Chapter 673 The Lighthouse (Part 1)

Hearing the roar of a car behind it, the mutant turned around abruptly and pounced, howling.

Hearing the howls rising and falling in the darkness, Tao Haohao slammed on the brakes. "Damn! How come there are so many mutants!"

With the help of the peregrine falcon, Duan Xi pointed southeast, "Go that way!"

The car made a U-turn at high speed.

Tao Haohao was already covered in sweat, trying his best to stay focused and determine his direction.

When he saw the familiar phoenix appear in his sight, he was moved to tears. "It's Yun Zhao!"

Everyone in Team Zero rushed towards the car window.

In the churning darkness in the distance, a magnificent phoenix spirit spreads its wings, its gentle spiritual power piercing through the suffocating darkness like a lighthouse.

Qingluan saw a peregrine falcon emanating black mist.

The little creature was severely corrupted; the color of its pupils had changed. However, Duan Xi seemed to have used an inhibitor, as it remained rational and flew rapidly toward the Azure Phoenix.

A radiant wisp of spiritual energy instantly enveloped it.

The peregrine falcon immediately felt refreshed and happily greeted the great bluebird.

A large number of mutants were gathered ahead, and the two convoys finally met halfway on their detour to the back mountain.

There are still many monsters nearby, so parking is not possible.

"Keep up!"

Song Liang's voice was hoarse with excitement as he grabbed the car communicator. "Captain! Yun Zhao! Can you hear me?"

A burst of shrill static came through the communicator, followed by Yun Zhao's clear and urgent voice: "Song Liang? How are you?"

They have entered the Dawn Base area.

Short-range communication is unaffected.

Song Liang paused for a moment: "We're fine, it's just that Qi Ling..."

"What's wrong with him?" Yun Zhao's heart clenched.

She was terrified of hearing news of Qi Ling's accident.

On one hand, there is the source of the disaster, and on the other hand, there are the teammates with whom one spends every day.

Song Liang quickly replied, "It's alright for now. After the dark matter started acting up, Qi Ling was also affected, so we went to contaminated zone 320..."

He briefly recounted their ordeal.

As time went on, the dark matter within the contaminated area was also affected by the outside world and began to become unstable.

Han Dadao was convinced that someone had found the source, and he rarely showed a smile.

He turned to the crowd and said, "You should leave. The world will be saved soon. If you stay here and wait for the contaminated area to collapse, he still won't survive."

But by then it was already dark outside, and if Qi Ling went outside, he would still be doomed.

Han Dadao originally didn't intend to make a move, but the others refused to give up. In the end, he sealed Qi Ling inside an ice coffin.

“Professor Qi gave Qi Ling several inhibitors that he could use, and Han Dadao had us inject them all into Qi Ling’s body. He’s not responding to anything outside now, he’s like he’s asleep,” Song Liang said.

Upon hearing this, Yun Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of weight lifted from his shoulders.

Xie Tu's voice cut in, concise and to the point: "We'll talk about it when we get back. Just stick close to us!"

"Yes, Captain!"

There are quite a few mutant species around, so it's not advisable to stay here.

Zero Team's armored vehicles mingled with the convoy and headed together to the back mountain of the base.

With Yun Zhao protecting them, the spiritual threads continuously purified the dark matter within the bodies of everyone in the vehicle, allowing the dazed Wang Jiayu to regain some strength and pick up a weapon to help clear the way.

The closer you are to the base, the more monsters you'll encounter.

The group discovered that Dawn Base was already surrounded by mutants, but no one wanted to fight. They cleared the road and sped away in the dark.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, the communicator started vibrating continuously, and finally received a signal from the base.

Xie Tu immediately dialed the command center.

The base was shrouded in a suffocating atmosphere.

The communications from the front lines were fragmented, interspersed with explosions, the roars of mutants, and the soldiers' last cries.

On the main screen of the command center, the dots representing the outer defense line were going out at an alarming rate.

Minister Duan personally visited the research institute.

He didn't say a word after he returned.

All researchers were helpless against dark matter. They tried all known suppression methods, and even resorted to extreme measures that had not yet been verified for safety, but to no avail.

"The activity index exceeds the measurement limit..."

"It's very unstable right now, unmonitorable, and moving too fast..."

"Conventional theories... have completely failed..."

The broken words echoed repeatedly in her mind like a death knell.

The protective suit still carried the distinctive smell of disinfectant from the laboratory, but now it was mixed with something deeper.

—That's the smell of ashes after hope has burned out.

Just as the air in the command center was about to freeze completely, the communications station suddenly lit up with that almost forgotten encrypted signal.

Xie Tu's voice cut through all the noise and came through clearly:

"It's me, Xie Tu."

The moment he gave his name, there was a distinct moment of silence on the other end of the communication line, followed by a suppressed commotion, as if someone had snatched the communicator.

"Xie Tu! Where are you now?"

It's Minister Duan.

"We are approaching the entrance to the emergency access road on the back mountain."

Xie Tu spoke very quickly. He glanced at Yun Zhao, nodded after seeing him, and said, "The source has been destroyed, and the dark matter is out of control. Yun Zhao has a way to solve it, but he needs the cooperation of the guides in the base..."

Jiang Mu, who was standing on the roof of the car clearing the way, heard the conversation and asked Fu Mu, "She didn't seem to have said anything about a solution?"

When they heard that she had a solution, no one asked any questions. They just focused on getting to the Dawn Base as quickly as possible.

Yun Zhao slept and rested the whole way, and they didn't want to disturb him. As a result, even though they were almost at their destination, the group still didn't know what Yun Zhao's method was.

But Xie Tu seems to know this.

Fu Mo said coldly, "You're asking me? Who should I ask?" Clearly, she didn't know either.

The driver's side window opened, and Xia Mingang leaned out. "You two, don't slack off! This is all mountain roads. If I drive off a cliff and we don't drive carefully, who will be responsible?"

Jiang Mu shrugged and continued to kill the mutants blocking his way.

The conversation inside the car mingled with the roars of monsters outside.

Upon learning that Yun Zhao had a solution, Minister Duan's tense nerves suddenly trembled, as if a drowning person had grabbed onto the last piece of driftwood.

She didn't even have time to ask further questions, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Hang up the phone.

Minister Duan ordered: "Attention all units! S-level guide Yun Zhao has found a solution. We are now activating the highest emergency response. All guides within the base—regardless of level or status—must immediately assemble at the central square! Repeat, all guides assemble immediately!"

The order was broadcast to every corner of the base, even drowning out the deafening artillery fire from the front lines.

Inside the air-raid shelter, Song Qing, who was using her mental energy to soothe the baby in her arms, raised her head.

Her husband had gone to the front lines, and because she was breastfeeding, and babies are extremely vulnerable to the dark matter, she was left behind in the air-raid shelter to take care of a group of children.

After confirming that the children were alright for the time being, Song Qing silently stood up, handed the children over to her parents, and prepared to go out to the assembly point.

Indoor evacuation.

The guides still on duty suddenly stood up straight. They made urgent arrangements to move all the inhibitors and guide essences from the warehouse and hand them over to the sentries on guard to hold them off temporarily.

Even Chief Shen and Minister Bai, upon hearing the news, set off to gather at the Central Square.

Although they didn't know exactly what to do, the words "Yun Zhao" and "solution" were enough to ignite the long-dormant light in their eyes.