Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Choosing Team 1

Cassian Lynch also looked ashamed.

He had actually let Nina Jacobs, the one who helped them, take the fall.

But Nina Jacobs herself appeared perfectly calm and composed.

"Um... are you really sure you want to go in?"

The guard from before asked, walking beside Nina Jacobs.

He just found it strange.

Who would be so eager to enter a Correction Pod?

"If it comes to it, I can just pretend you two overpowered me. You should escape,"

the guard whispered, leaning closer to Nina Jacobs.

Nina Jacobs gave him a slightly surprised glance. "No need."

Jared Crawford was dead, and she’d been worrying about how to investigate the Correction Pod. Besides, according to Jared Crawford’s hand-drawn map, there was clearly something more hidden beneath it.

Just last night, she had been racking her brain for a way into the Correction Pod. She never expected an opportunity to present itself so early this morning.

And this guard before her seemed different from that bald man.

The guard felt a little awkward under her gaze and looked down, saying,

"My name is Wolfgang Stone. The bald guy didn’t treat us well, and he harmed a lot of people. No one’s going to miss him now that he’s dead."

"Is there anything I should be aware of after I enter the Correction Pod?"

Nina Jacobs asked instead.

Wolfgang Stone hadn’t expected Nina Jacobs to be so insistent.

He had no choice but to say, "Yes. Inside, there’s one supervisor for every three hundred people. As I recall, the supervisor for Team 5 is the easiest to talk to."

"The supervisor for Team 3 is a lunatic, Team 2’s is a gambler, and Team 4’s is a smiling tiger. The reason Team 5’s is easygoing is because he’s new..."

"What about Team 1?"

Nina Jacobs noticed Wolfgang Stone hadn’t mentioned Team 1.

And when she asked, Wolfgang Stone seemed to shiver.

"Whatever you do, don’t go to Team 1. The supervisor is named Harlan. He’s a doctor whose hobby is dissection. Rumor has it, his favorite thing to dissect is a living person..."

"Got it."

Nina Jacobs committed the descriptions of these people to memory.

As she walked, she observed the path to the Correction Pod. After crossing several of the base’s main roads, the two of them were led down a deserted side path.

Though it was deserted, they had to pass through a one-way gate—entry only, no exit.

Many guards were stationed there.

Upon seeing Nina Jacobs and her companion, someone sighed and shook their head.

"Who is the highest commander of the guards?"

Nina Jacobs asked one last question before entering the Correction Pod.

"That would be General Hughes."

"He’s one of the good ones. He often fights for benefits for us and has even argued with the base commander. It’s just that the people under him aren’t great."

Wolfgang Stone replied.

"I see."

Even before they reached the building ahead, Nina Jacobs could already smell the thick stench of blood.

In the distance, a transport vehicle drove toward the building.

"Looks like they’re transporting bodies again,"

said the companion next to Wolfgang Stone.

"We should be thinking about how we’re going to report back today,"

the other person reminded him.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang Stone had already explained the situation to the guide at the main gate.

He watched the two of them walk through the gate without hesitation, an odd feeling stirring in his heart.

’Why do I get the feeling that woman, Nina Jacobs, looks almost expectant and curious?’

But his companion was right. He needed to think about how he was going to explain this.

At least they had caught someone.

The moment Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner stepped inside the gate, they drew a lot of stares.

People were staring at them through a chain-link fence.

A faint blue light flickered across the fence. Nina Jacobs knew it was electrified, likely to prevent escapes.

Someone whistled at them through the fence, grinning with malicious intent.

Nina Jacobs merely shot them a cool glance before looking straight ahead and walking up the stone steps.

A heavy door swung open.

Then, something fell from above.

It was a severed human arm, bone fragments still clinging to the mangled end.

Nina Jacobs stopped in her tracks and looked up.

"Oh, my apologies. A freshly dissected specimen seems to have slipped."

A man in a blood-splattered white lab coat was leaning over a railing, watching the two newcomers with a smile.

Nina Jacobs paused for a moment, then led Wayne Warner around the severed arm.

"Newcomers this early? Reason."

The woman behind the window spoke in an icy tone, not even bothering to look up.

The guide answered, "They say she held a Healer hostage and publicly killed the bald guy from the detachment, Oscar Sullivan."

Only then did the woman look up.

"You’ve got some nerve."

She hadn’t expected to see a young woman who looked so quiet and gentle.

Only the defiant look in her eyes made the story somewhat believable.

"You’re not from our base, are you? You probably don’t know what this place is."

"Let me tell you, and I mean this seriously: once you’re in, you don’t get out."

The woman said bluntly.

It was part threat, part warning.

"If I can get in, I can definitely get out."

"You people only know how to arrest someone without even asking about the situation. That just proves this place isn’t all that."

Nina Jacobs retorted.

The woman laughed at her response. She wasn’t angry. Instead, she took out several numbered tokens and had the two choose.

"Numbers one through five represent the five teams. Pick one?"

"Or two? Though the one behind you looks pretty loyal."

The numbered tokens were laid out before her. Nina Jacobs recalled what the guard, Wolfgang Stone, had said. Her outstretched hand hesitated for only a moment before a long, pale, and well-defined hand placed one of the tokens into hers.

"She picks number one,"

the man said.

Nina Jacobs frowned. She looked up and saw that the man’s face was just as pale and bloodless as his hand.

It was the same man who had just claimed to have dropped a dissected specimen.

The woman seemed a bit surprised, but she smiled. "Looks like your luck today..."

"is not so good."

"This is Harlan, the supervisor of Team 1. From now on, you will follow his arrangements."

"Ms. Carter, how can you say that?"

"Joining my Team 1 is the luckiest thing that could happen to them."

Harlan stepped out from the shadows.

He wore a long white lab coat, but it was spattered with bloodstains that wouldn’t wash out.

"So, little lady? Do you and your friend want to choose again?"

The woman called Ms. Carter continued, "I don’t usually grant this kind of privilege. You should think it over carefully."

"No thanks. We’ll stick with Team 1,"

Nina Jacobs replied.

’Changing my choice now would be the most foolish thing to do.’

Harlan burst out laughing, looking absolutely delighted.

"Finally, someone interesting. Don’t worry, if you die, I can turn you into the most beautiful specimen,"

Harlan said to Nina Jacobs.

"As for him... all that muscle might use up too much preservative. I’ll have to think of a suitable method."

He looked at the sturdy Wayne Warner, seeming even more pleased.

Ms. Carter looked at the two of them, then pointed to a notice on a nearby wall. "Remember to read the rules of the pod carefully. It might help you once you’re inside."

"Alright."

Nina Jacobs scanned it and found that the rules were basically the same as those for a deathmatch tournament.

As for how to actually survive inside the Correction Pod, nothing was mentioned.

"Our Team 1 has been on a losing streak in the deathmatches for half a month now,"

"and I really don’t want to let that old gambler win again."

Nina Jacobs overheard Harlan say to Ms. Carter.

"Contestants on other teams win supplies as a prize. On your team, the prize is becoming a partial specimen. Honestly, you..."

Ms. Carter shook her head.

She looked over at Nina Jacobs, who was standing in the distance reading the rules, and noticed how incredibly focused she was.

"What a shame,"

Ms. Carter said.

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