Chapter 260 Struggle

When Lin Che was pushed into the fortress's medical cabin, Lu Zhao's fingers flew rapidly on the operating panel.

Red warning lights were circulating on the surface of the cabin, and dense streams of data were jumping on the monitoring screen.

"The vital signs are stable." Lu Zhao tapped the heart rate curve, "but the EEG is wrong."

He called up another set of waveforms. "This is the human alpha wave. This is" his fingertips passed over another series of sharp sawtooth waves, "a non-human pattern. The alternating frequency is seventeen times per minute, like two engines fighting for the same drive shaft."

Su Wanqing moved a chair and sat next to the medical cabin, her eyes glued to the monitoring screen.

Under Lin Che's skin, blue lines were running along the blood vessels, crawling from the back of his hand to his neck, and then retreating back to his wrist, like a school of restless fish.

"His consciousness is fighting with the Weaver part." Lu Zhao pulled off his protective gloves. "I've tried gene stabilizers, electromagnetic pulses to stimulate the temporal lobe, and even used experimental consciousness anchoring—" He pointed to the charred interface on the side of the cabin, "It's useless. The proportion of human consciousness is still decreasing. It's now 18%."

"Try this." Xiao Ran pushed the door open, followed by an old man in a green cloth shirt, with a white beard tied into a small braid, and holding a red lacquered wooden box in his hand.

"Jiang Hui said that this is an old doctor from the 'Green Ark' who is good at regulating energy disorders."

The old doctor lifted Lin Che's eyelids and took a look, then checked his wrist pulse.

"The pulse is as tangled as a ball of linseed." He took out a silver needle from the wooden box, "but it's not broken yet."

The silver needles were inserted into Lin Che's Baihui, Fengchi, and Neiguan acupoints, and a thin smoke floated from the end of the needles.

The old doctor took out a ceramic bottle, poured out the brown medicine and fed it to him. Half an hour later, the blue lines moved slower, but the number on the monitoring screen still jumped to 17%.

"We can help." Xiaoling's voice came from the door. She and Xiaoyu stood hand in hand, and the lavender mark on their foreheads glowed slightly.

"You guys?" Lu Zhao's eyebrows twitched.

"We can see his consciousness." Xiaoyu walked over and gently touched the glass of the medical cabin with her fingertips. "It's like a sea covered by a purple storm, and he's struggling in the center of the storm."

"There are two of him." Xiao Ling added, "One is the one we know, and the other is blue and not very human. They are fighting for the same body."

Lu Zhao pulled up the EEG chart for comparison, and his pupils shrank. "It matches the monitoring data."

He looked at Su Wanqing and said, "Maybe we can give it a try under the current circumstances."

Su Wanqing nodded. Xiaoling and Xiaoyu climbed onto the high stools next to the medical cabin and placed their hands on the sensing areas on both sides of the cabin.

The marks on the two girls were blindingly bright, and a band of lavender light shot out from their foreheads and wrapped around Lin Che’s wrist.

A miracle happened. The wandering blue lines suddenly stopped and began to rise and fall with Xiaoling and Xiaoyu's breathing - shrinking to the elbows when they inhaled, and spreading to the fingertips when they exhaled.

The numbers on the monitoring screen stopped jumping and stopped at 20%.

"Can you help him?" Su Wanqing asked.

Xiao Ling closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling: "We have to get into his consciousness. But we need a guide, someone who has a deep relationship with him."

Everyone looked at Su Wanqing. She stood up and pushed her chair to the side of the medical cabin: "How do we do this?"

"Hold our hands." Xiaoyu stretched out her hand, "Relax, just like we did last time in the air-raid shelter."

Su Wanqing sat down, holding Xiaoling in her left hand and Xiaoyu in her right hand.

The marks of the three girls lit up at the same time, forming a triangular light shield.

Su Wanqing felt her temples swelling and the fortress in front of her began to blur, like crumpled paper.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing on a vast gray plain. In the distance, two figures were wrestling with each other—one was Lin Che, wearing a light gray shirt, and the other was bright blue, with a dazzling gold left eye.

Sometimes they rolled on the ground in a ball, and sometimes they separated and hit each other with their fists and energy waves.

"Don't force it." Xiao Ling's voice rang in her mind, "Let him find his balance himself."

Su Wanqing walked forward, but it felt like she was walking on cotton, and every step she took sank into the dust.

“Lin Che!” she shouted, “Lin Che, listen to me!”

The two men who were fighting paused. Lin Che, who was wearing a shirt, raised his head, with bruises on his face.

Lan Ying took the opportunity to grab his neck and pressed him to the ground.

"I'm not asking you to beat him!" Su Wanqing shouted again, "He is also you! You have to discuss it with him!"

Lan Ying's movements slowed down. Lin Che, who was wearing a shirt, suddenly stopped struggling. He reached out and pressed Lan Ying's wrist: "Can you hear me?"

Lan Ying let go of his hand and took two steps back. The two stood two meters apart, their chests rising and falling violently.

"I am you." Blue Shadow's voice was like the friction of metal, "The Weaver part of your body."

“I know.” Lin Che wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, “But I don’t want to be swallowed by you.”

"I don't want to be trapped by you either." Lan Ying said, "We are supposed to be together."

Su Wanqing felt the gray soil beneath her feet changing. First, a few green sprouts appeared, and then a blue stream flowed between them.

Lin Che stretched out his hand to touch the stream water, and Lan Ying also stretched out his hand, and the two hands came together on the water surface.

When Su Wanqing opened her eyes again, Xiaoling and Xiaoyu were holding her arms.

In the medical cabin, Lin Che's blue lines no longer moved randomly, but instead drew regular patterns along his arms and neck, like an unfinished starry sky.

The waveforms on the monitoring screen no longer conflict with each other, but are interwoven into a smooth curve.

Lu Zhao stared at the genetic test report and his throat moved: "55% human, 45% weaver. Stable."

Lin Che's eyelids moved. He opened his eyes, his left eye shone brightly with gold, while his right eye was still brown.

"We're back," he said, his voice having a metallic resonance.

Su Wanqing held his hand. Blue lines crawled up from the back of his hand, wrapped around her fingers, and then slowly retreated.

"Are you still you?" she asked.

Lin Che smiled, with the right corner of her mouth curled up as before: "Yes, but not entirely. I have more memories. The history of the weavers, their technology."

He flexed his fingers, and the blue veins obediently retracted to his elbows. "I can control it now. I won't lose control again."

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Xiao Ran rushed in holding a tablet. "According to the military, the nuclear strike has been moved up 18 hours. They have abandoned the East and South districts. Now the streets are full of mutant creatures and things that fell out of the cracks."

"There is also news about the 'Green Ark'." Xiao Ran stroked the tablet, "Three convoys were trapped at the East District checkpoint, with more than 500 civilians, including children and the elderly."

Lin Che propped herself up and sat up: "I can help. I have stable control now, nothing will happen."

Su Wanqing glanced at the countdown on the wall - 17 hours and 53 minutes.

She turned to Xiao Ran and said, "You and Lu Zhao go to the northern shelter and keep an eye on the construction progress. Xiao Ling and Xiao Yu stay behind to monitor the time field. Lin Che and I will go to the eastern area."

"Okay." Xiao Ran nodded, "I'll contact Jiang Hui right away and have them prepare for the pick-up."

Lu Zhao stuffed the portable time stabilizer into Su Wanqing's backpack: "This thing can last for half an hour, use it sparingly."

Lin Che stood up, blue lines flowing on his arms, like a breathing light.

Su Wanqing grabbed the holster and checked the magazine. There were screams of mutant creatures outside the fortress, mixed with explosions in the distance.