Their Mistake, Her Rise - Chapter 455: Chapter 455

Zoe and Shawn were leading the dozen organ-harvesting victims out of the facility—only to find themselves suddenly surrounded by an armed group as soon as they entered the hall.
They were all armed, their weapons trained squarely on Zoe, Shawn, and the others.
The victims who had just escaped the operating tables broke down in despair at the sight. 'We're done for,' they thought. 'This hellhole is inescapable.'
Only Zoe and Shawn remained unfazed amidst the chaos. Their eyes swept over the crowd, already calculating the fastest way to fight their way out.
"Shoot! Kill them all!" Byron Graham, the leader of these killers, barked with chilling ruthlessness—the very first words out of his mouth were a death sentence.
"We can't do that, Mr. Graham. Those are the organ-harvesting shipments—if they die or get hurt, it'll compromise the procedures," one of the killers said.
"Right, let's stay calm—we can't kill them all," another killer said.
Hearing this, Byron fixed his cold gaze on Zoe and Shawn. "Then kill those two," he ordered.
Underestimating Zoe and Shawn, Byron dismissively motioned for two men to take them out.
The two men advanced without hesitation and fired, their bullets aimed right between Zoe and Shawn's eyes.
With perfect tactical synchronization, Zoe and Shawn shoved each other out of harm's way, dodging the bullets as they stepped back. With the momentum, they instantly pivoted and charged at the group from opposite directions.
Like two dancers executing a rehearsed routine, Zoe and Shawn moved in perfect sync. They lunged at the nearest two men—a swift punch to disarm, followed by point-blank headshots. Two bodies crumpled to the ground before their victims even realized what hit them.
Zoe and Shawn fired simultaneously at each other—their bullets merely grazed past each other's ears, striking down the ambushers behind them.
What followed was a masterclass in combat choreography. Zoe and Shawn moved as one—their weapons struck with surgical precision, covering each other's blind spots and taking out any would-be ambushers behind them without so much as a glance.
In a dazzling display of combat mastery, Zoe and Shawn took down dozens of heavily armed men in mere minutes—leaving nothing but corpses scattered across the ground.
The rescued people stared wide-eyed in disbelief, totally stunned by Zoe and Shawn, wondering who they were.
All those armed men were no match for Zoe and Shawn. The rescued people started to think that they might actually make it out of here alive.
Zoe and Shawn had eliminated everyone in their way. Only when they stopped did it hit them—now that everyone was dead, nobody would show them the way out.
Zoe and Shawn had already searched the area—aside from the entrance they came through, there was simply no other way out.
"Maybe we should wait a bit longer," Zoe said, giving Shawn a helpless look.
Shawn glanced around. "Might as well find out what this place is really for."
Zoe nodded. It was a smart move. While they were searching for an exit, they could uncover this place's secrets.
Zoe and Shawn split up without a second thought, leaving the petrified survivors amidst the pile of corpses.
Zoe approached one of the rooms and, seeing the fingerprint lock, immediately tried to blast it open with her gun. But the door, made of reinforced material, proved impenetrable—her shots didn't even leave a dent.
Left with no choice, Zoe dragged a corpse over and pressed its finger against the scanner. To her surprise, it actually worked.
Shawn followed suit. Only when they each stepped into separate rooms did they discover the horrifying truth of what this place really was.
Rows of human bodies floated in formalin solution inside large reinforced glass containers, making every gruesome detail of the preserved corpses horrifyingly visible.
"These people are downright inhuman," Shawn said coldly.
Human experimentation was already a vile violation of humanitarian principles, but these monsters went even further—not only did they conduct such experiments, they also slaughtered countless victims.
"Now I know why there were so many victims scheduled for organ harvesting while there were only a few patients waiting for surgeries," Shawn continued. "They wanted to kill the rest for their experiments."
At that moment, Zoe stepped into the room where Shawn was. She had heard rumors about secret humanoid weapon experiments, but she always dismissed them as conspiracy theories. Now, seeing this, she thought the rumors might be true.
But she had no idea what kind of virus those monsters were researching here.
"Let's get out of here first," Zoe said, grabbing Shawn's arm as he was about to venture further inside.
Shawn said, "These people won't die in vain—I swear I'll—"
"Don't worry," Zoe said firmly. "We'll tear this place down together, then track down the Underground Kingdom's headquarters. We'll make sure these experiments never continue again."
Shawn gave a cold nod at this.
It suddenly occurred to him—if these really were experiments, there must be a place where the research data was stored and analyzed.
To completely level this place, Zoe and Shawn first had to determine exactly what was being researched here—otherwise, any leakage of hazardous materials could trigger an even greater catastrophe.
Zoe had the same thought.
Room by room, Zoe and Shawn checked, only to discover more than a dozen specimen chambers—each holding hundreds of preserved corpses. The sight alone was chilling to the bone.
After methodically searching room by room, Zoe and Shawn finally discovered a high-security room with restricted access. This had to be where the real secrets were kept.
Zoe motioned for Shawn to step back and pulled a compact explosive from her jacket—an emergency device she had improvised on the spot using materials obtained from Dimitri, originally intended as a last-resort escape measure.
Now, this makeshift bomb would do the job of blasting the door open.
With a deafening boom, the massive explosion rocked the place. The rescued people dove for cover in terror—some timid ones even wet themselves.
Zoe and Shawn stepped through the gaping hole into the room—it was indeed a sealed laboratory, fully stocked with everything imaginable, a sight that made their skin crawl.
On the lab benches, Zoe found rows of preserved human specimens and stacks of experimental data. After reading the contents, Zoe flew into a rage. Those monsters were actually weaponizing these things against innocent people.
"This is viral weapons research," Zoe said furiously as she handed the documents to Shawn. "They're developing biological weapons to invade other countries—this is beyond evil."
Shawn's face darkened with fury as he finished reading.
"Now I've got a way to wipe out these viruses for good," Zoe said, her tone firm. "But I'll need some time to make it work."
She couldn't just torch the place—a viral outbreak would claim countless lives.
Shawn had absolute faith in Zoe. If she said she could destroy the viruses, he'd stop at nothing to make it happen.
"How long do you need?" Shawn asked.
"An hour," Zoe said firmly.
To completely eradicate these viruses, every minute of that hour was essential—and this was already pushing Zoe to her absolute limit.
Shawn nodded firmly. "Do what you need to. I've got the rest."
As Shawn turned to leave, he and Zoe exchanged a firm high-five.
Though neither of them said a word, their eyes locked in a silent promise: no matter what, they would both make it out of this living hell alive.