Long-term salvation

"So from now on, your code name is Raiden."

Chapter 396: Thunder and Lightning's Bizarre Adventure (1/3)

The nights in early summer were not yet scorching hot, which was a good thing, especially for those who were covered in tight, not very breathable clothing.

Lei Dian crouched in the darkness and waited quietly for a few seconds. After seeing the transport convoy heading towards the underground headquarters of Aperture Technology passing by, he suddenly rolled out from the driver's blind spot, brushed past the wheels, and reached out to grab the vehicle chassis.

He actually tried to hide it in the cargo, but the other party was extremely strict in inspecting the cargo, even opening the cartons to check!

Another option was to enter through the ventilation ducts or sewers, but when Lei Dian saw the warning lasers and autonomous turrets everywhere, he gave up the idea:

Who the hell would stuff so many crazy things into a sewer?!

What made Lei Dian even more unbearable was that this group of robots would keep muttering about electrostatic dust removal, garbage cleaning, sewage purification, etc., and then use high-intensity electric currents for uninterrupted electric shocks, use machine guns to continuously shoot large pieces of garbage, and dump corrosive liquids into the sewers... He even suspected that this company would use neurotoxins for "home care."

In any case, Raiden, who had not yet been transformed into a bio-ninja at this time, successfully entered Aperture Technology and stepped into this paradise of genius psychopaths.

For this mission, Jack chose to carry a HK Mk23-Mod0 (SOCOM) semi-automatic pistol. This pre-existing weapon in this world already had an integrated silencer and laser designator. While the pistol was unpopular with US special forces due to its bulk and inconvenience in carrying and handling, it was just right for Jack.

"I've successfully infiltrated Aperture Technology... Tsk, is the communication blocked?"

Lei Dian frowned. Although he had prepared himself for the possibility of losing contact with the rear once he entered the underground headquarters, he was still heartbroken to see him disappear without a trace at the gate. Fortunately, this situation did not last long. New instructions were quickly sent to his data terminal via text:

[Go to the 18th underground floor from emergency exit 30 and meet up with the insider]

"...An insider?"

After replying with a confirmation, Lei Dian quickly disappeared into Aperture Technology's emergency exit 1-30. While it wasn't locked, it was unusually dark due to years of no one using it. The staircase spiraled downward, illuminated only by a few bright yellow lights at each floor's exit. This only created more shadows, making it easier for snakes to move.

The azure snake eyes looked at the intruder indifferently, watching his figure moving cautiously in the darkness.

After confirming there were no guards or surveillance devices nearby, Lei Dian turned around and grabbed the railing, then leaped to the railing on the next floor. His movements were light and skillful, making almost no sound. After repeating this several times, he returned to solid ground... Twelve floors, and he still needed to descend six more floors through other passages.

Gently opening the heavy door, Lei Dian saw a dark corridor. He walked in carefully—nothing happened—but when he crossed the corridor and walked into the door at the end, the whole world suddenly changed:

Bright, soft lights illuminated the entire corridor, and the floor was covered in some strange orange gel (Propulsion Gel).

The corridor door slammed shut behind Lei Dian. The dull sound startled the young intruder, but soon light and comfortable music was heard, as if this was some kind of nursing home or nursery with a good environment.

Just as Lei Dian drew the long knife from behind him, gripped his pistol tightly and retreated slowly and cautiously, a screen hung down from the end of the corridor, revealing the thin, old face of Calvin Johnson - the old man's face was filled with undisguised ridicule and contempt, and he reached out and tapped a few times on the keyboard next to him.

The next second, the data terminal on Raiden's arm received a new text message:

[Assisting Aperture Technology with testing is your only value]

Thunder and Lightning: “…”

"Ha, with your little piece of rubbish technology, you dare to brazenly come into my scientific kingdom? Very well, you have successfully humiliated me, and you must pay the price."

Carvin Johnson's face flushed with anger, and he looked at Lei Dian as if he were looking at a specimen of a corpse, but he quickly suppressed these emotions, touched his fingers together in a pyramid shape, and said indifferently:

"Boy, you're lucky. My best friend and worst enemy begged me to let you participate in the experiment in exchange for a chance to live. If the experiment succeeds, you'll be allowed to leave; if the experiment fails, you'll face death. Of course, you can also just stand there and wait, because I plan to test the high-energy laser network there."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lei Dian felt his heart sink before he had time to feel upset or complain about the support personnel in the rear, and he subconsciously leaped forward.

In an instant, a light golden ray passed by his side, and the beautiful light was filled with a faint chilling murderous intent.

If he had been a second slower, he would have been split into two!

As a mentally ill person, Kevin Johnson has an extremely bad attitude towards any intruders and thieves - there have been spies who wanted to spy on Aperture Technology before, but they soon became experimental subjects and specimens stored in formalin - Raiden was almost there, otherwise, what would be waiting for him would not be a test, but a barrage of machine gun fire.

But when the lightning that jumped out from the front landed on the orange gel, he suddenly found that this thing accelerated his speed, so that he almost fell to the ground due to the sudden change in speed - if he fell at this time, the laser following closely behind would not miss this opportunity!

"Are you kidding..."

Lei Dian gritted his teeth secretly. He quickly stabilized his center of gravity and mastered the properties of the gel under his feet in a few seconds. Then he suddenly accelerated forward, knocked open the door at the end of the corridor, and rushed straight into the new experimental site.

This is a wide area with multiple white cubes standing upright. The tops of the cubes are coated with blue gel (Repulsion Gel), which obviously has a different function from the previous orange gel.

[Pass the test and head to the other end of the gate]

"..."

Suffering such humiliation, Lei Dian's chest heaved a few times. He quickly looked around and took in the surrounding environment - under each cube was a dark brown liquid with bubbles constantly rolling around. He didn't want to try to touch this thing - then he could only jump over the cubes... Then think about it, what role will the blue gel substance play at this time?

Thinking of this, Lei Dian vaguely grasped some clues. He took a half step back, then took a run forward and jumped!

After stepping on the blue gel, Lei Dian immediately discovered that this thing increased his jumping ability by nearly 2.5 times.

With the help of the blue gel, Lei Dian jumped high. He twisted his body in mid-air and shuttled through the hail of bullets - at the moment he jumped, the sentry turrets on both sides of the test site opened fire!

The golden fire lines wove a deadly web in the air, but they couldn't catch the dancing butterflies.

Calculating every landing point and jump force, calculating the movement pattern of each machine gun trajectory, and calculating the possibility of splitting bullets with a knife... Lei Dian easily crossed the experimental field in two minutes. When his feet slowly landed in front of the gate at the other end, even Calvin Johnson had to admit the excellence of this young man:

"Very good, very good. You are the best experimenter I have ever met. Although there is still some gap between you and me... you have already earned yourself a better chance of survival. Continue the experiment."

"I will come to you first, CEO of Aperture Technology," Lei Dian slowly stood up. He raised his hand and shot the screen with Kavin's face on it. He suppressed his anger and said, "This is just the beginning, and you will pay the price for humiliating me."

Lei Dian exhaled slowly, memories of his youth as a soldier flashing through his mind, quickly dissolved by the nanomachines within - but the echoes left by those memories still made Lei Dian frown. He looked down at the long sword in his hand, sensing something strange.

"So."

The sudden appearance of a new voice attracted Lei Dian's attention. He looked up at the screen he had shattered. On the shattered screen, where sparks were still emanating, Calvin's face and voice were no longer visible. Instead, there was a strange laugh:

"I'll be waiting for you during the final test, Jack."

"!!!"

Chapter 397: From Natural to Supernatural (Part 2 of 3)

"!!!"

The other party had access to my past information?! I didn't remember much of the past, only that name and titles like "Jack the Ripper" and "White Devil" were still fresh in my mind.

Thinking about the hijacking of the communication terminal, Lei Dian lowered his eyes slightly, and felt a little distrustful of the rear support personnel - Mukfu Company - in his heart. It was obvious that there was a traitor inside.

What's more, after he left the Mukfu Group's training camp, his mind was full of messy thoughts, which even affected the battle.

What happened? Was it the camp or me?

Once this thought arose, Lei Dian began to feel more uneasy about the future.

But no matter what, we have to move forward until we escape from danger and complete the mission.

At this moment, Raiden was being monitored by security cameras scattered throughout the facility, which were relaying his presence to Aperture Technology's internal data network. Aperture Technology's living quarters were separated from its experimental areas, and the researchers' basic routines were the same as on the surface, but now the lights were on brightly.

Except for those conducting important experiments or working in key departments, everyone else gathered in the bar or simply watched Lei Dian's level-breaking activities on TV in their rooms. There were even several bets opened to bet on how many levels he could survive.

However, only one person bets that he can survive to the end.

"Wow, he actually escaped from the emergency information incinerator!"

"What's that weapon? It looks like it can cut through steel with ease... Its strength, speed, and nerve reflexes are all greater than those of an ordinary human. Is it a cyborg?"

"Obviously not, but it should be physically enhanced."

"There's no need to argue. When he's dead or half dead, we can do the autopsy."

"Makes sense."

"In that case, we want the part above his chin... well, we can do without the chin. We can replace it with an alloy one."

"Let's talk about it after the test is over!"

Having just completed several tests, Lei Dian had no idea what awaited him, let alone the group of people who were discussing the whereabouts of his body parts behind his back. He had gathered his scattered thoughts, opened the door, and walked deeper into hell.

What appeared before the young intruder was a giant maze consisting of various test sites - each test site was made of high-strength alloy exterior walls or bulletproof glass, with rectangles, cubes, and spheres coupled to each other to form cylinders that continued to extend underground.

There were experimenters not wearing orange clothing in the various testing areas. Some, upon seeing Lei Dian, shouted and begged him to let them out, but most simply glanced back indifferently before continuing with their testing.

Only by demonstrating sufficient value can serious criminals like them survive.

The cold mechanical aesthetics construct this crazy scientific kingdom, and the workers who maintain its huge framework drive Labor engineering robots to shuttle through it, making the dark and deep salt mine pits flash with bright stars of electric welding and propulsion engines.

"...The technology here is indeed more advanced than that of Mukoff Company. I wonder how it compares to Atlas Company."

Raiden whispered with uncontrollable awe, he withdrew his gaze, and had no choice but to step forward in the light of the surrounding sentry turret sensors... The test continued.

At this moment, he was running wildly amidst a group of drones:

This upright cat-shaped drone is designed to assist in medical rescue and hunting in the wild. Although its current intelligence level is relatively low, and it can only achieve coordinated actions such as "cat-carrying and carrying away", it is more than enough to hunt down an intruder.

"Are these guys here to make fun of me?"

Raiden complained expressionlessly as he passed through a group of cat-shaped drones that were waving their small swords like a tide and trying to perform a dragon-ascending maneuver - they said "dragon-ascending", but these little guys couldn't even grasp the timing of sheathing their swords - with just a light push of the long sword, Raiden saw them lose balance and fall to the ground, blocking their companions' sword-swinging movements, or simply huddled together and unable to move.

Some of the tests at Aperture Technology are incredibly dangerous, but some are also incredibly fun, like the potato mines that explode into a face full of mashed potatoes when stepped on, or the bizarre plants that shoot peas. The latter is about as powerful as an air rifle and may become even more deadly in the future.

With the rage of wanting to punch that skinny old man, Lei Di suppressed the urge to buy a cat-shaped drone. But looking at the cat-shaped drones meowing in anger, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"Operation Log: I'm still testing... If that was all Aperture Technologies had, I'd probably say something good about them... Okay, what's next? The terrain here is pretty broken."

After taking a few calming breaths, Lei Dian pushed open a door in front of him that was engraved with a laurel crown and skull logo:

Behind the door, a long glass corridor appeared before him. Darkness reigned supreme, but from this darkness, the sound of mechanical structures swirling could soon be heard. Hinges rose, and the faint roar of metal rubbing against metal could be heard. In mere seconds, new "space" had filled in on both sides of the corridor.

The "field" no longer contained various test subjects or experimenters, but rather a host of distorted beings—from the Mothman of West Virginia, the Skinwalkers of the Navajo Tribe, the Lizardmen of Scap'o Swamp, and even the abominable Undead imprisoned in the Blackstone Stand... These demons and monsters clung to the high-strength glass, constantly pounding on it, constantly trying to escape:

Monsters from oral legends and from another supernatural dimension showed their bodies to Lei Dian without reservation. They were thirsty for the fresh flesh and blood of the person in front of them, thirsty for his soul and the tortured heart.

Just looking at it can make people feel painful, just listening to it can drive people into madness, and with just a door, lightning goes from natural to supernatural.

The moment and place where the scene suddenly changes is the real hell!

"What on earth are these things? The product of a failed biological experiment?!"

With a look of shock on his face, Lei Dian subconsciously took a step forward, but in his heart he denied his own words - these monsters could never be the products of human laboratories!

Each grotesque body reveals only humanity's most real nightmares and darkest past, and it is like the traces left by the vomit of dozens of drunkards that have been casually cleaned up, which is terrifying and disgusting.

The other world thus broke into Lei Dian's life, dragging the fate of this powerful psychic into an unknown direction.

At this moment, Lei Dian himself seemed to have returned to the vague past:

A young soldier charging into the face of gunfire... senseless killing... brutal training... the pale lights of a mental hospital... and "So from now on, your code name is 'Raiden'."

As a result, more fragments of thoughts from the past gradually surfaced. Every thought in the dead of night, every pill swallowed - whispers wrapped in broken memories of the past exploded in Lei Dian's mind. The voice full of hatred and rebuke repeatedly dug into the trauma deep in his soul, impacting the control of the nanomachines in his brain, and gradually loosening the originally strict confinement.

Tormented by a pounding headache, Lei Dian growled. He bit his lip, finding a glimmer of clarity in the rusty taste that permeated his mouth. Without hesitation, the young intruder thrust his legs forward, dashing toward the end of the corridor.

Break through the barriers and pass through the corridors.

Lei Dian felt his body becoming lighter, but his mood becoming heavier - finally, he stood in front of the door of the final test.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Lei Dian pushed the door open and saw a silver-haired man standing in the empty testing area.

"You said you would come to me," the man said. His voice seemed to have a magical power, and with just a few words, it dispelled most of the pain in Lei Dian's mind. "Now, the true master of Aperture Technology is before you, Lei Dian."

"..."

Lei Dian didn't say anything, but just silently gripped the long sword.

Chapter 398 You Will Come to My Servants One Day (3/3)

There are no white turrets here, no hard-to-defend laser nets, and not even those funny little gadgets.

All that was left before him was a young, silver-haired man standing in the empty, clean, and tidy square testing field—and a woman in professional attire stood in the corner, holding a clipboard and a ballpoint pen, as if preparing to record experimental data.

"Speaking of which, Raiden, I'm surprised you're actually from Mukoff's research project. Perhaps this is the result of the fluctuations in the thread of fate." Rhodes placed his hands on his waist, resting them on the holster of his revolver. "But other than that, your experience as a young soldier hasn't changed much... By the way, do you have an adopted father named Solidus Snake?"

“…I’m an orphan.”

"I'm sorry for what happened to you."

Rhode spoke calmly. Seeing Lei Dian holding the long knife in one hand, the blade tip drooping, his muscles relaxed—he was preparing for a surprise attack—what would he use? The knife, or the pistol? With a slight sense of anticipation rising in his heart, Rhode continued:

"I'm extending an invitation to you, Jack, codenamed 'Thunderbolt'. I hope you will join the Army Without Borders and serve under my command."

Hearing this, a sharp pain flashed through Lei Dian's mind. He then exhaled slowly and replied indifferently:

"I refuse—"

Faster than words, Lei Dian raised his pistol. He aimed at Rhodes and prepared to pull the trigger, but the sharp whistling sound of the air being torn apart came one step faster - the Magnum bullet savagely hit the gun body of the Mk23 semi-automatic pistol. The metal touched, merged, and repelled each other, completely destroying this killing weapon!