The city park was about an acre in size. Large swathes of grass had turned into withered stalks, the trees were bare, and the lake was dried up.
Zombies ambled about, and small zombie birds flew overhead.
The children's slides and swings were piled high with fallen leaves and branches.
The former prosperity seemed to unfold before her eyes.
Xu Qian narrowed her eyes and circled the park, finding nothing unusual.
The laboratory in X Province was underground, and everything in this park was in plain sight. There were indeed no other entrances.
Xu Qian brushed aside the fallen leaves from a swing and sat down, pushing off with her feet to move gently.
The swing creaked back and forth.
Xu Qian pondered for a long time but came up with no conclusion.
The park was only so big; where could anything be hidden? Did they have to dig up the ground?
That was also impossible; there had to be an entrance for them to come and go.
Grass, dirt, and paved areas were ruled out.
That left only one place.
The bottom of the lake!
Xu Qian's eyes gleamed. She stood up excitedly, not even noticing when the swing board hit her leg.
She quickly ran to the edge of the lake and peered down.
The bottom of the lake was dry, filled with mud.
Xu Qian paced around the edge of the lake, observing. Where there were people, there were entrances.
Where there were entrances, there were tools.
Suddenly, Xu Qian's eyes brightened, and she smiled faintly.
On the lakeside wall, a stainless steel ladder was welded in place, extending into the mud. A manhole cover was revealed.
It was located at the edge and quite low. Before the apocalypse, this manhole cover would have been submerged by the lake water.
That manhole cover, black as iron, was clearly the laboratory!
Xu Qian turned and shouted loudly, "Everyone come over! I found it."
Chen Hechang, who was nearby, immediately ran over. Panting, he asked, "Sister Qian, you found it? Where?"
Xu Qian pointed to the manhole cover below the lakebed. "Open that cover, the laboratory is inside."
Chen Hechang, with his thick eyebrows and large eyes, frowned at this.
"This is probably just a regular well."
"No, this is the entrance."
Xiang Jintian heard the commotion and rushed over, looking down.
This metal manhole cover was indeed identical to the one they had encountered in the desert before.
"Xianxian, is that hammer still here?"
Last time, they had tried everything but couldn't open it; it was Xu Qian's hammer that finally did the trick.
Xu Qian nodded. "It's here. Let's go down together."
The system's tools were ineffective when used by outsiders; she had to handle it herself.
Xiang Jintian instructed them, "You all wait here. I'll call you later."
"Yes."
The two of them descended the ladder, and as soon as they stepped off, their feet sank into the mud.
There was countless debris in the mud, along with the remains of zombies, emitting an indescribable odor.
It was foul and fishy.
Xu Qian's brow didn't even twitch as she approached the manhole cover to examine it.
Nearly half of the manhole cover was embedded in the mud, with the other half exposed.
Xu Qian had a thought, and a hammer appeared in her palm.
She struck it as she had done last time, but there was no reaction.
Xu Qian's brow furrowed slightly.
"System, what's going on?"
"Ding, the manhole cover needs to be fully exposed. Strike the center, and it will shatter immediately."
Xu Qian looked at the vast expanse of mud below, feeling a headache coming on.
Because the mud wasn't hard but soft; even if they dug it out, it would quickly revert to its original state.
Xiang Jintian saw this and asked quietly, "What's wrong? Can't you open it?"
Xu Qian nodded silently.
"We need to completely clear the mud around the manhole cover before we can use this hammer."
Xiang Jintian thought it was some difficult task.
He looked up and shouted, "Everyone come down and dig out the mud."