Following the little demonstration, the woman indicated for Hu Lei to follow her. Hu Lei naturally disliked being beckoned like a dog, but she did not have any choice. She was on someone else's turf. Moreover, the men with weapons were still around, and the heavy door had been closed.

"Where is my father?" She inquired with supressed rage.

"Doctor Hu is quite well. I am sure he will be happy to see you." The woman responded.

Hu Lei was silent as they walked deep into the structure through lighted corridors. The building was built in that cliché industrial style without unique markers. She could not also follow on the directions as they walked. It seemed like they were going around in circles. When they entered an elevator, she could not bear the confusion anymore.

"What is this place?" She asked as she felt the lift descend.

"A simple nameless lab dedicated to decoding the mysteries of the human body. We have been carrying out a lot of ground-breaking work in the field of genetics here, but I believe that your father's ideas will give us the final key we need to achieve our purposes." The woman replied enthusiastically.

"And who are you?" She asked.

"I am Helen Brown, the head of the laboratory. Before you ask, I am not a scientist, just a corporate drone overseeing the operations. You know how scientists are. Once they are involved in their work, they will forget everything. I am here to make sure they remember to eat." The woman kept talking to Hu Lei like they were old friends.

While Hu Lei was annoyed and anxious, she could only listen to the chatter without real information. The elevator opened after the lengthy ride into a brightly lit hallway. The space was warm, unlike the upper level through which the truck had come in. It was almost as if they were in a completely different place.

"Even though we are in the South Pole, we are able to maintain perfect temperature using the best proprietary power generation systems. When you are in here, you will not even realise that you are in one of the coldest places on earth." Helen Brown talked as she kept walking. "You know, I was ambivalent about this assignment at first, but I have come to love this little fortress like a home."

Hu Lei did not respond. She was observing her surroundings. The building seemed simple, and it had a minimalist air, including sharp modern edges, white walls and no décor. At intervals, they met a couple of men who greeted Helen Brown respectfully.

Otherwise, it seemed like a normal boring lab. She had been in numerous laboratories, so nothing stood out as unusual.

"You will be our guest for quite some time. So, you will have to bear with us during this period." Helen finally broached the important matter of her kidnapping.

"What do you mean by guest?" She asked coldly.

"Do not worry. You are not a prisoner per se. You will get comfortable quarters. You can walk around the base. We have excellent facilities: a gym, a library and even a media room. You will remain with us during the period that your father will be working for us." Helen brown explained.

"So I am a hostage to ensure that my father complies?" Hu Lei grasped the important point immediately.

"Hostage is such an ugly word, but essentially, yes. No harm shall come to you, you can rest assured." The woman spoke with an eerily bright smile. "Do not think of this laboratory as a prison. It is a safe zone for you. If you take a step outside this building, you will be dead in a matter of hours."

"You were able to bring me here quite easily, so there must be a way out." Hu Lei challenged with a glint in her eyes.

Helen Brown laughed at her as if she had heard a funny joke.

"Bringing you here was not easy. It took almost a month to get you from Argentina to this point. If it was not for advanced pharmaceuticals keeping your body in suspended animation, you would not be alive or in good shape. Moreover, right now, it is spring, so the weather is quite good. If you step out of the building in winter, you will not last for half an hour."

Hu Lei could not help the cold shiver in her heart as the word sunk in. She had been out for a month? That explained the overwhelming stench of her body. She did not dare focus on what the information meant for the more important aspects of her life. If she did, she might not be able to keep it together.

"I would have had my people help you with your ablutions and clothes, but as a woman, I did not think you would appreciate handling by strangers." Helen spoke when she noticed her distaste at her smell.

After a considerably lengthy walk, Helen finally stopped at a door labelled Room 30. She opened the door and indicated for Hu Lei to step in.

"This will be your room for the length of your stay with us. It has everything you need."

"What about my father?" Hu Lei had not forgotten about Hu Ming.

"You can meet with him once you have taken a shower. It would not do if you smell like that when you join him. He might think that we have mistreated you. Someone will come to get you in about thirty minutes for dinner." With that, Helen brown strutted away in her pantsuit.

Hu Lei entered the room and closed the door. When she looked at the space, she had to admit that it was better than she expected from a secret lab built in the ground at the South Pole. It had a comfortable-looking bed and a simple cabinet with drawers. She opened them and found clothes similar to those that the private military men were wearing.

Inside the room, she found another door leading to a basic bathroom with a shower and a toilet. It seemed that these people had not forsaken plumbing in favour of a covert lab. She closed the entry door and went to the bathroom for a shower.

There was no need to rush anything. It was not like she had anywhere to go for now. She would deal with the other matters once she cleaned up and talked to her father. Everything would be clear then, and she could think of how to deal with the situation afterwards.