Welles could not deny his discomfort at being stared at by everyone and walked straight to the door, but when he got there, he did not expect that this door was just ordinary.
"I know what kind of door this is..." A soldier who used to work in construction explained that the function of this door should be to prevent humidity, so that people would be more interested in the things inside.
If it's not food, not weapons or ammunition, and this door protects the interior from humidity, then what could it be?
The door was not locked, so after securing the area, Jason pressed the handle and pushed the door. Since it was made of metal, it let out a tearing sound, like metal scraping against the ground.
When the door opened, everyone let out a sigh of relief upon discovering that there was no kind of hidden mechanism this time.
At first glance, it could be seen that behind the door there was a metal railing, and that the corridor beyond had changed direction, but there was indeed a layer of rust on the railing.
Jason tried to push the door, and as expected, it did not move at all. After signaling the soldiers behind him, everyone moved.
"I want to open the door completely before going in, help me!"
"Alright, let's count... One, two, and three..."
"You're mine, baby!"
Crack!
Three people pulled hard and discovered that the door's latch had broken off in their hands. Everyone who had stepped back due to the force was surprised.
"My God, how do we open that door?"
"Brute force!"
As soon as someone suggested that idea, a soldier from the group approached with a hammer, and at first glance Aiorn knew that this hammer was quite large.
The man swung his arm, and the hammer struck the iron bolt fiercely. The iron bolt bent slightly from the impact, and then the hammer continued striking it.
As the clanging sound of metal echoed through the cave, everyone felt fortunate to be wearing helmets that protected them from many unpleasant things.
Fortunately, this soldier was very strong, and with a few blows, the rust on the surface seemed to fall to the ground.
After the door was opened enough, everyone walked inside and looked toward the side corridor, all in combat formation in case an enemy was waiting for them.
What appeared before everyone was a deep corridor with rooms separated on both sides.
Welles looked at the railing behind him and said with some uncertainty, "It took a long time, and something tells me this looks like a prison."
Many were confused by these words.
"They're building a prison in a place like this? Is there any connection between this structure and a prison? What if this place is controlled by an artificial intelligence?"
"Like the movie Resident Evil?" a soldier asked from behind, and everyone turned toward him.
"Uh, I was just speaking casually."
After interrupting the conversation, Jason felt that the things stored here should be quite important and pointed toward the nearest rooms.
"A prison is unlikely, but everyone must be careful. Let's start with these two rooms." Jason pointed forward and warned, "The masks we have will protect us from any kind of toxic gas. Do not take them off, and remember—shoot first, ask questions later."
The laser from the P90s shone through their night vision, and everyone positioned themselves at the nearest door. Welles then stepped forward and placed his hand on the doorknob, and the rest nodded while staying on guard.
It was possible to gain a good outcome from this situation, so the benefits were greater than the risks.
Although the corridor was dark, the night vision gave everyone good visibility, but Jason still moved carefully.
As Welles counted with his fingers, dozens of weapons were aimed at the door.
Click!
Crack!
Welles violently turned the doorknob, then pushed hard, and at the same time, his body quickly moved to the side to make way for the other soldiers.
"Go!"
The lasers of dozens of P90s pointed into the room, and the best part was that only Jason's group could see these lasers since they were designed to be visible only through night vision.
In that instant, no one noticed the strong rotten smell coming from the room, but since everyone wore special helmets and suits that covered every part of their bodies, no one realized it. What they did notice, however, was two highly decomposed walkers charging straight at them.
"Targets one and two—open fire!"
Jason, who had a calm expression and a cold demeanor, identified the enemy and ordered them to shoot.
Bang! Bang!
One of the advantages of the P90 is that it has both single-shot and automatic fire, allowing bullets to be conserved significantly, and its cost is very low for the number of walkers that can be eliminated.
After carefully inspecting the two walker corpses on the ground, it was obvious that they were wearing active-duty soldier uniforms, and even the weapons on their bodies were still in service. He picked up a weapon and discovered that the batch number was quite recent.
"Why do I feel like this is a prison?"
Welles' voice sounded again, and this time even the few people around him did not respond, as if they somewhat believed his words.
However, Luke, who was crouching while observing the corpse, shook his head again. "You're overthinking it. These two should be the guards here. Look at this."
After speaking, he lifted a bunch of keys from a soldier's waist and shook them.
The keys jingled, and at the same time, everyone saw Jason stand up and walk toward the wall.
"What is this? It looks like something needs weekly maintenance."
Welles narrowed his eyes and looked at the paper. It contained monthly work details and weekly results. From this, it could be seen that there should have been more than just these two people here, which meant there were likely walkers in other rooms—or even survivors.
"This should be a storage facility, but the stored items require regular maintenance, so some troops stayed here..."
"What could it be?"
Welles felt some anticipation. As an active-duty soldier, he knew very well that it must be a batch of valuable supplies that the government considered highly important. Otherwise, if it were just weapons and ammunition, the government would never send troops to guard it.
"Let's take a look. Shall we find out?"
They then thoroughly investigated the rooms along the corridor. They discovered that this corridor was only the topmost structure of the place, and there was an elevator at the end of the hall. To their surprise, although the first floor was clearly in shutdown mode, the elevator was still operational.
"Jason, there are six underground floors in total—this place is really massive!"
Looking at the six buttons marked with negative numbers inside the elevator, Jason was not surprised. He told everyone to stay calm and then said in a serious tone:
"It seems this place is probably not just a simple storage facility. That means there is likely a large number of walkers below, and this elevator cannot carry that many people at once, so a complete plan must be made."
As he spoke, Jason pointed to the top of the elevator, opened the safety hatch with the butt of his weapon, and looked at Welles with a smile.
"Should I go?"
Everyone laughed, and someone patted him on the shoulder and joked, "Just make the sacrifice. If something happens, at least we'll be safe."
Jason also smiled slightly, but he was not joking.
"We need two people to climb into the elevator through the safety hatch and hide, then use a control to operate it—at least to have an escape route in case we encounter a horde of walkers."
"I want one group to go back and bring ballistic shields!"
"Yes, sir!"
"And also bring more ammunition, food, and some higher-grade weapons!"
"Understood!"
Jason began giving orders, and everyone moved toward the outside. Some placed green glow sticks along the path for safety and sealed the doors they had already cleared in case of any anomaly.
Welles grew increasingly nervous watching all these preparations Jason was making. And for some strange reason, he wished Daryl were in the group. If that guy were here, he would definitely be the first to step forward.
"Alright, you come with me."
"Yes, sir."
…
"In position, sir!"
"Weapons ready!"
"The group staying here must secure the area!"
"Yes, sir!"
The elevator slowly descended to the second floor, and soon there was a ding as Jason's group arrived.
Looking at the elevator doors slowly opening, the people with ballistic shields at the front observed the area and saw a corridor exactly like the one above.
"Let's go to the next!"
Next was the third floor, then the fourth—each one had corridors identical to the first floor.
"It doesn't seem dangerous."
Just as Welles' tense nerves began to relax, Jason tapped him on the body and warned:
"Don't relax. How is it that there's no one if this place was supposed to be active? I suspect there must be walkers on the remaining lower floors—or worse, something even more terrifying than that."