"We can't wait any longer! We have to rescue those animals immediately!" Wang Meili clenched her fists, a determined light burning in her eyes.
Lin Xiaoqiang nodded vigorously. "She's right! We need to find a way down there!"
Ah Zhai looked around and suddenly noticed a disused staircase beside the ventilation opening, blocked by debris. "Maybe there's a way down there. We can try clearing it."
The three of them worked together to clear away the piled-up debris, revealing a dust-covered staircase. They then carefully made their way down.
The underground laboratory was even larger than they had imagined. The air was thick with the pungent smell of chemicals and the stench of animals.
The mysterious man was completely engrossed in his experiment, oblivious to their arrival. He murmured to the white rabbit in the instrument, a morbidly excited smile on his face.
"The energy collection efficiency is getting higher and higher... as long as I collect enough 'pink essence,' my research will break through the bottleneck!"
"'Pink essence'?" A jolt went through Lin Xiaoqiang's mind, and images of the eerie pink halos and color-changing statues in Barbie City flashed before his eyes. Could all of this... be related to this man?
Just as they were about to take action, Lin Xiaoqiang suddenly heard unfamiliar animal thoughts. The sound wasn't coming from the caged animals but from a dark corner of the laboratory.
"...that human... dangerous... using our fear... to create... pink energy..."
Lin Xiaoqiang turned his head alertly and saw that the voice was coming from an almost forgotten shadow, where more animals seemed to be hidden.
He quietly approached and was shocked to see several larger animals trapped there, their eyes filled with fear and anger. Their bodies were faintly emitting a pale pink light.
"They... they're infected too!" Wang Meili exclaimed, her gaze fixed on the faintly glowing animals, her expression filled with shock.
At this moment, the mysterious man seemed to have finished his experiment with the white rabbit. He took the limp rabbit out of the instrument and immediately placed it in another cold metal cage.
"Next... it's your turn."
He slowly turned around, his cold gaze sweeping over the caged animals.
"Stop!" Wang Meili finally couldn't bear it any longer and shouted loudly. A bright pink beam shot out from her palm, directly towards the mysterious man.
Caught off guard, the mysterious man was hit by the beam. But to their astonishment, he was not harmed at all; the only result was a layer of vibrant pink dye on his white coat.
"What?!" Wang Meili's eyes widened in disbelief.
The mysterious man was taken aback for a moment, then a mocking smile appeared on his face. "So, you're a superpowered individual... no wonder you could find this place. But do you really think you can stop my great research with just that?"
With that, he suddenly pressed a red button on the wall.
Immediately, the instruments in the laboratory roared louder than before. The pink glow on the caged animals intensified instantly, and they cried out in pain.
"Not good! What did he activate?!" Lin Xiaoqiang's body tensed up, a bad premonition rising in his heart.
At this moment, Ah Zhai noticed several containers stacked in a corner, each bearing a strange spiral symbol. That symbol... it was the same one they had seen on the card left behind by the men in black!
"Look! That symbol!" Ah Zhai exclaimed.
Lin Xiaoqiang and Wang Meili followed his gaze, their expressions immediately turning grim—this mysterious man was very likely one of the masterminds behind the "special energy research"!
They had only wanted to rescue the trapped animals, but they had unexpectedly stumbled into a massive conspiracy lurking in the dark depths of Barbie City...
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