Chapter 96: Just Open This Door

Alina shook her head. The fleeting black figure, though with eyes glowing red like Reno's, had circular dots that couldn't possibly belong to a human or Doll.

Humanoid eyes didn't glow, and even if IOP's designers had added such a feature, it wouldn't appear on multiple Dolls simultaneously.

"I can't tell, but it seems massive, possibly even larger than that tall Reno."

"Larger than him? That's impossible. The Dolls I saw with Reno were mostly short. The tallest one was probably a low-level model like Simonov."

"What now? We need to find a way to escape. He only locked the front door; the basement exit should still be open!" Alina struggled to stand, knowing she could easily cut through the ropes binding her wrists with the objects scattered around the room.

At least, that's what she thought.

"Turn around. There's a dagger in my boot; he didn't take it." Nicholas straightened, feeling around his boot sole, pulling out a dagger about ten centimeters long. With it, he slowly severed the ropes binding him.

After releasing the ropes, Nicholas rubbed his bruised wrists. "Ah, right, I was given an evaluation report about Reno. Haven't had the chance to look at it yet."

"An evaluation? Is that necessary?"

"We'll see once we read it." Nicholas pulled out a small USB drive from his briefcase and connected it to Alina's computer.

"Now's not the time for this! Shouldn't we check the situation outside and contact headquarters for support?" Alina impatiently urged.

"Not yet. The communication tower is only three hundred meters away. We can go anytime. I think it's better to finish reading this first. My superior made it clear I should do so before taking any action."

The video began with footage from G&K's base, showing Dolls and staff members running through corridors, apparently fleeing from pursuers. They quickly erected obstacles using ammunition boxes and other debris, providing some cover.

However, the attackers' assault was fiercer than expected. Within minutes, gunshots that initially sounded distant were right at the camera's location. Griffin's defense line collapsed within five minutes, with all Dolls defeated, and the human staff retreating to the main control room.

"This is from a year ago, right? Why show it now?" Alina noted the date in the corner of the video, 2060, whereas it was now 2061. It was old footage.

"It was difficult to obtain due to internal scrutiny. We retrieved it a few months ago, but it hasn't been widely circulated. It's not something you want to publicize." Nicholas furrowed his brows, wondering about the video's significance.

Was it meant to expose Griffin's vulnerabilities?

In the footage, fully equipped operatives quickly overran the corridor, suppressing Griffin's personnel.

At this rate, it would take only three minutes for the assailants to wipe out all Griffin personnel and retreat unscathed.

"Smoke grenades? They're throwing everything at us. What's the point? The attackers' suits can clearly..." Alina was puzzled by the assortment of grenades and smoke signals being thrown out.

However, as the smoke dissipated, two red dots suddenly appeared!

"What's this!?" Alina exclaimed at the sight of the two dots, identical to Reno's eyes!

"It's him, just as you suspected!" Nicholas stared intently at the time in the upper right corner. As the smoke cleared, screams from the fully armed attackers echoed.

As the gunfire and screams ceased, Reno's imposing figure, accompanied by ordinary-looking Dolls, entered Griffin's control room.

The video ended there, and Nicholas finally understood why his superior wanted him to watch it before taking action.

"Forty-one seconds. From Reno charging into the smoke to eliminating all attackers, just forty-one seconds..."

"No wonder... He touched you earlier, and you didn't even notice..."

Alina, now too preoccupied with the danger they faced, no longer thought of Nicholas as slow-witted. Facing such an opponent, surviving their initial encounter seemed like a miracle.

The report following the video was marked with bold red letters: 'Extremely Dangerous! Rational but communicative.'

Communicative? Communicate what? Should they just approach him and ask what he wanted?

But then it stated that Reno had clashed with a Griffin client known as Poryushkin at the 939 base and was currently tracking him down.

Additionally, it detailed the actions of Poryushkin, who had attempted to rewrite the minds of Reno's Dolls with a virus.

"That Poryushkin guy has guts, trying to tamper with Reno's Dolls... Wait! If Reno's active, does that mean Poryushkin, or whoever he is, is in this city!?" Alina exclaimed, then quickly corrected herself.

"Most likely. At the very least, he's had contact with someone in the city. Let's go check the basement exit you mentioned."

The exit Alina referred to was actually a cellar entrance, inconspicuous and easily missed. All they had to do was push open the trapdoor...

Bang!

Push...

Nothing moved. The wooden trapdoor, not overly heavy, now felt as if it weighed a ton, immovable. Despite their efforts, they couldn't budge it an inch.

Outside the trapdoor, an iron trash bin pressed down on it, filled with sand...