Chapter 92: Suspicious Activity!

Ethan was supposed to freeze in shock at the realization that they had been caught. After all, they had just been discovered sneaking into the Empire’s research facility, and there was no telling what kind of punishment awaited them if they were caught trespassing inside such a heavily restricted area.

Except, Ethan couldn’t freeze.

Not when he recognized that voice immediately.

"Lara?"

The surprise in Ethan’s voice was unmistakable, and Jake looked just as shocked as him.

The two of them immediately jumped down from the fence and landed on the other side, quickly straightening themselves before coming face to face with the person who had just caught them.

Lara.

Ethan stared at her with wide eyes, and somehow, he was even more shocked by the fact that she was standing there than he had been when he thought they had been caught by the facility’s security.

Lara was here.

The same Lara who had refused to come with them when they had first discussed this ridiculous mission was actually standing right there inside the Empire’s research facility.

For a moment, Ethan could only stare at her as though she had suddenly grown another head.

"Lara? You came? You actually came!!" Jake suddenly squealed, his face lighting up with obvious excitement.

"Yeah, I came," Lara replied casually, as though sneaking into an Empire research facility in the middle of the night was something perfectly normal. "But that doesn’t dispute the fact that this idea is ridiculous. I just couldn’t let the both of you have all the fun or get in trouble without me, so I had to catch up."

Ethan groaned loudly.

Was this girl stupid?

He was already here, and he was already beginning to rethink his decision to participate in this ridiculous mission. In fact, if someone had given him the chance to turn around and go back to the academy right now, he would have seriously considered taking it.

Yet Lara, who had somehow managed to get out early and avoid all the trouble they had gone through, had voluntarily come all the way here to join them.

To experience what exactly?

"You’re the actual dummy for taking this decision," Ethan let out in a huff, staring at her as though her decision made absolutely no sense.

Lara rolled her eyes before gesturing for them to move.

"Come on, less talking and more moving before we’re caught. And yeah, you guys are the dummies. Don’t you recognize when a gate is open? Why did you have to climb the fence?"

Ethan’s expression immediately stiffened.

He slowly turned his head toward Jake.

His eyes narrowed.

"Ask him," Ethan said, pointing at Jake as they began walking. "Who happened to have ’planned everything out’? You just made me exhaust my energy for nothing."

"Fuck off."

Jake didn’t even bother looking back as he continued walking.

Ethan rolled his eyes and followed them, still unable to believe that he had actually climbed over that ridiculous fence when the damn gate had apparently been open the entire time.

The three of them continued farther into the facility, following Jake, who happened to have everything in the area mapped out beforehand and was the one among them who knew the area the most.

Jake led the way while Ethan and Lara followed closely behind, their torches casting narrow beams of light ahead of them as they moved deeper into the compound.

The darkness made it difficult to see much beyond the path directly in front of them. The enormous research facility was mostly quiet, with the towering structures surrounding them disappearing into the darkness above, their outlines barely visible beneath the night sky.

Every now and then, Ethan’s torchlight swept across the nearby walls, revealing metallic surfaces, sections of reinforced structures, and pathways leading toward different parts of the facility.

The deeper they went, however, the more Ethan became aware of something that was beginning to bother him.

There was no security.

None.

Ethan had expected to encounter guards almost immediately after entering the facility, especially considering how important and heavily restricted this place was supposed to be. Even if the outer entrance had somehow been left unattended, surely there should have been security personnel stationed somewhere inside.

Yet there was nothing.

No guards patrolling the pathways.

No security officers standing around the buildings.

No voices.

No movement.

Nothing.

Ethan’s grip tightened slightly around his torch as he glanced around again.

The strange silence was beginning to feel unsettling.

"I’m surprised there still isn’t any security here," Jake mused, sounding slightly happy about their unexpected luck, although the confusion in his voice made it obvious that the situation bothered him in much the same way it bothered Ethan.

Lara looked around as well, her brows drawing together.

"Yeah, me too. No security outside, nor inside, and the gate was open too. It’s really fucking weird."

Ethan immediately nodded.

"Exactly."

At least he wasn’t the only one who found the situation suspicious.

The fact that both Jake and Lara were equally confused gave Ethan some comfort, because it meant he wasn’t simply overthinking things. There really was something strange about the complete absence of security in a place like this.

For a moment, the three of them continued walking while the uncomfortable feeling lingered between them, but eventually, perhaps because they had already come this far or because none of them could think of a better explanation, they collectively brushed the uneasiness aside and decided to take it as nothing more than the universe finally being on their side.

After all, they had expected the Research Facility to be heavily guarded, yet they had somehow managed to enter without encountering a single person.

Maybe they were simply lucky. Maybe Jake’s calculations had actually been right. Maybe this really was their chance to get in, look around, obtain something useful, and leave without anyone ever knowing they had been there.

Whatever the reason was, none of them had enough information to figure it out, so they continued walking.

But if they had looked just a little more closely, if they had taken even a few seconds to lower their torches toward the ground instead of keeping their attention fixed on the path ahead, they would have noticed the traces of blood scattered across the ground.

They would have noticed the dropped weapons lying abandoned along the path.

And perhaps they would have realized that the Empire’s Research Facility was not nearly as empty as they thought it was.