"Beep—"

"Highest access verified."

"Opening in progress, please wait."

The sudden sound startled everyone.

Lu Xi'an suddenly realized something, staring intently at Gou, eyes full of astonishment.

Gou...

The highest access?!

Had it cracked the access? Or did it already have it?!

He always knew Gou was very good at decrypting codes, which was why he had let Gou come in. He had planned to let Gou try after questioning Luo Ping.

But he hadn't given any instructions yet...

From past experience, without an instruction, Gou wouldn't decode on its own.

Even with someone else to give instructions, without his command, this mechanical dog should have waited for Yao Wei to speak.

Yao Wei hadn't said anything either...

So, there was only one answer left.

This answer was so coincidental, so wonderful, so astonishing—

Luo Ping's secret base might be where Gou originally came from.

Considering that this place was once a research institute, could it be guessed that Gou was once born here?

"Buzz—"

The huge metal door slowly opened, the sealed research institute unfolded little by little before their eyes.

Liu Hua and Tang Er, standing outside the metal door, were startled, unable to help but turn around and step back a few steps.

"Bang—"

The lights behind the metal door suddenly turned on, revealing a corridor behind the door.

There's electricity.

There's electricity here too!

This energy source, long gone except in "power banks" in this apocalyptic world, astonishingly still existed here!

Lu Xi'an saw two straight light strips running through the top of the corridor, brilliantly white, brightly illuminating the corridor.

This place is indeed related to Gou!

Lu Xi'an thought.

How could he not think so?

In this world, besides Gou, where else had there been any electricity?

This separation from the worldview, this limitless energy beyond common sense, made Lu Xi'an sometimes suspect that Gou was a bonus from his crossing over, a cheat for surviving in this world, just like those in various online novels.

But he came all the way from the North and always felt something was off. After all, this mechanical dog didn't cross with him, but was found in a cellar in the far North, not mystical enough.

Now, this point finally seemed confirmed.

The corridor extended straight ahead, with light spilling out from both sides, merging with the ceiling lights.

—Those were lights inside huge glass windows.

On both sides of the corridor were large, rectangular glass windows, extending several meters inward before they finally ended.

"Gou, is this your home?"

Lu Xi'an asked Gou.

The mechanical dog's eyes flashed twice, unsure if it was a complete denial or a disagreement with the description of "home."

"Were you manufactured here?"

Lu Xi'an asked again.

The mechanical dog's eyes flashed twice again.

A sense of disappointment hit instantly.

It seemed his guess was wrong.

But anyway, the fact that Gou could crack such a secret base and open the door was still a good thing. Even if it had nothing to do with Gou, finding a sealed, intact, and still powered secret base was always nice.

Lu Xi'an consoled himself in his heart.

"What should we do? Shall we go in and take a look?"

Sharp Brother Luo Ping asked. He felt it should be Lu Xi'an's decision since it was Lu Xi'an's Gou that opened the base.

—Even though he had guarded this place all along, without this mechanical dog showing up, he probably would've never opened it.

So the ownership here should fall to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, the couple.

Yet, even so, he couldn't help but tremble all over.

It's opened, finally opened! Brother and Sister are so amazing! He's really lucky to know these two amazing people!

"Let's go in and take a look."

Lu Xi'an had to put aside his doubts for now and responded to Luo Ping.

After speaking with Luo Ping, Lu Xi'an gave the mechanical dog a new order, "Gou, keep an eye out, alert us immediately if there's any danger."

The mechanical dog's eyes lit up once, indicating understanding.

"I'll carry it."

After the mechanical dog's eyes finished glowing, Yao Wei bent down to pick up Gou, "Its legs are too short, if there's any danger, I'll be able to run with it."

Lu Xi'an thought about it and felt Yao Wei made sense. This mysterious research facility, who knows what traps or dangers might be inside?

Going straight in seemed a bit too reckless.

He looked back at Shu and Chai Xin, "Why don't you two wait outside for now? I'm afraid I won't have time to call you if something happens."

Shu, timid and cautious, nodded repeatedly when Lu Xi'an said this: "Good! Good! I, old man, will help watch the door!"

Chai Xin was somewhat unwilling, as the little girl was filled with curiosity about what was inside and really wanted to go in and take a look. But she still listened to Lu Xi'an, and responded, "Oh..."

Lu Xi'an then looked at Luo Ping.

Luo Ping shook the pocket of his clothes, causing a "rustling" sound: "I've still got a lot of fried corn beans left. They taste pretty good. Didn't I leave some before? If something happens later, I'll just stuff the beans into my mouth."

Although he was asking Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, his face showed no sign of fearing reprimand from the elder brother and sister, grinning and showing his teeth happily.

Lu Xi'an rolled his eyes: "If you want to eat, just keep it, and stop sneaking around. Did you think my hearing was bad enough not to notice? I've known for a while."

"..."

Luo Ping was silent for a moment, then exclaimed, "Type A Neo-Humans are really incredible... I have food, so if anything dangerous happens later, I can handle it a bit. Can I follow in and take a look?"

Lu Xi'an nodded, "Alright, then you follow along."

Thus, the long-sealed corridor of Institute 923 saw only Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei, and Luo Ping going inside.

Yao Wei was carrying Gou in her hand, swaying as she stepped into the corridor.

As they walked past the long glass windows on both sides, two doors appeared, one on the left and one on the right, on either side of the corridor.

The doors were also metal, with metal locks integrated into them.

Past the two doors was another long stretch of glass, and behind the glass was another door. Lu Xi'an felt that everything here was divided like this, segmenting out one office area after another.

Through the glass door on the left, he glanced inside, seeing a row of white long tables beside the glass window, clean and empty, with nothing on them.

Inside were also rows of tables facing the glass window, resembling control consoles in a wastewater treatment plant control room, with computers on them. But they looked much more advanced and filled with a sense of technology compared to those in a wastewater treatment plant.

"Beep——"

Something next to the metal door made a sound.

Lu Xi'an glanced at it, seeing a rectangular protruding box on the wall beside the metal door, long and wide, with a screen.

It seemed to be a time clock.

"Mechanical Dog 02, has checked in."

It was indeed a time clock!

The sound startled everyone.

Yao Wei and Luo Ping both hurriedly stepped back two paces, unable to figure out the situation, and stared at the "time clock" with caution.

Luo Ping said, "What's it clocking?!"

"Clocking in."

Lu Xi'an squinted his eyes, looking at the horizontal strip screen on the "time clock," deep in thought.

There's a time clock installed here, presumably used by people at Institute 923 in the past. But why could Gou clock in?

Perhaps... his previous question was wrong?

"Gou, have you ever been here before?"

He changed direction and asked the mechanical dog.

Indeed, perhaps he shouldn't have asked like that earlier.

Asking like that actually deviated a bit from the situation here, Gou might have been here before, as one of the distributed devices here, but it might not necessarily have been created here.

He shouldn't have asked whether this was Gou's home either. After all, Gou is just a mechanical dog; Institute 923 is just a workplace. Treating an old, sealed research facility as Gou's home was indeed a misjudgment.

His thinking was limited...

Lu Xi'an reflected.

Yao Wei raised Gou high, parallel to everyone's line of sight. Lu Xi'an, Luo Ping, and even Shu and Chai Xin outside couldn't help but look at Gou.

Then they saw Gou's dog eyes lighting up brightly.

"What?! What is it?!"

Luo Ping was the first to exclaim, "Big brother, big sister, is your Gou really from here?!"

Lu Xi'an ignored him and asked Gou again: "Are you from here?"

The mechanical dog's eyes brightened again.

Right! This time he asked correctly!

This made Lu Xi'an a bit excited as it meant that the secret about Gou might soon be revealed!

His voice trembled slightly as he asked: "Then where did you come from? Point it out specifically."

The light emanating from the mechanical dog's eyes shone straight down the corridor, illuminating the depths of Institute 923.

Lu Xi'an had a hypothesis—perhaps Gou was manufactured elsewhere and then underwent modification at Institute 923, becoming what it is now.

Thus when he asked whether it was manufactured here, it denied, but when asked whether it came from here, it confirmed.

Its acceptance and judgment of these two phrases and characters are different.

"Then, is this place for energy research?"

He asked a question deduced from his judgement.

Gou's eyes lit up brightly.

Indeed...

Oh goodness!

The answer to Gou's continuous energy problem is right here!

"Damn! So incredible?!"

Luo Ping was stunned and couldn't help but swear. His vocabulary was as limited as Yao Wei's; he could only say "incredible," while Yao Wei could only say "amazing."

Lu Xi'an didn't pay him any mind, glancing at Yao Wei. Yao Wei, who was staring at Gou, felt Lu Xi'an's gaze and looked at him. Her eyes conveyed certainty, as if to say: "I'm listening to you."

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath, organized his thoughts, and asked Gou another question: "Is it safe inside?"

Gou's eyes lit up brightly, giving Lu Xi'an and everyone a reassuring signal.

Lu Xi'an confirmed his thoughts and gave Gou an instruction: "Then let's go, show us the place where energy research is done, and where you came from."

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