Global Survival: I Got the D-Rank Personnel Simulator

Orange-Red Powder

Lin Ye entered the core brain chamber. As his light swept across the inner walls, he began to force himself to memorize those symbols that seemed utterly random. That took some time.

The oxygen inside the diving suit was still fairly ample, at least enough so it wouldn’t run out before he finished memorizing the symbols.

Lin Ye suddenly turned his head toward the chamber entrance. The beam swept that area but did not illuminate anything special.

’...Is it an illusion?’

Lin Ye felt as if something had moved over there.

Normally, with the heavy diving suit between him and the environment, Lin Ye shouldn’t have been able to sense nearby motion, but he subconsciously gathered information from the water flow in his field of vision.

’No, it shouldn’t be an illusion. There very well might be some kind of anomalous phenomenon here.’

Lin Ye scanned every corner of the chamber with his headlamp, but he did not find any such anomalous phenomenon.

However, while inspecting the chamber, he noticed the water flow within the light path behaved strangely, as if some small creature nearby was continuously swimming around.’Is some creature circling the light path? But if so, it’s moving unbelievably fast.’

Lin Ye could only memorize the symbols while also staying on guard against whatever unknown creature was nearby, but by the time he finished recording all the symbols, the unknown creature still hadn’t shown itself.

’What on earth is it...’

Lin Ye swam quickly toward the chamber exit. As he passed through it, chunk after chunk of symbols detached from the diving suit and his body, until nothing remained.

He seemed to have swum out of the chamber, but there was nothing outside the chamber.

…………………………………

[Remaining Simulation Attempts: 8]

’...If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone in.’

Before losing consciousness, Lin Ye clearly felt his body being stripped apart into all those symbols.

Yet he felt no pain; instead there was a sense that this was how things ought to be.

It was as if his body had been constructed from those symbols all along.

Lin Ye once more followed the overseers onto the deck. He repeated the previous simulation sequence, and because he now knew which parts would be injured, this time he only suffered some scrapes and managed to take care of that armed squad.

This time he didn’t go to the staff dorms. He went to the cafeteria and made a crate of simple Molotov cocktails.

Cooking oil is not flammable on its own, but mixed with some combustible impurities its flash point drops, turning it into fuel for Molotovs.

He had actually wanted to make explosives, but the kitchen’s limited conditions and supplies meant making explosives would waste too much time.

Lin Ye entered the right corridor that had a barricade. At the corner he threw a lit Molotov onto the barricade.

Soon enough, the sound of fire extinguishers could be heard behind the barricade. Lin Ye stepped swiftly out of the corner, lowering his footsteps and moving close to the barricade.

By now the barricade had burned through in several spots. Through the foam sprayed by the fire extinguishers, Lin Ye locked onto a few silhouettes.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Bullets struck those silhouettes precisely in the head. Lin Ye kicked a gap in the barricade, then squeezed through to the other side with some effort.

’Fat man, could you maybe lose a little weight?’

Lin Ye moved quickly down the corridor. On both sides were laboratories, and a dozen or so researchers armed with weapons rushed out of them.

But before they could pinpoint Lin Ye’s position, he fired and blew their heads apart. These researchers clearly hadn’t used firearms much; they were easier to handle than the armed personnel.

Lin Ye killed all the researchers who had rushed out, but he didn’t relax—those laboratories might still contain some remaining researchers.

Now he was just an ordinary man; a single bullet could kill him.

It took twenty minutes for Lin Ye to clear every laboratory in the corridor. The researchers here seemed crazed, intent on killing him, so he had to eliminate all of them.

’Why didn’t these people turn on each other? Why did they have to attack me? Is it because they don’t like the fat man?’

Lin Ye couldn’t understand what had affected those researchers.

After clearing the researchers, Lin Ye began to inspect the laboratories lining the corridor. They were much smaller than he had expected, but the Infirmary was indeed located along the corridor.

After checking every laboratory and reading all the experimental data, Lin Ye couldn’t help but wonder:

Exactly what the hell were they researching here?

From the research materials alone, Lin Ye would have thought this place was a farce set up to siphon organization research funds.

The reports were absurd. Every lab had a different research project, and there was no connection between them.

’So why study the dissolution rate of different substances in different liquids? There’s not even a control group, and many of those things wouldn’t dissolve in those liquids at all.’

’And comparing the frequencies of sounds produced when different materials hit the ground from various heights... Isn’t this some kind of code?’

At first Lin Ye assumed these reports were a smokescreen hiding an important experiment, but after reading several reports he realized the researchers were genuinely conducting these ludicrous projects.

’This is troublesome. If I can’t find useful information here, I’ll have to explore those elevators.’

While inspecting the labs, Lin Ye didn’t find any hidden experimental area. If such an area existed, it likely required taking an elevator to reach.

Lin Ye carefully rechecked the researchers’ corpses, this time paying attention to those easy-to-hide places. An anomalous incident had occurred here, and the researchers might have concealed important items on their person.

’Huh? What’s this...’

Lin Ye discovered a small bag sewn into the inside of a man’s underwear, filled with orange-red powder.

’This guy’s marksmanship seemed better than the others. He shouldn’t be an ordinary researcher... I remember he rushed out of that lab.’

Lin Ye recalled the earlier combat and quickly found a lead.

Entering that laboratory, Lin Ye found the man’s notebook. The notebook contained nothing important, but in the desk drawer he found the man’s dorm access card.

The card had a dorm number.

’Room 117.’

Lin Ye reloaded some bullets and then hurried toward the staff dorms. He encountered nothing strange along the way and smoothly found staff dorm room 117.

He swiped the access card to open the door and walked in. The room was immaculate, everything arranged in its rightful place, not a single scrap of trash in sight.