Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 562: Garbage Dump (4)

Ten minutes later, the right fork ends.

"Several unstable life signals detected, assessing the threat level..."

"Completed, Threat Level: Medium"

At the end of the right fork in the road was a composite gate resembling a morgue entrance. This composite material was durable, corrosion-resistant, and heat-resistant. It was perhaps the most complete and cleanest composite door in the entire secret laboratory. However, it was also the most difficult to open. Due to its heat-resistant properties, ordinary small thermite could not burn through it. To open this door, at least a quantity of explosives equivalent to the door-breaking charge would be required, but Adenauer unfortunately did not have such materials on hand.

While investigating how to open the gate, the contractor's equipment detected several unstable life signals. There are many reasons for unstable life signals, including the target being scanned being in some kind of interference, its own energy causing interference, or a parasitic organism controlling the corpse of another. Based on current intelligence, the contractor's equipment did not experience any interference, and Adenauer's perception did not detect any abnormal energy reactions. However, several unstable life signals were detected from the same target. It is virtually certain that the unstable life signals detected were the bioelectrical currents of some parasitic organism.

The body functions of synths have nothing to do with parasites, so this can basically be ruled out. So what this secret research institute was studying before should not be those synths, and this may have nothing to do with Johor Bahru.

Furthermore, Adenauer was curious about the potential threat posed by the uncertain life signals within. While mid-level threats had no effect on him, they were still able to hit him. Although Adenauer wasn't known for his speed, the number of people and objects he could hit during an attack was actually quite small. So, he decided to find a way to open the composite door and see for himself what the life signals within were.

Adenauer had investigated the rest of the secret research institute. The only place he had not visited was the metal corridor at the end of the left fork, which was suspected to be built in a hollow natural cave. If there was nothing necessary there, he might need to leave the secret research institute temporarily and go to the surrounding farms to take a look. He remembered that when he went to the farm to gather intelligence, he saw some explosives used for mining in one of the warehouses.

Returning to the "ward" at the end of the left corridor, Adenauer turned sideways and entered the metal corridor. According to the inspection of the contractor's equipment, the corridor was very sturdy, but the shaky feeling of walking on it gave a completely opposite effect.

The corridor wasn't long, only about ten meters. At the end was a square metal gate, only wide enough for one person to pass through. This gate was quite strange; it wasn't connected to the ground. Instead, it was a 50cm x 50cm square metal door embedded in the metal wall about one meter and three meters above the ground. This strange metal gate could only be opened from the outside. Besides the fixed hinge at the bottom, the other three sides had very sturdy, recessed triple-cylinder latches. This type of recessed triple-cylinder latch was unusual, but large vault door locks used a similar structure.

Originally, this metal gate should have been more difficult to open than the composite door on the other side, but for some reason, this square metal gate was severely damaged. The metal latches on three sides were all broken, and the gate body was severely bulged and deformed. Even the strongest hinge at the bottom was almost completely damaged. The square metal gate was still connected to the wall by the remaining hinge.

From the opened gap, it can be seen that there are also protruding signs of damage on the entire wall, but looking inside from here, nothing can be seen for the time being.

"Bang, bang, bang, clang!!"

Adenauer took two steps back, steadied himself, and kicked the gate from the side. After several strikes, the remaining hinges were completely broken, and the deformed metal gate fell to the ground with a loud crash. As the noise occurred, Adenauer immediately raised his flashlight and peered inside the opening, but there was nothing but dust. This space behind the gate in the middle of the metal wall seemed indeed empty.

"Kara."

In order to have some lighting when entering the gate, Adenauer threw the tactical flashlight in through the gap. The previous two observations allowed Adenauer to confirm that the ground inside should also be made of metal, but the sound of the tactical flashlight hitting the ground was not the sound of metal, but the sound of hitting some bone object.

The position of the gate was large enough for Adenauer to pass through, so he retreated into the metal corridor, took a few running steps, hugged the modified rifle tightly, jumped up, accurately passed through the gap, and rushed into the space behind.

“Crack!”

After landing, Adenauer rolled over and squatted steadily on the ground. However, while rolling, he heard several sounds of broken bones, but he was unharmed. The sound was definitely not from him, so Adenauer quickly picked up the modified rifle, and at the same time picked up the tactical flashlight that had been thrown in before, illuminating the place where he had just rolled.

With the help of the tactical flashlight, we can see that under the thick dust that has been pressed away are a large number of skeletal remains. Among them are human skeletons and some strange bones. Judging from the size, it can be inferred that these strange bones should be the ones that can be worn in the dust-proof suits in the "rehabilitation center".

There are a huge number of strange bones and human skeletons, at least several hundred. They are all piled up by the wall, which is the blind spot of the square metal gate. Except for those fragments that were crushed by themselves, the other strange bones and human skeletons are piled up neatly, forming a row against the metal wall where the square metal gate is located, which does not seem to be formed naturally.

Looking back, he saw a vast, metal-walled space with a single exit: a square metal gate. In the northwest corner of the room, a vent tucked into the ceiling contained a completely inoperative exhaust system. After walking a few steps, Adenauer discovered that the floor of the space seemed to slope slightly downward toward the four corners, where drainage holes were located. These were small, densely packed diamond-shaped holes, used solely for draining liquids. Strangely, there were no fire sprinklers or other water distribution systems within the space.

Through observation, it was found that in the center of the wall opposite the square metal gate, there were many bone objects on the ground in front. They seemed to be some kind of teeth, or something similar in appearance. These things were very strong, but hollow. Although they looked like teeth, they did not have the common roots of humans or animals. Instead, they were something that felt like nylon thread, but was also made of bone. They looked like exposed optical fibers and looked soft, but were very hard in texture.

Adenauer was completely unfamiliar with these objects, and the contractor's equipment had found nothing similar. These tooth-like structures, excluding the odd-looking roots, averaged between five and ten centimeters in length and about the width of an adult man's thumbs placed side by side. Their shapes were roughly identical, but they were actually irregular polyhedrons, making each one unique.

There were a significant number of these tooth-like objects. While they didn't occupy as much space as the bizarre bones and human skulls, a cursory glance revealed at least four figures of these teeth, piled high. The bone pile formed a pyramidal shape, not the pointed pyramids of Egypt, but the flat-topped pyramids of the Inca civilization. This shape suggested that these tooth-like objects had been dumped from above, forming the structure. However, scans by the contractor's equipment revealed no gates above the pile.

Beyond that, there were no other clues in this space. Adenauer tried to overturn the tooth pile and pry open the strange bones and human skulls piled on the ground, but he found nothing useful. After confirming that there was nothing to gain, Adenauer returned the way he had come, leaving the space and taking the fork in the road back to the door on the right that could not be opened. As he moved, Adenauer could see Frank and Liz hiding in the darkness nearby, staring at him furtively. However, they posed no obstacle, so Adenauer decided to ignore them.

"Analyzing the overall structure...trying to find weak points..."

Adenauer used the contractor's equipment to scan the composite door again. In order to ensure the safety of his vest, Adenauer did not actually hold out much hope. He was already thinking about going to the farm where he had gathered information before to get the explosives used for mining. However, just as he was about to leave, the contractor's equipment completed the analysis and gave him a surprise.

"The weak point has been located, and the force required to destroy it is being calculated... Completed."

For some unknown reason, the interior of this composite door has been severely damaged. This is the damage caused by the slow corrosion of excessive corrosive liquid. Although the composite door looks very intact from the outside, it has actually been corroded very thinly. According to the strength points of Adenauer's vest, one only needs to find a relatively strong object and try a few more times to smash the door open.

In this long-abandoned secret research institute, the thing that was most abundant was garbage. Adenauer didn't even need to look for it specifically. He just found a metal object shaped like a hammer on the ground nearby. This object seemed to be part of a wall, but it was severely rusted and it was impossible to tell what it originally was. However, Adenauer didn't care about this.

"Bang! Bang! ... Bang!"

After confirming that the metal object was strong enough, Adenauer began to smash the door. After a few minutes, accompanied by a muffled sound, a big hole was smashed through the composite door. A strange smell came to his nose, and along with it, the activity of life signals in the contractor's equipment increased rapidly.

Adenauer immediately picked up his rifle, stood firmly with one foot in front of the other, pointed the muzzle of the gun at the hole in the smashed door, and pressed the tactical flashlight on the side of the gun with his left hand, so that wherever the muzzle of the gun was pointed at would be illuminated.

"Woo!!!!!!!"

Soon, less than two minutes after the door was smashed open, strange screams were heard from inside the door, followed by dense, rapid, but uneven footsteps. Adenauer immediately put his right index finger on the trigger, ready to fire at any time.

Footsteps rapidly approached, and within the tactical flashlights, a dozen bizarrely shaped humanoids appeared, scrambling to extricate themselves from the breach. Their bodies were twisted, their skin thick with calcification, and their joints, unable to bend due to the calcification, contributed to the chaotic sound of their footsteps—or rather, the sounds made by similar limbs. Their eyes glowed an eerie blue, and they emitted a continuous, chilling roar. But a closer look revealed that these terrifying sounds were not roars at all, but the pressure of decaying gases rapidly passing through the holes in their bodies.

The gap in the gate smashed open by Adenauer was not big enough for a person to pass through normally. And those strange humanoid monsters, the shortest of which was taller than Adenauer's current height of more than two meters, did not seem to have any intelligence, so they immediately blocked the gap in the gate, and no one could get out. At this time, Adenauer also pulled the trigger and mercilessly tilted the firepower.

“Bang bang bang bang bang!!!”

The heavily sawed-off barrels made it impossible to predict the trajectory of the bullets, so they scattered like celestial flowers, scattering indiscriminately across the small fan-shaped area in front of him. However, Adenauer was less than five meters from the breach in the gate, so he didn't need to worry about accuracy. His modified hand-dumdum bullets continued to hit their targets, exploding at the locations of their impact, creating hideous wounds far exceeding their original caliber. Although not all hand-dumdum bullets had the desired effect due to the type of bullet, and some didn't even explode, it was enough to quickly reduce the monsters rushing to the front to block the breach to a pile of minced meat.

"Ugh!!!!!!"

But lack of intelligence wasn't entirely a disadvantage. Even as the monsters were being shredded, those behind them continued to charge toward the gap in the gate. Unaware of pain, they naturally didn't fear, and they didn't retreat. Soon, the shattered remains of the monsters in the front became an obstacle. The following monsters didn't realize this, but even if they did, it would be useless. After all, their massively calcified bodies made it impossible for them to leap or jump. Adenauer didn't even need to retreat. After emptying his first magazine, he stood still and replaced it with a second, then continued to fire bullets at the swarming monsters.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!!!"

Gunshots continued to ring out, echoing in the corridors of the secret research institute, but no one heard them except Frank and Liz. Even the farm directly above the secret research institute was still quiet, and no sound could be heard here.