Apart from a pile of skeletons on the floor, covered in a thick layer of dust, the laboratory was remarkably well-preserved. Unlike the green vines that had completely overgrown the entrance, the walls and floor were intact, free of dark red stains from dried blood or any signs of destruction.
Normally, when laboratory personnel flee in panic, one would immediately assume that a monster had escaped containment and was hunting them down.
Lingsha glanced again at the skeletons on either side. They were remarkably intact, with no fractures or breaks. Could this mean the staff hadn't been attacked before their deaths?
As they pondered this, the trio continued forward. After walking about five or six meters down the corridor, they reached a crossroads. In the center stood a white robot, its massive head-mounted display slowly illuminating as it detected their approach.
Curious, Ikezawa leaned closer to examine it. The screen displayed a line of small text:
Laboratory Assistant Initializing... Initializing...
"Is this... a guide robot? It looks so advanced..." Ikezawa murmured. The next moment, the display screen flashed red, the "Booting Up..." message instantly transforming into "Detecting ¥#%... Intrusion #&."
The screen flickered with static and black-and-white pixelated blocks, while the entire machine buzzed erratically.
The robot had no legs; its lower body was a single unit with two wheels. But it did have two arms, which it now swiftly raised, a red glow emanating from its palms.
"Watch out!" Li reacted fastest. Lingsha noticed that the moment the robot's screen lit up, Li's usually drooping ears had snapped upright, her gaze darting around the room with heightened alertness.
This wasn't merely a reaction; it was more like an innate sense of danger. True to form, Li was the first to sense the threat and lunged toward Ikezawa.
However, ever since entering the laboratory, Ikezawa had kept his distance from Li out of fear. Now that they were relatively far apart, Li's intervention took precious seconds longer.
Ikezawa stared blankly at the robot before him, his mind still reeling. In the next instant, two red lasers shot from the robot's palms, and a tremendous force slammed him to the ground. Even with his enhanced physique, the impact sent searing pain through his body, making his bones feel as if they were about to shatter.
Naturally, it was Li, the Beast-Eared Girl, who had tackled him—a full-body lunge, not a push to clear him out of the way.
But that split-second delay proved critical. The lasers grazed Li's lower abdomen and right forearm, leaving two gaping puncture wounds.
Ignoring her injuries completely, Li swept her leg out and toppled the robot. She swiftly mounted it, pinning down the still-firing mechanical arms and ripping them off with brutal force, the metal shrieking in protest.
Readjusting her stance, she planted a foot on the robot's torso. With a deafening screech of twisted metal, she tore apart the alloy plating with her bare hands and wrenched the robot's head clean off!
Zzz... zzz...
At the point where the robot's head had been severed from its body, multicolored wires sparked intermittently.
Seeing this, Lingsha's lips twitched slightly. For some reason, even though it was a machine, she felt a disturbing sense of bloodshed.
Ikezawa finally snapped out of his daze, gritting his teeth as he scrambled to his feet and rushed to Li's side. "Are you hurt?!"
The laser's intense heat had cauterized Li's wound, preventing any bleeding. Instead, a faint smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air. But no matter how you looked at it, a penetrating injury like this was undeniably serious.
Ikezawa turned to Lingsha, but before he could speak, she stepped forward. A wisp of pink scent materialized in her palm and drifted toward Li. Purely external wounds like this were the easiest to treat, easily healed with the medicinal scents stored in her incense burner (her portable medicine chest).
As the healing scent enveloped her, Li couldn't suppress a giggle. "It... it tickles so much! Hahaha..."
In less than ten seconds, Li's wound had completely healed. This was the undeniable advantage of having a healer in the team. Though Lingsha hadn't reacted quickly enough when the robot attacked, she could certainly "top up everyone's health" after the battle.
Ikezawa hesitated, then turned to Li. "You rushed in to save me without even knowing how dangerous that laser was?"
After all, this was a terrifying weapon that could slice someone in half with a single sweep. What kind of laboratory would arm a guide robot with such a thing?
Li's ears drooped again as she relaxed her guard. Wagging her tail, she replied matter-of-factly, "Didn't I promise to protect you before we left? As for that strange monster... is it called 'Laser'? I've never seen one before, but no matter what the enemy is, I'll keep my promise!"
Ikezawa opened his mouth as if to speak, but ultimately said nothing.
Lingsha, observing from the side, saw through it all. A naive young man, a pure and adorable Beast-Eared Girl who was incredibly kind to him, and a reverse damsel-in-distress rescue? It was no wonder he was falling head over heels.
Yet the reality was far more complicated. Ikezawa felt a tangled mix of gratitude, affection, fear, and trepidation toward Li. This emotional turmoil left him utterly confused.
Regardless, once Li's injuries had improved, the exploration had to continue.
After some time, Lingsha had roughly figured out the layout of the crossroads. To the left was the cafeteria, straight ahead were the staff living quarters, and to the right was the laboratory—their primary target.
Cylindrical glass tanks stretched from floor to ceiling, densely packed throughout the laboratory, spaced about a meter apart. Each was filled with a dark, murky green liquid.
The liquid's deep color and low transparency made it impossible to see clearly inside. Only faint silhouettes of floating biological forms were barely discernible.
After a quick survey of the surroundings, Lingsha focused on the largest glass tank in the center of the laboratory. Several machines stood beside it, colorful tubes snaking out from their bodies and connecting to the central tank.