“Come on, follow me! Once we find the treasure for Uncle, we can go home! Hurry, hurry!” Lili jumped off Charles’ hand and ran towards the cave entrance, with a large group of black and brown rats following closely behind.

After emerging from the rat hole, Lili led Charles and the others through a rapid traversal between the rocks.

From time to time, the red light of flying leeches would appear in the distance, and at these moments, the white rat Lili would send a rat over to distract those monsters.

After half an hour of hiding and running, the irregular rocks began to thin out, and a flat rock wall suddenly appeared in front of Charles.

It was too dark for Charles to see what was above, unsure whether it was a mountain or a giant wall.

The group walked along the base of the wall for a few more minutes before a futuristic iron door abruptly appeared in front of them.

Before Charles could ask, the rats quickly formed a pyramid, and the “rat chain” pulled the door handle with a forceful tug. The door opened with a “click.”

As Charles followed the rats through the doorway, he was immediately struck by the sight. Inside was a straight, spacious corridor. Although it was covered in thick dust and in disarray, the simple style of the surroundings made him feel as if he had momentarily returned to a hospital in the future.

“This architectural style wasn’t built by the people outside,” Charles immediately made a preliminary judgment in his mind.

“Lili, are you sure the item is here?”

Charles didn’t think this building was the work of the flying leeches either, feeling that the rat’s mission wasn’t that simple.

The white rat didn’t answer. After looking around for a moment, she rushed into a room and dragged out a large sheet of paper.

Charles touched it and found the texture to be quite hard, somewhat like plastic. It was a simple map, marked with different areas in Sea language, such as the monitoring room, rest room, and cafeteria.

Lili jumped onto the map, first stepping on the eastern corner, then rushing to a prohibited sign in the west. “We’re here, and the thing is over there. Let’s go get it.”

Looking at the map, Charles had a vague suspicion in his mind, but now wasn’t the time to ponder these things. The place didn’t seem safe, and it was best to find the item and leave as soon as possible.

“Whoa!” Suddenly, a figure appeared at the end of the corridor, startling Dipp, who was at the front, into a loud shout.

Charles quickly pressed down the barrel of his gun. “It’s okay, just a corpse.”

The group gathered around, and the light of the torches illuminated the figure. It was a dried-up body, kneeling stiffly in place, its mouth open wide and hands outstretched as if screaming something.

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Charles noticed some details on the corpse. On the right chest of his suit-like attire hung a metal plate.

He crouched down and pinched it to take a look. “Dr. Dort, Deputy Director of the Third Laboratory.”

Charles’ pupils contracted as he realized something, and he immediately pulled out the paper about the clown mask.

“Containment Level: Level 3 containment, currently housed in Laboratory 3.”

So this was Laboratory 3. The mask had been stolen by the rats from here. Who built Laboratory 3? Who were they? One question was answered, but more questions arose.

Lili clung to Charles’ trouser leg, urging them to move forward. “Let’s go. We can go home once we’re done helping.”

Originally, Charles thought there would be plenty of dangers along the way, but the white rat Lili hadn’t lied. Apart from the messy environment and the occasional corpses, there really were no dangers inside.

They slowly approached their destination.

“Look, we’re here! This is the place.” Lili stopped at a metal door, jumping up and down at the entrance. “There’s a small square frame on the door. Press your hand on it, and the door will open!”

Looking at the familiar-looking thing on the door, Charles had a bad feeling.

He placed his hand on it, and as expected, the door didn’t open. There was no electricity, and the fingerprint didn’t match. How could it possibly open? It was clearly a fingerprint open the door!

“Huh? Why didn’t it open? Uncle said the door would open as long as a human places their hand on it,” Lili tilted her head, her face filled with confusion.

Even though rats are smart, they’re still just rats. Lili must have seen some people open doors with fingerprints before and assumed that any human hand would suffice. But it wasn’t that simple.

Charles knocked on the door and, finding it not too thick, directly took out explosives, lit the fuse, and threw them at the door before retreating to a safe distance.

“Boom!!” A deafening explosion echoed, and the door was blown open.

As Charles stepped through the opening, he saw a black wine pot sitting quietly in the center of a table.

“This is it! We can go home now!” Lili’s furry face was radiant with joy.

Charles didn’t dare to linger. He grabbed the wine pot and rushed out, worried that the loud explosion might attract something unwanted.

But as luck would have it, just as Charles and the others were halfway out, a flying leech drifted around the corner, its bloated body blocking the path.

“Roar!!” The flying leech screamed and charged towards the group.

Seeing no way to escape, Charles instantly raised his revolver and started firing. “Shoot!!”

The bullets hit the leech, making a slapping leather sound and knocking it back with each impact.

The leech roared, its bloated body twisting, and its semi-transparent, red-glowing body disappeared.

“Don’t stop! Keep shooting forward! It can turn invisible! Use all your bullets!”

Bullets flew and hit the distant wall, riddling it with holes.

As the gunfire subsided, Charles was about to say they should leave quickly when the leech’s massive head suddenly appeared right in front of him, its toothed mouthparts less than ten centimeters from his head.

The teeth rotated open, and the leech’s mouthparts, like a blood dropper, descended towards Charles’ head.

Just as he was about to be swallowed by the leech, a tremendous force hit his waist, and he was forcibly pulled back.

Charles looked down to see that it was Dipp who had pushed him, saving his life.

Gunfire erupted again, and the leech roared as it retreated. But with a twist of its body, it disappeared once more.

Charles quickly stood up and, without hesitation, put the mask on his face. In a crisis, he couldn’t worry about the consequences.

With his left hand, he pulled out the black knife from his leg. Behind the mask, Charles smiled with excitement.

He could feel his strength and reaction time enhance instantly as the mask covered his face. Everything around him brightened, not just in his mind—he could even see in the darkness now.

“Guys, stop shooting. That thing isn’t affected by bullets. Today—your captain is going to show you something!”

The sharp black knife danced with Charles’ fingers, leaving trails of afterimages as it flew through the air.