Chapter 11: The Laser Corridor!
James Shade motioned for the mercenaries to pack up the equipment used to restart Red Queen.
“You all stay here.”
Behind the door was a corridor over ten meters long, but both sides of the corridor were entirely glass walls, completely different from the steel walls outside the door.
After Captain James Shade finished speaking, he cautiously walked inside. When he reached the middle of the corridor, the surrounding glass walls suddenly lit up, which was enough to make anyone’s hands and feet go weak with fright!
He looked around; the walls on both sides were smooth and transparent, with slender light tubes inside, emitting bright light.
There seemed to be no danger.
Kaplan’s voice came through the comms: “Don’t worry, it’s just automatic sensor lights, nothing to be concerned about.”
James Shade nodded in understanding, then placed a device, like a mobile phone, on the iron door at the end of the corridor.
Kaplan quickly pressed a few keys on the keyboard, and with a soft click, the final large door leading to the central computer slowly opened.
Only then did James Shade call out to the people outside the corridor: “Bring the equipment over!”
At this moment, Zheng Zha couldn’t help but exclaim loudly:
“Isn’t this too simple? That’s Red Queen! How could such an important place have no security measures? I’m in charge of the security here! This is the last line of defense, and there are terrifying lasers inside the corridor!”
This was the tactic Chu Xuan had taught him during their recent communication.
James Shade looked at him, his gaze as sharp as a hawk’s. Zheng Zha felt his heart skip a beat.
The black captain did not immediately confront Zheng Zha, but instead, in a questioning tone, shouted:
“Kaplan?”
Kaplan tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. To be safe, he glanced at Chu Xuan before replying. Seeing that Chu Xuan gave him no feedback, he confidently said:
“I’m certain I’ve disabled Red Queen’s firewall, and I haven’t found any defensive measures here.”
“Is that so?”
Hearing this, James Shade walked out and silently scrutinized Zheng Zha, who was slightly shorter than him.
“You’re in charge of Red Queen’s server room security?”
“Y-yes!” Zheng Zha gritted his teeth. His heart pounded, and he already felt some regret.
Chu Xuan hadn’t taught him what to say next!
He couldn’t help but glance at Chu Xuan and Fang Ge, hoping these two could vouch for him.
Seeing his evasive expression, James Shade roared: “Look me in the eye! Soldier! Are you in charge of Red Queen’s server room security?”
“Yes… Ugh!”
Just as Zheng Zha was about to answer, James Shade suddenly erupted and threw a punch at him!
How could Zheng Zha possibly dodge it? His abdomen was suddenly struck hard, and intense pain spread throughout his internal organs. He knelt on the ground, curling up like a caterpillar.
He had already vomited before, and now he had nothing left to vomit, only sour liquid in his mouth.
“Doesn’t look like it. The Hive wouldn’t let a connected person like you guard the most important server room.”
James Shade’s voice was as cold as ice,
“I’ve been suspecting if you were behind Spence’s abnormality… Now the surveillance is within reach, yet you’re trying to delay us! You, come in with us!”
“I, I…”
Zheng Zha felt his hands and feet turn cold, and he stammered in panic:
“Believe me! Believe me! It’s really, really dangerous inside! I’m truly not the security here; my friend is in charge of this place, and I overheard it from him!”
—Then if he continues to ask you who your friend is, what will you do? Even if you get past this, when Red Queen verifies your ‘friend’s’ identity, it will still be a loophole.
Covering one lie with another… it’s an endless cycle, and you’ll fall into it sooner or later.
“Being cautious isn’t a bad thing.”
Fang Ge, calculating the distribution of side plot points, smoothed things over: “How about this… not too many people go into the corridor. Let Matt and Zheng Zha help you carry the equipment, how about that?”
“Fang Ge! You!” Zheng Zha trembled with anger, covered in cold sweat and his hands and feet freezing despite the warm weather.
He felt betrayed, and anger burned in his chest, yet he dared not express it on the spot.
Entering the corridor might still offer a chance to live; resisting now… would be certain death.
“Me? Why me?” Matt couldn’t help but complain, “My hands are even cuffed, and I still have to help carry things?”
“Hey, right now the only suspicious people are you and Zheng Zha. If you don’t carry it, do you expect me to?” JD pressed the muzzle of his gun against Matt, signaling him to behave.
Fang Ge naturally stepped forward and patted Zheng Zha’s shoulder, implying: “If you have time to think, why not look up… You can’t see the sky in the basement, but you can still ask the heavens if you’ve done anything wrong.”
—Before Scarlet Emperor Dao Erosion, you should have still had some brains; I hope you can grasp the meaning.
James Shade, standing nearby, thought for a moment and then agreed to Fang Ge’s suggestion.
Even if it was somewhat unclear in meaning.
His mission was almost complete, and whether he could get three promotions—or a reasonable retirement package—depended on Fang Ge’s operation.
Giving Fang Ge face was not out of the question.
“If there’s an emergency, we’ll resolve it as quickly as possible,” Chu Xuan said calmly, intending to reassure Zheng Zha.
However, based on Fang Ge’s understanding of him, in the original plan, Chu Xuan had probably already regarded Zheng Zha as a disposable pawn.
As long as the laser system was shut down a little faster, James Shade could be saved, which was not difficult for Chu Xuan.
And the lasers in the original work were very flexible, with each laser killing at least one life. Clearly, it wasn’t something that could be avoided by formulaic dodging.
Adding a “useless Zheng Zha” might allow one more mercenary to survive, and as a “great contributor,” he could gain greater speaking power.
And assuming Zheng Zha was exceptionally gifted and could survive against all odds, it would also be thanks to Chu Xuan’s “operation” of shutting down the laser system in advance.
As long as he properly acknowledged the “oversight” in the plan, Zheng Zha would not, and could not, do anything to Chu Xuan.
This was Chu Xuan’s plan, an open conspiracy that could not lose. Only poor Zheng Zha was struggling.
Now, Fang Ge had swapped Matt in, making the number of people in the corridor one less than originally planned!
This undoubtedly affected Chu Xuan’s plan.
But he was Chu Xuan after all, and he would certainly have a backup plan.
Fang Ge had extreme confidence in Chu Xuan’s methods, even if Chu Xuan might already be contemplating the idea of “eliminating Fang Ge.”
After all… there wasn’t just one way to survive this laser corridor, which was to dodge all the lasers.
The worst outcome would be to restart the game. For Fang Ge, failing a speedrun and restarting was as common as eating and drinking.
“Alright, let’s go in together!”
James Shade stepped forward, grabbing Zheng Zha and Matt’s arms, one on each side, forcefully pulling them into the laser corridor.
Zheng Zha walked into the corridor with a ashen face, reaching out to take the equipment handed to him by the mercenary, as James Shade instructed.
However, at this very moment, the corridor door suddenly closed!
Red Queen could not allow equipment capable of shutting her down to enter the server room!
James Shade had actually already made a decision in his heart.
If the virus truly leaked, he would abandon shutting down Red Queen, gather evidence, and report back.
Conversely, if the virus had not leaked, they would shut down Red Queen after Chu Xuan completed the transfer of control over the “biological weapon cryogenic unit.”
Unfortunately, his wishful thinking remained only in his mind and was not “spoken aloud,” thus unable to influence Red Queen’s judgment.
Compared to risking being shut down and the virus leaking out, Red Queen chose to kill these people on the spot!
The doors on both sides of the corridor closed simultaneously. James Shade no longer paid attention to Zheng Zha; he shouted into the comms:
“Kaplan? What’s going on?”
Kaplan frantically pounded on the keyboard, anxiously saying: “Some kind of dormant defense measure. If too many people pass through the door, it activates after entry!”
Chu Xuan suddenly shouted loudly: “We’re trying to shut it down! There are ventilation ducts above the corridor; you can try to hide inside!”
His voice was loud enough to reach James Shade through Kaplan’s communicator.
This information was crucial and linked to his own life, so James Shade looked up to confirm it immediately.
He was stunned to find that Zheng Zha was already hanging from the ceiling!
“Ventilation duct? SHIT! How are you already climbing up?!”
At this moment, regret flashed through James Shade’s mind.
Are you, this weakling who can’t take a hit, really in charge of security here? How corrupt is the Hive internally to place a connected person in such a critical location!
With such a parasite, no wonder they engage in so many crooked research methods!
Zheng Zha didn’t know what James Shade was thinking. He only felt that this was the fastest his brain had ever worked in his short life.
“Look up!”
Fang Ge, I received your hint!
The moment the door closed, he leaped up, grabbing the railing on the ceiling with both hands, trying to open the vent.
However, reality was so despairing.
“No, it’s locked!”
Zheng Zha screamed, almost fainting. His last hope was blocked, which was truly despairing.
“Get out of the way!”
James Shade, as expected of a battle-hardened mercenary captain, immediately turned his gun.
Seeing the dark muzzle pointed at him, Zheng Zha’s eyes widened.
Dodge quickly! Dodge quickly!
Loli… there might be hope of resurrecting Loli in the Main God Space! I can’t die here like trash!
At this critical moment of life and death, Zheng Zha felt as if time had stood still. He could no longer hear any sound; everything around him seemed to slow down.
“Mental critical value breakthrough! Reward points: five hundred points, mental value increased by twenty points, nerve reaction speed increased by thirty points!”
“Da da da da da!”
Zheng Zha pushed off the wall with his feet, using the force to adjust his body and avoid most of the bullets.
The bullets collided with the nearby metal, sparks flying, but he did not let go.
Almost instantly, the vent cover suddenly dropped, and a path to survival opened!
“Get up!”
The will to survive drove him, and his limbs erupted with unprecedented strength. He climbed like a gorilla, scaling the wall, and in less than a second, he burrowed into the vent!
The cold metal duct felt so warm at that moment. Zheng Zha knew he had escaped to safety!
No sooner said than done, the laser corridor had already officially activated!
“Pull me up quickly!”
As James Shade saw a blue-white light emerge from the end of the corridor, his instinct told him that if he was touched, he would be dead!
“Okay! Grab on quickly!”
Zheng Zha was indeed Zheng Zha; he always had a spirit of self-sacrifice.
Even though he hadn’t fully adjusted his posture, he extended his left lower leg as far as possible towards the duct entrance, while simultaneously pressing his hands firmly against the duct wall to prevent himself from being pulled down.
The next moment, he felt his lower leg being violently yanked!
“SHIT!”