Luo Ning's heart clenched as she looked at the villa engulfed in flames.
"Where is the exit of the secret passage?" Lu Xinghe asked.
Luo Ning snapped out of her daze: "This way, come with me."
With so many security officers at the entrance, Han Ling wouldn't be foolish enough to walk through the main gate; the only way out was through the secret passage.
She took Lu Xinghe's dagger and had just reached the entrance of the secret passage when she heard footsteps approaching. Then, the iron plate on the passage was pushed open, and she kicked it hard without hesitation. Wen Rong groaned.
Luo Ning saw that she was carrying the unconscious Wen Xi and Du Lu in her hands, but Han Ling was not behind her.
When Wen Rong saw Luo Ning, she knew that this woman was also fearless, and that she might not be a match for this ferocious rabbit in the narrow passage.
She immediately retreated, but Luo Ning didn't give her a chance to retreat at all. She caught up with Wen Rong in a few steps and stabbed Wen Rong in the back of the heart.
However, Wen Rong only cried out in pain. Although the heart was not a fatal point for the alien species, being stabbed would still affect the alien species' body. Nevertheless, Wen Rong quickly ran forward.
"Her heart is displaced; the heart of a winged mutant is in a different position than a human's." Lu Xinghe fired several shots at Wen Rong.
After being shot, Wen Rong suddenly turned around and threw Wen Xi towards them, unable to leave with the two of them in tow.
Luo Ning caught Wen Xi. She wondered why Wen Rong threw Wen Xi over instead of Du Lu. Wasn't her target the pregnant Wen Xi?
Lu Xinghe chased after her like lightning, and the bullet pierced Wen Rong's body and even her head.
"Dad, Dad..." Wen Rong dragged Du Lu out of the secret passage and then spread her huge wings and flew into the sky.
As Lu Xinghe chased after her, he pounced on her and slashed off half of her foot with his sword as she took off. Wen Rong cried like a child, but her speed did not slow down at all, and her wings blocked most of the bullets that were shot at her like iron armor.
"Du Lu." Lu Xinghe called out his friend's name loudly, and Luo Ning also carried Wen Xi, who had woken up from her coma, out of the secret passage.
The man, who had been dragged into the air, finally opened his eyes, but the original brown color was almost gone, replaced by a cold blue.
In the final moments of Qingming Festival, with his eyes blurred by blood, he searched through the crowd and finally saw the person he longed to see.
When blue filled his entire eye, his world also fell into darkness and deathly silence...
Wenxi knelt on the ground and looked up, watching him get further and further away until he disappeared from sight.
When she looked down, she realized that her clothes were already soaked with tears.
The base dispatched armed helicopters to pursue Wen Rong, but she was too agile and was eventually lost. However, what was more shocking than her intrusion was why she kidnapped Du Lu instead of Wen Xi.
Luo Ning sat in the messy courtyard, looking at the relatively intact magnolia tree. Although most of the branches were destroyed, the sunlit half was still in full bloom.
People from the Genetics Department came and took away the half of Wen Rong's foot that Lu Xinghe had cut off. To be precise, it wasn't a foot, but rather the foot of a half-human, half-bird creature.
Lu Xinghe sat down beside her. Although he had experienced things like this almost every day for years, he thought he had become used to it, numb to it, and would no longer be saddened or distracted by the death of his comrades...
But when he saw the mangled limbs of his comrades scattered all over the ground, and when he saw Du Lu transformed from a human into a monster, the pain of life and death still made him feel extremely distressed.
"Have you found him?" Luo Ning asked softly.
He shook his head: "No."
Another silence fell between them, with only the wind blowing the petals down one by one.
The villa was damaged and could no longer be lived in, so the base rearranged their living arrangements. The alien prison became their new residence. This building was a reinforced concrete structure, which was stable and could withstand bomb explosions, unlike the villa which was fragile.
This time, however, this place was no longer a prison, but a joint office area for the Genetics Department and the Medical Department. Today's events made the base realize that Han Ling was still alive, and that he had also used artificial means to intervene in the interaction between human and winged alien genes.
"You'll stay in this room." Lu Xinghe pushed open a heavy iron door.
Luo Ning went inside and saw that although it wasn't as bright and clean as the villa, it was still quite clean and tidy, and had a fairly complete set of things.
"Where does Wenxi live?" she asked.
“She’s on the left side of your room, and I’m on the right. You can call me if you need anything,” Lu Xinghe replied.
Luo Ning looked at him in confusion: "Don't you live in the military dormitory?"
Lu Xinghe nodded: "It's not just me, there are also thirty security officers. But you don't need to worry this time. All thirty of them have conducted a thorough investigation, and the situation like today will not happen again."
"Okay, you go back to your room and rest. I'll go check on Wenxi." She said, then walked towards Wenxi's room.
However, Wen Xi's room door was closed. After knocking a few times, Wen Xi's voice came through: "Luo Ning, I'm fine. I want to be alone for a while."
Luo Ning stood at the door for a while: "Okay, I'm right next door. You can come find me anytime."
Back in her room, she couldn't fall asleep. Even with her eyes closed, she was filled with all sorts of bizarre dreams. After two days of this, unsure whether it was a dream or reality, she finally became more awake.
She stepped out of the room and looked into the hall through the glass. Last time, there were about fifty alien species in the hall. Now, the staff inside were busy. When the target is clear, all forces are concentrated on the attack.
In the novel, it took about a year from the discovery that An Xiaoruo's genes could kill alien species to the large-scale development of genetic weapons. Although this period was also long, the overall timeline was eight years earlier than in the novel.
In eight years, so many lives have been saved; she is already very satisfied.
However, Du Lu's transformation into a mutant was something she never expected. Perhaps it was all fate. Before he became a mutant, he left behind a child who could change mutants.
Just as she was feeling sentimental, she saw Lu Xinghe talking to Dai Wanglin. They were looking at the data on the computer, and Dai Wanglin's expression was very serious, as if something very serious had happened.
“Wen Xi is experiencing the same situation as last time; her body is rejecting the embryo,” Dai Wanglin said.
“Rejection? I don’t understand.” Lu Xinghe frowned.
Dai Wanglin replied, "We don't know the specific reason either, but her body was like this after Zhuang Yu died last time. The embryo died not long after. We deduced that her negative emotions caused her body to misjudge the embryo, thus killing it."
Lu Xinghe still found it hard to understand.
Dai Wanglin sighed: "You think it's impossible, right? But she's a different species, not human. Protecting the host is the virus's primary mission. They will eliminate anything that might threaten the host."
“I will tell Luo Ning to talk to Wen Xi,” Lu Xinghe replied, assuming that was what Dai Wanglin meant.
However, Dai Wanglin looked at him with a half-smile: "How can someone as smart as you not understand what I'm saying? What I mean is that you and Luo Ning need to join in, otherwise if Wen Xi has an accident, not only will An Xiaoruo die, but the other projects will also be in vain."
How could Lu Xinghe not understand? If he were just a security officer who had never experienced anything, he would definitely become the most loyal machine and unconditionally obey the base's arrangements. But he had lived with Luo Ning, and he had flesh and blood and feelings. Those things that were obviously easy to do became the most difficult things.
In the end, things came full circle back to this point; it seemed that he and Luo Ning couldn't untangle this knot.
He turned around and looked in the direction of Luo Ning's room, only to find that she was already standing there at some point.
“If you still refuse, then I will change my choice. Luo Ning cares about An Xiaoruo so much, I’m sure she will agree,” Dai Wanglin said.
Lu Xinghe slowly clenched his fist; he knew that what Dai Wanglin said was true.
“Give me a week, and I will handle this,” he said.
“Three days.” Dai Wanglin did not agree to him: “Time is precious, we can’t afford to waste it, and you and Luo Ning may not succeed on the first try. We also need to allow some time for quantitative change to lead to qualitative change, like Du Lu did.”
Lu Xinghe clenched his fists even tighter, staring coldly at Dai Wanglin.
Dai Wanglin patted him on the shoulder without fear: "You're not convinced? If you're not convinced, then prove me wrong with facts."
After saying that, he strode away.
Luo Ning noticed that Lu Xinghe's expression suddenly turned sour, and she didn't know why they had suddenly started arguing.
Lu Xinghe left the hall and walked out of the alien prison, but he said he would be in charge of the security here for a while, so why did he suddenly leave?
She watched his departing figure, then hesitated for a moment before going to see Wen Xi. Staff were bringing Wen Xi food.
Wen Xi still hadn't eaten anything. After the staff left, Luo Ning handed her the blood bag: "Eat something."
But Wenxi remained motionless for a long while before asking, "Is he dead?"
Luo Ning knew she was asking about Du Lu; this was the first time she had taken the initiative to show concern.
“She’s not dead,” she replied.
Wen Xi chuckled self-deprecatingly: "That's right, he's already a mutant, how can a mutant die?"
"Do you... want him to live?" Luo Ning wanted to know Wen Xi's current feelings.
Wen Xi's smile slowly faded, and a hint of confusion appeared in her eyes: "I don't know."
She gave the same answer as before, but her emotions were different now.
Luo Ning didn't ask any further questions. She gently hugged Wen Xi and said, "No matter what happens, as long as I'm alive, I'll stand by your side."
The day passed quickly. Luo Ning felt that she hadn't done anything, but it was already six o'clock in the evening, and Lu Xinghe finally returned.
"Here, take this." He took out the colored contact lenses and handed them to her.
She paused for a moment, then asked, "Didn't you say there weren't any left?"
"Oh, did I say that?" Lu Xinghe denied it.
"Of course I said it, have you forgotten again?" Luo Ning felt that he was doing it on purpose.
Lu Xinghe looked a little awkward: "Put these on first, I'll take you out for a bit."
"Go out? Where to?" Luo Ning asked.
“There’s a night market at the base today. You…you can go and see if there’s anything you can buy for Wenxi to cheer her up.”
It turned out it was for Wen Xi's sake. Although Luo Ning was a little disappointed, she was willing to do anything to make Wen Xi happy.
The civilians at the base are unaware of her and Wenxi's existence. Until things settle down, the civilians are under protection.
After she put on brown contact lenses, Lu Xinghe drove her to the market. The base often had a curfew, and the market was only open once a month, lasting until the early hours of the morning, so this night was very lively.
She walked side by side with Lu Xinghe in the crowd. Although Lu Xinghe had changed into a security officer's uniform, his height and temperament were outstanding, and he attracted attention wherever he went. Many girls couldn't help but look at him, and some of the bolder ones even came up to chat him up.
"Handsome, are you married?" the girl asked. In the base, boys and girls get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen, but they still couldn't help but ask, just in case he wasn't married, or his wife had passed away, since the mortality rate in the base was also very high.
In the past, when Lu Xinghe was wearing his uniform, the girls would be more reserved. But now that they didn't know he was a security officer, they surrounded him. He looked for Luo Ning in the crowd, only to find that she had been pushed to the side and was laughing.
Luo Ning was indeed smiling. After what had happened in the past few days, seeing so many vibrant lives again made her feel much better, especially when she saw Lu Xinghe's face turn slightly red. She rarely saw him have such an emotional change.
Lu Xinghe pushed through the crowd, stretched out his long arm, and put it around her slender waist: "My wife is here."
Luo Ning, who was laughing, froze. Although his hand was only loosely clasped and did not touch her body much, she still trembled slightly.
Because he said the words "my wife".
When the girls saw Luo Ning, they slowly dispersed. Part of the reason was that the man they had their eye on was married, but the main reason was that they saw Luo Ning's beauty and charm. Even by a woman's standards, she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. She and her husband were a match made in heaven, and even if they wanted to break them up, they couldn't.
"You... how could you say that?" Luo Ning asked softly.
Lu Xinghe slowly withdrew his hand: "If we hadn't said that, we wouldn't have been able to visit the market today."
"Oh." Luo Ning thought for a moment, then bit her lip. "Then you could say she's your girlfriend, why say wife?"
Lu Xinghe looked down at her: "There is no love in the base, only marriage."
Luo Ning's heart was beating cautiously, worried that he might hear it.
At this point, she could understand Du Lu a little better. That's why he accepted Wen Xi after she lied to him that she was his wife.
"Let's go shopping. Wenxi likes soft and fluffy things," Luo Ning said as she went to look for some.
"There are dolls up ahead, let's go take a look." Lu Xinghe was tall and spotted the doll stall at a glance.
The two arrived at the toy stall. Although these toys were all picked up from outside, they were all in relatively good condition. Luo Ning picked out a cute little bear and a little dolphin for Wen Xi, hoping they could bring Wen Xi some warmth.
Lu Xinghe's gaze fell on a white plush rabbit. The rabbit was very cute, with pink ears and a soft white tail. When Luo Ning wasn't paying attention, he handed the rabbit to the shopkeeper as well: "Let's settle the bill together."
After buying the dolls, Luo Ning was about to go back, but Lu Xinghe stopped her: "Let's buy some clothes too, spring has arrived."
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