Chapter 1301
The elevator doors parted.
A blast of freezing air, heavy with the sharp sting of chemical antiseptic, hit them. They stepped out of the elevator.
Nicholas pulled out his device, bypassing the final layers of biometric encryption in seconds.
Heavy blast doors slid open one after another, allowing them to slip silently into the sprawling subterranean facility.
The sight before them made their blood run cold.
This was nothing like the crude, makeshift lab the Doyles had set up beneath that abandoned Vaelion factory.
Beyond the elevator lay a massive, sterile white corridor bathed in harsh, flickering lights.
And at the end of that corridor opened up an experimental sector so immense it seemed to swallow the horizon.
The first thing they saw were rows upon rows of towering, glowing blue stasis pods. Hundreds of them.
Each pod was filled with a luminescent liquid.
And suspended inside each tank was a living, unconscious human being. Men, women.
The elderly, the young.
Thick, invasive tubes were brutally wired into their flesh.
Beside every tank was a digital monitor displaying their vital stats and identification numbers.
“They are extracting their cerebrospinal fluid, measuring neural decay, calculating IQ enhancement thresholds, and monitoring memory retention p>
Serena’s gaze turned glacial. It took her only a second to decipher the machinery’s purpose. “These aren’t test subjects. They are raw materials p>
This entire sector was a factory designed to harvest the biological components
necessary to synthesize a drug that mutated human intelligence.
Nicholas’s eyes darkened, a lethal storm brewing in his gaze.
They moved deeper into the facility.
Bypassing a series of quarantine airlocks, they arrived at a colossal, transparent containment lab.
When they saw what was inside, Serena froze.
This room was a nightmare far worse than the stasis pods.
Inside the glass walls were dozens of cold, metallic operating tables.
The people strapped to them were entirely brain-dead, yet machines forcefully maintained their biological functions.
Their skulls and spinal columns were pierced with countless micro-filaments and optical cables.
These cables merged into a massive central nexus overhead, forming a grotesque, artificial neural web.
On the massive main screen, a terrifying volume of genetic data was being processed at an impossible speed.
Serena stared at the faces of the bodies on the tables.
She recognized them.
A pioneering professor of neurology who vanished three years ago.
A leading authority on quantum genetics who reportedly died of a sudden illness six months ago.
A legendary medical engineer who passed away two years prior.
These were titans of the global academic community. Some were reported missing; others had their deaths highly publicized.
And yet, here they were.
“They wired their brains together,” Serena said, her voice shaking with a bone- chilling rage. “They’ve turned them into a biological supercomputer p>
“Obsidian is using their raw cognitive power to forcefully calculate
immense genetic mutations. They’re
trying to crack the final code of
neural restructuring p>
Nicholas’s expression was carved from ice. “These bastards are completely out of their minds p>
Serena’s fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.
This wasn’t just madness. It was an atrocity against humanity.
If an organization like this was allowed to exist, millions would die.
“Serena.” Nicholas suppressed his fury and pulled a data jack from his gear. He quickly linked it to the
terminal controlling the isolated” network. “I’m in p>
Operating from the shadows,
Serena’s fingers flew across her
handheld device, slicing through the
mainframe’s architecture and,
seizing control of the core database;
As the encrypted files flooded her screen, their expressions grew even darker.
This facility dwarfed the Doyle family’s operation.
And it was infinitely more depraved.