Chapter 682: Shattered Silence

“What’s going on?!”

He couldn’t use his mental power to observe what was happening inside.

The sudden anomaly immediately put Ming Luo and the others on high alert.

One or two mishaps could be explained away, but such a perfectly synchronized impact was undeniably eerie!

Soon, with a loud bang, a tester in a nearby testing chamber was forcefully burst out from within.

“Look over there!”

Seeing someone “come out,” Ming Luo hurriedly signaled the squad members to look.

Before he could make out what was happening inside, the soldiers stationed around rushed out and surrounded the area!

“Quick! Get him out of here!”

A mid-ranking rebel officer clearly hadn’t expected someone to be knocked out like that—it must have been a very hastily arranged plan.

Noticing that every survivor’s eyes were fixed there, he quickly issued orders, then gave a sardonic smile towards the astonished crowd as he loudly explained:

“Everyone, don’t panic! This is a normal occurrence during testing!”

“Some people might experience a brief loss of consciousness during enhancement. In such cases, an energy overload can trigger muscle spasms!”

Unconcerned with whether they believed him or not, a staff member in a white lab coat also stepped forward and began rattling off a string of technical jargon.

With a coordinated back-and-forth, and trusting the military implicitly, the survivors only nodded in vague understanding and looked away.

Minor issues during enhancement had long been anticipated.

Moreover, none of them had really seen what happened to the person—it genuinely seemed like an instinctive reaction.

Unlike the other survivors, who remained relatively calm, Ming Luo and his compatriots exchanged quick, worried glances and began an urgent internal discussion.

“Did you see clearly?! From my angle, all I could see was that the person had their eyes closed!”

“I saw it! That middle-aged man was flailing all over—what kind of muscle reaction makes you look like a fish?!”

“Be careful… Zombies and fish? What on earth do these rebels want?”

After quickly summing up the gathered information, Ming Luo took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

He completely refused to accept the rebels’ explanation. In his eyes, the tester who had been knocked out had clearly lost all self-control and was now thrashing like a fish on a cutting board.

Judging by the rebels’ reaction, they evidently knew such issues could occur; it was simply that the testing equipment was still imperfect.

Time ticked away bit by bit.

The three-minute mark was reached in no time.

Once Ming Luo and the others had pushed to the front, a series of red lights suddenly flickered on from within the testing chamber.

With a soft hissing sound, the remaining 299 testing chambers all launched simultaneously.

Under the tense and curious gazes of everyone present, the testers were ejected out.

Contrary to Ming Luo’s expectations, these testers were not unconscious and then dragged away by the rebels as an excuse.

At that moment, over two hundred testers who had just finished the test walked out on their own.

Everyone wore a blank expression; many, upon regaining their senses, couldn’t help but examine their own bodies as if waking from a deep sleep, flexing their limbs.

“The first round of testing is over. Congratulations—all of you have passed.”

“You can now take deep breaths and even jog in place to test the strength of your enhanced abilities.”

As if following a standard procedure, before Ming Luo could even ponder further, the rebel officers standing on the raised platforms smiled encouragingly at the group as they announced the end of the test.

No sooner had they finished speaking than the testers eagerly began jumping in place; many instinctively threw punches to check if they had indeed become stronger.

Within seconds, excited and joyful exclamations rang out one after another:

“I’m stronger now! My physical strength has really improved!”

“Me too! My jumping ability has increased, and I feel a new agility!”

“Why is everyone talking about physical strength? I felt my lung capacity grow, though now I just have this itchy sensation in my throat.”

Amid envious looks from everyone, the effect of this round of testing—or rather, enhancement—was unmistakable. Instantly, everyone began eagerly anticipating their own turn.

However, upon closer observation, Ming Luo’s expression changed subtly. He quickly sent a message to Yenir, as if he had noticed something amiss.

“Lord Yenir!”

“Damn it! It’s fish… fish!!”

—————–

“Buzz…!”

On the 19th floor of the Underground Base, Yenir stared in shock at the incomplete message from Ming Luo.

Just two minutes ago, a squad member had informed him that the test had begun and that something had gone wrong. But then, following Ming Luo’s cryptic message, communication abruptly cut off.

“What on earth is this thing!?”

His senses highly alert, Yenir looked around and noticed that, at some point, the metal walls nearby had all started to glow with a ghostly blue light.

Though he couldn’t determine exactly what it was, Yenir quickly deduced from Ming Luo’s situation that it was a shielding device!

Communication across the entire 19th floor had been momentarily blocked—a tactic normally reserved for large-scale military operations. Even the Capital’s military wouldn’t employ such a strategy lightly!

A frown darkened Yenir’s face as he hurriedly sent private messages both outside and to Ming Luo. Soon, seeing no response on the comm panels, Yenir was certain of his suspicion.

“That’s it—it’s a system shield. And its range isn’t small at all; it covers the entire 19th floor.”

“Were we discovered, or did the shield just activate!?”

A heavy dread settled in Yenir’s heart—this had happened far too suddenly.

If it was the former, it meant he was in danger too. If Ming Luo and his team were exposed, then his own identity would be compromised! They had all infiltrated under the guise of the Fire Wolf Team—if the rebel high-ranking officers aren’t fools, they’d immediately notice a discrepancy!

“The odds are low… With the composure of Ming Luo and his team, there’s little chance of exposure. Even if the test went awry, the timing wouldn’t have been on their side.”

“So it’s most likely just a coincidence?”

Reading Ming Luo’s final, half-sent message, Yenir’s expression wavered in uncertainty. Even he couldn’t quite decipher what Ming Luo was trying to communicate.

Yet, from the sheer shock in Ming Luo’s tone, Yenir could imagine what the squad members had seen—something so astounding that they barely had time to form a coherent sentence before urgently trying to warn him.

“Fish? There are fish on the 19th floor? Or did they see a Sea Beast?”

Yenir raised his eyes to the massive metal door leading to the testing area, and in that moment decided he wasn’t going to waste any more time here.

Not bothering to investigate further—regardless of whether Ming Luo’s team was safe for now or if it was merely a communications blackout—he knew that it would soon be their turn.

Without a second thought, Yenir quickly tidied his appearance and strode toward the metal door.

He was determined to see for himself what inside warranted the rebels’ drastic measure of deploying a large-scale shielding device to cut off all communication with the survivors!