Closer to Revealing My True Self-Chapter 822 - 528: He Won’t Come Knocking on His Own

The Schroder Pharmaceutical Factory was concluding its day as usual, with employees leaving one after another.

What was different from normal was that the evening shift personnel, too, packed up and went home today.

They all received notice that tonight a comprehensive inspection and maintenance were to be performed on some machinery and equipment. Even machines that usually ran nonstop had been shut down for the day.

The weather outside was looking grim, with a storm on the horizon. Gazing distantly, one could see the dark clouds at the edge of the sky.

As a result, the employees, already eager to leave work, packed up even faster. After work, they would make various arrangements in their lives and then enjoy a pleasant evening sheltered from the wind and rain indoors.

When most of the people had left the building, a large maintenance truck drove onto a small open space behind the Schroder Pharmaceutical Factory’s building.

Freight trucks usually parked here for loading and unloading, and occasionally, some minor management parked on this side as well.

The sky grew darker and darker.

The wind picked up.

The person in the maintenance uniform raised the brim of his hat and looked up at the sky.

The black clouds that had been on the horizon now made their heavy presence felt.

"We need to hurry up!"

Several people climbed out of the truck, carrying toolboxes containing items that were anything but standard maintenance tools.

As they headed towards the building, two factory workers happened to be coming out.

These two had left the office late due to personal matters.

"The wind’s picking up, I heard there might be a thunderstorm tonight!"

"Didn’t the weather experts say they’d knock out that damn storm?"

"They said it’s just a routine adjustment of the weather system, nothing unusual, and the impact won’t be large. Meteorological Weapons wouldn’t be used on a ’small storm’ like this."

"Oh, ’small storm,’ it’s going to cover the entire city in a while!"

The two chatted as they walked towards the parking lot and saw the approaching people in maintenance uniforms.

They were not the regular maintenance workers they recognized, but didn’t pay it much mind.

One of the maintenance workers made a slight motion with his hand upon seeing the two workers, but was restrained by someone beside him.

As they drew closer to the factory employees, the maintenance workers even flashed a smile at them.

The eyes beneath the hat brims were unclear, but the smiles on their faces should have been polite, right?

The two workers returned the smile in kind, and then proceeded to the parking lot without a second glance.

Seeing the large truck outside did not strike the two employees as odd. Routine inspections every now and then involved such large vehicles for transporting equipment.

Now all they wanted was to get home quickly in their own cars, as the storm was approaching. It had been forecasted two days earlier and was expected to hit their city tonight. They had planned to get home before darkness fell, but a delay had made them wonder if it would start raining on the way.

Once the two staff members had departed, the maintenance workers entered the building.

No one else seemed to be around, so the leader said to the one who had nearly acted, "The employer said to finish the job first, and avoid unnecessary trouble as much as possible."

"Understood."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the employees above, there was a fully equipped, substantial secret research base underground.

Schroder had assembled the research personnel here, informing everyone that the situation was not looking good and that investigators were likely to arrive soon.

"Everyone lie low for now, we’ll carry on with the next phase of work once it’s safe."

Saying this apologetically, Schroder pulled out some envelopes he had prepared earlier, which contained identity documents and bank cards for covering their identities.

This was the agreed upon reward and bonus.

Smiling, Schroder said, "Rest assured, all accounts are safe, no one will know."

Having prepared beforehand, the researchers were not overly anxious upon hearing Schroder’s words. In fact, after receiving their identity documents and remuneration, they were all more than pleased.

Some of them had smuggled themselves over, while others had committed offenses and were evading police capture, hiding out at Schroder’s.

After reassuring the research personnel, Schroder went to the partition and had a brief conversation with the laboratory supervisor.

"How’s the latest trial going?" Schroder asked.

"No good, without the stabilizer it’s still not working, the subjects from the new phase of testing didn’t survive," the supervisor said, shaking his head in disappointment.

Schroder patted him on the shoulder, "Let it go, this phase is over. We’ll continue after this storm passes. By then we should have developed the stabilizer."

The supervisor nodded, "Make sure you don’t fall behind on the tolerant individuals, don’t let anyone get ahead of us! And don’t forget that blood sample you mentioned last time has a lot of research value! Acquiring precious research material requires taking the initiative!" ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

The tone of his colleague displeased Schroder, but he still patiently replied, "Of course, I know! These are things I won’t forget. Precious research material obviously means taking the initiative, can’t expect it to just show up on our doorstep, can we?!"

Realizing Schroder’s discontent, the supervisor didn’t pursue the topic further and instead enthusiastically brought up another subject, "I heard that decades ago there was a study in which artificially manipulated subjects were born aging, then underwent age reversal during the growth process under the influence of medication. I wonder if it’s true."

Schroder’s expression was neutral: "Yes, I’ve heard about that too."

The supervisor continued, "Alas, it’s such a pity. That project, apart from reversing age, also involved other genetic trait modifications and cloning experiments. But supposedly, it vanished overnight due to a mysterious event, and all those precious subjects were lost!"

Schroder: "..."

Why bring up this topic now, it’s such a downer!

Having lost the interest to continue the conversation, Schroder checked the time on his watch, made a few perfunctory remarks, and started to walk away.

The supervisor, eager to talk more about the experiments, tried to follow.

With a smile on his face, but a sinking tone in his voice, Schroder said, "Please, stay where you are."

Seeing this, the supervisor stopped as well.

Schroder: "Good night, Supervisor."

Supervisor: "Uh... good night."

The Supervisor always felt there was something off about Schroder’s smile just now. He lifted his foot to follow.

Just then, a door closed in front of him.

Schroder’s departing footsteps didn’t stop as he operated the controller on his wrist.

Where the supervisor and the other researchers were, chemical gas sprayed out.

Schroder didn’t look back.

One by one, the safety doors closed behind him, also sealing off the lethal gas.

Schroder’s expression was cold.

Since they couldn’t produce satisfactory experiment results, these people were no longer necessary.

He could find other researchers, but these people knew too much!

He certainly didn’t want the mad dogs from the joint investigation team digging up information about him from them.

So, it was better to keep them quiet.

Not just these people, the whole building would soon be destroyed.

By the time the joint investigation team got here, they wouldn’t find anything. They would just assume it was an accident during maintenance.

At this moment, Schroder received an anonymous message.

Though anonymous, he knew it came from a partner.

It was a reminder message.

It was also something they had agreed on, a convenience provided by the backers.

The Joint Investigation Team had increased manpower, and the pace of their investigation was accelerating, already heading this way.

But the task force gathered by the investigation team was distracted by a tanker truck full of chemical agents in the neighboring city.

This was the time Schroder had to evacuate.

Schroder revealed a smile.

Time, was sufficient.

"Maintenance workers" had already come in, moving a huge crate that Schroder had prepared in advance.

The crate was well sealed, and the "maintenance workers" didn’t know what was inside, nor did they care.

The down payment from the employer was already made, and as long as the full amount was transferred after the job was done, that was all that mattered.

Before leaving, Schroder had to make one last visit to his office.

Two private security guards stood at the entrance to his office to prevent anyone else from interrupting.

One of the guards had a heavy smoking habit; knowing he could smoke here, he lit a cigarette. However, he didn’t relax his vigilance while smoking; if another worker showed up, it was clear what needed to be done.

In the office, Schroder entered the secret room. He was to operate the master control and initiate the self-destruct countdown. Of course, he had allowed enough time for his own evacuation.

He wasn’t worried about the "maintenance workers" leaving with the goods first.

The exit used for transporting the goods required a password for the door; without him, even if those people could leave the building, it would be difficult to take the goods out in a short time.

After finishing up the last tasks, Schroder looked around with a hint of reluctance.

It wasn’t so much attachment to the place as it was a sigh at the effort required to set up a new location. Time and money would be greatly expended.

If he hadn’t been pressured so intensely by the investigation team, he wouldn’t have given up on this place.

But the investigation was progressing too quickly!

However, this incident showed that, for now, his allies and investors weren’t ready to abandon him. Once this storm had passed, they would still offer support, allowing him to regroup.

Grabbing a black briefcase, Schroder left the secret room, plotting in his mind—

This time, as he lay low in another place, research would of course continue, only more secretly.

The fight for the resilient subjects would go on.

Right, then there was the Ancestral Factory, that suspicious bodyguard, and Feng Yi. If he could acquire blood samples, he would take them first; if an even better opportunity presented itself, to capture them...

As Schroder walked out of the office, about to speak, he was shocked to discover that the two security guards, who had been at the door, had vanished.

A half-smoked cigarette lay on the ground, still lit.

Schroder suddenly became alert and quickly retreated back into the office, locking the door.

He picked up his cell phone and called one of the guards.

It rang for quite a while before someone on the other end answered.

But his private security guard didn’t speak. In fact, there was no sound from anyone.

There were odd noises.

Not footsteps, it sounded like sand being blown across the ground, or like heavy objects shifting on the floor.

There seemed to be long breaths.

Someone, or something, was moving closer to the microphone.

Then it abruptly stopped.

The call was cut off.