Chapter 270 Battle
The footsteps suddenly faded away. Xiao Ran breathed a sigh of relief and left a mark on the wall with the tip of the knife: "Let's go."
The door to the processing center is dark gray metal with an iris scanner embedded in it.
Su Wanqing pressed the headset: "Lu Zhao, authority."
"It's being unlocked." Lu Zhao's voice was a little muffled. "There's an extra layer of protection. Like a biological lock."
The three of them stared at the door lock. Ten seconds later, there was a click from the lock cylinder.
Xiao Ran pushed open the door, and the smell of disinfectant mixed with rust rushed out.
The central pool was shimmering with blue light, and the surface looked like it was covered with broken glass. Standing by the pool was a middle-aged man in a white coat. The blue line on the back of his neck was three times thicker than that of a worker, and his eyes were bright enough to reflect a person's shadow - it was Engineer Zhang, the chief engineer of the water plant.
Lin Che took two steps forward and retracted her hand as soon as it touched the water: “There’s something in there.”
He stared at the silver device beside the pool, "Pour genetic fluid into the water. It can transform a person into a host."
Zhang Gong suddenly turned around, his movements like an old movie on cassette. He stared at Su Wanqing, then glanced at Lin Che: "Five core members, we have been waiting for a long time."
His voice was muffled, as if he had a piece of iron in his mouth. "In 36 hours, the city will become a perfect breeding ground."
He pointed at Lin Che and said, "You are especially suitable. You already have something of ours in your body."
Lin Che took a half step back, blue lines crawling from the back of his hand to his neck: "I'm not."
"No?" Zhang Gong smiled, his mouth wide open, "When you touched the water just now, the gene fluid was calling your name."
He raised his hand, and the blue light in the pool suddenly surged. "Now, it's shouting even louder."
Lin Che covered his chest, and the blue veins began to heat up. He gritted his teeth, sweat oozing from his forehead: "I won't."
A low moan escaped from Lin Che's throat, and blue lines crawled up his neck to the tips of his ears.
Zhang Gong's laughter mixed with the vibration of the pool water, like rusty iron scraping against glass: "The genetic fluid is swirling in your veins, can't you hear it?"
He tapped his knuckles against the silver device beside the pool. "It says that Mr. Lin's blood is ten times purer than the sample we cultivated."
"Bullshit." Xiao Ran pulled out the electric shock gloves, and blue light exploded in his palms.
He took two steps forward, with the tip of his glove only half an inch away from the back of Zhang Gong's neck - Zhang Gong suddenly turned his head, a flash of light like a data stream flashed in his black pupils, he easily dodged the attack, and pressed the red button on the wall with his backhand.
The alarm blew and the lights in the entire water plant turned into a glaring red.
There were dense footsteps in the corridor. Through the glass wall, one could see workers in work clothes running towards the processing center, with the blue line on the back of their necks shining as if they were electrified.
Su Wanqing took out the hydraulic device and put it on her waist: "Xiao Ran, block the door; Lin Che, the water tank; I'll deal with Engineer Zhang."
She glanced at the clock on the wall, "Lu Zhao, lock the door."
"The door control system has been manually overridden." Lu Zhao's voice came out of the headset, "It will take at most three minutes."
Xiao Ran bit the tactical knife in his mouth and picked up the metal bracket next to him and pressed it against the door.
When the first worker rushed in, he swept him with the electric shock glove with his backhand. The man shook and fell down. The blue line on the back of his neck dimmed for a moment and then lit up again.
Su Wanqing took a feint to the left, and Zhang Gong's fist brushed her ear and hit the wall.
She took advantage of the momentum to roll to the side of the pool, picked up a wrench and smashed it at the pipe joint - high-pressure water gushed out and knocked Zhang Gong into the silver device.
"It's useless." Zhang Gong wiped the water off his face, and a blue line crawled down his chin to the corner of his mouth. "Our cells regenerate every 0.3 seconds."
He staggered towards the device, a faint blue light flashing on his fingertips, "Wait for me to activate the fourth stage."
"Lin Che!" Su Wanqing shouted.
Lin Che was holding onto the railing beside the pool, blue lines already creeping up on his eyelids.
He gritted his teeth and plunged his entire hand into the pool water. Suddenly, white waves appeared in the pool and the blue water began to turn turbid.
The sweat on his forehead splashed into the water, splashing tiny drops of blood: "Hold on. Hold on a little longer."
“How touching.”
The female voice was like a steel wire soaked in honey, piercing through the alarm and into the eardrum. The woman in a white dress crawled out of the ventilation duct, her black pupils glowing with a cold light like moonlight.
She opened her mouth and the singing voice came over with ripples of sound waves - Xiao Ran was half a beat slow and the stand in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.
"Mind control!" Xiao Ran yelled, but it was too late.
Su Wanqing felt like someone was hitting her temple with a hammer. She raised her hand to touch her earplugs, but her arm felt heavy as if it were filled with lead.
The woman tilted her head to look at them. "I'm Melody, sent by the Time Observer."
Her voice rang directly in my head, "You almost ruined the good thing - especially you."
She looked at Lin Che, "The half-human, half-weaver specimen is much more interesting than the ones we raise in the lab."
Su Wanqing found the noise-isolating earplugs in the pocket of her tactical uniform, and only put them into her ears after her fingernails pinched her palms until they hurt.
Her mind suddenly became clearer, and she pulled on her headphones and shouted, "Lu Zhao! Xiao Ling!"
"We are outside the door." Lu Zhao's voice was breathless, "The jammer is ready."
Two shadows flashed past the glass wall. Lu Zhao was carrying a square box, and Xiao Ling was holding a knife.
Su Wanqing saw Xiaoling cut her fingertips and blood dripped onto the interface of the jammer - silver light poured out of the machine, and like a living thing, it was wrapped in the melodious singing.
Melody's black pupils shrank into needle points: "Impossible" She took two steps back and covered her ears with her hands, "This is..."
"Xiao Ran!" Su Wanqing rushed towards Zhang Gong. The man was inputting commands into the device, and the blue line on the back of his neck was as thick as a snake.
She picked up the wrench and hit his wrist. The sound of metal collision mixed with the sound of bones breaking, and Mr. Zhang fell down with a scream.
The pool suddenly made a gurgling sound. Lin Che let go of her hand, and the blue water turned clear.
He stumbled back, his whole body flayed, blue scales crawling from collarbone to fingertips.
"It's over," he said, his voice hoarse as sandpaper. "Neutralized."
Before he could finish his words, he fell straight to the ground.
Xiao Ran squatted down to help him, but his hand stopped in mid-air. The melody was as weak as a mosquito, and Lu Zhao's jammer was still buzzing.
Xiao Ling ran over, and the silver liquid flowed down Lin Che's wrist into the wound, and the luster of the blue scales gradually dimmed.
"Thank you." Xiao Ran said suddenly.
Xiao Ling looked up: "Thank you for what?"
"When you were protecting Lin Che." Xiao Ran touched the back of his neck. "I..." He looked down at his hands. The scorch marks on the electric shock gloves had not disappeared. "You are not on the mission."
His voice was so light that it sounded like a sigh. "It's family."
Su Wanqing bent down and picked up the work badge that Engineer Zhang had dropped on the ground. On the back of the metal badge was engraved a line of small characters: "No. 07, Guide".
She looked up at the clock on the wall - it was two fifty, seventeen seconds later than the three minutes Lu Zhao had said.
The footsteps in the corridor were getting closer. Xiao Ran carried Lin Che on his back and asked, "Retreat?"
Su Wanqing nodded. She took one last look at the silver device, and the progress bar on the screen stopped at 92%.
The words spoken before the melody faded suddenly rang in my ears: "The seeds have been sown."
She clenched her work badge tightly, and the metal edge hurt her palm.
Zhang Gong's ID card hurt Su Wanqing's palm. She stuffed the ID card into the inner pocket of her tactical uniform and turned to look at Xiao Ran.
Xiao Ran carried Lin Che on his back, blue lines crawled from the back of Lin Che's neck into his collar, and scales flashed faintly at the collar.
Lu Zhao touched Lin Che's forehead and retracted his finger: "The body temperature is 39.7 degrees. The mutation has accelerated."
He shook the portable EEG device, "But the EEG shows that human consciousness is still 90%."
"Let's go." Su Wanqing pressed the headphones, "Lu Zhao, keep an eye on the surveillance camera; Xiao Ling, pay attention to both sides."
The sky outside the water plant was just turning blue, and the streets at four in the morning seemed to be muted.
They moved towards the parking spot along the wall, and Xiao Ran's back was rubbed painfully by Lin Che's scales.
After turning the third intersection, we arrived at the parking spot - all four tires of the SUV were cut, and the rubber was hanging down like a skinned frog.
Su Wanqing squatted down and touched the cut on the tire. The cut was neat, with burn marks on the edge: "Laser knife."
She pulled up the map and pointed at the South District. "Exit B of the abandoned subway station. Go back to the fortress through the underground passage."
She looked up. "Take a two-kilometer detour, but avoid the military checkpoints."
Xiao Ran adjusted Lin Che’s position: “I can carry you on my back.”
Lin Che suddenly made a vague sound, like chewing stones. Xiao Ling leaned in to listen: "Like... 'Don't Believe in the Contract'?
'The anchor will break'?" She pursed her lips. "Last time in the lab, Lu Zhao said that the Weaver communicates using sound waves, which is similar to this tune."
Su Wanqing didn't respond. She stared at the street lamp on the corner. A new notice was posted on the lamppost: "All citizens should go to the Municipal Square to register for evacuation."
As I was walking through the residential area, I heard the sound of something being thrown in the corridor. A window on the second floor was thrown open, and a woman in pajamas stuck her head out and shouted, "Give me back my son!"
There was a military vehicle parked downstairs, with a crying boy huddled in the back compartment, and the soldiers were locking it.
The woman wanted to jump down, but was held back by her neighbor, and she sat on the ground and pounded the ground.
There was a long queue in the square, with hundreds of people crowded in the iron fence. A soldier held a scanner and scanned the wrist of a middle-aged man - the red light came on.
Just as the man was about to explain, he was lifted up by two soldiers and pushed aside.
There was an open space over there cordoned off by police tape, with a dozen or so people with blue faces sitting there. One of them was an old man who was chewing on the back of his hand, with blood dripping onto the concrete floor.
"They are screening people." Su Wanqing handed the telescope to Xiao Ran, "Red light. Enter the observation area."
There were screams from the team. A little girl in a floral dress tugged at her mother's clothes: "Mom, I'm cold."
The mother touched her forehead and suddenly started shaking. The scanner hit the girl's wrist and the red light flashed.
The soldier pulled the girl's arm, and the mother rushed over and bit the soldier's hand. The soldier gave her a backhanded shot with the butt of his rifle, and the woman fell down. The girl was dragged into the observation area, and her cries were like a thin steel wire, piercing people's ears.
Xiao Ran stuffed the telescope back into Su Wanqing's hands, his Adam's apple moved: "Let's go."
They walked around the perimeter of the square. A crowd of people rushed towards them, dragging boxes and bags, running out of breath.
Xiao Ran grabbed the white-bearded old man and asked, "What's wrong?"
The old man adjusted his reading glasses, the lenses were covered with dust: "North District. Over at the North District Water Plant, someone has turned into a monster!"
He grabbed Xiao Ran's sleeve, "He has black stripes all over his body and bites everyone he sees! The army sealed off the North District, and we ran away."
Su Wanqing patted the old man on the shoulder and said, "Go south. There is a temporary resettlement site after you cross the railway bridge."
The old man nodded and ran away with the crowd. Xiao Ran quickened his pace, and Lin Che's scales rubbed against his neck, causing pain.
Most of the street lights in the commercial street were broken and the window glass was shattered all over the floor.
Xiao Ran kicked a deformed Coke can, and the "clang" sound bounced around in the empty alley.
Lin Che suddenly twitched, and her blue eyes snapped open: "There's something nearby."
Before he could finish his words, three dark shadows crawled out from the ruins of the convenience store. Their skin was cracked with black lines, their nails were like hooks, and their mouths made sounds similar to those of scraping iron sheets.
Xiao Ran handed Lin Che to Lu Zhao and took out his electric shock gloves. The infected person in front rushed over, and Xiao Ran backhanded it to the back of the neck, and a blue light exploded.
The infected person trembled, and the black lines became brighter. He opened his mouth and bit Xiao Ran's wrist.
"Take a detour!" Su Wanqing pulled Lu Zhao into the alley, while Xiao Ling followed behind and cut the infected person's wrist with a knife.
Black blood spattered on the wall, hissing and emitting green smoke. They turned three corners and ran into three soldiers head-on.
The leader raised his gun and said, "Stop!"
Lu Zhao dragged Lin Che into the abandoned restaurant, where the kitchen was filled with moldy cardboard boxes.
The footsteps of the soldiers were getting closer. Lu Zhao used a tactical knife to pry open the floor. There was a drainage channel underneath. The smell of mold and rust rose up: "Jump!"
It was so dark in the sewer that you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Xiaoling took out a fluorescent stick and put it around her waist.
Lin Che was carried by Xiao Ran, and suddenly his voice became hoarse: "Turn left. Turn right in three steps."
Xiao Ran turned as he was told and found an iron ladder. He climbed up and found a dusty subway platform with the words "Yongming Road Station" faded on the sign.
Lu Zhao placed Lin Che on the bench and took out the medical kit. He pricked Lin Che's fingertip to draw blood, and the detector beeped: "DNA recombination rate 43%, but not a pure weaver trait."
He looked up. "Like a hybrid."
Xiao Ling stared at her wrist, where the silver liquid was crawling along her blood vessels. "It has the same pattern as the silver liquid in my body, but the color is different."
Lin Che suddenly grabbed Su Wanqing's hand, pinching her with his nails so hard that it hurt.
His blue eyes sparkled: "The Weaver and the Observer signed an agreement."
He started coughing and said, "The water is the trigger. From now on, time will be messed up." Before he could finish his words, he fainted again.
The jade bracelet on Su Wanqing's wrist suddenly became hot. She lifted her sleeves, and red lines appeared on her jade face: "System alert."
She looked at Lu Zhao, "Energy fluctuations?"
Lu Zhao called up the terminal and his face darkened: "The number of abnormal points in the whole city has increased sharply, and the charging speed of the underground energy source has doubled."
He closed the terminal. "Got to go."
Xiao Ling squatted down and touched Lin Che's forehead. Silver liquid oozed out from her fingertips and penetrated into Lin Che's skin.
Lin Che's frown slowly relaxed, and the scales stopped flickering. Lu Zhao's detector rang again: "The activity of the mutation factor has decreased by 27%."
Xiao Ling stared at her hands, the silver liquid was returning to her blood vessels: "I thought I was an experimental subject before."
She whispered, "Now I think it might be the antidote."
Su Wanqing squatted down and looked at Xiaoling at eye level: "It's not a coincidence that the system chose us."
She patted the back of Xiaoling's hand and said, "You are very important."
Lu Zhao carried Lin Che on his back: “It’s a two-hour journey from the subway station to the fortress.”
He glanced at his watch, "Five seventeen, must be there before seven."
Su Wanqing checked her weapon and turned the tactical knife in a circle in her palm: "Let's go."
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