Chapter 247: The Blood-Rusted Key

The moment the blue light engulfed the two, the sound of firecrackers from the opening of a baozi shop thirty years ago echoed in the freezer. The lenses of Xu Xiaochuan's glasses reflected the oily cracks on the surface of the Energy Core—the maze route drawn by his father with leek juice was absorbing the aftermath of the explosion.

"Seventh Turn!" The youth kicked open the steaming Steamer Lid, and the thirty layers of bamboo trays suddenly shifted direction. Xuanyuan Qing's blood-stained Silver Bell Fragment jammed into a crack in the console, and the delivery phone number for the Donkey Meat Burger Shop seeped out from the bronze surface. The Electronic Eyes of the mechanical troops suddenly burst into Chaos Code in unison, and virtual baozi with fennel filling sprayed from their gun barrels.

Xiao Chengzhou's mangled body reconstituted from the Data Stream, and Data Tentacles extended from his gold-rimmed spectacle frames to wrap around Xu Xiaochuan's ankles: "When your dad modified you..." "Modify your grandpa!" The youth suddenly pulled out the Temperature Gauge he had swiped three days ago, and the 327℃ red light scorched through the virtual projection.

Xuanyuan Qing crashed into the blind spot of the operation console, and her cracked phone automatically played a recording of Xu Jianhua's drunken ramblings. When the hoarse voice saying "Donkey meat burgers must be paired with strong liquor" rang out, the air ducts of the entire laboratory began to spray the charred aroma of Sugar-Fried Chestnuts.

"The password is the PH Value of the Laba Garlic!" Xu Xiaochuan pried open the casing of the Restart Button, and chemical formulas written by his father in grease emerged on the rusted metal surface. Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical compound eyes suddenly turned their muzzles, and twenty clones lunged at the console simultaneously.

The Silver Bell Fragment carved a cyan web of fire in the Void, and Xuanyuan Qing's lower leg was scorched by the Data Stream. She suddenly tore open the collar of her school uniform, and the Barcode scanning light at her collarbone resonated with the Steamer shaft. When the seventh turn was completed, the floor of the freezer split open, revealing a shaft leading directly to the core of the Zero Machine.

Xu Xiaochuan's fingertips were half an inch from the red button when Xiao Chengzhou's virtual palm pierced his shoulder blade. The moment blood droplets splashed onto the control screen, three hundred clones collectively turned their heads, and the sharp teeth of the Mechanical Dogs bit into the throat of the data avatar.

"Old Xu... won..." Qin Tianluo's mangled body suddenly popped out from the Data Cocoon, his charred mechanical knuckles forming an OK gesture. The Big Dipper Seven Star Array formed by the Silver Bell Fragments began to collapse, and the sound of a baozi shop's cash register echoed throughout the laboratory.

The instant the Restart button was pressed, Xu Xiaochuan heard the whistle of thirty-seven layers of steamers releasing pressure simultaneously. His father's incomplete holographic image squeezed out from a crack in the Zero Machine, his missing-knuckle right hand pinching half a piece of Laba Garlic: "You brat... the sugar-fried chestnuts are burnt..."

The Silver Bell Fragment exploded into cyan starlight, and Lin Yu's Tactical Boots crushed the residue of the Data Cocoon. Dark red tattoos suddenly detached from his skin and floated in the air, condensing into three hundred and sixty blades shaped like leek leaves. Xu Xiaochuan was flipped over by the blast wave into a pile of steaming steamers, his lower back crushing half a crate of frozen Donkey Meat Burgers.

Xiao Chengzhou's gold-rimmed glasses split in two, and the Data Stream gushed from his cochlea. He grabbed a deformed freezer door, trying to stand up, when blue flames suddenly burst from the collar of his Tactical Suit—the Silver Bell Fragment thrown by Xuanyuan Qing was devouring his final energy.

"The Zeroing Project... is your Self-Destruct Program..." Blood foam mixed with blue liquid overflowed from the corners of his mouth, and Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical spine was carbonizing, "Every three hours the Zero Machine runs... it will..."

The entire laboratory suddenly flashed with red light. The Temperature Gauge in Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform pocket automatically sounded an alarm; the 327℃ reading was skyrocketing. He scrambled toward the console, the melting rubber of his canvas shoe soles dragging charred marks across the floor.

Lin Yu's white hair moved without wind. A steamer condensed from gold and black energy smashed the outer wall of the freezer, and moonlight mixed with gunpowder smoke poured in. He stared at the holographic map reconstituted by the tattoos and suddenly grabbed Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical limb, pressing it against the Zero Machine interface.

Twenty monitors played encrypted footage simultaneously—a twenty-year-old Xu Jianhua was adjusting the parameters of the cloning chamber, his missing-knuckle right hand suddenly gesturing a secret code at the camera. Xuanyuan Qing's blood-stained school uniform brushed against the screen, and she discovered that the secret gesture perfectly matched the cracks in the tattoos.

"Third Layer of the steamer!" Xu Xiaochuan kicked open the smoking electrical box, his fingernails digging into the rusted valve. The moment the cold mist gushed out, three hundred clones suddenly convulsed in unison, and the Barcode scanning light on their chests converged into the shape of a key.

Xiao Chengzhou's Electronic Eye suddenly projected surveillance footage from thirty-seven years ago. In the footage, Xu Jianhua was stuffing Sugar-Fried Chestnuts into the interlayer of the cloning chamber, the grease etching a decryption protocol onto the glass surface.

The core of the Zero Machine suddenly burst, and blue light engulfed the entire space. Fragments of Lin Yu's Tactical Suit reconstituted in the energy flow, his white hair stained with dark gold patterns. He reached out to catch the falling Xuanyuan Qing, and Void Energy condensed into a barrier to block the flying mechanical debris.

"The coordinates are the caloric value of a donkey meat burger!" Xu Xiaochuan slammed into the icy operation console, and the rainbow candies he had hidden three days ago were melting. The sugar syrup flowed along the gaps in the keys into the motherboard, activating the overload program preset by Xu Jianhua.

Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical skull suddenly split open, and an Old Tape Recorder popped out from a hidden compartment. When the nursery rhyme "Little Swallow" played mixed with electrical static, all the electronic screens in Si Jiu City began to scroll the delivery phone number for the Donkey Meat Burger Shop.

Xuanyuan Qing suddenly shoved the Silver Bell Fragment into Xu Xiaochuan's palm. The instant the bronze touched the sugar syrup, the floor of the entire laboratory cracked into pixelated blocks. Xiao Chengzhou let out a final, manic laugh in the Data Stream, and his gold-rimmed spectacle frames suddenly tuned into the Big Dipper Seven Star coordinates.

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform caught the data of the clones flying through the air. When he felt the USB drive his father had hidden in the frozen package, a purchase order from twenty years ago was suddenly projected into the Void—the three blood-red characters "Observer" were devouring the Core Code of the Zero Machine.

Lin Yu's white hair suddenly stood on end. Dark gold energy invaded backward along the cloning chamber pipes, and the neon signs across the entire city exploded in unison. In the rain of broken glass, the newly buried foreshadowing was wriggling deep within the earth's veins.

When the eighth white mist sprayed from the steamer of Xuji Baozipu, the cuff of Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform swept across the QR code ordering screen. With a "ding," the new order notification sound exploded in the shop, mixed with the scent of fennel.

"Three thousand six hundredth order!" The filling-chopping master's cleaver chopped three inches deep into the cutting board. Xu Xiaochuan stared at the blue light seeping from the gaps in the steamer, the grease congealing on the surface of the bamboo tray into the hexadecimal secret code his father often used.

Xuanyuan Qing's lower back hit the refrigerated cabinet, and the Silver Bell Fragment in her palm was burning hot. The Data Chip embedded in the crack of the bell three days ago suddenly played an encrypted recording, Xu Jianhua's drunken voice mixed with the sound of frying chestnuts: "Xiao Qing, the Zero Machine is not the end..."

Lin Yu's white hair swept across the surveillance screen, and his Tactical Boots crushed the sensors under the floor tiles. When the searchlights of the reconstruction site swept across the ruins, the projections of thirty-seven inverted crosses were reconstituting.

"This tray of baozi is wrong!" Xu Xiaochuan suddenly overturned the steamer; a miniature holographic projector was embedded in the leek filling. Blue light swept across the ceiling, and the floor plan of the Donkey Meat Burger Shop turned into a 3D data maze, with a flickering red dot devouring the Barrier energy.

Xuanyuan Qing's Silver Bell suddenly adhered to the handle of the refrigerated cabinet, and sticky liquid smelling of Sugar-Fried Chestnuts seeped from the bronze cracks. When she pulled open the cabinet door, twenty bags of frozen Donkey Meat Burgers were oozing blue code.

"Don't touch it!" Lin Yu's tactical glove grazed Xu Xiaochuan's earlobe, and a steamer lid condensed from Void Energy covered the mutated code. The frozen burgers suddenly exploded in unison, and antivirus programs the size of fireflies flew out from the meat filling.

The filling-chopping master's apron suddenly bulged with a metallic lump, and his cleaver turned direction and hacked toward Xu Xiaochuan. The youth grabbed a vinegar bottle and smashed it over; the aged vinegar mixed with the Data Stream burned charred marks into the cutting board.