"Sir, are we really going to ignore them?"
As they made their way to the control room, they encountered many people lying on the ground, poisoned and unconscious.
The kind-hearted Orianna couldn't bear to see them in such a state and couldn't help but glance at Li Lin's back, asking softly, "Aren't we going to do anything for them?"
"We can't do anything now," Li Lin turned around, looking at Orianna with a troubled expression. "Do you want to give them your breathing apparatus?"
Orianna hesitated, "I..."
In fact, she did consider this when they first encountered someone on the way.
However, Li Lin seemed to sense her thoughts and didn't give her a chance to consider it at all. Knowing her concern for her father, he prevented her from making such a foolish move.
"Don't mention whether there are breathing apparatuses or not. Even if we save one person for every person we encounter, can we save everyone here?"
Li Lin stared at Orianna, who had a worried look on her face, patiently explaining, "Instead of that, let's go directly to the control room, activate the ventilation system, filter the air here, and save everyone at once."
Orianna nodded with a melancholic expression, "Okay, fine..."
After a while, the two hurriedly maneuvered through the backstage of the auditorium, finally reaching the corridor on the other side.
"Hush, wait a moment, there are people ahead," Li Lin pulled Orianna behind the wall at the corner of the corridor, lowering his voice to warn.
Then, he slightly peeked out, looking towards the corridor leading to the control room.
There stood two men, one holding a Mauser rifle, the other carrying a blood-stained metal staff on his shoulder.
They had punk hairstyles, and under their slightly dirty and worn-out coats, there was a dark silver metallic luster, resembling a scattered set of armor. Moreover, they had metal canisters around their necks and chins, bubbling with a yellow-green glow.
These were commonly seen embedded alchemical technology-enhancing devices in Zaun, used to filter toxic gases.
Obviously, these two were from Zaun.
Moreover, they couldn't be ordinary street thugs, as those guys couldn't afford alchemical technology-enhancing devices.
"Why would people from Zaun attack us?" Li Lin muttered to himself, "No, something's not right... They must have been hired! Could it be C?"
Orianna, who had never encountered such a situation before, was visibly nervous. "What should we do now?"
"Don't worry, let me think..."
Li Lin waved his hand, urging Orianna to calm down, then continued to observe the situation in the corridor.
"They only left two people to guard outside. I don't know how many people are in the control room. Although I can take care of these two without charging my gun, there are still two unconscious staff members under their feet..."
As Li Lin analyzed the situation, he suddenly noticed a puddle of red liquid where the staff members were lying, furrowing his brows.
He quickly opened "Data Mind," and the information of the two staff members appeared on the system panel.
[Personal Status: Deceased]
Li Lin's face instantly turned cold.
Orianna noticed his expression and asked anxiously, "What... what happened?"
"They killed the staff members."
"What..." Shocked, Orianna quickly covered her mouth, avoiding making too much noise.
Li Lin felt heavy-hearted. While death was a common occurrence in this crisis-ridden world, it was the first time he had witnessed the corpses of innocent people killed by others.
Gripping the gun handle tightly, he said, "Since that's the case, I have nothing to consider."
The skill "Firearm Proficiency" only allowed him to master basic firearm usage skills, without significantly improving accuracy. However, for the Hextech revolver in his possession, accuracy was not an issue.
Taking a deep breath, Li Lin observed the two Zaun individuals with low vigilance.
When their gaze shifted away, he quickly emerged from behind the wall, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger twice.
The two uncharged energy bullets shot towards the two Zaun men. By the time they realized it, it was too late.
Only one of the energy bullets hit the unfortunate guy with the metal stick, creating a fist-sized hole in his chest.
And another bullet hit the wall.
"The..."
Before the man with the gun could finish his curse, the energy projectile suddenly exploded. Two pale blue shockwaves, one after another, sandwiched him, instantly piercing through his body.
The man was thrown and slammed against the wall. His internal organs were torn into fragments by the impact, and he coughed up a large amount of blood, falling to the ground unconscious. His breathing was shallow, indicating that he wouldn't survive for much longer.
"Stay here, I'll call you when it's safe," Li Lin said, looking at Orianna with concern.
"Yes... Be careful!"
As the commotion outside reached their ears, the door to the control room was pushed open. Three thugs, all equipped with alchemical tech-enhanced devices, emerged from the room.
Seeing the chaos outside, the three men were briefly stunned. They quickly noticed a young man with a gun at the far end of the corridor, wearing a breathing filtration device.
Without giving them a chance to react, Li Lin quickly pulled the trigger, firing three uncharged energy shots from his handgun. After all, for a pistol, the self-recharging energy crystal was much faster than consuming energy. He didn't need to conserve bullets.
—Bang, bang, bang!
"Ah!"
With three loud explosions and cries, the three men were also blasted away by shockwaves. One flew into the control room, while the other two crashed into the walls, blood splattering.
[Congratulations! You have killed 5 alchemical tech-enhanced mercenaries. Your level has increased by 1, and you have gained 1 skill point.]
[Current Level: 6]
[Remaining Skill Points: 4]
Mercenaries, as expected.
Li Lin ignored the system prompts and remained vigilant, staring at the open door of the control room. He was cautious of any potential attackers still inside.
He moved silently, aiming his gun at the control room and slowly approaching.
After about fifteen seconds, he stepped over the bodies on the floor, leaned against the wall near the control room's entrance, and first looked toward one end of the room.
Nothing seemed unusual on the surface.
Then, he rolled quickly on the ground and moved to the other side of the door to observe the situation inside.
There was no sign of anyone else within visible range.
Li Lin was still not at ease, fearing that someone might be hiding in a dark corner for a surprise attack.
Therefore, he fired two shots into the room's floor.
Under the shockwave's effect, apart from some metallic and miscellaneous items falling to the ground, there was no sound of human screams.
Next, he crouched and swiftly entered the room, using a overturned table closest to the door as cover, holding the gun and surveying left and right.
After confirming that there was no threat, he moved to the door and shouted to Orianna, "Come in quickly, it's safe inside."
The girl rushed into the room, running, her face extremely pale, as if she was about to vomit. Obviously, she was seeing blood and corpses everywhere for the first time.
"Are you okay?"
Orianna nodded her head, indicating that she was fine.
Li Lin sighed, closed and locked the door, then sat on a chair in front of the control console, finding the rows of buttons controlling the central power ventilators.
Without hesitation, he changed all the ventilators to exhaust mode.
As the faint pollen in the room was slowly drawn into the ventilation openings above, the polluted air inside began to circulate, and before long, it would completely dissipate.
At that time, those who had been affected by the toxic pollen would gradually wake up.
Li Lin turned his gaze to Orianna, who was still emerging from the shadow of seeing bloodied corpses for the first time, and quickly considered the plan for the next steps.
Having completed the first crucial task, the next step was to find Caitlyn, Jayce, and the Kiramman couple, and help Orianna find her father.
(End of this chapter)