"It's fine," Bai Ye said. "Do you think places out of sight have no surveillance?"
Ji Ruyue: "..."
That made so much sense that Ji Ruyue couldn't refute it.
Given it was a critical location like a laboratory, it was bound to be covered by surveillance.
Bai Ye spoke again, "Let's go, just follow me!"
After waiting for the others to enter the elevator, Bai Ye pressed the side of the elevator with his hand, and a surge of electricity appeared in his palm.
As the current flowed, the lights in the elevator flickered.
With a snap, the surveillance camera in the elevator directly exploded, and the elevator began to descend rapidly.
The third laboratory was a downward structure, three levels in total, accessible for normal entry and exit. Beyond the third level...
"Hold on tight!" Bai Ye grinned. "Don't fall!"
The electric current reappeared in Bai Ye's hand, and then the elevator cable suddenly snapped. The elevator began to plummet downwards at a frantic pace.
On the electronic display of the elevator, "—4," "—5," and "—6" began to appear.
Simultaneously, due to deformation, the elevator scraped against the elevator shaft, emitting a piercing sound and slowing down slightly.
The Steel Slime in Bai Ye's hand writhed and transformed into the appearance of Thunder and Purple Lightning, shooting downwards and drilling a hole in the elevator. Bai Ye then threw the Beast Taming Ball downwards.
The Beast Taming Ball emitted a glow, and then Goodra appeared in the elevator shaft, falling rapidly and landing at the bottom of the shaft.
"Ya~"
Goodra was exceptionally intelligent, especially after spending so much time with Bai Ye, developing a tacit understanding. The moment Bai Ye released it, Goodra knew what it needed to do.
Defense was what Goodra excelled at.
*Bang!*
Watching the elevator crash down, Goodra reached upwards, followed by a deafening sound.
Goodra single-handedly stopped the falling elevator.
A large pit formed in the elevator, and the ground began to crack and shatter, forming vast fissures.
But...
Goodra held firm!
The next moment, Goodra suddenly looked up, a halo appearing in its mouth. Soon, a ball of light was condensed.
Bai Ye said, "Stand aside!"
*Boom!*
A Hyper Beam was unleashed from Goodra's mouth, piercing the elevator and completely breaking through its bottom.
As the glow of the Hyper Beam dissipated, Bai Ye led the way, jumping to the bottom of the elevator, and then gestured for the others to follow.
Allen asked curiously, "Where is this?"
Bai Ye replied, "The elevator shaft."
Allen: "..."
Allen realized that while Bai Ye's strength was indeed formidable, he was also quite exasperating. Was that what he was asking?
Bai Ye smiled. "Alright, just a little joke to lighten the mood."
As he spoke, Bai Ye placed his palm on the side of the elevator shaft.
"We're taking a shortcut!"
*Rumble!*
The instant Bai Ye finished speaking, his Phoenix ability activated, and a large amount of flames surged from his hand.
An explosion roared, and a section of the elevator's side was blasted open by Bai Ye, creating a large hole.
After signaling for the others to crawl through, Bai Ye followed closely behind.
Behind the blasted-open elevator shaft was a white corridor.
Pure white in color, with only fluorescent lights for illumination, there was nothing else – no decorations, no embellishments, and no doors.
Bai Ye climbed out of the elevator shaft and recalled Goodra into the Beast Taming Ball. "Let's go!"
Allen asked, "Where?"
Bai Ye replied, "To find the owner of this place."
Bai Ye was indeed taking a shortcut, which was Mission 1 of the Restricted Zone: Successfully enter the core area of Laboratory No. 3.
The core area was where Dr. Dale was located, the heart of Laboratory No. 3, or more accurately, the ninth floor of Laboratory No. 3.
Although Bai Ye had never entered Laboratory No. 3 in the Mirror World, he had entered the ruined city's Laboratory No. 3 in the real world in his previous life. While the Restricted Zone missions were different, the structure of Laboratory No. 3 remained the same.
The Laboratory No. 3 in the ruined city had already been broken into and had become a dangerous area.
Through the continuous exploration by the Chosen Ones, methods for entering and exiting Laboratory No. 3 had been discovered, some being more time and energy-saving.
One of these methods was to directly break through the elevator shaft to reach the core area on the lowest floor.
Of course, this was an unconventional method.
According to the content of Restricted Zone Mission 1, the normal procedure would be to use the elevator or the emergency staircase to reach the third basement level. Up to this point, it was considered a safe area.
From the fourth floor onwards, it was the true Laboratory No. 3. It was expected to encounter resistance from robots and mutated crystal beings, and the laboratory's defense systems would be activated.
Thus, fighting from the fourth to the ninth floor constituted "successfully entering the core area of Laboratory No. 3."
However, since Bai Ye knew the structure of Laboratory No. 3 and the shortcut method, he wouldn't foolishly fight his way down floor by floor. There was no benefit, so why waste energy?
The future was abstract and uncertain; a second chance wouldn't guarantee the future would be the same. But living an extra lifetime sometimes had its advantages.
However, even though they had reached the ninth floor, they had not yet entered the experimental area.
And...
Bai Ye said, "Pick up your guns. Someone will greet us."
As Bai Ye spoke, he walked towards one side of the corridor. As he reached the corner...
Suddenly, the bright white corridor flickered with red light, and a piercing alarm sounded.
The first to be triggered was the area's defense system.
In the front of the corridor, near the ceiling, hidden compartments continuously appeared, and then rows of black gun barrels extended outwards.
Allen immediately shouted, "Gonzalez!"
Gonzalez quickly unbuckled the strap from his chest. Behind him was a large canvas bag. Upon opening it, a massive square metal plate was revealed.
Then...
Gonzalez fiddled with it somehow, and grooves appeared along the edge of the metal plate. New metal plates were continuously ejected, and eventually, the metal plate became quite large, forming a formidable shield.
At this very moment...
The gun barrels fired energy beams, sweeping towards Bai Ye and his companions.
The energy beams repeatedly struck the metal plate, emitting "ding ding dang dang" sounds, then exploding and dissipating into halos of light.
Gonzalez braced the metal plate with his shoulder. "Help me lift it and push forward."
Allen nodded and moved to help, but Bai Ye stopped him.
...