Chapter 356: Flaming Meteor! (122,000+1 Bonus Chapter!)

High above, black mist twisted and spread; Lin Xian had just seized the memory module when he heard Wangyue Zhenshi's voice—he immediately suspected something had happened to Xiang Ningjing, so without hesitation, he ordered Kiki to lead everyone down rapidly, find Chen Sixuan and Shizhi, and prepare to rush toward them via low-altitude streets.

"Lin, the wastewater treatment plant has already received the feedback signal—you have fifteen minutes to evacuate."

The voice came from Wangyue Zhenshi.

Lin Xian checked the time while inspecting the memory module in his hand; this black module was extremely valuable, capable of storing the high-density neural data of an adult human brain, and for digital lifeforms, it was already a version refined over many iterations.

He wiped off traces of cerebrospinal fluid and mycelium, then handed it to Grace beside him.

"Grace, check if the memory module is intact."

Grace took it, her left wrist skin opening to reveal a port; she inserted the module, scanned it, then told Lin Xian:

【Confirmed intact. This module uses RSA encryption—my quantum computer can brute-force decrypt it.】

"Not yet." After confirming its integrity, Lin Xian reclaimed the module—he'd leave its decryption to Wangyue Zhenshi; their current mission was to regroup and evacuate.

In the Bai Cheng district, decaying, ancient buildings stood tall; strange noises echoed from all directions, static hissed in their earpieces; as Lin Xian's team arrived at Bai Cheng Hospital, they saw from afar a burning transport ship unleashing concentrated fire downward, while countless silver drone swarms crisscrossed in midair and on the ground, turning sky and earth into a chaotic battlefield.

Explosions rocked multiple districts; smoke billowed everywhere!

This scene was clearly different from the transport ship they'd encountered earlier—it was heavily armed and escorted by massive numbers of drones.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The transport ship unfolded like angelic wings, projecting dozens of large cylindrical devices into the air; these devices exploded and disintegrated, breaking into countless spider-shaped robots that swiftly clung to walls and ground, their upper bodies rotating spherical heads continuously firing red pulse lasers.

BOOM!

A thunderous roar—powerful force ripped away the outer walls of half a street and shattered corroded vehicles, then surged like a tsunami, annihilating countless airborne and ground drones; Long Zhijie landed on a high-rise rooftop, wielding a red katana, reversed his slash, and cleaved a charging humanoid mech cleanly in two, triggering a massive energy explosion.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Two silver heavy mechs charged through the streets, smashing off spider robots clinging to them while fending off waves of bizarre entities; Qiansu Xun sat in the shadow of a distant rooftop, controlling two mechs to cover the ground below while simultaneously piloting a third in fierce combat against the transport ship.

"Lin!" Qiansu Xun detected Lin Xian's team's arrival and said: "The Red Man Gui triggered the swarm—this transport ship is the main force; Lan is aboard—we must end this quickly."

Lin Xian's team flew in; before they reached the site, Chen Sixuan spotted large-scale combat unfolding inside the dilapidated hospital's ward building.

A massive explosion— a dark shadow was punched out of a wall; Ning Jing leapt from the hole.

"Team Leader Lin, there's a watcher here—be careful."

Before she finished speaking, a string of fiery explosions erupted across the hospital courtyard; a golden flash shot out, delivering a kick to the dark shadow, sending it flying violently.

Qian Dele burst from the smoke, twisted his ankle, and muttered: "Damn tough bastard."

But before he finished, the Red Man Gui he'd kicked away suddenly glowed with a pair of crimson eyes in the smoke and darkness, energy coalescing violently before erupting outward!

Hum! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A beam combining Bai's laser and Luo Yang's shockwave instantly vaporized the exact spot where Qian Dele had stood, igniting dozens of fireballs that blasted through one side of the hospital building and corridor.

Lin Xian looked—Xiaoqing swung on a grappling hook, wielding a gun-blade, charging through a swarm of entities; above, Mo Nika used sonic blades to cover Bai as he eliminated incoming drones, then Bai fired a laser straight at the transport ship.

But beneath the ship's bow hung a strange black device; now it ejected a cluster of micro-devices like flares, exploding into a dark red mist—this mist resembled the one Lin Xian had encountered when fighting the Gui snake; Bai's laser struck it and was completely blocked, yet the immense energy triggered an explosion, blowing off part of the transport ship itself.

"The bizarre entities are multiplying—unless we act, no one will escape," Kiki said, watching the scene.

"Fire Brother, go help Qian Dele and Ning Jing deal with the Red Man Gui; Chen Laoshi, take Shizhi to assist Mo Nika and Bai—have Bai and Shizhi locate the watcher; until it's eliminated, killing more of these things is useless."

"Kiki, Grace—we take down the transport ship!"

"Got it!"

"The Master departs!"

Hearing Lin Xian's order, Lu Xingchen's battle fury surged; he saw the towering Red Man Gui charge forward like a fire meteor, and mid-air, he crossed his index fingers, condensing a tiny fireball; the Infinite Loop spun wildly, turning the fireball blue; intense heat scorched his power armor red; then he gripped the blue fireball and launched it like a ki blast.

"Divine·Infinite Inferno Sword!"

Puff—BOOM!

Having been humiliated earlier by the Red Man Gui, Lu Xingchen had been frustrated; now he seized his chance and unleashed a newly developed technique without holding back.

Instantly, a blinding white spiral flame descended from the sky, illuminating a three-kilometer radius; Ning Jing and Qian Dele nearby saw only white—blinded, they reeled backward; even Bai, firing lasers from the rooftop, was yanked away by Mo Nika.

The Red Man Gui, just emerging from smoke, suddenly realized the sky had brightened; it raised its decayed, stiff head—and saw the spiral flame; it fired back with its explosive light waves—but the next instant, the ground where it stood and a corner of the adjacent ward building vanished entirely; the colossal fire pillar annihilated the Red Man Gui on the spot; its leather jacket, black body, and mechanical suppression gear dissolved visibly before their eyes; its crimson eyes' power never even activated before melting away.

ROAR! A titanic wave of flame erupted from the center, sweeping outward like a tsunami, incinerating and collapsing entire buildings.

This sudden technique stunned even Long Zhijie, Qiansu Xun, Qian Dele, and Ning Jing—Lin Xian's own team nearly went blind.

Qian Dele, retreating rapidly, felt the searing heat blast past him and muttered:

"Bro, you're making sure the monsters find you!"

Kiki, guiding Lin Xian toward the transport ship, also exclaimed in shock:

"Is this guy insane?!"

"Watch out!" Ning Jing burst from collapsed rubble: "That monster's defense—"

Before she finished, she looked—where the Red Man Gui had stood now yawned a molten, charred crater several meters wide; flames raged around it; at the bottom lay half a charred leg, debris raining down.

Seeing this, Ning Jing stared at Lu Xingchen in the sky—his hand armor had melted away; was his ability evolved, or was he just venting rage? This attack made no sense.

In midair, Lu Xingchen looked down at the burning earth, then at his own scorching hands; the frustration from his earlier failure dissolved; he nodded in self-approval:

"The fire I command merely burns cities and cracks stone—it has not reached the state of 'scorching all eight directions, boiling seas and burning heavens'…"

"Yet my Dao heart still needs refining…"

With the Red Man Gui eliminated, Ning Jing's pressure eased; they'd never encountered this creature before and were caught off guard; once Ning Jing, Xiaoqing, and Mo Nika gained the upper hand, the swarm suddenly surged, compounded by the heavily armed transport ship's arrival—causing the battle to explode out of control.

On Chen Sixuan's side, after meeting Mo Nika and Bai, she and Shizhi immediately began searching for the watcher.

"It must be within range of our detection—only by eliminating it can we neutralize the mark on us!" Shizhi said.

Meanwhile, as the three squads converged, the transport ship sensed the tide turning and activated its engines to flee.

But above it, a heavy mech was tearing it apart; on the upper deck, Tianye Lan battled a humanoid mech—when Lin Xian and Kiki approached, they realized the mech resembled Grace: same female form, similar material—except it lacked a quantum AI, appearing more ordinary.

"Ordinary" was misleading; with Grace's skin material, this machine was extremely difficult to handle; even experts like Tianye Lan and Ning Jing couldn't subdue it quickly.

But now Lin Xian and Kiki arrived; facing the unaccelerated transport ship, Kiki used telekinesis to seize it!

Woooo!

The transport ship's thrusters roared to full power; at the same moment, Long Zhijie arrived from above and activated his ability, gripping the ship like Kiki.

Front and back, the ship was now completely trapped midair; Lin Xian and Grace landed on it; the humanoid mech, locked in combat with Tianye Lan, turned its head toward Grace, tilting slightly—as if curious.

Tianye Lan immediately unleashed a devastating punch, carving a deep groove along the ship's deck with sparks and lightning; after fifteen minutes of pounding, the mech bore only minor dents—no critical damage.

As she twisted her waist to rise again, her limbs and all power modules were suddenly immobilized by invisible force; the mech flipped backward, limbs curling behind it, surrendering on the spot.

Tianye Lan walked over, staring at the curled-up mech, then at Lin Xian, who raised one finger nearby; though masked, her eyes revealed shock.

"Don't damage it—leave it to me."

Lin Xian gave the order; Grace immediately deployed an EMP bomb to forcibly shut down the transport ship.

But Qiansu Xun suddenly spoke: "Lin, we've already tried—this ship has a plasma shield; its crew is resisting fiercely; this is highly unusual—it likely carries a high-value target."

Lin Xian understood instantly; he activated mechanical scanning, aggressively charging backward, targeting simple circuitry and control systems to consume; against human machines, even if he couldn't instantly control them, he could rapidly dismantle their combat capability—especially now that he had remote manipulation; the more advanced the equipment, the more vulnerable it became to him.

Soon, the transport ship's flight systems went offline; internal alarms blared; under joint pressure from Long Zhijie and Kiki, the ship wobbled and plummeted toward the ground; its massive mass crushed several buildings before stopping; smoke billowed everywhere; meanwhile, bizarre entities from surrounding streets began converging from all directions; all three squads were now marked by darkness, attracting more and more entities.

Chen Sixuan finally located the watcher at a sewer entrance; Mo Nika severed it with a sonic blade, reducing it to fragments; Qiansu Xun, Ning Jing, and Lin Xian's teams then launched lightning strikes to eliminate nearby low-tier entities, swiftly halting the snowballing threat.

All three squads were elite forces; combined with Jingcheng's meticulous contingency plans, they contained the escalation in moments.

Now the group surrounded the transport ship; since Lin Xian had obtained the memory module, Qiansu Xun and Lin Xian held back, choosing instead to have squads hide in surrounding buildings, observing entity movements, gradually stabilizing the avalanche—eliminating any entity that appeared with long-range precision, until silence settled; only then did they turn their gaze to the transport ship.

Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!

In the distance, Long Zhijie used his ability to shred the ship's engines and damaged external components, completely disabling its propulsion; Qiansu Xun then ordered his mech forward, moving with extreme caution; Lin Xian and Kiki retreated to the ground nearby, watching.

But suddenly, the transport ship's hatch slowly opened; from the smoke emerged a middle-aged man in a specialized undersuit, wearing a respirator; his appearance clearly differed from other clones—he had an advanced brain-machine interface at the back of his skull, but no white mycelium; he looked like a spacecraft astronaut; through his transparent mask, beneath the blazing fires, his skin was unnaturally pale, his narrow, shadowed eyes staring blankly ahead.

As he stepped out, raising both hands, two heavy mechs immediately locked their cannons on him; yet he showed no fear—as if prepared to be shot—and spoke:

"What a lively scene. A bunch of dying fools—how much did you pay to survive this long?"

The man looked at the surveillance camera on the nearby mech, as if gazing through it at whoever watched behind; his voice, muffled by the mask, was hoarse and heavy: "Wangyue Zhenshi—you of Jingcheng destroyed our Crimson World's Yunlan Center, burned the Weihe Research Institute. The Master doesn't understand—I don't understand either. Digital life, sentient machine ascension—wasn't this the path you've pursued for decades? Why oppose the sacred evolution?"

Silence fell; he was speaking directly to Wangyue Zhenshi.

In the underground command center beneath Bai Cheng's Xishan, Wangyue Zhenshi, clad in plain robes, stood with hands behind his back, watching the holographic display calmly:

"That tone sounds familiar—I'll guess: it's you again, Yurius."

Yurius?

Lin Xian, hearing Wangyue Zhenshi's voice through the mech's speaker, frowned; that name felt oddly familiar.

He remembered.

Wasn't he the director of the Zero Element Center, the Crimson World high-ranking official whose consciousness was infiltrated by Chu Yan at the Baihe Tan Star Observation Base?

He was surprised—how could this guy be everywhere? Then he recalled: the Crimson World had replicated countless memory modules for Star Abyss exploration experiments; combined with this man's brain-machine interface, he was clearly a clone of Yurius Lite…

"Gene editing, bio-augmentation, dark fusion? You're insulting the very meaning of digital life to human civilization…" Wangyue Zhenshi said.

"Civilization? In 100 days, we surpassed a million years of human evolution. True intelligences understand: this isn't destruction—it's humanity's breakthrough." Yurius glanced at Kiki and Long Zhijie flying overhead:

"Flight—humanity took centuries to master after the Industrial Revolution. How long did you take? Three days? Thirty? Manipulating all things completely restructures fundamental physics. Talking about salvation is meaningless—history will prove we are the architects of humanity's new era."

"Interesting! If you tell me the truth behind the Star Abyss power, I might be persuaded."

At this, Yurius fell silent.

Wangyue Zhenshi smiled faintly, watching Yurius's silence, then softly ordered Qiansu Xun:

"Xun…"

He finished speaking; Qiansu Xun immediately prepared to eliminate him.

"Wait." Yurius suddenly looked toward Lin Xian; he saw Grace, and beside her, Lin Xian; he spoke up: "You must be Lin Xian—the mechanical ability. A perfect test subject."

"A pity such a fine subject will perish in the Star Abyss. Your ability might have solved our sentient machine bottleneck."

"Can I ask one question?" Lin Xian suddenly spoke, hearing the man address him directly.

Though time was urgent, this was Lin Xian's first direct contact with the Crimson World—and the man clearly held high rank; they'd destroyed the Yijin City Zero Element Center and dealt with Chu Yan; his knowledge of this vast organization remained a mere fraction.

Hearing Lin Xian's words, Qiansu Xun paused his action, refraining from shooting Yurius immediately—but he added:

"Lin, don't reveal too much. Even with information delay, everything he communicates with you now will reach the Crimson World organization beyond the Star Abyss."

Lin Xian understood immediately and turned to Julius, speaking out.

"I want to ask something simple: are the giant anchor points you've set up in Akse and Weihe targeting Quiet City and me?"

None in the room expected Lin Xian to ask such a question—only Yueyue Shinji in the control room showed a flicker of concern in his gaze.

Julius looked at Lin Xian and suddenly smiled silently.

"What a pitiful fool…"

"You think your goal is within reach, that after stealing our research data you can leave in peace? Oh, let me give you a little gift."

No sooner had he spoken than the palm of his raised left hand split open, revealing a peculiar device—like some kind of control button.

In that instant, Qiansu Xun sensed something wrong and immediately frowned, preparing to command the mech to fire.

Julius moved with incredible speed, completely ignoring the gun muzzles and all attacks, pressing his left thumb down.

"Goodbye, eliminated ones."

But just as everyone thought something was about to happen, the air fell utterly silent.

Julius's smile froze on his face. He turned his head sharply—and saw his entire left hand had vanished.

The so-called "pressing" had merely been motion through empty air.

"What a waste—a perfect mechanical arm, attached to a pig's brain." From afar, Lin Xian in his Black Hawk powered armor spoke calmly. To attempt mechanical tricks before him was like brandishing a great sword before Guan Yu.

"How could—"

Beep!!

Julius instinctively tried to process what was happening to him. All his consciousness streams were transmitting real-time data outward—but before he could compute this event, his brain-machine core suddenly crashed.

The device was in fact a destruction unit aboard the transport ship. Besides self-destruction, it could unleash massive Night Pollution here. Though not a direct marker, it would greatly increase the risk for Lin Xian and his team.

At this moment, deep underground in a research facility beyond the Star Abyss, golden-haired Julius Lite sat in his office chair. Flickering, distorted audio streamed from the holographic screen before him.

Even with numerous signal relay stations, over 90% of the data was lost. Command inside the Star Abyss could only be issued via specially encoded short texts. Now, he could barely make out the muffled voices of Lin Xian and Yueyue Shinji.

Julius stared at the interrupted signal, frowning as he waited for the 【Destroy】 command's confirmation. According to internal time flow, it should have returned within seconds.

But he waited for minutes—and received nothing.

"Destruction protocol failed. The mechanical ability does possess remote control properties."

A voice came from behind him. Julius turned. On the large screen behind him were several faces, each heavily processed, each with a unique codename.

"Our Zero Element center has been compromised. This mechanical ability user cooperating with Yueyue Shinji is a major threat."

"Julius, ensure the recovery of Crimson No. 3."

"The Master has ordered: Dawn City will soon make a major move. Accelerate anchor expansion in Star Abyss No. 5."

"Understood." Julius calmly checked his watch: "Time's up. White City purification begins. Next activation in 24 hours."

…

Outside White City Hospital, beside the crashed transport ship, roaring flames illuminated the darkness.

Thud. Julius, who had just been speaking, collapsed to the ground.

"Thank you for your trust," Lin Xian said to Qiansu Xun.

Qiansu Xun exhaled deeply. Just moments ago, as he was about to act, Lin Xian had quietly signaled him to hold back. Even someone as composed as Qiansu Xun had felt a spike of tension. Had it not been for Shinji's order to center all actions on Lin Xian, he would never have hesitated—but clearly, Lin Xian had achieved his goal.

"No problem. You wanted his memory core, right? Looks like you got it."

Lin Xian nodded. "His brain-machine system is different. Took me a little longer."

At that moment, Tianye Lan walked over and forcibly ripped a memory core from the back of Julius's skull. She turned to Qiansu Xun. "It should be intact."

"Let's get out of here," Qian Dele sighed in relief. Both transport ships had been intercepted and memory cores retrieved—whether from a researcher or this apparent leader, their mission was complete. Now they only needed Yueyue Shinji to decrypt the data.

Kiki looked at Lin Xian with suspicion. "That guy didn't activate self-destruct, did he? That device… it might've been part of some other scheme."

Hearing this, Lin Xian directly spoke over the comms to Qiansu Xun.

"Don't you find it strange? This transport ship fought desperately to resist, yet after crashing, he could've triggered self-destruction immediately. I don't believe he came out just to say something pointless—and gave me the chance to control him."

Lin Xian noticed Tianye Lan's expression grew even more grave after retrieving the memory core. From his perspective, he didn't assume the Crimson World didn't know his mechanical ability's nature. His ability had been widely exposed in Yubei City, Hengshan Pass, and Xilan City. Most people might not understand its details, but Lin Xian now led a force of thousands who had fought in Yijin City—he knew his ability wasn't a secret to an organization like the Crimson World.

Even if they truly didn't know about his remote ingestion, scanning, and control capabilities, Julius's actions had been deeply unusual.

The first transport ship they intercepted had seen its clones self-destruct immediately upon trouble—something that had long troubled Yueyue Shinji and Qiansu Xun. This situation now made Lin Xian sense something off.

Not just him—Qiansu Xun also felt uneasy. Just as he was about to speak, Yueyue Shinji's voice crackled through his earpiece.

"Xun, immediately scan the clone corpses inside the transport ship with your mech."

Qiansu Xun acted instantly, piloting the light mech straight into the transport ship. Soon, visuals and data returned.

"Sixty-five clones—all self-destructed. Internal suspicious explosive device. Likely what they tried to activate just now."

"Xun, Lin—this is a trap."

"What?!"

In the bunker, Yueyue Shinji focused on all holographic screens. His quantum brain processed millions of scenarios per second—and immediately found the flaw.

"Total clone corpses on both ships: 86. The previous batch delivered at least 1, 00. Based on two months of data, clone lifespan and attrition rate—excluding our interference—is around 87%. So estimated live bodies boarding transports: roughly 368. This number has steadily risen from an initial 91. %, consistent with Crimson World's goals for Star Abyss research and survival rate improvement. But this time, live bodies dropped by over 70%. They likely have another evacuation plan!"

Survival rate calculations involved many variables: Crimson World's special experiments, plus the Star Abyss's inherent, uncontrollable dangers. Many explanations were theoretically possible.

But Yueyue Shinji's analytical logic for the Crimson World prioritized worst-case outcomes, multiple preparations, zero information asymmetry, and exclusion of external factors. Combined with the unusual interception pattern, he reached this conclusion.

Upon hearing Yueyue Shinji's analysis, Lin Xian and his team all paled.

At that moment, dozens of sonic booms tore through the sky. Everyone looked up—dozens of small rocket-like craft launched from the wastewater treatment plant, then split and streaked rapidly in multiple directions.

"Bad!" Qiansu Xun muttered. With his experience, he immediately activated the light mech's thrusters. The mech shot straight upward. Simultaneously, Kiki and Long Zhijie reacted instantly, soaring into the air.

"Feint and strike elsewhere?!" Qian Dele shouted.

"Does the Crimson World know our plan?" Mo Nika asked, puzzled.

"They've always known we intercept their transports—but never before have they fled with such desperation!" Tianye Lan said.

Chen Sixuan's gaze was grave: "These flyers must carry something they absolutely must deliver."

Hearing this, Lin Xian's heart sank. He pulled out the memory core he'd just taken. Instinct told him: every clone on both ships was likely expendable. The two memory cores they'd retrieved might be useless.

Worse—if they merely wanted to send something out, launching dozens of rockets meant they couldn't possibly intercept them all. The enemy willingly sacrificed so much to execute this feint precisely to prevent them from capturing even one rocket. That meant: each one was a backup.

"Impossible to catch them, Lin. Call them back. After this move, White City will undergo a massive purge. We need to evacuate immediately!" Qiansu Xun said, watching the mech's signal fade.

These rockets could break the sound barrier in seconds. His mech, or even Kiki and Long Zhijie's flight abilities, couldn't catch them. Sensing the gravity, he made his decision.

But then, a fragmented signal came through.

"Lin Brother, wait for me!!"

Boom!

Just as Kiki and Long Zhijie reached top speed yet still couldn't catch up, a fire meteor shot skyward, directly charging toward the nearest rocket—and vanished into the night.

At 3, 00 meters, thin air tore into a conical sonic boom. Above, the black velvet sky swallowed the stars. Lu Xingchen's powered armor glowed crimson from atmospheric friction, joints spewing gold-red plasma streams. His helmet visor flashed system alarms.

【High Temperature Alert, High Temperature Alert】

【Overload Alert, Overload Alert】

Lu Xingchen's palms blasted blinding white flames, shattering the air with multiple Mach rings.

1 Mach!

2 Mach!!

3 Mach!!!

The outer armor layers began peeling off. The flames shifted from crimson to deep blue. The darkness ahead warped, dissolving and reforming. In mere seconds, Lu Xingchen accelerated himself to his absolute limit via Infinite Rings. He looked up—and in a flash of lightning, saw the rocket's roaring tail flame. He gritted his teeth.

"Demon, don't escape!"

His right fist clenched fire. The Infinite Rings spun wildly. He unleashed all his strength, punching forward.

"Divine Might!"

In White City, the sonic booms of countless rockets stirred chaos. In dark streets, countless grotesque entities stirred. Massive forms awoke. Screams echoed from all sides—strange, mocking laughter.

Lin Xian and Qiansu Xun's team gathered atop a rooftop beside the crashed transport, watching the fire meteors scatter across the sky, faces grim.

Sensing the rising fear in the city, Shizhi activated her ability to ease the pressure of the Dark Infiltration on everyone.

"The tide's coming!" Qiansu Xun said.

Lin Xian checked the time: five minutes left.

"Fire Brother's back!" Kiki's voice rang from above. Everyone looked up—far off, a fire meteor raced toward them. Kiki ascended to meet him, finding Lu Xingchen covered in flames, his powered armor nearly burned to ash. One hand gripped a charred, half-destroyed rocket as he flew in, battered and blackened.

Seeing this, Kiki immediately used telekinesis to help him land. Everyone stared in shock at the fire ability user—none expected him to have caught a rocket.

"Lin Xian, I didn't fail you!"

"Fire Brother, how are you?" Lin Xian instantly noticed his condition was dire.

Lu Xingchen, drenched in soot, gasped heavily. His complexion was extremely weak; his eyes glowed faintly red.

"Incredible, Fire Brother—I'm impressed," Kiki said, unable to hide his awe.

Qiansu Xun frowned at Lu Xingchen's state and immediately ordered Shizhi.

"Shizhi, purify him. He's exhausted—his body absorbed too much fear energy."

"Understood." Shizhi nodded, focusing all her green light onto Lu Xingchen. Slowly, the red in his eyes faded. His color improved.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Qiansu Xun operated a heavy mech forward. Its chest armor opened, revealing a narrow cockpit.

"Get in and rest. Your condition is critical."

"No need. This master is unharmed." Lu Xingchen tried to brush off his sleeves—but not a single intact fabric remained on him.

Lin Xian saw his embarrassment. No other powered armor was available. He said:

"Fire Brother, get in and rest. We'll need you to descend from heaven soon."

"If that's the case, then I'll..."

Lu Xingchen cleared his throat and stopped wasting time; before his essential clothing fell off, he stepped into the mech.

Qian Suxun operated the mech to seal the hatch, and soon his holographic panel received Lu Xingchen's vital signs: "Condition is poor, but no injuries. Let's go—the tide's rising. We need to move!"

Everyone immediately understood and headed straight for the morgue beneath Bai Cheng Hospital—the same place Ningjing and the others had hidden before. The door had been destroyed by the Red Man Apparition, but Lin Xian had built multiple layers of sealed doors from the inside and installed lighting. In moments, the dozen or so people, along with several mechs, crowded into the cold, dim morgue.

"Whoa, you all came down? This place is way more comfortable now," Qian Dele said, gazing at the bright, transparent lights.

Earlier, they had hidden here relying only on the photonic glow of their power suits. He'd always hated morgues, but after Lin Xian's modifications, the once chilling and terrifying morgue had become a temporary refuge against the rising tide.

The corpses laid out here had long since rotted. Internal communication devices installed by Silent City kept some of the metal storage units half-open. Melted bodily fluids had solidified into wax-like substances on the floor, mixed with shattered bones and decaying fabrics. Corpses bags piled in the corners; several had swollen and burst, revealing carbonized, desiccated remains.

Shortly after they took shelter, the tide began. A chilling force swept across the land, and the ruins of the hospital's ward building above boiled with activity.

Clearly, the burning flames and the crashed transport ships had drawn the attention of many Apparitions.

Inside the underground morgue, Lin Xian and Qian Suxun opened the half-rocket. As expected, it wasn't a missile—it was a transport vehicle used by the Deep Red World to ship goods outward. After removing the outer shell, they discovered a small cryogenic chamber inside. Unlike others, this one was too narrow to fit even an adult.

Through the transparent cryochamber lid, a completely twisted and deformed clone appeared—its limbs had all been removed. Strangely, on the clone's chest was a palm-sized petri dish containing a brown-red tissue mass. The dish had clearly been installed recently; a ring of frozen, dried blood still seeped from its edges.

Seeing this bizarre sight, everyone frowned.

"What is this?" Tianye Lan asked.

Ningjing frowned: "Are they trying to launch the clone?"

Qian Dele scoffed: "If so, why not just launch the memory core?"

"No," Lin Xian said. "The fact they launched it this way means the memory core isn't the main objective. This setup suggests they need live delivery."

Kiki nodded: "That makes sense. The clone must still be alive—so that petri dish is likely the real target."

Qian Suxun said nothing, but quickly sent the details back to Wang Yue Zhenji.

Wang Yue Zhenji stared at the cryochamber image, his gaze fixed on the petri dish. He spoke:

"Xun, remove the memory core and decrypt its contents."

"Understood." Qian Suxun nodded, turning to Lin Xian. "Lin, I need to remove his memory core. Can you control it?"

"Also," he added, glancing at the Grace robot behind him, "we might need her processing power."

Lin Xian understood Qian Suxun's concern about the self-destruct protocol. He activated his Mechanical Heart, opened the hatch, devoured the brain-computer's self-destruct module, and extracted the memory core.

Qian Suxun then inserted the core into the lightweight mech's control interface. Lin Xian ordered Grace to approach and connect to the ACS mech's docking port to begin decrypting the memory data.

【RSA encryption cracked. Accessing stored consciousness...】

【Access successful. Subject: Li Tai, 45, former Chief Bio-Genetic Engineer, Deep Red Pharmaceuticals...】

Meanwhile, Lin Xian had Grace sync the key captured data to Wang Yue Zhenji for holistic analysis. During this time, Lin Xian had not fully communicated Bai Cheng's information to Grace. Wang Yue Zhenji, citing security concerns, had excluded her from Silent City's data. So now, to analyze the situation, they still needed Wang Yue Zhenji's input.

In the bunker's main control room, as data streamed in, every circuit in the room glowed. His AI was processing at full speed.

"So that's how it is... a real bunch of troublemakers."

Wang Yue Zhenji sighed deeply, speaking over the comm channel.

"Full decryption will take time, but from the partial data, this memory core contains valid, complete backup information."

"Second: recent scans confirm they've successfully cultivated Dark Living Cells. This is both good and bad news. The good: these cells could revolutionize human research into the Abyss and Dark Infiltration, since all Apparition biological tissue loses vitality after being destroyed. This discovery might lead us directly to a solution for Dark Infiltration—even reverse humanity's extinction, provided we can extract and study it intact."

"And the bad news?" Ningjing asked.

"The bad news is it was developed by the Deep Red World," Lin Xian said immediately.

"Correct," Wang Yue Zhenji replied. "There's another, more troubling issue: Bai Cheng is about to enter a major purge. But this purge isn't just targeted at us—it's their last resort."

"Last resort?"

"What does that mean?" Kiki asked.

Qian Suxun spoke sharply: "It means the Deep Red World can't control it."

"Exactly."

Wang Yue Zhenji continued: "They conducted an experiment beneath the wastewater plant—awakening Target 01. So this evacuation plan serves two purposes: one, to deal with us; two, to extract the research backups and the living cell samples before the purge destroys everything."

"Target 01!" Qian Dele exclaimed. "Wait—you don't mean the Abyss Overlord, do you???"

Qian Suxun took a deep breath and nodded.

Instantly, the air in the morgue froze.

The Abyss Beast is coming!

Above, the dark sky split with thunder. Twisted black mist severed heaven and earth. In the endless forest beside the Bottomless Lake, hundreds of connected train cars stood as a defensive line. Survivors peered through their windows at the grotesque heavens, sensing a faint tremor in the air—a suffocating, oppressive pressure pouring down from the vast curtain above.

In Bai Cheng Hospital's morgue, the atmosphere was cold and silent. Lin Xian's gaze sharpened. Amid the stunned silence, he continued contacting Wang Yue Zhenji: "Do we still have time?"

Wang Yue Zhenji replied without hesitation: "Target 01 has already begun moving from the center. But Bai Cheng hasn't fully exposed itself yet. So the Deep Red World must wait until they recover the living cell samples before sending the activation command to fully reveal the target and trigger the purge."

"These bastards really..." Qian Dele scoffed, but even he couldn't find words to curse.

Mo Nika stood quietly behind them and spoke: "What if we intercept the command?"

"Impossible," Tianye Lan shook his head. "Finding their signal relay is like searching for a needle in an ocean. Even if we succeed, it would only delay Bai Cheng's exposure—but the Abyss Beast is already approaching."

"No," Lin Xian said at once. "She means we go straight into the wastewater plant and destroy their device before the command is sent back."

Tianye Lan, Long Zhijie, and Shizhi all frowned at this.

"Zhenji," Qian Suxun said, watching Lin Xian through the comm, "does Lin's plan have enough time?"

"Maybe..." Wang Yue Zhenji took a deep breath. "In the Abyss, these rockets only use inertial guidance—pre-set coordinates, then recovered externally. But due to signal delay and precision issues, recovery takes time. Given the Deep Red World's efficiency, it might take only minutes to Shiji minutes."

"But we have twelve times that!"

As soon as Wang Yue Zhenji finished, Lin Xian spoke sharply: "Even if it takes five minutes outside, we have an hour here. Subtract the tide cycle—we still have a window before the next tide, right?"

Hearing this, everyone—including Qian Suxun—stared in shock. His words revealed a critical opportunity: the time differential between inside and outside the Abyss!

Everyone held their breath, waiting for Wang Yue Zhenji's reply.

After a long silence, a clear voice came through all their comms.

"Yes."

(End of Chapter)