Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 966 Ulrich Nowitzki
The clown picked it up, pulled out the dagger, opened a secret pocket on the inside of the opponent's sleeve, and dug out a metal plate buried in the interlayer of the cloth.
"This is a spare positioning device and information card, but due to high-intensity ionizing radiation, the electronic have been scrapped." said the Joker.
Even so, this metal plate still serves as an identity plate. In addition to this D-class personnel, there is also a QR code that records some identity information.
Soap took out his communication device, only to find a black and white snowflake on the screen - the radiation in this place was too strong. Unless it was a device specially designed for strong radiation environments and with protective measures, the precision components inside ordinary electronic equipment would not be able to escape the disaster.
The Joker glanced at the scrapped communication device in Soap's hand, took off his gloves, stroked the lines of the QR code on the nameplate with his thumb for a while, and said directly: "Ulrich Nowitzki, a D-level personnel of the Institute, number D36512. Gender: Male, born on January 5, 914 in the New Era; a former soldier of the Artillery Battalion, 1st Regiment, 2nd Division, 4th Mobile Armored Corps of the Field Corps. He was sentenced to death by the military court for deserting the battlefield and murdering his superior, which resulted in the annihilation of friendly units without support. Three days before the execution, on August 5, 947 in the New Era, he was granted a D-level reserve quota and the death penalty was cancelled."
"You...your fingers can actually scan codes?" Soap looked at the Joker in surprise... But compared to the Joker's other abilities, reading QR codes with the flesh is not something outrageous.
The clown ignored the soap and continued reading: "On August 30, 947 New Era, this D-class personnel was selected by Research Team 4507 to participate in the project called 'Testing on the Stimulation of Human Potential in Extreme Environments', archived with serial number CL2963."
The Joker paused, and then continued, "I remember this mission. I accidentally glimpsed it when I was looking for other files in the Black Well... On September 2, 947 New Era, the first batch of D-class personnel were sent to the 'Test Site No. 4' located in the underground maze. Forty-five minutes later, the vital signs of this batch of D-class personnel all returned to zero. The research team immediately sent out a second batch of D-class personnel to recover the bodies and equipment of the first batch of D-class personnel, but the second batch of D-class personnel lost contact less than fifteen minutes after entering the test site. Later, the detection robot only recovered less than half of the bodies of the D-class personnel, and the remaining bodies that could not be recovered were determined to have been eaten by mutant creatures in the test site... This person, he is one of the second batch of D-class personnel who entered the test site and lost contact."
"This guy was thrown into this damn place in 947 New Era? If that's the case, he has been here for more than five years! "Soap looked at the "former" D-class personnel named Ulrich Nowitzki in astonishment. "To be honest, I think staying in this place for five days... no, five hours is a torture. How did he survive here for more than five years?!"
"The 'Human Potential Stimulation Test in Extreme Environments' failed in the final experiment in the Black Well archive, because none of the D-class personnel deployed in the 'Test Site No. 4' could survive for more than 72 hours..." said the Joker, "But if the research team finds this person, the conclusion of the final experimental report will probably have to be rewritten."
"How did you survive in the underground maze for five years and avoid the detection robots patrolling back and forth in the pipes?" Nouval squatted down, staring at Ulrich and asked.
"You...you are...from the research institute?!" Ulrich's language ability was gradually recovering. Although he was no longer struggling, his face was full of fear - of course, ordinary people would probably become more frightened than he was when seeing this "frightened" face.
"Don't worry, we are not from the research institute." Seeing that there was hope of communicating with the other party, Fei Zao was delighted and quickly said in a tone as "gentle" as possible, "We also accidentally broke into this damn place... As for the research institute, to be honest, I don't like those people in white coats either. They are arrogant, their brains are not normal, and they don't take the lives of ordinary people seriously... These guys deserve to die!"
As Soap spoke, he winked at the Joker and Noir - if he wanted to win their favor, he had to make them think that he was on the same side as him, so discrediting the institute was naturally a good choice.
Of course, the research institute itself is indeed quite shady, and what Soap said are actually the "truth" and cannot be said to be deliberate smearing.
"The research institute... Damn it." Hearing what Soap said, Ulrich's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously, saying in a sharp voice, "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"Do you want to seek revenge on those bastards in the research institute? Kill them all? Pay them back a thousand times for what they did to you?" Seeing that his words were effective, Soap continued to induce.
"Revenge...revenge? Kill...kill them? Kill...the people from the institute?" Ulrich was stunned. Even though five years had passed, the image of the institute in his mind was still unshakable. "How could it be...impossible...revenge...impossible..."
"What if I tell you there is a chance? Don't you want to try it?" Soap patted Ulrich's shoulder and signaled the clown to loosen the tentacles that were binding him.
"Opportunity? How... to do it?" Ulrich widened his eyes, looked at the soap, then looked at Noir. When he moved his gaze to the clown and saw the tentacles that had not been retracted, his expression changed very obviously - not fear, but a feeling of relief.
When Soap made his position clear to Ulrich just now, there was still a hint of doubt in Ulrich's eyes, but after seeing the clown's tentacles, this hint of doubt completely disappeared.
"You... are also... a person... used... for... experiments... by the research institute?" Ulrich took a lot of effort to utter such a complete sentence.
The Joker nodded and said, "Yes. So, I also want to destroy the institute."
"Good! The people in the research institute... all deserve to die!" Ulrich suddenly laughed, "Hahahaha! All! All deserve to die!"
"This guy's mental state... seems a little abnormal." Soap nudged Noir lightly with his elbow and said with some concern.
"If it were anyone else, staying in a place like this for five years would have some mental problems," Noir whispered back, "If it were me, I'd probably be even crazier than him now... No, if it were me, I wouldn't have been able to hold on for five years. I would have committed suicide a long time ago."
"Me too. Days like this are scary just thinking about them."
While Soap and Noir were still whispering, Ulrich had already climbed up from the ground, waving his arms crazily and shouting, "Kill them all! Kill them all! No, we should also throw them here! We can't let them die immediately! Yes, that's what we should do!"
"Uh, Ulrich, calm down first. Those people do deserve to die, but if we want revenge, we have to find a way to get out of this place first." Soap said, "Can you tell me how you survived in this place for five years?"
"Five years..." Ulrich turned his head and stared at Soap - he had to admit that being stared at by someone who looked like a mummy would indeed make people feel a chill down their spine, but Soap still gritted his teeth and replied, "Yes... Five years, how did you survive? The other D-class personnel... Not even one survived for seventy-two hours..."
"Five years!" Ulrich suddenly raised his voice. He stretched out his skinny hand and raised five fingers. "Five years! Do you know how I got through these five years?!"
"Uh, no...I don't know." Soap shook his head decisively.
"I... I..." Ulrich seemed to want to recall, but he suddenly squatted down with his head in his hands, a painful expression on his face. His long and sharp nails dug deeply into his scalp, and bright red blood flowed down his bald head.
"Don't worry, take your time to think about it." Soap thought for a moment, took out a syringe from his bag and handed it over. "By the way, I have something good here, do you want... some?"
What he handed over was a tube of military stimulant. As someone who had served in the field corps, Soap knew that most soldiers had some drug addiction problems to some extent. Soldiers would not only inject drugs when fighting was fierce, but also choose to use drugs when they were mentally unstable, overly tired, insomniac, or even addicted to smoking or had sexual desires that could not be resolved in time.
Although there are very clear restrictive regulations on this type of drug within the military, drug abuse has continued despite repeated bans. In time, the military top brass has already half-given up their attitude... As long as the troops can perform their combat effectiveness during the war, the series of legacy issues that arise after these soldiers retire are simply left to other departments to deal with.
After seeing the familiar syringe, Ulrich immediately snatched it away, first held it under his nose and sniffed it hard like a cigarette, then skillfully unscrewed the protective cover, stabbed the needle into his forearm, and crushed the small glass bubble filled with compressed air at the tail of the syringe.
The liquid medicine was injected into the muscles under the push of compressed air. Ulrich let out a comfortable moan and his originally rapid breathing gradually slowed down.
"I... let me think about it..." Ulrich sat down holding the empty syringe and began to recall.
"I remember... at that time, those damn white coats asked me and six other people to go to the test site to collect the bodies of the previous batch of unlucky people... They didn't give us any protective equipment, just a few trailers to carry the bodies... As soon as I walked out of the passage, I felt a tingling sensation on my skin..."
"Test Area 4 is a high-radiation area, very similar to where we are now." The Joker explained to Soap and Noir in a low voice, "Also, there lives a kind of mutant creature that lives in groups and is very aggressive."
"We quickly found the bodies of those unlucky guys. They seemed to have been attacked by something, with body parts scattered everywhere... I knew at that time that if we stayed , we would die like them." Ulrich continued, "It would take at least several hours to recover all these bodies... But we had just gone down and some people started to bleed from their noses."
Nosebleed is one of the obvious symptoms of acute radiation sickness. If people with this symptom do not receive timely treatment, they will be close to death.
"I told the others that if we followed the instructions of those white coats, we would not be acquitted, but would die here like the first group of people," Ulrich said. "Even if we didn't die from radiation, we would be eaten by the monsters living in this place... I told them that if they wanted to live, they had to escape. This underground maze is huge, and those white coats can't find it everywhere. As long as we can find an exit to the ground, we can survive."
"This guy... is really a deserter." Noir complained in his mind, "When he was a soldier in the field army, he killed his superior and fled from the battlefield. Now he has become a D-level cannon fodder, and he still thinks about running away all the time..."
For Nouval, he hated He did not think that there was anything wrong with the military court's verdict - after all, no one wanted to encounter such a teammate... But now this guy was still useful to them, and he had to suppress his inner disgust and listen to Ulrich tell the story.
As for Soap, he didn't have so many thoughts in his mind... He himself was also a "runaway". Before participating in this operation, he had planned his escape plan and route more than once in his mind...
"Some people don't want to escape, saying that escaping will only lead to death, so they'd rather stay and finish their work." Ulrich said this with a hint of disdain and hatred on his face, "How could they know that those white coats had no intention of letting us live from the beginning... They even planned to report us, trying to 'make a contribution' in this way and get a chance to save their own lives."
"So what happened next?" Soap had already guessed what was going to happen next, "Did you kill them all?"
"Yes, we killed those who wanted to raise the alarm, and then fled to the depths of the underground labyrinth... Many people died... They all died... Only I survived."
