Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System

Chapter 263: Secrets

Isha’s group soon arrived at a corridor that split into four separate pathways. Above each entrance, ancient symbols were carved into the stone walls. However, only one path was completely clean. The others showed clear signs of danger, claw marks, broken weapons, and dried skeleton remains hidden in the corners.

Ayesha carefully observed the surroundings before speaking quietly, "The clean path is wrong."

Kavya nodded and pointed at the floor. "Too clean. No dust disturbance. No movement traces. It’s intentionally misleading."

After scanning the area for several seconds, she pointed toward another corridor. "That one. There are hidden wire mechanisms near the ceiling. Meaning someone regularly disables traps there."

Isha immediately understood. "That’s the real route."

Without hesitation, the group quietly continued down the correct corridor.

---

Elsewhere, Deepak, Raghav, and Imran encountered a massive stone chamber. At the center stood six ancient Vampire statues, each holding a different weapon. Only one pathway ahead was unlocked.

On the floor beneath the statues, words were carved: [Only the strongest may pass.]

Raghav grinned. "So we destroy them?"

Before he could move, Deepak stopped him. "Wait."

He studied the weapons carefully. Most statues held swords, axes, spears, or shields. Only one statue carried nothing, its fists were raised instead.

Imran narrowed his eyes. "...Strength without weapons."

Hearing this, Raghav walked straight toward the empty-handed statue and pressed both fists against it.

"RUMBLE..."

The locked pathway instantly opened. Raghav laughed loudly. "Hah! This puzzle likes me."

---

Meanwhile, Sana, Bushra, and Neha entered an illusion-type puzzle chamber. Multiple mirrors surrounded the room, each reflection showing different exits. Some displayed fake teammates, while others showed false pathways. At first glance, it seemed impossible to distinguish reality.

Bushra calmly adjusted her glasses. "Don’t trust vision." She turned to Sana. "Use sound."

Sana closed her eyes and focused. After several seconds, she pointed toward one mirror. "That direction has real echoes."

Without hesitation, Neha struck the mirror.

"CRASH!"

The illusion shattered apart, revealing the real hidden passage.

Neha proudly crossed her arms. "As expected from Team 11."

---

At the same time, Vikram and Carol continued advancing deeper after solving their own puzzle chamber. The maze grew increasingly dangerous the further they went. More traps appeared, hidden pressure plates, poisoned arrows, blood-draining runes, and illusion corridors.

Yet with Carol’s sharp intelligence and Vikram’s calm observation, the two advanced surprisingly efficiently together. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

At one point, Carol suddenly laughed softly. "You know... we actually work together pretty well."

Vikram calmly disabled another hidden trap before replying, "For now."

Carol narrowed her eyes playfully. "You really don’t trust me at all, huh?"

Vikram glanced at her briefly and answered calmly, "Not completely."

---

Meanwhile, the separated groups from Team 10 were also encountering various puzzle chambers throughout the maze. Surprisingly, they solved them with unusual efficiency.

One group faced rotating corridor mechanisms that would endlessly loop travelers back to the starting point if the wrong path was chosen. Another encountered complex blood-rune sequences that required exact activation order. One chamber even contained dozens of fake doors, each hiding deadly traps behind them.

Yet Team 10 passed through them all with abnormal smoothness.

Even Team 11 members gradually began noticing something strange.

Deepak muttered quietly, "...Why does it feel like Team 10 already knows these puzzles?"

Rohit frowned slightly. "Yeah. They’re solving everything too quickly."

---

At the same time, Vikram and Carol continued advancing deeper into the maze together. And the more puzzles they solved, the stranger Vikram’s expression became.

Carol wasn’t just intelligent. It felt like she already knew the answers.

She would immediately know which symbol to press, identify hidden traps instantly, or choose the correct pathway without the slightest hesitation. Not once, but repeatedly.

At first, Vikram thought it was mere coincidence. But after several more chambers, he completely abandoned that idea.

This wasn’t normal deduction. It looked more like familiarity, like someone who had solved these exact puzzles many times before.

At one point, they arrived before another complicated mechanism. Dozens of blood-rune tiles covered the floor. Stepping incorrectly would activate hidden blade traps.

However, before Vikram could even properly analyze the room, Carol casually walked forward and stepped across the correct sequence perfectly. Not a single mistake. Not even a moment of hesitation.

Vikram watched her silently from behind. His eyes narrowed slightly.

Even he hadn’t fully analyzed the chamber yet, but Carol already knew the path.

Carol turned back and smiled playfully. "What? You’re staring at me strangely."

Vikram replied calmly, "You solve these puzzles too fast."

Carol shrugged lightly. "Maybe I’m just smarter than you."

However, Vikram didn’t reply. The suspicion inside him was growing stronger.

This wasn’t just intelligence. Carol’s movements carried clear familiarity, like someone revisiting a place they already understood well.

Soon afterward, they finally arrived before the last puzzle chamber.

Unlike the previous rooms, this one was completely circular. At the center stood a gigantic black stone mechanism shaped like a coffin. Around it, twelve blood-red pillars surrounded the chamber evenly. Ancient Vampire language was carved deeply across the floor.

Carol slowly walked toward the twelve blood-red pillars surrounding the coffin-shaped mechanism. This time, even her playful attitude had completely vanished. Her eyes carefully scanned each pillar before she began pressing hidden symbols in a precise sequence.

One after another. Without hesitation. Without a single mistake.

Soon, the twelve pillars began glowing faintly.

"RUMBLE..."

The giant coffin-shaped mechanism slowly split apart from the center, revealing a hidden pathway beneath it.

Vikram watched Carol silently the entire time. At this point, he was almost certain. Carol definitely knew far more about this place than she was letting on.

Before he could question her, Carol simply looked at him and said calmly, "Let’s move."

They descended through the hidden underground passage together. The deeper they went, the colder and heavier the atmosphere became.

Eventually, the narrow passage opened into a gigantic underground laboratory. The moment Vikram saw the interior, his expression changed drastically.

The laboratory was horrifying.

Numerous human bodies were suspended inside massive glass containers filled with crimson liquid. Some were incomplete, others showed grotesque mutations, and many had mechanical tubes connected throughout their bodies. Several operating tables held ongoing experiment, blood bags, bones, surgical tools, mutation records, and strange black biological substances pulsing slowly inside containers.

This was far beyond ordinary Vampire feeding behavior. This was organized, systematic biological experimentation.

"What the hell..." Vikram muttered, visibly shocked.

Before he could investigate further, alarms suddenly blared throughout the laboratory.

"WARNING." "INTRUDER DETECTED." "INTRUDER DETECTED."

Almost immediately, multiple doors opened simultaneously. Over twenty armed Vampires rushed into the area after discovering the breached puzzle chambers.

The leading Vampire shouted coldly, "Kill them!"

Seeing the sudden wave of enemies, Vikram instinctively prepared to summon his Plant Team.

However, Carol suddenly grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"Don’t summon them yet," she said calmly, her eyes sweeping across the surrounding Vampires. "We only use them if necessary."

The next moment, Carol stepped forward.

Her illusion and emotional manipulation ability activated instantly. A strange pink-purple aura silently spread throughout the laboratory.

Within moments, the charging Vampires froze mid-step. Their expressions turned blank, then distorted. Some began breathing heavily, while others suddenly attacked their own allies.

One Vampire screamed in terror before stabbing himself repeatedly. Another hallucinated wildly and turned on his comrades.

The entire laboratory descended into utter chaos.

Vikram silently watched the scene unfold.

At that moment, he finally understood something clearly.

Carol’s abilities... were genuinely terrifying.

---

However, just as the laboratory descended into complete chaos under Carol’s abilities, a terrifying pressure suddenly swept through the entire underground facility.

The surrounding Vampires instantly stopped screaming. Several even knelt on the ground instinctively.

A deep, authoritative voice echoed across the laboratory.

"...Pathetic."

The next moment, a tall figure slowly emerged from one of the deeper corridors.

The moment Vikram saw him, his expression changed slightly. He recognized the Vampire immediately from Federation mission records.

Baron Victor Draven.

The ruler of Black Hollow Stronghold, the very Vampire Baron whose elimination mission had been assigned to Lex Luthor’s squad earlier this month.

Victor Draven wore an elegant black noble coat faintly stained with blood. Unlike ordinary Vampires, his presence alone felt overwhelmingly oppressive. His sharp crimson eyes calmly swept across the battlefield before finally landing on Carol and Vikram.

Especially on Carol.

For a brief second, his expression subtly shifted.

"...You."

At that moment, Vikram immediately prepared to summon Feiry. A Baron-level enemy was genuinely dangerous, especially inside their own territory.

However, before the summoning circle could fully form, Carol suddenly raised her hand and stopped him.

"I’ll handle this."

Vikram frowned. "This isn’t a normal Vampire."

But Carol calmly stepped forward instead. Her eyes remained strangely composed as she faced Victor Draven directly.

The Baron quietly observed her. Then, to Vikram’s surprise, he did not attack immediately. His expression gradually turned colder and more complicated.

"You shouldn’t have come back here," Victor said slowly.

The moment those words echoed through the chamber, Vikram’s suspicion toward Carol deepened instantly.

Because it was clear now, these two knew each other.