Chapter 201 Core Competition
Su Wanqing's fingertips in the corner were slightly warm. The jade bracelet on her wrist produced blue ripples. She pressed the side button of the jade bracelet against her sleeve, and a very short current surged, and a smell of static electricity appeared in the air.
Just behind the isolation wall, the red dot of the surveillance camera flickered and the screen of the main control system fell silent for a few seconds.
Lu Zhao noticed that the external signal had faded, so he immediately bent down and got in front of the biometric access control system, and placed the prepared decoder close to the scanning module.
Four guards stood vigilantly around the alloy container, their eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.
The access control machine beeped three times briefly, and a line of garbled characters flashed on the screen.
Su Wanqing bit her lower lip, her knuckles turning white, "Is it still okay?"
"We have to force it open." Lu Zhao bent down and inserted the decoding terminal into the interface. Dense codes flashed and he didn't dare to breathe.
Two seconds later, a "click" sound was heard from the decoder, and the access lock loosened by half a finger's width. Then the internal battery started, and a line of thin gray words rolled across the panel - silent alarm.
At the same time, the guards' movements suddenly accelerated, and the four of them raised their weapons together to block the container.
"The alarm has been activated. The main control has received it but it will not ring yet." Lu Zhao hurriedly whispered, pulling Su Wanqing and Song You, and the three of them crouched and rushed into the narrow core area.
The air seemed to stagnate, and the four military soldiers immediately split into two groups: two of them pressed forward step by step, cutting off their way like a knife, and the remaining two guarded the side of the container.
The soldier said nothing, with a non-lethal stun gun in his hand pointed at the crowd.
Su Wanqing frowned and locked the jade bracelet in her palm, not letting it move an inch away.
She knew that once the other party pulled the trigger, she and Lu Zhao would not have much room to resist.
Lu Zhao raised his empty hands and said in a dry voice, "We are not enemies. We just want to take something. Once we leave, you will immediately restore the blockade. This thing should not belong to the military, and you may not know the inside story-"
Before he could finish his words, a soldier in the front row interrupted him coldly, "Any intruders will be subdued, and those who disobey orders will be dealt with immediately."
The two of them, one in front and one behind, blocked Lu Zhao's retreat. The silent alarm lights behind him were flashing, and the security protocol of the entire core area had begun to lock down.
Song You's breathing became heavier, and the toolbox almost fell to the ground. He looked back at Su Wanqing, who said nothing more, lowered her head and adjusted the output gear of the jade bracelet, setting the idle energy to the highest level.
Xiao Ran's voice suddenly came from the headset, "There is a smoke bomb in the North Corner passage, ready to be detonated as planned, you must hold out until I give the signal."
Lu Zhao raised two fingers to signal, and the three people took a step back. The red surveillance light on the wall went out immediately.
The next moment, a muffled "hiss" sound was heard outside the main control room, and a cloud of gray-white smoke suddenly poured into the gap.
The soldiers were startled and forced to adjust their formation, but they still did not move their guns.
Su Wanqing took advantage of the two guards' disordered breathing and rolled to the ground near the alloy container. Tiny electric lights appeared on the surface of the jade bracelet.
She took a deep breath, put her wrists together and rushed towards the soldier. An arc of blue lightning flashed and hit the soldier's mask on the left. With a low muffled sound, the man fell down like a puppet with broken strings.
Another soldier swung his gun and shot, just hitting Song You's shoulder. Su Wanqing took advantage of the chaos to switch to electric shock, and the second blue energy flow surged, shocking the soldier from behind, causing his whole body to spasm. He barely shook his knees and fell beside the metal guardrail.
However, the remaining two soldiers were obviously experienced and had activated their anti-interference equipment in advance. Red and green screens flashed on their waists, which meant that the current output by Su Wanqing's jade bracelet was immediately diverted to the ground as soon as it approached them, making it useless.
"Lu Zhao!" Su Wanqing turned around and yelled.
Lu Zhao had already cut out a new signal at the fastest speed, but the soldiers directly charged with their shields and forced him into a corner.
The two military members cooperated well, with their left arm shields protecting their waists and their right arm's electric baton sweeping across directly, their movements were clean and neat without hesitation.
Su Wanqing's right arm was covered with sweat, and the jade bracelet was already hot. She tried her best to rush again.
But as soon as he took a step, he was kicked to the ground by one of the soldiers and the electric baton made a low sound.
"It's meaningless for the military to start killing directly!" Lu Zhao grabbed the opponent's forearm with his fist, but after a brief struggle, he was quickly kicked against the wall.
The two soldiers pressed forward step by step, their weapons firmly locked on the vital points, ready to make another blow at any time.
The air under low pressure seemed to be pulled by a tight hemp rope, and the situation deteriorated completely.
"Hold on for a minute, I'll try to delay you." Xiao Ran's voice came intermittently from the headset.
Su Wanqing gritted her teeth and repeatedly calculated ways to escape, but the energy of the jade bracelet was almost depleted.
Suddenly, a familiar deep voice came from the door at the end: "You are blocking me."
——This was Lin Che’s voice, but it was colder than usual, and every word was filled with majesty.
There was a sound of footsteps stepping on the metal floor, very close. The next moment, his figure flashed like a shadow, and his golden eyes were particularly eye-catching in the dim light.
Without hesitation, he rushed towards a shield-bearing soldier, raised his hand to press down the opponent's wrist, and removed the electric baton with just one precise move, then used his left shoulder to hit the opponent's head on the guardrail.
Before the other party could react, Lin Che had already moved aside to avoid another electric baton and hit the soldier's jaw with his elbow.
Just as the remaining soldier was about to fight back, Lin Che cut in directly as if he had calculated it. The opponent's protective equipment was as useless as paper in his hands, and the whole person was pinned down.
None of the four military guards screamed in pain before they all fell to the ground.
Lin Che stood at the edge of the container, his movements were firm and sharp, his breath was steady.
His eyes fell on Su Wanqing, and it was obviously not his usual gentle demeanor, but only indifference.
Su Wanqing looked up and saw him approaching step by step. She finally realized that Lin Che had been dominated by the "night".
"How does it work?" she asked in a low voice.
Lin Che pulled off the signal mask on the container and pulled Su Wanqing to him.
He adjusted the jade bracelet without saying a word. "Align the jade bracelet with the container interface, and input the main frequency band within three seconds." He spoke directly with an imperative tone.
Su Wanqing did as she was told and used the sensor on the top of the jade bracelet to fit the core shell.
A series of symbols suddenly appeared on the surface of the jade bracelet, and the temperature suddenly rose.
Lin Che placed his fingers on the back of her hand to help her stabilize the angle.
The reserve core hatch slowly opened with a low pulse sound, and inside was an energy core with a style completely different from the first one.
The surface of the core was covered with silver-blue lines, which looked like circuits and flowing water.
Lin Che said calmly, “Don’t let go. If you do, the entire machine room will explode.”
Su Wanqing pressed against the back of his hand, gritted her teeth and slowly took out the core. During the brief contact, a dazzling blue light appeared at the bottom of the jade bracelet, and a violent pulse passed through the palm of his hand.
The moment the core was pulled out, the entire fortress's power system began to flicker and all the indicator lights jumped randomly.
The alarm outside suddenly sounded. Lu Zhao immediately grabbed the core's special lock box and put the core away.
He heard the main console shouting in his headset: "All alarms have been sounded, the main control is locked, the main channel is controlled by the military, and the team has begun to reinforce!"
Xiao Ran briefly interrupted: "All evacuation routes are blocked, and the backup channels are also blocked. You guys should find a way to retreat quickly."
Su Wanqing felt an unbearable burning sensation in her palms. She suppressed her emotions and stared at the door.
At the same time, there was a commotion in the medical area. Xiao Ling suddenly felt hot all over, the number on the thermometer shot up to 40 degrees, and sweat flowed from her forehead to the corner of her pillow.
Just as the medical staff was about to replace the ice pack, Xiao Ling suddenly uttered a series of numbers and coordinates, "2, 5, 17...F12...East Basement 513..." The numbers were rapid and vague. The nurse quickly took the pen and recorder, and tried to wake her up while taking notes.
Doctor Hu dialed the emergency number and said, "Xiao Ling's fever has reached 40 degrees and she started talking nonsense. I wrote down the contents of the report. It seems to be data, but we can't understand it."
Lu Zhao received the message through his headset, and numbers and coordinates flowed into his ears.
His face sank, and he immediately thought of the reaction between the jade bracelet and the energy core.
He shouted quickly, "We must retreat immediately. The core and Xiaoling are absolutely linked. Those numbers are not nonsense. They are likely to be codes or positioning information. I will have to check the data later."
Su Wanqing fastened the jade bracelet to the lowest level of comfort and endured the burning sensation. "Lu Zhao, prepare to retreat. Lin Che—" She turned her head and looked at Lin Che with eyes like inorganic metal. "How long can you hold on?"
Lin Che didn't even turn around, and said in a very cold voice, "Let's talk about it after we get out. I'll cover you."
Waves of alarms swept through the machine room, and hurried footsteps and intercom commands were heard in the passage outside.
Lu Zhao put the box on his shoulder and packed up the core. He pressed the headset, "Xiao Ran, all roads are blocked. We have to rely on temporary routes."
Xiao Ran was at the main control, tightly holding the backup power switch in his hand, "There may be a mechanical maintenance well on the north side of the medicine warehouse. Go around it, and I will connect remotely to find time for you."
Su Wanqing looked at Lin Che, "Ye," her tone hardened, "Let's go."
Lin Che poked his head out of the door, his eyes still golden. He quickly checked the unconscious soldier's condition, confirmed that there was no threat, and then rushed to the outer corridor, clearing a safe passage for Su Wanqing and the others.
Just as the three people walked out the door, heavy footsteps were heard outside the corridor.
Lu Zhao's headset rang with the nurse's urgent report: "Xiao Ling's fever is still persisting, and the numbers are coming out continuously, like some kind of coordinates."
Lu Zhao's face turned pale. "We must bring the core back to the main control immediately. We can't stop for even a second."
The three of them entered the side passage and headed north. In the distance, they could hear the sound of military reinforcements pouring in.
Lin Che's cold voice sank word by word, "The road ahead is blocked. We can only return along the pipeline."
Su Wanqing clenched the jade bracelet in one hand and did not look back. Everyone gathered their strength and rushed towards the dead light.
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