"Is that a b?" Oliver asked in a low voice. The boy looked around, all the way down the corridor and into the main room; there didn't seem to be any Ork patrolling.

  "It's better to go ihan stay in the corridor—someone might pass by and see us," he thought, calling the others into the room.

  The four quickly ehe room and closed the door before anyone could see them. Upoering, they finally saw the grandeur of the boratory. Their gazes were amazed at how the same room could simultaneously be so crude and teological, with details in stone and steel. There was a rge circur window he ceiling through whie could see the eerior of the towers.

  The group gradually spread out, expl every part of the boratory. Large maes with pistons and tubes ected the various other rooms; their gears and bolts were already rusted, and occasionally, they released gases and whistled.

  Throughout the room, there were various workbenches, each with pns, notes, and scattered papers. Oliver stopped, trying to decipher some of the dots; however, the uage didn't make any seo him.

  ‘I'll take something. It might be important,’ he thought, crumpling some papers and putting them into his supply bag.

  An tried to uand the instruments hangihe maes, but he couldn't grasp what they were measuring or supposed to be. The boy felt like he had ehe secret boratory of some alchemist—something that didn't resemble sce, simply chaos.

  The girls tried to pretend they weren't bothered by the smell of the pce, mainly the odor of blood and rottehat was taking over the area.

  "Please! I see you. Help me."

  Unlike before, the voice wasn't shouting; it spoke more softly as if it was really seeing the group and kheir position. Oliver tried to follow the voice but only reached the end of the room, where there were three doors to what seemed to be a ste room.

  "I'm here!"

  Again, he heard the voice; it seemed to e from the first door.

  "Could it be a trap?" the boy wondered. He decided at least to have his pistol in hand before entering.

  Oliver jured the on and held it firmly, pointing forward.

  "Hey!" He called Isabe, who was nearby. "Open the door carefully," he asked.

  The girl held what seemed like a doorknob and, without standing in the doorway, quickly ope.

  Oliver watched through the crack of the door the whole time, preparing for some oppo. However, his expectations were frustrated. It was just a tiny room, about four square meters.

  Ihe room, lined with steel sheets, there e that went from the ceiling to the floor. But in the ter of the structure, there was gss that allowed them to see what was floating ihe pipe.

  "My God." Oliver was never religious, but some sights only be reacted to that way.

  Inside what seemed to be a huge test tube was a human head immersed in some strange liquid; however, there was no body. Its neck had been severed; instead, there were hundreds of tubes ected to the head from all sides. Its eyes seemed to have been sewn shut. However, he khat whoever it was wasn't dead, as the head was moving its mouth.

  "Finally, finally, someone fouhe head said in a sad aed voice. Oliver felt that the person would be g if they could.

  Isabe covered her mouth with both hands, surprised at what they had found. An and Katherine were still expl the boratory, but notig the other two's rea, they decided to approach. All four looked with pity and sadness at the situation of whoever was there.

  "Please. I don't know who you are. I don't even know if you're human. Please. Kill me," the head begged. "I feel pain. I feel cold. I feel hunger. But I am uo die. I 't take it anymore."

  Oliver raised the pistol; however, Isabe held his hand before. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

  "The moment you shoot, Our position will most likely be discovered," the girl ented.

  "We 't leave someone in this state," the boy felt terrible.

  "I uand. But we also o think about our safety," she reaffirmed.

  An and Katherine wao disagree with her, but the girl's attitude was quite mature and realistic.

  "I'm sorry." Oliver touched the gss before turning away.

  "I—I uand," the head spoke and fell silent.

  Oliver leaned against the wall for a moment, feeling a deep urge to vomit. However, while Oliver was rec, An decided to look at what was behind the other doors.

  He and Isabe opened eae to see what was inside. Simir to the first, they were tight cubicles, each with what seemed to be surgical tables. One had a dissected Goblin, and the other had a dissected gray-skinned Ork.

  "What were they trying to do here?" Katherine asked.

  "It's impossible to uand," Isabe ented.

  "Uh, I think I prehend," An expined. "I saw some of these symbols in a css on Ork Culture."

  The two raised their eyebrows upon seeing that the boy had takeime to study something so unon.

  An picked up some pieces of paper he surgical tables, trying to read what was written on eae.

  "I 't uand every symbol, but it's possible to decipher some that humanity has already figured out," An ented.

  "On the Goblin's, there's something like: Rea Absorb Human. Hmm, on the Ork, it's the same thing," the boy expined.

  The three were silent for a while, trying to uand what it meant.

  "It doesn't make any sense. Would it be something like biological engineering? They're applying something human to these two?" Isabe asked.

  "If they are, it's not w," Katherine replied.

  "For now," An ented.

  Oliver stood up again and joihe rest of the group; however, he was silent throughout the discussion.

  Thump

  While they were examining the rooms, the door was quickly opened.

  UARRRRRK

  The group was startled to see a gray-skinned Ork screaming at the doorway. However, it wasn't a on Ork; he seemed older. His skin, although grayish, had no shine; he was hunched over a staff to be able to walk, and he had a long beard.

  "Katherine, eliminate him," Oliver anded.

  The girl advanced rapidly with her sword in hand; however, with the Ork's scream, they could already hear the arms sounding ihe tower.

  As Katherine swung the sword at the Ork, he easily held the bde's tip and prevehe girl from sshing him, however, where he had sprouted several blood spikes, pierg the Ork's hand, who roared again, this time in pain.

  The other three ran following Katherine; Isabe came right after with her gloves already on her hands. She slid across the floor, nding a pun the Ork's knee, causing him to lose bance. Oliver finished with a shot to his face.

  "Everyone, go to the stairs. Run to the exit; don't worry about the noise," Oliver ordered. While the three left the room, he took the opportunity to fire several shots. One of them was aimed at the room with the floating head, exploding the gss and what was inside. He also fired several other shots at the shelves, ensuring there was a fire in the boratory.

  ‘Goodbye. I hope that's enough,’ the boy thought.

  As soon as he returo the stairs, he could already see a few Orks climbing them. An, Isabe, and Katherine were already focused on asding the steps. The group could hear the screams and roars of the Orks following them as they climbed.

  They were close to the st floor when a pair of Orks appeared before them. With a ghey could see that it rison floor. They could hear several prisoners screaming and banging on the doors and bars.

  "Don't stop, attack with everything," Oliver shouted.

  "Right," Isabe advanced against one of them; however, the moment she went to nd a punch, the monster had already swung a massive axe at her. Luckily, An had time to pull the girl back.

  Katherine advanced against the sed Ork, nding a flurry of attacks, not g where she would hit, leaving the Ork dazed by the number of cuts she was dealing with.

  An, for his part, as soon as he pulled Isabe back, had already charged two energy shots, hitting the stomach of the axe-wielding Ork and knog him down.

  "Don't stop; keep moving forward," An shouted.

  Instead of fog on killing them, it was enough to hinder and keep running.

  Katherine uood this, nding a few more cuts on the Ork's leg and fleeing from him to tinue asding the stairs.

  The group was finally a few steps from the st floor; the door en, but four more Orks were ahead.

  "Keep running; I’ll take care of them," Oliver urged.

  [Observation]

  Tzzz

  He couldn't activate the ability.

  ‘Damn! One of them must be strohan Pawn,’ the boy thought.

  However, he didn't despair; keeping focused, he pulled out the pistol and fired several shots, especially he Ork’s eyes.

  This allowed the group to pass between them without fighting.

  "Finally!" Oliver celebrated upon passing through the gate. However, they couldn't stop yet; they still heard the Orks shouting and r.

  The group could see that they had returo somewhere he geysers.

  "To the north!" Katherine poio where the city should be.

  The group started running again toward the city.

  The four could hear several explosions in the distance, but Oliver was the first to notice what was h in the sky. He reized the shape of the ships that appeared in front of them. He remembered the st time he had seen them when Seoul was reduced to ashes.

  GCLopes