Chapter 71: Underground Laboratory


    - Meanwhile, in the Underground Laboratory -


    The first thing Cyanide and Kirika did was run a scan of the ce using abination of [Radar] and Kirika''s aura sensing abilities. They were careful, of course, and watched out for any traps as they silently trotted through the sci-fi and futuristic white corridors of theb like some sort of space station, illuminated by radiant lights along the top of the walls and separated by automatic sliding doors.


    It didn''t take the two long to find their first targeta female-looking mutant wandering around holding some kind of clipboard in her hands. She was wearing a whiteb coatas expected from an Underground Laboratorybut her face was different, to say the least.


    Unlike normal mutants which looked simr to humans, just cyborgified, this one had some kind of purple mask on with a spiraling vortex for a face. It was ominous, yes, but its aura was still more or less the same as any other mutant. The only difference was its movements were more refined. Rather than lumbering around aimlessly with only blood and flesh in their deranged minds, this one seemed to actually have purpose, and walk like a real, organized humanb worker.


    But of course, a mutant was a mutant in the end, and mutants needed to be killed.


    After running [Inspect] on the mutant and finding out it was a Stage Two, Cyanide flipped his knife between his fingers, thenunched it towards the mutant. The deadly projectile spun in the air as it flew silently towards the unsuspecting cyborg, striking her directly in the back of the head. She staggered momentarily, making weird mechanical sounds, before finally toppling to the ground.


    Cyanide opened his palm, and the knife flew back towards him as quickly as it went,nding in his hand handle-first. Then, since his [Radar] skill was on cooldown, after receiving a nod from Kirika (which meant there were no more mutants in the area), the three carefully approached the body. Just because it fell over didn''t mean it was dead. Normally, not being able to run [Inspect] on something meant it was dead, but Cyanide couldn''t be sure of anything in this new world.


    Upon closer inspection, however, the duo were able to confirm the mutant truly was done and dusted. It disappeared into shards of lightEXPfor Cyanide, and a series of notifications popped up in front of him momentarily, describing what he received. Most of the items were the same as any other mutantMetal, Wires, Polyester from the coat, and the likebut there were some peculiar points about this too. For instance


    [Obtained Level One Security Keycard x1.]


    " Oh? What''s this?" Cyanide murmured to himself, arching an eyebrow as he immediately opened his Inventory screen to retrieve the item and look at it. After doing so, Kirika peered in as well, and fell into thought.


    "Hm a keycard, huh? It looks like we''ll be able to ess some restricted areas with this, but if it''s only Level One, then I doubt we''ll get much with this alone. We''ll need to find higher-ranking mutants to drop higher-ranking cards, it would seem."


    Well, she was right, but Cyanide had a different question in mind.


    Why was this ce even here?


    What was its purpose, and what secrets did it hold? Why was thisboratory set underground, hidden from public eye?


    To find those answers, he would need to find those higher-ranking keycards. And so, after pocketing the Level One card for ease of ess, Cyanide and Kirika began moving once more.


    There was something else peculiar about the mutants in thisb toowhen using [Inspect] on them, while everything else was the samepared to other mutants, their names were abnormal. Rather than something like ''Laboratory Worker Mutant'', they were ssified as ''Haunted Laboratory Mutant'' instead.


    It wasn''t just the one he killed just now eitheras the duo headed deeper into theboratory, they came across several more Stage Two mutants just like the first, with a slowly-rotating purple vortex mask for faces. Each time, the two took them down the same way, stealthily and easily. Sometimes Cyanide would use the [Boomerang Knife Throw] skill, sometimes Kirika would execute them from behind. Each time, the mutants fell without breathing a sound, and turned into bright shards of EXP for the two.


    They came across many doors, of course, but all of them only housed more mutants inside. There was no time to gather informationnot when there were still other mutants on this floorso the two decided to first clear the ce before doing any form of information searching. At least all this killing was worth somethingCyanide leveled up to Level 26, and Kirika to Level 24.


    After some exploration, Cyanide and Kirika discovered that theyout of this ce was actually quite straight-forward. There was a cylindrical room at the center of theboratory, with eight corridors all around that led to it. The part Cyanide, Kirika, and Silver fell into from the surface was the end of one of those eight corridors, and from there, they went around the still-inessible cylindrical room to explore the other corridors.


    Soon, however, they finally found a ce where they could ess, after killing yet another ''Haunted'' mutant. It was a door at the end of a different corridor from the one they entered from, and beyond the translucent screen, the two could see four mutants inside. These ones were bigger than the rest encountered here, and had quite the muscr build. Their faces, though, were the same purple vortexes as the others. They did not wear whiteb coats, however, and instead bore the outfits of security officers.


    "Hm this is a security office?" Kirika murmured quietly, peeking through the translucent door. "The text on here says Security Pass Level One Required, so we should be able to enter."


    Cyanide nodded. It made sense even those with only Level One security passes could enter this ce if they needed help. Due to being this low underground, there was no signal on phones or any form of radio, somunication had to be done in person like so. If Cyanide had to guess, he would bet there was a security office like this on every floor.


    There was just one problemthere were four mutants inside that confined room, each observing different security cameras. If Cyanide and Kirika busted in there now, they would undoubtedly sound an rm to bring reinforcements. That would defeat the whole purpose of the stealth they had been using all this time, so they needed a different strategy.


    " This is bad," Kirika muttered, biting her lip. "Eventually, they''ll realize the mutants we took down aren''t walking on any of the cameras. Even if we evaded all the cameras on the way here and made sure to take the mutants down in blind spots as well, these guys aren''t stupid enough to not notice something so simple."


    Cyanide had to agreewaiting here wasn''t going to do them any good. As such, they needed a n that could iste the four, right here, right now.


    Thankfully, Cyanide, being a professional assassin who always worked solo, was used to having to iste targets and lure others away from them. He was an expert at this, and his most-used tactic?


    Distraction.


    Pulling his gun out of its holster, he suddenly pushed it into Kirika''s hand.


    "H-Huh? What''s this?" She whispered in surprise, but knew better than to resist.


    "Listen closely," Cyanide said quietly and darkly. "When I say fire, pull the trigger. The safety is already off, so do not move your finger an inch until I say so. Do not ask questions. Is that clear?"


    "!" Kirika quickly nodded her head obediently, and Cyanide closed his eyes.


    "Good. Now three two one"


    Kirika felt her arm being lifted by Cyanide''s hand, aiming the gun for her, and she shut her eyes.


    " Fire."


    She pulled on the trigger.