Chapter 54: He must be too impatient!
When Lin Yao opened his eyes again, his nostrils were filled with a familiar smell.
The white treatment cabin was emitting a low humming sound, and light blue treatment fluid flowed over his neck, swaying gently along the curve of his collarbone.
The cold liquid, carrying restorative energy, is slowly seeping into the muscles through the skin, like countless slightly cool hands, soothing the remaining burning pain in the body.
He moved his fingers and felt a slight tingling sensation, and his skin became dark all over. This was the aftereffect of the toxins not being completely eliminated.
It was like countless fine needles were slowly moving under his skin, reminding him of the fishy sweetness and madness in the red zone's cave.
The cabin was sealed, and the light outside the transparent cabin wall was a little blurry. An old figure could be vaguely seen standing still, seemingly holding something in his hand.
Lin Yao didn't say anything, but just quietly looked at the outline outside the cabin wall, feeling the energy in the healing fluid neutralizing the remaining poison in the blood bit by bit.
After an unknown amount of time, the humming of the treatment cabin gradually slowed down, and the light blue liquid began to silently drain away through the cracks in the bottom of the cabin, revealing the wounds on his body that had not yet completely healed.
With a light "click" sound, the hatch slowly lifted up, and air carrying the smell of disinfectant rushed in, dispelling the remaining smell of medicine in the cabin.
"woke up."
Fang Yuanqiu's voice rang out at the edge of the cabin. It was not loud, but it carried a penetrating calmness.
Lin Yao turned his head and saw the old man walking over from the window and sitting next to the treatment chamber. His glasses had slipped to the tip of his nose, and the light computer screen in his hand was lit, displaying dense test data.
He was still wearing the White Tower examiner uniform that Lin Yao had worn when he first met him during the assessment, and there was a bit of unknown dust in the folds of his cuffs.
It is obvious that the old man has been running around since the incident.
The moment their eyes met, Lin Yao suddenly remembered the original owner's memory.
It was also a treatment room like this, but at that time the original owner was accompanied by only Uncle Fu, who was running around.
The spiritual body was seriously injured, and the mental strength declined. The original owner had to use up all his strength even to open his eyes.
Lin Yao moved the corners of his lips, but his throat was a little tight and he couldn't make a sound.
Fang Yuanqiu's eyes swept across his pale face, then fell back to the computer screen: "Seventy percent of the toxins have been cleared, and the rest needs to be slowly neutralized."
"When the rescue team arrived, you were lying among a pile of larvae corpses. Their toxins entered through your wounds and invaded your heart."
Fang Yuanqiu's voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable weight.
"If your spirit hadn't built a barrier for you, temporarily blocking the spread of the poison, you probably wouldn't have made it back to the starship."
Lin Yao didn't say anything.
He remembered clearly that just before he heard the cry for help, he asked Shasha to give the same poison as Zhou Yan to Wen Yu's fragments and himself.
The poison was injected from the wounds left by Zhou Yan before. Shasha built a defense outside the spiritual sea and spiritual image. The poison would only corrode Lin Yao's body.
It's not self-torture, it's to make this "accident" look more real.
After all, they came here together, and it's impossible for him to be clean after one dies and the other is injured.
Fang Yuanqiu continued, "The assessment was stopped on the spot. The L003 starship's medical bays were insufficient, and your poison... and Zhou Yan's, were too troublesome."
The hologram switched to a view of the starship's treatment room.
Lin Yao's pupils shrank slightly. The toxin injected by Shasha mixed with the toxin left by the hatched larvae, and with the interference of the red zone's magnetic field, formed a very overbearing mixed poison.
I looked at a black object that couldn't see its facial features lying in the cabin, with monitoring tubes inserted all over its body.
On the three-dimensional model of the mental image, only a few spots of blue remained, representing the stable area, and the rest was covered in torn scarlet, with cold characters marked next to it: Mental image collapse rate 80%.
"The starship's antidote is ineffective against this mixed toxin." Fang Yuanqiu's fingertips brushed across the scarlet, his tone darkening.
"Zhou Yan's mental strength plummeted from A-grade to C-. The medical team said his poison couldn't be removed because most of it was mixed in the 80% collapse zone.
To remove the poison, one must enter his mental image, but the image has been broken into pieces and cannot withstand the treatment, so he can only survive with the poison.
Besides, he is now no different from the living dead. Whether he can wake up or not depends entirely on God’s will.”
Lin Yao's gaze fell on the dark Zhou Yan, and his heart was calm.
The debt of Liuying Ferry and the calculation of the Red Zone, at this point, the relationship between him and Zhou Yan has been settled.
"You're better than him." Fang Yuanqiu changed the subject and called up Lin Yao's monitoring data.
"The barrier provided by your spiritual body has blocked some of the toxins. Combined with your own strong mental resilience, although it's dangerous, there's still hope."
He paused, looked up at Lin Yao, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes:
“On the way back to the Central Star, your heart stopped three times.
The White Tower's chief physician and his team watched over you for a full forty hours, using three mental purifications before finally bringing you back from the brink of death."
Fang Yuanqiu sighed again, sighing that such a serious accident had occurred in this assessment that should have gone smoothly.
"Thank you...thank you." Lin Yao tried hard, but could only say two words in a breathy voice.
Fang Yuanqiu waved his hand: "Why thank me? You're lucky to be able to survive."
He stood up and straightened the hem of his uniform. "Take good care of it. Someone will come to you for follow-up investigations. However..."
The old man turned around, his eyes lingering on Lin Yao's face, and his tone was slightly gentler: "Now that you're awake, I should be relieved. Otherwise, my monitoring point would probably be overturned."
"Wait... wait, I want to ask... about my... assessment?" Lin Yao looked at Mr. Fang's back as he was about to leave, and it took a lot of effort to speak out.
Mr. Fang turned around and looked at him, and seeing his uneasy expression, he said, "It's passed."
After saying that, Mr. Fang left, and Lin Yao breathed a sigh of relief. The original owner's wish was finally fulfilled.
-
In addition to telling Lin Yao the news that he had passed, Fang Yuanqiu also said something that, like a stone thrown into still water, created ripples in Lin Yao's heart.
He looked at the shadowless lamp on the ceiling of the cabin. The light and shadow blurred in front of his eyes, and Ye Heng's face with pursed lips became clearer and clearer.
Especially after Lin Yao asked him to investigate Zhou Yan and listened to the conversation between the two, Ye Heng asked Lin Yao what he was going to do, and Lin Yao gave him a general account.
After listening to this, Ye Heng said, "You want to join the game yourself?"
During the holographic call, the worry in Ye Heng's eyes flickered like an unextinguished charcoal fire.
Lin Yao was sorting out his belongings at the time and paused when he heard this:
"Zhou Yan and Wen Yu have been hiding behind the scenes for so long. This assessment is the best opportunity. If I don't take the initiative to go in, how can they reveal their true intentions?"
"Show your true colors?" Ye Heng's voice sank.
"How do you know if they'll be desperate? What if Zhou Yan kills them right away when you ask?"
He paused. Lin Yao had said that he would reinforce the barriers of the spiritual sea and spiritual image in advance, but Ye Heng always felt that it was not enough:
"Shasha can eat poison, but this time it's poisoning you. Your spirit is protected, but what about your body? Can it withstand it? And..."
"Ye Heng," Lin Yao interrupted him. "I have to go. The thing in the Nightless Stone might not be targeting you, but the sentinels of this assessment."
"I want to know who the person who has been plotting against me for three years is. Is it just one person? Or a group of people?"
Ye Heng's Adam's apple rolled and he said nothing more.
The information that Bian Miao had previously found out also came out. On the day that De Linwei and Lin Yao went to the White Pagoda, there were three people in the West District who could open that passage.
The head of the Ge family who came to visit the patient; the third prince who was receiving treatment in the White Pagoda; and the other one was Ye Heng’s best friend, Yun Ling, the young master of the Yun family.
Although Yun Ling is the young master, the head of the Yun family is already semi-retired, so he has real power in the Yun family.
That day he went to the White Pagoda to get medicine and also visited a patient on the way.
As soon as this information came out, Ye Heng and Lin Yao guessed that the person De Linwei went to see that day must be the third prince. After all, the Lin family was behind these things.
Wen Yu and Zhou Yan's plan to kill him made Lin Yao's mind confused yet extremely clear.
It was clear because someone really had spent three years plotting against him.
The chaos is because the original owner had something worth being calculated for?
Lin Yao never figured this out.
What could possibly be plotted against a plant guide who is neglected by his family, has a low level of mental power, has lost both parents, and is too young to inherit his parents' inheritance?
Could it be that the original owner's spiritual body was too special?
Is the ice-blue peony a rare vine?
Could it be those relics?
All the questions were intertwined, Lin Yao had no answers, and he couldn't get the relics according to the regulations.
The last time my second uncle’s house was returned, the key to the warehouse was given to De Linfeng for safekeeping.
So, he didn't want to miss Zhou Yan and Wen Yu.
That day, Ye Heng and Lin Yao began to try to persuade each other, but Lin Yao insisted on asking questions.
Ye Heng said that if that was the case, he would rush over overnight and would be there to watch Lin Yao's assessment no matter what.
Both sides insisted on their own views and began to argue.
At the end of the argument, Lin Yao felt that it was not a big deal. If they continued to argue like this, it would be dawn.
He looked at Ye Heng's tense jawline and suddenly smiled:
"Don't come over, the war is still important.
If Zhou Yan kills me right away without giving me a chance to talk, I'll just let him do it and not waste time with him. Is that okay?"
Ye Heng didn't respond at that time, but just looked at him deeply. It took him a long time before he nodded, but the worry in his eyes was so strong that it could not be dispelled.
"You must be careful."
This was the last sentence Ye Heng left before hanging up the phone.
-
Now lying in the treatment cabin, Lin Yao looked at the wound that was healing.
One of the wounds was recovering more slowly because it was the channel where Shasha injected toxins.
Lin Yao suddenly felt like laughing, but also a little scared.
The mixed toxin is really overbearing, but Shasha can really deal with it. Lin Yao did not lose his memory when he was unconscious.
The person who rescued him was Lin Ruheng, the chief physician of the White Tower mentioned by Mr. Fang.
The surname Lin meant that Lin Yao had to be on guard against him again and again, so the three heartbeats that stopped were the result of Shasha's actions.
The Zerg's ability to feign death was replicated by Shasha and affected Lin Yao's body through toxins.
Harmless but scary.
As for Ye Heng...I'm afraid it won't be that easy to get through.
Although the two of them had only known each other for less than three months, he understood Ye Heng.
That person protected him closely. This time, he had taken the risk and carried the plan to this point. When he woke up, he would most likely be greeted by Ye Heng's freezing gaze.
"Tsk." Lin Yao let out a soft "tsk." He felt a bit bitter on the tip of his tongue.
Compared to the Zerg in the red zone, Wen Yu's calculations and Zhou Yan's mental blade, Ye Heng is more difficult to deal with.
The hatch of the treatment cabin dropped again, and it was time to deliver nutrients.
The nutrient delivery tube made a slight sound, and the strawberry powder liquid slowly flowed into the tube.
Lin Yao closed his eyes and could feel Shasha trembling gently in his mental image, as if comforting him.
Forget it, let’s heal our wounds first and then face it. It’s not too much for him to act like an ostrich!
-
At the end of the second day's treatment, the morning light was slanting in through the window of the treatment room, casting a warm spot of light on the floor.
The light blue liquid in the treatment chamber was still circulating slowly. When Lin Yao opened his eyes in the cabin, the first thing he saw was his own shadow reflected on the cabin wall.
The inky toxin scabs spread from the face to the ankles like rice paper soaked in ink.
Even the fingertips were bluish-black, and only the whites of the eyes and the teeth that were occasionally exposed when she pursed her lips were the standout whites in this darkness.
The wound Zhou Yan had scratched him with had indeed healed.
The regenerative factors in the treatment fluid allowed the wounds to heal without a trace, leaving no scars.
But the toxins were embedded in the lower layer of the skin, and through the translucent treatment fluid, the whole person looked like a piece of obsidian immersed in water.
He was only wearing a pair of white medical underwear, which made his dark outfit look even more shocking.
"Knock." There was a knock on the cabin's observation window.
Lin Yaozheng raised his hand, his fingertips passed through the healing fluid, and curiously touched his black skin.
It's really darker than Africans.
Fang Yuanqiu's face appeared outside the cabin, followed by three people in dark gray uniforms. They were members of the White Tower Investigation Team.
The circulation system of the treatment cabin gradually slowed down, and the liquid receded along the diversion channel at the bottom of the cabin, revealing Lin Yao's black body covered with toxins.
The cool air brushed across his skin, and Lin Yao felt a little shy because he was only wearing a pair of medical underwear!
I heard Fang Yuanqiu say across the cabin: "Guide Lin, Team Leader Qin and the others are here."
Lin Yao's gaze swept around the edge of the cabin. Against his inky skin, the whites of his eyes appeared particularly clear.
He looked at Fang Yuanqiu, who was standing by the cabin. His voice came through the newly raised hatch, a little uncomfortably low and hoarse: "Mr. Fang, could you... get me something to cover myself with?"
Fang Yuanqiu was stunned for a moment, then reacted, and a hint of understanding and gentleness appeared in his eyes.
When Team Leader Qin heard this, his eyes subconsciously fell on Lin Yao, and then he paused obviously.
Even though I had seen the rescue footage and saw this scene with my own eyes, I was still shocked by the dominance of the poison.
It was not an ordinary stain, but a dark stain that had seeped into the skin texture, lingering on every inch of flesh like a living thing, making the white of the eye look even more eerie.
"Cough." Team leader Qin coughed lightly, turned sideways first, and his eyes fell on the monitoring equipment on the other side of the cabin.
The two team members also turned around tacitly. No one looked at them anymore, and even the optical computer recorder was temporarily put away.
It was out of respect for the injured, but also because the scene was so shocking that people subconsciously wanted to avoid it.
Fang Yuanqiu walked sideways to the shelf next to the treatment cabin and took out a neatly folded light gray medical shawl from the top shelf.
It is made of light and breathable material, with the silver emblem of the White Tower embroidered on the edge. It is usually used as a temporary covering for people who have just left the treatment cabin.
"I just forgot about that."
He walked back and gently placed the shawl on Lin Yao, moving very gently so as not to disturb the toxins under his skin. "This shawl is breathable, it won't be a problem."
The shawl just covered his torso and part of his thighs, leaving only his inky arms and legs exposed.
After doing all this, Lin Yao whispered, "Thank you, Mr. Fang."
"You're welcome."
After Fang Yuanqiu finished speaking, he turned towards Team Leader Qin and said, "Team Leader Qin, it's done."
Team leader Qin then turned around with his team members. When his eyes fell on Lin Yao, the shock was much lessened because of the shawl covering them.
He turned on the optical brain voice recorder again and said calmly, "Guide Lin, I'm sorry. This is the first time we've seen this type of toxin residue."
Lin Yao's eyes moved, and his gaze fell on Team Leader Qin's light brain. The corners of his dark mouth twitched, revealing a bit of white teeth:
"It's okay. This toxin... is really ugly."
Team Leader Qin cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me, I'm the team leader of the White Tower Safety Investigation Section, my last name is Qin. I'm here to learn about the specific circumstances of the assessment accident."
Lin Yao nodded, motioning him to continue.
Team Leader Qin turned on the optical computer recorder. The screen lit up, reflecting the dark circles under his eyes. "I don't know if you're aware that the footage of the rescue scene... was leaked by someone."
He said, calling up a blurry holographic video.
In the picture, members of the rescue team were carrying two people on stretchers, their bodies covered with black scabs of toxins, like two pieces of burnt charcoal;
On the ground not far away, there were scattered blood-stained fragments of protective clothing, which had been eaten to pieces by the swarm of insects.
The key parts of this video were cut off, leaving only the most shocking clips, which are now being circulated wildly on major star network forums on the Central Star.
"There are many different opinions online right now." Team Leader Qin's tone darkened.
"Some say it was a Zerg uprising, some speculate it was an internal conflict among the examinees, and there are conspiracy theories that... the White Tower was conducting secret experiments in the Red Zone, and you discovered them and silenced them."
Lin Yao could imagine those comments. After all, the words "Red Zone", "Zerg" and "White Tower Assessment" put together were enough to trigger public opinion.
What's more, there are two people who are "as black as charcoal" and a pile of scattered human body fragments in the picture, which makes it hard not to speculate.
"The assessment was originally to be broadcast live, but the signal interference in the red zone was too strong, so it was cut off midway." Fang Yuanqiu added, his voice filled with helplessness.
"No one expected the rescue team's video to be leaked, and the worst part was even released. The White Tower's PR department is freaking out. They need to issue a notice as soon as possible, or they'll be drowned out by public opinion."
Team Leader Qin looked at Lin Yao with a more earnest look:
"Guide Lin, you are the only conscious party involved. Zhou Yan is still in a coma, with no hope of waking up. Wen Yu... has been confirmed dead.
We need to know what happened? Why did you enter the Zerg spawning ground? Why did Zhou Yan and Wen Yu become like this? "
Lin Yao's dark Adam's apple rolled slightly, and his voice was hoarse after being soaked in the treatment fluid:
"I understand that the White Tower needs to give the public an explanation. After all... the incident was too big."
He coughed twice and said, "Let's start from the beginning."
He tapped the edge of the treatment cabin with his fingertips, where the metal surface reflected his vague shadow.
"On the day of the assessment, Zhou Yan and I initially followed the route, but when we reached an intersection, we encountered a swarm of mutant rats."
Team leader Qin paused with his pen, and information about the mutant rats popped up on the computer.
It is a gregarious creature with teeth that can bite through level 3 protective clothing, and it will indeed force the examiner to change his route.
"They blocked the original route," Lin Yao continued, looking at the ceiling in the room, as if recalling the chaos at that time.
"Zhou Yan said there's a road on the west side, close to the edge of the red zone, where mutant rats don't often go. I didn't think much about it and just followed him there."
Fang Yuanqiu added, "The magnetic storms at the edge of the red zone are indeed stronger, which is theoretically suitable for avoiding beasts."
"When we reached the fork in the road, it suddenly collapsed." Lin Yao's voice became lower, and his fingertips curled up unconsciously.
"To the left is rubble from the rock face, and to the right is the road to the Red Zone; the way in is also blocked."
He paused, and a very light laugh escaped from his throat, with a hint of self-mockery.
"It's all blocked. We have no choice but to go inside, hoping we might find another exit and have a chance of survival."
Team leader Qin wrote on the computer, "Force majeure caused the accidental entry into the deep red zone," and the pen tip paused with a little more force.
During the rescue, they did find that the passage was blocked. This kind of accidental diversion is not uncommon in field assessments and is enough to convince the public.
"And then we arrived at that cave?"
"Yes." Lin Yao nodded, with a tiny light reflected in the whites of his eyes.
"As soon as I reached the cave entrance, I heard some rustling noises. Once inside, I discovered it was the Zerg's spawning ground, and... it was just in time for the larvae to hatch."
He described the scene:
The white egg shells were like broken pearls, densely packed on the ground. The larvae crawled out of the shells, their translucent bodies wriggling in the dim light, covered with corrosive mucus.
"Zhou Yan was the first to strike. His spiritual form, the bald eagle, rushed forward, but there were too many larvae to kill them all. They surged forward like a tide."
"When did his mental fluctuations start to become abnormal?" Team Leader Qin asked.
"About ten minutes later." Lin Yao recalled, his inky fingers scratching a shallow mark on the cabin wall.
“The larvae’s slime splashed on his arm, but he didn’t pay attention to it. But then his movements became faster and faster, and his breathing became disordered.
I guess it was the toxins from the hatching larvae that irritated him, and because he killed them too hastily, the fluctuations went out of control."
This explanation is reasonable. Cases where larvae hatching toxins interfere with mental power are recorded in the White Tower's database.
"Is this when Wen Yu appeared?"
"Yes." Lin Yao's voice deepened. "I don't know why she came."
"But she came out from behind a rock in the cave and called Zhou Yan's name, but Zhou Yan couldn't recognize her by then."
He raised his black arm and touched the elbow with his fingertips.
"His spiritual blade came over and injured Wen Yu first.
I tried to pull her away, but he backhanded me and hit me in the body... I don't remember what happened next, I probably fainted from the pain."
He spoke calmly, as if he was talking about someone else, and only the occasional tremor revealed the thrill of the moment.
Team Leader Qin's computer stopped recording at the last line and he looked up at Lin Yao:
"In other words, the whole thing was an accident? Zhou Yan went crazy because of the Zerg pheromones, Wen Yu's death was an accidental killing caused by his loss of control, and you were seriously injured?"
"Yes." Lin Yao's answer was concise and clear, his dark face making the whites of his eyes particularly clear.
"None of us wanted to get to that point, but... Sentinel Zhou was probably too impatient and thought he could handle it himself."
The treatment room was silent for a moment, with only the low hum of the equipment making the sound.
Fang Yuanqiu suddenly spoke, breaking the silence:
"The Zerg hatching cycle in the Red Zone is indeed unstable. Add in the mutant rats and the landslide, and it really seems like an unavoidable accident."
Team Leader Qin looked puzzled. He turned off his computer and stood up.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Guide Lin. The information you provided is crucial, and we will compile a notice as soon as possible."
He glanced at the ink on Lin Yao's body and added, "As for the poison, the White Tower will arrange for the best doctors. You can rest assured and recuperate."
Mr. Fang left with the investigation team.
The inky fingers clenched the shawl, and the coolness of the cabin wall seeped through his skin. Lin Yao let out a sigh of relief.
What he said just now was not perfect, but he believed that the people in the White Tower would accept this statement. After all, the people behind the scenes would not let them dig out the real things.
-
On the way back, a staff member of the investigation team asked Team Leader Qin, "Guide Lin was clearly hiding something, so why was he let off?"
Team leader Qin calmly asked the man, "Is the passage blocked?"
"yes."
"Do the remains of Wen Yu's body and the wounds on Lin Yao have Zhou Yan's spiritual power?"
"yes."
"Didn't Wen Yu's partner say that when she heard the noise, she thought something might have happened, so she went to check it out herself, leaving a sentry to go get help?"
"yes."
"Then this matter ends here."
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