Like a remnant of a spirit crawling out of the depths of hell, Ajie and Wen Shifei dragged the unconscious Lu Chencheng onto this garbage-covered coast, reeking of death. Both men, exhausted by their last ounce of strength, collapsed onto the cold, slippery, sticky garbage heap, gasping for breath, each inhalation accompanied by a stinging pain in their lungs and a churning in their stomach. They placed Lu Chencheng on a relatively "clean" piece of large, rusted metal plate. His face was ashen, his breath was weak, and the purple bruises on the side of his neck were shocking.
"Ahem...Brother Lu...Hold on..." Ajie coughed up blood-stained sewage and struggled to crawl to Lu Chenhang's side. His trembling fingers probed for his carotid artery again. His pulse was still weak, but...it seemed slightly...stable compared to when he was underwater? Was it an illusion?
Wen Shifei leaned against the cold garbage heap, her eyes vacant as she stared at the leaden, oppressive sky. The image of Zero, carrying Qingyi, vanishing underwater, burned her nerves like the cruelest brand. The chaebol's tracker... the Ark Anchor's blockade... the awakening underground monster... and the mysterious, ruthless Zero... What would become of Qingyi in his hands? Despair, like an icy tide, washed over her already shattered will.
Just then—
"Um…"
An extremely weak groan, like a dream talk, suddenly came out of Lu Cheneng's mouth!
Ajie and Wen Shifei's bodies shook at the same time! They suddenly looked at Lu Cheneng on the metal plate!
Lu Cheneng's face was grimacing, his brows knitted together, as if he were enduring immense pain. His left mithril arm, dangling at his side, was once dull and covered in spiderweb-like energy cracks. Suddenly, without warning, it lit up with a faint, yet remarkably pure, silver-white light! Like a living firefly, the light flowed slowly and tenaciously within the depths of the cracks!
Even stranger, in the air surrounding his mithril arm, tiny metal fragments, damp debris, and even dripping, dirty water droplets began to tremble uncontrollably and float in the air! As if being pulled by an invisible force field!
"Brother Lu?!" Ajie was surprised and happy, his voice trembling with disbelief.
Wen Shifei also struggled to crawl over. Although her mental strength was exhausted, she keenly sensed an extremely weak energy fluctuation filled with a violent and primordial aura emanating from the depths of Lu Cheneng's mithril left arm! This fluctuation... was different from the bound, orderly mercury energy before. Instead, it was more like the roar of a dormant beast awakening!
"His arm... his energy core... seems to be... repairing itself? Or... mutating?" Wen Shifei's voice was filled with shock and uncertainty. This was completely beyond her understanding of the chaebol's Mithril technology!
Suddenly, beneath Lu Chen's tightly closed eyelids, his eyeballs began to spin violently! Veins bulged on his forehead, as if he were experiencing a terrifying nightmare! His body began to twitch unconsciously, and a suppressed, low, wounded roar emanated from his throat.
"Brother...no...don't..."
A vague word, filled with endless pain and fear, was squeezed out intermittently from his clenched teeth!
Ajie and Wen Shifei's hearts tightened instantly! He was calling Qingyi! What was he going through?!
Deep inside the fortress, on the edge of area B-7, inside the energy barrier blockade.
A thick, composite armored wall, shimmering with dark blue energy patterns, stood like an impassable barrier, completely isolating Area B-7, which was still crumbling, trembling, and filled with deadly radiation and a terrifying atmosphere. Within the wall lay purgatory. Outside, the core of the plutocratic fortress, a rigidly ordered structure.
At the entrance to a hidden maintenance passage not far from the barrier wall, a heavy alloy door slid silently open. Zero's figure slipped out silently, like a drop of ink blending into the shadows.
He still used his black-armored mechanical arm, like the strongest cage, to firmly imprison the unconscious Lu Qingyi. The back of his dark gray uniform was severely damaged, a viscous mixture of motor oil, dark purple contaminant, and dried blood solidified into a hideous patch. The crimson electronic compound eyes on his mask warily scanned the relatively "clean" alloy corridor outside. The air was filled with the distinctive ozone scent of the energy barrier and the cool, filtered "freshness" of recycled water.
Confirming it was temporarily safe, Zero moved without hesitation, carrying Lu Qingyi under his arm, and quickly turned into a narrow maintenance passage marked "No Unauthorized Entry." The passage was dimly lit, with only the dim green glow of emergency lights on the walls. He was still eerily familiar with the structure of the place, avoiding the blind spots of several surveillance cameras, and finally stopped in front of an unremarkable, heavy metal door at the end of the passage.
There is no sign on the door, only an extremely sophisticated biological/energy dual identification interface at the door lock position.
Zero's crimson electronic compound eyes were aligned with the identification interface, and at the same time, his armored mechanical fingers gently pressed on the energy identification area.
Buzz...
An extremely slight energy fluctuation swept past.
Click.
With a slight sound, the heavy metal door slid open silently, revealing a small, enclosed space behind it, filled with precision instruments and cables, and emitting a faint blue light - a highly encrypted safe house hidden deep within the fortress's maintenance system.
Zero slipped in, and the metal door closed and locked silently behind him.
The safe house wasn't large, containing only a metal bed, an operating table, and several life-support and monitoring devices with blinking indicators. The air circulation system emitted a low hum, filtering out the pollutants from the outside world.
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