Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 176: Chapter 173: There’s More to This Building

She was still some distance from the Agricultural Research Institute when she heard a car approaching from behind. She quickly ducked behind a large tree on the side of the road.

It was Yu Heng and Hao Wenli, who had driven after her.

Chen Xing didn’t reveal herself.

When she went to save him, she might have to go on a killing spree. In a dangerous situation, she would inevitably have to use her space.

She still wanted to go alone.

But as the car drove past her, she saw Li Chen inside as well.

She hadn’t expected Li Chen to follow, so she had no choice but to stop the car.

Seeing Chen Xing, both Hao Wenli and Li Chen were relieved.

Of course, their reasons were different.

Li Chen was genuinely worried about Chen Xing.

Hao Wenli was just glad she could report back to her boss, since she hadn’t lost track of Chen Xing.

"Why did you just leave without saying a word?" Hao Wenli asked, a little guiltily, but also with a hint of accusation.

She thought Chen Xing had seen through her little trick and run off alone because of it.

"I was worried about Number 2, so I came out ahead. And now, he really is missing. I tracked him all the way here!" After saying "Number 2," Chen Xing felt it was really inappropriate.

’When I have time, I have to give him a proper name for emergencies.’

"Didn’t you have your tiger following him?" Hao Wenli asked, her tone a bit sour.

She had known Chen Xing for so long but had never received such treatment.

It seemed no matter how hard she tried to get on her good side, Chen Xing was completely impervious, treating her with particular harshness.

"I’m going to check out the Agricultural Research Institute. You guys find a safe place and hide!" Chen Xing couldn’t be bothered to say more.

The more time they wasted, the more danger 00002 would be in.

Li Chen got out of the car as well. "Isn’t it too dangerous for you to go in alone?" he asked, even though her abilities were indeed strong.

’What if they have superior numbers?’

’Or what if they resort to dirty tricks?’

"Don’t worry about me!" Chen Xing said nothing more and continued running toward the Agricultural Research Institute.

Yu Heng and Hao Wenli couldn’t wait to go hide.

Although this Agricultural Research Institute looked quite ordinary, who knew what it was like inside?

Even Brother Jin’s small residence, which from a distance looked like just a modest five-story building, had a small dinosaur-like monster hidden inside.

They immediately got back in the car and shouted impatiently at Li Chen, "Are you coming or not?"

Li Chen hesitated for a moment before getting in the car.

Chen Xing had wanted to circle the perimeter of the Agricultural Research Institute, but the back was separated by a river, making it impossible to cross. However, just from circling a little over half of it, she could tell how massive the place was.

The surrounding walls were ordinary, but there seemed to be infrared detectors on top.

Climbing over the wall was definitely not an option.

That only left the gate.

Although there were no guards outside the gate, there were certainly some inside, and they were likely heavily armed.

Just as Chen Xing was wondering how to get in, a hole suddenly appeared in the wall beside her with a loud BANG.

Through the broken wall, Meng Hu poked his head out.

Chen Xing: "..."

’It can do that?’

But it didn’t seem to have triggered anything. No one came, and no alarms went off.

’Alright, then!’

Chen Xing squeezed through the broken hole.

Meng Hu had been following the convoy the whole time and had already gotten inside long ago.

The people inside knew a tiger had gotten in and had tried to capture it, but they never succeeded.

’Since you’re behaving for once, I’ll forgive you this time!’

However, Chen Xing once again found herself worrying about Meng Hu’s intelligence.

’You followed him all the way here and you’ve been inside for a while, so how did you lose sight of 00002?’

’And if you lost him, didn’t you think to look for him?’

’Animals really are unreliable!’ Chen Xing could only search by herself.

The grounds of the Agricultural Research Institute were full of trees. Some were already tens of meters tall, forming small groves.

And right in the middle of the densest and tallest patch of trees stood a building more than ten stories high.

She hadn’t actually seen this building from the outside.

She had already circled all the smaller surrounding buildings and hadn’t seen a single person, let alone 00002.

She felt there was something suspicious about this building.

So, she had Meng Hu wander around to attract attention while she quietly slipped into the building.

Fortunately, there weren’t many security cameras, so she easily avoided them and searched the entire ground floor.

There was still no sign of 00002.

When she reached the fifth floor and peered out from the stairwell, she saw nothing but a pitch-black corridor. There wasn’t even a single security camera.

Her sharp intuition told her that there was definitely something on this floor.

There were only three doors in the long, narrow corridor.

The first door was just a few steps from the stairwell entrance. The other two were at the far end, facing each other.

Opening the door into the corridor, she walked up to the first door.

It was dead silent inside; there wasn’t a single sound.

Chen Xing reached out and opened the door. It was still pitch-black inside.

But in the darkness, three pairs of eyes, as large as lightbulbs and big as fists, lit up with the excitement of a hunter spotting its prey.

Upon closer inspection, she saw they were large black dogs.

But compared to the large black dogs back at the Research Institute, these three were like kings. They were more than three times larger, seemingly the size of elephants.

Chen Xing’s gaze traveled up from the three giant dog monsters, scanning the entire room. There was only one security camera in the corner.

With a few quick leaps, she knocked out the camera and then faced the giant dog monsters that were closing in on her.

As the giant dog monsters began to move, Chen Xing saw that their long tails dragged on the floor behind them.

And at the tip of each tail, there seemed to be an eye that would blink from time to time.

The sight was incredibly unsettling, making her stomach churn.

Fighting back a wave of nausea, she drew her blade and attacked the giant dog monsters.

Aside from being disgusting, the monsters’ attacks weren’t very strong.

Without much effort, she took down all three monsters and even extracted the Crystal Cores from their heads.

Just as she finished picking up all three Crystal Cores, the tail of the first giant dog monster she had killed twitched.

It then got up, wagging its tail, and attacked Chen Xing, dragging its smashed head behind it.

The tail’s attacks were much more agile than the head’s had been. The tip of the tail suddenly split open, revealing two rows of fangs.

Clearly, the giant dog monster, resurrected after death, was much harder to kill than before.

This wasn’t just because they had become more agile, but also because of their tails.

Unlike the head, the tail wasn’t a large, easy target.

Fortunately, the room was large, so she had space to dodge.

After successfully luring two of the giant dog monsters away, she targeted the one left by itself, pinning its tail to the ground with her blade where it connected to its rump.

With her other blade, she stabbed repeatedly around the tail’s eye until she pinpointed the location of its Crystal Core.

This time, the giant dog monster finally stopped moving.

After dealing with the other two giant dog monsters in the same manner, Chen Xing arrived at the other door.

After seeing the giant dog monsters, she had a rough idea of what this Agricultural Research Institute was about. It had to be connected to the Xingguang Research Institute.

Taking a moment to compose herself, she opened the door in front of her.

She had expected to be met with darkness again, but it was so bright she couldn’t open her eyes.

Surrounded by a sea of white, it felt as if she had stepped into a familiar scene, and a sudden fear gripped her heart.