Chapter Twenty-Six: The Enchantress in the Secret Chamber (Part One)

After ten days of travel, Wood and his companions finally arrived at their destination, Bio City. The moment they entered the city, Wood had a powerful intuition: this was the place where he could uncover the cause of the viral outbreak and eliminate the source of the contamination.

For safety’s sake, Wood chose to enter the city in the morning. Unlike him, Kong Yangyun and the others could not see in the dark, so daylight was much safer for them.

During the journey, they had observed certain traits of the zombies: they relied mostly on their sense of smell to hunt for the living. So, before entering the city, everyone ensured the windows of the “Puma” vehicle were tightly sealed. Sure enough, no zombies harassed them along the way. After about an hour of driving, they arrived directly at the gates of what Musiyu had described as the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

The grounds of the company spanned several hectares, and the luxurious office tower was at least fifty stories high, presenting a formidable sight. “This is the place!” Musiyu said. “Let’s go straight to the top floor. Typically, that’s where the CEO’s office is. For classified places like laboratories, I’d wager the only clues are there.”

Wood had wanted the others to wait in the car while he went up alone, but was met with unanimous resistance. Their argument was that more people meant greater strength and a faster search. Unable to persuade them otherwise, Wood acquiesced.

For some reason, there seemed to be no zombies inside the building—an eerie silence reigned. Fortunately, it was broad daylight; at night, the oppressive quiet would have driven anyone away in terror. The group followed the dust-laden corridors to the elevators, which, surprisingly, were still operational and resting on the ground floor. They all boarded and rode directly to the top.

As anticipated, the top floor was indeed the CEO’s office. The trouble was, a bulletproof glass door blocked their entry, and after searching in vain for a way to open it, Wood simply drew a high-frequency oscillating blade from his dimensional bracelet and sliced through the glass in one stroke.

However, the moment the glass was breached, a piercing alarm blared throughout the building—the security system had been triggered. Without hesitation, Wood plunged the blade into the neighboring circuit breaker. With a thunderous bang, the entire power system shorted out, and the alarm fell silent.

The group rushed into the CEO’s office. Musiyu immediately activated the computer on the desk to search for files, while Qiao’er and Musiqing rifled through paperwork. Kong Yangyun, accompanied by his wife, scouted the area. The CEO’s office was extremely spacious and lavishly decorated; Qiao’er even managed to retrieve a small chest of gold from a safe. Yet, despite working for over an hour, they found nothing about the laboratory.

Unwilling to give up, Musiyu tried searching the secretary’s desk computer but still came up empty-handed. At that moment, Kong Yangyun, who was exploring, inadvertently triggered a hidden mechanism. In the room adjacent to the CEO’s office, a cargo-style elevator appeared. Strangely, despite the building’s power being cut, the elevator’s power indicator was functioning normally. The group entered and found it had only a single button. Kong Yangyun pressed it, and the elevator began to ascend, but no floor numbers were displayed. Only then did they realize the CEO’s office wasn’t actually the topmost level; where this secret elevator led was anyone’s guess.

After about ten seconds, the elevator stopped. The doors opened to reveal another luxurious office, but on the plush carpet were streaks of what appeared to be blood. In stark contrast to the opulence, the room was dotted with shackles, whips, and other such implements. Most disturbing of all, there was a suspended iron bed in one corner, grotesquely out of place in the lavish setting.

Wood did not understand what this was for, but Kong Yangyun grinned slyly. “Heh, looks like the CEO had some… special interests.” The women appeared puzzled, but Wood suddenly realized: this was the CEO’s secret chamber—he liked to indulge in certain kinks. On hearing this, the four women blushed crimson while Wood glanced around, spotting a small door beside the iron bed.

He pushed it open and found a surveillance room inside, along with several discs and similar items. Wood casually inserted one of the discs into the player, and soon the room filled with obscene sounds. The screen displayed two men abu