Ling Cage: Twelve Talismans? I have everything I need.

Chapter 56 Ecological Base No. 3

The noise from the games in the room had long since subsided.

Bai Yuekui stretched, her graceful curves unfolding under the light.

She lazily walked towards the bathroom, and steam quickly filled the frosted glass door. The door opened a crack, and warm steam peeked out along with Bai Yuekui's head.

"The water's ready. Want to come along? It'll save time."

Yang Chen leaned against the headboard, looking at the hazy figure and the rising steam, his heart skipped a beat.

He cleared his throat, his voice slightly tense: "Ahem... You go ahead and wash up, I'll check the list of things to bring tomorrow."

A low, knowing chuckle came from behind the door, followed by the sound of rushing water.

After they had both finished washing up and lay down, feeling refreshed and clean, the lights in the room went out.

They didn't say much, but simply adjusted their positions in tacit understanding and fell into a deep sleep amidst each other's familiar body temperature and breathing rhythm.

I have things to do tomorrow, so I'd better go to bed early.

As dawn broke, the roar of engines shattered the morning silence.

The transport vehicle, fully loaded with tightly sealed boxes of biological raw materials, sped toward Ecological Base No. 3 under Yang Chen's steady driving.

Bai Yuekui sat in the passenger seat, initially closing his eyes to rest, seemingly trying to dispel the last trace of sleepiness.

After a while, she opened her eyes, her long eyelashes casting faint shadows in the morning light.

She took her glasses case out of her pocket, put on her glasses, and then turned to pull out a thick, hardcover book with slightly curled edges from the car door storage compartment.

The cover features a complex molecular structure diagram, which looks very high-end.

The carriage was quiet, with only the soft rustling of tires against the road.

Bai Yuekui lowered his eyes, focusing intently on the dense text and data on the pages of the book.

Sunlight streamed through the car window, casting a soft golden glow on her focused profile.

Yang Chen caught a subtle movement out of the corner of his eye.

She extended her fair index finger and, with remarkable ease, lightly touched her lips with the tip, creating a barely perceptible dampness, before placing it on the edge of the book page.

The damp fingertips gently picked up a thin page of paper, making a soft "shh" sound, and the page obediently turned over.

"You're giving me the same feeling as my father right now, almost like an old lady." Yang Chen turned his gaze away and looked straight ahead.

Upon hearing Yang Chen's words, Bai Yuekui silently stretched out his leg and gently kicked him.

The outline of Ecological Base No. 3 appeared in the morning mist, cold and enormous.

The entire base is ring-shaped, with a starship parked in the very center.

Unlike other base entrances, this place was unusually quiet.

The vehicle slowly came to a stop in front of the heavy gate. Bai Yuekui lowered the window, placed his palm on the access control recognition area, and simultaneously aligned his iris with the scanner.

ASH's electronic voice announced: "Identity confirmed: Bai Yuekui."

"Please have the driver in the driver's seat verify simultaneously."

Yang Chen immediately cooperated with the palm print and iris scan.

"Collaborator: Yang Chen, permissions confirmed. Information verification passed, please press [finger]."

The cold, electronic sound suddenly stopped, and the voice that followed was now full of life and emotion.

"Yue Kui, Yang Chen, you've arrived." ASH's voice was filled with anticipation: "Yue Tian is here too."

Bai Yuekui murmured, "No wonder I haven't seen him these past few days, so he's come here."

The heavy alloy doors slid silently open to both sides, revealing an interior passageway that was as orderly and cold as a giant factory.

As the transport vehicle drove into the base, a sense of immense space immediately struck you.

Above them were crisscrossing thick pipes and flashing indicator lights, while the ground was made of shiny, new special metal plates.

The constant temperature and humidity system makes this place feel like a different world from the outside.

Along the way, researchers in full-body protective suits occasionally flew by silently in small hovercraft. On both sides were towering walls of equipment, inside which were several life support tanks.

If Red Necklace and Dawn were here, they would immediately recognize what was soaking in that jar.

Following the directions of the internal navigation, they drove for several minutes in the vast, somewhat oppressive space.

Once the vehicle is parked in the designated location, several white robots will come over and unload the materials.

The two got out of the car and eventually walked to an area marked "Heavy Freight Elevator - Downward".

The elevator doors are large enough to accommodate two transport vehicles side by side.

Next to it, a much smaller but more sophisticated freight elevator, marked as being dedicated to the core R&D area, had its indicator lights off, indicating that it was not in use.

The two walked over and verified their identities again on the control panel at the elevator entrance.

The elevator doors slid open silently, revealing a spacious interior with cold metal walls and a uniform, cool white light emanating from the ceiling.

After the door closed, Bai Yuekui pressed the button labeled B7 - Biological Monitoring Center.

A slight feeling of weightlessness came over me, and the elevator began to descend rapidly.

The numbers on the display screen jumped rapidly: B1, B2, B3... The numbers kept scrolling down at an extremely fast speed.

The only sounds in the cramped space were the low hum of the engine and the airflow from the vents.

Yang Chen leaned against the cold metal wall, his gaze sweeping over the simple layout of the elevator.

The slight feeling of weightlessness disappeared, and the elevator came to a smooth stop. The red number on the display screen remained "B7".

The heavy alloy door slid open silently to both sides, revealing not a busy laboratory or warehouse passageway outside.

Instead, it is a relatively bright and spacious area.

The light was a soft, warm white.

As soon as the door opened, the two saw a tall, slender woman with her back to them.

Standing in front of a large white workbench, she had a head of smooth, short black hair that gleamed with a metallic sheen.

The body is composed of a bunch of metal parts.

This is clearly the physical form of ASH.

At that moment, Ash, knowing that the two had already entered, turned around and looked at them with a smile.

"You've arrived, Yue Kui and Yang Chen."

Yang Chen nodded to Bai Yuekui: "Yes, it's been a long time, Ash."

Bai Yuekui then looked around again.

"Where's my brother? I haven't seen him up there either."

Upon hearing this, ASH slowly moved a step to the side, completely exposing the workbench behind him.

A white, spherical robot lies on the workbench with its screen black.

"Huh? What's wrong with my brother?"

Bai Yuekui walked over in confusion and poked Bai Yuetian with his finger.

Before ASH could speak, Bai Yuetian's black screen suddenly lit up with an expression that made a funny face.

"Ta-da! You scared me!"

Bai Yuekui remained expressionless, calmly watching Bai Yuetian.

Seeing that Bai Yuekui was not frightened, Bai Yuetian realized he had made a fool of himself.

"Aren't you worried that Ash might have ulterior motives towards me and wants to harm your own brother?"

"What do you think?" Bai Yuekui retorted irritably.

(End of this chapter)