As for activating it?
It was even more impossible.
Because once activated, it signified that something uncontrollable had occurred.
Everything here would be uploaded to headquarters.
Then, the containment breach response plan would be initiated.
Esther had not thought it would be an emergency evacuation passage at first; it was only after nearly turning the entire base upside down without finding it, yet still believing in Edmund’s premise, that he directly opened this passage and then discovered a ’secret passage’ within it.
Hold headquarters accountable?
At such a time, Esther simply didn’t care.
Moreover, he had a legitimate excuse: a massive ’anomaly’ attack on Ang City, and they needed to evacuate.
With that, Esther’s gaze turned toward the additional members of this mission: Bob and Hosea.
These were two men who had been spotted near an ’anomaly,’ infamous for their track records, yet had survived.
Naturally, such people could not be separated from the ’shelter’ members.
So, the two men gloriously became ’shelter’ D-Class personnel.
D-, a term for expendable members.
"Begin exploring ahead."
Esther issued the order directly.
Bob’s number was D-1667.
Hosea’s number was D-1668.
The two were fully equipped at this moment, wearing protective gear, headlamps, portable video equipment, communicators, oxygen tubes, and so on.
D-Class personnel do not need weapons.
They are also not allowed to have weapons.
"Yes," Bob and Hosea did not argue with Esther’s words, let alone resist. With ten assault rifles aimed at them, as long as they didn’t want to be riddled with bullets, the two knew what they should do.
With great reluctance, Bob walked ahead with Hosea following behind, their forehead lights dispelling the surrounding darkness, allowing Esther to see the general shape ahead.
It wasn’t much different from the path they had traversed before.
After moving forward about thirty meters, a platform appeared, connected to a staircase that was even darker.
Almost simultaneously, Bob and Hosea stopped in their tracks.
"D-1667, continue forward!"
"D-1668, check the surroundings!"
Esther issued his commands again.
"Why is it always me?" the thin, bespectacled Bob, with a slightly gloomy face, grumbled.
The gray-haired Hosea just smiled.
"The next won’t be any better," Hosea remarked.
"May you meet a horrible end!"
Bob flipped Hosea the middle finger before starting towards the stairs.
The two weren’t on friendly terms, just incarcerated inmates from separate ’cells,’ waiting to complete this mission and gain their release.
In fact, to some extent, their relationship could be considered competitive.
Because in this mission, only one person could be pardoned.
If possible, Bob hoped for Hosea’s death.
The feeling was mutual.
So, Hosea, watching Bob’s retreating back, spat fiercely onto the ground.
All this Esther did not see, but he heard enough to know what had happened, though he did not intervene.
D-Class personnel, as long as they didn’t do anything out of line, were forgivable in his eyes.
After all, they were expendable.
In the time that followed, Esther watched the actions of the two D-Class personnel through the screen.
Hosea conducted a by-the-book search, while Bob encountered something worth paying attention to.
As Bob stepped onto the staircase that continued downwards, the bright headlamp dimmed considerably, and the illuminated area shrank, revealing only a narrow path ahead of him.
And more importantly, the stairs in front of him seemed to be all the same.
Thirteen steps per flight, with a three-meter semicircular platform where one could turn 180 degrees to continue downwards.
Ten flights down, they were all the same.
So did Bob, walking within.
He swallowed hard, but he still kept moving downward.
And just as Bob passed another semicircular platform, he suddenly stopped. Stay connected through empire
"D-1667, continue forward," Esther commanded.
"Didn’t you hear it, sir?"
"There are cries of a child!" Bob reported truthfully.
Esther frowned; he hadn’t heard the sound Bob mentioned. After adjusting the equipment, he still couldn’t hear it.
"Is it still there?" Esther inquired, while switching channels to a mobile squad member’s earpiece.
"Very clear!" Bob answered.
However, the mobile squad member shook his head, confirming he hadn’t heard anything.
The squad member beside him confirmed it as well.
"D-1667, can you still hear that sound?"