Leah rushed to Calista's side at once and checked her left hand. When she saw that the wound had split open again, her eyes immediately reddened, and she hurriedly took out the first-aid kit to treat it.
"We did it... We actually did it..." Turner slumped to the floor, muttering to himself, his face filled with disbelief, joy, and lingering fear.
Daryl silently wiped the filthy blood from his hunting knife.
Michonne sheathed her katana, her breathing slightly uneven.
Shane looked at the gate, which was still trembling faintly, as if the monsters inside might smash through it at any moment. Panting hard, he asked, "So what now? We just lock them in there forever?"
Calista let Leah tend to her wound, her cold gaze fixed on the door.
The pounding inside was too frenzied. Just locking them in was not safe enough.
"Bossie, Danny," she said, her voice badly hoarse, "can the high-pressure sterilization cycle here still be started?"
Bossie and Danny immediately rushed to the control terminal outside the sterilization chamber and began operating it quickly.
A few minutes later, Danny looked up, a trace of excitement on his face. "It works, Calista! The backup power can still support one standard high-pressure steam sterilization cycle. The internal temperature can reach up to 134 degrees Celsius, and the pressure..."
"Start it," Calista cut him off without hesitation. "Give them... a good sterilizing."
She had no intention of leaving future trouble behind.
Danny took a deep breath and entered the final command on the terminal.
"Hmm..."
A low hum came from inside the autoclave chamber, drowning out the walkers' roars and pounding.
The indicator light shifted from yellow to red, signaling that lethal heat and pressure were rapidly building inside.
The observation window on the gate was soon covered by thick steam, leaving nothing visible.
But Calista could imagine what was happening inside.
Rotting flesh carbonizing and breaking down under extreme heat and pressure. Bones cracking apart. Those ordinary walkers and hideous mutated walkers being completely purified.
After barely three minutes, the pounding and snarling gradually weakened, then vanished completely.
Only the low hum of the sterilization cycle remained.
The team stood there in silence, listening to the sound of victory.
Everyone's face showed exhaustion, but even more than that, there was the relief of surviving and the immense sense of accomplishment that came from completing an almost impossible mission together.
With the walker threat temporarily removed, they could finally get to work.
They had finally reached the ultimate goal of this trip, the core laboratory located deep within Level B6.
Unlike the wreckage left behind by the battle in the outer corridors, the alloy airtight door of the core laboratory was intact. It even required the high-level access Lorenzo had cracked earlier to open.
Fortunately, Danny had secretly recorded the access key.
Calista thought, Thank you for your contribution, Lorenzo. In the end, you did make full use of your talents.
When the door opened, the core laboratory seemed like another world.
With emergency power still running, it was spacious, bright, and spotless.
The air circulation system operated independently, filtering out the blood and rot from outside, leaving only air that carried the faint clean scent of chemical reagents.
Rows of silver-white lab benches were neatly arranged, covered with a dizzying variety of precision instruments. Most of their indicator lights were dormant, but their surfaces were pristine, clearly maintained very well.
Beyond the huge floor-to-ceiling observation windows were cultivation units designed to simulate natural environments, though they were empty at the moment.
"Jesus Christ... this place looks like people were still coming to work yesterday." Turner clicked his tongue and stepped inside carefully, as if afraid his filthy boots would dirty the mirror-bright floor.
"Don't get careless, Turner," Leah reminded him, her sharp eyes sweeping over every corner. "Check every compartment and storage room."
Only after confirming it was safe did the team truly relax. Like explorers entering a treasure vault, they began carefully taking inventory of their "loot."
Following Calista's guidance and comparing everything against the equipment list Dr. Jenner had provided in advance, they quickly locked onto their targets.
"Look at this!" Danny pointed at a sleek instrument connected to a complicated network of tubes and sensors. Its screen still showed an operating interface that had not fully shut down.
"A high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system! This is the thing Dr. Jenner's been dreaming of. It can precisely analyze the components in complex mixtures."
Beside him, Carver curiously patted a device that looked like an oversized microwave, with precision robotic arms and optical components inside. "And what treasure is this?"
"A fully automated cell culture and live-cell imaging system," Bossie said, reading the label on it. "It can culture cells over long periods and observe their changes in real time."
Soon after, they found a whole pile of equipment.
A next-generation sequencer capable of rapidly reading gene sequences, a miniaturized flow cytometer for quickly analyzing and sorting cells in different states, and a protein purification system used to extract high-purity target proteins from complex samples.
Every single machine was priceless, representing the cutting edge of pre-apocalypse American biotechnology.
Looking at all this intact equipment, excitement appeared on everyone's faces. For a moment, it felt as if all the sacrifice and danger they had endured had finally paid off.
But reality soon cooled that excitement.
"Calista," Mike said with a frown after trying to move one of them. He patted the cold metal casing of the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system. "These things are too heavy, and they're extremely delicate. One bad bump and they might be ruined. With just us, there's no way we can move everything in one trip."
Carver pointed at the cell culture system. "This one's even worse. It has its own liquid nitrogen supply unit. Moving it is like handling some spoiled princess."
"Then we move them in batches," Calista decided immediately. Her gaze swept over the equipment as she quickly weighed the priorities. "Highest priority goes first.
"The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system, the sequencer, and that protein purification system. Those are the three Dr. Jenner specifically named as the core pieces. We focus on getting them to the transit area upstairs first."
Leah turned to the others. "We need carts. As many as we can find, and the sturdier the better."
"Turner and I will go upstairs and look!" Carver volunteered.
He badly needed to do something useful, to push down the frustration that had been building in his chest because the team's lack of combat strength had forced their leader, Calista, to take risks again and again.
"I'll go with you," Shane said unexpectedly, weighing the fire axe in his hand. "For locked doors or anything blocking the way, this is better than a gun."
Daryl said nothing. He simply followed them, his wilderness survival experience always useful when it came to finding supplies.
The four-person team quickly left.
Those who remained began preparing for transport.