With the annoying Werewolf Race researcher gone, they were now free to do as they pleased.
Chloe certainly wasn't going to stand still and wait for that tour guide. As soon as the person left, she let go of Xavier's arm and darted forward.
Seeing her run, the little ones behind her followed suit.
Soon, only Xavier was left standing there.
He remained silent for a moment before finally following in their footsteps.
In all his years, this was the first time anyone had dared to leave him behind to catch up.
But when he realized it was Chloe who had done it, he immediately felt at ease.
Well, being raised to be so mischievous and arrogant didn't seem like such a bad thing for Chloe.
Meanwhile, Chloe had already extended her senses outward.
They moved very quickly.
Chloe and Anderson took the left side, picking locks room by room.
Qin Huaibei and Daniel took the right side, also picking locks room by room.
Katherine brought up the rear, responsible for closing the doors with vines.
The Wolf King, cunning as ever, knew they were coming to visit the Central Research Institute today and had evacuated all the researchers in advance.
Now, the Central Research Institute was just an empty shell.
The deeper they went into the institute, the harder the locks became to pick.
Eventually, they turned into password locks, iris scanners, and fingerprint locks.
Chloe and her group were stumped by these doors.
Just as they were at a loss, even considering breaking down the doors by force, Xavier arrived, carrying a person.
He was holding them by the scruff of the neck, like a cat.
Xavier's arm strength was astonishing; he carried the full-grown man without any discomfort.
He calmly pried open the man's eyelids and pressed them against the iris scanner.
"Click."
The large door opened in response.
Chloe's eyes lit up: "Awesome, Daddy! Where did you get this guy?"
Xavier said coolly:
"I fell behind a few steps, and this guy just happened to catch up. So I knocked him out."
"I was going to just throw him away, but on second thought, I figured he might be useful."
He finished speaking, pursed his lips, looked at Chloe, and raised his hand, holding out the grown man:
"Do you want to carry him yourself?"
Chloe quickly waved her hands: "No, no, no, you keep him!"
She then sincerely invited Xavier to take the lead.
Joking aside, who would want to carry such a heavy person while walking? Chloe wasn't an idiot.
The research institute was large, but Chloe and her group were very efficient.
Occasionally, they found some useful clues in the laboratories.
For instance, in this lab, they discovered a pile of human organs.
The most numerous were brains.
These brains were preserved very well in formaldehyde, some still connected to machines.
Under the influence of the brains, the activated machines had many functions and were very responsive, proving that these brains clearly still had activity.
They all thought of the diary they had found earlier in the Pahor Palace laboratory.
"Remove the brain, gain immortality."
To survive permanently in a form of consciousness.
Chloe told Xavier about this.
As expected, a look of disapproval appeared on his face.
"Leaving aside the cruelty of this research, just consider that after removing the brain, following pre-programmed procedures, the brain would still just be a brain. It wouldn't clearly realize it was once a werewolf."
Xavier frowned: "...Why do they always like to do this kind of research?"
"Who knows," Chloe said. "Small ability, big ambition."
She took one last look at the brains and organs in the lab before leaving.
Daniel, however, was itching to steal one.
But before he could act, Qin Huaibei and Katherine each grabbed one of his hands and dragged him out.
They said: "Don't embarrass yourself."
Daniel didn't understand what was embarrassing about stealing a brain, but outnumbered, he was reluctantly dragged away in the end.
The group ventured deeper, finally arriving in front of a wall.
Qin Huaibei was puzzled: "Dead end?"
Chloe didn't say anything, walking straight to the wall and knocking twice.
The sound was crisp, hollow, indicating space behind it.
She calmly said: "Find something to open this place up."
Hearing this, Daniel immediately picked up an iron hammer, ready to smash it.
But Qin Huaibei quickly stopped him:
"If you're stupid, don't come and mess things up. Go stand aside."
One hammer blow could alert who knows how many people.
With no choice, Daniel dejectedly sat to the side, hugging his wolf fang hammer.
Chloe felt and tapped each brick on the wall, marking any that seemed loose.
The marks were shallow, just light fingernail imprints.
Before long, she had found all the loose bricks on the entire wall.
There were exactly three, no more, no less.
Chloe had everyone press these three bricks simultaneously.
"Rumble—"
A sound arose, and the wall began to automatically cave inward, finally opening to both sides, revealing an elevator that looked quite unattractive.
Seeing this, Daniel couldn't help but feel disappointed: "Is this it? I thought it would be much fancier."
Chloe felt the same way.
All this secrecy, all these mechanisms, seeming so high-tech, but they couldn't even make a decent elevator.
It really made one worry about the financial situation of the Werewolf Race.
Chloe was the first to walk in, muttering:
"They couldn't be in the red, could they?"
Qin Huaibei echoed from behind: "Surely not, their territory is so vast after all."
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," Daniel said. "My uncle might be good at leading troops into battle, but when it comes to governing a country, he's utterly clueless. I'm embarrassed to even talk about him."
"If it were my dad, things might be a bit better."
Hearing this, Chloe was silent for a moment:
"What about you? If you became the Wolf King, would you govern well?"
Daniel patted his chest: "Are you kidding? Do I look like someone who would govern a country?"
Everyone: "..."
Daniel kicked the elevator wall: "But I would hire people to help manage things. I just need to be good at fighting."
Finished speaking, he rubbed his hands together, clearly eager to go head-to-head with the current old Wolf King.
The elevator descended.
Finally, with an old "creaking" sound, the elevator stopped.
The indicator light on the elevator door lit up, and Chloe drew the dagger from her waist.
She wasn't sure if there was anyone outside, and if there was, striking first would be the wisest decision.
The elevator door opened.
Outside was pitch black and empty, clearly deserted.
Chloe didn't dare relax her vigilance, keeping a grip on her dagger.
She waved her hand behind her:
"Light."
It was pitch black here, she couldn't even see who was behind her.
Hearing her voice, Anderson instinctively fumbled in his pocket.
A moment later, the flashlight beam came on.
Outside the elevator, a skinny, skeletal mummy hung upside down in front of everyone.
