"Don't scare me!" Alice hugged Zhou Bai tightly, her voice trembling as if she were about to cry.
"With your little courage, you still dare to come out." Zhou Bai shivered as he extended his Primordial Spirit outward.
In the past few days, he had tested the limits of his Primordial Spirit when he had nothing to do. The farthest distance was about ten meters away from his body, and like a hand, it could reflect some tactile sensation, allowing him to feel if his Primordial Spirit touched something.
However, the Primordial Spirit was not endless. Like running, walking, or swimming, using it too much made him tired and required rest.
Therefore, Zhou Bai hadn't used it casually before.
Now, as the Primordial Spirit swept around, there was no one within a ten-meter range.
Swallowing hard, Zhou Bai recalled the size, appearance, and layout of the cafeteria in his mind.
'Our current position is at the right corner of the cafeteria. If the other person is beyond the ten-meter range...'
Zhou Bai forced down the fear in his heart and pulled Alice to the cafeteria door a few steps away.
"There is only one entrance here. If I block it, that means he's still in the cafeteria..."
Zhou Bai planned the route in his mind. Using his Primordial Spirit to lift and place tables and chairs, he planned to sweep every inch of the cafeteria, trapping the person into a corner and finding them.
Alice stayed in the darkness, not knowing what was happening. She could only hold Zhou Bai tightly, listening to the sound of tables and chairs being moved in the dark and asked nervously, "What's going on? What's that noise?"
Zhou Bai felt Alice's frail body trembling against his. Despite being a little scared himself, he forced himself to keep calm and said, "It's nothing. Just follow me."
But after blocking the door with cafeteria tables and chairs, and then using his Primordial Spirit to search the entire cafeteria, he still couldn't find any trace of anyone.
"Gone?" Zhou Bai's heart sank. "Who is it? I blocked the door immediately. How did he get out?"
Although Alice didn't understand the Primordial Spirit, she could guess what Zhou Bai was doing as she followed him. She then said, "Are you looking for that person? How about checking the ventilation ducts?"
Zhou Bai's heart tightened. With the help of the Primordial Spirit, he quickly walked over to the ventilation ducts. As he extended his Primordial Spirit into the duct, his heart skipped a beat.
Zhou Bai said, "The grille we saw during the day has been torn open."
Alice replied, "So, does that mean the person came up from the secret lab on the fifth underground floor? Did he just happen to run into us and then retreated?"
Zhou Bai looked towards Alice in surprise, but all he could see was darkness. He was still surprised that the little girl, who was just over ten years old, reacted so quickly and was able to suppress her fear to think in such an environment.
Alice asked, "What should we do? We've been discovered. Will the teacher find out?"
Zhou Bai touched his chin and said, "You come down with me."
Alice responded, "Huh? You still want to go down there? But we've already..."
"I don't know what the consequences will be if we're discovered, but if we hurry down now, we still have a chance to find what we're looking for before they react." Zhou Bai looked at Alice and said, "I'm worried it'll be dangerous if you stay here alone, so either come with me now, or I'll send you back."
Alice was silent for a few seconds, then firmly nodded and said, "Sending me back would waste too much time. I'll go with you."
"Get on my back..."
Alice's frail body leaned on Zhou Bai. To Zhou Bai's eighteen-year-old body, the little girl was so light it felt excessive. He could even feel her ribs poking him a bit.
Although the base provided basic food and water, to save resources, it was still somewhat insufficient for Alice, who was still growing.
This was why Elsa always complained about being hungry. Of course, Zhou Bai thought besides having a little less food, the biggest reason the glutton constantly complained about hunger was she could eat a lot.
Carrying Alice, Zhou Bai crawled into the ventilation duct. With the help of his Primordial Spirit, Zhou Bai crawled downward with ease and soon saw light.
Crawling out from the ventilation duct on the fifth underground floor, they saw a long corridor with dim night lights scattered along both sides, making their surroundings less pitch dark.
Neither Alice nor Zhou Bai had been here before, so Zhou Bai put Alice down and chose a direction randomly.
'Stick close to me.'
Walking along the corridor, a blood-curdling scream suddenly came from the depths of the passage, startling Alice and Zhou Bai.
The two exchanged glances and quickly ran toward the direction of the scream.
Soon, increasingly bright lights appeared before Zhou Bai and Alice, revealing a huge laboratory.
The two crouched down, hiding in the shadow behind a table.
In the center of the laboratory, a twisted humanoid figure was trapped in a transparent tank, continually banging on the glass and letting out furious roars.
"Ban... Ban Du!!" Alice was shocked to see the deformed human in the tank but could still recognize his identity from the remaining part of his face.
Seeing Alice trying to rush forward, Zhou Bai grabbed her. "Don't act rashly." He furrowed his brow, scanning the laboratory but did not see Dr. Zhuang's figure anywhere.
Alice's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Ban Du in the tank and said, "Why did Ban Du become like this? What happened to him?"
The lower half of Ban Du's body was missing, leaving only an enlarged and twisted upper half.
Zhou Bai sighed. After all, Alice was just a girl of around ten years old. It was understandable that she couldn't control her emotions right now. The fact she wasn't screaming had already shown remarkable composure.
"Why am I so calm?" Zhou Bai found himself thinking odd thoughts despite the dangerous situation: "Could it be I have those qualities of a protagonist who gets calmer as things get critical, never panics, and is resourceful and brave?"
As Zhou Bai's mind wandered under pressure, a female voice echoed in his mind.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and rescue me!"
Zhou Bai froze. The female voice sounded again. "Look behind the desk to your left!"
Zhou Bai ran over with Alice and saw a glass case behind the desk. Inside, a long-haired white cat was locked up, its eyes wide open and looking at them while jumping and making sounds in Zhou Bai's mind.
"Let me out quickly! He's coming back soon!"
Hearing this, Zhou Bai immediately used his Primordial Spirit to grab a chair and smashed it against the case. After a few hits, cracks appeared in the glass. He then pushed his Primordial Spirit inside, instantly creating a hole.
With a cheer, the white cat squeezed out from the hole and leaped towards Zhou Bai.
"Hahaha! You fools! It's all mine now!"