Dante stood up and glanced at the entrance to the core area. A strange smile appeared on his face as he couldn't help but be amused by the situation.
What was the scariest thing? It was when there was fatal and agony-inducing danger was nearby and you could not see it. This was why the horror genre was so popular, not because of the jumpscares, but because of the promise of violence in the corner of your vision that you could not see.
A person watching a horror movie was not too frightened when they as well as the protagonist could not see the danger and were jumpscared. It was only averagely scary at best.
What was truly terrifying was when you could see the horrifying danger approaching the protagonist but they could not see it even as it was about to effect its violence upon them.
Anyone who was watching Dante walk through the gates of this facility could not help but feel terrified on behalf of the central hub below, for it simply did not realize that a fatal danger was casually approaching it while it simply could not see nor detect him.
Dante walked through the central lab and noticed many things.
The first thing was that it was absolutely dark, with only flashing lights from a few screens in play. After all, these cameras were able to work in low light conditions to still capture any trace of intrusion, so the light was not needed.
The second thing was the set of stairs and elevator at the end of the hallway that led to the floors below. Dante already knew from the branch hub that there were multiple floors underground for this laboratory that were shielded from satellites or any form of spying in order to hide what was going on there.
The third and final thing was that the technology level in this lab far surpassed Earth, being almost futuristic, but not at the level of a high sci-fi universe like the Eternal Universe.
Unfortunately for Dante, he could not hack into any of the digital outlets here because his AI chip was already working at full capacity to block the sight of the quantum computer that acted as the central hub.
Luckily for Dante, this ground floor of the lab was more like a lobby with some basic cubicles and rooms for scientists to perform banal experiments that looked awesome on the surface. This was in case of any government inspections or enemy interference would not reveal their true nature.
There was no useful information here nor any weapons, and even the defenses were not present here. If any inspectors came and saw turrets lining the work area, they would obviously be suspicious.
One could say that this ground floor was like the rest area of a dungeon, the place where there are no enemies nor spawns. Given that one faced a 'mini' dungeon outside, this was probably to grant the players who came here a respite before trudging on.
Dante did not need this. If he was wounded or needed to rest, he could just teleport back to his residence and visit the hospital on the school grounds then come back and continue. As such, he directly walked to the stairs and took it down to the next level.
You didn't expect him to take the elevator right? Wouldn't that alert the quantum computer and tell it that he was still alive? For now, Dante had to avoid anything digital as much as he could until he was face-to-face with the quantum computer.
At that point, the confrontation would be straight forward.
The stairs were eerily silent and one could only hear the lightness of his step and his taut breathing that was controlled due to his basic training. When he reached the first sub floor, he pushed the half broken door open gingerly and checked for danger.
Seeing that there was none, Dante stepped cautiously into the dimly lit room, his eyes widening as he took in the sight before him.
The chamber was vast, stretching deep beneath the surface of the facility. It was filled with row upon row of cylindrical glass tubes, each containing a suspended figure within.
As he approached the nearest tube, his heart raced with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. Inside, he could see a person… or what used to be a person.
The figure was covered in strange, pulsating veins, and their skin was a sickly pale hue. Tubes and wires connected their body to the machinery surrounding them, and a faint glow emanated from the intricate network of technology.
Dante's brow furrowed as he examined the scene before him. These tubes contained what seemed to be experimental subjects, individuals who had undergone horrific transformations in the pursuit of power.
The obvious truth was there for anyone to see, these were the results of the twisted experiments conducted by the Apocalypse Research Syndicate.
The room's silence was broken by a soft, haunting whisper that seemed to echo from the tubes themselves.
Dante strained to listen, his senses on high alert. He could make out faint, desperate pleas for release, for an end to the suffering that had been inflicted upon these unfortunate souls.
A mixture of sadness and fear welled up within Dante. He couldn't fathom the cruelty that had been carried out in the name of power and control. These people had been sacrificed for the sake of the Syndicate's sinister goals, their lives forever altered and trapped in a nightmarish existence.
Thankfully, it wasn't he who had to go through this.
With a disgusted grimace, Dante turned his attention away from the tubes and continued to explore the research facility. He returned to the stairs and then climbed down to the 3rd level, which was a giant freezer room that stored… monsters?
Dante's steps echoed in the cold and dimly lit freezer room as he cautiously ventured further inside. The space was massive, with rows of large cryogenic chambers lining the walls. Each chamber was sealed tightly, preserving its contents in a frozen slumber.
Peering through the transparent windows of the chambers, Dante could see monstrous forms suspended in a state of suspended animation. These were not ordinary monsters… they were more like grotesque amalgamations of different creatures, each stitched together in a horrifying tapestry of flesh, claws, and teeth.
It was a scene straight out of a nightmare. Dante's stomach churned as he took in the sight, unable to comprehend the level of depravity that had led to the creation of these abominations.
Brother Scientist, why? Don't you also feel like this is too much? Couldn't you at least make it a little aesthetically pleasing???
The pale light cast eerie shadows across the frozen horrors, making them seem even more sinister. Dante couldn't help but wonder what purpose these monstrosities served. Were they failed experiments? Or were they intended to be unleashed upon the world as weapons of terror?
His mind raced with questions, but he knew that his time here was limited. The quantum computer's detection protocols could kick in at any moment, and he needed to find answers quickly.
Moving away from the chambers, Dante continued to explore the freezer room. He found more research notes and documents scattered on tables, providing chilling insights into the experiments that had taken place here.
The experiments were not limited to biological horrors, as there were also traces of attempts to fuse technology with living organisms, creating cyborg-like monstrosities that defied the laws of nature. The level of scientific expertise involved was both awe-inspiring and horrifying.
Dante's thoughts raced as he processed the information. The Apocalypse Research Syndicate had been delving into realms of science that were beyond comprehension, driven by an insatiable thirst for power and control.
However… what if he could harness this? He couldn't make waves in the Eternal Universe due to how advanced it was, but back in the home universe, he had been considering something similar, which was synthetic humans.
But bio-monsters were also an option because they could save him resources by breeding themselves and forming a rabid army that would tear down any civilization he pointed it at.
Not to mention, Dante's greatest fantasy was to obtain the strongest physique known to fiction, the Saiyan Body. It was impossible to replicate a physique that could harness natural energies like Ki while having limitless potential for growth like the Saiyans with the home universe's technology.
However, maybe with the Eternal Universe's level of technology and knowledge, some luck, and a bit of help from superpowers relevant to the field, Dante could fashion something together, especially looking at what was going on here.
Suddenly, a soft hissing sound caught Dante's attention and interrupted his fanciful thoughts. He turned to see a set of chambers at the far end of the room slowly opening, allowing a thick mist to billow out that ended up obscuring his vision.
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