he had also mastered "Portal Armor," becoming the second "invincible person" after Dr. Silver Mask.

These two insurmountable mountains were the barriers of despair for all the experimental subjects trapped within this stronghold.

"There is another issue... Zhuang Cheng, can you really kill all the researchers here?" Lu Chan asked, "Can you be ruthless enough to do that?"

I hadn’t deeply considered that question before, but after thinking it through, I still said without hesitation, "Yes."

"That’s good. They are all the enemy and deserve more than death. No matter what compelled reasons they have, they now stand in a position where even being killed a hundred times shouldn’t merit any complaints. So, you mustn’t be lenient," she said. "However, their knowledge could still be useful for the future of ordinary people. So, if you can destroy this stronghold without killing them, I hope you spare their lives... can you?"

Not because "they were forced," but because "they are useful."

Perhaps this was something Lu Youxun would never say; he would definitely opt to kill all the researchers here.

Yet, despite representing "the dream of becoming a hero," Lu Chan seemed not to shy away from annihilating the enemy... Or perhaps that too was a necessary capacity to become a hero?

I said again, "Yes."

"Thank you," she said.

Finally, we stealthily reached the door of the control room.

From the outside, the control room looked no different from ordinary prison cells; the entry was just an iron door on the side of the corridor. Moreover, due to distorted perception, I couldn’t see the door sign of the control room now, pinpointing our target solely based on my memory of the Human Bureau’s old stronghold routes. Thankfully, Lu Chan was beside me with a normal perspective, recognizing that this was indeed our destination.

Despite reaching the location, both Lu Chan and I refrained from any rash action.

The control room was also shrouded in anti-surveillance powers, making natural perception inaccessible, and a forced entry would likely cause disturbances.

We didn’t know if Dr. Silver Mask was inside the control room at this moment; if we opened the door and encountered him directly, it would only lead to our defeat.

Unable to kill Dr. Silver Mask, we would be killed by Chen Long who would arrive later. I didn’t particularly mind being destroyed, as I would resurrect back at the Luoshan Office; if Lu Chan died, however, she would have to wait for the next reboot. Without Lu Chan, Lu Youxun outside would no longer be able to use the Divination Technique to help teleport me here.

Moreover, I couldn’t first leave a "Firefly" here and then teleport myself over. My "Firefly" here was summoned using the Outer Path Impermanence Sword as a relay. If I were destroyed here, the Outer Path Impermanence Sword wouldn’t automatically follow me back; and once disconnected from the Outer Path Impermanence Sword, the "Firefly" here would automatically vanish.

As for leaving a "Firefly" with my own power... based on my feeling, any step involving "me using superpowers" personally, even just leaving a single "Firefly" or a small amount of heat, would forcibly log me out along with the left-behind power part within at most a few seconds.

I wondered if cutting off my own hand and leaving it here could serve as a marker for me to teleport back later, since pieces of my body also counted as the Fire Element... No, cutting off a hand might be too extreme; leaving some hair or body fluids might also work similarly... I mulled over this issue while pressing my ear against the iron door.

Lu Chan asked, puzzled, "What are you doing?"

"Listening to see if there’s anyone inside the control room," I said.

"You can actually hear it? Even Chen Long can’t hear most of the noises in the rooms of this base..." she said in surprise.

"How do you know Chen Long can’t hear?" I asked curiously.

"This was the basic condition for my past prison break plans. Now, with his ’All-round Enhancement’ focused on strengthening his hearing, he might be able to hear conversations anywhere in a city, let alone the communications inside this base. Even those conversations we had earlier, he originally could have heard them through thin air," she explained. "But because the walls here are equipped with anti-surveillance mechanisms, even his hearing is interfered with, which is why he didn’t immediately come over and catch us. Your twisted perception, however, can bypass such obstacles, which is just like cheating."

"Thanks for the compliment."

While speaking, I temporarily enhanced my own hearing with the Outer Path Impermanence Sword.

I immediately grasped the movements inside the director’s office, and I wouldn’t miss any possible human heartbeat there.

Dr. Silver Mask’s heart is a Divine Seal Fragment, presumably without a heartbeat, but as long as he breathes, or even if blood flows, it wouldn’t escape my hearing at this moment. To put it extremely, even if he lacked the above physiological changes and remained a living being, there would always be some slight activity sounds.

At this moment, I didn’t hear anything like that. The director’s office was empty.

"Safe."

I took out a metal key. The key to the director’s office probably wasn’t the same as the ones for ordinary cells, but that wasn’t my concern—I just used it.

But at the last moment, I thought about it and took the opportunity to try something else.

Using the Outer Path Impermanence Sword as a "Magic Wand," I summoned flames and shaped them into the form of a key, then inserted them into the keyhole and gently twisted.

The lock opened smoothly.

It seems this method also works.

"A key formed from flames can also open doors..."

Seeing this scene, the girl Lu Chan pondered silently, seemingly having some other thoughts.

We entered the director’s office. Unlike the cells filled with torture tools, this place looked like an abandoned, messy office with a wall hung with dozens of old televisions. Each television was displaying a black-and-white image, showing ongoing activities inside the base. Some showed guards patrolling the corridors in tight formation, some depicted researchers torturing subjects in cells, and some merely displayed empty grounds.

Lu Chan looked at some of the images on the televisions, clenched her fists tightly, but said nothing.

Recalling that all demon hunters here were essentially considered dead, those images seemed like scenes of death reenactments from supernatural event stories. Even if we really charged in to rescue them, it would be futile; only destroying this base as soon as possible would truly liberate them.

I briefly tried whether I could transmit my power into the images inside the televisions, similar to how Lu Youxun’s Divination Technique had transported me into this base through a visual illusion—the answer was "no."

I somewhat understood the reason. It wasn’t that my superpower inherently disallowed me to do so; it was actually my own limitation.

"Transmitting power through surveillance footage" and "transmitting power through illusionary footage" logically aren’t fundamentally different; however, the former, although logical and rational, doesn’t match my human experience and intuition. The emergence of electronic monitors is still too recent in the course of human evolution, and humans haven’t evolved a consciousness instinct that matches it. Although I am a "Fire Element being," I am still within the realm of human consciousness instincts.

The illusionary information conveyed by Lu Youxun transcended language and was direct perceptual information that matched my experience and intuition, therefore serving as a basis for my transportation.

I carefully searched for Changan’s figure among those televisions, but couldn’t find him anywhere.

Is Changan not here? Or is he hidden in a more concealed location? I looked around the director’s office, seeking other clues.

Then, my gaze stopped at one spot.

"That is..."

Hearing my voice, the girl Lu Chan let out a breath for the moment and looked following my gaze, then said, "That’s the computer Dr. Silver Mask uses to store secret research data, which requires an extremely complex password to access. I had thought about checking it before but was stopped by the password."

A computer?

But in my eyes, what I saw was clearly a shelf full of folders.

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