Chapter 237: Source Code

The moment the spider monster finished reorganizing, the silver bell suddenly played "The Most Dazzling Ethnic Trend." While Xuanyuan Qing was stunned, Lin Yu had already carried Qin Tianluo and rushed into the portal. Xu Xiaochuan's chalk tip hit the spider's heat sink precisely, and in the exploding blue smoke came Xiao Chengzhou's furious electronic voice.

"There are buns hidden by my dad in the safe zone!" Xu Xiaochuan shouted while crashing into the portal, half a leek leaf stuck to the back of his head. Lin Yu's tactical boots stepped on the steaming steamer lid, and thirty timers were counting down at different frequencies.

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes made a teeth-aching sound on the metal floor; he grabbed Xuanyuan Qing's wrist and pulled her to the right: "Look at the angle those tentacles are swaying!" The Void creature projections twisting on the wall were twitching at a specific frequency, and the mucus dripping trajectory etched dark red symbols on the rusty pipes.

Lin Yu's back of the head hit the protruding rivets heavily, and the smell of blood spread in his mouth. Qin Tianluo's prosthetic eyes reflected the emergency light on the ceiling, his mechanical arm emitting a hydraulic overload hiss. Gold and black energy exploded into sparks between their entangled limbs, and Lin Yu's tactical gloves were singed with a burnt smell.

"The seventh symbol is a back-written Greek letter π!" Xu Xiaochuan kicked open the creaking distribution box, revealing a password disk covered in mold spots. Xuanyuan Qing threw the silver bell, which got stuck in the gear gap, shattering the fluorescent light tubes along the entire corridor.

Lin Yu's knee pressed into Qin Tianluo's ribs, hearing the crisp sound of metal bones breaking. The moment blue blood splashed onto the wall symbols, the emergency exit indicator light suddenly turned into a blinding scarlet. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform hem got caught in the suddenly activated exhaust fan, the sound of fabric tearing mixed with his cursing in dialect echoing in the wind tunnel.

"Input coordinates!" Xuanyuan Qing hung by one hand from the edge of the ventilation duct, throwing the smoking tablet computer at Xu Xiaochuan with the other. The boy bit open the ballpoint pen cap and scribbled hexadecimal code on his trembling hand. Qin Tianluo's mechanical fingers suddenly pierced Lin Yu's shoulder blade, a bloody screw popping into the drain.

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoe soles sparked, and he lunged at the password disk. The moment his blood-stained fingertips pressed the last digit, Qin Tianluo's electronic eye suddenly popped up a garbled pop-up window. Lin Yu seized the opportunity to flip over and elbow the other's chin, two teeth with circuits embedded into the biological mucus on the wall.

The moment the safety door slid open, the foul-smelling cold wind mixed with newspapers from thirty years ago hit Lin Yu's face. In the headline news, the photo of Xu Jianhua's bun shop was fading, his right hand, missing its ring finger, holding half a yellowed coupon.

"This antique computer can still turn on?" Xu Xiaochuan tore off the cockroach egg sheath stuck to the keyboard. Xuanyuan Qing suddenly pressed his hand, which was about to hit the Enter key: "Wait, the hard drive indicator light is flashing Morse code!"

Lin Yu sat paralyzed on the leaking fire hydrant box, the collar of his tactical suit still smoking. He felt half a donkey meat burger tucked in his back waist, the USB drive wrapped in oil paper burning hot. Qin Tianluo's broken body suddenly convulsed outside the door, his mechanical joints playing a discordant "The Most Dazzling Ethnic Trend."

Lin Yu's knuckles pressed against the edge of the monitor, the blue light of the LCD screen making his pupils tremble. Xuanyuan Qing's school uniform back was stuck to the damp wall, the fabric tearing as she wiped her tears. Xu Xiaochuan's keyboard clacking stopped abruptly, his fingers trembling above the Enter key.

"Old Qin's tactical belt is still in the distribution room." Xu Xiaochuan suddenly kicked the machine case, the radiator shaking out a pile of moldy dust. "Last week he stuffed half a bag of sugar-fried chestnuts into the dark compartment, saying..." The boy's Adam's apple rolled twice, his fingernails digging into the keyboard gaps.

The monitor code suddenly twisted into a vortex, and Lin Yu's temples throbbed. Thirty-seven old scars burned simultaneously, and the smell of donkey meat burger grease steamed from his tactical suit collar. He felt the old pocket watch in his trouser pocket, the cracks in the dial seeping blue light.

Xuanyuan Qing's silver bell got stuck in the host's cooling hole, frost forming on the metal surface. "The seventh line of code is imitating Xiao Chengzhou's handwriting." She suddenly grabbed the mouse. "Look at this function naming—'Donkey meat burgers are going to increase in price'."

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes suddenly slipped, and he lunged onto the keyboard. In the full screen of garbled characters, a pixel-style Qin Tianluo avatar jumped out, the electronic synthesized voice carrying current noise: "Si Jiu City... the third stone lion..."

Lin Yu crushed the cold bun, bean paste dripping onto the power button through his fingers. Thirty-seven surveillance screens lit up simultaneously, each screen showing Qin Tianluo repeating different lip movements. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform button popped off, clattering against the iron cabinet.

"He's teaching us how to dismantle a bomb." Xuanyuan Qing suddenly grabbed a marker and scribbled a demolition diagram on the monitor frame. "He stuffed a similar diagram into my schoolbag before the alley battle last week."

The machine case suddenly overloaded and smoked, and Xu Xiaochuan tore open the school uniform zipper to pat out the flames. Amidst the burnt smell came the aroma of sugar-fried chestnuts, and Lin Yu's molars crushed half a grain of sand. He felt the old pocket watch in the tactical belt compartment, the dial cracks seeping blue light.

"Countdown seventeen minutes and twenty-three seconds." Xu Xiaochuan kicked open the deformed machine case, pulling out a circuit board tied with red rope. "My dad hid... in the donkey meat burger shop..."

The entire floor suddenly tilted, and Xuanyuan Qing crashed into a corner piled with instant noodle boxes. Xu Xiaochuan's glasses cracked into a spiderweb, his fingertips blindly typing hexadecimal passwords on the tilted keyboard. Lin Yu's tactical boots crushed the cockroach shells all over the floor, gold and black energy roaring along the cable pipes toward the ground.

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes slipped on the metal floor, and when his lower back hit the console, the keyboard keys fell off clattering. He grabbed half a bottle of moldy mineral water and poured it onto the smoking computer host, the screen jumping with full-screen garbled characters with a "zzzt."

"This broken machine is older than my grandpa's radio!" He kicked the machine case, and three screws popped out and rolled into the drain. "It would be easy if the key was hidden in Minesweeper."

Xuanyuan Qing suddenly grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back; the iron sheet fragments from the ventilation duct that had exploded twenty meters away flew past his earlobe, carving a three-inch-deep mark on the wall. Lin Yu's tactical gloves pressed onto the moldy keyboard, and all thirty-seven keys seeped blue mucus simultaneously.

"Seventh line of code." His index finger trembled above the Enter key. "Old Qin muttered this function name when he added ingredients to my coffee last month."

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly snatched the keyboard and typed wildly, the blue light of the monitor projecting a waterfall of garbled characters onto his lenses: "This string of hexadecimal corresponds to the delivery phone number of the donkey meat burger shop!" His school uniform back was soaked with cold sweat, sticking to his spine like a plaster.

The electronic components on the entire wall suddenly exploded in unison, the red light pulling the shadows of the three into distorted monsters. The silver bell in Xuanyuan Qing's hand vibrated at a high frequency, vibrating until her tiger's mouth oozed blood beads. She suddenly pressed the bell against the console's USB interface, and blue-purple electric arcs burst from the metal surface. ===== CHAPTER 238 =====