Upon hearing Lin Feng’s answer, Ling Shuyan’s eyes sharpened, but she quickly resumed her smile.
"Of course. I’ll take you there right now."
With that, Director Ling took a pouch of synthetic Nutrient Liquid from a subordinate and gulped it down.
The two surgeries had been incredibly draining, especially since they were dangerous implantation procedures performed on absolute experts at Tier Two Late Stage Perfection.
Ling Shuyan had chosen to perform the surgeries herself because she was worried that the lead surgeons, who were only at Tier One Early Stage, might panic and have their hands tremble under the pressure of the patients’ auras, leading to an accident.
After finishing the institute’s synthetic Nutrient Liquid, Ling Shuyan stood up and led the group from the surgical floor. They boarded an elevator on the side of the level and began to descend.
Lin Feng frowned slightly.
’The institute has an underground lab?’
As the elevator passed through thick layers of earth and several steel partitions, Lin Feng suddenly realized his Mind Sensing couldn’t penetrate these bunker-like fortifications.
Mind Sensing was essentially a form of energy wave detection, similar to radar. Insulated layers would block and shield it.
Only by being physically present could he scan the secrets hidden deep underground.
Instantly, dozens, even hundreds, of light sources appeared in Lin Feng’s mind.
Most of the test subjects here were Tier One, but in the deepest corner, there was a massive cluster of light sources, just like the Black Spine Zerg Swarm Lin Feng had detected in the Underground Hive.
The light sources weren’t very bright, but they were linked together in a dense cluster.
’Why are so many test subjects clustered together?’
’Are they trying to select for successful specimens through survival of the fittest?’
Lin Feng couldn’t help but speculate.
"This was converted from an old civil defense facility. A lot of anti-air bunkers and Shelters were dug in these mountains back in the day. The research institute just happened to choose this as its site, so we repurposed them into an underground biological experimentation base."
"This ensures the secrecy of our experiments while also preventing biocontamination and leaks."
As Ling Shuyan spoke, the elevator came to a slow stop.
"It’s the most suitable place for live-subject experimentation. At least we don’t have to worry about them escaping."
"We’re here. Let’s go."
Under Ling Shuyan’s guidance, Lin Feng and his two companions left the elevator and entered the facility.
The corridor was dim, cramped, and long. A single, low-wattage bulb was set into the wall every five or six meters, making the passageway feel dark and suffocating.
This was Liu Yueqi’s first time in an environment like this. She subconsciously reached out and grabbed Lin Feng’s clothes. He glanced back at her and nodded, silently reassuring the girl not to worry.
’With me and Ling Yi here, nothing will happen.’
Soon, after passing through a tunnel a dozen meters long, Ling Shuyan turned left into a block of adjacent dormitories.
"This area used to be the large dormitories for the Shelter. We later converted them into observation rooms for the test subjects."
Ling Shuyan glanced at the solid, closed iron door beside her. It was ten centimeters thick. An ordinary Tier One Early Stage Awakener would have a hard time breaking through it, to say nothing of the test subjects inside, whose food intake was strictly limited.
They were only given the minimum amount of food needed for survival each day. They would get exhausted just standing up and taking a few steps, let alone breaking down the door to escape.
Among them were quite a few faction leaders captured by Han Yuxin during her sweep of the Jin City District.
Most of them were Late-stage Enhanced People, along with about ten rare Awakeners.
A few of the most heinous Awakener leaders became the first batch of test subjects for the optimization and modification surgeries.
The implantation of the Genetic Gland caused severe mutations. Their immune systems couldn’t suppress the genetic invasion of the Tiger Spine Zergs, and over half of their bodies’ surfaces showed signs of Assimilation.
They all eventually turned into half-human, half-zerg monsters.
After this brief introduction, Ling Shuyan waved over a researcher who was at the end of the hall, recording the state of each test subject.
He was a man with glasses at Tier One Early Stage.
Whether from spending too much time underground or for some other reason, the man’s face looked sallow and unhealthy under the dim lights, as if he were malnourished.
A sliver of doubt surfaced in Ling Yi’s mind. The surrounding aura made her feel deeply uneasy, but she remained silent, trailing behind the group.
Ling Shuyan took a report from her subordinate and handed it to Lin Feng.
"This is a list of the survivors from the thirty observation rooms. It includes their information and photos from before the modifications. See if the enemy she’s looking for is on it."
"The degree of mutation is quite severe, so you probably won’t be able to recognize them by their current appearance."
Lin Feng handed the file directly to the young woman behind him and then asked:
"They were a group of escaped convicts, and Han Yuxin sent all of them here. There should be more survivors, right?"
Ling Shuyan paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes. Many in their group completed their Awakening by killing other Enhanced People and Awakeners."
"Since they’re the cancers of society, I naturally gave them some... special treatment. Look, there’s one right there."
The direction Ling Shuyan pointed was toward Observation Room 9. At that moment, Liu Yueqi, who was flipping through the background files, had also locked onto him.
They walked to the door. At a nod from the director, the bespectacled researcher in charge of records took out the key for that room number, unlocked it, and the heavy iron door slowly swung open.
Lin Feng glanced inside. A humanoid figure, its upper body covered in black and red armored plates, lay listlessly on a wooden plank bed. Half of its face was completely covered by zerg-like features, with pincer-like mandibles similar to a mantis’s mouthparts.
The creature—it was hard to call it a ’he’ anymore—had a very weak aura, but it was still at the Tier One Early Stage.
Lin Feng glanced at the Identification result, which confirmed it was a failed experiment. However, it was still useful for observing excessive Assimilation and collecting data.