Chapter 149 Rebooter Base - 6 *** ……

***

On Spike Island, Lu Yi, facing the sea breeze, pulled the charred signal beacon out of the sand.

“It’s a signal repeater,” Bren said in a deep voice. “The Rebooter isn’t here.”

This is the signal transmission location that Fang Yue located using the satellite data she collected. The Restarter sends the signal here and then uses this repeater to connect to the satellite to control the underwater laser cannon.

“…Although it’s not here, it won’t be too far.” Lu Yi handed the charred signal beacon in his hand to Sirius beside him and looked at the dark sea in the distance: “Ultra-long-range signal transmission requires satellites, and the receiving range of this kind of repeater is limited.”

Sirius took the signal beacon and examined it. It was burned to such an extent that it was virtually impossible to extract any useful information, but he still planned to take it back to the lab to try it out.

"So what we can confirm now is that the Rebooter base is in the Pacific Ocean?" Sirius asked. They were currently in the southeastern waters of Australia. If they hadn't already known that the Rebooter base was a wandering island, they would have searched Australia based on the location of this beacon.

However, Australia had sent an advance team to build a base three weeks earlier. The commander leading the team had already searched the island and found only traces of mutated poisonous people, but no humans.

“Yes, at sea.” Lu Yi took off his military cap with a sense of irritation, the sea breeze blowing through his golden curls: “It’s such a big island, they can’t be moving very fast. Let’s use drones for a thorough search.”

The Rebooter base can hide in the ocean like a chameleon, so Lu Yi had no choice but to use this clumsy method to find it.

Sirius thought for a moment and said, "Where there is a physical object, there will be collisions. I will input a set of water wave observation codes into the drone. If any water ripples that do not conform to physics are found, they should be reported to us immediately."

Lu nodded: "Mm."

***

Tang Bufan had previously concealed the fact that he had also been cloned by Zero because he didn't want Anderson to worry too much. But now, he felt it was necessary to give Anderson a heads-up.

“If I come back one day and you find something wrong with me… then the person in front of you… might not be the real me,” Tang Bufan whispered to Anderson.

Anderson sat up from the cardboard boxes scattered on the floor. He stared blankly at Tang Bufan for a long time before touching his mouth and asking, "When is the surgery?"

"The clone will mature in about a week. If it's fast, it'll be in a week; if it's slow... it might take a month." Tang Bufan was uncertain: "We need to do a rejection test first to see how well my brain matches that clone."

If the compatibility is good, he will have a new body; if the compatibility is poor, he will become a robot with only a brain.

Anderson sat on the ground with his fingers interlaced. He looked down and saw the heavy electronic ankle bracelets firmly fastened to his legs.

He suddenly picked up the metal lunchbox from the ground and smashed it hard against the observation window.

The glass became transparent, and the soldier in charge of monitoring them said helplessly, "What's the point of you getting angry with me here?"

Tang Bufan left early and returned late every day, so Anderson and this soldier spent most of their time alone together, and the two had become quite familiar with each other.

"Bring Zero over here," Anderson commanded the soldier in a chilling tone.

"Don't shout." Tang Bufan spoke up to stop him, calmly getting up from the bunk bed, picking up the metal lunchbox from the ground, and saying to the soldier through the glass, "Please keep an eye on him and don't let him disturb Zero."

After he finished speaking, he closed the lid of his lunchbox and prepared to go out to do his afternoon work.

"You're fucking siding with him!" Anderson really wanted to drag Tang Bufan back and beat him up.

Tang Bufan closed the iron door of the cell and ignored it.

Going crazy won't help some things. As someone who underwent surgery, Tang Bufan felt more depressed than anyone else. He understood what it was like to be a terminally ill patient or a death row inmate, but he had to force himself to calm down.

Anderson's movements were restricted, but at least he was free.

Tang Bufan, holding the metal lunchbox, silently walked into the elevator.

He went to see the poisonous child again, and the female researcher surnamed He was already used to his visits.

"Aren't you going to study with Lin Xia this afternoon?" the female researcher asked. Lin Xia was the name of Mian Tuo.

He probably never imagined that his name, which he had deliberately concealed, would be revealed by his colleague.

"He thinks I'm stupid." Tang Bufan told her the truth: "I can't understand many of the equations at all."

“…Then play with the children.” The female researcher wasn’t harsh on Tang Bufan; she lowered her head and went about her work.

Occasionally, Tang Bufan would wonder whether he was a human being or a "research object" in the eyes of these researchers.

Tang Bufan wanted to take the children to the ground. Rather than saying the children liked going, it was more accurate to say he liked going himself. This island was completely enclosed and there was no wind, but at least the scenery was expansive, and they could see huge spaceships in the distance, as well as lush vegetation.

But with the next poison human assessment fast approaching, many children chose to stay in the research lab to study. They didn't want to be eliminated. The outside world was cruel, and once they were sent off the island, they would have to rely on themselves to survive and participate in the war against the orcs.

Tang Bufan then led a few of the children who didn't want to study to the ground. He sat down on the steps he usually sat on. The children were lively and couldn't sit still, so they quickly scattered in the fields in front of him. Only r5166, who always liked to stick close to Tang Bufan, stayed by his side.

He was particularly fond of Tang Bufan, resting his small head on Tang Bufan's lap, and then taking Tang Bufan's hand to cover his own head, letting him stroke it.

He reminded Tang Bufan of Lu Yi, who also liked to cling to him, so he would always gently stroke his head.

As Tang Bufan touched r5166, tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Mother, I don't want to leave here." He sobbed as he wiped his tears with Tang Bufan's leg.

Tang Bufan still isn't used to the title "mother," but he can't explain to these innocent poison-infected children that he doesn't want to turn back into a human or travel back in time to save the world, so he can only bitterly accept it.

"I can't make the decision," Tang Bufan said to r5166. "These are the rules set by the Doctor."

"father?"

"Um."

“I don’t like him.” r5166 whispered to Tang Bufan, “He rarely comes to see us, and even when he does, he doesn’t play with us. The children he took away haven’t come back… Teacher He said they were taken away by their father and raised by him, but I don’t think so…”

Tang Bufan was somewhat surprised, not expecting r5166 to be so sensitive. He guessed that the so-called personal care must be that the children were locked up in observation rooms because of certain special characteristics, which were the same cells on the same floor as him and Anderson.

Tang Bufan could hear the cries of those poisonous people from time to time, which sounded like pain and whispers.

“You’re right, don’t let the doctor take you away.” After saying that, Tang Bufan looked down at the little poison man who was resting on his lap, his eyes slightly darkening. He lowered his head and put his lips to the little boy’s ear: “After you get out, if you’re scared, or if you miss me… you can go to Louis Smith. He is the head of the Western Federation and also my partner.”

His voice was very low, only r5166 could hear it. The little poisonous boy with tears in his eyes turned his head and looked at Tang Bufan with innocent eyes: "But isn't he a beastman?"

Their genes were modified by Zero, making them inherently averse to orcs. Even though Tang Bufanya's orc characteristics were not very obvious, and he basically looked like a human, these poison-human children still thought he smelled strange.

“He is,” Tang Bufan gently stroked r5166’s head, “but he is a better person than me.”

Better than Mother... r5166 looked up at the gentle and beautiful Tang Bufan and couldn't imagine that there could be someone better than him in this world.

The outside world is dirty and dark, but if that orc is Mother's husband, perhaps... perhaps...

"5166! Your watermelons look ripe!" A poisonous child shouted from not far away.

r5166 jumped up from Tang Bufan's lap, her eyes lighting up: "Coming!"

He instantly forgot his sadness and melancholy and ran off happily.

"..." Tang Bufan watched him run away helplessly and sighed softly.

Tang Bufan had no idea whether the child could actually deliver a message to Lu Yi. He sat on the steps and thought for a while before deciding to go back to the research institute.

Uncle Chen, who was cleaning, said he was going to mop the stairwell today, and maybe he could take the opportunity to go deeper into the research institute.

Tang Bufan turned around and saw a little girl dressed in a white dress, a poisoner, standing there smiling at him.

Her skin was green, her hair was like seaweed, half of her body was in shadow, and her expression was hard to see clearly, except for her naturally blood-red eyes, which were particularly noticeable.

More importantly, her eyes were no longer as innocent as usual.

Tang Bufan was startled by her and stood frozen in place.

“I know why you’re so nice to r5166,” the little girl said to Tang Bufan, her voice soft and husky. “But he’s an idiot.”

Tang Bufan steadied himself and asked her, "And what about you?"

“Me?” r5165 emerged lightly from the shadows, walked up to Tang Bufan, and squinted as she looked up. “I know a lot of things. I know your ‘mother’ is just a code name, and my real mother was locked in a research lab. She conceived me through asexual reproduction. Father thought we were different individuals, but actually…”

r5165 pointed to his head: "We share thoughts."

Tang Bufan's heart raced. He stared intently at the little girl, who looked about seven or eight years old, and asked, "What do you want me to do?"

The information sharing between the mother and the offspring indicates that this is undoubtedly a very special mutant poison human, which neither the female researcher nor Zero has discovered yet. Tang Bufan doesn't think that this little poison human girl would tell him such an important thing for no reason.

“I know you want to leave here, and so do I.” r5165 moved closer to Tang Bufan, suddenly grabbing his hand. Her hand was icy cold and firm, like the surface of a plant. “But my mother is still locked up in the lab, and… that infrasound gene… the death gene embedded in our poisonous bodies… you have to help us delete that sound frequency band, that folder!”

Tang Bufan felt a sharp pain in his hand from her grip, while the little girl gradually calmed down.

“I will ‘underperform’ in the next assessment and leave here,” she said to Tang Bufan. “I will help you bring the orcs here, as long as you promise to help me release the Mother and delete the sonic file that can destroy us.”

"..." Tang Bufan swallowed hard, and after a long while, he nodded slightly: "I promise."

The little girl released his hand with satisfaction, tilted her head back, and gave Tang Bufan a pure and innocent smile: "Thank you, Mother~"

She walked away briskly. Not far away, r5166 was carrying a large watermelon and walking towards them like it was a treasure. Tang Bufan raised his hand and saw that there were clear red five-claw marks left on it.

Tang Bufan turned to look at the fields again, and he wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the poisonous children who were glancing at him from time to time had strange looks in their eyes.

Even though there was no wind around, he felt a chill.

He suddenly remembered what the female researcher had told him: the children were getting smarter and smarter, and the experiment was progressing.

No. Tang Bufan thought to himself, it was the poisoners who were rapidly multiplying.