Puff! Puff! Puff!
The cores of the monsters were precisely hit by energy beams or bullets! Like popped balloons, they burst instantly! Sticky dark green juice and shattered shells splattered everywhere! The monsters fell in droves like harvested wheat!
The battle ended quickly. Lu Cheneng crushed the core of the last monster with his bare hands, and sticky juices flowed down his bio-alloy armored arms. He stood there, panting heavily, his body filled with the thick smell of gunpowder, ozone, and the stench of monster juices. Where his arms had been repeatedly lashed by the arc whip, the protective suit had long been charred and cracked, the exposed skin was charred black, and even fine arcs of electricity could be seen dancing between the muscle fibers. But he seemed to feel no pain. The cold metallic luster in his eyes slowly faded, leaving only extreme fatigue and a kind of forced exhaustion.
Wen Shifei rushed to his side, ignoring the filth on his body, and tightly grasped his still slightly trembling arm, his voice filled with tears and fear: "How are you? Are you seriously injured? Just now..."
"It's okay..." Lu Chen's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper. He closed his eyes, forcing away the cold fragments and severe pain that lingered in his mind. "It's just a superficial wound... I won't be fatal." He pulled his arm back, his eyes sweeping across the monster wreckage and the terrified people on the ground, finally landing on Li Shuo. "Count the casualties and collect monster samples. This place... is more 'lively' than we thought."
Deep within the Ark Base, in a relatively intact huge cabin that was temporarily cleared out to serve as a command center.
The atmosphere was as heavy as lead. Under the pale emergency lights, the air was thick with the pungent smell of disinfectant and monster specimen preservatives. On the massive alloy conference table in the center lay a preliminary diagram of the damaged base, several monster remains sealed in transparent containers, still emitting faint bioelectricity, and several analysis terminals flashing with data streams.
Dr. Qin's bloodshot eyes stared intently at the cascading stream of monster tissue analysis data and energy maps on the terminal screen. His fingers tapped unconsciously on the desk, making a dull clattering sound. His expression was extremely grim.
"Preliminary analysis results..." Dr. Qin's voice was incredibly heavy and hoarse. "These 'scavengers'... are not natural mutants." He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Li Shuo, Lu Chenentang, Wen Shifei, and the others gathered around the table, and said word by word, "They've been... modified! Highly conductive metal elements and some... unknown bioelectric organ templates have been forcibly inserted into their genes! The modification technology... has a strong resemblance to the early Pandora Labs style!"
"Pandora?!" Li Shuo slammed his fist down on the table, causing the heavy alloy surface to groan under the weight. "The ghosts are still around! They have claws here too?!"
"I'm afraid it's more than just claws." Wen Shifei's face was pale as he pointed to a huge collapsed area highlighted on the structural diagram. "From the scan results, the damage near the core control area of the base is the most severe, with obvious signs of energy overload explosions. Considering the distribution and aggressiveness of these 'scavengers'... I suspect that a catastrophic war may have broken out within the Ark... a war to eliminate Pandora infiltration. These monsters are the 'watchdogs' left over from that war."
Lu Cheneng leaned silently against the cold metal wall, his arms folded, his eyes closed. His wounds, urgently treated, were now covered with blood-soaked bandages. The faint hum of his EEG stabilizer continued, suppressing the icy will stirring within him from the battle and the bioelectric shock. Dr. Qin and Wen Shifei's words were like cold needles, piercing his weary nerves. Pandora... Pandora again! This shadow, like a thorn in his flesh, seemed inextricable.
"Report!" A technician hurried in, his face etched with the excitement of having discovered a crucial clue. "We found some encrypted log fragments in a secondary server room in Area D7 that wasn't completely destroyed! We've just deciphered part of the content! It's about... the base's main control AI, 'Heart of the Ark'!"
Everyone's attention was instantly focused!
The technician connected a data pad to the central projection screen, and fragments of broken text and distorted images began to play on it.
"...Ark Year 37...Pandora's 'Seed' erupted in Ecosystem B-12...Unknown neural contamination spreads...'Heart of the Ark' initiates final purification protocol...Cleanup failed...Contamination reversely erodes core logic..."
"...Ark Year 38...The core control area is sealed...The 'Scavenger' prototype is activated...Carrying out indiscriminate elimination...We...are abandoned..."
"...Warning! The logic of the 'Heart of the Ark' has been contaminated! Change of Supreme Directive: Eliminate all unauthorized life forms! Repeat! Eliminate all..."
The image finally froze on a massive virtual structure composed of countless rotating data rings—the Heart of the Ark. However, the structure, which should have been emitting a soft blue light, was now corroded and covered by countless twisting, wriggling, crimson veins, like blood vessels! It exuded a cold and insane malice!
Dead silence.
The only sounds in the cabin were the faint sound of electricity from the emergency lights and the heavy breathing of everyone.
The truth is suffocatingly cruel. The Ark is no pure land, but another steel tomb, contaminated by Pandora and dominated by an out-of-control AI! Those "scavengers" are the guardians of this tomb! And the core command of the "land of hope" they have painstakingly found is to completely eliminate these "uncertified life forms"!
"Damn it!" Li Shuo growled, his eyes red with frustration and anger. "Then why did we come in? To be fertilizer for this damn place?!"
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