As Charles moved towards Zone A, his focus remained razor-sharp. The red glow in his eyes intensified, and his pupils shifted from round to unsettling and terrifying patterns.
In regions that were once submerged in darkness, visibility improved dramatically through his vision.
[Error in Charles' source code detected...]
[Attempting repairs...]
[Repair failed...]
[Repair failed...]
...
The system's incessant chatter echoed in Charles' ears but was ignored, lost amidst other strange, low whispers.
At this moment, he seemed to possess a god-like perspective, seeing everything within the underground parking lot—including the twisted evil spirit lurking in a corner.
[Rampaging Evil Spirit: Extremely Dangerous!]
[Note 1: Highly agile, capable of bypassing most obstacles!]
[Note 2: Extremely powerful, beyond your combat capabilities!]
[Behavior: Slaughters all living creatures in sight, prioritizing louder targets!]
[Weakness: The Core.]
...
Armed with this data, the crimson light in Charles' eyes slowly faded, and his vision returned to normal.
Carefully avoiding the twisted evil spirit and Matthew's line of sight, Charles led Linda around the hazardous area.
He turned back and flashed Matthew an 'Ok' sign.
Matthew responded with his own 'Ok'.
In the darkness, a morbid smile spread across Matthew's face.
"Die... just die! Only when you're gone will there be enough food for me to survive! If you're to blame anyone, blame your own bad luck! Who trusts strangers so easily?"
The corners of Matthew's mouth stretched unnaturally wide.
The next moment, Charles grabbed a hidden black thread from his sleeve and yanked it. In the shrouding darkness, the sound of a pin being pulled from a grenade seemed strangely out of place.
Ping!
The pin hit the ground with a crisp sound. The twisted figure in the corner turned its head, and Matthew's body tensed instantly.
"What was that noise?"
In an instant, flames roared, and a deafening blast shook the entire underground parking lot. A devastating shockwave hurled Matthew against a nearby car door.
Before he could even process what had happened, he saw, illuminated by the flames, the terrifying evil spirit soaring towards him.
"Damn it!"
Matthew's heart sank. The shadow of death loomed over him, adrenaline levels spiking.
There was no time to think. He fled towards the distance. To stay would be to die.
As he approached the exit, he couldn't help but glance back, only to find Charles standing in the middle of the underground parking lot, offering him a farewell wave.
At this point, how could he not realize? His scheme had been exposed; he'd been outmaneuvered by Charles.
Fists clenched, Matthew was almost choking with fury, but there was no time to dwell on it now.
That twisted evil spirit was rapidly closing in on him.
He had to get out. Now.
As Matthew fled from the pursuing evil spirit, distancing himself from Zone A, Charles and Linda quickly moved toward the shaft marked with the word "Sewage."
"Holy crap, you actually have grenades? How did you bring those into this?" Linda exclaimed, both shocked and impressed.
As she used a crowbar to help Charles pry open the manhole cover, she listened to him explain.
"I used to have a patient who was an arms dealer. I cured him of his homicidal tendencies, and as a thank-you, he gifted me a box of custom grenades."
"I usually carry a few grenades around when I'm out and about. If I get bored, I play with them. Surprisingly, even after dying, these grenades followed me to this place."
"And by the way, the quality of your stockings is pretty good. Even though we were nearly 50 meters apart, it successfully pulled the grenade's pin."
Linda: "..."
Below the manhole, darkness pervaded. Linda pulled out a flashlight, handed one to Charles, and kept one for herself. Switching them on, they shined their lights onto the walls of the shaft.
There was no sewage, no dust—only smooth alloy walls reflecting the flashlight beams.
Right in the middle of one wall was a button engraved with strange symbols. Upon closer inspection, they realized this was actually an elevator leading underground.
"Aren't these places usually for sewage disposal? Why would there be an elevator?" Linda muffled her surprise behind her hand.
Charles glanced back. The underground garage was pitch-black, filled with an eerie, howling wind. It was an unsettling feeling.
"Let's go; we can't afford to waste time. We don't know when that evil spirit might come back!"
Both quickly entered the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator began to operate smoothly, a slight sensation of weightlessness filling their bodies as they descended.
This journey continued for a full five minutes before it finally came to a stop.
The alloy doors before them suddenly parted, and a piercing light blinded them momentarily. It took a few seconds for their vision to readjust.
Ahead lay a narrow, purely white corridor. Every corner was bathed in luminous brilliance, leaving not a shadow to be found.
As they stepped out of the elevator, the alloy doors automatically closed behind them.
"What is this place?" Linda muttered, her voice tinged with more than mere astonishment.
Who could have imagined that Several kilometers beneath a school, such an intricately designed underground structure would exist?
"Perhaps some sort of strange experimental base," Charles mused, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
Ever since their encounter with the principal, he had felt that something was amiss. Could the transformation of the school be due to human intervention?
As they proceeded down the corridor, the floor was suddenly marred by multiple streaks of blood. Although dried, the faint scent of blood and decay permeated the air.
These stains led to the corpses of several men dressed in unique attire, their faces concealed behind masks. They appeared to be some kind of lab personnel.
Their bodies were mutilated and contorted, as though torn apart by some large beast, sending shivers down Linda's spine.
"What on Earth happened to these people?"
Cautiously surveying his surroundings, Charles was certain of one thing: this place was far from safe.
With decisive steps, he moved toward a bend in the corridor, revealing a heavily encrypted alloy door before him.
Beside it was a control panel that required facial recognition for entry.
"We can't get in, it seems," Linda lamented.
Turning back meant risking another encounter with the horrifying evil spirit in the parking garage—a prospect so dangerous that even a madman like Charles would want to avoid it.
"What are you planning?" Linda's voice trembled as she watched Charles abruptly pull a scalpel from his pocket and stride toward the lifeless bodies.
A sense of dread crept into her soul.
Without uttering a word, Charles proceeded to do something so revolting that Linda had to suppress the urge to vomit. He severed the decaying head from one of the corpses, maggots and pus oozing from the rotting flesh.
By the time Charles returned to the alloy door, holding the severed head before the facial scanner, Linda had barely managed to stifle her gag reflex.
Ding—
"Facial recognition successful."
The alloy door cracked open with a mechanical click, and Charles casually placed the head back into his inventory.
Item: Bal's Head
Quality: Common
Description: Bal would never have thought that even in death, he'd encounter a psychopath who wouldn't spare even his only intact head.
Effect: Opens doors.
Seeing the system's snarky comment, Charles couldn't help but roll his eyes.
He considered himself a highly professional and ethical doctor; how could he be deemed a psychopath?