Bai Lixin entered the room. His hand pressed against the wall, and the dim room was instantly bathed in a yellowish light.
The room was small, and cluttered with things scattered all over the floor. Rather than calling it a dormitory, it would be more accurate to say it resembled a storage room. After a bit of squeezing, the group finally found a place to settle.
Xia Chi surveyed the surroundings; the room was narrow with only one hall. A bed and a heap of items filled the hall. Next to it was a narrow doorway that could accommodate one person. It seemed to lead to a washroom.
The bed, a metal frame extending to the ground, showed signs of poor quality, and was rusted due to high salt content and alkali. One could smell the rust even from a distance.
At this time, the bed had been moved, revealing the floor underneath. Due to the bed’s prolonged immobility, the floor displayed distinct rectangular marks. In the middle of this rectangle was a somewhat aged black metal cover.
Xia Chi stared at the circular sewer cover and was speechless. “The entrance to the sewer is in the janitor’s room?!”
‘Who the hell could have imagined this?’
Bai Lixin: “When I first entered this copy, I stayed here for a night and noticed the sound of running water was too loud. The noise didn’t come from the bathroom but directly beneath the bed. Later, I tracked the flow of water and found that each time it reached the basement, the water flowed directly under this location. It was too coincidental. After finishing my tasks in the afternoon, I came to look around and found the entrance to the sewer.”
“The sewer entrance is sealed with metal from the outside. It can only be opened from here, not from inside the sewers. I guess the Institute staff were afraid that merfolk might enter through the sewer.”
After saying this, Bai Lixin paused.
He only spoke half of what he wanted to say. Was it really the merfolk they feared when they sealed the sewer? Or could there be other monsters they didn’t know of at the moment?
The copy was named “Special Species Laboratory,” not “Mermaid Laboratory.” They only assumed it focused on merfolk after discovering the research on merfolk when they entered the copy.
They started studying merfolk only within the last two years. But judging by the décor and signs of use of this laboratory, it far exceeded two years. It seemed to have a history of about ten years.
Before researching merfolk, what did this institute study?
However, this was just his speculation. Until he received a definite answer, he would keep his guesses to himself for the time being.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t say, he just feared it might frighten Xia Chi and the others.
In the cramped room, Bai Lixin glanced at everyone and continued, “We need someone to stay up here. If there’s any situation, we need to return quickly. I’ve examined this cover, I don’t know what material it’s made of, but once it’s closed, it can’t be opened from the inside.”
“Well, then, I’ll stay.” A voice as thin as a mosquito rang out in the quiet room. All eyes turned, and they saw Glasses raising his hand helplessly. With a bit embarrassed, he continued, “I’m a bit afraid of the dark. You guys can go down, and I’ll watch up here.”
Bai Lixin nodded. “Okay. If there’s any situation, inform us immediately in the group chat.”
Glasses quickly responded, “Okay, God Xin, no problem, God Xin.”
They opened the sewer cover from outside, revealing a pitch-black trench. Xia Chi shone his flashlight down and saw a somewhat rusty metal staircase.
Uncertain of what lay in the sewer, before going down, Bai Lixin instructed Glasses, “After we leave, close the cover. We’ll message you to open it. Besides that, no matter what sounds you hear below, don’t open the cover.”
Glasses appeared a bit anxious. He asked cautiously, “What do you mean by ‘no matter what sounds you hear below’? Is there something other than you guys down there?”
This question made Xia Chi tense.
Bai Lixin: “Don’t scare yourself. I know there are staff from the Institute down here. If there’s no correct signal, don’t open it, otherwise, it’ll expose us.”
He had initially planned to go deeper in the afternoon but abandoned the idea upon discovering the strange structure of the sewer and the potential presence of something inside.
Suddenly, he remembered the first night here. Apart from the rushing water sound, he seemed to have heard other noises mixed in the running water. However, the sound of running water was too loud, drowning out that peculiar noise, making it impossible for him to discern what it was.
Bai Lixin entered the room. His hand pressed against the wall, and the dim room was instantly bathed in a yellowish light.
The room was small, and cluttered with things scattered all over the floor. Rather than calling it a dormitory, it would be more accurate to say it resembled a storage room. After a bit of squeezing, the group finally found a place to settle.
Xia Chi surveyed the surroundings; the room was narrow with only one hall. A bed and a heap of items filled the hall. Next to it was a narrow doorway that could accommodate one person. It seemed to lead to a washroom.
The bed, a metal frame extending to the ground, showed signs of poor quality, and was rusted due to high salt content and alkali. One could smell the rust even from a distance.
At this time, the bed had been moved, revealing the floor underneath. Due to the bed’s prolonged immobility, the floor displayed distinct rectangular marks. In the middle of this rectangle was a somewhat aged black metal cover.
Xia Chi stared at the circular sewer cover and was speechless. “The entrance to the sewer is in the janitor’s room?!”
‘Who the hell could have imagined this?’
Bai Lixin: “When I first entered this copy, I stayed here for a night and noticed the sound of running water was too loud. The noise didn’t come from the bathroom but directly beneath the bed. Later, I tracked the flow of water and found that each time it reached the basement, the water flowed directly under this location. It was too coincidental. After finishing my tasks in the afternoon, I came to look around and found the entrance to the sewer.”
“The sewer entrance is sealed with metal from the outside. It can only be opened from here, not from inside the sewers. I guess the Institute staff were afraid that merfolk might enter through the sewer.”
After saying this, Bai Lixin paused.
He only spoke half of what he wanted to say. Was it really the merfolk they feared when they sealed the sewer? Or could there be other monsters they didn’t know of at the moment?
The copy was named “Special Species Laboratory,” not “Mermaid Laboratory.” They only assumed it focused on merfolk after discovering the research on merfolk when they entered the copy.
They started studying merfolk only within the last two years. But judging by the décor and signs of use of this laboratory, it far exceeded two years. It seemed to have a history of about ten years.
Before researching merfolk, what did this institute study?
However, this was just his speculation. Until he received a definite answer, he would keep his guesses to himself for the time being.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t say, he just feared it might frighten Xia Chi and the others.
In the cramped room, Bai Lixin glanced at everyone and continued, “We need someone to stay up here. If there’s any situation, we need to return quickly. I’ve examined this cover, I don’t know what material it’s made of, but once it’s closed, it can’t be opened from the inside.”
“Well, then, I’ll stay.” A voice as thin as a mosquito rang out in the quiet room. All eyes turned, and they saw Glasses raising his hand helplessly. With a bit embarrassed, he continued, “I’m a bit afraid of the dark. You guys can go down, and I’ll watch up here.”
Bai Lixin nodded. “Okay. If there’s any situation, inform us immediately in the group chat.”
Glasses quickly responded, “Okay, God Xin, no problem, God Xin.”
They opened the sewer cover from outside, revealing a pitch-black trench. Xia Chi shone his flashlight down and saw a somewhat rusty metal staircase.
Uncertain of what lay in the sewer, before going down, Bai Lixin instructed Glasses, “After we leave, close the cover. We’ll message you to open it. Besides that, no matter what sounds you hear below, don’t open the cover.”
Glasses appeared a bit anxious. He asked cautiously, “What do you mean by ‘no matter what sounds you hear below’? Is there something other than you guys down there?”
This question made Xia Chi tense.
Bai Lixin: “Don’t scare yourself. I know there are staff from the Institute down here. If there’s no correct signal, don’t open it, otherwise, it’ll expose us.”
He had initially planned to go deeper in the afternoon but abandoned the idea upon discovering the strange structure of the sewer and the potential presence of something inside.
Suddenly, he remembered the first night here. Apart from the rushing water sound, he seemed to have heard other noises mixed in the running water. However, the sound of running water was too loud, drowning out that peculiar noise, making it impossible for him to discern what it was.
