The display screen was filled with garbled code, making it impossible to see the exact floor. Yet, the elevator was still RUMBLING downward, showing no signs of stopping.

A chill ran through everyone, and the lucky hopes they had clung to vanished in an instant. There really was something sinister going on. They knew the interior of Omni Pharmaceuticals wouldn’t be that simple!

Clayton Churchill lost all desire to bicker. His expression darkened as he asked in a deep voice, “Why is it still going down? Could this underground research facility have more than three basement levels?”

Kyle Keith took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Immediately after, an icicle condensed at his fingertips. He thrust it upward with force. With a loud CLICK, the hatch on the elevator ceiling was forcefully popped open. “Let me take a look.”

With that, he stepped onto an ice ladder he formed himself and slowly climbed up the elevator shaft, poking his head out to observe. He had learned this trick from watching Luna Dawson walk on water in mid-air. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but admire her imagination when it came to utilizing her Water Ability—it was both flexible and practical.

But the moment Kyle Keith poked his head out to look, the elevator suddenly began a frantic free fall!

An intense sense of weightlessness instantly swept over them, making everyone in the elevator feel their hearts violently clench and their breaths hitch. Unable to keep their balance, their bodies tumbled uncontrollably to the side. Some gripped the elevator handrails so tightly their knuckles turned white, while others let out muffled cries of alarm that were trapped in their throats by the suffocating weightlessness.

BZZZT! Simultaneous to the elevator’s out-of-control plummet, all the lights inside suddenly went out, plunging them into pitch darkness.

The ear-piercing sound of metal scraping echoed outside the elevator car, so shrill that it hurt their eardrums. Immediately following that, an overwhelming, crushing High Order superpower pressure struck them, leaving them breathless. Then, a spine-chilling giggle echoed through the empty elevator shaft, eerie and macabre.

Only one thought crossed everyone’s minds in the elevator. They were doomed!

—

Meanwhile, Luna Dawson and her group were waiting at the elevator entrance on B1. They planned to wait for Kyle Keith and his team to come down and regroup before delving into the core area of the underground research facility together. Right at that moment, the screen of the nearby elevator suddenly flickered with garbled code. The originally steady hum of the elevator instantly grew into a loud RUMBLE, accompanied by an ear-piercing scraping sound. Everyone’s hearts jolted. They instinctively backed away from the elevator doors, their expressions immediately turning vigilant.

Blake Blue was the first to react. His superpower instantly condensed, and a heavy metal shield materialized, completely separating the elevator from the group. Firmly protecting the people behind him, he said gravely, “Everyone, be careful!”

Dylan DuPont quickly took out his walkie-talkie and pressed the push-to-talk button to urgently contact Ian Wyatt and Sebastian Spencer, who had stayed behind upstairs. His voice was rushed, “Captain Cole, Sebastian Spencer, this is the elevator entrance on B1. There’s an anomaly with the elevator. Have Kyle Keith and the others already taken it down?”

A burst of messy static came through the walkie-talkie. After a long while, Ian Wyatt’s intermittent voice finally sounded, “…BZZZT… Captain Kessler… and Miss Sloan… already took the elevator down… BZZZT… We can’t reach them right now…”

William Walsh’s heart gave a violent jolt, his entire body going stiff. He had previously worried that an accident would happen if Kyle Keith and the others didn’t stay with Luna Dawson’s group. He hadn’t expected his fears to come true!

Just as Dylan DuPont replied into the walkie-talkie, “Copy that, we’ll look for them as soon as possible,” William Walsh suddenly pushed off with both hands, vaulting over the metal wall Blake Blue had formed. He frantically pressed the buttons for both elevators. His knuckles turned white from the force, and his eyes were filled with panic and helplessness. But the elevator screens remained a mess of garbled code. The buttons began to flash wildly, as if silently mocking his futility. No matter how much he pressed them, the elevators showed no response whatsoever. He leaned against the cold wall, his head bowed, remaining motionless. His shoulders trembled slightly. The aura around him turned gloomy and desperate, his heart entirely consumed by worry for his sister.

Blake Blue glanced at Luna Dawson beside him, a questioning look in his eyes. Luna Dawson nodded slightly, signaling him to remove the metal wall. Keeping it blocked wasn’t a solution. The most urgent task was to find Kyle Keith’s team and locate another passage down. Understanding her intent, Blake Blue immediately withdrew the metal shield.

Dylan DuPont stepped forward and patted William Walsh on the shoulder. He spoke in a steady tone, “Don’t panic. If they aren’t on B1, they’re most likely on B2 or B3. Let’s find another passage down first. We will definitely find them.”

William Walsh froze for a moment, then slowly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. After a long pause, he let out a heavy sigh, his voice hoarse. “Okay.”

Luna Dawson bent down and petted Cody, who was sitting calmly by her feet. She gently patted his plump rear end, her tone softening a bit. “Let’s go, Cody. Lead us to another passage, and let’s find your companions, or rather, your masters…”

As if he understood, Cody wagged his little tail happily and took the lead, running forward. Luna Dawson and her group followed closely behind, continuing deeper into the underground research facility.

The deeper they went, the grander the scale of the research facility became. It stretched as far as the eye could see, resembling a giant labyrinth hidden underground.

On both sides of the spacious corridor were enormous experimental cabins. Inside each cabin, hundreds of large culture dishes were neatly arranged. The transparent glass enclosures were filled with a murky, pale yellow nutrient solution, soaking a wide variety of Patchworks. They came in all shapes and sizes, each one utterly bizarre.

Some had the heads of wolves and the bodies of zombies, with exposed fangs and twisted limbs. Some were birds with multiple zombie arms growing out of their wings, their feathers falling off, leaving them a bloody mess. Others were completely covered in scales but possessed human heads, their eyes cloudy and lifeless.

Some of these Patchworks were still slightly writhing in the nutrient solution, emitting faint roars from their throats. It was a grotesque yet pitiful sight. They were originally ordinary animals, but they had been forcibly spliced and genetically modified by humans, reduced to sacrificial victims of experimentation. Forever trapped within these cold glass enclosures, they endured endless pain and torment. Even death had become a luxury.

Luna Dawson stopped and gently placed her hand on the cold glass enclosure. With a thought, an invisible force spread through the water. The nutrient solution vibrated so intensely that countless water droplets danced on the surface. The brain of every lingering Patchwork suffered a violent jolt. Then, their bodies went limp, completely slumping in the nutrient solution, unable to writhe even a fraction of an inch anymore. They were finally freed from their pain.

The group behind her felt a chill run down their spines, their expressions growing even more reverent. No one had expected Luna Dawson to easily kill all these Patchworks with just a thought. Such power was truly terrifying.

The walls of the corridor were covered in densely packed surveillance cameras. Some were still blinking with an eerie red light, like invisible eyes that continued to monitor everything in this place, recording the silhouette of every intruder.

The anti-slip tiles on the floor were mottled with dark red bloodstains and viscous chemical reagents. Stepping on them produced a SQUELCHING sound that was exceptionally jarring in the spacious, silent corridor. It broke the dead silence of the place while also adding to the creepy and macabre atmosphere. In the distance, the faint, intermittent hum of operating machinery could be heard. Mixed with the barely discernible low growls of Patchworks, the sounds echoed back and forth through the cavernous underground research facility, eerie and chilling.

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