The door to the storage facility was already mottled and rusty, severely corroded—could it have been related to the original extremophile microorganism community on it?

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, and first asked Gou, "Gou, is there any mechanism or other danger with this storage facility?"

Gou's dog eyes flickered twice, indicating no.

Lu Xi'an then relaxed, took a small knife, wedged it into the gap of the facility door, and pried hard.

The heavy door was pried open at a corner. Lu Xi'an grabbed it and pulled up, causing the door to be lifted.

This was naturally a destructive yank; the door was originally locked, and Lu Xi'an wasn't sure if it was a mechanical lock or an electronic one.

Gou might have been able to open the door too, but Lu Xi'an didn't think it necessary.

Doing it himself wasn't too much trouble, and the facility was already entirely broken, with no long-term usage value. Even if it was damaged, it was no big deal.

So he simply took matters into his own hands, sparing Gou a demonstration, which wasn't an issue.

The door was indeed broken by Lu Xi'an. The lock fixed on the facility, combined with Lu Xi'an's pulling force, bent the door instantly.

The lock was firmly fixed on the facility, causing the door to flip half open and half flat, folding near 90 degrees, as if determined to protect the facility.

But for Lu Xi'an, this was no matter. He followed along the door, pinched the folded part, applied a bit of force, and effortlessly lifted the whole door aside.

Blade, standing by, couldn't help but widen his eyes upon watching this scene.

He knew Type A Neo-Humans were strong. In Jiangnan County, there were many strong people, and he had seen them before.

But even though those people were strong, none seemed as effortlessly powerful as this person before him.

That thick steel plate, for the people in Jiangnan County, might have felt like lifting something a bit heavy, but to this person, it was as easy as tearing a piece of paper.

They were all the same kind of people, so why was this person's strength so immense?!

Blade didn't understand, and he wanted to ask Lu Xi'an for guidance.

But Lu Xi'an wasn't in the mood to care about him.

Yao Wei was the same, bending down with Lu Xi'an to look into the storage facility.

The facility had also been corroded inside. Lu Xi'an saw that neatly arranged inside were many items, but they were all covered by extremophile microorganism communities, a large black mass, difficult to behold.

There is a saying that when you see a cockroach in the daylight, it means the dark places are so full they can't fit any more. The microorganism communities in the facility gave Lu Xi'an a similar feeling to discovering a cockroach.

But no matter how many cockroaches there were, the items inside still needed to be checked.

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath and took out the first item.

It was an originally transparent glass vessel, now covered by the same microorganism communities, with barely visible contents.

Inside seemed like remnants of dried unknown strains, which, after time's ravage, took on a bizarre and hideous appearance.

Lu Xi'an didn't hurry to burn off the microorganism communities on the glass vessel. He noticed that there seemed to be a label attached to the edge, and the microorganism communities hadn't climbed over it completely.

Thus, Lu Xi'an could barely make out the words on it, which seemed to say: [Spore Culture Dish Set: X-37 Strain].

Lu Xi'an's heart skipped a beat.

Strain...

For this world, what important two words!

And the prefix X.

Although the following 37℃ differed from what Lu Xi'an knew, these contents couldn't help but make Lu Xi'an connect the two.

Just currently, there was a lack of other information, making it difficult for Lu Xi'an to determine if there was any connection between the strains in this spore culture dish set and the X-17 Strain he knew of.

He glanced at Yao Wei, who seemed to sense something too, turning to look at him.

In Yao Wei's eyes, he saw the same confusion.

"Could there be a connection?"

Yao Wei asked.

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment and replied, "It's hard to say right now, let's check the other things first."

Yao Wei nodded, "Okay."

So Lu Xi'an put the glass vessel aside for the moment and picked up the next item.

It was something resembling a chip, encased in a metal box. The extremophile microorganism communities only covered the metal box's surface, unable to penetrate inside.

Thus, when Lu Xi'an opened it, he saw that the chip-like item inside was intact.

"This should be a chip, right?"

Lu Xi'an said, attempting to use a lighter to burn off the microorganisms on the metal box's surface.

Those microorganism communities retreated instantly under the flame. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei could then clearly see the engraved text and the label on it.

The metal box bore engraved text, integrated into its structure, reading: Microscopic Imaging Chip.

And the label, handwritten and seemingly elegant, perhaps a woman's script: Ye Wenxin - Sample Comparison Experiment.

Judging by the name on this chip, Yao Wei's mother, Ye Wenxin, must have been a biology expert.

This biology expert went out of her way to leave Earth and ventured into space to research something.

As a result, she escaped the apocalyptic disaster on Earth, only to find herself in a wasteland, after countless risks, she finally fell in Wanquan County, Mengze City.

Is this a kind of luck or misfortune?

Lu Xi'an couldn't decide.

He could only determine that this chip should be specially made for space environment research and must be quite extraordinary.

But now with only the chip, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei cannot see the specific contents, but Gou might be able to read the chip. But it will have to wait until everything else here is examined.

Lu Xi'an then closed the metal box, carefully placing the chip beside him, intending to handle it later.

Next, he looked at another item, which turned out to be an encrypted hard drive.

The encrypted hard drive was also housed in a metal box. Opening it, he found the material of the hard drive was unusual, like the cabin of the return capsule.

This should also be a specially made hard drive.

Lu Xi'an thought to himself.

As he thought about this, he closed the hard drive box, placed it aside with the imaging chip, and checked the next item.

It was an operation manual, with the words "Operation Manual" visible on the cover, but the rest was illegible.

This manual's edges were curled and yellowed, from the cover to the inside pages, severely corroded, with most of the text unreadable.

Lu Xi'an flipped through it briefly, seeing only phrases like "Gravity Calibration Step: △T≤3s" and "Cabin Pressure Maintenance Threshold".

Additionally, when he opened the first page after the cover, he saw the character "Huo", guessing that this should be Yao Huo's manual.

Ye Wenxin was the biological expert in this return capsule, while Yao Huo, it seems, was the astronaut responsible for controlling the capsule.

This item might have been useful for astronauts once traveling through space, but now for him and Yao Wei, it was of little use.

Lu Xi'an casually set it aside, reaching for the next item.

Also the last item.

It was another paper booklet, but smaller than Yao Huo's manual.

This booklet also lacked the protection of a metal box and was severely corroded, looking similar to Yao Huo's manual, with yellowed and curled edges and nearly invisible contents.

Lu Xi'an leafed through it briefly, feeling it should be Ye Wenxin's journal.

Most of the text was unreadable, and skimming through the book, Lu Xi'an found only three legible lines.

One line read: "Day 27, abnormal gene expression in the strain, need to restart culture chamber."

Another line on a different page: "The strain consumption is effective, the body has improved, thank God, and thank myself, luck is on my side."

On yet another page, another line, with just four simple words: "Rose, Yao Wei."

After reading, Lu Xi'an silently handed the journal to Yao Wei.

Yao Wei looked at the journal in silence for a long time before putting it away.

She also picked up the manual, holding it solemnly.

It seemed she and Lu Xi'an shared the same suspicion—that the person named Yao Huo might be her father.

"Let's take everything."

Seeing this, Lu Xi'an said.

"Okay."

Yao Wei nodded firmly.

So Lu Xi'an picked up the things on the ground and left together with Yao Wei, then got in the car.

Under the sparse stars and bright moon, Lu Xi'an glanced at the night sky, then turned to Blade and said, "It's dark, will you be okay sleeping here alone?"

Blade shook his head and said, "No problem."

Having seen Lu Xi'an's prowess, he naturally wouldn't dare to show even a hint of disrespect in front of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

Moreover, he realized the tacit bond between these two people, an outsider could never penetrate.

Just like him and the two people who had taken care of him since he was a child, now lost forever. The rest of the people in Jiangnan County could never fit in.

After pondering, Lu Xi'an found the capsule hatch that was toppled and embedded in the ground. He broke off all the vines covering it, threw them away, then propped up the hatch and handed it to Blade.

"Here, with your own strength, fit this hatch over the door, no problem, right?"

Blade nodded repeatedly, saying, "No problem."

He took the heavy door, which was naturally much more strenuous for him than when Lu Xi'an held it. But still, compared to an average adult, his strength was unmatched.

"Thank you."

He thanked the good Neo-Human before him and entered the capsule body, pulling and latching the hatch securely closed.

In this way, it was a completely sealed, isolated space, and staying alone inside made him feel much more at ease.

—Though a bit lonely.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei returned to the RV, latched all the window panels, then handed the imaging chip from the metal box to Gou, ready to delve into its secrets.

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