"Well, everything would sound bad if you say it like that..." Gwen gave an awkward smile, "You don't need to fight them, we just need you to sneak in get the creator and sneak out."

Thirteen felt a headache coming over her. She'd just been briefed to who they were facing. The 'Precursors', the first few golems that inhabited this base. They numbered up to just 20, but they truly frightened the several hundreds of them.

Generally later models should've turned out much better than the older versions. And to a certain extent that was true in that after Gren50 or so their designs were more elegant with less deviations. But the Precursors, especially the single digit ones had received the brunt of their creators essence, making them widely more dangerous than their ma.s.s-produced brethren.

"Why don't you do it yourself then?" Thirteen complained. "At least you guys won't die so easily."

"We would if we could, but we have our posts and workstations which are strictly monitored." Gwen explained. "As golems made from the same master we are aware of each other's presence, once we leave our place for too long, they'll know, and they'll have me and the others deconstructed before we get anywhere near the creator." Thirteen's head tilted inquisitively. "It's our death, so to say." Gwen explained.

They had stopped at what was a dead end at the end of a hallway. A single steel door stood erect behind the golem. "Anyway, we can give you some time to decide whether you want to help us or not. But until then we've prepared some accommodations for you, on behalf of all the people I would like to welcome you to shelter B-08-05-97!" She said that as if she was a concierge from a five star hotel. From the look on her face, she'd practiced that line a few times but never had anyone to use it on, the sheer bliss of completing the act made her smile so wide she almost needed to regenerate her mouth.

She turned towards the door so smoothly and pulled out her keys. However, this was where her performance had to end as when she tried to turn it, the key didn't budge. She looked back at Thirteen, her smile looking a little stiff. "I'm sorry, I seem to be having some difficulty, please give me a sec."

She began to frantically pull out and insert keys one by one. At one point she was so fast Thirteen could swear she saw the keyhole glow from the friction. There was a moment she had to defend the door from Gwen as she came dangerously close to tearing the door down.

Finally with a nice Clunk! the key turned a one eighty and the k.n.o.b could be turned. As Gwen regained her composure, she opened the door and stepped out of the way. Instantly Thirteen who was at the door was pounced by a giant black beast that was waiting inside. She thought her life was going to come to an end before she felt a wet b.u.mpy surface slide up from her chin all the way to the top of her head, coating even her head in slime.

"Myra! No! Get off!" Thirteen struggled in vain as she was bathed in the fragrant, viscous liquid that dripped of the dear girl, but she had no heart to scold her furry friend. As she entered, she was welcomed with the sight of a small room, barely enough to fit all of them inside. Any other person other then Thirteen might've flipped at the concentration campesque design, but to her, as long as she had a place to sleep, eat and do her thing, it was good enough.

But as she was taking in her new place, she heard the door click behind her with Gwen no longer in the room. It was pretty obvious to her what was going on as she heard the sliding of those metal keys into the keyhole, and she would've made a move too if she hadn't heard the following words.

"Ah... c.r.a.p!" Gwen's m.u.f.fled voice echoed from the other side as the keys jingled in dissonance. Thirteen almost felt bad enough for her that she decided to ignore what Gwen was doing for now.

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Zhao Wei snuck around the place. For some reason he regretted leaving the confines of that cage he was just in, there was something comforting about knowing you were going to face danger rather than standing out in the open in an unfamiliar and hostile territory.

Worst part about this was that with the concrete walls and ceilings all around him, there was absolutely nowhere he could lurk to surprise any unsuspecting victims. Just as he thought that, sure enough the faint thump of footsteps were coming his direction and getting louder by the second.

He had no choice but to press himself against the wall and prepare to strike once the person turned the corner. Just as he thought so the wall behind him opened up, causing his body to slip into it as a hand wrapped itself around his body and another covered his mouth, pulling him in.

He struggled futilely against the impossible strength these now noticeably dainty hands imposed on him. Then a small voice whispered in his ear, "Please be quiet for a few seconds, I'm not your enemy."

At that moment the thump of feet had reached the corner of the wall they were now hidden behind and the person on the other side continued in their direction. The sounds grew louder as the person got closer and closer until they were standing right on the other side of the wall. Zhao Wei held his breath as whoever it was lingered outside for a few seconds. They heard the footsteps begin it's motion again, this time, getting farther and farther away from them.

Finally Zhao Wei and the kidnapper both sighed in relief Zhao Wei was released from the grasp. Turning around, he was dumbstruck to find himself face to face with a child.