Chapter 40 The Shadow of the Plan
"We didn't find any obvious clues at the first base, so we're heading to the second location," Xiao Ran's voice came, "Are there any progress over there?"
Su Wanqing briefly reported their findings and mentioned that Lin Che was needed to crack the encrypted file.
"We'll be back as soon as possible," Lin Che said, "The second location looks abandoned, so it shouldn't take too long."
After the call, Su Wanqing and Lu Zhao continued to sort out the materials. Lu Zhao's mood became obviously depressed, and he stopped from time to time to rub his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lu Zhao shook his head: "I just remembered something. Elizabeth used to organize data in the same way. We were working together at that time."
Su Wanqing hesitated: "Would you like to talk about her?"
Lu Zhao took a deep breath. "She's a genius, much better than me. We entered the institute together and worked on early projects together. But then she started to change and became more focused on research, at all costs."
"Then what?"
"Then we had our disagreements. I thought some of the experiments were too dangerous, while she thought the risks were worth it for the sake of scientific progress."
Lu Zhao's voice was low. "Eventually, I left the project, and she continued her research."
Su Wanqing did not ask any further questions, as she could feel Lu Zhao's pain.
A few hours later, Xiao Ran and Lin Che returned to the safe house.
"We didn't find much useful stuff," Xiao Ran said, "but in the abandoned office at the second location, we found this."
He took out a small storage device and handed it to Lu Zhao.
Lu Zhao connected to the computer: "What's in here?"
"Not sure," Lin Che replied, "but there is a 'shadow' mark on the device."
Lu Zhao tried to open the file but ran into an encryption obstacle. "This requires a special key."
Lin Che stepped forward: “Let me try.”
He placed his hand on the device and closed his eyes. A drop of blue liquid oozed from his fingertips and flowed into the port of the device.
After a few seconds, the encryption lock on the screen was released and the files began to open automatically.
"It's amazing," Su Wanqing exclaimed, "How did you do it?"
Lin Che shook her head: "I don't really know. I just felt the pattern of the data flow and adjusted it."
Lu Zhao quickly browsed the contents of the file: "This is one of the core documents of the 'Biological Reset Plan'. It seems that the main purpose of the plan is to transform human genes through special viruses."
"What will it be transformed into?" Xiao Ran asked.
"According to this data," Lu Zhao continued to analyze, "they hope to create new humans that can adapt to extreme environments. The document mentions 'evolutionary leap' and 'genetic optimization'."
Lin Che frowned: "This sounds like it's going to reshape the entire human race."
Lu Zhao nodded: "Not only that. There is also a mention of 'weaponized application'. They may be developing some kind of biological weapon."
The room fell silent as everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
"My sister," Xiao Ran said suddenly, "she may have been involved in this plan."
Su Wanqing looked at him: "Why do you say that?"
"Because she has special genes," Xiao Ran explained, "she has shown extraordinary abilities since she was a child. Our family has kept this secret, but three years ago, someone came to us and said they wanted to help her 'develop her potential.'"
“And then she disappeared?” Lin Che asked.
Xiao Ran nodded: "Yes. I have been looking for her, but the clues are always intermittent. Now it seems that she is likely to be taken to participate in this 'biological reset plan'."
Lu Zhao continued to analyze the data: "Seven special samples are mentioned here, codenamed from S-1 to S-7. Each sample represents an elemental ability."
"Seven elements?" Su Wanqing asked, "Like what we discovered before?"
"That's right," Lu Zhao replied, "Water, fire, earth, metal, wood, light, and darkness. Seven basic elements. According to these data, they need to gather the energy of seven elemental ability users to activate a certain device."
Lin Che suddenly felt a headache. He held his forehead and sat down: "I seem to remember something."
Others immediately paid attention to him.
"I remember a laboratory," Lin Che said with difficulty, "There were many people wearing white coats, and they were discussing 'element fusion'. They said I was a carrier of the water element."
"S-2," Lu Zhao flipped through the documents, "There is indeed a water element carrier mentioned here, codenamed S-2."
Su Wanqing looked at Lin Che: "What about me? Which element am I?"
Lu Zhao looked up information: "Based on your ability description, you may be S-5, space element."
"Space?" Su Wanqing was puzzled. "It's not among the seven basic elements."
"In this project, they reclassified the elements," Lu Zhao explained. "Space is classified as a special form of the element 'light'."
Xiao Ran frowned: "What about my sister?"
Lu Zhao continued to search: "It is mentioned here that S-7 is the most special sample, which has the ability of 'fusion'. It can absorb and integrate the power of other elements."
Lin Che suddenly stood up: "I remember now! S-7 is the key, they call it the 'key'. Only by gathering the energy of the other six elements and using the fusion ability of S-7 can we open that passage."
"What channel?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lin Che shook his head: "I'm not sure. But they attach great importance to this channel and say it can bring a 'new world'."
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Lu Zhao's expression became more solemn: "Based on this data, I have a guess. They may be trying to open an inter-dimensional channel to connect to another world or dimension."
"Why do you want to do this?" Xiao Ran asked.
"Resources, technology, or..." Lu Zhao paused, "escape."
"Escape from what?" Su Wanqing asked.
Lu Zhao pointed to a paragraph on the screen: "It mentions 'depletion of earth's resources' and 'irreversible environmental collapse'. They may have foreseen some kind of global disaster and are looking for an escape route."
“But by releasing viruses and modifying human genes?” Lin Che questioned, “It sounds more like creating a disaster rather than avoiding it.”
Lu Zhao pondered for a moment: "Unless they think that only genetically modified humans can survive in the new environment."
The room fell silent again as everyone digested the information.
"We must stop them," Xiao Ran finally broke the silence, "No matter what their purpose is, this method is wrong."
Su Wanqing nodded in agreement: "And we must rescue Yang Ye and the others who are involved."
Lin Che looked at Lu Zhao: "How far do you think their plan has progressed?"
Lu Zhao analyzed the data: “According to these timestamps, they have collected energy samples from at least four types of elemental ability users.
They may be searching for the remaining three.”
"That includes Lin Che and me," Su Wanqing said, "and Xiao Yu."
Xiao Ran clenched his fists: "I won't let them succeed."
Lu Zhao closed the file: "According to these data, their main experimental base is located underground in the abandoned nuclear power plant in the north. There are the most complete equipment and personnel there."
“We should sneak in there,” Lin Che suggested, “to get more information and look for Xiao Yu at the same time.”
Su Wanqing thought for a while: "But we need more preparations. That place must be heavily guarded."
Lu Zhao nodded: "I can use my mechanical control ability to help us sneak in. But we need detailed terrain maps and defense system information."
"I can contact some old comrades," Xiao Ran said, "and see if I can get some military intelligence."
Lin Che stood up: "I can also try to sense the surrounding environment through water-related abilities, which will be helpful for infiltration."
Su Wanqing looked at everyone: "That's settled. Let's collect more intelligence first, then make a detailed plan and sneak into the nuclear power plant."
Lu Zhao began to organize the equipment: "We need to complete the preparations within two days. Based on these data, they plan to conduct the final experiment on the night of the full moon."
Xiao Ran checked the weapon's loading status. "We must be prepared for the worst."
Su Wanqing comforted him: "We will take care of each other. No matter what happens, we will face it together."
Lin Che nodded in agreement: "That's right. We have come this far and cannot back down."
Lu Zhao looked at the data stream on the computer screen with an extremely serious expression: "I just hope we can stop this in time. Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous."
(End of this chapter)
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