Chapter 973 "Unexpected Mission"

"Tell me, what exactly is this place?" Li Jie frowned as he stood in front of the huge transparent screen, which was playing a mysterious video that they had just come across. The person in the video looked extremely serious, and seemed to have an unquestionable aura.

"How should I know?" Xiao Chen stared at the screen and rolled his eyes. "I knew something like this would happen. Look, this place must be something special. They gave us a mission as soon as we entered."

"Mission?" Li Jie's eyes widened. "Are you sure it's a mission and not a trap?"

"Isn't this an obvious task?" Xiao Chen said disapprovingly, "Look at this, identity verification is successful, and the task has begun. If this isn't a task, then what is it?"

Li Jie looked at the sound fluctuations in the projection with a serious face, "However, it feels a bit like being forcibly pulled into a game, with no choice at all."

"Yes! You are absolutely right." Xiao Chen patted Li Jie on the shoulder, "This is simply the plot of 'Today is my first day in a strange club'."

"Stop talking nonsense and see what's behind it." Li Jie turned around and pointed at the screen. "No matter what it is, let's take a look at the content of the mission first."

The projection continued, and a new message flashed:

“Mission Objective: To ensure the safety of the laboratory, you need to complete the following three tasks:

Find and collect the key to the core room of the laboratory.

Complete the designated energy collection tasks.

Bypass all laboratory guard systems."

"What the hell is this?" Li Jie looked at Xiao Chen with a wry smile, "Are they thinking we are sent by some adventure team? Why is the mission so complicated?"

"It seems so, 'avoid all guard systems'?" Xiao Chen touched his chin, "Are these guard systems human or mechanical? If they are mechanical, I can bring my tools and smash them a few times."

Li Jie patted Xiao Chen's shoulder fiercely, "Can you be more serious? Can't you think about whether there is a bigger conspiracy behind this mission?"

"There's no conspiracy," Xiao Chen curled his lips, "but I'm sure they are definitely joking with us. Look at the difficulty of this mission. They didn't even open the door for us!"

"Yeah, it's quite difficult. We haven't even found the door to the laboratory yet." Li Jie pointed at the light wall in front of him, "Do you think we can get out from here?"

"I think we have a chance." Xiao Chen showed a proud smile, "I won the gold medal in the escape room before."

"Don't be ridiculous. I designed a difficult problem for you to win the gold medal last time." Li Jie pouted, "Look, you failed again."

"I...I was wrong," Xiao Chen said angrily, "That's because I chose to surrender when I encountered a difficult situation."

Li Jie was speechless, "You are indeed a unique person."

"Thank you for the compliment." Xiao Chen smiled. "By the way, the mission has begun. We can't waste this opportunity. Why don't we go see where the 'laboratory core room' is?"

"Good idea." Li Jie nodded, "But we have to figure out what this place is first. Look at the man in that video, why does he look like a robot?"

"Robot?" Xiao Chen's eyes lit up. "You mean... we just happened to enter an alien base?"

Li Jie said with a deadpan expression, "Can you please stop having such unrealistic fantasies?"

"Unrealistic? Have you ever thought that this place might be a laboratory for aliens to study humans?" Xiao Chen said seriously, "Look, these devices are obviously not at the technological level of Earth."

Li Jie took a deep breath and said, "Can you be more normal? These devices are obviously what we have seen before. Let alone aliens, even on Earth, these technologies are not very rare."

"Then you are too conservative." Xiao Chen smiled, "Don't you think we are doing what scientists love to do most? Exploring the unknown!"

Li Jie suddenly stopped and his eyes lit up. "Now that you put it that way, it does make sense."

"Look, although the mission sounds a bit complicated, at least it gives us a direction." Xiao Chen said as he began to study the surrounding environment. "Look here, the button on the wall should be the control device leading to the next room."

"Yeah." Li Jie nodded, "We can try that button first."

The two walked to the wall, and sure enough, there was a big red button on the wall. Li Jie's heart tightened, and he reached out and pressed it.

boom--!

As the button was pressed, the entire laboratory suddenly made a roar, and then a door on the wall slowly opened. Behind the door was a dim corridor, and there seemed to be a brighter light at the end of the corridor.

"Let's go!" Li Jie quickly rushed over with Xiao Chen.

Blue lights flickered on the walls of the corridor, and the air was filled with a cool metallic smell. Xiao Chen couldn't help but cough, "Why does this place... feel like a high-tech base in a science fiction movie?"

"Yes," Li Jie looked around, "but no matter what, we have to keep going."

"Hey, wait!" Xiao Chen suddenly stopped and pointed at the screen on the wall, "Look, there is a monitoring system here."

"Surveillance?" Li Jie frowned. "Be careful, our actions may be monitored."

"Don't worry, I have experience!" Xiao Chen smiled easily, "Let's go and see if we can find some clues through this system."

They approached the control panel on the wall and were about to operate it when suddenly, the red light on the panel flashed a few times and then a line of words appeared:

"Warning: Intruder has been detected, security defense mode activated."

"What?" Li Jie's eyes widened. "It's over. It looks like we've been targeted."

"Hurry! Hide quickly!" Xiao Chen grabbed Li Jie's hand and rushed towards a small cubicle next to him.

The moment I ran in, noisy mechanical sounds came from the entire corridor, and rows of mechanical arms extended from the ceiling and began to rotate.

"Why is there another mechanical monster like this!" Li Jie looked at the mechanical arms nervously, "You can't rely on your escape skills this time!"

Xiao Chen looked very proud, "Don't worry, my escape skills are invincible!"

"Just wait to be caught." Li Jie smiled coldly, "You have hit a hard nail this time."