Chapter 256 Emergency Action at Southwest Dam
On the big screen of the fortress command center, the blood-red warning message - [High-threat unit 'Hunter' has locked onto this time anchor network. Estimated arrival time: 71 hours and 59 minutes] - is still glaring.
The solemn atmosphere was broken, replaced by a more urgent calm.
At an impromptu meeting in the early morning, Xiaoling and Xiaoyu stood in front of a huge city map.
They didn't speak, just held hands and closed their eyes. A faint band of energy extended from the two of them, outlining a three-dimensional, constantly changing image above the map.
The center of the image is the dam in the southwest corner of the city. An illusory purple lightning symbol is precisely marked in the center of the dam, and a line of numbers appears next to it: "60 hours later, lightning strikes, structure collapses."
What’s even more frightening is that the area on the map representing the reservoir is filled with densely packed red dots of light.
These spots of light were still wriggling and converging, like a pot of venom about to boil.
"Once the dam collapses, these things will flow down the river and fill the entire downstream urban area."
Lu Zhao pushed up his glasses and pointed at the simulated water flow path on the screen.
Su Wanqing looked at the horrifying scene and made a decision: "We can't stop the natural disaster, nor can we stop the Weaver's plan. But perhaps, we can mitigate the impact of the disaster."
The team immediately divided up the work. Su Wanqing, Xiao Ran, and Lin Che formed the advance team and headed to the dam for reconnaissance.
Lu Zhaoze, Xiaoling and Xiaoyu stayed in the fortress, continuously monitoring the time field fluctuations of the entire city.
"This operation is very risky." The interface of Su Wanqing's left hand bracelet lit up, and she operated it directly without hesitation.
"I need to exchange some equipment."
[Consume 3000 rebate points]
[Exchange successful: Optical Camouflage Combat Uniform x3, 'Hummingbird' Remote Monitoring Drone x1, Emergency Space Transmission Beacon x3]
Three silver suitcases appeared out of thin air on the ground.
Lu Zhao took out three syringes filled with light blue liquid.
"I have modified the vaccine to provide twenty-four hours of resistance to mutations. Remember, the vaccine is not a panacea. Do not come into direct contact with any purple active substance for more than thirty seconds."
He handed the syringe to each of them in turn.
Xiao Ran checked his weapons and put several pieces of special plastic explosives into his tactical backpack.
"If the situation allows," he said as he adjusted the rifle's scope, "perhaps we can blow up the flood discharge channel in advance and direct some of the water to the uninhabited area. This will save a block from being flooded."
At noon, a jeep painted in military green camouflage sped along a deserted road and stopped on a high ground a few kilometers away from the dam control area.
Xiao Ran raised the telescope and frowned slightly. "Strange. There are three checkpoints ahead. Judging from the equipment and the number of people, there is at least a fully equipped company. The military is keeping a very strict watch on this place." He moved the camera and soon stopped again. "On the other side of the dam... there is a white car. They are the same group of people as the 'Watchers' organization that Lin Che met in the Northeast District last time."
Through the high-definition images sent back by drones, we can see that the military has set up a temporary observation station on the top of the dam, and scientists in protective clothing are nervously collecting samples.
A dozen "Watchmen" members in white uniforms gathered near the dam's central control room, confronting the military personnel, like two forces refusing to give in to each other.
"The military and the Watchers are fighting for control. This is not normal, in a crisis like this the military usually has absolute priority."
Xiao Ran put down the telescope.
The three decided to take a detour. The jeep turned off the road and drove along an abandoned maintenance passage on the west side.
The vegetation on both sides of the road has turned a sickly purple color and is growing twistedly.
Eventually, they came to a rusty wire fence, behind which lay the inner area of the dam.
An electronic lock hung on the door, a red light flashing.
Lin Che walked forward and stretched out his hand. Blue lines appeared on his arm.
He did not touch the lock body, but just hovered above it. The indicator light of the electronic lock flashed wildly for a few times, and then there was a "click" and the green light came on.
The situation inside was more serious than expected. The huge concrete dam was covered with tiny cracks like spider webs, and strands of sticky purple substance were slowly seeping out of the cracks.
The reservoir, which should have been clear, now appeared an unsettling purple-red color. The water surface was calm, but occasionally a huge, indescribable black shadow could be seen flashing in the deep water.
"Act separately." Su Wanqing ordered in a low voice.
Xiao Ran straightened his military jacket and strode towards the military observation station on the top of the mountain.
He used his familiarity with the military's internal passwords and procedures, disguised himself as a logistics personnel coming from the city to reinforce, and actually sneaked in.
He stood behind several officers and heard a conversation that chilled his entire body.
“…The order from the top has come down, abandoning Area C-7, which is the entire city.
All personnel and equipment on the 'Noah's Ark' list must be evacuated within 48 hours."
"What about the civilians in the city?"
"There are no more civilians. The orders say that once the evacuation is complete, the 'decontamination protocol' will be initiated. This place will be wiped off the map with a tactical nuclear bomb."
At the same time, Su Wanqing had connected her system to the dam's internal network through a maintenance terminal.
On the screen, a document marked "Top Secret" was forcibly decrypted.
The city map is divided into blocks of different colors, and the division between "rescue zones" and "sacrifice zones" is shocking.
The entire southwestern urban area where they were located was marked deep red - "extremely high risk, no rescue."
At the end of the file, a countdown timer ticked relentlessly: 57 hours, 12 minutes, and 4 seconds.
The dam collapsed three hours earlier than Xiaoling predicted.
Lin Che came to the edge of the reservoir alone. He squatted down and reached out to the purple-red water surface.
When his fingertips were about to touch the water, he activated his ability, and an invisible perception force probed into the water.
He wanted to sense the extent of the mutation in this body of water.
The next second, he froze.
The calm water surface suddenly surged violently, as if it was boiling.
Underwater, one pair, ten pairs, hundreds, even thousands of pairs of huge purple eyes suddenly opened, piercing through the turbid water and staring at Lin Che on the shore.
A huge, chaotic, hungry torrent of consciousness instantly overwhelmed his perception.
On Su Wanqing's retina, the system AI's warning sounded sharply: [Warning! A super-large cluster of mutant creatures has been detected! The danger level is extremely high! ]
What they have to face is not only the natural disaster, but also a "purification protocol" that is prepared to sacrifice three million people.
During the evacuation, the three were surrounded by a group of mutant amphibians that crawled out of the spillway.
These creatures look like a combination of salamanders and frogs. They are small in size, but there are a lot of them and they make a shrill, hissing sound.
Xiao Ran quickly used up an entire magazine of bullets, but it was just a drop in the bucket.
At the moment when a mutant pounced on Su Wanqing, Lin Che instinctively stretched out his left hand, and the blue lines on his arm burst into an unprecedented light.
A series of strange, polysyllabic sounds came from his throat that did not belong to any human language.
A strange scene occurred. All the mutant creatures that were attacking seemed to have paused and stopped moving instantly.
Their purple eyes revealed confusion and obedience, and then they took the initiative to retreat to the sides, making way for a safe passage.
Lin Che himself was stunned. He gasped and looked at his hands.
"I...I can feel their thoughts. They are very primitive, but connected together, like a collective."
"The Weaver's gene," Su Wanqing thought for a moment and concluded, "It gives you not only the ability to purify, but also perhaps the authority to establish contact with these mutants."
After returning to the fortress, Lu Zhao immediately tested Lin Che. The results confirmed Su Wanqing's guess that Lin Che could indeed affect those mutant creatures with relatively simple genetic structures within a short distance.
But the cost is heavy.
Every time he used this ability, the blue lines on Lin Che's left arm would expand a little.
Now, the lines have covered his entire left arm, like some kind of living tattoo.
What worries Lu Zhao even more is that every time Lin Che uses his ability, he will experience short-term memory loss and slow emotional response.
Lin Che looked at her arm. The blue light on it had not yet completely faded.
He asked in confusion: "If I continue like this, what will I become? Will I still be myself?"
Su Wanqing walked over, gently pressed his shoulders, and said firmly: "No matter what happens, we will face it together. Perhaps this ability is the key to our fight against the tide of mutations."
Everyone on the team realized that Lin Che's transformation was both an unpredictable crisis and an opportunity to survive.
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