American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 310 The Temptation of Retirement
De Lasa pressed the recorder and began to speak.

"Bartholomew, this is against the rules! I've already taken on one job; I can't take on another one!"

"Drasar, let me finish. You were originally supposed to be stationed in the canyon for a year, but once you finish this job, you can end your mission directly."

These words made De Lasa hesitate.

The prospect of finishing the mission a year early was an irresistible temptation, but De Lasa knew that the task Bartholomew had given her was certainly not simple.

However, De La Salle ultimately succumbed to the temptation of early retirement and agreed to Bartholomew's offer.

"What mission?"

"Around 2 p.m., the military will send two people into the canyon to carry out a mission. Your job is to secretly follow those two people into the canyon, find the Laytons, kill everyone, and take the research data from the base."

"But the canyon goes straight up, I'll be spotted by the military outpost on the other side!"

"You don't need to worry about that. There's a hidden passage in your outpost that leads directly to the bottom of the canyon."

Derasa was startled. She knew something must have happened at the bottom of the canyon, which was why the military and Amacham had set up outposts, automatic machine guns, and tripwires above the canyon.

In other words, this hidden passage is likely a trap; if it is discovered by something at the bottom of the canyon, she could die in her sleep.

Why didn't you tell me sooner!

De Lasa was very angry.

"Oh, dear Derasa, there are some things I haven't told you completely for your own good. There's another identification card in the secret passage; you can use that card to enter the base. Alright, you should understand the mission now. Good luck!"

The radio went silent, and De Lasa returned to the lookout point to wait for the military personnel Bartholomew had mentioned to appear.

Derasa felt a vague unease, her mind racing with the question of whether she had made the wrong choice. She didn't even notice the signals the man at the opposite outpost was sending her.

At 2 p.m., a flashing signal appeared in the sky, which should be the military personnel Bartholomew had mentioned.

Derasa immediately returned to the outpost to prepare, knowing that, given the Amacham Company's track record, there was definitely a serious biological leak at the bottom of the canyon.

Having done countless dirty jobs at Amacham, Derasa knew that he had to wear a gas mask and gloves and that no skin should be exposed.

On the other side of the canyon, the military personnel stationed there looked at the signal flare with some surprise, and then the radio crackled to life.

"Sergeant Levy, two soldiers on a top-secret mission have arrived at the canyon outpost. Please meet them and assist them in their work."

Levy picked up the walkie-talkie and replied.

"Roger that!"

Levi picked up his rifle, left the outpost, and headed towards the location of the signal flare. He quickly found Roy and Jay.

"You're the soldiers on a top-secret mission?"

"Yes, Captain ONI, you can call me Miss Jay."

After meeting, Jay first checked his rank and unit number with Levy. Not the kind of unit number you see in movies, but the unit number.

"Hello, Captain Jay, I am Sergeant Levy from the Marine Corps."

The two shook hands, and then Levi looked at Roy strangely, as he hadn't given his number yet.

Jay helped explain.

"He wasn't a member of the military; he was an agent transferred from the FEA to assist in the mission."

"Alright, let's go to the outpost now."

Levi nodded, then led Roy and Jay toward the canyon outpost.

"The radio station says you two are going to carry out a top-secret mission and that I need to cooperate with you. What should I do?"

“You don’t need to do anything! Continue monitoring the canyon as you did before. If we haven’t returned in 24 hours, contact the outside world via radio.”

Just then, Roy walked to the outpost's terrace and saw the stunning scenery of the canyon.

"It's really beautiful! I think this place could totally be a national park!"

"How many tourists die every year?"

While complaining, Jay observed the other side and, upon discovering that the Delasars were not there, couldn't help but ask Levi.

"Where are Amacham's men on the other side?"

Levy shrugged.

“The guard sent by Amacham seems to be rather introverted and doesn’t like to communicate with people. I rarely see her.”

When Jay heard Levy use "She" instead of "He," he immediately realized that the guard on the other side of the canyon was a woman.

"Sergeant Levy, don't forget your mission! You're not here to chat about love!"

Faced with Jay's stern rebuke, Levy quickly stood at attention and saluted.

"Yes, Captain Jay!"

On the other side, Roy observed the countless trip mines, automatic machine guns, and various traps on the canyon cliffs.

How do we get down?

"Originally, there were elevators on both sides of the canyon that could directly lead down to the bottom of the canyon, but after the accident at the bottom, the elevators were destroyed. So we have to use a zipline to get down to the bottom of the canyon."

Jay skillfully rummaged through the outpost and found two sets of zipline equipment, handing one of them to Roy.

"Sergeant Levy, once we reach the bottom, the zipline will vibrate. Remember to retrieve it. When we retreat, I'll fire a signal flare, and then you can throw the zipline down again."

"Roger that!"

Roy and Jay secured the zipline and began to slowly descend.

Actually, with Roy's current physical abilities, jumping down shouldn't be a problem. The main reason is that he doesn't want to reveal too much of his abilities to avoid trouble.

However, a problem arose: Roy had not received specialized zip-lining training, and his descent was very unprofessional. As a result, he lost control of his descent speed when his feet slipped and almost fell directly off the zip line.

Fortunately, the zipline caught the rope, preventing Roy from freefalling.

"Blake, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just slipped."

The two continued their descent and soon ventured deep into the fog.

As they descended deeper, the fog below began to change color, gradually turning into a strange pale yellow.

Finally, after descending for a full half hour, Roy and Jay successfully reached the bottom.

"Phew, this canyon is so deep? Could we be below the sea level now?"

Shh! Don't speak! Your voice will attract something from the bottom of the canyon!

What's at the bottom of the canyon? What is that?
However, seeing how serious Jay was, Roy didn't ask any more questions and followed behind Jay.

The ground at the bottom of the canyon is very strange; it's a bright red, fungal carpet-like surface that's sticky and a bit difficult to walk on.

There are some plants here, but they all have that eerie, twisted appearance.

Roy had seen these plants in the literature before, but seeing them in real life seemed even stranger.

The two moved forward quietly, unaware that a tail was already trailing behind them.

As a top-tier sniper, Delasa's stealth abilities were undoubtedly exceptional, so even Roy didn't notice her presence.

However, because Roy was fully armed and his face was completely covered by a gas mask, Delasa did not recognize him.

If Derasar knew he was tracking Roy, he would definitely abandon the mission. "Where are the monsters mentioned in the information? I haven't seen a single one."

"Shh! The monsters at the bottom of the canyon are mainly active at night; they won't be active during the day. For now, we just need to pay attention to the plants here!"

"careful!"

Despite saying he was to be careful, Jay himself almost stepped on a plant that looked like a Venus flytrap.

This thing is very insidious; it's laid out on the ground and will quickly close up when someone steps on it. Only the few jagged edges that are exposed above the ground can reveal that there's something there.

The Venus flytrap snapped shut, nearly trapping Jay, but luckily Roy reacted quickly and pulled her away.

Jay was startled by the situation, but thankfully nothing serious happened.

"Blake, thank you!"

"fine."

When comrades help each other, friendship always warms up very quickly, and now Jay's feelings for Roy have improved a lot.

"Since monsters come out at night, why should we act in the afternoon instead of the morning?"

After walking for a while, Roy asked another question.

"Because we need to enter the experimental base to investigate the situation inside, which may take several hours. If we act in the morning, the investigation will likely be completed by night, which will make our evacuation more difficult. It's better to act in the afternoon, entering the experimental base at night, and investigating inside the base will allow us to get through the dangerous night."

The plan sounds great, but Roy feels that things might be even more dangerous inside the experimental base.

Roy discovered that there was a stream at the bottom of the canyon, but the stream water was also yellow, and pale yellow gas would occasionally rise from the stream.

"Here we are!"

After walking for about an hour, around four o'clock in the afternoon, Jay led Roy to a huge metal door built into the stone wall.

"Wow! Building a base like this must have cost a fortune!"

"Yes, the military and Amacham have already invested tens of billions of dollars in this base."

Jay went to a small door in the corner of the metal gate and began to operate the computer on the door.

Hundreds of billions of dollars? That's a huge mess!
No wonder Hammer is in such a hurry; if this matter isn't resolved properly, he'll probably be forced to retire.

Soon, Jay successfully entered the secret base after passing the authentication.

The base is a very sci-fi scene, and the entire base is white, very much like a movie set.

However, passing through the outer metal door is not the end; there is another door inside that needs to be passed through.

"They even installed two doors; that's pretty tight security!"

"Quiet! I need to enter the password! If we enter the wrong password twice, a bunch of automatic machine gun turrets will tear us to shreds!"

Roy scoffed. With such tight defenses, something still happened in the end.

Therefore, the saying that fortresses are always breached from the inside is absolutely true.

After carefully entering the password, Jay opened a door, and the two officially entered the experimental base.

The corridor lights in the experimental base are on, indicating that there is no problem with the power supply to the base.

Roy and Jay covered for each other as they cautiously made their way through the corridor. They saw that the rooms in the experimental base were generally very messy, as if they had been invaded.

There were signs of battle in the base, with bullet holes and bloodstains on the walls, but no bodies were found.

This made Jay very strange.

Could it be that the intruders were kind enough to collect the corpses?

It’s impossible even if you think about it!

Furthermore, Jay had already checked the main gate and the second gate and found no signs of forced entry or computer hacking, so it could be basically determined that it was not an external intrusion.

Even if there was an external intrusion, it must have been an insider who opened the door to complete the intrusion.

However, the entire Misty Island is isolated by the navy, with troops stationed at the docks and outposts in the canyon.

The possibility of external intrusion is extremely low; the only possibility is that there is a problem inside the experimental base.

The simplest way to find out the truth is to watch the video.

"Blake, let's go to the monitoring room first. We can see the surveillance footage there!"

"it is good."

Jay seemed very familiar with the experimental base, and it was unclear whether she had been there before, but she led Roy to the monitoring room as if she knew the way well.

"Blake, keep watch for me, I need to get into the server in the monitoring room!"

Jay put down his gun and started operating the computer, while Roy stood guard at the door of the monitoring room to prevent any potential dangers.

Jay, who had advanced privileges, quickly accessed the server in the monitoring room, only to discover that all the surveillance footage on the server had disappeared.

"how so!"

"What happened?"

Roy walked over and glanced at the computer screen, only to find the folder completely blank.

"Is the recorded video hidden?"

Jay shook his head, then bit his lip, his voice sounding doubtful.

"Impossible! I wouldn't make that mistake; the server is definitely empty!"

"Could it have been deleted?"

"Only those with the highest privileges can delete data from the monitoring system's server; my advanced privileges only allow me to view it. And as far as I know, only three people in this experimental base have the highest privileges!"

Which three people?

Jay did not answer Roy, which likely involved some military secrets.

At that moment, a man's voice suddenly came through the surveillance camera.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

It was the walkie-talkie on the table that made the sound!
Roy and Jay exchanged a glance; neither of them had expected that there were still living people inside this experimental base.

Jay picked up the walkie-talkie on the table and replied to the other party.

"We can hear you, who are you?"

"I am Cliff Layton, the chief scientist of the 'Canyon' project. And who are you?"

Jay's eyes flashed; he clearly recognized the man named Cliff Layton.

"Miss Jay, do you know him?"

Jay nodded.

"Yes, he is one of the three people I mentioned who have the highest authority in the experimental base!"

"Could it be that he deleted all the surveillance footage from the server?"

"I don't know, but he must be a key figure who knows why the experimental base became like this!"

Canyon Poster
　Adapted from "Canyon" and "Splinter".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)