Chapter 178: Sisters Indeed

“Mmm, the plan was a success. The guards have been successfully lured away!”

Ling Xiaoyou glanced in the direction of the distant, rumbling clamor of footsteps and spoke.

That’s right, this was actually a “Lure the Tiger Away from the Mountain” ploy! They deliberately caused an explosion in mid-air, then had a water-constructed figure rush out, creating the illusion that they were trying to escape.

Meanwhile, they hid inside the elevator, concealing themselves. They waited until the demon guards had all left before emerging from the now-battered elevator.

“You know, your ability is really handy. It can fight, it can support, and it can even be used for disguises and such,”

Su Lihua said, casting an envious glance at Ling Xiaoyou.

“Well, my ability is certainly useful, but it still depends on the brain and how it’s developed. If it were given to you…”

Ling Xiaoyou smiled slightly, leaving the sentence unfinished, but the implication was clear.

“Who are you calling brainless?!”

Su Lihua glared at Ling Xiaoyou, fuming.

The latter shrugged, turning her gaze away with an expression that said, “I didn’t say it was you.”

“Alright, now isn’t the time for fooling around,”

Bai Shuanglian said with a helpless smile, looking at the two bickering before turning her gaze toward the exit.

“The priority is to get out of here as soon as possible and find a way into the place where the research materials are stored.”

“Right.”

Everyone nodded and left the area together.

Just as they had seen during the elevator’s descent, the underground city was large in scale, not just the research institute but also supporting facilities like living quarters and a cafeteria.

Following the signs on the walls indicating area locations, the nine of them quickly arrived at the research area.

Upon entering, Ling Xiaoyou immediately sensed the atmosphere was distinctly different—much quieter than other places.

In other areas, because of their “escape,” they could see demons patrolling and searching almost every few corners. Fortunately, the disguises Ling Xiaoyou had created for everyone were very effective. These demons didn’t realize that the “researchers” passing by them were the very targets they were looking for.

“Huh? Why are you all back? Didn’t you say you were going up to ask the demon supervisor about the current situation?”

They hadn’t gone far when they encountered a short researcher who looked like a goblin. Seeing Ling Xiaoyou and the others, he paused, then asked in confusion, “And why are only you back? Where are the others?”

“The others? They went back to pack their luggage first, so they sent us ahead to help,” Ling Xiaoyou’s mind raced as she quickly fabricated a reason.

“After all, we’re about to make a run for it. We don’t have much luggage, but it still needs to be packed.”

On the way here, they had also gathered some information. For instance, the reason security forces were reduced was because they had been transferred to support the battle against the Regulatory Division. Also, the research institute had already begun transferring data in preparation for evacuation.

“What did the supervisor say?”

the goblin nodded and asked again.

“Him… we couldn’t find him. It seems he was also transferred to participate in the battle and hasn’t returned yet,” Ling Xiaoyou responded swiftly.

The supervisor the goblin mentioned was likely the Crimson Demon. But Ling Xiaoyou had no idea about his speech habits. If she rashly fabricated details, she might give herself away. It was better to simply say they hadn’t seen him.

The goblin researcher nodded in understanding and didn’t press further. Instead, he said, “Well, since you’re back, come help transfer the data. We’re still short on hands.”

“Ah… okay!”

Ling Xiaoyou was taken aback, not expecting it to be so easy to fool him. It went much smoother than she had anticipated.

What she didn’t know was that this research institute was originally composed of researchers from multiple races. Conflicts existed between them in culture, philosophy, and even ideology.

Therefore, aside from a few close colleagues, most people didn’t care about their coworkers’ situations. Even if there were loopholes in their words, they couldn’t be bothered to investigate. After all, it had nothing to do with them; it was better to focus on their own work.

Following the goblin researcher through various laboratories, Ling Xiaoyou and the others arrived at a server room housing several large servers.

Looking at the researchers busily transferring research data in the server room, Ling Xiaoyou’s gaze quickly locked onto the most conspicuous person among them.

It was a young man wearing a plain green shirt, with a face as fair as jade. Despite his ancient-style attire, he stood in the technologically advanced server room among researchers in white lab coats, looking completely out of place.

As if sensing Ling Xiaoyou’s gaze, the green-shirted man suddenly turned to look in her direction.

But Ling Xiaoyou had already averted her eyes, following the goblin to a computer. She glanced out of the corner of her eye, only to find that the man had disappeared.

‘What a strange person… Could he really just be a cosplay enthusiast who wears ancient costumes as everyday clothes?’

She muttered to herself internally but didn’t dwell on it, shifting her attention back to the computer screen. Looking at the dense data and annotations, she inexplicably felt a slight headache.

Speaking of which… she didn’t actually know how to transfer data. What should she do?

Fortunately, while Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t operate it, her brain was still online. She excused herself to use the restroom and walked around the server room a few times, observing how others operated. She roughly figured out the process.

During this time, she also glanced at her companions.

Bai Shuanglian, naturally, was very reliable. She had already started skillfully transferring data and even found a moment to smile at her.

As for the Su sisters—Su Lihua, as expected, didn’t disappoint. She currently wore a look of utter confusion, only pretending to work seriously and deliberately using her body to block the screen to prevent others from noticing she wasn’t actually operating anything.

Su Taosheng, however, surprised Ling Xiaoyou a bit. She had thought this older sister would be somewhat more reliable, but perhaps sisters are sisters after all. She was also spacing out. Still, her calm and serious expression masked it well.

Even though the computer in front of her had gone black, no one would suspect she wasn’t working. They might even think they had just seen wrong.

…Probably.

After observing her companions, Ling Xiaoyou inserted a silver-blue, high-tech-looking USB drive into a laptop. While browsing through the research projects and records, she began transferring data.

“Hmm? This is…”

Seeing one particular experiment record, Ling Xiaoyou slightly furrowed her brow.