Chapter 3 Underground Experiment Base

"What did you inject into them? And where's the antidote?" Shane repeated his demand coldly.

His eyes were cold and hard, showing no kindness or softness as he stared at Scarlett. Only icy indifference was there.

"Curious, are you?" Scarlett held his stare firmly, unwavering. "Too bad, I won't say a word."

Every attempt to break her only strengthened her silence and resolve.

"Stubborn-definitely stubborn," Shane thought.

But as a prisoner, she was at their mercy. Even if they didn't kill her, they had many ways to break her until she gave up the truth.

Still, there were bigger things to handle right now.

Shane commanded, stepping aside, "Take care of her injuries."

Scarlett frowned, wondering why he gave that order.

"Captain?" one man asked, confused.

Albin stepped forward fast, putting down a medical kit and looking at Scarlett carefully. After checking her wound, he reported to Shane, "It's a perforating wound-the shot passed dangerously near her heart. If we don't act fast, she could get worse."

Scarlett pressed her hand hard against the bleeding wound. Her chest rose and fell weakly, each breath shallow and uneven.

Shane absorbed the grim scene quietly.

Without urgent care, she wouldn't last much longer.

"Hold on," Albin said with focused concern.

Scarlett's situation was serious. If the bullet was half an inch closer, it would have hit her heart.

Albin gave her a medicine to stop the bleeding and wrapped the wound quickly. This wasn't a hospital, and they didn't have much. For now, he could only keep her alive.

Scarlett grimaced as the pain stabbed her chest, making it hard to breathe. She looked at Albin, who was kneeling before her, a small, defiant smile on her lips.

"Don't you Shupbert people have anything better to do?" she said, mocking them.

A bitter laugh escaped her as she took in the irony. They had shot her, and now they were trying to save her. They ruined her mission and almost killed her.

If she wasn't injured, she would have gladly beaten them up.

Leaning against the wall, Scarlett gave a hollow, cold laugh. Her pale lips curled into a sneer, but beneath the sarcasm, Shane heard the despair of someone trapped. Still, his face stayed cold and unreadable.

The shot they gave her earlier still hadn't worked, even after all this time.

Shane's eyes grew darker, full of many emotions as he looked at her.

Suddenly, he barked, "Bring her down!" His voice was sharp and authoritative.

The broken-down ruins of Faulas, an old city with falling buildings, hid secrets beneath them.

Fires burned far away as Scarlett was pulled along, her captors guiding her down.

Just like Shane expected, under the dilapidated buildings was a large underground experiment base.

What seemed like a broken concrete slab was actually an elevator, hidden skillfully under gray cement to blend in completely.

The elevator doors closed smoothly, cutting off the last golden rays of sunlight from Scarlett's sight.

They dropped quickly into a cold, vast underground space. Farther in, tall, strong glass doors stood in their way.

Suddenly, as soon as they entered, gunshots exploded.

Bullets zipped through the air, aimed right at them.

The shooters didn't care that Scarlett was there. They wanted blood, their eyes fierce and filled with rage.

Scarlett glanced sideways, catching a quick look at Albin's face. The flash from the bullets flickered in his eyes.

"Watch out!" Scarlett shouted, grabbing Albin's arm and pulling him close in a flash. A bullet smashed the glass behind them with a loud crash.

Pieces of glass fell all around, the noise sharp and ringing.

In the middle of the chaos, Shane fired back at the attackers but still managed to look over at Scarlett to check she was safe.

His eyes stayed cold as always.

For a moment, their eyes met.

And in that short second, Scarlett noticed something in his expression she hadn't seen before.

Against deadly enemies, he revealed a side of himself she never expected.

Quick and sharp, he ordered his team to take over the base. Even those hiding, ready to fight back, were shot down.

Scarlett couldn't help but realize how incredibly strong the Shupbert special forces were.

"Are you alright?" Albin asked quickly once the danger was over. He couldn't believe Scarlett had put herself at risk to save him.

When she had pulled him out of danger so suddenly, her wound had torn open again. Blood was now seeping through the bandages on her chest, painting a scary and vivid picture.

"You..." Albin got flustered.

Scarlett rested against the wall, fighting for air.

Blood trickled into her throat, the bitter taste strong, but she swallowed hard anyway.

She understood that they hadn't just come to secure the antidote for their companions. The real objective was to secure the master key from Faulas' lab.

That key held proof of everything at the Faulas labs-drug projects, names of global partners, secret deals, and a lot more.

In the Hopolis war zone, where tensions between Shupbert and Yuphia were nearing a boiling point, this key was the most valuable weapon they could secure.

The war had gone on for decades. Ending it wasn't simple, but diplomatic talks could finally begin-if they had undeniable proof of Vertex Worldwide's crimes on a global scale.

That was the only way Yuphia could justify stepping in and exposing Vertex Worldwide's dark operations on the world stage.

Then the terminal beeped.

"Access granted! Beginning key data transfer..."

Scarlett's head turned toward the mechanical voice.

On the large screen in the lab, endless lines of code flashed quickly.

Scarlett wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but it looked like Shane, standing at the control station, gave her a quick, cautious look.

She assumed that he was worried she might try something to stop the upload.

It made sense-if this key ended up in enemy hands, Vertex Worldwide could crumble. So it was only natural that he thought she was going to sabotage it.

The lab was quiet now-too quiet. Only the bitter smell of smoke and gunpowder lingered in the air.

A clock on the wall ticked steadily, the minute hand creeping closer to five.

Each tick echoed through the lab like a countdown.

Scarlett looked away, her bloodied fingers tapping softly on her thigh, as if silently counting down.

Cold sweat ran down her forehead from the burning pain in her chest. Her hair clung to her sticky skin, messy strands plastered to her face.

Just behind her ear, hidden under her hair, a small blue light blinked faintly.

It was quick, nearly invisible.

Under the watchful eyes of the nearby special forces guys on patrol, Scarlett slipped a tiny device from her sleeve and sent it rolling to the bottom of the main control panel.

Then, without warning, the sharp blare of alarms filled the air.

Sirens screamed from every direction, warning that the whole underground lab was about to start its self-destruct process, ending in a massive explosion.

But the upload wasn't complete yet-they still needed more time to finish transferring the key data.

"Was this your plan? I knew you were trouble!" Brent Ward, the man she had stabbed earlier, stormed toward her, rage written all over his face. "Captain, she's going to get us all killed!"

Shane turned and stared at Scarlett, his eyes sharp.

Wincing through the pain, Scarlett steadied herself against the wall and looked directly at him.

"Once that key hits the deep decrypt phase, this place blows. Not my fault," she said.

The alarm had been triggered by how far they had gotten in unlocking the key.

It had nothing to do with her.

Brent narrowed his eyes. "You expect us to believe that?"

"Captain, she's right! The alarm's triggered by the system's built-in anti-theft safeguard."

"Then keep going," Shane ordered coldly.

"Got it!" Time was running out. They had minutes, maybe seconds, to finish the upload and get out alive.

Suddenly, a panicked voice called out. "Captain! Over here-there's something you need to see!"

One of the soldiers had stumbled upon something. In a section of the lab, they opened a hidden door.

Inside was a room colder than the rest, lit with sterile white light. Dozens of glass tanks lined the walls, each connected to a network of tubes and wires.

And inside those tanks were people. Or rather what was left of them.

It was clear from the pallor of their skin and the stillness of their forms that they had been dead for a long time.