n

n

n

nTang Chu found it strange and asked in a low voice.

n

n“Sir, aren’t you going to rest? Or did you find something?”

n

nZhang Zhe pointed at the replay on the screen and asked, “Did the Dark Knights leave in a different direction from when they came?”

n

nHearing that, Tang Chu also looked up at the replay.

n

n“I think so.”

n

nZhang Zhe said, “They left in a direction that leads to the iron mine.”

n

nD*mn that good night’s sleep!

n

nTang Chu felt that Zhang Zhe was too nervous. Everything could be connected to the Night Owl organization in the iron mine.

n

n“Sir, I think this is just a coincidence. After all, trucks cannot pass through the space tear. It is normal for the Dark Knights to choose another way to return to the prison shelter.”

n

nZhang Zhe didn’t say anything.

n

nAfter a moment of silence, he continued, “I need to immediately form an emergency investigation team to conduct an emergency investigation in the iron mine area.”

n

nTang Chu shivered and saluted, “Yes, sir!”

n

n…

n

nOutside the desert.

n

nFang Heng commanded the zombie team to move the ores back and forth, loading them into the truck in batches.

n

nThe core area of the iron mine had been mined half an hour ago.

n

nFang Heng didn’t want to waste the remaining low-level ores, so he continued to let the zombie team excavate them.

n

nSeeing so many ores, Lucia’s eyes lit up and she praised, “Fang Heng, you’re amazing. They’re all the highest-level blue crystal ores. Did you excavate them all by yourself? You’re amazing.”

n

n“Not really. Mo Jiawei contributed to the exploration. It was he who found the exact location of the mine.”

n

nLucia’s mood instantly became a little worse. She looked at Mo Jiawei with a sharp gaze.

n

n“Cough, cough, cough… No, it’s not that. It has nothing to do with me.”

n

nMo Jiawei, who was drinking water at the side, suddenly felt a chill on his back. He choked on the water and started coughing violently.

n

n“Lucia, I’ll need you to make a few trips later to send the ores back to the Dark Knights’ contact point. These ores are very precious, and I’m worried.”

n

nLucia felt sweet in her heart.

n

nShe felt that this was Fang Heng’s trust in her.

n

n“Okay, I’ll protect these materials.”

n

n“Take a few teams of Lickers to go with you. Be careful along the way. It’s best to take a detour around the shelter. Don’t let the Federation discover you.”

n

n“I promise to complete the mission!”

n

nLucia’s expression immediately became serious and her eyes were filled with killing intent.

n

nIf the Federation discovered them on the way, then kill them all!

n

nHint: Your zombie team has completed the excavation of the planned passage area.

n

nEh! The passage to the laboratory has been dug!

n

nSeeing the game hint, Fang Heng’s eyes lit up.

n

n“The secret research room’s passage has been dug through. Let’s go and take a look first.”

n

nRaising his head and downing a bottle of coffee, Fang Heng brought Lucia along with Mo Jiawei into the other excavated passage to explore.

n

nAfter walking along the newly excavated passage for nearly 20 minutes, an open area finally appeared in front of them.

n

nFang Heng was the first to step into it.

n

nThis was an abandoned laboratory that had been remodelled!

n

nMost of the laboratory had been remodelled. The building and the cave had merged into one, and all kinds of experimental equipment could be seen scattered inside.

n

nAfter confirming that it was safe, the three of them walked into the laboratory and searched for clues on their own.

n

nThe original entrance to the laboratory had been sealed.

n

nFang Heng smelled the residual smell of gunpowder in the air.

n

nIt seemed like the entrance to the passage had been blown up just like the mine.

n

nFang Heng pondered and walked to the side of the main control machine, casually pressing it.

n

nHint: Player has been detected to have relevant mechanical repair skills.

n

nHint: The current machine is too old to complete repair.

n

nHint: The current machine lacks power and cannot be operated.

n

nThe machine could not be operated because of age and lack of power.

n

n“Eh?”

n

nFang Heng noticed a white human skeleton on the seat beside him.

n

nThe skeleton’s coat had the symbol of the Meteorite Company on it.

n

nFang Heng walked forward and took out a tattered notebook from the pocket of the skeleton’s coat.

n

nHint: You have obtained an item-researcher’s notebook.

n

nFang Heng tried to open the notebook.

n

nAs it had been too long, the notebook had rotted, and many of its contents could not be seen.

n

n“Crystallized forms.”

n

n“They were an extremely special kind of life form.”

n

n“We had done a big data comparison, but we could not find any known life form on Earth that had a similar structure to crystallized forms.”

n

n“Most of the time, crystallized forms were in a dormant state, maintaining extremely low vital signs.”

n

n“They seem to be able to live for eternal life.”

n

n“Dr Diehl was the first scientist to discover the existence of crystallized bodies and he was the most authoritative researcher on them.”

n

n“He believed that humans could find a way to live for eternal life from crystallized forms.”

n

n“Similarly, he believed that crystallized forms were closely related to a substance called blue crystal ore.”

n

n“I was very happy to join Dr Diehl’s research team.”

n

n“Under his leadership, we spent three years in the desert to find the blue crystal mine.”

n

n“Meteorite Company decided to build a laboratory here for research.”

n

n“I finally got what I wanted!”

n

n….

n

n“Dr Diehl was right!”

n

n“We found that this kind of life form lived and purified by absorbing the strength of the blue crystal.”

n

n“In the beginning, when the blue crystal was lacking, they would be very docile, not aggressive, and most of the time dormant.”

n

n“They could feel the presence of blue crystals nearby.”

n

n“Dr Diehl decided to conduct an experiment and try to use blue crystals to feed the crystallized form.”

n

n…

n

n“As the number of blue crystals swallowed increased, the crystallized form gradually became out of control.”

n

n…..

n

n“Dr Diehl’s physical condition had been bad for the past two days.”

n

n“Everyone was talking about him. Rumour had it that he had fallen ill because he was too tired from the hard work of the experiment.”

n

n“But I knew that wasn’t the case.”

n

n“Dr Diehl was experimenting on crystallized forms himself.”

n

n“The experiment was in trouble.”

n

n“Dr Diehl began to fall into a coma.”

n

n“We continued with the experimental protocol he left behind.”

n

n“Hopefully, we can find a way to bring Dr Diehl back.”

n

n…

n

n“Something’s wrong.”

n

n“The crystallized form that was sent to Meteorite Company went berserk.”

n

n“I heard the crystallized form destroyed the entire main company building.”

n

n“We received an internal order from the Meteorite Company to stop all research on the crystallized forms, destroy all crystallized forms and all traces of research on the crystallized forms.”

n

n“They even had to destroy Mr Diehl’s corpse on the spot!”

n

n“I sensed that the Meteorite Company was afraid.”

n

n“They were anxious to clean up everything!”

n

n“I understand the dangers of crystallized forms.”

n

n“But… we’ve reached this point in our research!”

n

n“Destroy them all?”

n

n“I’m not resigned to fate!”

n

n“I’ll never agree to them doing this!”

n

n“Mr Diehl isn’t dead! He’s just dormant!”

n

n“I’ll never allow them to stop Mr Diehl’s experiment.”

n

n“I believe that one day, the experimental subject will restart.”

n

n…

n

n“Tsk, another madman…”

n

nFang Heng closed the notebook and muttered to himself in a low voice.

n

nHe called Lucia and Mo Jiawei, “Hey, have you heard of this crystallized thing?”

n

nThe two of them turned around and gave Fang Heng a blank look.

n