Chapter 1: The end of the world?

“You’re saying all of humanity will be wiped out in less than an hour?”

The Helmet Man, his face completely obscured by a tactical helmet, stared intently at Wu Jin through his goggles, his voice muffled from within the helmet as he clicked his tongue and shook his head, “Tsk, tsk, tsk… I thought you were just a terrorist!”

“Now it seems you’re just a delusional lunatic!”

“Sigh, if you hadn’t already paid, I’d really want to pull out right now!”

At this moment, the mercenary in the passenger seat of the van, holding a drone controller, turned to the Helmet Man and said, “Boss, sweep complete. All security positions have been marked!”

“Good, move out!” The Helmet Man waved his hand and looked at Wu Jin, saying, “Let’s go, dreamer, stick close to me. We’ll get you in!”

Wu Jin nodded, looking at the gate of the company named Xin Si Biotechnology, his heart filled with anticipation.

This time, he should be A Le to make it to the end!

The van started, bursting forward with an uncharacteristic speed, charging towards the front gate.

As it approached the gate.

“Concussion rifle, impact grenade!”

On the right side of the van, a team member, through the window, raised a large silver-white firearm and pulled the trigger, aiming at the guards at the entrance.

Buzz…

A visible shockwave shot out.

The guard was sent flying, falling unconscious in mid-air.

At the same time, another team member leaned out of the left window and threw a small object towards the front gate.

The object landed precisely in the center of the gate.

Boom…

A violent explosion erupted.

The chevaux de frise in front of the gate were like paper, blown high into the air by the shockwave, and a passage was blasted through the heavy gate.

The van drove in smoothly.

“Turn right! Watch out for two guards on the left!”

The team member in the passenger seat, staring at the drone screen, directed sharply.

Buzz… Buzz…

Two concussion rifle shots rang out, and the guards hiding in the shadows, waiting to ambush, were struck unconscious.

Alarms blared everywhere as the van continued to speed.

Thanks to the drone overhead, the guards blocking their path were cleared one by one. Coupled with their swift actions, the security personnel hadn’t even reacted yet.

In just a few minutes, they reached the base of a mountain.

The mountain surface had clearly been artificially excavated, forming a flat stone wall.

Below the stone wall was a heavy metal door.

The mercenary squad set up tactical cover here, establishing a fan-shaped safe zone to protect everyone within.

“Boss, it’s a military-grade alloy armored door. Our demolition units can’t blast through it!”

The Helmet Man had already anticipated this. He nodded and pointed to the password entry area on one side of the door:

“A Le, five minutes, hack it!”

As he spoke, the rest of the company’s security personnel had already gathered.

A battle was imminent.

With the cover of temporary shelters, even though the mercenary squad only consisted of a few people, they were A Le to keep the continuously encircling security personnel from getting close.

Wu Jin, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up at the opportune moment:

“No need to hack it, I know the password!”

Everyone looked at Wu Jin in surprise.

Wu Jin ignored them, stepped forward a few paces, and quickly entered the password.

Beep… beep… beep…

An alarm sounded.

The massive alloy armored door slowly opened.

Seeing Wu Jin’s actions, everyone looked at him in astonishment.

The Helmet Man was equally surprised, but with the enemy in front of him, he had no time to ask more questions:

“Get in! Old Five, Old Three, Old Six, stay behind and hold this position!”

Everyone entered through the gap in the door one by one.

Inside was a spacious and seemingly endless oval-shaped tunnel.

The mercenary squad began to sprint through the tunnel.

“Are you from this company?” The Helmet Man took the opportunity to ask.

Wu Jin shook his head:

“No!”

“Then how do you know the password?”

Wu Jin: “Would you believe me if I said I’ve been here many times?”

“You’ve been here?”

Wu Jin shook his head: “Not in the way you understand ‘been’! What I mean is, I’ve experienced all of this before!”

“Ah? Like the constant rebirth in novels?”

“Something similar!”

“I don’t believe it!”

Such a fantastical claim, the Helmet Man naturally didn’t believe it.

Wu Jin had nothing to say.

Everyone continued forward.

“One o’clock direction, behind the concrete pillar!”

“Ahead, overhead ventilation duct, third and fourth junctions!”

“Front main door, ten security guards with microwave guns, just throw a concussion grenade in!”

Wu Jin became a prophet, constantly reminding the Helmet Man’s squad of the positions of security personnel hiding in the shadows.

After dealing with the last wave of stop people with concussion grenades.

Another protective door appeared.

“Damn it! Another reinforced alloy, and it requires biological verification. What do we do?”

The Helmet Man looked at Wu Jin.

Wu Jin glanced at the Helmet Man and pointed to a security guard who had been stunned in the pile of people:

“His fingerprint and iris can open it. Also, he has an ID card on him! Get that too!”

The squad members acted quickly, swiping the card, verifying the fingerprint, and verifying the iris.

Wu Jin stepped forward and quickly entered the password.

The protective door opened.

Seeing this, the Helmet Man exclaimed in amazement:

“You already know the password, what do you even need us for?”

Wu Jin shook his head:

“I haven’t reached the end yet! The path ahead requires you all!”

Saying that, he reached out to stop the team members who were about to enter.

Suddenly, dozens of visible red lasers shot out, sweeping across the ground in front of them.

Where the red lasers swept, a burnt smell emanated.

“High-energy particle cannon? How could this small biological company have something like this???”

The Helmet Man was terrified, looking at Wu Jin:

“Are you sure this is an insignificant biological laboratory?”

Wu Jin said indifferently:

“Insignificant or not, you’ve already broken in. Why overthink it!”

“You…” The Helmet Man didn’t know how to respond, only saying weakly, “You’d better not have lied before!”

Wu Jin didn’t reply. Seeing the lasers disappear, he walked through the protective door.

A long, narrow corridor came into view.

Led by Wu Jin, everyone proceeded forward.

After all, it was a biological laboratory, and they encountered more than a dozen protective doors, all of which Wu Jin unlocked one by one.

Finally, a vast space, formed by hollowing out a mountain, appeared before everyone.

The interior of this space was divided into countless small rooms, and vaguely, various strange instruments could be seen within them.

Being experienced mercenaries, the Helmet Man recognized most of them just by seeing a corner.

“RUSHPLUS 3D imager, high-precision laser focusing microscope, NEXBUEE third-generation cytometer…”

The Helmet Man’s face was filled with shock as he stared blankly at Wu Jin and said:

“Any single instrument in here, if taken out, could buy a top-tier luxury mansion.”

“This is what you called a small, unorganized company?”

“What exactly are you hiding?”

Wu Jin pointed to a red protective door.

“Want to know the answer? It’s simple, the answer is in there!”

The Helmet Man stared intently at Wu Jin:

“Kid, after the mission is complete, you’ll have to pay more!”

Wu Jin nodded indifferently, agreeing. People were about to die, and he was still thinking about money!

Opening the red door, everyone entered one by one.

Inside was not a corridor, but a narrow cave, wide enough for one person with a little room to spare, but not enough for two. Walking through it, Wu Jin was as familiar as if he were home, navigating various forks with ease.

After walking for about 20 minutes.

The view suddenly opened up before them.

What came into view was a flat, artificially excavated square room, with only one human body scanner inside.

On the other side of the wall was a seemingly ordinary fire door…!

“AKE YS’s latest generation human body scanner?”

The Helmet Man said, half-believing, half-doubting.

Wu Jin smiled slightly:

“You know your stuff!”

He then took off his coat, lay down in the scanner, and closed the transparent hemispherical cover.

“Don’t just stand there, help me start it!”

The Helmet Man came to the side of the scanner, quickly scanned it, found the scan button, and pressed it casually.

The scanner began to operate. A large amount of dense fog sprayed towards Wu Jin, and green light continuously swept over his body.

After about a minute.

Disinfection complete!

Scan complete!

The results showed that Wu Jin’s body was normal.

He walked out of the scanner and said to the Helmet Man:

“Why don’t you try it? We usually don’t get to use this kind of thing!”

The Helmet Man’s expression was solemn as he looked at the only door in the room and asked:

“What’s behind that door?”

Wu Jin shook his head.

The Helmet Man was stunned: “You don’t know?”

Wu Jin: “I know, but I’ve never been inside!”

“What do you mean?”

Wu Jin checked the time. There was still time. So he slowly said:

“Behind this, is a Concept Isolation Room!”

“Isolation Room?” The Helmet Man was somewhat incredulous: “You want an isolation room, there are so many publicly accessible isolation rooms across the country, and you hire us to break into this one?”

Wu Jin shook his head: “This one is different!”

“What I want is not just biological isolation, but also a space completely isolated from the world, or rather, a place that has been isolated from the world for a very long time!”

Saying that, he pointed to the door:

“This Concept Isolation Room was built by Xin Si Biotechnology 30 years ago, named ‘Micro-State One’. Theoretically, all items inside, including the air, are in their 30-year-old state and have not been contaminated by the outside world.”

“What’s the use of that?” The Helmet Man asked curiously.

Wu Jin: “I told you, all of humanity is going to perish. I don’t want to die, I want to live. This laboratory might be the last hope!”

The Helmet Man still wanted to ask.

Suddenly, dense footsteps echoed from the narrow tunnel in the distance.

“People inside, listen up, you are surrounded! Put down your weapons immediately and surrender!”

The mercenary squad raised their weapons.

The Helmet Man looked at Wu Jin.

Wu Jin re-confirmed the time:

“I need ten minutes.”

The Helmet Man nodded, then pointed to the inconspicuous fire door:

“A Le, help him blast the door open!”

Wu Jin quickly stopped him: “Hey, hey, hey! No, no! This door looks simple, but it’s laboratory-grade sealed. If you blast it, it’s over!”

“Then how do you get in? Do you have a key?”

Wu Jin smiled slightly, walked to a stone wall, and swung his fist.

The stone wall, which should have been intact, shattered, revealing a string of keys inside:

“If it weren’t for finding this string of keys, I would have succeeded last time!”

The Helmet Man looked at Wu Jin’s prophetic actions, somewhat numbly saying:

“I’m increasingly suspecting this is a conspiracy! A trap you set!”

Wu Jin came to the door and opened it with the key.

“Whether it’s a trap, we’ll see soon enough!… See you next time!”

Waving to the Helmet Man, he closed the door and re-locked it.

After scanning the room, Wu Jin saw a red button on the wall.

The label below it indicated its purpose: to refresh the internal air, replacing it with the air from the Concept Isolation Room, to prevent contaminated air from entering the Concept Isolation Room.

He pressed the button.

After the air refresh was complete, he continued forward with a nervous heart.

This was the first time he had made it this far.

Everything ahead was new, unknown.

Walking forward, there were several more such sealed doors. Each time he passed one, he had to go through the sealing and exhaust procedures.

Finally, he stood in a space of about two hundred square meters.

Here, food, medicine, daily necessities, and living facilities were all very complete, much like a doomsday safe house.

He looked at the time on his watch; there were ten seconds left until the apocalypse.

The timing was just right.

He walked a few steps to the bed and quietly watched the countdown on his watch.

This time, would he still die? Did that plan really work? Or did I misunderstand, and it wasn’t meant for me to isolate myself?

The countdown ticked.

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

0…

The countdown reached zero.

Instantly, Wu Jin’s body went rigid.

Then, on his exposed skin, black lines, like tree roots, visibly spread.

In just five seconds, his eyes turned blood-red, his face became distorted, and he was unable to speak.

Wu Jin gritted his teeth, trying his best to retain a shred of his thinking ability.

However, this last bit of thinking ability completely vanished in just a few more seconds.

Damn it… it failed again. This didn’t work either!

Wu Jin cursed before losing consciousness.

Darkness invaded, and death descended!