The Trembling World
chapter-167

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

ED: Oz

Liu Gan and Yin He lead their respective groups back to the main building to regroup with Zhang ShengLi. On their end, they found no clues. Zhang ShengLi was very excited to report back to Liu Gan with a good message. What Zhang ShengLi had found was that in between the stairway from the first floor to the second floor there was a storage room. When he looked closely, he discovered a door that lead underground.

The door was hidden beneath a wooden cabinet. After shifting away the cabinet, the trap door beneath the cabinet opened up to a passage. After opening it, a locked round alloy door came into view. There was no passage through unless the door lock had been dismantled.

This round alloy door didn’t have San Xing Corporation’s logo emblazoned onto it. It was different from the vault door he had seen in the basement level 2 of the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. It seemed like this door lock was not electrically controlled and could only be opened by a special set of keys.

Zhao Meng made his way up front and started getting busy with his set of self-created keys. After a few minutes of frustration, he was depressed and had to give up.

“This door lock installation is of a type that I’ve never seen before. It definitely requires a specific key to open. With just my technique, I can’t… open it.” Zhao Meng said to Liu Gan with embarrassment. Zhao Meng could tell whether the door could be opened or not merely from giving it a quick test. If it was capable of being unlocked unconventionally, then it would be based on how long it took, but if it couldn’t be opened, then it would remain locked regardless of how long he tried.

“Really? You can’t open it? Do you need more time to try it?” Liu Gan wasn’t satisfied with Zhao Meng’s performance.

“If it was capable of opening, then I would know just by trying it.” Zhao Meng replied to Liu Gan.

After seeing that Zhao Meng, the locksmith, was unable to open it, Liu Gan resorted to forcing it open. After a long time had passed, Liu Gan also gave up on his attempt.

The composition of the ground comprised reinforced steel and concrete, as confirmed by the sound that ensued when it was struck. Beyond the round alloy door was a steep drop like the entrance of a well. Most importantly, the walls of this well were still a mix of reinforced steel and concrete. Therefore, breaking through the area around the door itself was not possible. The only potential way to enter this door was by relying on the original key.

So this time, they began immediately searching for the key and spread out into their three groups. Aside from searching through the buildings, they had to comb through every corpse. As long as the shape was remotely key-like in shape, it was to be brought back to Liu Gan.

“It’s already past midnight. Must we torment ourselves? This island isn’t safe. I feel we should leave this island. Let’s board back onto the yacht - that should be safer, and in the process, we should load all of our food rations back onto it too!” Zhou MingLiang couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Yes, I agree! Something happened to Zhou JingJing already, so it is hard to predict who is next. Who is to say that someone won’t die next time. So let’s leave before anything happens to our brains. We should all go on board the yacht and leave this island!” Some other team mates chimed in.

“Elder Liu, please listen to the opinions of the others.” Zhou MingLiang gained confidence after he received the support of a few people.

“In this place, it is not up to you to decide. If you don’t want to follow my rules, then don’t stay with the group. The next time we dock on the mainland, I will give you a chance so you can roam free.” Liu Gan was already feeling frustrated from not being able to open the door, but with Zhou MingLiang’s added words, it triggered his petulance.

“I am only stating an opinion. I didn’t say it was my place to decide? Elder Liu, don’t be angry.” Zhou MingLiang immediately felt embarrassed and kept his mouth shut.

Every team member was already too tired, so even if the team leaders wanted to urge them to move, they simply didn’t have the strength. They didn’t speak of it, but deep down, they felt like Liu Gan was torturing them. They were thinking, why must he look for it tonight? Why couldn’t it wait for tomorrow?

Liu Gan obviously had his own reasons. He personally felt that this island was very strange. Especially with the hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie, so before that Variant gets killed, he didn’t want to tarry for too long on the island. It was best that he thoroughly searched the secret laboratory and then immediately returned onboard the yacht. This also accounted for the safety of his team members too.

The next search wasted more than half an hour. They searched through the rooms, the corpses, and found at least a dozen keys. However, none of those keys were able to open this round alloy door.

“Mechanical locks have two stages; the key components also have two stages. The first part of the key is that it is ten centimeters long; unlocking the second part would require eighteen centimeters. The key could have 5 cuts to it to form the ridges, and in between two cuts could be a concealer that masks the connecting point where it will trigger the lock’s mechanical mechanism. This is only possible after the key has entered into the lock up to a certain depth. Then once the key and lock comes in contact at the connecting point is when it triggers the second stage. To enter into the second stage is even trickier. The second stage trigger is located deeper within the lock, so only once that is reached with the key and lock will the door open up.” Zhao Meng explaining the mechanism of the alloy door to Liu Gan.

“Is it possible to recreate the tool necessary to unlock this door lock?” Liu Gan asked with a concerned look.

“If this was my house, with my electrical lathe and various tools, then in ten days I could recreate this set of specialized unlocking tool. It is merely that this location isn’t suitable for producing it.” Zhao Meng shook his head.

“The team members are all exhausted. Elder Liu, what should we do? Return onboard the yacht and then rest?” Zhang ShengLi pulling Liu Gan aside. When Zhang ShengLi was with his group searching the area, he heard constant frustrated complaints about how tired they were.

“It’s already past midnight. The yacht in the river isn’t too safe. Yin He and I confirmed that this creature came from the waters of the river. It also has hallucinogenic-inducing abilities, so it can chase us down easily. If we stayed on the yacht, who knows when it will come out of the water to attack us? It can strike with its ability from a distance away, so everyone on board the yacht would be unable to do much. At that time, if something happens, it would be hard to separate.” Liu Gan shook his head. Before he had searched through the secret laboratory, he would definitely not leave the island.

“Your desire is to remain on this island, and not head anywhere else?” Zhang ShengLi asking to reconfirm.

“Yes.” Liu Gan nodded.

“According to what you have said, this creature was in the girl’s bathroom when it attacked Zhou JingJing with the hallucinogenic ability. So the distance it strikes must be limited to a few meters. Why don’t we go to the first floor lobby and rest in the center and then have people stay on guard, on the lookout at the four corners. The moment it enters, they will alert everyone of its presence so that it can’t put everyone under its’ hallucinogenic ability. As long as Yin He, Elder Liu and I haven’t been affected by the ability, we could strike the zombie down.” Zhang ShengLi proposed his plan to Liu Gan.