The elevator stopped on the 12th floor.

Xia Zhengyang was the first to step out, with Lin Chu following close behind.

Assistant Wu was waiting for Bai Wei to push his wheelchair, but after a long while, there was still no movement.

He turned his head and saw that Bai Wei was staring blankly at Lin Chu’s back.

“Hey, Nurse Bai, don’t tell me you’re just using the excuse of looking after me to keep an eye on Dr. Lin?”

Bai Wei rolled her eyes at him and pushed the wheelchair forward without care, ignoring the gap between the elevator and the floor. The jolt made Wu’s injuries throb with pain.

“Hey, you wicked woman…”

“Shut up.”

Bai Wei snapped at Assistant Wu irritably.

He pouted and said no more.

Because they had delayed a little, Xia Zhengyang and Lin Chu had already reached the three rooms at the end of the corridor and were now looking back at them.

Bai Wei quickly pushed Assistant Wu to catch up.

Xia Zhengyang glanced at his watch. “Each of you pick a room. You have five minutes to put your things away. After that, we’re going to the lab.”

He paused, then added, “You must enter the lab empty-handed. No shoulder bags or backpacks are allowed.”

At his words, Bai Wei frowned slightly, but ultimately said nothing.

By the time she looked up again, Lin Chu had already picked the innermost room and had received the keycard from Xia Zhengyang.

Bai Wei quickly chose the middle room, leaving the one nearest the corridor entrance to Assistant Wu by default.

Lin Chu didn’t care who her neighbors were. They were all on the same hallway—what difference did it make?

She took her room card, opened the door, and stepped inside.

From its exterior, the Fanxi Grand Hotel had clearly been a high-end establishment even before the apocalypse.

As Lin Chu opened the door, a large floor-to-ceiling window came into view.

At twelve stories up, she had a full view of the entire base.

What was once likely a mountain-view suite had now become an ocean-view one.

The room had a large bed and a bathroom that was even bigger than the bedroom in her shelter.

With only five minutes, Lin Chu didn’t waste time.

She removed the backpack from her shoulders and placed it in the corner before heading out.

The backpack she carried this time wasn’t the system-issued spatial one. It was just an old bag she’d salvaged from a residential building—an unsuccessful attempt at turning trash into treasure. A regular bag.

Inside, to keep up appearances, she’d packed two bottles of water, two compressed biscuits, and a couple of changes of clothes.

The truly important items were all stored in her spatial inventory, safe from anyone’s inspection.

Lin Chu was the first to return.

A few moments later, Bai Wei also came out empty-handed. The crossbody bag she’d had was now left in her room.

As she stepped out, she didn’t bother hiding her gaze, looking Lin Chu up and down. Seeing that Lin Chu hadn’t brought anything either, she snorted softly and looked away.

Just as Xia Zhengyang was repeatedly checking his watch, Assistant Wu finally appeared.

He awkwardly maneuvered his wheelchair, the movement tugging at his injured shoulder, leaving him drenched in sweat.

Only then did Bai Wei remember her duty and walked over to help push him.

“Assistant Wu, if you need help next time, just call me.”

Wu gave a wry smile. “I’m not ‘Assistant Wu’ anymore. My name is Wu Xiangming. Just call me by my name from now on.”

Because she felt a bit guilty, Bai Wei—for once—didn’t roll her eyes at him and responded patiently.

Once all three had arrived, Xia Zhengyang kept his expression calm and took the lead.

“Let’s go. The teacher is already waiting for us in the lab.”

The “teacher” Xia Zhengyang referred to was the lead researcher in charge of studying the fish-scale people.

The three of them followed him into another elevator, which took them to the B1 level. From there, they walked through an underground corridor, crossed the street to the building on the opposite side, and took the elevator up to the 10th floor.

Lin Chu noted that this building only had ten floors total.

When the elevator doors opened, they were met with an empty corridor.

Fanxi Hotel had always been a luxury hotel.

Typically, the hotel’s corridors were lined with patterned carpets.

But on this floor, there were no carpets.

Or rather, all the carpets on this floor had been stripped away, revealing the luxurious golden marble beneath.

At first glance, the place really didn’t look like a lab.

Yet the researchers in white lab coats moving back and forth clearly showed that this was, in fact, a laboratory.

It just felt out of place.

As if sensing Lin Chu’s thoughts, Xia Zhengyang spoke up:

“There’s no more suitable place on the mountain for a lab than this. But manpower and resources are limited, and completely renovating this environment isn’t realistic. The teacher had to compromise and have the carpets removed to prevent bacterial growth.”

Lin Chu and Bai Wei nodded.

Wu Xiangming suddenly chuckled. “Getting my blood drawn in a place like this, I’d think they’re drawing wine instead.”

A light joke, but Xia Zhengyang shook his head seriously. “Don’t worry. Your blood is too valuable. We won’t give you a chance to drink it.”

Wu Xiangming choked on the response and shut up.

Soon, under Xia Zhengyang’s lead, the three stepped through a glass door.

Inside were a few people in lab coats, busily working.

“Teacher, I’ve brought them back.”

Xia Zhengyang knocked on the glass, and only then did the people inside look up.

One of them, an elderly man with a full head of silver hair, lifted his wrinkled face and studied the three standing beside Xia Zhengyang.

“Why are there three of them?”

“The one in the wheelchair—you know him. He’s our research subject.”

“The short-haired one is Dr. Lin, Lin Chu—the doctor from the small hill post that Dr. Liu reported, the one who discovered the treatment method.”

“This long-haired one is—”

Before he could introduce Bai Wei, the teacher raised a hand and cut him off.

“The one who discovered the treatment method is a young woman?”

Xia Zhengyang paused, then nodded. “Yes, Teacher. You know what kind of person Dr. Liu is—he wouldn’t lie.”

The old man’s silvery brows furrowed deeply as he scrutinized Lin Chu from head to toe, clearly dissatisfied with this outcome.

Lin Chu didn’t care about his attitude. Her eyes were fixed on the red test tube in his hand.

If she wasn’t mistaken, that was human blood.

And most likely the blood sample she needed for her mission.

The old man grunted a few times, suddenly placed the red liquid back into a test tube rack, and pointed at Lin Chu.

“You, come with me.”

Then he turned and started walking away.

Lin Chu glanced at the red liquid in the rack but didn’t move. Instead, she turned and looked directly at him.

“My name is Lin Chu.”

The old man’s steps faltered slightly, then he grunted again.

“Lin Chu, follow me.”

Only then did Lin Chu begin to follow.

She had barely taken a few steps when she heard the sound of a wheelchair behind her.