Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

”Something’s not right here,” Shane murmured as his insight told him that they were close to a dangerous area.

Everyone else glanced at their surroundings, but they didn’t find anything wrong. However, since it was Shane they were talking about, he must’ve noticed something they could not.

”What do you see?” Lysandra asked. Since it was dangerous, she also pulled out her blades, ready to fight in case of trouble.

However, Shane just fell silent as if he were trying to inspect something. Then after a few moments, Shane went to another spot.

After a few moments, Shane knelt and pressed his palm against the ground, his Faerie Insight, Heightened Awareness, Perception, Cloud’s inspection ability, and other similar abilities were triggered.

With the activation of so many detection abilities, the world around him seemed to change—colors deepened, and faint, glowing threads of energy became noticeable to his senses.

This thread seemed to crisscross the ground like a web…

Shane followed this thread and soon, even Cloud was able to stumble upon a protected area.

”Ohh… I think we’ve found it.” Shane muttered.

He followed the threads with his gaze and spotted a faint, flickering aura about 50 meters away, partially obscured by a collapsed building. It seemed that the ruins not too far from them were the ones they were looking for.

”There’s something buried here,” Shane said as he stood up.

”It’s faint, but I can sense something here. They are too intricate to be natural. This could be it.”

Kale frowned, peering at the overgrown ruins. ”It doesn’t look like much. But since you say so, there must be something.”

Shane nodded. ”Positive. Let’s check it out.”

As he said this, he paused for a moment as he wanted to recall the facility or hidden area that he was looking for.

Because of that, he swiftly pulled out the notes that truly brought him to this location. The map with a note was from Dr. Holloway and Shane wanted to check just in case he had missed something. Well, the map only pointed at the general direction or area to search for the facility, so he had to be sure of it.

As he read the notes written at the back of the map, his team waited for him…

”I am Dr. Marcus Holloway, a devoted servant of the New Government’s cause to combat the insidious plague of the Zombie Virus and a dedicated Bio-Weapon Researcher.

I am writing this to get someone to continue our research and let the technologies we’ve created be known to everyone… I hope that someday, humanity will be strong enough to use these technologies…”

Then, in the penned notes, Dr. Holloway detailed the location of the underground research facility, hidden beneath an abandoned warehouse in Sector 20.

Indeed, the ruined building in front of them seemed to be the warehouse…

Then, the entry point, obscured by the overgrown foliage and crumbling masonry, was marked by a series of symbols etched into the stone. Then, there was also a warning from the doctor about the challenges they might face inside…

’Alright… I think we’re ready.’ Shane gently nodded as he confirmed that he had indeed recalled everything correctly.

Dr. Holloway had most likely written the notes behind the map before the surrounding area collapsed due to various battles that had occurred in this place.

This sector seemed to be filled with strong and large Zombies, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see this result.

Soon, the team got into formation to search the ruins.

They carefully stepped over debris and avoided clusters of thorny vines.

The remnants of one huge building were all over the place... There were even signs of numerous trucks being buried by the collapsed wall and ceiling…

As they neared an area where Shane had previously felt something, he swiftly triggered his Faerie Insight once more.

The Insight immediately told him that he was in the right place.

He soon cleared up the rubbles with his overwhelming strength. This didn’t take that long since his strength was over 500 points for quite some time already.

Then, Shane found a cold stone surface and knew that he was right…

It seemed to be the entrance to the passage he was looking for...

There was no system notification but that was alright. This wasn’t similar to the Zombie Lord Territory after all…

”Help me clear the rubble first…” Shane said as he confirmed that he found the right place.

Without hesitation, Vernon and Kale began lifting chunks of debris, while Lysandra kept a watchful eye on their surroundings. Nia, on the other hand, had also started checking up on the stone door that was slowly showing up.

”I can sense danger behind that door.” Nia commented while brushing her fingers over the stone surface. As she looked closely, there were even some engravings on it.

”Definitely pre-apocalypse, but I’ve never seen this language before…” She muttered.

Shane nodded at this…

”Don’t worry, those characters weren’t important. It’s just a simple warning. Everyone must wear the Tier 5 Masks I’ve given to you all.” He said.

Apparently, the language that Nia couldn’t read was basically some symbols and other words telling that this place was a biohazard.

Soon, the area around the stone door was finally cleared from rubbles… They even cleared enough space for a tent just in case they would have to sleep there.

”We have to break it by force since I don’t have any keys and my Lockpicking skill isn’t helping.” Shane said.

”Get ready. This might activate something.”

”Got it… We’re ready, leader…” Kale responded.

The others tensed as they held their weapons.

Soon, Shane put enough force and placed his palm against the stone door and channeled his strength.

Bam!

The ground rumbled beneath their feet.

As Shane did this, a section of the door shifted, revealing a circular hatch embedded in the ground. It seemed that he truly destroyed something from that attempt to destroy the door.

Shane then fully opened the hatch.

The hatch hissed as it was lifted and some dirt was forced aside. Then, they realized that this door was actually made of metal with stones covering its surface… Shane and the other also noticed the symbol of the old world government.

”Bingo,” Shane said with a grin. ”This has to be it.”

The hatch’s locking mechanism stopped in just two feet of opened space since it was already rusted or corroded. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a big issue.

With some effort—and a little help from one of Shane’s gauntlets, they managed to overpower it and forcefully lifted it.

The hatch swung open with a groan, revealing a dark, spiraling staircase descending into the earth.

A cold wind wafted up from below, carrying with it the faint scent of something metallic.

Indeed, there was no scent of any undead inside. At the very least, the vibe was completely different from other areas they discovered.

”Great. Creepy underground lab. Are we going to find some kind of failed experiments here?” Lysandra muttered as she was already expecting the worst. She also felt that there shouldn’t be any Zombies in this safely locked facility.

Furthermore, the lack of a rotten smell made her confident that her guess was right.

Shane just smiled at this as he was also quite unsure what to expect. Dr. Holloway didn’t mention any specifics after all.

”Alright… Let’s hide this area before heading inside. We don’t want any others following us here.” As Shane said this, he arranged a Tier 5 Camouflage Tent with the entrance of the underground passage at its center. This should be enough to fool other people.

After that, they placed various items to ward off any Zombies. Shane and Lysandra had a lot of those.

After setting it all up, Shane led the way and Kale was behind him this time.

The staircase spiraled down for what felt like an eternity… There was no elevator and even if there was, it shouldn’t be working at this point.

Eventually, they reached a reinforced steel door, its surface was scratched and dented as though something had tried to claw its way out.

”I guess this door is the reason why we didn’t smell any rotten flesh just now.” Lysandra muttered with a helpless smile on her face.

Furthermore, the steel door had the same emblem as the hatch, along with the words:

[ Project Genesis - Research and Containment Facility. ]

”This is definitely it,” Shane said, glancing back at the group.

”And it’s definitely not abandoned,” Lysandra pointed out, noting the claw marks on the door. They weren’t sure if the one trying to claw out of the door was still alive but they would surely find it out soon.

”Ahh… It’s still powered.” Shane muttered in amazement after seeing that the door’s control panel was partially functional, though it sparked occasionally.

Shane used Cloud’s assistance to see through the damaged circuits, and with a few instructions from Cloud, the door slowly slid open with a grinding noise…

Everyone readied themselves and Shane even triggered his Aura Sentinel and Guardian Node… After all, for some reason, none of his detection abilities could pass through this door!