From Both Sides

Damien frowned.

"Emmett, will the other lab also be an option later? Or is it a one time thing?"

Emmett chimed in.

"All labs will remain an option so long as we need research results from them!"

Damien nodded.

"So what does the new purchasable option mean?"

Emmett replied cheerily.

"Within 24 hours we will provide a new shop item if everything goes as expected."

Damien raised an eyebrow.

"Expected?"

Emmett paid no heed to the sarcasm in Damien's tone.

"Yes! Even lab missions that do not explicitly give a reward can provide a new shop item. Missions that explicitly state a purchasable option means there is a very high chance this will be true!"

Zenos frowned.

"What was the difficulty rating of the lab we just cleared?"

Emmett happily replied.

"The last lab had a difficulty rating of 0.2!"

Adonis' face twitched.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Emmett was as cheery as ever.

"Nope!"

Killian sighed.

"We probably shouldn't take on the harder one, but I won't object if you guys want to."

Damien narrowed his eyes.

"We did not come prepared for a more difficult mission. In that case, we should have gotten you a shotgun magazine over submachine gun bullets. Even the easiest one is a bit of a stretch."

Zenos nodded.

"We should not bite off more than we can chew. Besides, the new shop offer is intriguing."

Damien's eyes swiveled between the other three.

"So are we all in agreement?"

The three nodded.

Damien voted for 'Lab Code: 0002'.

After a few moments, Emmett's voice rang out.

"Four votes for Lab Code two. Zero Votes for Lab Code three. Team Alpha has claimed the right to clear Lab Code two!"

Before anyone could say anything the mechanical bindings around their faces returned.

With that, the shuttle jostled and the four of them began moving with the sounds of clanking and whirring.

This ride was only a few minutes long. The shuttle came to an abrupt stop and the door opened.

Adonis stood up and sighed.

"Here we go again."

Damien tried to grab his flashlight, but the sudden pain made him stop. The corner of his lip twitched.

He forgot that his left hand was fully pierced through by a vine. The pain was only significant when he tried to force it. That must've been why it slipped his mind.

Though it hurt, Damien held the flashlight. His middle finger and ring finger both hung limply, but his others were more or less functional.

The four walked out with their flashlights and saw a familiar sight.

The room was wide as usual and there was a gate with a keypad.

Zenos looked at the group.

"If it is possible to be undetected by these monsters, perhaps we can recover the test results without even fighting."

Adonis rubbed his hand against his chin.

"That sounds like a good idea. That would save our stamina as well right?"

Damien furrowed his brows. He felt uneasy but couldn't put his finger on why.

"I... have a bad feeling about that, I'm not entirely sure why. We don't have to fix what isn't broken."

Zenos sighed.

"But we cannot be content with what works. Humanity is built upon innovation, and improvement. We cannot stagnate, especially since these labs will get harder."

Damien rubbed his knuckle against his temple.

"Alright, since Killian and I are injured, give us some time to adjust our breathing."

Killian shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't need any rest. I am as ready as ever."

Damien shook his head.

"Nevermind then. Let's go."

The four of them took out their flashlights and put them on the lowest setting. Zenos placed his hand on the keypad. After a faint green light went up and down.

The gates slowly opened to reveal a void.

Adonis and Zenos walked ahead while Killian and Damien were behind them. As the two in the front shined the light on what was in front of them, the two in the back shone it on the ceiling.

There were no mishaps for a while.

Suddenly, there was a spasming coming from in front. Everyone immediately turned off their flashlights.

Zenos turned on his flashlight once the spasming stopped, shining it towards the left. Adonis did the same and the group changed directions.

There were no other encounters. And now, they had reached a gate on the left side of the room.

Zenos slowly navigated his way to the keypad. Like last time, he placed his hand against the keypad and a green light scanned it.

The gates opened a slit, revealing a weak orange light.

Damien's eyebrows furrowed as he frowned.

The monsters that suddenly decided to break down the gate. What prompted them to do that?

He remembered the flower. It was able to detect them easily, but more important than that was the strange shriek it had.

Normally no matter how much sound they made, it would not trigger any monsters in other rooms.

But that shriek was able to alert monsters past the gate.

Damien wanted to tell everyone, but making sound at this juncture would doom them. He only hoped his predictions were off.

As the gates continued to open, the pale orange light became clearer. Adonis shined his light on what was in front of them.

It was similar to a pale-skin, but terribly emaciated. The most notable feature was the yellow bulb the size of a basketball. The bulb was where a person's heart would be and had black veins wrapped around it.

The bulb was the source of the pale orange light, which Adonis was currently pointing his flashlight at.

Once he did so, the creature fell to its knees. The whole party turned off their flashlights.

Unfortunately, the bulb began shining brighter, lighting up the whole room. As that was happening, a deep growl came from the creature, growing more loud and high pitched by the second.

Damien had already pulled out his pistol and was aiming at the creature's head.

He fired, causing the emaciated creature's head to snap back, and the light from its bulb dimmed.

Damien frowned.

"Close the door!"

Zenos furrowed his brows and slammed his hand onto the keypad. The green light scanned his hand before the gates slowly closed.

As roars echoed across the room, Damien turned his flashlight onto its highest setting and dropped it on the ground.

The creatures from behind the gate were getting to their feet and charging the gate as it closed.

As for the room they were in, there were three pale-skins that were all about two meters away. On the other side of the room were three reachers that were rising from the floor and a fourth one that fell from the ceiling.

Adonis pulled his light machine gun off his back and fell down on one knee. He began firing, trying hard to pull down his gun to combat the recoil. The pale-skin in front of him got filled with bullet wounds all over its body and fell down.

Zenos pulled out his katana and charged at a pale-skin while it was standing up. Once the pale-skin got onto its feet, a katana zipped past its neck. The head fell to the ground while the body fell back, like a tree that had been cut down.

Killian pulled out his submachine gun and began firing. He fired a burst of five bullets at the last pale-skin. As the bullets hit it, the pale-skin stumbled backwards and died soon after. One missed, but the other four hit.

Damien was aiming his pistol at a reacher, then he fired a bullet. The bullet pierced through the reacher's head, splashing blood across the floor.

But it was still alive.

As for the gate behind them, it had almost completely closed, but the creatures would not give up because of that.

Before the gates fully closed, a pale-skin rammed into the gate, bending the bottom metal plate of the gate, preventing it from fully closing.

Adonis and Killian fired in bursts at the reachers across the room, but not without missing shots.

Zenos held his snub nose shotgun and observed the situation.

Damien continued firing while taking a few seconds to aim each shot.

Though it was messy, one reacher after another fell to the floor, until there was only one left standing.

However, before they could finish it off, a large bang resounded from behind them.

The gate had been breached.