Yu Sheng quickly found those two records.

The first one he saw was a hastily written note by an on-site operator who was left inside the laboratory—an action had already spiraled out of control, the laboratory was in a lockdown state, hence the note appeared chaotic and rushed, and it had many parts that were either smudged out by the recorder or deliberately left blank:

"The isolation door has been lowered, alarms are blaring everywhere, hallucinations and noise are assaulting my mind, I'm unsure how much longer I can stay lucid, I am leaving behind this final record, I will record as completely as possible everything I have seen and felt... But my senses are being affected, so the content in this record may be distorted or tampered with, I hope subsequent investigators will discern carefully and treat these texts with caution.

"The two deep divers returned from the deep-diving device are gradually dying, equipment, and on-site medical personnel are unable to find the cause, their consciousness, or shall I say 'souls,' seem to have been disrupted by something before they returned to reality, now they are just two bodies still carrying out biochemical reactions, driven by inertia to maintain activity, and are trying to convey their last pieces of intelligence...

"One of them, who was in better condition before he became completely unable to speak, kept repeating a few peculiar words, he frequently mentioned 'crying of a baby' and 'umbilical cord,' as well as 'slumber' and 'distortion,' he also mentioned another word, it seemed to be 'ship' or a similar term, but that was almost a shriek, incomprehensible...

"I cannot imagine what they have seen or experienced 'on the other side,' it is clearly something beyond human comprehension, and the monitoring system connected to the deep-dive pool only transmitted various noises...

"The temperature around is dropping, but I cannot determine if it is a hallucination, XX (the section here is smudged) suddenly falls unconscious, then wakes up from the unconsciousness, screaming, and quickly collapses to the ground again.

"Unfamiliar figures are moving within my field of vision, interacting with people around them, interacting with us... I can't hear clearly, nor see their faces.

"...I suspect they are actually laboratory personnel, but I am rapidly losing memory of everyone here, everyone around looks strange to me, my memory and judgment are being damaged.

"Noises, like screams and sobs mixing together, don't know where they are coming from, a voice keeps me recording all this, but I can barely hold onto my pen—my vision is dimming, there is a sweet odor in the air, the last rescue attempt has likely failed, the 'Mercy' system is releasing Anesthetic Poison across the entire area...

(From here, the original handwriting in the notes becomes extremely messy and scribbled, and contains a significant amount of smudged content, please discern with caution—Internal Security)

"The crying sound becomes more pronounced, I feel my body and consciousness sinking... a lullaby starts playing, XX is trying to settle us down again... it's not yet time for...

"...Swaying, sinking, losing control, XX said we would awaken in a peaceful and stable new world, but... it's abandoned, it's fake, I don't know...

"Breathing, breathing, crying... we are connected together, embracing each other... breathing, breathing, we are together... merging into one... breathing..."

The record ends here.

Yu Sheng stared at the messy and eerie sentences at the end of this document, even though it was only a transcript based on the original notes, he still felt the chilling breath that seemed to permeate through the text, passing through paper and seventy years of time, he imagined that day, the uncontrolled action, the sealed laboratory, and everything that happened inside the laboratory in the last few hours or even shorter, unconsciously, his own breathing became somewhat heavy.

"Actually, that is not the only piece of information left inside the laboratory," Baili Qing's voice came from the side at this moment, breaking Yu Sheng's reverie, "There are other traces or 'records' left by other on-site personnel who temporarily survived, but those traces are even more crazed and chaotic, and completely indecipherable, if you're interested, you can flip directly to the last page."

Yu Sheng immediately flipped the material to the last page, a series of photographs taken on the scene and black-and-white rubbing documents came into view.

Bizarre scratches carved on tables or walls, abstract symbols on paper that had been repeatedly smudged until they were almost just a mass of black ink, lines drawn on clothes that are completely indistinguishable as text or abstract shapes, all of that sort.

Just as Baili Qing said, it was impossible to decipher.

Even professional investigators from the Special Service Bureau haven't been able to analyze any conclusions out of these traces over the years, let alone an outsider like him glancing at them twice couldn't make out anything substantial.

Yu Sheng flipped the material back to where he was just reading and turned his attention to the second record.

It was a hastily written work note by a monitoring personnel who was outside the laboratory—it's very short, but its content is evidently more clear and comprehensible.

"The lockdown procedure has been initiated, the 'Adult' operation has failed, my colleagues are following protocol to urgently compile and transfer the information that needs to be preserved, I am leaving behind the final record of the situation inside the laboratory here.

"Forty minutes after the lockdown, the life reactions inside the laboratory began to drop rapidly, we've lost communication with the personnel inside, they may no longer be able to rationally interact with the outside world.

"Fifty minutes, the monitoring system recorded unusual noises, sounds like the cries of a baby echoed inside the laboratory, along with other sharp and chaotic noises, sounding like... roars. The life reactions within the monitoring area approached zero, but what's terrifying is that some of the personnel inside, who had already shown no signs of life, suddenly began to move under surveillance, although they only moved for a very short time, it was still a quite horrific scene.

"It's as if something suddenly entered their dead bodies, driving these shells to rise, to walk, they stiffly moved around the laboratory, as if... curiously observing this place."

"Then, those shells fell one after another.

"After sixty-five minutes of lockdown, the laboratory gradually quieted down, with all eerie noises and roars completely subsiding. All personnel showed no signs of life.

"After seventy-two minutes of lockdown, the facility remained sealed according to the standard safety procedures, and the surveillance area fell into complete silence; all noise and unidentified energy reactions had disappeared. The internal security department has now taken over the area, planning to open the doors in twenty-four hours and bring my colleagues back home..."

The record stops here.

Yu Sheng still had his head lowered in the reading position and took several seconds before suddenly taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.

This was the first time he had seen such an "operation record," and it was more... unsettling than he had imagined.

He looked up and saw Baili Qing looking at him quietly, as if she had been doing so for quite some time.

"This isn't what I initially imagined," Yu Sheng said after a few seconds of silence, frowning and shaking his head, "I thought I would see records of explorations related to the Black Forest or some other 'Subset'..."

As he spoke, he suddenly understood the previous advice from "Teacher Su," understanding why they had emphasized the need for him to come here to look at the Special Service Bureau's operation records from years ago.

This document, recorded by operatives from seventy years ago... provided a completely different perspective from the intelligence sketched out by the children of the orphanage based on their experience with "Fairy Tales," and the information it revealed was beyond his imagination!

Baili Qing was not surprised by Yu Sheng's words.

"'Fairy Tales' show a completely different attitude to children and to adults; what we have recorded here is its more dangerous and essential side."

"Behind the stage..." Yu Sheng suddenly murmured.

Baili Qing slightly furrowed her brows, seemingly quickly associating and understanding something from Yu Sheng's statement.

But just as she was about to say something, an abrupt ringing interrupted everyone's movements in the room.

Yu Sheng looked up in surprise, then followed Baili Qing's gaze to the side.

Across the huge window, a laboratory worker in protective gear was waving at them.

Baili Qing quickly picked up the phone on the desk, put the receiver to her ear, and after listening to a few words, her usually inexpressive face suddenly showed an unusual expression.

"Confirmed?" she asked quickly into the phone.

The laboratory worker held the receiver in one hand and nodded vigorously with the other.

Yu Sheng was puzzled and instinctively leaned towards Baili Qing: "What's going on?"

"…The analysis results of that 'piece of paper' are out; they've restored its original form." Baili Qing put down the receiver, her expression complex as she turned to look at Yu Sheng and then swiftly operated the control panel on the desk.

The center of the huge window suddenly lit up, revealing an additional image, and at the center of that image was the restored "piece of paper."

Yu Sheng's mouth slowly opened in astonishment as he recognized the familiar pattern and several lines of text on that piece of paper.

"This is..."

"The old version of a Special Service Bureau deep diver's work badge, but the name has been erased," Baili Qing spoke softly, her head lowered as her eyes swept over the document in front of Yu Sheng, then gently flipping it open to the page with the list, "...It's theirs."

Yu Sheng took a light breath.

His tone carried disbelief: "Does that mean... the 'Hunter' in the Black Forest was a deep diver from the 'Maturity' operation?!"

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