Introduction[]
The layout of Lab X-16 is a lot more straightforward and linear than Lab X-18, however this one is filled with both Zombified Stalkers and Snorks. You should be more or less used to them by now, having cleared the Yantar factory to get here. Your starting point is the eastern side of the lab and the your main goals, along with the exit, is on the far western side.
Entryway[]
Move down the stairs (be mindful of the Burner anomaly on the landing), and dispose of the two Zombified Stalkers in the room ahead. A single Snork will spawn behind you near the stairs once you pass through the blast door. The lift is non-functional, so you will need to go down the ladders. Be aware that descending the ladders is a one-way trip, so make sure you check the area thoroughly and take what you want before descending. On the second platform is the location of the rare stash Goodies in the electrical outlets, which contains the exceptional Vintar BC. When you're on the bottom floor you'll find yourself in a large room - there are more enemies ahead... yeah, more Zombified Stalkers - two on the catwalk and one on ground level, and two Snorks. In my view the best place to deal with them is to climb the ladder on the left of the lift alcove and snipe them from the control booth above. Check the crates as you will often find a VOG-25 Grenade in the crate between the large transformers on the northern side of the room.
You'll soon come to a room with an alcove to the south-west and with more Zombified Stalkers and another Snork in it; once you've dealt with them be sure to break all the boxes in the alcove since one of them contains some 9x39mm SP-6 rounds. Moving north you'll find another room with a lot of shelves in it - you can find a number of metal boxes on them - be sure to check them all since they'll turn up more 9x39mm ammo and some other goodies.
Turning off the psi-emissions[]
Beyond the room, and after having disposed of more Snorks you'll come to a large, circular room - consider creating a new save-game before you move in. Once you do, the timer (as hinted by Sakharov) will start and you'll have a few minutes to close down the machine. The circular room consist of a number of different levels - each of them has a switch on it (marked on your map), and you must activate them all to turn off the psi-emissions. You may also notice that your minimap has detected a number of PDA's nearby - don't worry (too much) since these are all in fact more zombies.
On your way through the room be sure to be on the lookout for anomalies, artifacts (there's a bundle about), items, and of course enemies. You don't have to pick up everything at first since you can explore the room once you've turned off the emissions, so stick to that objective if you run low on time. The final switch is all the way at the top. Notable items, beyond the large number of artifacts, includes a Berill-5M Armored Suit and close by a crate with a SSP-99 Ecologist suit in it; since you're probably pretty much loaded I would recommend ignoring the latter, although the first armour may be worth dragging along.
When you finally turn off the psi-emitter you'll pass out (again) and be treated to another cut-scene. Hmm, this Strelok fella' sure was keen on getting to the centre of the Zone, Chernobyl specifically.
You next mission is to pick up the documents and get out of the lab. Move towards the west and you'll soon come to another large room - it has a Controller inside so deal with it first and enter the room. Inside you'll discover a body: it is Ghost - search him and you'll get some more information from his PDA, including a recording shedding some more light on what happened. Ghost seems to have met his demise at the hands of the controller, and it sounds like this "Doc" character will know where to find Strelok. You'll be given a new semi-optional mission, namely Meet the Guide. Be sure to pick up the documents from his corpse along with the Ghost Suit if you wish (this is the suit that Sakharov is looking for).
As you may have notice I called Meet the Guide semi-optional - it is an optional mission in the sense that you don't have to complete it, but for you to fully explore the plot and gain access to the "best" endings of the game, you must complete it.
Although the arrow on your minimap may seem to indicate that you should backtrack towards where you initially started out, you actually need to drop down a hole close to where you discovered Ghost; it's inside one of the "cells" with a sign (saying "10") in front of it. Before you move on, though, you may wish to search the room thoroughly - you can find some boxes, one of which contains a M209 40mm Grenade. Before you drop down make sure that you have everything with you that you wish to bring along, because once you drop down there you're not likely to come back.
Getting out of X16[]
When you drop down move towards the east and you'll come upon another hole and some metal boxes nearby - be sure to break these as they contain a number of goodies, including the still rare 9x39mm ammunition. Head down the next hole and you'll come to a level transition. Once loaded, you'll find yourself back in Yantar - well, some tunnels beneath the area, to be exact.
I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear that the tunnel not only has zombie stalkers and Snorks in them, but also a Pseudogiant. You'll hear what appears to be gunfire and explosions - you'll soon find out that it's in fact military choppers that has been sent in to deal with the zombie stalkers. Finally some justice for the little guy… or something. Getting out of the underground should be pretty straightforward since, for the most part, the tunnel is going in one direction; at one point you'll find the tunnel splitting, going both south and east; take the one going south since the one going east is just a slight detour with nothing of interest along the way and you'll end up in the same place anyway. This particular area has the Pseduogiant near, so watch out. Eventually you'll come to a broken grate and beyond that a ladder going up. Head up and you'll find yourself in Yantar proper again; go up the stairs and look for the broken rail - jump down from that onto the fence and the other side.
Go and talk to Sakharov who will basically thank you for turning off the psi-emissions. Strangely, he'll give you an optional mission: Purge the lair of the snorks; the reward for this mission is 3000 RU and two scientific first aid kits, so if you need some cash feel free to do it. Notice that Sakharov now has a wider assortment of equipment available, including the Tunder S14 assault rifle, the SEVA Suit, and 9x39mm PAB-9 rounds. He may not have all the items when you visit him since his inventory seems to be randomly generated each time you enter the area - so you can always try to head into the Wild Territory and come back to check his inventory. If you decided to pick up the Bring the unique bodysuit (or you pick it up now) you can give the Ghost Suit to Sakharov; he'll reward you with a SSP-99M Suit, the armour with the highest protection average in the game - in other words a pretty good armour.
You're not going to come back to Yantar unless you need to buy equipment from Sakharov or possibly to complete an optional mission - in any case, you should bring as much loot as you can carry with you back to your central stash at the Bar since your next destinations are going to be the Army Warehouses and beyond.