Surviving the Apocalypse: All I Want Is to Find a Husband-Chapter 134: Old Laboratory (1)

"Like what?" Medeia asked, her curiosity piqued.

[You have to find out for yourself, Host.]

[Open the door and see for yourself.]

She narrowed her eyes, feeling suspicious. "Why should I open something without knowing where it leads? That place could be dangerous, yet you refuse to tell me anything."

[Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. How will you know if you don’t open the door?] freēnovelkiss.com

[What if you waste an opportunity to obtain something valuable just because of fear?]

"I’m not afraid. I’m just being cautious," Medeia retorted. "Curiosity can kill a cat, and I don’t want to be that cat."

[There is a way out of this underground area through this laboratory, Host. The safest route, one that avoids encountering monsters.]

Medeia considered this. If someone had built such an important laboratory underground, it made sense that they would also create a secure exit.

They might find another way out, but in their current condition, she doubted they could escape without sustaining more injuries.

In the end, she had to take the risk and open the door.

"This isn’t a trap, right?"

[Host, the system would never deceive you!]

[The system wants you to be kind, so why would it be mean?]

Medeia rolled her eyes. The system was mean all the time, it just didn’t realize it yet.

Faintly, she began to hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching their hiding spot. Even though Lucian had sealed the entrance, there was no guarantee the monsters wouldn’t break through.

"Lucian, honey." Medeia patted his cheek. "I’m sorry to wake you, but I found a way out of here."

Lucian’s eyes fluttered open, still hazy with exhaustion. He glanced at the door. "What is that?"

"Our way out, but I can’t say for sure if it’s safe," Medeia admitted. "Can you stand?"

Lucian gave a small nod. "I can." He took a deep breath before pushing himself up against the wall. "Do you want me to open it?"

With his condition, Medeia wasn’t even sure if Lucian could walk much farther, yet he still wanted to help so badly.

"No, I can handle it myself."

She placed her sword’s scabbard between the handwheel and began turning it slowly. A creaking noise echoed through the air before the mechanism finally loosened, allowing her to rotate it more easily.

"Do you think anyone still lives here?" Medeia asked, hesitating before pushing the door open.

Lucian shrugged. "I doubt it. Humans tend to fall into depression when confined in small, enclosed spaces for too long. Even if people once lived here, most of them have probably turned into the Lost by now."

That meant there was a chance they would encounter the Lost instead. However, Medeia doubted it. The place was too damn quiet.

As they pushed the door open, a thick cloud of dust rushed toward them.

Lucian moved without thinking, shielding Medeia with his body so she wouldn’t breathe in too much.

"Yeah ... definitely abandoned," Medeia muttered between coughs.

Lucian waved his hands, trying to clear the dust swirling around them.

Medeia pulled a flashlight from her Space Pocket and shone it into the room.

Other than dust and rusted objects, there was no sign of life—no people, no Lost, not even scattered bones.

Even though the system had called it a laboratory, the place looked more like an underground bunker.

"It’s weird," Medeia murmured. "It looks like a bunker, but why does it seem like no one ever lived here?"

After making sure there was no immediate danger, she and Lucian stepped inside.

Medeia soon noticed signs of life, a coffee cup left on the counter, scattered papers on the desk, and a mold-covered sandwich long abandoned.

"No, I was wrong," she muttered. "People did live here, but they left ... and never came back."

There were no signs of a struggle or forced evacuation. The way everything was left behind made it seem as if the owners had believed they would return soon, but never did.

"They left before the apocalypse."

Lucian picked up an old newspaper, his eyes scanning the date—2073. That was sixteen years before the radiation struck Arcion Planet.

"I’m guessing they were scientists." He directed his flashlight to the walls, revealing faded charts, diagram of complex formulas scribbled in a language he couldn’t quite understand.

Some of the notes had been hastily torn down, leaving behind jagged edges on the pinned papers.

"The supernatural being did tell me this was a laboratory and that we could find something useful here." Medeia felt relieved—finally, she didn’t have to gatekeep any information the system had given her.

Lucian picked up one of the scattered documents, squinting at the faded ink. "It’s about genetic mutations." His expression darkened. "They were studying something ... something related to the mutants."

"The supernatural being did tell me this was a laboratory and that we could find something useful here." Medeia felt relieved—finally, she didn’t have to gatekeep any information the system had given her.

According to Richard, many elites were aware of the phenomenon long before the public, so it wouldn’t be surprising if someone had secretly built a laboratory to study genetic mutations.

The question was, how far had their research gone, and why was the laboratory abandoned?

Medeia said, "If this laboratory was abandoned, then there are only two possibilities: either the owner was killed by monsters, or to keep it secret, the owner killed the researchers here."

Humans were scary after all.

To conserve limited resources, it would have been better for the owner not to share the bunker with anyone. Once the researchers had completed their work, they were no longer useful.

"However, the radiation came unexpectedly and couldn’t be predicted," Lucian said, "If the owner did kill the researchers here, it means they must have found something the owner wanted long before the radiation hit Arcion."

But what?

"Maybe this place isn’t abandoned. Maybe the owner couldn’t access it because it became too dangerous." Medeia shrugged. "I mean, this place isn’t as dangerous as Black Zone Forest was back then, right?"

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