Calista listened quietly, her fingers tightening slightly around the cotton swab pressed against the needle mark.
Extremely low did not mean impossible.
Collapse. Mutation.
Those words were like cold needles, probing the defenses around her heart.
But soon, her gaze became calm again.
"I understand." Calista lowered her sleeve, covering the tiny puncture mark, and also covering the brief uncertainty that had shown for just an instant.
"Continue your research, Doctor. Focus on whether the attractant is feasible and how to control the side effects. What I need is a tool, an advantage, not a ticking time bomb."
Just as Calista was about to turn and leave, she suddenly remembered something. She stopped and carefully took two items from the innermost sealed pocket of her tactical vest.
A few slightly worn paper documents, and a strangely shaped black USB drive etched with an abstract flame emblem.
"Doctor, there's also this." She handed over the documents and the USB drive. "I found them in the office of a lead researcher named De La Rosa at Sentinel Station. The documents have the Wildfire Project markings on them, and this USB drive… I don't think it's simple."
Dr. Jenner's attention was instantly dragged away from the instrument screen.
He practically snatched the USB drive and documents from Calista's hands, so eager that his movements were almost rude.
Dr. Jenner first skimmed through the documents quickly, his eyes passing over the technical terms and the Wildfire Project markings as he muttered, "De La Rosa, lead researcher, her private records…"
Then his attention was completely captured by the black USB drive.
He rubbed his fingers over the unique flame emblem on it. "This emblem… I think I've seen it in… no, not quite. It's a similar encryption logic…"
Dr. Jenner muttered incoherently, then suddenly looked up at Calista. "This USB drive needs a specific reader. Sentinel Station! The main console at Sentinel Station might have a compatible interface! Or we can try reverse engineering it…"
He was like a hound that had caught the scent of prey. The brief frustration from lacking samples and data vanished completely.
Clutching the USB drive tightly, Dr. Jenner said quickly to Calista, "These things are extremely important, Calista!
Especially this USB drive. It may contain Sentinel Station's core local data. It might even have… some of the original underlying protocols of the Wildfire Project, or… private notes. This is far more direct than blindly analyzing blood samples."
Dr. Evans also leaned closer, looking at the USB drive in Dr. Jenner's hand with surprise on his face. "A storage device with this level of security… there must be something extremely critical inside."
Calista looked at Dr. Jenner and warned him, "Be careful. I'm not sure whether there's a self-destruct program or some other security trap inside."
She thought of Lorenzo and had an instinctive wariness toward these high-tech things.
"Don't worry! Don't worry!" Dr. Jenner nodded repeatedly, but his gaze was already glued to the USB drive. Clearly, he was already planning how to crack it in his mind.
"With this, plus the new equipment… I have a feeling we'll have a breakthrough soon. Maybe we won't even have to wait until we go to France."
He stopped paying attention to Calista and rushed to a separate workstation connected to all kinds of equipment, taking the USB drive and documents with him.
Calista watched his back and shook her head helplessly, but a trace of hope also rose in her heart.
This unexpected gain might really shorten the time needed to unravel the mystery.
She turned toward the door, her steps steady and without hesitation. "Focus on the attractant first. Give me preliminary data on the attraction range as soon as possible."
"I will," Dr. Jenner answered quietly without looking up.
...
After leaving the sealed space of the laboratory, Calista's tense nerves relaxed slightly.
She did not return to her room right away. Instead, out of habit, she walked slowly along the main paths inside Rock Fortress.
Everything in the base was proceeding step by step. Defense, production, personnel integration…
Calista's mind quickly filtered through the progress of every matter since her return.
Suddenly, one neglected corner jumped into her thoughts.
Lorenzo.
He had already been finished off by her own hand at Sentinel Station, then torn to pieces by the mutated walkers. He was dead beyond question.
But there were still four prisoners connected to him locked up in Rock Fortress's dungeon.
André, Marco, Jason, and… Wagner.
After returning, she had been busy integrating new members, settling equipment, and planning construction. She had completely forgotten about them.
That would not do. After a few days, they would eat quite a bit of her food.
Calista's steps paused for a moment.
A little while later, she continued wandering around the base, even driving to Blackberry Ranch to check on things. By the end of the day, nothing unusual showed on her face.
That night, she did not hesitate. She turned and headed toward the rest area in Building A.
At this hour, most people should already be resting, but core members usually still carried out final patrols or held small discussions.
Calista found Leah near the armory. She was speaking quietly with Carver and Mike, probably about the planned division of combat squads and the Defense Force.
"Leah, Carver, Mike," Calista called softly.
The three immediately stopped talking and turned around.
"Come with me to the dungeon," Calista said briefly, without explaining why.
The three understood at once.
They knew exactly who was being held in the dungeon.
Leah's brows drew together slightly, as if she had thought of Wagner, someone with whom she had some history. But she asked nothing and silently followed Calista.
Carver and Mike exchanged a glance, then immediately followed as well.
Mikey was guarding the dungeon tonight. When he saw Calista arrive late at night with three core members, he immediately stood. A trace of surprise crossed his face, but he quickly regained his calm and silently opened the iron gate.
Calista nodded and walked in first.
The dungeon was divided into many separate cells. At the moment, four haggard men were either sitting or lying down, each locked in a separate cell.
Hearing movement, they all raised their heads, their eyes focusing on Calista as she entered.
After a brief, deathly silence, André and Marco suddenly rushed to the bars, gripping the iron rods tightly with both hands.
"Where is Lorenzo?!" André shouted hoarsely in English with a thick Italian accent. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with fear and the last trace of desperate hope.
Marco also shouted in agitation, "What did you do to Lorenzo? Let us out!"
Calista stood in the middle of the corridor outside the cells, watching them without expression. The dim light cast shifting shadows across her face, making her gray-blue eyes seem even deeper and harder to read.
Leah, Carver, and Mike stood behind her on either side like three silent guardians, bringing an invisible pressure with them.
...
...
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