BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1303: New Clues (2)

Chapter 1303: New Clues (2)

Erik nodded, then turned back to Amber. “We’ll continue this later. I promise I’m going to take your request seriously.”

Amber nodded, though her expression remained as sad as it was before Erik arrived.

Erik followed the clone through the debris-strewn corridor. The place was worse than he assumed. The damage the bugs made was a lot, and there were still traces of their resinous nesting material covering the walls. But the clones cleared enough to reveal a hidden door.

“We found this sealed room,” the clone said, pointing to a heavy metal door that had been obstructed by fallen ceiling panels the clones removed.

The room was too small for anything worthwhile. At best, it was used as a storage area. The clones called Erik as soon as they found it, since what they found inside of it had been untouched since the facility was abandoned.

“Where is the room’s content?”

“We’re cataloging it, master. There were a lot of safes there. Emily is currently giving a look at it.”

Erik nodded.

“I’ll go there, then,” Erik said. “Maybe we will find the information we need.”

The clones nodded.

Erik returned to the main corridor, where Emily was cataloging the items retrieved from the room.

“Have you found anything useful?”

Emily looked up from her tablet. “Possibly. Most paper documents deteriorated beyond recovery, but we’ve found data storage devices in protective cases. If they still work, they might have something useful.”

“Damn… Everything relied on electricity. Didn’t they have something made out of plastic? I just need a map!”

He sighed. There wasn’t anything he could do anyway, and complaining about the situation wasn’t going to help. “So, we know they made the queen here, but is there a hint of what else they did here?”

“Nothing concrete yet, but based on the laboratory equipment, I suspect they only made biological research.”

Erik frowned.

“Keep searching. Anything that mentions their bases must be flagged immediately. Ignore the rest.”

“Of course.” Emily said. “There’s something else. We found some devices in good condition. Based on what we found, it looks like this wasn’t just a research station—people lived in this underground city. The scientists even brought their families.”

“Families?”

It made sense, given there was an underground city within this cave, but bringing families here seemed unwise. What kind of life could children have, confined inside a cave?

Emily nodded. “We found what looks like a residential section of the building, personal belongings, even children’s toys.”

“I’ll check on the residential area then,” Erik said. “Where is it?”

“Western side. The clones started clearing it an hour ago.”

Erik went through the building, passing teams of clones hauling debris and bug parts. Without the clones, searching around the facility would take months.

Erik got to the residential part of the building. The area was different from the research sections. It looked more like a regular home than a laboratory.

Despite centuries of bug infestation, signs of human habitation remained visible.

There were faded paint colors on the walls, broken furniture, and some belongings that had been kept safe inside sealed boxes.

A clone approached, holding a small metallic object. “Master, we found this in the safe. It survived intact.”

It was a small device, a datapad, old by current standards but sophisticated for its time. The power switch yielded no response, but the hardware looked undamaged.

[I can help you use elemental lord to charge the device. You would destroy it otherwise, you are not used to finesse.]

<Can’t we do it for all the stuff here?>

[We can, but there are many things to consider. If there are damaged parts of the electronics, sending electricity in might put a strain on everything and burn the devices. The best thing is to wait before the clones check and clean everything; then we can try restoring them. As for this thing here, there is no need. We just need to charge it.]

<Let’s do it then.>

The biological supercomputer guided Erik through the process of using Elemental Lord to power the datapad.

[Focus, and remember to limit your output to the bare minimum. You need a controlled current, barely enough to activate the circuits without damaging them.]

Erik nodded and channeled his mana with a huge restraint. He placed a fingertip on the power port, generating a small electrical current. The device vibrated in his palm.

[Increase voltage gradually… There. Keep it at this level.]

The screen flickered, then illuminated with a dim blue glow. An ancient boot sequence scrolled across the display as long-dormant systems struggled back to life.

[Let me take care of it.]

Erik kept focusing on charging the device while the biological supercomputer interfaced with it. Lines of code flashed across his mind as the system bypassed security protocols and authentication requirements.

[I’m done.]

[Personal logs, research notes, facility maps. This belonged to Dr. Matthias Krane, Lead Geneticist.]

Erik scrolled through the files, opening the most recent entries first.

—

PERSONAL LOG: DR. MATTHIAS KRANE DATE: [CORRUPTED]

The board continues to push me to increase the development speed, despite my objections. The thanatocoleoptera’s growth rate is exceeding all projections. I think it’s just a matter of time before we lose control of her, though. She is too smart. I’ve recommended termination of the project, but the higher-ups overruled me. —

Erik opened another file, this one marked as restricted.

—

CLASSIFIED: SPECIMEN MONITORING REPORT CLEARANCE LEVEL: DIRECTOR ONLY

“Sir, we have a situation. There’s been a containment breach at both the Western Outpost and Lake Facility. Some test subjects escaped and are spreading into the surrounding wilderness. We’re tracking them through their implants, but they’re moving faster than we can chase.”

“My team recommends the deployment of containment units with full termination authority.”

“Dr. Krane, I should warn you—the Series X specimens are showing concerning traits. Their adaptation rate went beyond our models, and their survival capabilities are higher than we expected. If your specimen is showing the same results, I suggest you put it down. If these things spread further, we will have a problem.”

(…)

“Update from the board, sir—they’re… they’re delaying our response. They want to assess the military applications first. Security teams are ready, but we’re on hold.” —

“Shit,” Erik said. “It’s then that it happened. These were the first thaids to escape. They are the progenitors of all the motherfuckers out there!”

[Knowing about the event is one thing, but reading these firsthand accounts makes it feel as if it happened hours ago. It no longer seems like ancient history.]

Erik scrolled through more entries, each more damning than the last. Detailed notes on genetic modifications, mana integration procedures, and behavior control systems were just some of the things the doctor wrote on his logs.

“The locations from where they escaped—Site W-3 and Site L-7. Do you know about them? They also talked about a lake facility.”

[I think the naming convention suggests geographic coordinates. W likely stands for West, L for Lake. The numerical designations show specific facilities.]

“Do you know where these places are?” Erik asked, staring at the screen.

[I might have an idea. Site W-3 was likely in the Lorogia mountain range. This explains what the blackguards were searching for.]

They knew the blackguards went there to find a lab, but knowing with certainty it was there was something else.

“What about the lake site?”

[Site L-7 was situated beside Lake Vermillion on the eastern coast, roughly 1200 kilometers southeast. There are no other lakes big enough to be used for whatever they were doing. There is another problem, though: the lake was connected to the sea through a large river, so it’s likely the lake is full of thaids.]

But it wasn’t just that.

“Great, one escape resulted in the land thaids, this resulted in the sea thaids.”

[It’s possible.]

Erik stood, tucking the datapad into his pocket. “We need to search these places.”

[We don’t have enough clones. We would need to delay our expedition to the west, and if we want to have a clear picture of the lab’s locations, we still need to fix everything here. We can’t do this alone. We need Becker. They have the materials, the skills, and the numbers to pull this off quickly.] fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com