Chapter 201: Taking Over The Facility
A compartment opened on Apex Mk2's back, releasing a swarm of small drones that dispersed into the underground structure, scanning every corridor. "Ego, anything unusual?" Zack asked.
"Sir! There's heavy interference in this area. I can't conduct a full scan." Zack cursed under his breath. So they don't want anyone snooping around. With the drones compromised, he had no choice but to search manually.
Following a dimly lit passage, he eventually reached a massive underground hall. And what he saw made his stomach churn. The hall was huge, nearly the size of a football field. Lined up in neat rows were over fifty crystal-like capsules. Zack approached one and peered inside. His expression darkened.
Inside the capsules were brains. Only brains—no bodies, no flesh. Just floating gray matter, connected to an intricate network of nerves, blood vessels, and what appeared to be artificial neural links. Zack clenched his jaw. 'What the hell kind of experiments were going on here?'
These weren't medical transplants or preservation units. The brains had been forcibly ripped from living people, their neural connections violently severed. And the ghosts—the ones he had been tracking—they had come from here. Whoever was running this facility had taken people, torn their brains out, and somehow turned them into spectral entities. This is madness. Before Zack could process further, a robotic voice echoed through the chamber. "Unauthorized entity detected. Intruder elimination protocol activated."
A low hum resonated beneath him. Then—movement. The capsules opened. From inside, dozens of ghostly figures began rising. Thirty-two in total. Zack barely had time to react before the ceiling exploded. The ghosts rushed toward him at terrifying speed. "Ego! There has to be a main control system. Hack into it!" Zack barked.
"Sir! The interference is strong! I need two minutes to break through!"
Zack grimaced. 'Two minutes?!' That was an eternity in a fight like this. Without wasting time, he rocketed toward the ceiling, dodging the incoming ghosts. They moved fast, phasing through walls and attacking in coordinated strikes. Zack relied on the suit's agility, twisting and weaving through their attacks, never staying in one place for too long. He just had to hold out.
"System override successful! Ghost activity ceasing!" Ego's voice finally rang out. Instantly, the ghosts froze mid-air. They stood eerily still, like puppets with their strings cut.