Apocalypse: I Build A Doomsday Train-Chapter 273 - 236: Bait Submersible

"Ah? What do you mean?"

Walking and talking, Ding Junyi said, "Throughout history, humanity has been ravaged by countless viral plagues. Many people have died, and although we’ve developed numerous countermeasures with the advancement of modern science and virology, the fact remains that we’ve never truly defeated a virus through medical means."

"Then, what did we rely on? Did the virus disappear naturally?" KIKI asked puzzled.

Ding Junyi nodded, "Partly, yes. But for the most part, it’s thanks to the evolution of the human immune system. So when I hear you talk about the mission of the SIID Foundation, I think of this. Honestly, as someone in the field of biology, I rationally agree with this theory."

"Are you talking about Superpowers?" KIKI flew to Ding Junyi’s side, reached out her finger to touch the little green tuft of hair on her head, and said, "You’ve evolved too, which is pretty spot-on, but I don’t agree with their methods. Lin Xian doesn’t agree either. So, speaking of which, what’s their purpose for releasing the marked bait?"

"That’s just a guess. We can’t be certain at the moment."

Hearing Ding Junyi’s words, KIKI suddenly looked at her and said, "If your stance is different from Lin Xian’s, what would you do?"

Ding Junyi responded calmly, "My agreement with a theory is purely from a scientific standpoint. My stance isn’t important; if Lin Xian asks me, I’ll tell him my conclusion based on my principles. As for what he does with it, all I can say is..."

"I will support any decision he makes."

Ding Junyi glanced at KIKI, "I base my stance on principles, while yours is based on emotions. That’s the difference between us."

Upon hearing this, KIKI’s eyes widened, and she awkwardly explained, "Emotions? Pfft, nonsense. He and I are just partners, and now, everyone is struggling to survive..."

"Wait!"

At this moment, Ding Junyi suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed ahead.

KIKI’s words were interrupted, and she quickly turned around. The two of them had reached an unfamiliar research area, where a large glass isolation hall appeared before them, filled with murky lake water like an aquarium. Some cracked seams were continually spraying water outside, and the ground had accumulated water up to knee level.

"What kind of room is this?"

Ding Junyi searched for the area’s sign, quickly spotting a control panel outside the large chamber with the label:

[GX Deep-Sea Sampling Chamber]

"This is a decompression chamber. Beyond here should be a direct connection to Shijiu Lake."

KIKI picked up a mobile device and flew to the heavy isolation window, observing the murky lake water, then began operating it immediately.

"Huh, this area is controlled independently by an internal system."

KIKI flew directly to a giant control panel in the distance, connected the mobile device, and soon accessed the control program of the chamber. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"A piece of cake..."

KIKI was quite proud, then promptly activated the drainage program of the sampling chamber.

"It seems the major leak isn’t here, as drainage is functioning normally."

Ding Junyi approached the sign’s base and saw various precautions written on it, frowning slightly. She immediately stood up and warned KIKI.

"Be careful, this seems to be a research area for some dangerous projects, all operations are remotely controlled by the system."

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, KIKI promptly flew away, wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "Could it be researching something toxic or radioactive?"

Whoa!

As the water level in the chamber slowly descended, echoes began to reverberate inside, accompanied by eddies in the murky water. At this moment, KIKI and Ding Junyi saw several mechanical arms appear from the top, connected to what looked like a small submersible device beneath.

"Oh~ I get it now." Seeing the scene inside, KIKI finally breathed a sigh of relief, "This must be a submersible for exploring Shijiu Lake, decompressing here afterward. I wondered what it was."

At this moment, KIKI seemed to notice an object rotating along with the eddies in the murky water. She immediately leaned forward, intending to use her Superpower to grab it for a closer look.

The black object slowly floated out of the murky green water, and in the next instant, it bumped directly against the glass in front of KIKI with a thud.

Surprisingly, the black object was a female corpse with wide-open eyes, beginning to swell all over!

KIKI’s pupils shrank, and she instinctively recoiled. Just as the corpse scraped against the glass and was about to float away with the current, she suddenly reached out with her Superpower to catch it, exclaiming,

"Sister Ding, I know this person!"

The female corpse floating in the water was none other than Tan Meng, whom KIKI and Lin Xian had seen in the deadly game that afternoon in Room 5!

"What’s wrong?"

"This person is one of the women in the game I just told you about. I remember..."

"I remember she survived at the end of the game, so how did she end up dead here?"

"So the promise of freedom and survival was just deceit?" Ding Junyi said.

"This foundation is truly despicable!"

KIKI gritted her teeth and said.

At this point, as the water level in the decompression chamber continued to decrease, increasing atmospheric pressure caused the body to begin swelling, with flesh starting to ooze from the nose and mouth, presenting a ghastly sight.

KIKI frowned, released her grip, and the female corpse continued to drift downward with the current until all the water in the pressure release chamber was emptied, finally settling in a corner and quietly undergoing change.

"There’s a submersible with an open hatch over there. I suspect she escaped from there."

Ding Junyi pointed in a direction, and on the ground lay a damaged submersible with its transparent hatch open, sunk to the bottom.

"So this submersible is for holding people?"

KIKI raised her hand and dragged the submersible over. At this moment, both of them saw that under the central glass hatch of the submersible, there was a narrow cylindrical space seemingly enough to hold a person.

Ding Junyi stepped down the steps into the water below, coming to KIKI’s side.

"KIKI, lower this thing so I can have a look."

KIKI nodded, and she, along with the submersible, settled onto the ground, where the two of them observed through the glass window.

Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses, her expression calm as she said,

"This is indeed an unmanned submersible. The space inside isn’t for piloting but for containing a person."

"Look," she said, pointing inside the submersible, "there’s no control station here. The person inside is completely sealed."

KIKI leaned in closer and only then noticed the numerous bloodied nail scratches on the metal inner walls of the submersible.

"Do you know what the project was doing with people inside?"

KIKI’s face darkened slightly and said, "Isn’t it obvious."

"Sister Ding, be careful." She then used her superpower to lift Ding Junyi, moving her to a safe distance, and immediately applied force on the unmanned submersible, shattering the high-strength glass of the pressure release chamber to extract the submersible.

She then brought it in front of her, located the position of the control panel, removed the outer metal shell, and connected a mobile terminal.

"These unmanned systems always have task logs. I doubt they’d scrub this clean too."

As she anticipated, she soon extracted the task logs inside.

At this moment, KIKI brought Ding Junyi, whom she held mid-air, over and said in confusion, "What... what bizarre tasks are these?"

Ding Junyi, slightly uneasy with the feeling of flying in the air, adjusted briefly, and then found it quite thrilling.

She took a closer look and frowned as well.

"It seems every route into Shijiu Lake is the same, 900 meters underwater, 30 minutes, then return."

"What does this mean?" KIKI was puzzled. "Put a person in the lake for a spin and bring them back?"

Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses, "What interests me is the task timing."

She pointed to the log time on the mobile screen and said, "Look, not only does every task last 30 minutes, but they’re always 30 minutes before dawn!"

"Oh, right."

KIKI remarked, "With such task settings, they’d return just as dawn breaks?"

"Check the other ones too." Ding Junyi’s eyes flickered as if realizing something, she immediately told KIKI.

KIKI, puzzled, immediately took action without delay.

Before long, the other submersibles were inspected, and their task logs were almost identical, with the only difference being the absence of scratches inside those submersibles.

"Sister Ding, did you discover something?"

Ding Junyi mused for a moment, then looked at KIKI and said, "Don’t you think, it’s like fishing."

"Fishing?"

"Yes."

Ding Junyi now scrutinized the research area with a critical eye, "Sending live targets into Shijiu Lake and retrieving them shortly is akin to fishing and then reeling in, isn’t it?"

KIKI’s face darkened at the words, "What? Could it be they’re using people to lure the Abnormal Body?"

Ding Junyi shook her head, "I don’t think so. If they were luring the Abnormal Body, there’d be no need for such methods."

"Then to lure what?"

Ding Junyi’s gaze turned serious, saying, "Unmanned, with live subjects, returning before dawn. If encounters occur in deep water, what use is it for the person to come back?"

KIKI heard this, her eyes slowly widening, unable to resist opening her mouth slightly,

"The [Dark Mark]!"

"Not only that," Ding Junyi continued, "controlling the return before dawn, the research facility likely fears retrieval failure or poses some colossal risk, so ensuring return before dawn. If viewed in this way, there must be an ominous presence at the underwater location set for the submersible!"