Villainous

Of all the things she never expected to find while sneaking around a secret otherworldly research facility, an employee break room with vending machines was somewhere near the top. She smashed the gla.s.s on all of them so fast she almost created afterimages, pulling all the snacks and treats into her storage without leaving so much as a stick of gum.

The names and packaging and brands were unfamiliar, but junk food was junk food! Li Mei busted open a bag with a faint pop, delighted to discover aromatic spiced vegetable chips inside.

"This is literally the best day of my life."

She barely resisted temptation to sit on the floor and pig out, shoving a handful of chips in her mouth before storing everything away for later with a remorseful sob. "I am infiltrating an enemy base that"s already under attack by other unknown but also hostile forces. This is no time to get the munchies! Endure, Li Mei, endure!"

Li Mei licked her fingers clean, then readied her staff and crept back into the hallway.

The facility was full of strange, hostile creatures and the partially eaten bodies of scientists. There were laboratories and shelves of chemicals, cabinets containing various vials and beakers, and all sorts of equipment. Glancing around often produced some instructions or a manual for the machinery or tools. The only unfortunate thing was the state all the labs were in - dead bodies, cracked gla.s.s, dented lockers, smashed vials.

After raiding the snacks, she retreated to one such lab and set up barriers in front of the only door and a section of broken viewing window. Li Mei pried open lockers, donning safety gear much too large for her small body - goggles, coat, gloves, and a special enchanted face mask that filtered out most common harmful gases found in laboratory environments.

That last one was the most important, and Li Mei s.n.a.t.c.hed a few spares just in case. Afterward, she pushed aside three ravaged bodies occupying the lab into the furthest corner and got to work.

"Let"s see," she muttered to herself, perusing unbroken bottles on the shelves with Scan. "Oh! They have a ton of table salt. Good good, super useful. I kinda regret getting rid of all that spare bleach I stole from the manor now... Yes, they have everything I need! Not in the most convenient forms, but ah well." Li Mei gathered two entire armfuls of ingredients, a magic electric battery from inside a small piece of equipment, and a few conductive wires from under a counter.

Using the battery to run an electric current through homemade brine - made of water and salt, of course - produced chlorine gas. Some of it she mixed with a little water to make concentrated hydrochloric acid. Every so often she glanced up at the window, ducking behind the counter if she saw even a hint of movement.

By the time she was finished, Li Mei"s remaining storage was mostly full of snacks and a.s.sorted vials of chlorine gas and hydrochloric acid. She enjoyed playing with a sealed vial of chlorine gas for a moment - it was heavier than air, and rolled along the bottom of the vial like odd yellow-green smoke.

"If I could learn a spell to generate an electric current on my own," Li Mei mumbled, tapping the side of the vial. "I could make chlorine gas and hydrochloric acid whenever I need without having to use a battery. Would still need the wires unless I could control the current? Hmm... I"ll have to ask Faust about it. I"ve been lucky finding labs with a few sorts of familiar chemicals and equipment available, but that won"t always be the case. Now that I think about it..."

Li Mei paused and scrutinized some of the lab equipment. "This equipment looks all nice and high-end, or probably did before the place got ransacked... There isn"t even a fume hood in here though. The chemicals available are all fairly basic and rudimentary. Do they use magic for the more complicated stuff? Are there more specialized labs elsewhere? Or..."

Scan wasn"t like Wikipedia where she could keep Scanning specific words to bring up more new information. If that were possible, she"d already have a full archive with all possible information available about the planet and its inhabitants. While it provided basic knowledge on whatever was being Scanned, interest points relevant to any questions she had about it, and sometimes hints or minor conjecture, it didn"t produce absolute comprehensive information.

If Li Mei scanned a vegetable she would get information on how to grow more and tend the plant, whether it was edible or not, where it could be found in the wild, if it could be used in potions. Recipes weren"t provided even if they were mentioned. Step-by-step instructions on how it could be turned into a poison with the right ingredients were out of the question, even if it was possible!

The exception was if she previously read - and thus archived - such information. Only then would it show up in Scan windows! So while Li Mei picked up a bunch of information on the use and production on the various machines in the lab, she couldn"t get direct answers to her questions on why everything available was simple enough to be manipulated by someone with only a basic standardized education like herself.

Earth standardized, though. Perhaps Elysium had different educational standards and requirements?

"Low-end simplistic chemicals and shiny, new, but very basic equipment. Is this place nonessential for actual secret research, or... Is the chemical science in this world really so rudimentary? It looks sleek and fancy enough, but it"s like a high school chemistry lab. Bells and whistles, and not much else." Li Mei scratched the back of her neck and sighed. "I guess I"ll find out more when I download the base"s information. If it turns out the secret research is figuring out how to make something like t.i.tanium dioxide..."

A secret research lab investigating the mysteries of sunscreen. Li Mei giggled softly at the absurdity of her own imagination.

She kept the goggles and face mask on, removed her protective barriers, and paused at the door. After nearly walking over a bunch of Rakes while turning a corner, she realized having Bao as an alert system spoiled her rotten. She wasn"t used to sensing her surroundings because the Fera always took care of detecting danger.

That was a problem.

If Bao wasn"t around, not being on constant alert made her vulnerable to attack. In the manor she had to creep along the hallways, sticking to shadows and staying still for dozens of minutes at a time to ensure she remained unseen. In the forest Bao always alerted her if something dangerous was nearby, either intentionally or through reflexive reactions, and it subsequently decreased her overall vigilance.

"I"ve really been slacking," Li Mei sighed, closing her eyes to focus more on using her ears. "The Training Room dummy emphasized strong foundations and mastering the basics to get stronger, I guess that"s true for everything - not just combat! I can"t rely purely on Bao to keep us both safe from danger when I"m fully capable of pulling my own weight in that regard, especially since it leaves me more vulnerable in situations where we"re separate. It"s good to have a friend I can count on to watch my back, but I shouldn"t burden him with the full responsibility of my safety. We"re partners so I have to do my part! Get stronger, get smarter, so he can count on me too."

She smiled a little at that thought. Her first friend in a new world, and the first one in either lifetime she could truly depend on. For his sake as well as her own, she had to get stronger! If anything happened to Bao because of her own negligence, she"d never forgive herself.

What a strange feeling. Warm fuzzy affectionate cotton wreathed in p.r.i.c.kled concern borne of said affection. She had to make sure Bao was stronger too, so she wouldn"t be too worried about him when they were apart. If both of them were strong, wouldn"t that be best? And that Otto guy, too. He was really too weak. Being able to count on her companions to take care of themselves was important, too! She resolved to make a strict training regimen for Otto as soon as possible, unaware of a sudden mysterious chill that ran down the young man"s back even all the way across the forest.

Li Mei shook herself free of pensive thoughts and refocused her attention on detecting the surroundings.

Humming machinery. A whirring fan in a nearby vent. Sparks crackling on a piece of machinery whose extremities were ripped off during a tussle. Shuffling, halting footsteps down the hall heading further away. A sc.r.a.ping of distant claws on something metal.
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And a moist rattling hiss just a few feet behind her.