Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 401 Above and Below Ground
Underground, in the monitoring room.

Looking at the information displayed on the screen, Ou Yang excitedly patted Wan Lin on the shoulder and back: "They're here! They're here!"

Wan Lin winced in pain and quickly dodged, saying, "Stop, stop, stop! I saw it. Could you please take a picture of yourself instead?"

Ouyang then realized what he had done: "Sorry, sorry, I got too excited!"

Wan Lin shook his head helplessly, operated the control panel for a while, and took over control of the elevator.

The elevator did not stop at its intended location, but continued deeper, winding through a complex network of three horizontal and four vertical passages, until it finally slowed down and stopped at Zone B4.

The research institute is divided into four areas: A, B, C, and D. A is the research area, B is for mild cases, C is for severe cases, and D is no longer related to the severity of the cases. It is located in the deepest part of the base and is also called the bacterial treatment area.

When the base was closed, Zone D contained a large number of infected patients. After more than ten days of development, nearly half of Zone C changed from severe cases to infected areas, and all infected people in Zone B changed to severe cases.

The same applies to Zone B4. However, due to an accident, the infected patients here escaped from the ward and were out of the monitoring range. Wan Lin couldn't say where they went.

When Ou Yang heard the news, his face turned ashen.

That so-called Zone B4, which is in the direction he came from, where did those infected people go? Is there anything else to say?

The elevator doors opened, revealing an empty ward.

The group of suicide squad members looked at each other, their hearts pounding with fear, and dared not go any further.

Ouyang's initial plan was to gather as many infected people as possible, send the suicide squad over, give both sides a chance to fight each other, and then, once a winner was decided, Ouyang would step in and completely eliminate the enemy.

But Wan Lin immediately shook his head after hearing this: "I have a better way!"

Ou Yang looked confused.

Aside from the infected, he couldn't think of any other local specialties that he could use.

Wan Lin continued, "I think sending them to an unmanned ward would be more effective."

"Huh?" Ouyang's mind didn't quite catch on. "How can we fish in troubled waters without anyone around? I need the infected to draw the enemy's attention!"

"It doesn't need to be that complicated," Wan Lin smiled. "This is underground!"

Ouyang asked, puzzled, "What's different?"

Wan Lin kept everyone in suspense: "You'll find out when the time comes!"

"How rare!" Ou Yang said nonchalantly, but he was secretly incredibly curious.

Now was the moment of truth, and he stared intently at the screen, waiting to see what Wan Lin was up to.

On the screen, the suicide squad faced the open elevator door, looking at the quiet and empty ward. They looked at each other in bewilderment, a strange fear spreading in their hearts, and none of them dared to take the first step.

If they opened the door and saw a group of infected people, they probably wouldn't think twice and would just grab a gun and start shooting.

The fact that they couldn't see anyone made them uneasy.

"Shall we go in?" someone asked.

"Let's forget about it," the other replied.

Someone nearby immediately clicked the button, intending to close the door and leave. Whether it was moving to another location or returning to the ground, it was better than staying here.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the elevator doors remained open and showed no sign of moving.

"Get out of the way!" Captain Byron shoved the man aside, and the rookie pressed the button.

But Wan Lin controls this from the back end, so how could it return to normal just because someone else took over?
The team members' eyes were fixed on Byron, who gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go in and take a look. What's so scary about this run-down place?"

"Isn't that a bad idea? Could it be like the pyramids, full of traps?" a guy with particularly big eyes said timidly.

"You've been watching too many movies, haven't you?" Byron was furious. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Big Eyes. "You, get inside!"

Alexis's methods of rule were simple and brutal. Few of his leaders were particularly intelligent; they relied on violence to intimidate and consolidate their power.

Everyone looked at Big Eyes with schadenfreude, and not one of them spoke up for him.

It's great that someone is going ahead to scout the way!

With tears welling up in her eyes, she hesitantly stepped out of the elevator, looking left and right but finding nothing unusual.

As the others entered, Byron whispered, "Let's go together!"

In the monitoring room, seeing everyone enter the ward, Wan Lin chuckled: "The show's about to begin!"

He then switched to the other side, entered a password on the console, and made a choice despite a red warning popping up on the screen.

The control interface returned to its original color, and Ouyang asked curiously, "What's this for?"

“This is underground!” Wan Lin said with a chuckle. “And each ward is an independent space, not directly connected to each other. Do you know what that means?”

Ou Yang's face darkened: "Stop beating around the bush, hurry up!"

Wan Lin revealed the answer: "That is to say, each ward has its own independent air control equipment, and in order to prevent accidents, hypnotic gas can be released into the ward if necessary!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the suicide squad member on the screen showed signs of discomfort, his steps becoming unsteady and unnatural.

Ou Yang blinked his wide eyes, suddenly feeling that it was a miracle that he could walk out of the ward smoothly!

He suddenly felt a strong urge to cup his hands in gratitude to Wan Lin for sparing his life.

Moments later, all eleven suicide squad members fell one after another.

They realized something was wrong, and one of them even pulled the trigger before falling to the ground, firing a burst of bullets that left several holes in his comrades.

That was the only casualty during the entire exploration.

"Is it okay now?" Ou Yang asked.

"Wait a little longer," Wan Lin said. "It's too short a time. Let them breathe more and fall into a deeper sleep... Oh, and the oxygen cylinders are in that cabinet over there!"

Ou Yang took out a closed face mask from the cabinet and suddenly couldn't help but laugh: "You dare to come down here without knowing anything? Isn't this just like delivering vegetables?"

Although the enemy was wearing protective gear, it was only spore-resistant and couldn't stop the hypnotic gas.

Wan Lin raised an eyebrow and returned a confident expression.

On the ground, Alexis had been waiting impatiently for a long time and paced back and forth restlessly.

They waited and waited, but no one came out. Unable to wait any longer, they simply called for their guards and planned to organize another suicide squad.

But then he thought it was inappropriate, and the words on the tip of his tongue changed: "Immediately notify the main island and find me a group of locals, the most down-on-their-luck ones, the kind who are willing to do anything, you know what I mean?"

The guard immediately nodded: "Understood!" Soon, a boat docked, and a group of ragged, pale-faced locals disembarked.

Since the influx of outsiders into the main island, the locals living there have gradually fallen into dire straits, with their daily lives controlled by underground organizations.

Food and clothing?

No, that's not true. For locals, struggling is a death sentence. Even with a lot of support, the spoils are shared among various underground organizations, and the situation of ordinary people doesn't change much.

There are many people who sell their wives and children just to have a bite to eat.

Only a fool would refuse such a generous reward for simply exploring the tunnel.

Of course, for the locals, the so-called "generous" meal was just a meal with some food and drink, some grain, and a few cans of food, which was on a completely different level from the treatment of the suicide squad members.

Alexis was even unwilling to provide them with guns, giving each of them a wooden stick as a weapon. If they also had a knife, that would be VIP treatment.

Unfortunately, no one received such treatment.

Alexis knew exactly what kind of person he was and how much the locals hated him, so he always did his best to control the flow of weapons to civilians.

Cold weapons won't work either.

If other underground organizations hadn't disobeyed him, they would have confiscated his guns long ago.

"My request is very simple!" Alexis addressed the crowd, "Go down, see what's inside, come back up and tell me, and then you can take your reward and go home!"

The locals who come here either show longing expressions, or have hungry looks in their eyes; while some remain expressionless and unmoved.

Alexis didn't care what they thought, and casually waved his hand. The armed men on the scene immediately herded the locals into the elevator.

Under the combined influence of temptation and threat, more than twenty locals crammed the elevator, pressed the button, and the elevator slowly moved into the tunnel.

In the underground monitoring room, Ou Yang, who was about to leave, was suddenly stopped by Wan Lin, who gestured for him to look at the screen: "They're here again!"

When Ouyang saw the group of locals on the screen who looked like beggars, he felt terrible.

At least they had some weapons and equipment before, but what do these people have? Ragged clothes?
“Never mind them, just get me there first!” he said.

"What should we do with these people?" Wan Lin pointed to the elevator, looking conflicted.

Ou Yang sighed, "This is another case of her 'saintly complex' acting up." He said, "You decide what to do. If it really doesn't work, just send them out." With that, he stepped into the elevator and headed towards Section B4.

Wan Lin thought for a moment and did not send the people out immediately. Instead, he first moved the elevator car blocking the passage, operated the elevator full of locals to circle around the base, and then sent them back the way they came.

During this time, he also sent several empty cars back to the ground.

At this moment, Ouyang had already arrived at Sector B4, found the unconscious suicide squad member, and without saying a word, took action and decisively snapped the enemy's neck.

Only a dead enemy is a good enemy.

The relationship between the two sides is currently extremely hostile; it's a fight to the death, and even if they wanted to hold back, they couldn't find a reason to.

Witnessing this scene through the screen, Wan Lin was completely dumbfounded.

He was a very pure researcher, and although he knew that Ouyang had killed an enemy, such ruthless methods were quite unexpected.

The protagonists in movies break their necks at the drop of a hat, but Wan Lin knows that the human neck is not that fragile; it takes the right angle and a great deal of force to do so.

But in Ouyang's hands, those strong South American men were like chicks, utterly powerless to resist... well, of course, they had been anesthetized and were indeed unable to resist.

But that's not the point. The key issue is that this kid isn't particularly strong. He looks quite ordinary, and you can't see any ruthless side to him.

Shocked, he even touched his neck with lingering fear. Luckily, it was one of his own people, otherwise, wouldn't he have been in danger?
Ouyang didn't think too much about it. After dealing with the enemy, he collected all the usable equipment, including two rifles, four submachine guns, and five pistols, most of which were different models.

Several magazines and bullets, and nine military knives.

Fortunately, both rifles were AR series, and their bullets and magazines were interchangeable.

Although the submachine guns are not from the same series, they all use 9mm bullets.

手枪只有两把9毫米，另有点22、点45口径的左轮各一支，还有一把11.4毫米的1911。

Ouyang brought back all the weapons, picked out the suitable ones for his own use, and left the rest for Wanlin to use for self-defense.

However, it's still early, so it's not time to leave yet.

For the next period of time, Alexis repeatedly sent locals into the base.

At first, Wan Lin controlled the elevator to go around in circles, but he quickly got tired of this boring game and simply stopped the elevator that had just moved into the tunnel, blocking the passage.

Not only Alexis, but even John was dumbfounded.

They wanted to blow up the elevator to open a passage, but they were also worried that destroying the passage would completely cut off the way into the base.

I'm really quite exhausted.

Ouyang felt that blocking the passage might provoke an overreaction from the enemy, and by then it would be too late to regret it. He suggested opening the passage and using the elevators to block the passages leading to important areas, leaving only the unimportant areas for the enemy.

Wan Lin thought it made sense, and immediately made a major adjustment to the positions of each elevator car, reopening the passage before Alexis lost control of his emotions.

Alexis wasn't stupid; he suddenly realized that everything was likely being manipulated by someone behind the scenes, and he strongly suspected that someone was hiding in the underground base.

However, Alexis chose to continue due to the lure of profit.

Anyway, those who went in were locals, not his subordinates.

So Alexis drove all the locals into the tunnel.

Only a portion of the locals were lucky enough to ride the elevator; the rest walked into the tunnel and explored the underground base on foot.

Wan Lin could only monitor the situation inside the elevator, but he couldn't monitor the enemies entering the tunnel. If important positions hadn't been blocked in advance, who knows what kind of accidents might have occurred.

By this time, Alexis had already guessed that the suicide squad, which had been silent for so long, was likely in grave danger, and he had given up hope for them.

A few locals emerged from the tunnel shortly afterward. When asked what they had discovered or found, they could only shake their heads, knowing nothing else.

Enraged, Alexis personally shot the two locals and placed their bodies outside the tunnel.

This tactic was very effective. The locals, who originally planned to take advantage of the chaos and wander around casually, were shocked by the corpses and had no choice but to continue deeper into the base.

The farce continued into the night, with some locals successfully entering several wards and returning to the surface with what they found there.

Alexis kept his word and readily fulfilled his promise, but instead of letting them leave, he used coercion and enticement to force them to re-enter the base for reconnaissance.

Not willing?
Alexis has plenty of ways to change the locals' attitudes!

(End of this chapter)