Chapter 275 Fortress Crisis
The fluorescent lights in the laboratory flickered at 3:30 in the morning. Lu Zhao rubbed his sore neck and put the eyepiece back on the microscope.
Lin Che's blood sample on the glass slide glowed a faint blue. The granular substances were dividing along the edge of the red blood cells, like a group of worker ants pressed the fast-forward button, but they always avoided the central cell nucleus.
He circled something in his notebook and wrote the words "avoid brain structure".
"Brother Lu, is this data correct?" Xiao Ling looked up from another microscope. Her blood sample appeared as tiny silver stars under the lens. "The silver solution concentration is 3.2%, no change from yesterday."
"Come here." Lu Zhao pushed his microscope over. "Look at this."
Xiaoling leaned over and saw blue particles wrapping around the red blood cell membranes and reorganizing. Suddenly, silver stars floated over from the edge of the glass slide, and the blue particles curled up as if they were burned by fire.
Lu Zhao turned the fine-tuning knob: "Just two drops of your blood."
Xiaoling's breathing paused: "Are they hiding?"
"It's not hiding, it's being decomposed." Lu Zhao called up the comparison picture, "The protein chain of the blue particles is breaking, and the nanostructure in the silver liquid..." Before he finished speaking, a violent cough came from the direction of the medical cabin.
Lin Che half-supported herself to sit up, her hospital gown soaked with blue fluid, her knuckles white from pinching.
When Xiao Ling rushed over, his pupils were glowing blue: "Something is calling me from underground."
His voice was like sandpaper on metal. "Beacon. Activated."
Xiao Ling grabbed his hand, and the silver liquid on her wrist crawled out along her skin and wrapped around the back of Lin Che's hand.
The blue scales rippled where the two touched, and Lin Che's breathing gradually evened out: "The time portal is about to open."
"Lie down first." Xiao Ling took a tissue and wiped the blue liquid from the corner of his mouth. "Brother Lu is trying to find a solution."
When Lu Zhao put the sample tube into the refrigerator, the alarm in the monitoring room sounded.
As he rushed over, twelve blue figures in the holographic projection were crossing the outer fence, their movements as coordinated as puppets being pulled by strings.
"Twelve mutants." Lu Zhao tapped the projection. "Action mode C-level coordination."
He zoomed in on one of the faces, the scales spreading from forehead to chin. "It's the same as the specimen caught at the water plant."
Xiao Ling picked up the stun gun and was about to leave, but Lu Zhao stopped her: "You stay with Lin Che."
He fished out a blue potion from the pocket of his white coat. "These things aren't for hunting, they're for finding people."
Lin Che leaned against the headboard of the medical cabin, his Adam's apple moving. "Looking for me. The secondary beacon is calling."
"I know." Lu Zhao pushed the medicine into his vein. "This injection will last for four hours. The side effect is a headache."
He turned to Xiaoling and said, "Lock the lab door. Press the emergency button if there's any movement."
Gunfire rang out outside the fortifications at two in the afternoon. Lu Zhao crouched behind the sandbags, his palms numb from the recoil of the sonic gun.
The mutant would stagger when hit, but would pounce again the next second, and the sound of its nails scraping against the metal plates was so sharp that it hurt people's ears.
"Doctor Zhang! Hemostat!"
"Here they come!" Doctor Zhang leaned out from behind the shelter, and the wounded man wrapped in gauze was dragged back.
Lu Zhao's left arm suddenly felt hot, and he looked down to see a bloody wound - it was caused by the mutant's claws.
Xiao Ling's voice came from the communicator: "There are mutants heading towards the laboratory!"
Lu Zhao wiped the sweat from his face: "Stop it!" He grabbed an electromagnetic mine and threw it out. In the blue light of the explosion, three mutants fell to the ground and twitched.
But more poured in through the gaps in the fence, like a tide overflowing a dam.
The laboratory door banged loudly. Xiao Ling pushed Lin Che into the corner and propped a chair against the door handle.
The mutant's nails scraped across the crack in the door, leaving white marks on the metal.
She felt for the stun gun on her lower back and just as she turned around, the door was slammed open with a bang.
When the thing rushed in, it brought with it a gust of fishy wind. Xiao Ling swung her gun at its neck, but was knocked to the ground.
The moment the claws scratched her arm, blood splattered on the mutant's face - it suddenly screamed, covered its face and stepped back, and its scales fell off as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid.
"Xiaoling! Your blood!" Lu Zhao's voice exploded from the communicator, "Use the sample tube!"
Xiaoling grabbed the test tube on the laboratory table and cut her finger.
Drops of blood dripped at the mutant's feet, and the thing turned and ran out the door, knocking over two instruments.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and found Lin Che standing behind her, leaning against the wall, his eyes so blue they looked like they were about to shed tears.
"I can help them." Lin Che's voice was hoarse. "Their consciousness is calling me."
"No." Xiaoling grabbed his arm, "You now..."
"It's too late." Lin Che pried her hands apart and walked out the door step by step.
The mutant's roars were getting closer and closer, and he stood in the middle of the corridor with his arms outstretched.
A sound somewhere between a buzzing and a chanting came from his throat.
The mutant that was biting the wounded suddenly stopped and looked at him with its head tilted.
Two of them slowly retreated, but the strongest one rushed forward with its teeth bared - its scales were thicker than its companions, and there was no confusion in its eyes.
Xiaoling picked up the sonic gun that Lu Zhao dropped in the laboratory, bit her finger and pressed it on the energy tank.
A silver-blue light crawled out from the barrel of the gun. She pulled the trigger, and a light wave wrapped in silver light hit the mutant's chest.
The thing was blown three meters away and stopped moving when it hit the wall.
When Lu Zhao rushed in with Doctor Zhang, Xiao Ling was stopping Lin Che's bleeding.
The mutant's blood formed a blue-black scab on the ground. Lu Zhao squatted down and scraped a sample: "The silver liquid can decompose the Weaver's gene chain and reverse the mutation."
He looked up at Xiaoling, "You are the antibody."
Xiao Ling looked down at the wound on her arm, where blood was slowly coagulating: "I thought this was..."
"No." Lin Che leaned against the wall, his voice so soft it sounded like a sigh, "There's a message in their collective consciousness, a secondary beacon, calling all individuals with the gene to go underground.
Su Wanqing and Xiao Ran..." He coughed, and blue liquid mixed with blood foam splashed on the ground. "I have to tell them."
Footsteps could be heard from the end of the corridor. Several survivors came over, carrying the wounded. The middle-aged man who always loved to compete with Lin Che walked in front.
He glanced at Lin Che, then at the mutant corpse on the ground, and opened his mouth but said nothing.
"Brother Lin." A young girl with a ponytail came over, her eyes red as a rabbit's. "My brother was taken away by those things. Is he still conscious?"
Lin Che closed her eyes and said, "Most of them are gone, blending into the group.
But some." He looked at the sample tube in Lu Zhao's hand, "If Xiaoling's blood is useful..."
The girl squeezed his good hand. "I believe you."
The middle-aged man snorted and turned away, but several people who followed him stayed and helped Dr. Zhang move the medical kit.
Lin Che looked down at his hands. The blue scales were fading, revealing the normal skin underneath.
Xiaoling handed him a glass of warm water. He took two sips and suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"Su Wanqing's jade bracelet." His voice suddenly became clear. "It might be related to the time gate. They are now..."
The alarm rang again. Lu Zhao rushed to the monitoring room, Xiao Ling grabbed her gun, and Lin Che stood up, holding onto the wall.
The sky outside the fortress was an unusual purple, and the mutants' roars were more frequent than before.
The metal wall of the ventilation duct rubbed against Xiao Ran's shoulder, sending sparks flying. He crouched down and took two steps forward, his tactical flashlight sweeping across the rusted gap at the end of the duct—an abandoned subway tunnel. Dust half a finger thick accumulated on the rails, and the sound of dripping water could be heard in the distance.
"Safe." He turned around and gestured. Su Wanqing followed him out of the tunnel, the jade bracelet on her wrist slightly warm.
Just as the two of them breathed a sigh of relief, the communicator on Xiao Ran's chest suddenly vibrated.
Lu Zhao's voice blasted out with a mixture of electrical noise: "Just repelled the mutant attack. Summoned the secondary beacon."
Su Wanqing leaned over and listened. "Lin Che said the mutants are being summoned to the underground facility."
"Lu Zhao?" Xiao Ran tapped the communicator. "The signal is bad. Say it again!"
"Lin Che is in an unstable state. He insists on going to support you. You can't stop him."
The communication suddenly cut off. Su Wanqing pulled out the previously downloaded hologram of the facility, a blue light swirling in her palm. "These blue dots on the map are secondary beacons, used to recharge the primary beacon."
She pointed to the southeast quadrant. "This must be destroyed."
Xiao Ran pulled off his tactical gloves and touched the tunnel wall. It was covered in a layer of blue goo, like solidified fluorescent glue. "The temperature's rising, and these things are getting denser."
He took a little of the mucus and rubbed it open. "It's like a biological conduit, transmitting energy."
The two followed the map southeast. The moss on the tunnel ceiling glowed an eerie blue, and the sound of dripping water was mixed with low-frequency vibrations—the footsteps of the mutants.
Turning the corner, the view suddenly opened up. A circular underground plaza, the size of three basketball courts, stood in the center, a twenty-meter-tall blue crystal column that pulsed every three seconds, illuminating the mutant scales surrounding the plaza.
They circled the pillar, their movements as mechanical as a clockwork toy.
"That's explosives." Xiao Ran patted the tactical bag on his waist, "It's enough to blow up the crystal pillar. The problem is how to get close."
Su Wanqing pressed the jade bracelet against the railing of the observation platform. A system prompt danced on her retina: "There's a terminal at the base of the pillar that can shut down the beacon. But you have to get through the mutant swarm."
Before he finished speaking, the sound of leather shoes stepping on the ground was heard from the other side of the square.
Professor Grey came out in a white coat, followed by the blue-skinned "Lord of Weaving".
Several scientists carrying instruments gathered at the base of the column, and the terminal screen lit up with a glaring red light.
The pulsation of the crystal column quickened, and the mutants' rotation speed increased accordingly, with a unified low hum coming from their throats.
Xiao Ran raised the telescope: "They are accelerating energy accumulation. The mutants' biological energy can be drawn into the pillars."
Su Wanqing called up the energy monitor: "Two hours, at most two hours to reach the critical point."
The two men crouched down and slid down the observation platform, groping their way to the bottom of the column along the maintenance passage.
When they were ten meters away from the terminal, the nearest mutant suddenly stopped and slowly turned its head towards them.
It opened its mouth and let out a shrill whistle like a siren.
"We've been discovered!" Xiao Ran raised his gun and fired three shots in a row, knocking down three mutants who were rushing towards him.
Su Wanqing placed her right hand on the jade bracelet, and the air in front of her began to ripple—the three mechanical guards were twisted three meters away by her.
Professor Gray turned around, a cold light flashing across his glasses: "Protect the beacon!"
More mutants poured out from the corners of the square, and the sound of nails scraping against the ground hurt people's eardrums.
A muscular mutant broke through the defense line and went straight for Su Wanqing's throat with his claws.
The moment the sound of wind rushed into his ears, a blue light hit him from the side and knocked the mutant to the ground.
It was Lin Che. His body was covered in blue scales, with several translucent spines protruding from his back. His nails had grown into shiny black claws, but there was still a hint of humanity in his eyes. "I sensed danger and had to come."
Su Wanqing supported his shaking shoulders: "How did you find it?"
Lin Che raised his hand and pressed his temple, his skin beneath the scales tinging with blue. "The beacon was calling me to follow its induction."
He suddenly coughed violently, and the blue liquid splashed on the ground. "Go quickly, I can't hold on any longer."
The three of them rushed to the bottom of the pillar with their backs to each other. Xiao Ran had fired a magazine and was about to change the magazine when the mutant jumped on his back.
Lin Che grabbed the creature's neck with his backhand, and the blue scales crawled up its arms. The mutant instantly turned into a puddle of mud.
The Weaver Lord moved. It raised its hand and pressed it against the ground. The metal tiles bulged like dough, solidifying into three sharp spikes that stabbed at Su Wanqing.
Xiao Ran rushed over and pushed her away, and the sharp thorn brushed against his ear and pierced into the wall.
Lin Che stood between them. A blue light rose between him and the "Lord of Weaving," and the air hummed with a whirring sound like electricity.
Lin Che's spines stood up, and the veins beneath his scales glowed a faint blue. "I'll hold it back. You guys go to the terminal."
Su Wanqing dragged Xiao Ran towards the base of the pillar. Professor Grey rushed out from the shadows and grabbed her wrist. "Foolish! The Time Gate is the future of mankind!"
"What kind of future will you have if you betray your own kind?" Su Wanqing shook off his hand and pressed her knee against his abdomen.
Gray stumbled a few steps, holding onto a pillar and catching his breath. "The end is coming! We have no choice but to accept evolution."
Xiao Ran pressed the explosives at the bottom of the pillar, and when he turned around, he was knocked against the wall by the mechanical guard.
Su Wanqing touched the terminal interface, and the jade bracelet suddenly became hot - the system automatically connected.
The lights across the square began to flicker. Countless streams of data flashed before Su Wanqing's eyes, and she suddenly discovered she could "see" the spatial structure around her.
With a thought, she "picked up" the three mechanical guards and smashed them towards the other two.
The Lord Weaver took two steps back, his voice like glass rubbing against each other. "Is it impossible that you have activated the ultimate authority?"
Gray's face turned pale instantly: "Retreat! She activated the time controller!"
Xiao Ran detonated the explosives. The crystal pillar made a sound like silk tearing, and cracks spread like a spider web.
Lin Che roared to the sky, and blue light burst out from his body. The "Lord of Weaving" was thrown away and hit the wall.
"Let's go!" Su Wanqing pulled Lin Che up. Just as the three of them ran up the maintenance tunnel, a loud bang came from behind them—the square began to collapse.
As she rounded the bend, Su Wanqing glanced back. The Weaver stood in the dust, the blue light illuminating the smile on its lips, as if it were watching a preordained play.
Lin Che's breathing grew heavier. Half of his face was still covered in blue scales, while the other half was beginning to peel, revealing normal skin underneath.
Su Wanqing supported his trembling arm and heard him whisper, "Just now, the 'Master of Weaving' was speaking in my head."
"What did you say?" Xiao Ran turned around and asked.
Lin Che closed her eyes, her eyelids twitching beneath the blue scales. "It said I could be a bridge between humans and them."
He suddenly grabbed Su Wanqing's wrist, his nails almost digging into the flesh, "But I heard you calling my name."
The rubble from the tunnel ceiling began to fall. The three of them quickened their pace as the sound of the collapse grew closer behind them.
Lin Che's eyes shone in the darkness, half blue and half black, like a torn night.
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