Tang Chu found it strange and asked in a low voice.

“Sir, aren’t you going to rest? Or did you find something?”

Zhang Zhe pointed at the replay on the screen and asked, “Did the Dark Knights leave in a different direction from when they came?”

Hearing that, Tang Chu also looked up at the replay.

“I think so.”

Zhang Zhe said, “They left in a direction that leads to the iron mine.”

D*mn that good night’s sleep!

Tang Chu felt that Zhang Zhe was too nervous. Everything could be connected to the Night Owl organization in the iron mine.

“Sir, I think this is just a coincidence. After all, trucks cannot pass through the space tear. It is normal for the Dark Knights to choose another way to return to the prison shelter.”

Zhang Zhe didn’t say anything.

After a moment of silence, he continued, “I need to immediately form an emergency investigation team to conduct an emergency investigation in the iron mine area.”

Tang Chu shivered and saluted, “Yes, sir!”

…

Outside the desert.

Fang Heng commanded the zombie team to move the ores back and forth, loading them into the truck in batches.

The core area of the iron mine had been mined half an hour ago.

Fang Heng didn’t want to waste the remaining low-level ores, so he continued to let the zombie team excavate them.

Seeing so many ores, Lucia’s eyes lit up and she praised, “Fang Heng, you’re amazing. They’re all the highest-level blue crystal ores. Did you excavate them all by yourself? You’re amazing.”

“Not really. Mo Jiawei contributed to the exploration. It was he who found the exact location of the mine.”

Lucia’s mood instantly became a little worse. She looked at Mo Jiawei with a sharp gaze.

“Cough, cough, cough… No, it’s not that. It has nothing to do with me.”

Mo Jiawei, who was drinking water at the side, suddenly felt a chill on his back. He choked on the water and started coughing violently.

“Lucia, I’ll need you to make a few trips later to send the ores back to the Dark Knights’ contact point. These ores are very precious, and I’m worried.”

Lucia felt sweet in her heart.

She felt that this was Fang Heng’s trust in her.

“Okay, I’ll protect these materials.”

“Take a few teams of Lickers to go with you. Be careful along the way. It’s best to take a detour around the shelter. Don’t let the Federation discover you.”

“I promise to complete the mission!”

Lucia’s expression immediately became serious and her eyes were filled with killing intent.

If the Federation discovered them on the way, then kill them all!

[Hint: Your zombie team has completed the excavation of the planned passage area.]

Eh! The passage to the laboratory has been dug!

Seeing the game hint, Fang Heng’s eyes lit up.

“The secret research room’s passage has been dug through. Let’s go and take a look first.”

Raising his head and downing a bottle of coffee, Fang Heng brought Lucia along with Mo Jiawei into the other excavated passage to explore.

After walking along the newly excavated passage for nearly 20 minutes, an open area finally appeared in front of them.

Fang Heng was the first to step into it.

This was an abandoned laboratory that had been remodelled!

Most of the laboratory had been remodelled. The building and the cave had merged into one, and all kinds of experimental equipment could be seen scattered inside.

After confirming that it was safe, the three of them walked into the laboratory and searched for clues on their own.

The original entrance to the laboratory had been sealed.

Fang Heng smelled the residual smell of gunpowder in the air.

It seemed like the entrance to the passage had been blown up just like the mine.

Fang Heng pondered and walked to the side of the main control machine, casually pressing it.

[Hint: Player has been detected to have relevant mechanical repair skills.]

[Hint: The current machine is too old to complete repair.]

[Hint: The current machine lacks power and cannot be operated.]

The machine could not be operated because of age and lack of power.

“Eh?”

Fang Heng noticed a white human skeleton on the seat beside him.

The skeleton’s coat had the symbol of the Meteorite Company on it.

Fang Heng walked forward and took out a tattered notebook from the pocket of the skeleton’s coat.

[Hint: You have obtained an item-researcher’s notebook.]

Fang Heng tried to open the notebook.

As it had been too long, the notebook had rotted, and many of its contents could not be seen.

“Crystallized forms.”

“They were an extremely special kind of life form.”

“We had done a big data comparison, but we could not find any known life form on Earth that had a similar structure to crystallized forms.”

“Most of the time, crystallized forms were in a dormant state, maintaining extremely low vital signs.”

“They seem to be able to live for eternal life.”

“Dr Diehl was the first scientist to discover the existence of crystallized bodies and he was the most authoritative researcher on them.”

“He believed that humans could find a way to live for eternal life from crystallized forms.”

“Similarly, he believed that crystallized forms were closely related to a substance called blue crystal ore.”

“I was very happy to join Dr Diehl’s research team.”

“Under his leadership, we spent three years in the desert to find the blue crystal mine.”

“Meteorite Company decided to build a laboratory here for research.”

“I finally got what I wanted!”

….

“Dr Diehl was right!”

“We found that this kind of life form lived and purified by absorbing the strength of the blue crystal.”

“In the beginning, when the blue crystal was lacking, they would be very docile, not aggressive, and most of the time dormant.”

“They could feel the presence of blue crystals nearby.”

“Dr Diehl decided to conduct an experiment and try to use blue crystals to feed the crystallized form.”

…

“As the number of blue crystals swallowed increased, the crystallized form gradually became out of control.”

…..

“Dr Diehl’s physical condition had been bad for the past two days.”

“Everyone was talking about him. Rumour had it that he had fallen ill because he was too tired from the hard work of the experiment.”

“But I knew that wasn’t the case.”

“Dr Diehl was experimenting on crystallized forms himself.”

“The experiment was in trouble.”

“Dr Diehl began to fall into a coma.”

“We continued with the experimental protocol he left behind.”

“Hopefully, we can find a way to bring Dr Diehl back.”

…

“Something’s wrong.”

“The crystallized form that was sent to Meteorite Company went berserk.”

“I heard the crystallized form destroyed the entire main company building.”

“We received an internal order from the Meteorite Company to stop all research on the crystallized forms, destroy all crystallized forms and all traces of research on the crystallized forms.”

“They even had to destroy Mr Diehl’s corpse on the spot!”

“I sensed that the Meteorite Company was afraid.”

“They were anxious to clean up everything!”

“I understand the dangers of crystallized forms.”

“But… we’ve reached this point in our research!”

“Destroy them all?”

“I’m not resigned to fate!”

“I’ll never agree to them doing this!”

“Mr Diehl isn’t dead! He’s just dormant!”

“I’ll never allow them to stop Mr Diehl’s experiment.”

“I believe that one day, the experimental subject will restart.”

…

“Tsk, another madman…”

Fang Heng closed the notebook and muttered to himself in a low voice.

He called Lucia and Mo Jiawei, “Hey, have you heard of this crystallized thing?”

The two of them turned around and gave Fang Heng a blank look.