NIP Chapter 674 A Chance for Redemption!
Chapter 674 A Chance for Redemption!
"Seven mutants were found on the second floor, and they have all been subdued. Karen has not been found," the second team leader reported.
At the top of the third-floor staircase stood a guard, a pistol in hand, his eyes wary. Lynn signaled his men to stop, then quietly approached. Taking advantage of the guard's momentary lapse in attention, he suddenly lunged forward and smashed the butt of his pistol into the guard's arm, knocking the pistol to the ground. Lynn then pinned the guard down, rendering him immobile.
“The guards at the third entrance have been subdued. Proceed forward,” Lynn said into his headset.
At the end of the third-floor corridor was a tightly closed door with a metal sign that read "Laboratory," the very location of the laboratory Verus had mentioned. Next to the door was a combination lock on the wall. Lynn entered 170925, the combination was successful, and the door slowly opened.
A pungent chemical odor wafted through the air. Various experimental equipment was scattered throughout the laboratory, with glassware strewn about, some still containing traces of blue liquid. On the lab table sat several unopened bottles of mutant serum, bearing silver skull and crossbones markings, identical to the contraband intercepted earlier.
In the center of the laboratory, a man in a white lab coat stood with his back to the door in front of a large piece of equipment, holding a syringe filled with blue reagent. Hearing the door open, the man slowly turned around, revealing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, a sinister gaze, and a strange smile playing on his lips.
He is Karen.
Beside Karen stood two tall mutants. One exuded a scorching aura, his hands trembling slightly, clearly a mutant who could control fire; the other held a metal fragment in his hand, his eyes cold, and was a mutant who could control metal.
“Detective Lynn, we meet again.” Karen spoke slowly, her voice hoarse and tinged with sarcasm. “I thought you would come a little later, but I didn’t expect you to find this place so quickly.”
Lynn raised his assault rifle and aimed it at Karen. His teammates behind him also drew their weapons, surrounding Karen and the two mutants. "Karen, you are suspected of smuggling mutant drugs and illegally modifying civilians. Now, as a federal agent, I order you to surrender!"
"Surrender?" Karen scoffed, raising her hand to inject the drug from the syringe into the experimental equipment. The equipment instantly emitted a piercing buzz. "Lynn, you're too naive. My ultimate drug is about to be successfully developed. Once injected into the equipment, all mutants will gain even greater power. At that time, the whole world will be mine!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the mutant who controlled the flames roared and swung his hands violently, sending a raging fire hurtling towards Lynn and the others. Lynn quickly dodged to the side, the flames hitting the laboratory wall and instantly igniting the tattered curtains, the fire spreading rapidly.
"Watch out!" Lynn shouted, and his team opened fire on the fire-wielding mutant. The bullets struck him, but were blocked by an invisible barrier of fire, preventing them from getting close.
"His throat is his weak point!" Lynn suddenly remembered Verus's words, immediately adjusted the muzzle of his gun, and fired at the throat of the fire-controlling mutant. The bullet whistled out and accurately struck his throat. The mutant let out a painful roar, the fire barrier vanished instantly, and he collapsed to the ground, clutching his throat and struggling.
Seeing this, the mutant who controlled the metal suddenly launched a metal shard from his hand toward Lynn. Lynn quickly ducked to avoid it, the metal shard grazing his scalp before striking the experimental equipment with a loud bang.
"Shine a bright light into his eyes!" Lynn shouted to the support team members beside him.
One of the team members immediately took out a powerful flashlight and shone it into the eyes of the mutant controlling the metal. The mutant instinctively closed its eyes, and the metal fragments in its hands fell to the ground, rendering it incapable of fighting.
Seeing the situation was turning against her, Karen turned to try and escape through the back door of the laboratory, but Miller, who had been lying in wait there, blocked her way. Miller held a submachine gun, pointed it at Karen, and said coldly, "Karen, don't run anymore, you have nowhere to run."
Karen's face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with despair as he looked at Lynn and the others who were closing in on him. Suddenly, he pulled a pistol from his pocket, pointed it at his temple, and tried to commit suicide.
"Don't move!" Lynn reacted swiftly, raising his hand and firing a shot that knocked the pistol from Karen's hand. The pistol fell to the ground with a crisp sound the moment the bullet struck it.
The team members rushed forward, firmly subdued Karen, and handcuffed his hands. Karen struggled, glaring fiercely at Lynn: "Lynn, you'll regret this! My ultimate potion is complete. Even if I'm caught, someone else will continue my plan!"
Lynn ignored his shouting and turned to look at the other parts of the lab. He found a document in a drawer on the lab bench that detailed the formula and production process of the mutant drug, as well as evidence of Karen's collusion with foreign forces. He immediately put the document away and placed it in an evidence bag.
"Team Three, inspect all equipment and documents in the lab and collect them all. Also, search the basement and rescue the detained civilians," Lynn ordered into his headset.
The three teams immediately sprang into action, meticulously searching every corner of the laboratory, collecting experimental equipment, reagent samples, and related documents. Meanwhile, the second team, following Verus's directions, located the basement entrance beneath the stairs on the first floor of the main building. After entering the password 170925, the entrance slowly opened.
The basement was dark and damp, filled with a musty smell. A dozen or so detainees huddled in a corner, their bodies covered in wounds and their eyes vacant. But when the police officers opened the door, their eyes instantly filled with hope.
“Don’t be afraid, everyone, we’re here to rescue you!” Rodriguez stepped forward and said gently, untying the ropes binding the people. The people rose to their feet, tears welling in their eyes, repeatedly thanking the officers. The officers led the people out of the basement and arranged them in an open area of the manor, providing them with drinking water and food to replenish their strength.
"Karen has been captured, the people in the lab and basement have been rescued, all experimental equipment and documents have been collected, and all the mutants on the periphery have been subdued. A total of twelve were killed and eighteen were captured alive, with no casualties." Reports from each group came through the headsets one after another.
Lynn walked up to Karen, looked at the subdued Karen, and said coldly, "Karen, your crimes will be punished by law."
Karen slumped to the ground, her eyes vacant, all traces of her former arrogance gone.
Lynn turned to Rodriguez: "Officer Rodriguez, arrange for officers to clean up the battlefield, properly dispose of the mutant corpses and prisoners, contact the local police station and embassy to send people to receive the evidence and prisoners, and at the same time, send the rescued civilians to the hospital for examination and treatment."
“Okay.” Rodriguez immediately got to work, assigning each officer their specific duties.
Lynn walked to the laboratory window, pushed it open, and sunlight streamed in, illuminating the messy room. In the distance, lush forests stretched out, sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling the ground. The raid, which had lasted nearly an hour, had finally come to an end.
Jason walked over to Lynn, looked out the window at the scenery, and said with emotion, "Captain, it's finally over. We destroyed Karen's core stronghold, captured Karen, and we finally succeeded."
One hour later.
The interrogation room was completely dark, with only a single, stark white incandescent bulb overhead. Its light shone directly on Karen's face, illuminating his disheveled and resentful expression. The walls were the cold, unadorned color of raw cement. Several discarded iron barrels, rusted and occasionally emitting a faint, grating sound in the silent interrogation room, loomed large. A faint smell of disinfectant mingled with the salty tang of seawater and diesel fuel clinging to Karen, along with a barely perceptible whiff of blood—a stifling, oppressive atmosphere.
Karen was chained to a specially made metal chair, his hands bound behind his back, his ankles firmly secured. His black combat uniform was covered in dust and blood, the collar torn, revealing a gruesome wound on his neck—a result of his capture. His hair was disheveled and plastered to his forehead, his eyes cloudy yet still carrying a hint of arrogance as he stared intently at Lynn sitting opposite him, a mocking smile playing on his lips, a low chuckle escaping his throat.
Lynn sat on a simple folding chair, still wearing his combat uniform with a few specks of dust on the cuffs. He leaned forward slightly, his hands crossed on the table, his gaze sharp as an eagle's, meeting Karen's eyes directly. His expression was blank, his tone calm and utterly unwavering: "Karen, don't waste your energy. You're completely surrounded. Your stronghold has been destroyed, and your men have either been captured or killed. You have no way out."
Karen abruptly raised her head, a flash of ferocity in her eyes, and let out a hoarse roar: "Lynn, don't be so smug! Do whatever you want with me, but don't try to get anything out of me!" He struggled, the chains clanging against the metal chair with a harsh, jarring sound, but they couldn't budge the restraints at all.
Lynn leaned back in his chair, his gaze still fixed on Karen's face. His fingertips tapped lightly on the table, the rhythm slow and steady, as if tapping at Karen's taut nerves. "I'm not here to kill you," his voice remained calm, yet carried an undeniable power. "I just want to know where your mutant lab is located."
Upon hearing the words "mutant laboratory," Karen's body visibly stiffened, his eyes instantly becoming wary, and the sneer on his lips vanished, replaced by extreme vigilance. He gritted his teeth, remaining silent, only glaring at Lynn with hostile eyes.
A deathly silence fell over the interrogation room, broken only by the faint hum of the incandescent bulb and Karen's heavy breathing. Lynn didn't urge him, but simply watched him silently, his gaze deep, as if he could see through all his pretenses. After a long while, Karen finally spoke, his voice hoarse and cold: "I don't know what you're talking about. What mutant lab? I've never heard of it."
"Is that so?" Lynn raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. He slowly reached out and took a photograph from under the table, gently pushing it in front of Karen. "You should be very familiar with this photograph, right?"
Karen's gaze fell on the photograph, her body jolted violently, her pupils contracted sharply, and the color drained from her face, turning her ashen white. The photograph showed several ordinary people confined in glass chambers, their faces haggard, their eyes vacant, their bodies covered in various tiny tubes, surrounded by complex instruments, and the words "Experimental Subject Number" could be vaguely seen in the background—that was the scene in their laboratory.
"You... how did you get this photo?" Karen's voice began to tremble, the arrogance in his tone completely gone, replaced by a trace of panic. He subconsciously tried to avoid the photo, but was bound by chains and could not move.
“You don’t need to know how I got it,” Lynn said, withdrawing his gaze and becoming serious again. “I’ll only give you one chance. Tell me the location of the laboratory, and how many ordinary people are being used as test subjects inside. Perhaps I can still get you a chance for leniency in front of the judge.”
"A lighter sentence?" Karen suddenly laughed, her laughter hoarse and maniacal, tears welling in her eyes. "Lynn, are you kidding me? I have so much blood on my hands, so many bad things to do. Even if I reveal the location of the lab, what good will it do? I'm going to die anyway, why should I help you?"
Lynn looked at his frantic state without getting angry. He simply spoke slowly, "Do you think we can't find the lab just because you don't tell us?" He paused, his gaze sweeping over Karen's pale face. "We've already found out that your lab has been secretly moving, but as long as we follow the leads your men have and the flow of those contraband drugs, we'll find it sooner or later. I'm asking you now because I don't want to waste time, and I don't want those ordinary people still locked up in the lab to suffer for even one more day."
Karen's laughter abruptly stopped when he mentioned the ordinary people who were used as experimental subjects. A complex emotion flashed in his eyes—guilt, struggle—but it was quickly replaced by malice. "They're all useless," he gritted his teeth, his voice icy. "Being used as experimental subjects is their fate! Even if you save them, they've already been injected with drugs. They'll either turn into monsters or won't live much longer. What's the point?"
“Whether it's meaningful or not is not something you can decide,” Lynn’s tone suddenly turned stern. He abruptly stood up, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and stared at Karen with eyes like knives. “Those were living, breathing people, just like you and me, with parents and relatives. They shouldn’t be used as experimental subjects, they shouldn’t have to endure that suffering! Karen, wake up! You’ve already made a mistake. Don’t make another one. At least give those people a chance to live, and give yourself a chance to atone.” (End of Chapter)