Chapter 243: Tunnel Devourer

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes crushed over the fragments of the subway turnstile, the soles sticking to some kind of blue gelatinous substance. The Silver Bell Fragment on Xuanyuan Qing's wrist suddenly vibrated at a high frequency, making her forearm go numb—three mutated passengers were curled up in the pile of broken glass, their spinal bones piercing through their work uniforms and sticking out into the air, while the eye sockets oozed a viscous fluid formed from Data Streams.

"Old Qin!" She kicked away the ticket gate blocking the path. "That interface on your waistband is spewing blue smoke!"

Qin Tianluo's mechanical palm pressed against a rusted pillar, causing the rust on the guardrail to flake off with a rustling sound. The entire tunnel suddenly lit up with emergency lights; in the green glow floated an advertisement for a steamed bun shop from thirty years ago, and a right hand missing its ring finger was pointing toward "Next Station: Zero Laboratory."

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly squatted down to tie his shoelaces, and when his school uniform brushed against the turnstile, it kicked up a string of electric arcs: "This broken railing is electrified!" Before he could finish speaking, he was flipped over by a Data Stream, the back of his head slamming into an old-fashioned display screen on a pillar. The static-filled screen suddenly began playing Surveillance Footage—a twenty-year-old Lin Yu was stuffing oil-paper bags into an Air Duct, the grease etching a maze route onto the inner walls of the pipe.

A sound of metal grinding came from deep within the tunnel. Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly swelled by two meters, and the blue liquid sprayed from the Hydraulic Pipe burned scorch marks onto the wall: "They're here."

Seven rotting corpses wearing gas masks pushed a dining cart closer, the cart's serial number flashing with red 404 light. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform pocket suddenly vibrated; the Game Coin he had stuffed in three days ago was melting, and liquid metal was dripping down the seam of his trousers. Xuanyuan Qing whipped out the Silver Bell Fragment, the bronze debris carving a cyan trail of fire through the Void, instantly igniting the Data Stream garments of the rotting corpses in the front row.

"The turnstile password is the calorie count of a Donkey Meat Burger!" Xu Xiaochuan kicked open the smoking Security Scanner, and the scent of Sugar-Fried Chestnut seeped out from between the cracks in the LCD screen. His fingers, stained with the viscous fluid, quickly entered "327 kcal," and the rusted turnstile gate suddenly sprang up, revealing the tunnel entrance behind it, which was covered in mold spots.

The wheels of the rotting corpses' dining cart rolled over the back of Xuanyuan Qing's foot, and frozen steamed buns were flung out of the refrigerated cabinet. Qin Tianluo's Electronic Eye suddenly burst with Chaos Code, and his mechanical knuckles poked into the gaps of the dining cart: "Zeroing Project... experimental subjects need to replace their Energy Core periodically..."

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform was snagged by a rotting corpse, and the sound of tearing fabric exploded in the tunnel, mixed with the smell of chives. Xuanyuan Qing swung a half-length steel pipe to smash the glass of the refrigerated cabinet, and thirty frozen steamed buns rolled onto the ground, each one containing a glowing Chip embedded in the split filling.

"Don't touch them!" Qin Tianluo suddenly grabbed Xu Xiaochuan's wrist. "Those are my... spare parts..."

The tunnel ceiling lights suddenly all went out. Xuanyuan Qing felt the melted rainbow candy in her pocket, the candy wrapper sticking to the Silver Bell Fragment and emitting a fluorescent glow. The green light illuminated graffiti on the wall—arrows drawn by Xu Jianhua with grease pointed toward the Air Duct, with "Little Linzi owes me money for two steamers of buns" scrawled next to them.

Just as the rotting corpse's Mechanical Dog lunged from the shadows, Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoe got stuck in a drainage ditch. Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly bent backward, a Laser Emitter popping out of the elbow joint; the moment the blue light swept across the dog's teeth, the song "The Most Dazzling Folk Style" suddenly blared through the entire tunnel.

"Old Xu's terrible taste..." Xuanyuan Qing dragged the two of them into the Air Duct, the sheet metal scraping through the knee of her sweatpants. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform brushed against the viscous fluid on the pipe wall, and the fabric instantly carbonized into ash.

Blue light floated at the bottom of a thirty-meter-deep shaft. Qin Tianluo suddenly clutched his head and slammed it against the pipe wall; amidst the sparks from bursting weld points, Memory Fragments flashed—a Surgical Scalpel sliced open a metal skull, and Xu Jianhua's fingerless right hand was implanting a Chip shaped like a Donkey Meat Burger into the brain region.

"The Energy Core is in the Donkey Meat Burger Shop's Cold Storage!" The rotting corpse's synthesized voice came from the bottom of the shaft. "Hand over Qin Tianluo..."

Xu Xiaochuan's spectacle lens suddenly cracked into a spiderweb pattern; he felt an old-fashioned walkie-talkie in the lining of the Air Duct, its battery compartment stuffed with half a moldy Donkey Meat Burger. Xuanyuan Qing suddenly pressed the Silver Bell Fragment against the rusted pipe seam, and a subway construction map from thirty years ago seeped out from the bronze surface.

"Change route!" She kicked open the deformed maintenance door. "Those rotting corpses are shielding Lin Shu's energy fluctuations!"

Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Spine suddenly ejected a Data Cable, plugging it into the charging port of Xu Xiaochuan's game console. A metal lump instantly bulged on the back of the boy's school uniform, and the handheld screen jumped with a full screen of Chaos Code: "Damn! Old Qin, what are you installing in my clothes!"

The Air Duct suddenly began to melt. The rotting corpse's mechanical tentacles pierced through the sheet metal, and droplets of viscous fluid burned scorched holes into Xuanyuan Qing's shoelaces. When Xu Xiaochuan felt the rainbow candy wrapper in his pocket and the sugar residue traced Shiliu Jinzhi Daima onto the pipe wall, the sound of a steamer releasing pressure suddenly whistled through the entire tunnel.

"Steamer!" Qin Tianluo suddenly snapped his own little finger, and a Micro Projector fell out from the mechanical parts. "The Cold Storage coordinates are in Old Xu's..."

The projected image suddenly froze at the moment of Xu Jianhua's fall, his fingerless right hand making an "OK" gesture. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform pocket suddenly sprayed blue smoke, and the firecracker he had hidden three days ago exploded into data fireworks among the group of rotting corpses.

Xuanyuan Qing dragged the two of them and jumped into the Maintenance Well; as the sewage rose above their waists, the Silver Bell Fragment suddenly adhered to the well wall. A hidden door was revealed where the rust flaked off, the lock featuring thirty-seven rotating steamed bun icons.

"Old Qin! The password is the date you were modified!"

Qin Tianluo's Electronic Eye suddenly burst with sparks, and hydraulic oil mixed with blue blood spilled from the corner of his mouth: "2004... July... the third Friday..."

The moment the hidden door sprang open, the rotting corpse's Mechanical Dog bit onto Xu Xiaochuan's trouser leg. The boy suddenly pulled out the Nokia his father had left behind, and the moment he smashed it against the dog's teeth, the Snake game screen from thirty years ago blurred the mechanical compound eyes.

The cold air of the Underground Laboratory rushed toward them. Xuanyuan Qing's back slammed into a Liquid Nitrogen Tank, and her Safety Suit instantly frosted over. In the center of a fifty-meter-high Circular Device, three hundred Culture Pods were oozing blue viscous fluid, and each pod surface was printed with Qin Tianluo's ID photos from different ages.

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes slipped on the metal floor, and when the hem of his school uniform swept across the console, it triggered a red button. A holographic projection suddenly popped up with a drunken video of Xu Jianhua: "Xiaochuan... the Barrier Core is..."

The video was suddenly covered by Xiao Chengzhou's virtual avatar, his gold-rimmed glasses refracting the blue light from the rotting corpses' pupils: "Welcome to my cafeteria."

The moment the group of rotting corpses broke through the Explosion-proof Door, Xu Xiaochuan felt the melted rainbow candy in his pocket—on the back of the wrapper, written in sugar residue, was: "The password is the caramelization temperature of Sugar-Fried Chestnut."

Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly plunged into his own chest, pulling out a glowing, meat-sandwich-shaped object: "The Energy Core... is the Donkey Meat Burger Shop's..."

The Circular Device suddenly began to rotate, and three hundred Culture Pods lit up with red lights simultaneously. The Silver Bell Fragment in Xuanyuan Qing's hand suddenly melted, and the Bronze Solution etched a subway tunnel map onto the floor, where a flickering red dot was devouring the Barrier's Data Stream.

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform was frozen to the console by liquid nitrogen; he felt the cigarette case his father had hidden in the keyboard gap, and on the back of the tin foil was an escape route marked with grease—the destination was the Air Duct of the Donkey Meat Burger Shop, with "Left some Laba Garlic for Little Linzi" scrawled next to it.