Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 114: Inside the Lab

Before heading to the lab, Delilah stopped by her room to grab crowbars to pry open the sealed door and give one to him. They didn’t speak, moving with quiet efficiency.

She also picked up something else, something he couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like a card.

Access card?

Gideon tried to relax, but Delilah was visibly tense. It made him want to ease the atmosphere, to say something just to break it, but then he remembered he was still irritated with her.

So he stayed quiet.

They didn’t speak again until they reached the sealed door.

"Let me do it," he said, noticing they both had crowbars in hand.

"It’s fine. Let’s just do it quickly and destroy it. The longer I stay here, the more dangerous it becomes."

She let out a quiet sigh. "If they really want what’s inside, they’ll come back."

Gideon nodded.

But from her expression, he could tell that wasn’t the only reason. There was something else mixed in there. Something heavier, it was sadness.

It would be harder for her to blow up the place if she stayed here any longer.

They started working. One by one, the wooden planks were pulled away and discarded, until only the metal door remained.

It looked different from the others in the bunker, heavier and more secure. There was even a keycard scanner embedded beside it.

Without hesitation, Delilah stepped forward and swiped the card.

A green light flashed.

The door unlocked with a mechanical click before sliding open on its own.

Beyond it stretched a long hallway, lined with doors on both sides.

The lights flickered, then turned on one by one the moment the door opened, as if the place had been waiting for them.

It reminded him of the other hallway in this bunker he had seen before, with its sterile white walls. Clean, but unsettling.

The difference was the structure. The walls here were thicker and more reinforced.

This finally looked like a proper secured facility.

"The lab is straight ahead," Delilah said. "It’s a mess inside. Like something bad happened before everyone ran. But there are no bullet marks, no blood. It’s as if..."

She paused. "as if it was some kind of natural disaster. Like an earthquake."

Gideon glanced down the hallway as they walked forward.

"Or maybe the government pulled everyone out before it collapsed. Some kind of emergency evacuation... or a breach?"

"Unlikely," Delilah replied. "There’s no sign of contamination. No trace of anything escaping. No ’subject’ outside."

She tightened her grip slightly as they approached the larger door at the end of the hallway.

"It’s just that..." Her voice lowered. "the lab was deliberately destroyed."

They finally stood in front of it.

Delilah stepped forward first and scanned the card. The door slid open.

The room came back to life the moment it opened. Lights flickered on one by one, and dormant machines hummed as if they had been waiting all this time.

Gideon stepped inside, the crunch of broken glass echoing under his feet.

Shattered pieces from lab equipment were scattered across the floor.

On the right side, rows of specimen containers stood empty, their interiors dark and hollow.

On the left, various machines and instruments filled the space, most of them unfamiliar to him.

But what drew his attention immediately was the large tube at the center of the room.

It was about the size of a grown man, now half-destroyed. The surrounding monitors and control panels were smashed, as if someone had taken a bat to them without restraint.

Gideon walked closer.

Water that once filled the tube had leaked out, pooling beneath it, spreading across the floor like something had escaped in a hurry.

"What is this? Is it possible someone was inside it?" he said, brushing his hand lightly against the cracked glass surface.

"Yeah. The probability is high," Delilah replied as she approached from behind. "Let me show you something."

Gideon nodded and followed her to a door on the left.

She pushed it open.

Inside was a smaller room filled with documents. Papers lined the shelves, some neatly stacked, others scattered across the floor.

An abandoned computer sat at the back, likely used to access the research digitally instead of going through everything by hand.

Gideon bent down and picked up one of the papers.

It was a biodata file of a child.

---

[RESTRICTED — SUBJECT BIODATA]

[Project: X-1 Lineage]

[Subject Code: X-188]

[Origin: Single Source Egg (X-1)]

[Status: Active]

---

[Basic Data]

Age: ~6 years

Sex: Male

Condition: Stable

Growth Rate: Normal

---

[Ability Manifestation]

Type: Thermal / Internal Generation

Description: Subject can produce heat from within the body without external trigger.

[Observed Effects:]

Skin temperature spikes rapidly under emotional stimulus

Surrounding air distortion (mild)

Objects within 0.5m show heat exposure

[Limitations:]

Uncontrolled activation

Physical fatigue after prolonged output

Risk of self-damage (currently minimal)

---

Gideon’s eyes widened. Now he understood. This was data on the Children of Eden.

The "Ability Manifestation" section alone confirmed it, along with the fact that this bunker had clearly been operated by the government.

He kept reading, picking up more files.

Most of them contained similar biodata. Some were half-destroyed, others completely torn apart and scattered across the floor.

The ones still intact on the shelves seemed to be progress records, documenting their development while they were kept in the lab.

Clearly not on this facility since it was too small for children this much.

One pattern became clear very quickly. Not every subject survived past six years old.

After that point, their own abilities began to turn against them, destroying their bodies from the inside.

Another pattern followed. Their personalities were almost identical; passive, indifferent, and detached.

They lived in their own world, showing little understanding of human language, emotion, or morality.

More questions began to form in Gideon’s mind.

What about Daphne?

Based on what Johan said, she hadn’t grown up in a lab. She had been given to his family when she was still a baby.

The data here...

It resembled Henry more. That same lack of empathy.

"Are these children different from the Children of Eden?" he muttered.

Delilah answered from behind him. "They’re prototypes. Everything here is from before they managed to perfect the process."

Gideon turned slightly, his eyes shifting to the documents in her hands as she continued.

"Can you promise me something?" she said. "Don’t tell anyone about this. And..." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Her voice faltered, hesitation slipping through.

"...don’t try to look for more information connected to these documents."

Gideon didn’t answer right away. He wasn’t even sure he could.

What if these files didn’t explain everything?

Would he really be able to ignore it?

To walk away without searching for the rest of the truth?