Chapter 239: Duel of Life and Death

The two crouched and crawled through the half-collapsed corridor when Xu Xiaochuan suddenly tripped over something and fell face-first. "What the hell is this?" He picked up a metal plate that was rusted to pieces, engraved with "Experimental Subject 003."

"Don't touch it!" Xuanyuan Qing slapped the plate away. "Was your dad doing human modification here back then?"

The jade pendant on Xu Xiaochuan's neck suddenly became hot, and he tore it off and stuck it on the door panel: "This pattern! It's exactly the same as the copper box my grandpa used to store tobacco!"

The door hinge emitted a harsh creaking sound, and the smell of mildew mixed with iron rust hit their faces. Xuanyuan Qing coughed from the choking smell, her flashlight sweeping over the crooked iron shelves: "Was your grandpa a grave robber back then?"

"Robber your head!" Xu Xiaochuan kicked open the half-covered drawer, and yellowed paper pages drifted out like snowflakes. He suddenly froze, the flashlight beam fixing on a certain yellowed photo—a twenty-year-old Lin Yu tied to an operating table, with three catheters inserted into his chest.

The wall skin fell with a rustle, revealing half a peeling mural. Xu Xiaochuan stepped back two steps and knocked over an iron shelf, and a few dried-up mice rolled out of the can: "Does this picture show Lin Shu being flushed down the toilet?"

"It's a black hole." Xuanyuan Qing picked up a notebook with a scorched cover: "Page 79, Zero-Return Project experimental record... Lin Yu is the Zero-th experimental subject?"

The entire building suddenly shook violently, and broken cement blocks smashed down like a rainstorm. Xu Xiaochuan dragged Xuanyuan Qing toward the door, the back of his neck swept by a cold wind—the single eye on the mural glowed red, and the eyeball rolled in a direction.

"This broken painting has become a spirit!" Xu Xiaochuan grabbed an iron rod and was about to smash it, but was dragged away by Xuanyuan Qing. They had just rushed out of the door when the secret room behind them collapsed with a crash.

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly stared at the half-page of residual paper in his hand and widened his eyes: "This says... says Lin Shu's backup is soaking in the Void..."

The symbols on the stone tablet suddenly twitched, like a group of drunk ants. Xu Xiaochuan poked Xuanyuan Qing: "Qing-sister, look! These ghost symbols are dancing!"

"It's Morse code." Xuanyuan Qing suddenly snatched the residual page. "The seventh paragraph has a correction mark—the key is a nursery rhyme!"

"Nursery rhyme?" Xu Xiaochuan scratched his hair, which hadn't been washed for three days. "Could it be 'Drop the Handkerchief'?"

"It's 'Little Swallow'!" Xuanyuan Qing's voice suddenly rose. "Your dad always hummed this tune when he was fixing the server!"

The wall exploded with air waves, and Lin Yu staggered into the ruins. He wiped the blood foam from the corner of his mouth, gold and black energy flickering on his knuckles. The tactical suit of the phantom opposite was ripped open, blue light seeping from the wound.

"Pirated goods are just not durable." Lin Yu spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his fist grazing the phantom's chin. "Didn't your master teach you how to take a beating?"

The phantom suddenly sneered, his body flickering like a poor-connection television screen: "Guess why I can predict your moves?"

Lin Yu's pupils contracted violently, his fist freezing in mid-air.

"Because your combat data..." the phantom's fingertips lit up with thirty-seven light points, "were all training materials fed to the AI by us."

Lin Yu suddenly erupted, his fist wind rolling with rubble and slamming into the phantom's chest. Cracks spread like spiderwebs, but the phantom laughed even more wildly: "Smash this body, there are thousands more..."

The entire building suddenly rang with a harsh nursery rhyme, and the phantom's movements instantly stuttered. Lin Yu seized the opportunity with a knee strike, and the phantom's mechanical spine emitted a teeth-aching snapping sound.

"Impossible..." Blue light seeped from the cracked body, "How

Lin Yu gripped the phantom by the throat and pressed it into the wall, causing bricks to crumble down: "Take a message to your boss for me—" He leaned into the phantom's ear, "Next time you make a counterfeit, remember to age it; the smell of machine oil on you is far too fresh."

The phantom dissolved into a data stream amidst an exploding blue light, the sound of the nursery rhyme growing louder. Xu Xiaochuan poked his head out from behind a broken wall, holding a sizzling, smoking tape recorder: "This piece of junk still works! My dad recorded 'Little Swallow' ten times on this tape..."

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly jumped up and kicked away half a brick: "Sister Qing! Quick! Play that deadly song!"

Xuanyuan Qing trembled as she pulled out her phone, its screen cracked like a spiderweb. Xu Xiaochuan was stomping his feet in anxiety: "The one my dad hums every single day!"

"Found it! 'Return to the Nest'!" Xuanyuan Qing almost lost her grip on the phone. The ringtone, mixed with the hoarse folk song, exploded within the ruins, and the silver bell suddenly began to buzz and vibrate as if it were having a seizure.

The ghost-drawn symbols on the stone stele suddenly began to writhe as if coming to life. Xu Xiaochuan leaned in to look: "Oh my god, these symbols are jumping more energetically than my grandma's square dancing!"

Black-gold energy suddenly exploded at Lin Yu's knuckles, and he slammed the phone onto the silver bell: "Old thing, give me some reaction!"

"It worked!" Xu Xiaochuan jumped up and hit an iron rack, "The barrier cracked! That pirated goods is trying to run!"

The phantom image of the other Lin Yu gradually became transparent. Before leaving, it suddenly grinned: "Guess how many replicas are frozen in the laboratory cellar?"

"Frozen your grandpa!" Lin Yu punched the wall, and rubble clattered down.

Xuanyuan Qing suddenly screamed: "Old Qin is not right!"

Qin Tianluo knelt in the pile of broken bricks, his mechanical arm flailing wildly, and hydraulic pipes hissed, spraying blue liquid: "Subject Number Nine... eliminate..."

"Old Qin, have you gone mad?" Xu Xiaochuan had just reached out when his neck was gripped by the mechanical claw, "Cough, cough... you even snatched my spicy strips last month..."

Lin Yu rushed over to pry open the mechanical arm: "Let go! This is your own nephew!"

"Data... corruption..." Qin Tianluo's electronic eye flickered wildly, and he suddenly let go and began to dismantle his own arm, "Ventilation shaft number seven... the code is in..."

Xu Xiaochuan slumped on the ground, rubbing his neck: "This old man is having another episode; last time he dismantled the TV saying there were aliens hidden inside."

Xuanyuan Qing suddenly pulled Lin Yu over: "Look at the stele!"

A string of fluorescent code emerged on the surface of the previously cracked stele. Xu Xiaochuan squinted and read: "Donkey Meat Burger Secret Recipe V2.3? Is this a cookbook, for heaven's sake?"

"It's a key!" Lin Yu suddenly pulled open his collar, revealing the same garbled code tattooed on his chest, "Old Xu branded this twenty years ago!"

Qin Tianluo suddenly lunged and grabbed Xuanyuan Qing: "Traitor! Number Nine must be destroyed!"

"Holy crap, are you for real?" Lin Yu dug his fingernails into the mechanical arm's heat sink, black-gold energy sizzling as it drilled inside, "Xiaochuan, hurry and find the main switch!"

Xu Xiaochuan scrambled toward the power distribution box: "This dump is older than my grandpa's coffin!"

"Old Qin's spine is glowing blue!" Xuanyuan Qing picked up half a brick and smashed it into the back of Qin Tianluo's neck; the moment the metal casing dented, ice-like data streams burst out. Lin Yu's temples throbbed, and the smell of laboratory disinfectant from thirty years ago suddenly rushed into his nasal cavity.

The cracked wall suddenly sprayed out white cold air, and Xu Xiaochuan's spectacle lenses frosted over instantly. He felt a fist-sized metal block with brown blood scabs on its surface: "Why is this piece of junk hard drive growing hair on its port?"

Xuanyuan Qing whipped out the silver bell to entangle Qin Tianluo's mechanical leg, and the bronze bell suddenly cracked open. Phosphorus powder leaking from the crack landed on her skin, burning out tiny red spots. She pulled on Lin Yu's tactical belt, dragging him backward: "Your energy is going berserk!"