Chapter 1527: Searching for The Code

Somewhere else, Jay and Zhao Li Xin move cautiously into the dumbwaiter box and press the up button. A low buzz answered him, and a moment later the doors rattled open. A sharp wave of filthy cloth and industrial detergent slammed into them.

"Ugh—right. I forgot how bad this thing smells." Jay turned his head away, fanning a hand in front of his face.

On the other hand, Zhao Li Xin didn’t make any comment, but his expression said everything.

Jay glanced around the cramped metal box, then blinked as the absurdity struck him. Even though it was large enough for them to climb into it. However, he forgot that the mechanism wasn’t built to haul a fully grown man.

"This box will not be able to hold our weight." One touch on the metal box, he knew this thing wouldn’t be able to carry his weight.

"Ah. Right...I forgot about that," Jay muttered, deflating. He hit the down button, sending the little box humming back toward the lower floors. As it sank, he studied the rails lining the narrow shaft. The steel walls were quite narrow, and the metal rail along the wall was quite sturdy. They might be able to use it.

"We can jump, though," Jay said, peering down the shaft’s dark throat. "But we have to hurry before the laundry box comes up again and shoves us back to the top."

"Only three floors," Zhao Li Xin murmured, making his own swift calculation. His voice was calm, unbothered. "It won’t be difficult."

"Well, this should be fun." Jay pursed his lips, excitement sparking in his eyes. "Then let’s move before someone shows up."

Mana shimmered around him as he cast his spell, strengthening muscle and bone; the air itself seemed to tighten with the sudden surge of power. Without another word, Jay slipped into the shaft with practiced ease, gripping the rails for balance.

Jay threw Zhao Li Xin a cheeky grin.

"See you down there, Your Highness." Then suddenly he released his hold.

Jay’s body dropped like a fired torpedo, clean, precise, and very fast. Wind roared past his ears as the darkness of the shaft blurred around him. As he shot past the first floor, he drew his dagger in one fluid motion and drove its edge against the steel rail.

A burst of sparks exploded as he slid along the metal rail; it looked like silver-gold fireworks trailing his descent. Above him, the shaft swallowed the sound, leaving only the echoing hiss of steel against steel as he carved his way downward.

The moment Jay disappeared into the darkness below, Zhao Li Xin followed.

He stepped off the ledge as casually as one might step off a porch, the faintest curve tugging at the corner of his lips. His body-lightening skill caught him instantly, turning a sheer drop into nothing more than a leisurely glide.

He drifted through the narrow shaft like a feather guided by a steady breeze, air brushing past his cheeks, hair whispering behind him, every movement controlled, precise, almost languid.

Where Jay had plunged like a torpedo, carving sparks from the steel to brake his speed, Zhao Li Xin descended like falling silk, quiet, fluid, utterly unbothered.

Soon, a soft glow bloomed below. The yellow floor number stenciled on the wall slid into view, and without even breaking his rhythm, Zhao Li Xin reached out, fingertips brushing the pillar.

He caught it lightly, pivoting with a graceful twist. One clean kick against the rail turned his descent into a smooth backward arc, slowing him just enough.

He landed just outside the shaft with soundless ease, not a hair out of place, not even a hint of sweat, while Jay waited for him with the look of someone who had just watched gravity get politely ignored.

They stepped out into a long corridor so clean it almost gleamed. White walls, white tiles, white ceiling panels humming faintly with filtered air. Everything about the place screamed sterile and expensive.

One look was enough for both of them to know how serious Luxemborough was to fund this place.

However, the white hall make their black tactical suits stand out like ink splashed across a blank page. Jay arched a brow. Zhao Li Xin answered with the smallest tilt of his chin. No words needed.

They each pressed a gloved palm to the wall.

At once, a soft ripple shimmered across their suits, the fabric reacting as if waking up. The black fibers shifted, bled into gray, then into a perfect clinical white—seamless against their surroundings.

The adaptive camo blended seamlessly with the environment’s spectrum, absorbing light with eerie precision. Within seconds, they blended into the corridor like ghosts.

Of course, their suits weren’t ordinary. N.I.M.S. had equipped them with everything infiltration demanded—active camouflage, sound-dampening layers, pressure-reactive soles, anti-ballistic plating thin as paper.

A high-tech armor created specifically for infiltration, and now, after they mimic the colors of the environment around them, their movements became even more invisible, although they still had to be wary of the surveillance cameras installed at almost every door and corner by heavily armed guards.

Zhao Li Xin halted abruptly just before the hallway corner, one hand lifting lightly, silent command. Jay froze beside him.

A surveillance camera rotated in a slow, mechanical sweep, its red sensor blinking like a watchful eye. Zhao Li Xin timed the movement once, twice, then slipped forward the instant it turned away.

His body-lightening skill carried him soundlessly up the wall; he moved past the camera in a blur, fingertips barely touching the surface before landing behind it without so much as a breath out of place.

A pair of guards walked the crossing corridor below, their boots tapping a steady rhythm. Zhao Li Xin watched Jay gesture subtly, counting with his fingers.

Three... two... one.

In perfect sync, they crossed the open space just as the guards turned their backs, gliding through the shadows as they owned them. Together, they slipped into the main lab corridor.

The atmosphere changed once again. More active with the hum of machines thrumming beneath the floor, and bright white lights glared down on glass-walled rooms.

Behind those transparent barriers, scientists in white lab coats and safety goggles moved with brisk efficiency, pipetting samples, checking monitors, adjusting instruments that hissed soft bursts of sterilized air.

Jay and Zhao Li Xin exchanged a look. Time to find the code.

Jay’s gaze flicked to a lab technician heading toward a staff room. He tapped Zhao Li Xin’s arm, pointed at the door, and signaled him to follow. After checking the corridor, left, right, clear, Jay nudged the door open just enough for them to slip inside.

Soon, they heard low voices drift from behind a row of lockers.

"This is so annoying. How long do we have to stay here?" one man complained.

"Until we’re done, obviously," another replied flatly.

"But it’s not fair. How come Igor Renovich can come and go whenever he wants while we’re stuck here?"

"That’s because he’s the head of the project. You think you’ve got the same privileges? Please. You’re just a technician."

"Hey, they recruited me, okay," the first man snapped.

"We all got recruited," the other sighed. "But we don’t have the authority Igor does, and honestly, I’m fine with that. Did you hear? He was kidnapped today." His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Yeah, I heard. Serves him right. That’s what he gets for leaving the facility so often," the third man scoffed.

"Anyway," another shifted the topic, tone turning serious, "how’s the development on the Mana Seal device?"

Their chatter changed instantly.

"It’s improving. The test subjects show the device can regulate mana flow—block it completely, even. They can’t use blood-spell extraction anymore," one answered.

"Exactly. Some subjects even show increased mana stability under controlled output. If this works, we’ll be able to dictate how much power Gifted individuals can use," the other added.

A beat of uneasy silence.

"Honestly... this makes me uncomfortable," one man murmured. "What if the Gifted people fight back? You know, like the old war between the creator and the Gifted People,"

"Not gonna happen, they all will die," the third replied coldly. "Without the override code, they can’t disable the device. Their lives are in our hands."

A harsh laugh followed. "Ha—yeah. You’re right."

"Come on, let’s get back to work before someone scolds us again," the other man said.

"You go ahead. I’ll finish my cigarette first," the first technician replied.

"Okay, but don’t take too long," the man warned before the two of them exited the locker room, their footsteps fading down the hall.

Only one technician remained behind, leaning against the row of lockers as he took a long drag from his cigarette, completely unaware that Jay and Zhao Li Xin were already moving silently in the shadows behind him.

The door swung shut behind the two technicians, their footsteps fading down the hall until only the soft hum of the vents remained. The last man lingered by the lockers, leaning his shoulder against cold metal as he took a long drag of his cigarette.

The ember glowed in the dim staff room, its thin curl of smoke rising lazily toward the ceiling.

He exhaled with a tired groan. "Damn place... luckily, they pay me well, if not—." Another slow drag. Another plume of smoke is curling upward.

The man was so wrapped up in his own complaints that he never sensed the slight disturbance in the air behind him.

Zhao Li Xin lifted a finger, pointing at the unsuspecting man with an expression ’I’ll handle this.’

Jay answered with a small knowing nod.

Pressed against the locker, Zhao Li Xin surveyed his target. The technician leaned lazily against the metal row, half-slumped, the cigarette dimly glowing between his fingers.

Zhao Li Xin steadied his breathing until it vanished into the background hum of the room. Then he took a coin from his pocket, flicking it with a barely perceptible motion.

The coin sliced through the air, then struck the man’s neck at a pressure point. soon after, the technician’s body froze mid-inhale. The cigarette slipped from his loosening fingers just as his knees buckled.

Jay darted forward, catching the cigarette before it hit the floor. He pinched the ember out between two fingers and murmured, "Smoking is bad for your health, buddy."

Slowly, Jay propped the unconscious man against the lockers, arranging him to look as though he’d simply dozed off during a smoke break. He even placed the extinguished cigarette back between the man’s fingers.

Meanwhile, Zhao Li Xin had already searched the man’s pockets. He pulled out an ID access card and turned to Jay, impatience tightening his tone. "Let’s find the code."

"Yeah. We’ll need to sneak into the lab." Jay moved to the lockers and began rifling through them. "But first, we need to get you into character. I hope this is your size."

Zhao Li Xin narrowed his eyes at the lab robe Jay held up, He didn’t like wearing other people clothes, but he didn’t have any other choice, so he took it anyway.

Jay continue to checked another locker for another robe. ussually, technicians always kept spare robes in case of spills or contamination.

As expected he found one, Jay grabbed the lab robe, then added a face mask and safety goggles to further obscure his features. Zhao Li Xin did the same, buttoning the robe neatly over his tactical suit.

Once disguised, they exchanged one last glance, silent, sharp, ready.

Then they slipped out of the locker room and back into the sterile corridors. They walked with the easy pace of two lab technicians on routine duty, clipboards in hand, posture relaxed.

Whenever someone’s curious eyes lingered too long, they simply turned their backs and murmured to each other as if locked in a heated technical discussion.

Even so, they kept a careful distance from the surveillance cameras and the patrolling guards. Many of the guards possessed sharp instincts, keen enough to notice the slightest off detail, so Jay and Zhao Li Xin moved with calculated subtlety, blending into the facility’s rhythm without drawing a single ripple of suspicion.

Eventually, after weaving through a maze of sterile hallways, Jay tapped Zhao Li Xin’s elbow and nodded toward a large glass window.

On the other side stood a laboratory, bright, white, and eerily quiet. Only two technicians occupied the space, both hunched over their workstations, completely absorbed in whatever data flickered across their monitors. No bustling assistants.

No roaming supervisors. No rushing carts or moving equipment. The rest of the room sat still, benches neatly arranged, instruments untouched. An empty lab. Or close enough.

Jay’s eyes sharpened. "There’s an empty computer right there, I can hack it to find the code,"

Zhao Li Xin nodded slowly, his expression calm and composed, but there was a flash of impatience in his eyes.