Chapter 88
When news of the failed quarantine reached the lobby, the air seemed to freeze.
On the projection screen, the energy transmission chain, which should have been stable, appeared to be completely interrupted.
The vital signs of several members of the "transfer team" have been marked as "missing".
"Impossible! That's a passage reinforced by a double rune array, how could it be reversed?"
Someone slammed their hand on the table, causing the branches to tremble.
Another high-ranking official, his eyes sinister, said in a low voice:
"This is not a failure, but a backlash. Someone secretly rewrote the process."
At either end of the table, the voices gradually split:
One group coldly asserted: "237 must be executed completely! Whether he is a hero or a threat, he has now become the focus of the 'Third Force' and the Shadow."
Another faction countered: "No! He is the only force capable of contending with the avatar; executing him would be tantamount to handing over our hope."
There was also a more secretive faction, which remained silent, their eyes gleaming with a dark light, as if they had not yet given up on the possibility of communicating with a third force.
The hall was as noisy as a storm in a rift valley.
Finally, an elderly elder slammed his hand on the table and uttered a deep, resonant sentence:
"—Now is not the time to argue, but to wait for a response."
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone's heart tightened.
Because they know that the third force will not stand idly by.
midnight.
A low hum suddenly came from the sky above the entire quarantine zone.
The sound had no source, yet it permeated the roots of every plant, as if drilling into the depths of the soil.
"...The key is now in your hands."
"But it doesn't belong to you."
"If you attempt to intercept it, we will uproot it along with its roots."
The voice was cold and ruthless, carrying an irresistible pressure.
All the branches in the hall trembled, as if they were being crushed and unable to breathe.
A high-ranking official immediately bowed his head and said in a trembling voice:
“The Great Order…we are willing to submit, if only you permit—”
But before he could finish speaking, the buzzing suddenly intensified.
All the obedient branches and leaves had cracked runes appearing on their surfaces, as if they had been scorched by invisible flames.
"obedience?"
The voice sneered.
“Your roots are too shallow; you don’t even qualify to be parasitic.”
Immediately, the talisman disappeared, leaving only an empty shell.
The hall fell into a deathly silence.
Only then did everyone truly understand: in the eyes of that being, they were not "subjects" to whom one could choose to submit, but merely soil to be used or discarded.
isolation chamber
237 closed his eyes quietly, but clearly heard that "warning" in his heart.
But unlike other plants, it didn't tremble; instead, the corners of its mouth curled up slightly.
"It wants me."
He murmured softly.
Bean Sprout 12 opened its eyes, and a hard, cold aura emanated from its branches and leaves.
"So we need to make it understand—"
237 met his gaze, her voice cold and firm:
"—The key can also bite the hand that holds it."
The array of runes in the isolation chamber suddenly trembled at midnight.
The surrounding band of light, which should have been as solid as steel, was instantly eroded by darkness, and the runes extinguished one by one, as if swallowed by some kind of invisible ink.
Sprout 12 suddenly stood up, its branches and leaves standing upright, sensing a familiar yet even more oppressive atmosphere.
It had the texture of the "cracked tentacles" that had appeared on the battlefield, but this time... it was deeper, colder, and more determined.
Black mist rose from the bulkhead, condensing into a pitch-black crack.
A hand emerged from the crack, neither a physical entity nor a phantom, its surface covered with slowly writhing eye sockets and runes.
The hand slowly reached into the cabin, as if it were not hindered by any protection.
It did not attack, but instead stretched straight toward—237.
"……key."
The deep voice echoed, as if speaking directly from the depths of one's heart, carrying an unquestionable command.
"Come with me."
Sprout 12 immediately pulled out the fragment of the long blade and stood in front of 237.
The blade ignited with the afterglow of the mother tree's shadow, causing a violent tremor.
"He is not someone you can take away."
Sprout 12's voice was like a flame, biting down on every single word.
The hand paused slightly, then slowly turned towards Sprout 12.
Several eye sockets opened at the same time, staring coldly at him.
The next moment, the bulkhead seemed to be lifted up by an invisible force, and the air was suddenly compressed into a suffocating vortex.
The 12 sprouts were crushed under the weight, their branches cracked and their roots sank deep into the ground, as if they were about to be crushed.
However--
237 suddenly opened his eyes.
A cold light ignited in his pupils. He slowly raised his hand and, just as the black hand approached, he grabbed its wrist in reverse.
"...Do you think I'd go with you?"
In an instant, the entire cabin erupted with a blinding pulse of light and darkness.
The black hand twisted violently, black flames shooting from its eye sockets, but for the first time it was forced to retreat half an inch.
The voice revealed surprise and doubt for the first time:
"...Impossible. You're just a key...how could you have your own obsession?"
237 sneered, the light and shadow in his palm intertwining and drawing back into his black hand:
"Because I am not a container."
"I am—a seed."
As the last word fell, the black hand emitted a piercing shriek, and the crack trembled violently.
Simultaneously, explosions rang out in the quarantine zone outside, with shrill and piercing alarms causing the entire base to shake.
The 12 bean sprouts struggled to stand, their branches and leaves rustling.
He looked at 237 as if witnessing true growth for the first time.
"...So, I wasn't the only one among the embers of the mother tree."
The black hand let out a piercing shriek that tore through the heavens and earth, then abruptly retracted the rift and vanished into the depths of the void.
But the remaining power did not dissipate; instead, it spread wildly across the walls of the isolation chamber like a seed that had exploded.
The rune array was completely extinguished, the suppression ring shattered instantly, and the thick alloy wall layer peeled off like withered leaves.
The air was scorching, thick with dark toxins, as if it would turn everything to ashes.
The base's alarms then blared—
"The quarantine zone is out of control! Energy levels exceed limits! Initiate a full lockdown immediately!"
The red protective shield descended layer by layer, but it couldn't stop the shockwave from the internal explosion.
In an instant, the isolation chamber transformed into the center of a vortex where light and darkness intertwined.
Sprout 12 forcefully dragged 237 up, its branches and leaves shielding him from the shattered steel and turbulent currents.
"We have to leave! This place is about to collapse!"
237 staggered, but gritted his teeth.
The dual energies within his body were still churning, like an out-of-control river, but he suppressed them firmly on the surface of his body, preventing them from running rampant again.
The alloy lock on the gate, after the rune array collapsed, became a constraint instead.
With a single slash of the 12-long blade, the fragments burned with light veins, cutting a gap in the blade.
The two rushed out of the quarantine area, and immediately a loud bang came from behind them as the entire cabin collapsed completely.
Black mist surged from the ruins, as if it were still chasing them.
At the same time, the long table in the hall shook and the projection screen flickered.
A high-ranking official suddenly stood up and shouted sternly:
"They've lost control! Units 237 and 12 have breached the isolation ward without authorization—this is defection!"
The other person narrowed his eyes coldly, as if he had been prepared for this, and said:
"No, this is precisely the evidence. They have been corrupted by the third force. Now, we have reason to abandon them completely."
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze.
A few people turned pale, but no one dared to refute them on the spot.
The order was issued quickly:
"Seal off the base and initiate pursuit."
In the corridor outside, 237 and Sprout 12 walked side by side, their breaths filled with the smell of blood and ash.
The distant sirens and the sound of iron boots were rapidly approaching.
Sprout12 sneered: "They want to treat us as traitors."
237's gaze was cold and his voice was deep:
"Then let's betray them once and show them."
The two walked side by side into the shadows and disappeared into the depths of the base.
Behind them, pursuers of their own kind were swarming in.
At the end of the corridor, the heavy alloy door was tightly shut, and the runes had long since faded.
The footsteps of the pursuers grew closer, the thunderous sound of their metal boots striking the ground like a countdown war drum.
Sprout 12 raised his hand, and the branches and leaves turned into blades, but he was pulled back by 237.
"Wait a moment."
—At that moment, the energy in 237's chest suddenly vibrated, as if drawn by some ancient and profound existence.
A faint green light emerged from the ground, growing out of the cracks in the wall and wrapping around the alloy door.
That was no ordinary plant, but a "mother tree vein" that had disappeared from the archives.
The branches and leaves are illusory, like a projection of memories, yet they can penetrate steel and outline a hidden crevice.
The alloy door trembled slightly, as if responding to a summons, and slowly opened to both sides.
Behind the door was not a corridor, but a deep passageway, with translucent tree vein patterns flowing across the walls, radiating a warm yet dangerous light.
Sprout 12 stared at the passage with a complicated expression.
"...This is a remnant of the mother tree. But why is it here?"
237 felt a jolt in his heart, and the unconscious call faintly surfaced in his mind.
It was as if the entire passage was a door opened for him by a "superior being".
He whispered, "Perhaps... this is the only way."
The shouts of the pursuers suddenly drew closer.
Sprout 12 snorted coldly and said without further hesitation, "Then let's go. It's better to die in the Mother Tree than to die at their hands."
The two stepped into the passage together, and the alloy door behind them immediately closed, shutting out all the noise.
Inside the passage, the walls seemed to be alive.
The transparent patterns shimmered, pulsating like blood vessels, accompanied by a deep hum.
237 With each step he took, the power within his body resonated with these veins, making even breathing difficult.
He heard a whisper in his ear—
"Return... return..."
Sprout 12 gripped his arm tightly, pulling him back from his daze.
"Stay calm! Don't get swallowed up."
But they all knew that once they stepped onto this path, there was no turning back.
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