Chapter 179

Page Thirty-Five: Journey to the Laboratory

Bā Hé Mèi was on leave today. As she passed by Room 203, she noticed that she was lying on her bed reading and eating snacks, looking very comfortable.

So she knocked on the door.

“Lingmèng Jie? What wind brought you here again… Oh! It’s so cold!”

The fashionably dressed girl who came out of the room still wore her signature beret. The cold air rushing into the room made her, wearing only a thin blouse, shrink her neck and stomp her feet.

She asked again, “Don’t you have school today?”

Why does everyone keep asking this?

I scratched my head and said, “I have something to do at the Research Institute, so I took a day off.”

“Wait, are all these people going with you? Ah, there are foreigners too!”

When she saw Miss Margaret with the blonde hair, stars sparkled in Bā Hé Mèi’s eyes.

The latter responded with a polite smile.

“This little sister is also under an incantation. I want to take her down for analysis.”

“Is this foreign lady perhaps a witch from the British headquarters? Is the maid outfit part of the uniform?”

“Witch?”

Bā Hé Mèi’s fanciful words left Miss Fànnī and Miss Margaret staring at each other. In the end, they looked at me for an explanation.

I patted Bā Hé Mèi on the shoulder and explained, “Although these two maid sisters are indeed from Britain, they are just ordinary people.”

“Eh! Ordinary people?!”

Realizing her slip of the tongue, the girl raised her book and hastily explained, “Actually, I got lost in the book! That’s why I thought the two sisters were witches… Ah, uh!”

I tapped her forehead and took the paperback novel from her hand.

*The Witches of the Witch Forest 2.*

Unlike Xiǎo Kǎi, I was quite interested in this book.

Though it didn’t sell well, due to its excellent reputation, Fēng Wǔ still published the second volume, perhaps hoping to attract new readers.

The illustrator was still Yán Liúzhuǎn, who, despite being a high school student, maintained his high standards, not inferior to professional artists… Was he drawing based on his own body again?

I asked, “You really like this work?”

The teenage girl’s eyes were filled with fervent emotion. She raised her hand to her chest and expressed her passionate thoughts, “Of course! The last witch! Lost magic! And the clash of civilizations! The Industrial Revolution, where a lone witch bravely engaged soldiers to prevent the railway from passing through the forest… Although they ultimately failed.”

“Huh, they failed?!”

So this is a tragedy… Wait, am I getting spoiled here?

“Even though the witch’s forest was occupied, she found her place in human society. In the end, it’s not really a tragedy! In the near future, her magic will be rediscovered and become a force for humanity!”

This little teenage girl can’t distinguish reality from fiction again.

I tapped her head with her novel, not too hard through the beret.

I said, “I need to take people to the Research Institute now. Can you entertain the two maid ladies for a while?”

“Oh, of course! I’ve never made friends with foreigners before!”

With Bā Hé Mèi’s approval, I turned back and asked, “Miss Fànnī, Miss Margaret, could you wait here for a moment?”

Miss Margaret gave Bā Hé Mèi a standard curtsy, while Miss Fànnī frowned, distrustfully asking, “Can’t we all go in together?”

Bā Hé Mèi explained awkwardly, “Well, even though Lingmèng Jie’s guests, if they’re ordinary people, they probably can’t come down…”

Little Qínglán comforted, “It’s fine. Fànnī and Maki can wait here for me! There are some things I don’t mind telling you, but we should follow the rules on someone else’s turf.”

With her employer saying this, Miss Fànnī, although worried, didn’t say more.

I looked at Mother.

“Miss Wēi, are you coming down or waiting here for us?”

She asked strangely, “Is the Research Institute in the basement?”

“Yeah, because it’s a very secret Research Institute, we can’t let people who don’t know ‘those things’ enter… Miss Fànnī, I guarantee that Little Qínglán will be fine with us.”

Crouching behind Little Qínglán, Mother put her hand on her shoulder and said, “Then I’ll go see it too. Nowadays, young witches aren’t very reassuring.”

The little girl warmly invited the two maids into the room, while Mother and Sister Qínglán followed me into Room 205.

While waiting for the elevator downstairs, I felt the soft baby hair beside me and couldn’t help but feel moved, “Even though Miss Fànnī is usually strict with you, she cares about you deeply at times like this, right?”

“Of course, although she’s a maid, we’re like family.”

Little Qínglán shook her head, and the genuine concern shown by Miss Fànnī must have made her happy.

On the way down in the elevator, I reminded again, “Mom, everyone here has their secrets, including the child in Room 203 just now, so after we go down, don’t ask any questions first. Anything you want to know, I’ll explain when we get home.”

“Mm, I understand.”

When the elevator doors opened, the laboratory’s temperature control system made it warmer than the surface. Mother immediately took off her coat, and Little Qínglán’s face was somewhat flushed—children’s body temperatures are naturally higher than adults’.

There was no one in the Research Institute’s lobby. I headed straight for Director Kē’s office but still didn’t see anyone.

“Oh, Miss Lingmèng is here again?”

A researcher whose name I couldn’t recall peeked out from the lab next to the office. She pushed up her glasses and said, “If you’re looking for Director Kē, she went to the new Research Institute with Boss. It’s impossible to contact them normally; do you need to use magical communication?”

After all, it’s three hundred meters underground; it’s miraculous enough that phones work.

I shook my head and said, “No trouble, I’ll go check it out myself.”

The Deep Research Institute is a secret base built underground after making practical use of existing spells. It cannot be reached by conventional means.

Even to me, it’s a remarkable feat. Shí Huǒróng… Chief Engineer Rúbifāng is a bold yet meticulous person.

“But Boss and the others have already been down for half an hour. I think they’ll be back soon. Miss Lingmèng, you can decide for yourself.”

She returned to her post, and I turned around and said, “Alright, looks like we’ll have to walk a bit more.”

Rúbifāng’s IC card for Xiǎo Kǎi has the highest authority, so it can open the elevator’s back door… Even without permission, this door wouldn’t stop me.

Exiting the elevator’s back door, Little Qínglán finally couldn’t hold back her comment, “This place is really sci-fi, as expected of Rúbifāng.”

She held her mother’s finger and walked quickly, looking up to speak, which was irresistibly cute.

“How big is this place? The atmosphere is a bit scary.”

Mother felt uncomfortable with the oppressive environment of the underground research institute.

I couldn’t help but laugh, “Hey, we’re going deeper!”

“Huh? There are buildings underground?”

“Yes, three hundred meters deep.”

—

The light curtain around the teleportation array descended, transforming the barn-like scenery into a laboratory-like space. Mother looked like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, her mouth wide open in astonishment.

Aside from transformations, she had never experienced anything so wondrous.

“We’re three hundred meters underground? I’m having trouble breathing!”

I waved my hand and laughed, “We’re not in thin air, how could we have trouble breathing? Mom, you’re just too nervous!”

Little Qínglán squinted and said, “But it smells bad here!”

It wasn’t exactly smelly, but the underground ventilation system hadn’t been completed. The murky air mixed with diesel fumes and dampness was indeed pungent…

My spell completely relied on the notebook substance. If Xiǎo Kǎi weren’t here, it would be inconvenient, as this side was merely a false doppelgänger created by bookmarks.

Just then, a surprisingly fresh breeze gushed into the small laboratory from the cabin door, instantly clearing my head.

“Woah! It doesn’t smell anymore!” Little Qínglán said.

It seemed Rúbifāng had brought a solution this time.

Exiting the cabin door, there was a large cavern spanning several thousand square meters. Some areas were over ten meters high, while others were so low that people couldn’t stand. The entire cavern was dotted with various-sized puddles, each with different depths.

When they sank the laboratory behind them, Rúbifāng and company did not expect such a vast area, making this cavern a perfect location, a pleasant surprise.

Across from the laboratory, at the end of the lighting setup, there was a smaller makeshift building. This was where the diesel generator set was located, the source of the fresh wind sweeping through the entire space.

I pointed over there and said, “The person we’re looking for should be over there.”

Mother still looked pale and nervously said, “Xiǎoyīng, could this cave collapse suddenly? If anything happens here, no one would find us! It’s too dangerous!”

“Mom, your courage is too small! That’s why Xiǎokǎi is so timid…”

Underground, Little Qínglán showed excitement similar to a child.

“It’s huge! It feels like exploring the center of the Earth!”

Compared to yesterday, when one had to wade through puddles to reach the hut, today a path above the water level had been created. Professor Shí Huǒróng had a funny wand (electric welder) that could reshape hard rocks, making this task not difficult.

Little Qínglán curiously asked, “So, is Rúbifāng turning this place into her secret base?”

“This is her new Research Institute. Her goal is to build a self-sufficient permanent base…”

Miss Kē walked out of the makeshift hut, holding a cigarette in her right hand. A small child followed her as well.

A little girl who looked like a boy?

Miss Kē noticed our presence and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

“Língmèng, what brings you here today?”

Although I was curious about the girl beside Miss Kē, I still pushed Little Qínglán forward.

“Director Kē, I’d like you to help check the incantation on this child… using ‘that’.”