Five took advantage of the chaos, carrying Cynthia Grant as he fled the research lab and ran toward the pre-arranged location outside the base.
The Crown Prince and the Lynx didn’t leave right away. One stood guard at the main entrance of the research lab, acting as a lookout, while the other followed Flora Bloom and Lex Cross to find the entrance to the basement.
Suddenly, the innermost door of the research lab CLICKED open. Two figures slowly fumbled their way out from the darkness inside.
The vision of those with superpowers was many times better than that of ordinary people. While they didn’t have night vision, they could make out things in the dark much more clearly. When Flora Bloom saw the old and young man, she was stunned. "Professor Lawson?"
"Mervin Warren?"
When Mervin Warren heard the familiar voice, he first thought he was having auditory hallucinations from being locked up for so long. But then, in the darkness, he saw the face before him grow clearer and more familiar.
His heart began to pound, his eyes slowly brightening. He wasn’t mistaken. It was her! The one who had appeared in his mind more than anyone else during his long imprisonment.
"Flora Bloom! Is it really you?! I thought I’d never see you again in my life!"
"Flora Bloom? Captain Cross?" Micah looked just as dazed, but his confusion quickly melted into a joyous surprise. Nothing could have made them feel happier or safer than seeing Flora Bloom and Lex Cross appear at that moment.
"What are you two doing here?" Flora Bloom hadn’t expected to see them again, let alone in such a state.
Mervin Warren’s eyes welled with tears. Seeing Flora Bloom was like being reunited with a long-lost relative.
"Flora, seeing you... it’s just... it’s so good!"
What terrible hardships must a man in his twenties have endured to cry like a rescued child upon seeing Flora Bloom?
Flora Bloom and Lex Cross weren’t using their superpowers at the moment, instead relying on the darkness and chaos to search their surroundings.
"Shh!" Flora Bloom handed each of them a bottle of spiritual water. Seeing their conditions visibly improve after drinking it, she said, "I don’t know why you’re here, but I have something very important to do right now. You two need to get out of here first!"
Micah and Mervin Warren steadied their emotions. Flora Bloom had been about to ask The Crown Prince to lead them out, but then Micah asked, "What are you looking for? The labs here are all sealed. Besides the room Mervin and I were just in, the only other one is in the basement."
Flora Bloom froze. "The basement... Professor Lawson, do you know how to get there? There’s no time to lose. Take us there, quickly!"
Micah drank the spiritual water Flora Bloom had given him, his strength clearly returning. He gave a solemn nod and said, "Follow me. I’ve seen how they open that basement before. But Flora, are you sure you want to go down there? I’ve heard that every time researchers go into that basement, they run into danger. A group will go down, but fewer people will come back up. I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I have to tell you, it’s incredibly dangerous down there."
"He’s right, Flora. Sometimes we can hear noises from the basement all the way up here. It sounds like a wild beast, and the commotion is massive."
Flora Bloom sighed. "She’s not a beast. She’s a friend of mine, and I’m here to rescue her."
Flora Bloom and Lex Cross had already made arrangements. As soon as they rescued Annelise Locke, they would immediately take her and head out of the base, where someone would be waiting for them.
Because Annelise Locke’s body was enormous—her lower half not human legs but a giant snake tail—she was too large a target and would easily cause a huge disturbance. Leaving the base was the safest option.
Micah pressed a few buttons on what looked like a control panel for a circuit reflow system. An entrance, about a meter wide, then appeared in the floor next to a lab bench.
Flora Bloom and the others looked down at the meter-wide opening. The air wafting out of it felt even colder than the research lab, and it carried a strong, peculiar, bloody scent—a scent Flora Bloom knew well.
It was the same smell produced after Annelise Locke’s brother, Jack Locke, shed his skin in the Morhaven villa.
Jack Locke’s condition was apparently the result of the lab’s chemical agents and various experiments. It was obvious that if the person inside was Annelise Locke, her situation would likely be similar to her brother’s.
Flora’s brow furrowed deeply as she recalled the layers of shed snake skin she had found in Jack Locke’s room at the Morhaven villa.
"Flora, are you okay?" Lex Cross looked at Flora, initially thinking the strong smell from below was triggering her morning sickness again, but he saw her shake her head.
"I’m fine. I’m just afraid of what I’ll see. If Annelise has become like her brother..."
"Wait up here for me. The Crown Prince will come down with me."
"I’m going down with you." Flora Bloom grabbed Lex Cross’s arm, took a deep breath, and started down.
The stairs of this hidden entrance were stable, so descending wasn’t too difficult. However, once they entered the basement, they had to fumble around in the dark for a long time before finally finding the person they were looking for inside a giant glass tank.
Flora Bloom’s heart ached when she saw Annelise Locke submerged in a huge glass tank filled with a deep blue liquid, her body pierced with needles and tubes.
She tapped on the glass wall, trying to wake Annelise Locke, but Annelise was like a slumbering mermaid. Her upper body floated gently, her snake tail coiled, showing no reaction.
"This liquid is probably some kind of chemical concoction," Flora Bloom observed, then immediately injected Space Spirit Water into the tank.
As the spiritual water entered the blue liquid, just a small amount was enough to neutralize a portion of the color. Flora Bloom continued to add more, and after pouring in the equivalent of a single water bottle, the blue concoction in the entire massive glass tank turned completely clear.
"Let’s get her out first."
Just as Lex Cross and Flora Bloom were about to pull Annelise Locke out together, she suddenly opened her eyes.
"Annelise? You’re awake?"
Annelise Locke’s gaze was dazed for a long moment. She looked at her surroundings, her eyes flickering between normal human pupils and slitted snake eyes, which was an unsettling sight.
"Hiss... Flora?"
"..." Flora Bloom was about to say something more, but she saw Lex Cross unleash his black energy, enveloping all of them within it.
"Can you still move on your own?" he asked Annelise Locke.
"I can!"
"Let’s go. We need to get out of here. Reinforcements from the Thorne family will be here soon."
Sure enough, just as Flora Bloom’s group of three emerged from the basement and met up with Micah and Mervin Warren, the research lab’s power system came back online.
The five of them moved to a corner of the lab and watched as a team entered. After they were inside, the main door shut.
The team consisted of seven individuals with superpowers and one ordinary person. The seven with superpowers began to spread out and investigate the lab, revealing the ordinary person who had been behind them.
’Leigh Atwood?’ Flora Bloom thought in alarm, her expression turning incredibly complicated as she looked at the woman.
She then saw that both Micah and Mervin Warren were glaring at Leigh Atwood with eyes full of hatred.
Mervin Warren clenched his fists, wishing he could charge out right then and there to finish Leigh Atwood off. Because of her, his entire family had lost their lives.
Leigh Atwood had been their university professor. In their minds, she had been strict, yes, but also a selfless person who would do anything for her students.
But it was that very impression, that belief, that had cost him his family—cost him everything.