Chương 303: Chapter : 303

The bookshelf did not fall over. Instead, a hidden mechanism activated. The entire bookshelf slowly began to sink into the floor. The stone wall behind the bookshelf slid sideways. A harsh, grinding noise filled the room. Dust poured out from the opening. A hidden pressure plate had been triggered. A secret entrance appeared right in front of them. Ken sat on the floor. He rubbed his shoulder and gave the team a massive, innocent smile.

"Oops. I think I broke the wall. My apologies."

The 13th Unit stared at the gaping hole in the wall. The grinding noise stopped. The dust slowly settled on the floorboards. Laxmi's jaw dropped open. She looked at the dark tunnel. She looked back at Ken sitting on the floor.

"You literally just tripped. You tripped over your own feet and found a secret door."

"I am very talented," Ken bragged happily. He did not get up from the floor.

"See? I told you guys to look behind the bookshelf. I am basically a master detective." Naomi walked over and offered him her hand. She pulled him up from the floor. She shook her head with a fond smile.

"You are the luckiest, most ridiculous person in the world, Ken. But good job. You actually found something." Princess Iris stepped toward the dark opening. Her violet eyes sparkled with renewed hope.

"This is it. This must be the real laboratory. The place where Mr. Carrion kept his true research."

"It is heavily shielded," Sayma noted. She peered into the tunnel.

"And it is pitch-black. We cannot see a single thing down there."

"Allow me," Sayma said softly. She raised her right hand. A small, glowing sphere of pure golden light appeared above her palm. The light floated into the dark tunnel. It pushed the shadows away. It illuminated a set of steep stone stairs leading deep beneath the foundation.

"Let us go," Princess Iris commanded. She drew her silver rapier just to be safe.

"Stay close together. We do not know what is down there." The 13th Unit slowly walked down the stone stairs. Ken stayed at the very back of the group. He kept his hands deep in his pockets. He slouched his shoulders. He whistled a quiet, happy tune. His lazy plan had worked perfectly. They reached the bottom of the stairs. The golden light from Sayma's magic illuminated a large, secret chamber. The room was completely hidden from the outside world. The walls were covered in thick metal plates.

There were no windows. The air felt stale and cold. It smelled like old paper and dried ink. The girls looked around eagerly. They expected to see rows of glowing plants. They expected to see glass tubes filled with green Devil Flour serum. They expected to find the biological research that created the monsters. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. But the room was completely empty of plants. There were no test tubes. There were no microscopes.

There were no chemical vats. There were no biological samples anywhere. Instead, the entire secret chamber was filled with paper. Massive wooden desks sat in the center of the room. The desks were buried under towering stacks of research papers. Huge chalkboards lined the metal walls. The chalkboards were completely covered in tiny, frantic handwriting. Thousands of documents were pinned to bulletin boards.

"What is all this?" Naomi asked. She lowered her daggers. She looked highly confused by the mess.

"It is a massive trove of documents," Sayma said. Her eyes widened behind her glasses. She walked over to the nearest desk. She picked up a thick stack of papers.

"These are perfectly preserved. There is no dust down here. The room was completely sealed tight." Princess Iris walked over to the chalkboards. She looked at the frantic handwriting.

"Is it about the Devil Flour? Is it the formula for the longevity serum?" Sayma quickly flipped through the pages. Her highly analytical mind worked fast. Her eyes scanned the text with incredible speed. She checked the next stack of papers. Then she checked a leather-bound notebook sitting on a chair. A deep frown formed on Sayma's face. The polite, calm look completely vanished. She looked incredibly stressed.

"No," Sayma whispered. Her voice sounded very tight.

"Princess, these documents are not about medicine. They are not about biology or longevity." Laxmi walked over and looked over Sayma's shoulder. Laxmi frowned too.

"I cannot read any of this. It just looks like a bunch of numbers and weird symbols."

"It is Mr. Carrion's encrypted research," Sayma explained. She grabbed a piece of chalk from the desk. She started writing on a clean section of the chalkboard. She copied a string of symbols from the paper.

"But I recognize the cipher. It is an advanced mathematical code. Give me a moment." The room went completely quiet. The girls watched Sayma work. Sayma's mind moved brilliantly. She decoded the symbols one by one. She translated the hidden text into plain language. Ken leaned against the cold metal wall near the stairs. He let out a loud, exaggerated yawn.

"Math is so boring. Can we just skip to the end of the book? I want to know who the killer is so I can go take a nap."

"Be quiet, Ken," Naomi whispered gently.

"Let her work." Sayma stepped back from the chalkboard. She stared at the translated equations. Her face turned entirely pale. Her hands began to tremble. She dropped the piece of chalk. It hit the floor and broke in half.

"Sayma?" Princess Iris asked. She took a step forward. Her violet eyes were full of deep concern.

"What is it? What did you translate?" Sayma slowly turned to look at the Princess. Pure fear shone in her eyes.

"These are not medical formulas," Sayma said. Her voice shook.

"These pages are densely packed with highly volatile chemical reactions. They are advanced thermodynamic equations. Mr. Carrion was not building a cure down here." Zinia crossed her strong arms tightly.

"Then what was he building?" Sayma picked up the stack of papers again. She pointed a trembling finger at the incredibly complex mathematical terms.

"He was calculating explosive yields," Sayma revealed. The horror in her voice filled the silent room.

"He was mapping out the exact chain reaction needed to split the atoms inside Solurius radiation. He was measuring blast radiuses and fallout zones." Ira stood perfectly still. Her face remained blank, but her pale eyes focused intensely on Sayma.

"Statistically speaking, splitting radioactive atoms results in catastrophic energy release."

"Yes," Sayma confirmed. She swallowed hard.

"The math clearly points toward a much more destructive application. Mr. Carrion figured out how to weaponize the toxic radiation. He designed a bomb." The girls gasped. Luna's sleepy eyes opened completely. Laxmi's jaw dropped.

"A bomb?" Naomi whispered.

"Using Solurius radiation?"