Chapter 2942: Special Projects (2/2)

After exiting the seventh research lab, the exploration team reached the end of a floor.

”Hmmm.” Ves paused for a moment. ”The teleportation portal should have brought us to the lowest floor of the pinnacle lab. It's pretty much certain that this underground facility has multiple floors. According to standard practice, the less important projects are all situated in the periphery while the most critical ones should be situated in the center of the middle floors. What do you think, Dr. Perris?”

The woman slowly nodded. ”That is true, mostly. In order to guard against the risk of tunneling breaches, labs like these always concentrate the most vital activities at the center. This way, no matter in which direction people enter the research facility, they always have to pass through several different barriers before they can access the heart of the site.”

All signs so far suggested that the Supreme Sage was not someone who broke convention for fun. As long as a rule made sense, the deceased leader had no reason to do anything differently.

”If this is the case, then the lab that houses Special Project 'V' ought to be in the center as well.”

They knew their destination now, roughly. While they still hadn't obtained a map, Ves felt a lot more reassured that he wasn't totally dependent on the living gem for directions anymore.

Though the Supreme Comprehension gem constantly urged Ves to travel in specific directions, he always felt a bit afraid where he might end up if he blindly followed its instructions.

If a situation arouse where Ves might be forced to get rid of the gem, then he wanted to make sure he would be able to navigate the pinnacle lab without any external guidance!

”Let's find a way up. There has to be a stairs or elevator here somewhere.”

There were still plenty of rooms on this floor that were not devoted to research. Some rooms serviced a lot of maintenance beetles. Other rooms were geared towards maintaining a constant environment.

Ves even managed to stumble upon a luxurious bedroom of sorts. Though it never showed any signs of use, he found a large virtual library of science-related books and articles. Many of them touched upon high technology and were not accessible on the galactic net!

Naturally, Ves helped himself to all of these virtual books. Since he had already anticipated that he would be plundering a lot of data from the pinnacle lab, he had made sure to prepare a large number of data chips to hold all of the virtual loot.

Though he did not bring enough storage media to steal everything he encountered, he had more than enough to take away the essence of entire research projects!

Eventually, the exploration team failed to find a way to move to the next floor. Ves had to rely on the guidance of his mysterious gem once again. It led him to an apparently empty wall. Once the gem bumped against its surface, a secret entrance opened up that led to a short-range teleportation portal.

Ves frowned at the sight. ”This is too extravagant!”

After a brief examination, Ves was able to ascertain that the range of the teleportation portal should not exceed 50 meters. Though stairs or elevators were much more cost-effective, using teleporters was much more secure. It was easier to isolate a floor or track those who passed through the portals.

Before Ves and Dr. Perris passed through the short-ranged teleporter, Nitaa ordered an honor guard to scout the other side first.

Ves calmly waited for the guard to scope out the other side and return to tell them that everything was fine.

Much to his surprise, the honor guard returned in a battle-ready posture! The armored soldier held his heavy assault rifle as if he was ready to pull the trigger!

”Sir, I have detected signs of active fighting taking place!”

”What?!”

The honor guard didn't stick around for long, so he didn't have much details to share. The only reason why he came to this conclusion was because his suit registered distant sounds of active weapon discharge.

As Ves briefly listened to the amplified audio recording, he distinctly recognized the sounds of kinetic impacts and exploding warheads.

All of them sounded fairly light. Ves already determined they came from small arms fire. So far, he did not hear any sounds that suggested that there were mechs fighting in the distance. The scale of mech-grade weapons was so greater that the sounds they made were inherently deeper and more guttural compared to their infantry-grade counterparts.

It was like the difference between the cry of a house cat and the roar of a lion!

Ves relaxed a bit. He did not have much solutions against mechs, but as long as the others in the pinnacle lab were wielding infantry weapons, he and his team could handle them if they turned out to be hostile.

Still, the presence of other humans in this restricted lab completely changed the nature of his exploration.

”Who are they? How did they enter this lab? Are their goals the same as mine?”

If the latter turned out to be the case, then Ves would have a very big problem in his hands!