Chapter 18: An Unexpected Encounter with Sheriff Hope in the Laboratory

“No, we’re going to save Will too.”
The three of them spoke in unison, each bolder than the last. Lin Xiao deliberately put on a stern face and refused again,
“It’s too dangerous there. You’re all just kids. This isn’t something you can handle. Go home and stay put—I’ll bring Will back.”
With that, he turned and left the broadcasting room. As he watched Jonathan depart, the three friends exchanged glances, heads coming together in hushed whispers, quickly reaching a consensus.
If he won’t take us, then we’ll go on our own. Our legs are our own—who’s to say where they can and can’t go?
Leaving aside their plans, Lin Xiao walked to the car parked outside the school and started the engine, heading for the laboratory.
On the way, he silently considered his next move. If memory served, tonight Chief Hopper would sneak into the lab and uncover the secret of the gateway to the Upside Down.
If Hopper could get in, then so could he. He’d been through the lab several times already, in both the real world and the Upside Down—it was all too familiar.
He parked the car by the roadside not far from the lab, got out, and approached the side of the building. There was a wire fence, three or four meters high—enough to keep out ordinary people, but a joke to someone with supernatural abilities.
Unlike the brazen Chief Hopper, who would just snip the fence with wire cutters, Lin Xiao broke off a tree branch over four meters long, checked its strength, and found it sturdy enough to support his weight.
He followed the fence for a while and chose a secluded corner, making sure there were no security cameras nearby. Gripping one end of the branch, he stepped back, ran forward, and vaulted smoothly over the fence into the laboratory grounds.
“Not bad. With my current condition, I could win a decathlon gold at the Olympics without breaking a sweat.”
With his stamina raised to nineteen points—nearly double that of an average person—and his supernatural strength, Lin Xiao considered himself no less than a super soldier, more than a match for any Delta Force operative.
It was this power that gave him the confidence to enter the lab and rescue Will from the Upside Down.
He moved silently through the darkness, careful to avoid the visible cameras—though he was sure there were hidden ones as well. If he couldn’t avoid them all, he’d just have to push through.
As he neared the lab building, hiding in the shadows, he was surprised to see a middle-aged man with wire cutters enter—the very image of Chief Hopper.
Everything that had happened today had shaken Hopper’s beliefs to the core. His son’s body lay in the morgue, but no one had come to claim it.
He’d found Joyce in her car, urging her again and again to identify the body, but she refused, insisting that Will was still alive and nearby, and that she would wait for him to return home.
What more could Hopper say? He returned to the station, and by a twist of fate, slipped into the morgue—only to discover that Will’s body was a fake, a rubber mannequin.
This left him utterly baffled, caught in the web of some vast conspiracy, with every clue pointing to Hawkins Laboratory.

So, Chief Hopper resolved to investigate the lab that night and uncover the truth.
Seeing Hopper enter, Lin Xiao slipped around to the side of the building to hide. Before long, two lab employees opened the door and stepped outside. The moment they left, Hopper quickly blocked the door and slipped in.
As Hopper acted, Lin Xiao also made his move, launching himself forward in a burst, crossing five or six meters to reach the door just as it was closing, catching it before it shut.
“Jonathan? What are you doing here?”
Chief Hopper started, surprised to see Will’s brother, and asked with suspicion.
Lin Xiao grinned, gesturing to their surroundings, signaling Hopper to move along. The two of them walked through the lobby into the stairwell, where Lin Xiao explained,
“I was passing by and saw you cut through the fence, so I followed you in. Chief Hopper, do you think the lab people took my brother?”
Hopper studied Lin Xiao carefully; there was something odd about this young man—a sense of calm assurance, not a trace of panic. It was the kind of composure only someone with real strength would have.
“You and your mother were right. Will’s body was a fake—a rubber mannequin. I suspect the real culprit is Hawkins Laboratory. I want to see what they’re hiding.”
Chief Hopper frowned. As the town’s protector, he felt responsible for the safety of all its people. But the lab’s actions had crossed a line.
The two made their way deeper into the lab’s corridors. At one point, Hopper wandered into the room where Eleven had once been held, finding a small teddy bear left behind.
Lin Xiao said nothing, dutifully following Hopper. According to the plot, Hopper would soon find the way into the Upside Down; there was no need for Lin Xiao to point it out.
Sure enough, after some searching, Hopper found the room with the portal. The door was protected by a keypad and required a security card to enter.
“Hey, you two—what do you think this is, a department store?”
A mocking voice sounded. The two turned to see a bald, middle-aged staffer and an armed security guard in uniform, both guns trained on them.
“Oh, oh, oh…”
Hopper raised his hands, and Lin Xiao followed suit. The staffer sneered,
“Did you forget about the cameras?”
Hopper shrugged,
“Dr. Brenner invited us. How else do you think we got in?”

Lin Xiao laughed inwardly—if only Hopper hadn’t just cut through the fence. He himself hadn’t been nearly as brazen.
The staffer, unconvinced, unclipped his radio and called to confirm their story.
At that moment, Lin Xiao caught Hopper’s eye and saw him give a subtle nod.
In a flash, Hopper lunged forward and punched the staff member in the face. Lin Xiao was right behind him, driving his fist into the security guard’s face and knocking both men to the ground.
“Well done, partner.”
Glancing at the unconscious guard, Hopper whistled in approval.
Lin Xiao chuckled—a bit of restraint and he could have made an even bigger scene.
Hopper took the guard’s access card, pointed the gun at the staffer, and opened the door.
Afterward, Hopper shot the access card to disable it and the two entered the room, where they saw the grotesque, monstrous portal to another world. Hopper’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Lin Xiao remembered clearly that, at this point, a staff member would sneak in and stun Hopper, ending his investigation. But with himself present, he wouldn’t let that happen.
He kept watch and soon saw the door across the room quietly open. Two people in white hazmat suits crept out, sneaking closer—they were obviously lab staff.
“Watch out.”
Lin Xiao warned, activating the Leap skill and crossing over three meters in a stride, landing before the rear staffer and knocking him out with a punch.
Hopper faced off with the other, the two trading blows, fists thudding in the quiet room. In the end, Hopper’s seasoned fighting skill won out and he dropped his opponent.
“Hey, have you fought professionally? You’re awfully good at knocking people out.”
Hopper, glancing at Lin Xiao, who was watching the show, was both surprised and secretly grateful for his company—it had just saved him from a sneak attack.
Lin Xiao shrugged in imitation,
“Blame me if you want—I suppose it’s just a sort of talent.”