Chapter 94: You’ve Been Caught!
Ethan stared straight ahead at the now-opened space in front of him, and despite the exhaustion still lingering in his arms from wrestling with the massive hatch wheel, he could not help feeling slightly amazed by what he was seeing. Well, it was only to be expected from an Empire facility, especially one belonging to the Association, but the sheer scale and organization of the warehouse still managed to catch his attention as he stepped farther inside.
The enormous interior was arranged into countless orderly rows and clearly separated sections, with each area dedicated to a different type of product produced and stored by the Association. Nothing appeared to have been placed randomly; every shelf, storage unit, and metal row seemed to have its own designated position, creating a system that looked almost impossibly neat despite the sheer number of items filling the warehouse.
Ethan’s eyes immediately began wandering across the rows as they walked.
The first section they passed contained potions, with countless glass containers carefully arranged along the metal shelves. Each potion came in a different color, consistency, and appearance, and every container had a label attached to it, while the metal row itself also carried the corresponding identification. Some were brightly colored and almost beautiful enough to look harmless, while others were dark, murky, or strangely smoky, making Ethan wonder what exactly they were supposed to do to a person’s body.
The next section contained pills, with transparent containers holding different sizes, shapes, and colors of tablets, each one carrying its own strange identification tag.
The final section appeared to be dedicated to liquid-based products that were not stored in glass bottles. Instead, clear plastic bags containing various liquids hung neatly within their designated storage compartments alongside numerous injections, allowing Ethan to quickly figure out that this section was probably where the Association kept its injectable products.
The more he looked around, the more impressed he became by how extensive the Association’s creations actually were.
Every row clearly stated the products it contained, but when Ethan’s eyes moved toward the labels on the individual containers, his fascination quickly turned into confusion.
The products were tagged, yes, but the tags did not contain ordinary names that someone could simply read and understand.
Instead, each one consisted of a strange combination of letters and numbers.
For example, the first potion that caught Ethan’s attention was a red, bubbly liquid contained inside a thick glass bottle. He leaned slightly closer, narrowing his eyes at the label attached to it.
[S-WG22]
Ethan stared at it.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
How was anyone supposed to understand what a product was when its name looked more like some kind of password or serial code?
His eyes shifted toward another potion nearby, this one a black-green liquid that seemed to contain smoke swirling continuously within it despite the bottle remaining completely still.
Its tag read:
[G-IPR15]
Ethan’s eyebrows knitted together.
He looked toward the pills section, hoping that perhaps those would at least have slightly more understandable labels, but his hopes were quickly crushed when his eyes landed on a clear container holding a single large grey pill covered in several strange black holes.
Its tag read:
[SG-X–]
Ethan stared at it for several seconds before finally giving up.
Unable to hold his confusion in any longer, he turned toward Jake in disbelief.
"How are we going to collect the potions we need when we can’t even read what is on the tags to recognize what they are?"
However, when Ethan’s eyes landed on Jake, he discovered that Jake was already moving farther into the warehouse alongside Lara. He had apparently been completely unfazed by the confusing labels, and as he walked, he reached into his belongings and pulled out several bags he had hidden away beforehand, handing one to Ethan and another to Lara.
"Chill," Jake said casually. "If you can’t recognize it, I can. I planned everything out, remember?"
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
"You mean you’ll actually be able to point out which potion is which from these weird-ass name tags?"
"Of course."
Jake stopped for a moment and pointed toward the red bubbly potion Ethan had noticed earlier.
"For instance, this potion’s tag reads [S-WG22], which means [Sentinels Withstanding Guiding-Potion/22 batch created]."
Ethan blinked.
Jake continued, clearly pleased with himself now that he finally had the opportunity to show off the knowledge he had spent so much time acquiring.
"S stands for Sentinels, G stands for Guides, H stands for Humans, and SG stands for productions suited for both Guides and Sentinels."
"Ohhh..." Ethan’s expression changed as realization finally dawned on him. "You really do know it."
"Yeah, but it obviously took months of planning to be able to study the Association’s wordings," Lara remarked from beside them, immediately ruining Jake’s moment of pride.
Jake rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. At least I learned it, and out of the three of us, I’m the only one who knows it."
He gestured toward the endless rows surrounding them before continuing, "And since some of the codes are still too complicated to remember, let’s just use the looks to describe them. Or rather, just grab two to three of every potion containing G, and I’ll sort myself out."
That seemed like a much better plan.
There was no point standing around trying to decipher every strange combination of letters and numbers when Jake had already done the hard work of studying the Association’s naming system. With their bags ready, all three of them immediately got into action, spreading out among the rows and beginning to search for the potions Jake had instructed them to collect.
Ethan reached toward one of the shelves, his attention fixed on the bottles in front of him.
But before he could even pick up the first one—
Click.
The entire warehouse suddenly lit up.
Bright white lights flickered on overhead all at once, illuminating every row, every shelf, every glass container, and every corner of the enormous storage center that had previously been hidden in darkness.
The three of them instantly froze, as they slowly turned around.
Then, from somewhere behind them, a chilling voice echoed through the now-brilliantly illuminated warehouse.
"Who the hell are you guys, and what are you doing here?"