Chapter 158 Rebooter Base - 15 *** ……
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"Zero is Miss Fang Yue's younger brother?" Sirius looked up at Tang Bufan, who was walking in front of him, with surprise.
“Yes.” Tang Bufan said as he led the little R5166 up the stairs, “At first I thought he was Fang Yue’s lover, because Fang Yue has two children and has not publicly revealed their fathers. The two children are also being raised in secret. If they were not very close, Fang Yue would not have asked Lu Yibao to save Zero’s life, and Zero would not have given her the access card to the Rebooter’s base.”
"But isn't Miss Fang Yue an orphan?" Sirius asked curiously. "Didn't her family all die in that political struggle in the Eastern District Underground City?"
With the deaths of Yu Lao and Yu Fen, the Yu family, which had brought the peacekeeping faction under its control, officially faced its reckoning. Back then, in order to prevent Guo Wen from deepening his alliance with the Cultural and Educational Group and squeezing out their family's power, their family's act of posing as a resistance faction and planting bombs at the Cultural and Educational Group's meeting venue was also exposed, causing an uproar.
This was big news during this period, but Tang Bufan was trapped on the island and didn't know it.
Fang Yue's background has also regained attention due to this purge. As the orphan of a high-ranking member of the education group, her popularity and status in the East District underground city have been further enhanced.
Sirius and Fick learned about this while gossiping, never expecting that the orphan girl whose tragic background was emphasized by the media would actually have a younger brother.
“Fang Hai, that’s Zero’s real name. Back then, he needed to use the restroom during a meeting, and Fang Yue took him there. That’s how they managed to get away from the explosion’s epicenter and survive. Although Fang Yue was buried under rubble for two days, she was unharmed. However, Fang Hai had to have his arm amputated because it had been crushed by heavy rocks for too long.” Tang Bufan slowly explained to them, “It was only when I saw Zero typing on a keyboard with his robotic arm in the lab that day that I suddenly remembered seeing someone’s information somewhere who also had a missing arm. After thinking about it carefully, I realized it was from Fang Yue.”
He finished speaking and let out a slight sigh: "The information says that Fang Hai suffered from depression after his amputation and later committed suicide in his room, but the truth is that he had already decided to come to this island at that time, so he erased his identity in the underground city."
While eating in the cafeteria, Tang Bufan confirmed this with other researchers. People from the East District Underground City would stage accidents to fake their deaths when they came to the Rebooter Base, either in car accidents or from illness. Because the number of people who could come to the Rebooter Base was very limited, the deaths of these researchers did not attract the attention of other factions.
Sirius raised his bracelet to look at Fang Yue's information, then exclaimed, "Ah, that's true. She initially survived with her younger brother."
"No wonder you told me to contact Guo Shen and ask Fang Yue to come over." Lu Yi, walking beside Tang Bufan, interjected, "Do you think Fang Yue can stop Zero?"
"I don't know if we can stop it." Tang Bufan wasn't sure either: "Because of their different ideologies, Fang Yue and Zero broke up a few years ago, but they must still have a sibling-like relationship, otherwise they wouldn't have left each other a way out."
Fang Yue's way out for Zero was to have Lu Yi vouch for her. Even though she is now the de facto ruler of the East District Underground City, it would be difficult for her to confront Guo Shen, and it would also affect her future political career and cooperation with the orcs.
However, Lu Yi is able to, because with the help of humans in the Western District Underground City, the Western Federation is now stronger than the Eastern Federation in terms of military strength.
Anderson, who was walking at the front, snorted and complained, "These two siblings are quite capable. One joined the New Business Alliance and the other joined the Academy of Sciences, and they both became leaders."
"The hatred that destroyed their family and clan must have spurred the siblings to strive for improvement," Tang Bufan remarked, glancing up at the floor markers in the darkness. They had reached the sixth basement level.
Upon reaching this floor, one can clearly hear some clanging and banging noises, which are undoubtedly coming from the imprisoned poisoners.
"I wonder what happened to those kids back then." Tang Bufan held r5166's hand, feeling sorry for those poisoned children. The female researcher told him they had been dealt with... The word "dealt with" shouldn't be used to describe sentient beings.
"They're gone." r5166, who was beside him, said in a small, dejected voice, "Many are gone."
Tang Bufan looked down at him, staring at his feminine face: "...Can you feel it?"
r5165 and the mother plant that produced her are one person, sharing information and thoughts. Since r5166 has been infected by their cells, has its brain also been connected to that information network?
r5166 looked up timidly and nodded slightly at Tang Bufan: "Yes... I can feel it."
When he discovered that the seed r5165 had given him was missing, he felt only regret and self-blame. When he noticed that his palms were rotting, he only felt a slight pain from being soaked in seawater. Until one day, he opened his eyes and suddenly found himself seeing sights that were not his own and hearing sounds that were not his own. He was afraid.
He was clearly a boy, but he started to feel like he should be a girl. He used to not care about same-sex contact, but now he started to care. He felt that he should have breasts, but not that thing down there. So he felt lost at the door of the toilet, not knowing which toilet to go into... A kind of mental confusion began to invade his brain, so much so that when he looked in the mirror and found that his face had changed, he was not surprised, but was overwhelmed by an uncontrollable sadness.
Raising his hand, r5166 pointed to a dark corridor, and with slightly red eyes told Tang Bufan, "There... r5165... there."
Sensing his unease and pain, Tang Bufan tightened his grip on his cold little hand and led him toward the dark and damp corridor: "Don't be afraid, let's go."
"I'll go first." Lu Yi, still worried, went around to the front of the two to clear a path for them. Sirius and Fick also consciously continued to walk behind Tang Bufan and the little poison man, protecting them.
Anderson, unaware of the strange situation involving the poisonous people outside, was confused but still raised an eyebrow and followed.
The corridor was flanked by heavy metal doors, with some small ventilation windows with welded railings. As they walked through, they could see pairs of bloodshot eyes staring at them, most of them filled with intelligence.
They are basically people with normal intelligence, except for their toxic appearance.
“Zero really restored their intelligence completely.” Sirius, a researcher, couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s a remarkable medical breakthrough. This should be able to cure many diseases in the field of neurology.”
"The premise is that you have to accept becoming a green-haired person." Anderson walked at the back and said sarcastically, "Even if I become stupid and crazy, I don't want my brain to suddenly have cell walls and then start chasing the sun until I burn my eyes."
Anderson had followed Lu Yi into that strange desert town and had naturally seen those "vegetative people" whose feet seemed to have taken root in their bodies.
“All medicines have side effects. For elderly people suffering from Helmodes, they would definitely prefer to retain their memory and intelligence.” Sirius disagreed, saying, “This is really a direction worth studying: using the characteristics of plant cells to repair damaged brain cells.”
Tang Bufan listened to their conversation and looked at the drug addicts locked in the cell, feeling only bitterness in his heart, because he thought of himself, who was also one of Zero's experimental subjects.
They turned a corner along the long corridor, where a dark iron gate stood at the end. R5166 stopped, and he gripped Tang Bufan's hand tighter and tighter.
"There?" Tang Bufan asked him, looking down.
r5166 seemed hesitant to answer, only nodding as she stared at the iron gate at the end.
Seeing that he was scared, Tang Bufan thought for a moment and handed him over to Anderson at the back: "Let's go over there. Anderson, can you help look after him?"
Anderson objected: "Why me?"
Tang Bufan then turned to Fick and said, "Fick, you keep an eye on this."
Sirius is a researcher, so he will definitely go with Tang Bufan.
Although Fick wanted to be with Sirius, as a soldier, he quickly agreed and took the little poison man from Tang Bufan: "Yes, madam."
After settling R5166, Tang Bufan breathed a sigh of relief and then walked with Lu Yi and the others toward the iron gate at the end.
There are many iron gates on both sides here, but it is much quieter than outside. The orcs' sensitive senses allow them to tell which gates have poisonous people and which do not. Occasionally, when passing by a few iron gates, they will suddenly hear the poisonous people inside making a banging sound, which is quite frightening.
It was because Tang Bufan had spent five years in this apocalyptic world that he developed a lot of courage. If it were an ordinary 21st-century youth, he would definitely turn around and run away, and would probably fall down.
Soon the group arrived outside the iron gate. The ventilation window of the gate was closed. Tang Bufan wanted to reach out and try to open it, but Lu Yi stopped him.
"I'll do it." Lu Yi shielded him behind him, reached out and touched the rusty little window, and with a little force from his strong arm, he opened a crack.
He was tall, so he bent down and glanced inside. A second later, he immediately straightened up, his expression twisted and slightly strange.
"What's wrong?" Tang Bufan asked nervously, also peeking out to look.
"No!" Lu Yi quickly reached out to cover his eyes: "She's not wearing any clothes."
Tang Bufan was suddenly blindfolded by his large hand and could only put his hands on his arms, while Sirius next to him had no such scruples and directly leaned his head in to look.
“Just a poisoner.” Sirius peered through the bars. The cell was pitch black, almost pitch black, but thanks to the orcs’ powerful night vision, he could still make out a giant “flower” blooming in the corner of the cell. The “flower” was made up of countless green roots that spread across almost half of the cell’s walls and floor, and in the very center was a naked green woman. Even though her long hair covered her entire body, it couldn’t cover her private parts.
The woman was staring straight at him. Her face was obscured by her hair, but she grinned when their eyes met.
Sirius thought she looked like a female ghost, so he shuddered and was somewhat frightened.
"Wow." Anderson also came over to take a look, craning his neck with Sirius, and complained, "Can this still be called a poisonous person? It's more like a humanoid plant!"
Tang Bufan was curious but also worried about the other person being naked, so he said to Anderson, "Take off your clothes and throw them in for her."
Sirius and Lu Yi were both wearing tight-fitting diving suits, while Anderson was wearing loose prison clothes.
“There’s another layer inside.” Anderson peered through the small ventilation window and looked inside carefully: “It’s through glass.”
"Break it." A soft, slightly hoarse female voice came from inside, though it wasn't very clear because of the sealed glass.
But everyone present was an orc with keen hearing, so they all heard it clearly.
"Help me," she said again.
Tang Bufan raised his hand and pulled off Lu Yi's blindfold. The four orcs blocking the heavy iron gate immediately looked at each other.
"We can't let it go," Anderson said with his eyes.
"We can't let it go." Lu Yi agreed.
We can't let them go. Sirius was already terrified of them.
Tang Bufan thought for a moment, then asked seriously through the iron gate, "What can you do for us?"
"Hehehe~" The other person inside chuckled sweetly: "So what are you doing here looking for me?"
“The poisonous people outside are being contaminated by you,” Lu Yi said in a deep voice. “You are the mother plant.”
"That's all," the woman said, nonchalantly asking Lu Yi, "What, are you going to burn me?"
"..." Lu Yi fell silent. He turned his head to look across the corridor, where Fick was holding the little poisonous boy's hand. His gaze fell down to the boy's rotting palm.
There once was a seed there.
It's probably too late.
Lu Yi sighed inwardly and said to the woman through the iron gate, "I won't burn you, but we don't have the key to the iron gate, and the glass inside looks like it's bulletproof. Help us open the bottom passage of the research institute. Right now, the armies of the three Orc Federations are gathered outside. Once our army comes in, I'll open this door for you."
"What, you can't open all those tools in your bag?" the female poisoner asked.
Lu Yi felt a chill run down his spine and met Sirius's gaze, who was carrying a backpack.
"How do I know that if I let you out, you won't control the poisonous people outside to attack us?" Lu Yi said in a deep voice, "Your genes have been modified by the researchers here, making you physiologically averse to orcs."
The woman fell silent. After a long while, she sighed softly and said quietly, "And our genes have been planted with a 'bomb' of death."
She suddenly called out to Tang Bufan, "Mother."
Tang Bufan was held tightly in Lu Yi's arms, and he replied, "I'm here."
"Do you remember our deal?" the woman inside asked.
“…I remember.” Tang Bufan said, “You help me lure the orcs out, and I’ll let you out and delete that sonic file.”
The woman was satisfied: "It's good that you remember."
After saying that, he told the people outside the door: "My child has already pried open the door to the CNC center of this research institute. It's on the 22nd basement level. Take the elevator down. With the strength of three Orc Federation members, we should be able to break through the security system here. You can open the door to leave the island yourselves."
As soon as she finished speaking, a blinding light suddenly shone from above them, causing those who were used to the dark to immediately close their eyes uncomfortably.
Meanwhile, in the conference room where a heated discussion was taking place, the gentle electronic female voice of the Rebooter's mainframe rang out: "Warning, the Central Research Institute's power system has been restored. Warning, the Central Research Institute's power system has been restored."
At the same time, a virtual screen was projected into the air, showing a charming little poisonous girl sitting on the control panel of the research institute's machine control center, swinging her legs. The institute's main AI was forced to lower its mechanical head by her.
The previously noisy conference room suddenly fell silent, and all the researchers stared wide-eyed at the screen in disbelief.
“How could this be…” Zero clenched his fists, his face pale as he muttered in a low voice, “All the infected people from d0328 should have been dealt with…”
"I told you, plants this aggressively invasive are very difficult to eradicate completely," a gray-haired researcher said, annoyed and indignant. "You have no idea how many seeds it has released!"
"Then why does the institute's main system listen to it?" another researcher asked.
“It wasn’t just listening; it was being threatened.” The female researcher who had been in charge of taking care of the poisoned children sighed deeply: “Our time machine, and many other rare experimental artifacts… are still there.”
Everyone fell silent.
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Author's Note: Background information about Fang Yue's younger brother will be revealed in Chapter 82.
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