The atmosphere in the medical isolation room was tense, like a string about to snap. Under the glaring shadowless light, Lu Qingyi lay on the hospital bed, her body twitching uncontrollably, her teeth clenched, and she let out a suppressed moan of pain. The port at the back of her neck, where the main control chip was implanted, was emitting an extremely faint, yet heart-wrenching, dark purple fluorescence! The light flickered and pulsated faintly beneath her skin, as if something within the chip was being forcibly awakened!

"The chip's energy activity... has spiked abnormally! We're trying to suppress it! Qingyi, hold on!" Xiaolin's voice was tinged with tears, her fingers rapidly manipulating the control panel, attempting to forcibly reduce the chip's activity through external devices. On the nearby medical device screen, the curve representing Lu Qingyi's brainwaves jumped and twisted wildly, like the surface of a stormy sea!

Lu Chenheng and Wen Shifei rushed into the isolation room, only to be met with this heart-wrenching scene. The magic blade gripped tightly in Lu Chenheng's mithril left arm hummed and vibrated, the mercury sheen flowing through the blade seeming to sense the threat from its own source and becoming restless. His only remaining right eye fixed intently on the ominous purple light at the back of his sister's neck, a cold murderous intent threatening to burst forth from his body!

"It's a forced wake-up command!" Wen Shifei rushed to the console, glanced at the frantically jumping data, and his face turned pale. "Someone is remotely trying to activate part of the chip's underlying protocol! Although it's not yet as strong as the 'harvest' command, if this continues, Qingyi's spirit will be torn apart!"

"Can it be blocked?" Lu Chensheng's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"The distance is too far, and the signal source is multiply encrypted and relayed. Forcibly blocking it will take time! Besides..." Wen Shifei looked at his bandaged hands, unable to perform precise movements, his eyes filled with frustration and urgency. "My condition... makes it difficult to complete a high-precision counterattack!"

Lu Chen's gaze instantly grew sharp. He stepped over to the bedside, suddenly raising his icy mithril left arm. Without hesitation, his palm, adorned with mercury energy patterns, pressed against the purple-glowing chip interface at the back of Lu Qingyi's neck.

Buzz——!

A strange resonance instantly occurred! The mercury flowing within the mithril arm suddenly lit up, fiercely colliding and canceling out the dark purple light at the chip interface! A subtle, burning smell, like a high-voltage current overload, filled the air! Lu Chen entropy groaned, his body swaying slightly. The violent energy conflict transmitted from the mithril arm instantly intensified the burning pain in the core of the chip in his brain! It was like a red-hot iron stirring inside!

"Chen En! Your arm..." Wen Shifei exclaimed.

"It's working!" Lu Cheneng gritted his teeth, veins popping out on his forehead, and pressed his mithril arm tightly against the back of his sister's neck. "It's suppressing the purple light! Quick! Find another way!"

Wen Shifei instantly understood his intention! Lu Cheneng was using the unique quantum-interfering energy properties of his mithril arm to physically suppress the energy leakage from the chip interface in the most brutal way possible! This was tantamount to using her body to plug a leaking high-voltage line! She no longer hesitated, enduring the excruciating pain in her hands. Her mental power recklessly poured into the control console, coordinating with Lu Cheneng's suppression, and she devoted herself to tracking and analyzing the source of the remote wake-up signal!

Time ticked by in agony and agony. Lu Qingyi's convulsions gradually subsided. The dark purple glow at the back of her neck, suppressed by the mithril arm, flickered like a candle in the wind, finally, unwillingly, extinguished completely. The frantic brainwaves on the medical equipment also gradually calmed. As if all her strength had been exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep, her brow furrowed, as if enduring immense pain in her dreams.

Lu Cheneng suddenly retracted his mithril arm, stumbling slightly, only to cling to the wall to avoid falling. The mercury lines on the mithril arm dimmed, and in several places, tiny, spider-web-like energy cracks appeared! He gasped for breath, his face pale as paper, his right eye bloodshot with fatigue. The burning pain from the chip in his brain, like a lingering ember, still throbbed.

"The signal... has been tracked!" Wen Shifei's voice was filled with a hint of exhaustion and disbelief. "The source... isn't the chaebol headquarters! It's... in the old city! Right near the 'rotten sewers' area! A temporary, high-powered signal amplification node! Someone is in that area... trying to forcibly awaken Qingyi's chip at close range!"

"Rotten sewer..." A terrifying cold light flashed from Lu Chen'en's only remaining right eye! Gray rat! Delivery point! Sample collection point! Now, the signal source for forcibly waking up the chip has appeared! All clues, like venomous snakes, point to that filthy, dark, and dangerous underground maze!

He straightened up, the knuckles of his mithril arm making a slight metallic scraping sound as he exerted force. The mercury sheen on the blade of the demon blade slowly returned to its original flow, revealing an even colder murderous intent.

"Shi Fei, get ready to go." His voice was low and hoarse, with unquestionable determination, "Go to the 'Rotten Sewers'. Find the source of the signal, find the 'Grey Rat', find those reagents! Qingyi can't wait, and neither can the Fortress!"

Wen Shifei looked at Lu Cheneng's mithril arm, covered in tiny energy cracks, then glanced at her own bandaged hands, her heart filled with worry. But she knew this was the only way. She nodded vigorously, "I'll go find Ajie! He's familiar with the Silent Zone, and... his injuries should be enough to sustain a short trip!"

The entrance to the "Rotten Sewer" at the junction of the Old Town and the Quiet District.

This place was even more suffocating than the ruins of the old city. A massive, rusted metal fence, long since twisted and deformed, barely concealed a dark, cavernous opening, several meters in diameter, resembling the gullet of a giant beast. A nauseatingly strong stench, like the very walls itself, a mixture of the sour smell of industrial wastewater, the rancid stench of fermenting garbage, and an indescribable, sweet, fishy odor like decaying corpses, gushed out continuously from the hole. Even soldiers accustomed to the oppressive atmosphere of the fortress felt their stomachs churn and instinctively held their breath.

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