There was no one here, and even if they could somehow find a key, it still wasn't their house to just open at will.
If the result would be the same either way, why hesitate?
Almost the moment Lao Gao spoke, he strode forward and stood at the wooden door. There was no need for lockpicks. Lao Gao was strong enough that the moment he grabbed the handle and gave a push, the entire door fell inward.
Unlike the brightly lit laboratories downstairs, this room was pitch black. Nothing could be seen inside. Not a single sliver of light came through any crack.
Captain Zhang quickly switched on his flashlight, but Lao Gao was faster. Almost as soon as Captain Zhang aimed the light inside, Lao Gao's hand found a switch. A crisp click, and the room lit up.
This was no laboratory. There was a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and further in, a bathroom. It was clearly a researcher's rest quarters.
Would they really find what they were looking for in a place like this? If not here, then where?
Huang Jinghe muttered, "Doesn't look like anything we're after. Maybe those maps were just playing with us."
Lao Shi shook his head. "No. If this room doesn't have it, then we're looking in the wrong spots. A villa like this being out here is already strange. If what we want isn't here, I'd start thinking it's not even in this forest."
Shen Zhiyu frowned. "That sounds a bit too certain, don't you think?"
Zhou Zhi added, "Let's not argue yet. I actually think we haven't searched this villa carefully enough. We might've missed something."
Captain Zhang glanced at the three of them. "We'll search every corner. If nothing turns up, we'll start over. This place could easily have hidden compartments we've missed."
As soon as Captain Zhang finished speaking, a shout came from the bathroom. "Hey! Come here quick! I found something!"
Within seconds, everyone crowded into the bathroom. What they saw confirmed that this villa wasn't simple at all.
Inside the shower was a tiled wall with a door cut into it. The door stood open, revealing an elevator with power still running.
Captain Zhang stared. "How did you even open that?"
Shen Zhiyan asked, "And how'd you know it could open?"
Xi Yu, who had opened the door, replied, "I wasn't looking hard. The door wasn't fully shut. When I came in, there was a gap. I just pulled, and it opened."
Not only was the elevator powered, but its panel showed they were on level negative four. That meant the top four floors they had already searched might just be a cover, while the real secrets lay below. And it might not even be only four underground floors.
Captain Zhang's heart quickened. "Let's go down. It's small, so we'll need two or three trips to get everyone."
Xi Yu raised a question. "But why is there only one elevator here, hidden like this? If I hadn't noticed the tile gap, I'd never find it. And does it only connect from here? None of the other floors had one. Wouldn't that be inconvenient if you always had to come up first to go down?"
Captain Zhang frowned. "You mean there could be elevators on every floor, just hidden like this?"
If that was true, their earlier searches had been sloppy. Moving experiments from the first floor to the fourth, then sending them underground, would be a nightmare. And larger items? This small elevator wouldn't even hold them. That suggested there were other entrances or systems they had missed.
Thinking back, they'd searched floors two, three, and four thoroughly, but the first floor… not so much.
Captain Zhang said, "Let's not rush. We haven't checked the other side of this floor yet, the open platform. Once we finish here, we'll go back down and examine the first floor carefully. Maybe there's another way down."
He felt weary. Everyone here was strong, but trust was thin. Though they listened to him, he still had to be cautious assigning tasks.
At least as long as he kept the team together, no one complained. Everyone followed orders without trouble.
When it seemed they'd finished searching the area, Pei Xin suggested, "Even if we don't ride it yet, let's open the elevator and see what floors there are. That way we know what to expect."
"Sure. Open it," Lao Shi agreed readily. Just a quick look wouldn't take long.
Pei Xin pressed the call button. The elevator rose swiftly, reaching the fourth floor in only two or three seconds. A soft ding announced its arrival as the doors slid open.
But when the elevator doors opened, none of them expected this.
Inside lay a corpse: half-human, half-beast.
A wave of nauseating stench hit them, heavy and metallic.
Those with weaker stomachs retched on the spot. As they took a closer look, they all instinctively stepped back.
This creature was nothing like the animals in the forest. Those were beasts with human faces. But this…
Calling it a creature seemed most fitting. It had a beast-shaped body, humanoid in form, but with a human face. The best comparison was the human-faced rabbit they had seen before. This was the same sort of nightmare.