Chapter 150: Another Group

Grove Group is the largest medical company in Harborview City. Chu Cheng was familiar with the company because of a lavish dinner he once attended with the wealthy senior Felix.

So why were three employees from this rich company here in such a strange place? It couldn't just be a team-building exercise.

"The holographic simulation is offline," Friday said. The camouflage vanished, revealing Batman in his usual gray-black armor and cape. The disguise as a Secret Service Nine agent was no longer needed now that he was inside the ruins.

The ruins had only one entrance, making it tough to get in and explore. But now that Batman was inside, the pitch-black environment suited him well. However, navigating these ruins was tricky—flying or using his usual tracking methods didn't work well. The ruins seemed to shift unpredictably, making it hard to find his way.

Luckily, with the night vision equipment and his experience, Batman was still up to the challenge.

Batman stayed hidden in the shadows, quietly following the three ahead.

Chu Cheng took a quick look at them. There were two men and one woman in combat uniforms. From their appearance and available info, they seemed a bit disgruntled and uneasy, arranged in a classic triangle formation.

This setup reminded him of a typical team of heroes, like the ones from a famous adventure series, where one member might be plotting something sneaky.

"It's so dangerous... Did those things catch up to us?" 

The young man, He Shou, spoke out, sounding breathless as if he'd just run a marathon.

"No, we should have left them behind," replied Bai Jing, the only woman in the group.

She glanced at the other man with admiration. "Thanks to Brother Qiang for his help. His performance was impressive."

Qiu Qingqiang, leaning against a stone wall and catching his breath, waved off the praise. "It was just luck."

He then looked into the darkness behind him with a touch of sympathy. "Don't get too comfortable. They could still be around."

"The 'ghoul' is really scary," He Shou said, taking a deep breath. "I knew it might be tough, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. It's one thing to deal with them…"

Chu Cheng quickly figured out that the "ghoul" probably referred to the deformed black monsters. It seemed they were expecting to encounter such creatures underground, suggesting they had more information than the Secret Service.

From what the three-person team was saying, Chu Cheng guessed they had just escaped a group of ghouls and were now catching their breath.

He immediately thought about the four monsters Batman had taken down quickly.

Chu Cheng wondered if the ghouls they were talking about could be the same ones Batman had defeated so easily.

"Don't worry," He Shou said, patting Bai Jing on the shoulder with a reassuring smile. "If they come back, I'll take care of them."

"Yeah, right. You were the first to run," Bai Jing replied.

He Shou chuckled nervously. "I was just trying to draw their attention away."

"Alright, we need to keep moving," Qiu Qingqiang, who seemed to be the leader, said. He was leaning against the wall, clearly exhausted.

"I know everyone's tired, but we're not out of danger yet. They could be right behind us," Qiu Qingqiang added. "We need to move fast."

Chu Cheng thought to himself that taking a break wouldn't matter much—they likely couldn't catch up. But the three of them didn't realize they were already safe and continued on.

Qiu Qingqiang pulled out a handheld device that looked like a smartphone. He unlocked it and started fiddling with the touch screen, occasionally looking up to check his surroundings, looking very serious.

"Friday, can you intercept his screen?" Chu Cheng asked, curious about what Qiu Qingqiang was doing.

"Sorry, sir. It's a standalone device, so I can't hack it from here," Friday replied.

"Alright, looks like we'll have to handle this ourselves." Chu Cheng said as he prepared to act.

Batman, staying in the shadows, crept up on the three. He got close enough to reach them with a single leap. As he crouched silently, he used his advanced tech to lock onto the device in Qiu Qingqiang's hand.

Chu Cheng wasn't sure why, but he knew that as long as he was close enough, he could hack into almost anything. 

Soon, he had access to what was on Qiu Qingqiang's screen. It looked like a 3D map. The map seemed to be constantly changing, with everything moving according to some pattern.

Chu Cheng was intrigued and glanced at Friday, who was also watching him.

"...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Friday tilted her head and replied, "I'm not thinking of anything right now, sir."

"..."

Chu Cheng cleared his throat and said, "Doesn't this map look like it's tracking the ever-changing underground ruins?"

"That's a great guess, sir. It does seem to be the case," Friday confirmed.

Chu Cheng realized the likelihood of this being true was high. Qiu Qingqiang was clearly using the device like a compass. He stopped every few steps, checked the screen, and compared it to his surroundings to decide which direction to go.

It seemed these people, who were suspected to be agents from a major pharmaceutical group, had figured out the underground facility's layout and created a dynamic map of it.

This made Chu Cheng even more curious about them. Given there was only one entrance to the ruins, which was controlled by Secret Service Nine, how had this group gotten in?

Even Secret Service Nine wasn't prepared for a "moving relic," but this group had the right tools. This suggested they had significant resources.

"Enemy detected, sir," Friday alerted.

Chu Cheng shifted Batman's view and spotted two ghouls in the shadows nearby. Their eyes were fixed on the trio, glowing with a cruel light.

"..."

"We seem to be lucky," Bai Jing whispered. "It looks like those ghouls didn't catch up."

"They must have seen how tough we are and decided to back off," He Shou added, glancing around nervously.

Meanwhile, in the shadows behind them, two ghouls were struggling against Batman, who was handling them with ease.

Ghoul: "This is what I get for hiding, huh?"