Ch. 266 - Attempting to go inside

“There’s actually power here?”

The moment he entered Area C, Yang Yi noticed a clear difference from the previous sections. The green emergency lights in the corridor were lit.

They could not dispel the darkness, but they still provided faint illumination.

“The medical sector might have an independent backup power supply,” Suna speculated. It was very likely.

The ship was so large that it could not possibly rely on a single power source, and quite a few of the warning lights on the exterior of the hull were still on as well.

Yang Yi checked the structural map of Area C.

From the map, this section was classified as a technical zone, with the medical research area occupying half of the space.

The Medical Area Laboratory No. 3, which they were heading to, was located on the third submersed level and was not far from the port.

However, the security level here was noticeably higher. There were multiple security doors, as well as those airtight decontamination doors. All of them, though, had been destroyed by the locals.

They moved forward without obstruction and, following the map, arrived at a staircase.

From here, going down three levels and advancing a short distance would take them to Medical Laboratory No. 3.

Yet another warning mark appeared beside the stairs, the same as before, painted in black, with an extra downward pointing arrow next to it.

“It means there’s danger below,” Yang Yi understood.

He was prepared for this. Having the Penitent Armour and the rat go first was exactly for scouting.

He hung another Vessel of Light on the armor, then had the armour and the rat go down ahead to check things out.

With shared vision, he would know what was below anyway and was not afraid of being ambushed.

Inside was a standard stairwell.

The armour did not enter any other floors and went straight to the third submersed level. At the stairwell exit, that same symbol appeared again.

“This local explorer team is really responsible. They marked all the dangers in advance,” Yang Yi remarked.

He controlled the Penitent Armour to step onto the third submersed level.

The moment it entered, it seemed to trigger a sound activated switch, and the entire room lit up.

This was a small room of about twenty square meters, far cleaner and tidier than the other rooms.

Directly ahead was a security door that looked intact, with a biohazard symbol painted on it.

Yang Yi had seen this type of door before. It was the kind used in decontamination chambers.

Under normal operation, anyone entering would undergo full body sterilisation and only be allowed into the experimental area behind it after decontamination.

Whether entering or exiting, one had to go through this entire procedure to ensure that no biohazard contamination leaked out.

Yet this one was intact and even still functioning, which was truly surprising.

By all logic, the locals would not have left such a door untouched. They would certainly have gone in to loot it.

There had to be something fishy here, or some hidden danger.

Yang Yi controlled the Penitent Armour and prepared to inspect the room.

But the white light in the room instantly shifted from white to red, as if some switch had been activated.

At the same time, panels opened in the walls on both sides of the security door, and two silver firearms with sizable calibers extended out, aiming respectively at the Penitent Armour and the skeletal rat.

Zzz! Zzz!

Two blue beams shot out from the gun barrels.

One hit the skeletal rat directly, instantly burning it to ashes.

The other shot toward the helmet of the Penitent Armour.

Yang Yi felt it as if it were happening to him. His heart tightened, and the moment the muzzle aligned with him, he raised the crystalline greatsword in his hands to block, protecting his head.

The blue energy beam struck the crystalline greatsword. In less than three seconds, it burned straight through.

This murky crystalline greatsword did not transmit light well and could not withstand very high temperatures.

After piercing the sword, the blue beam continued onto the Penitent Armour. It did not penetrate, but it left a smoking hole on the surface, with the surrounding metal slightly melted.

“Laser weapons?”

Yang Yi froze for a moment, realizing that the crystalline greatsword had been destroyed and the armour had suffered minor damage.

The beam lasted for about two seconds before extinguishing, apparently limited by a cooldown and unable to fire continuously.

Yang Yi immediately controlled the Penitent Armour to charge forwards, intending to destroy the two beam weapons.

Precision weapons like these would deform and jam with a single heavy blow.

What he had not expected was that after taking barely two steps, the armour slammed into an invisible wall.

“There’s another wall?”

The Penitent Armour crashed heavily into it, the sound loud enough for Yang Yi and Suna to hear even from several floors above.

Suna, who had no visual feed, looked somewhat displeased as she watched Yang Yi carry out the remote operation.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

The sound of repeated impacts rang out.

Yang Yi was trying to smash through the transparent wall, but without success.

The crystalline greatsword in his hand also broke in two as a result.

“That sturdy? Is it made of crystal diamond or something?”

Two laser beams struck the Penitent Armour, but the damage was limited. Yang Yi himself felt neither pain nor discomfort.

A few minutes later, the Penitent Armour, riddled with more than a dozen impact holes, returned to the stairwell and came back to Yang Yi and Suna.

Yang Yi then explained the situation below.

“There’s a transparent wall, probably made of crystal diamond. It’s extremely tough.

Behind the wall are two energy weapons. Because of the wall, I can’t hit them, and the crystalline greatsword got damaged in the process.

Each gun fires at roughly five second intervals. There are two of them, and their power shouldn’t be underestimated.”

He examined the holes in the armour, then recalled the crystalline greatsword. 

It could be repaired. The missing materials could be replaced using the crystalline greatshield, so it wasn’t a major issue.

The real problem was getting into the laboratory.

The local explorers probably hadn’t managed to get in either. They couldn’t break the wall, and staying inside would just turn them into live targets, so all they could do was stare helplessly from outside.

That was why such an obvious danger warning had been left behind.

To destroy the guns, the wall had to be broken.

But the wall was extremely hard, difficult to dismantle, and one would be shot at the entire time.

It was a deadlock. The outcome of a forced attempt could be seen from the state of the Penitent Armour.

“Let’s go down. I’ll try the flintlock’s Roar mode and see if it can punch through. If that doesn’t work, we’ll switch floors or go next door and try digging a hole through…”

Yang Yi laid out the plan to Suna, though he didn’t have much hope for the digging idea. The locals weren’t stupid. They had probably tried the same thing.

“I have a way,” Suna said after hearing his description, indicating she could handle it.

She took out a bottle of mental potion, clearly intending to use magic.

“Right, with that spell, it shouldn’t be a problem.

When it really matters, magic is still the most reliable,”

Yang Yi said, suddenly remembering. Since Suna didn’t fight often, he had almost forgotten.

The two of them returned to the stairwell exit on the third submersed level. Outside was the small room that led straight into the laboratory.

Yang Yi controlled the Penitent Armour to enter first, activating the security system inside. The beam guns immediately began firing at the armour. 

When the timing was right, Suna emerged from behind the wall and entered the room, activating the force field displacement greatshield in her hand.

A pale red, semi transparent greatshield appeared in front of her, protecting her body.

She then focused her gaze on the beam weapon to the right of the door.

Under the influence of some unknown force, the body of the gun began to bend and warp, finally bursting into a shower of sparks

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