After a long time, Chen Nian slowly withdrew his mental strength, and all the gloomy haze had dissipated.

He used to hate the feeling of being provoked by others, as it was a sign of weakness. He should be invincible and not be bothered by anyone.

But now, Chen Nian has long understood that it is not the same thing at all. If it weren't for Shafulai, he estimated that -

Boom!!!

There was a loud bang, Chen Nian suddenly opened his eyes, and his body swayed with the unstable ground. Shafulai immediately held him in his arms and shouted: Be alert!

"What's wrong? What happened?" Chen Nian held onto the wall with one hand, steadying his body, and using his mental strength to explore as much as possible.

The raw stone embedded in the metal plate blocks the energy, and the only thing that can break it is words.

Chen Ci's voice rang in the earphones, not loud, and some of the words were drowned out by the chaotic sound.

"It's the parasitic anglerfish. It's destroying the building structure. It must have gone mad because its nest was burned. But it shouldn't be a big problem. It's quite far away from us. It won't be long before it runs out of energy or dies."

"Most parasites will leave after their host dies and look for a new living host. This blue monster should be similar, otherwise they wouldn't flee in panic after killing their host."

"From the sound it makes, it's quite powerful." Fu Tianhe exclaimed. When they passed by, the anglerfish remained indifferent. If it went crazy, it would probably be difficult to deal with.

Chen Ci: "Let's go, it will calm down after a while."

More than half an hour later, everyone finally found the other shelter Eric mentioned. The situation here seemed much better than there. At least they did not find any trace of the original creatures.

"Someone here might know we exist," Shaflay whispered. "Let's try to contact them directly."

The special forces captain nodded, and the team members adjusted their communication frequencies and sent friendly signals.

After more than ten minutes of trying, the team member suddenly shouted: Got it!

Everyone immediately fell silent and focused on what was coming from the headphones.

Davis's powerful voice rang out: "Hello, can you hear me? This is E3."

"A1 received."

Davis: "Captain! I finally found you!"

"How are you?"

"Everything is normal, everyone is here. We followed the robot all the way here and met some survivors. You guys should come over quickly too."

Chen Nian looked down at the small robot at his feet. It turned around, obviously to lead the way for everyone.

He quickened his pace and followed.

Although it always seems a bit strange to meet again so easily suddenly, it is normal for them to relax a little now after encountering so many troubles along the way.

A few minutes later, they successfully reunited with Davis and his group who had lost contact outside the shelter.

The twelve-man team was sitting in a hidden gap. The team leader who was responsible for taking care of three injured soldiers bent down and crawled out. He was obviously relieved when he saw the main force.

"The people living in this facility are all uninfected. We may be carrying Ashes powder, so we should not go in and destroy their environment."

Shaflay: "All uninfected?"

"Well, they say there are more than 60,000 people in total. They provided us with a place to rest, so we just waited here for the time being."

In fact, it is normal to have a large number of uninfected people. No matter how strong the infectious disease is, it may not infect everyone. Moreover, only those who come into contact with the dust or crystals in Ashes will be exposed to the risk of infection.

So an intriguing question arises: How did the people inside Moonlight get exposed to the Ashes environment at the same time? You know, these infected people live all over the beacon.

Shafley: "How are you three doing?"

"It's not itchy anymore. Maybe the secretion of the sea king is really effective. But I feel a little stomachache after drinking it."

Chen Ci: "After I get out, I'll go get a genetic test right away."

"Ah? Okay." Although he didn't know the reason, Davis agreed immediately.

Chen Ci pursed his lips. Originally, he would have been glad that Poseidon's secretions really had an inhibitory effect, but after seeing the look on everyone's faces in the shelter earlier, he was not sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

It's just a matter of taking it. Most of the substances will be digested, and the complete gene cannot enter the cells through absorption, so it should be fine.

Now that they have reunited, everyone can just rest where they are. There are loudspeakers installed in the outer room so that they can communicate with the survivors inside.

"Hello, everyone." A woman's voice came from the speaker. "My name is Li Li, and I'm the person on duty today. If you need anything, please let me know. All the people living in our shelter are uninfected. For safety reasons, we won't let you in."

Shafley: "It doesn't matter. Safety is the most important thing."

Xu Fengyi: "The signal from their side is a bit strange, it is completely closed, as if they don't want them to know the situation outside. If they hadn't used robots to explore, they probably wouldn't have known the exact situation inside Moonlight."

"After we found this, we originally planned to go back to where there was a signal and explain it to you, but we fell from above and couldn't climb out, and we couldn't find any other way, so we could only stay here for the time being, and we caused everyone to worry."

Chen Nian: "It should be a kind of protection. After all, if you know that there are monsters and Ashes outside and you are completely locked inside, even if you live in a shelter healthily, various problems will arise over time."

In desperate situations, people's psychological defenses can easily collapse, chaos breaks out, and they may end up in the worst possible situation.

As they are now, they can only rely on robots to explore the outside world bit by bit, so at least they still have some hope.

"That's true." Li Li said softly, "We haven't been able to explore the surface until now, and we didn't know that the moonlight has been strictly blocked. We have been trying to collect materials and improve the performance of the robots so that we can explore further."

"I didn't expect... it would be like this."

Chen Nian said cheerfully, "Don't worry. It's best to know now. We will definitely get you out."

He suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, sister, does your shelter have a number?"

Li Li: "This is No. 43. There are ten places in the facility, from 41 to 50."

"41!" Chen Nian was shocked. "Can you tell us the specific situation of Shelter No. 41?"

"You can go ask them in person. We can only communicate with robots, so it's definitely not as clear as what you said in the past. But as far as I know, there's nothing special there. Just like here, it's a shelter where survivors live, with tens of thousands of people living there."

"Uninfected?"

Chen Ci frowned; the situation was suddenly different from what he had expected.

Since Chen Wei left behind the drawings of Shelter No. 41, it must be a very important area. Perhaps he and Chen Nian were born there.

After seeing the situation in Eric's shelter, he even felt that he and Chen Nian were children who were selected through special means.

So, everyone in Shelter 41 is actually uninfected?

Chen Ci: "Okay, let's go over and ask. Can you tell me the location?"

Li Li: "Keep going up, the door diagonally opposite is it. When Davis' team came here before, all the shelters in this facility knew the situation. Just go over and explain your identities."

Chen Ci: "Okay, thank you."

Chen Nian stood up and said, "I'll go with you."

Fu Tianhe and Shafulai were about to leave, but were stopped by Chen Nian: "No need, we just want to go and chat, my brother and I can do it alone."

"Old Fu, you and your brother went to Eric's place before and didn't have time to rest. You should take the time to rest. Shafulai, don't you still have to try to crack the system?"

"That's right." Shaflay sat down again, "Then you two should be careful."

"Yeah." Chen Nian patted Chen Ci's shoulder, "Let's go."

Watching the twins go away, Shafulai took out the neural adapter from his bag. This place was relatively safe, with low dust concentration in the air and few traces of monsters. He had plenty of time to slowly crack the code.

Having come this far, he needed to actually enter the core of Moonlight's program to find out what was going on.

Fu Tianhe: "Do you still need me to keep an eye on you?"

"No, just go to sleep."

Fu Tianhe responded with a "OK", found a comfortable position, lay down and fell asleep.

Schafflet took a deep breath and put the neural adapter on his head.

In fact, he was also unsure.

——Moonlight, what are you hiding?

Chen Ci and Chen Nian walked all the way to the outskirts of Shelter 41. Although they could not enter, they both knew what the internal structure of the shelter was like, and the specific drawings were still kept in their terminals.

A shelter that looks very much like a laboratory, in which all the people are uninfected.

Chen Ci: "Hello, we are special forces from Cinnabar. We would like to ask you about the specific situation inside the shelter to facilitate the setting of subsequent rescue plans."

After more than ten seconds, a piercing noise came from the speaker: "Hello, my name is Nina, I'm in charge of receiving you. Ah, it's been a long time since I chatted with strangers."

"My name is Chen Nian, and this is my brother Chen Ci." Chen Nian introduced, "We have been inside Moonlight for thirteen or fourteen hours. It's just right for us to take a break here. I want to take this opportunity to know more about Shelter 41, especially whether there is anything special about your place."

"A special place?" Nina seemed a little troubled. "I don't think so. We are all ordinary people who were arranged to live in the shelter after the collapse. If we have to say what is different from other shelters, it is probably that we all lived in the same area before."

Chen Ci: "Where?"

“We are basically workers living in the washing area.”

Chen Ci was stunned.

Wash area, uninfected, outbreak at the same time.

The answer is obvious.

"I understand." Chen Ci whispered.

Chen Nian: "Eh? What did you find out?"

Chen Ci: "I know where Ashes comes from."

Chen Ci took a deep breath and continued to ask, "Has anyone who lived with you in the polling area been infected?"

"Of course there are, and the number is quite large." Nina said softly, "My husband and children are infected, and their symptoms are very serious. When arranging the shelter, I, as an uninfected person, was forced to ask to be separated from them.

"I haven't seen them since then."

At the end, she couldn't help but choke up. Even though more than ten years have passed, she still can't forget the pain she felt at that time.

Chen Ci: "Is everyone in there in the same situation?"

Nina: “Well, sometimes when we chat together, we wonder whether it is lucky or unfortunate that we were not infected, but suffered a separation that is more painful than death.”

Chen Ci: "After arriving at the shelter, has Beacon made any other arrangements here? For example, with the help of specialized management personnel or military personnel, have they done something?"

"Well... let me think about it. It's been a while, and I can't remember the details very clearly. But it is true that Mr. Heibo also prepared special nutrient solution and medicine for us, and organized everyone to donate blood."

Hei Bo. Chen Ci frowned, and he finally appeared again.

The infected were fed collectively, causing them to mutate into marine life-like organisms. But what about the uninfected?

"Have you experienced any adverse reactions after taking the nutritional solution and medication?"

"I had symptoms of dizziness and aches at the time, and I was worried that I had an infection. Fortunately, nothing happened in the end. I just had to take nutrient solution and antibiotics."

Chen Ci: "Okay, I understand, thank you. We will take some time to investigate the situation inside Moonlight. In two days at most, we will be able to get in touch with the outside world and rescue everyone from the shelter."

"Well, we have been waiting for this day for a long time."

After saying goodbye to Nina, Chen Ci did not immediately return to where the main force was. Instead, he and Chen Nian walked to another relatively secluded corner.

Chen Ci said calmly: "The nutrient solution that Heibo asked them to take is a hematopoietic stem cell mobilizing agent. The granulocyte colony stimulating factor in it can make the hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow enter the peripheral blood."

"After that, you only need to draw blood from the elbow to obtain hematopoietic stem cells."

Chen Nian was stunned: "Hei Bo extracted their hematopoietic stem cells, and then, and then..."

Chen Ci nodded. He looked back at the closed door of Shelter 41 and said, "Maybe that's where our bloodline comes from."

"…Why them?"

"The place where they live was the first place to be infected, but because of the incubation period, no one was able to detect it."

"The people selected from Shelter 41 were all the lucky ones who were exposed to the most dangerous environment but were not infected. Perhaps there is a part in their genes that makes them less susceptible to infection."

Chen Nian's eyes suddenly widened.

Yes, he thought, those purple crystals growing in the pipes, replacing the blue energy that once flowed through them.

Chen Ci's calm voice echoed in his ears: "Energy is what can transport the infection to all parts of the beacon, exposing 23 million people to the risk of infection at the same time."

"While Moonlight was mining for energy, perhaps by accident, he dug up something that he absolutely could not touch. Ashes was drawn upward along the pipeline along with the energy, and after multiple treatments, it was integrated into the liquid and transported to every inch of the beacon."

"Electricity, gas, energy blocks, these indispensable resources in daily life have become the most deadly poison."

Like blood cancer.

While humans can still be treated with bone marrow transplants, beacons are unable to eliminate many of the infections that quietly spread.

It's beyond saving.

The truth that he had been searching for for so long was calmly revealed by his brother, and Chen Nian was suddenly struck by a sense of unreality.

It was so strong, so strong that Chen Nian didn't want to believe it, didn't want to believe that Moonlight had been sentenced to death.

Chen Nian: "If we can find the antidote, we should be able to save the situation, right?"

"Moonlight has been working hard on research." Chen Ci paused and said softly, "I just don't know if it has been successful. Its disappearance and call for help nine years ago were too sudden. I am not optimistic about this."

Chen Nian: "Eric and his team have been screened all the time. Even the sea king is being used as an experiment. The primitive creatures kept in the aquarium must have been manipulated as well."

"Moonlight is a powerful supercomputer that can perform trillions of iterations per second. Moreover, Heibo is an expert in biochemistry. There will definitely be some results."

Chen Ci: "We are the results."

Chen Nian: "No, I mean, after that, wasn't it nearly ten years later? During those ten years, Moonlight only used a small portion of its computing power to assist other beacons in making games. Its real experience must have been used to develop the antidote. It was even said that it was not until some kind of accident occurred in the end that it conveyed the message to save me."

Chen Ci: "Maybe."

"We need to tell others this news quickly."

Chen Nian turned around, and the moment he took a step forward, his wrist was grabbed by Chen Ci.

"Chen Nian, it is impossible to cultivate us who have real inhibitory effects in blood by relying solely on hematopoietic stem cells that may have accidental factors."

"I know." Chen Nian said softly, "And... Poseidon."

Humans are not viruses.

RNA viruses can undergo countless mutations in a very short period of time, evolving rapidly by developing characteristics that allow them to adapt to the environment or become unsuitable for it.

But stable chromosomes have a hard time doing this.

Since it is impossible to quickly select stable traits in the shortest time, just obtain them from other organisms.

Some creatures are able to resist infection very well and even protect other organisms from harm through their own secretions.

Chen Ci closed his eyes and raised his hands to his neck.

Under the thin skin are the large arteries beating with the heart.

This is where Eric's gills grow.

"Luckily you're here, brother." Chen Nian said softly, "If I were facing this alone, I would probably be scared to death."

Now, their destinies are linked, and they must continue pursuing their love even for each other.

Chen Ci raised his hand and placed it on Chen Nian's shoulder: "Let's go, let's go back."

It was pitch black before my eyes, a virtual world made up of data, filled with a strong sense of emptiness.

Yes, the last time he used the Neural Adapter, he forced his way through the firewall and entered the interior of the Moonlight Program through the crack.

Shafley is not sure whether this is the core, but at least it is a step further than before.

Nothing.

Due to the lack of reference, he couldn't even perceive his own existence.

The countless mouths that had emerged from the void were no longer here. Where had the strong desire to tear him apart and eat him gone?

Shaflay was drifting aimlessly. He knew it was not a good thing, but he could not change it.

It was like floating in the deep sea ten thousand meters deep. In the deep darkness, were there eyes watching him?

Perhaps no reaction was normal, since the moonlight had stopped functioning long ago.

But he had to at least find some traces in it, clues about the truth, about the experiment, and about the antidote.

And the real reason why Moonlight asked for help in the end.

Shafla closed his eyes and concentrated all his energy, concentrating and concentrating again, so that his thoughts would synchronize with the electronic pulse.

After all, the human brain also completes thinking through countless electrical signals, doesn't it?

At the moment when the frequencies overlap, a resonance suddenly arrives, like a train tipping over the head, enveloping the thoughts and rushing towards a distant area that never ends.

In an instant, countless scenes flashed before my eyes.

Shafley saw him, as a young child, lying on the edge of a cot, trying to tease his twin babies who had just come full term; he saw him sitting upright in a classroom, learning a dull political course; he saw him racking his brains to study and write code, with his father sitting beside him and occasionally giving him guidance; he saw him see for the first time a special neural adapter used for maintenance.

We saw him see the fantasy kingdom for the first time and be amazed by the exquisite graphics and engine that were indistinguishable from reality. We saw him help Chen Ci sneak to the bell tower during the break of the royal parade. We saw him expose Chen Nian's true identity by the lake and sincerely express his willingness to help hide the secret. We saw him being grabbed by the collar by Chen Nian and getting his first sweet kiss.

Twenty-five years of life flew by, being taken far away by the train. In the darkness, a dull hum seemed to come from the deep sea.

He saw the golden-eyed woman sitting on the ruins, looking down at the devastation on the ground; he saw the Poseidon struggling desperately, bleeding, and the turbulent waves almost overturning the ocean; he saw Hei Bo standing in the center of the laboratory, and in front of him was a man who was also almost swallowed by Ashes.

Bright red tears flowed from Heibo's eyes that were pierced by the crystal. He raised his hand and fed the solution in his hand to the dying Alpha.

The blood and solution stained the white coat.

A strong feeling of nausea came over me in an instant.

The itching emanated from deep within his soul, as if something had penetrated into his body through his nerves.

In an instant, every cell in my body transmitted the same strong thought: escape!

Run away quickly, or you will be...!

No, it's not possible!

He had finally cracked the firewall and entered the core of Moonlight's program in order to look for relevant clues. If he gave up at the critical moment, all their previous efforts would be in vain!

The survivors who have become inhuman, the children who were born deformed, and the people who have lived behind the heavy door for 19 years are all waiting for an explanation!

He must persevere, for the sake of those who may be infected in the future, as well as those who are already infected.

Shafulai took a deep breath, and tried his best to concentrate his mental strength, trying to protect himself more strictly and resist the abnormalities that penetrated everywhere.

It was as if a thousand-pound mountain was pressing down on his body, squeezing the air into his pores and mixing it into his blood. It could easily form an embolism and take his life.

You must never relax. Once you let go of your energy, something real will come in!