Chapter 267: Eyes

Chen Ling froze. He looked at the stasis pod in shock, as if trying to verify if he was hallucinating, but immediately after, a crisp sound rang out!

*Splat—!!*

All the circuits tripped instantly, and the entire Aurora base plunged into darkness!

This sudden turn of events left all the white coats and law enforcers stunned. They had lived in this base for so many years and had never experienced a power outage... After a brief pause, chaos began to spread.

"What's going on?? The power's out?!"

"This is the Aurora base! There are several backup power supplies; even if one line fails, it's impossible for all of them to go out!"

"Damn it! What happened??"

"Is it my imagination? The second before the power went out, I think I saw the Aurora Lord's vital signs jump..."

"Wait, don't panic... It could be a sudden voltage fluctuation affecting the machines..."

"The stasis pod the Aurora Lord is in has an independent battery. Even if the entire Aurora base loses power, it should still function normally. It shouldn't be affected."

“……”

As they spoke, they hurriedly stood up and went to the glass observation room.

Due to the circuit failure, the lighting in Laboratory 0 had completely failed. In the abyss-like darkness, only the stasis pod where the Aurora Lord resided emitted a faint blue glow... At this distance, no one could see the situation below clearly.

Chen Ling stood directly opposite the Aurora Lord, his expression grave.

He didn't know what had happened, but the sudden power outage in the Aurora base would inevitably trigger an internal investigation. This meant the incident with the ritual artifact on the third floor would soon be exposed, and the entire base would realize there was an intruder.

He didn't have much time left.

Chen Ling opened the lid of the stasis pod without hesitation, conjured a test tube in his palm like a magic trick, and began collecting samples of the serum being injected into the Aurora Lord. Once finished, he landed lightly back on the ground.

He glanced at the Aurora Lord in the stasis pod and was about to turn and leave,

When suddenly, fine bubbles floated up in the pale blue liquid, and the white-haired figure floating upside down in the pod slowly opened his eyes...

At that moment, everything around Chen Ling seemed to come to a standstill.

In his field of vision, there were only those eyes, flickering silently like auroras, staring quietly at him. An indescribable sense of mystery struck his sanity, leaving him standing there in a daze, forgetting to turn and run.

Chen Ling blinked subconsciously. When he came to his senses, the white-haired figure was once again closing his eyes, floating in the liquid of the stasis pod as if asleep.

Everything that just happened seemed like a hallucination.

Fine cold sweat broke out on Chen Ling's forehead. He looked pale as he stared at the stasis pod submerged in darkness, his expression uncertain... Everything that had just happened was too real. Although he had only locked eyes with the Aurora Lord for less than a second, it felt as long as several years to him.

And even now, he didn't know if what he had seen was real or a hallucination.

Chen Ling didn't have time to think. He rushed out of Laboratory 0, transformed back into Tan Xin's appearance, and prepared to pass through the fourth checkpoint again to return to the third floor. However, he found the chair at the entrance empty; the red-haired woman who had left seemed not to have returned yet, and he didn't know where she had gone.

Chen Ling secretly rejoiced at his narrow escape and flashed back to the third floor. Fortunately, the lighting in the Aurora base hadn't been restored, and everyone was in a state of chaos. He transformed into a random white coat and easily blended in.

Just as he was looking for Jian Changsheng, preparing to take him out of the base, several figures in black trench coats walked over quickly from the second floor.

"Search everywhere!"

Qiong Xuan's cold voice rang out in front of the passage. Numerous law enforcers, carrying kerosene lamps, quickly dispersed and began searching the third floor. Seeing this, Chen Ling was forced to stop.

Since the power outage, things had completely exceeded Chen Ling's expectations... In his original plan, he could have quietly collected the serum samples, retreated to the third floor using [Faceless], and while the law enforcers were caught off guard, picked up Jian Changsheng and escaped back to the surface using his position.

But with the power out, the entire Aurora base was on high alert, and Qiong Xuan's reaction was incredibly swift, decisively starting an internal inspection of the Aurora base... Trying to escape the base in the chaos now was as difficult as ascending to heaven, especially since he had to take Jian Changsheng, who didn't know [Faceless], with him.

After a brief thought, Chen Ling gave up the idea of escaping immediately. Now he could only hide his identity as much as possible and wait for the heat to die down before finding another chance to leave.

Chen Ling passed through a corner, tore off his face mask when no one was looking, transformed back into the law enforcer Chen Xin, and began dutifully searching the third floor. It was clear that in such a critical period, the law enforcers held significant power; many white coats stood quietly in place, not daring to move, waiting for them to search.

Seeing this, Jian Changsheng also silently closed his door and climbed back onto his hospital bed to pretend to be a mushroom.

Meanwhile, in Laboratory 1.

The once bright laboratory was now extremely dim. Outside the tightly closed laboratory door, one could hear the sound of chaotic footsteps passing by, as if something had happened outside.

"Dr. Yi, shouldn't we stop?" A white coat stood by the experimental table, wiping sweat as he asked.

"Once an experiment begins, it cannot stop." Dr. Yi held a wine bottle, his eyes in the darkness fixed on the blood-soaked experimental table. "The body of this test subject is on the verge of collapse. If we stop now, he's dead... Light the kerosene lamps and continue the experiment."

"But... but the machines are all out of power. We can't monitor his physical state. How are we supposed to continue?"

"I said, continue!"

"...Yes."

Not everyone had the same mental fortitude as Dr. Yi. At this moment, several white coats were already sweating. After all, with the power outage and the chaos, no one knew what was happening in the base...

The candlelight from the kerosene lamps flickered beside the experimental table, illuminating a bizarre, unrecognizable black creature. As they pushed the serum into its body, painful wails erupted from within the creature, making one's scalp tingle.

Without machines, without lights, and without any external means or data to assist them in completing this experiment, it was like performing an extremely delicate surgery while blindfolded...

Under their actions, the black creature on the experimental table curled up in pain, and its wails gradually weakened, as if it were about to lose its life.

Dr. Yi sat to the side, took a sharp swig of white liquor, and then spoke in a cold, calm voice:

"Inject triple the dosage."