Chapter 268: Beneath the Ruins

"One second."

Lin Yu grabbed Xu Xiaochuan and Xuanyuan Qing, his remaining few strands of white hair erupting with final brilliance, turning into an extremely thin protective shield.

The three of them stumbled into the passage.

Behind them was a deafening explosion! The scorching air wave was like a giant hand, slapping hard against their backs.

At this life-and-death moment, Xu Xiaochuan's receiver captured a signal.

Faint to the point of nearly non-existent, extremely unstable, flashing in his brain only once, yet like a dull knife, carved firmly into his memory.

It didn't come from the Zero Machine.

It didn't come from Zhou Weihong.

It didn't come from Zhou Lin's program.

The feeling was deeper... more ancient... as if transmitted from the dust of time.

The passage collapsed with a roar.

The three of them were thrown out by the shockwave of the explosion, flung toward the ground.

Before Xu Xiaochuan lost consciousness in mid-air, only the waveform of that signal remained echoing in his brain—

A girl's voice, blurry, yet incomparably clear, laced with sobs:

"Is anyone listening... save me..."

Boom—!

A huge mushroom cloud rose above the abandoned factory, illuminating the night sky in the north of Beijing.

The shockwave swept everything, throwing the three of them like broken dolls into the distant weeds.

Xu Xiaochuan lay face down in the mud, half his face buried in the cold sewage.

Everywhere on his body hurt, his bones aching in their joints.

His school uniform had long since become rags, the receiver on his back completely silent, leaving only faint patterns on his skin.

Was the Zero Machine really gone completely?

He wanted to move, but couldn't even lift a finger.

He could only turn his head with difficulty, seeing Lin Yu and Xuanyuan Qing, who were in equally miserable states, through the mud and blood covering his face.

Lin Yu's hair was nearly gone, his tactical suit so tattered it was unrecognizable.

Xuanyuan Qing's left arm was twisted at an eerie angle, her face as white as paper.

The rain was still falling, hitting Xu Xiaochuan's bare skin, both cold and painful.

He closed his eyes, his ears buzzing, the world in dead silence.

Except—

That signal.

Extremely faint, intermittent, yet nailed into his brain like a nail, impossible to dig out:

"... someone... save... I am... Ya..."

Xu Xiaochuan opened his eyes abruptly, forcing himself to prop up his upper body, the excruciating pain of breaking bones making his vision go black.

"Lin Shu! Xuanyuan!"

His throat was hoarse, sounding like a broken gong.

"I... I heard... the signal!"

Lin Yu struggled, half his body trapped in the mud, bringing up a patch of sludge and water as he turned over. His tactical boots scraped against the ground with a harsh sound.

"Cough... cough... what... signal?" His voice was mixed with the smell of dirt, sounding exhausted.

"Xiao Ya!" Xu Xiaochuan's voice was terrifyingly hoarse, nearly a roar. "The Zero Machine... the core exploded... but she's still alive!"

Xuanyuan Qing sat up, gasping, her right hand tightly clutching her left arm, which hung limply, the bone at the break seeming about to pierce the skin. Sweat mixed with rain flowed down.

"Nonsense... the core... exploded into nothing..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably, from pain and shock.

"Not the core!" Xu Xiaochuan shook his head violently, rain flying everywhere. "That feeling... that signal... it came from somewhere else... very far away... it seems... it seems to have crawled out from some decrepit corner of Beijing..."

Lin Yu leaned against a rock, panting. "Zhou Weihong... Zhou Lin... they all said Xiao Ya was in the core... but does that old madman really have the ability to stuff a living person's personality into data, and raise it for thirty years?"

Xu Xiaochuan's mind was a mess, the database images from before the core explosion flashing by.

"The Zero Machine's library... is too damn big... the joys and sorrows of the whole city are in it... messy, can't see clearly at all..."

Xuanyuan Qing's lips were white from pain, but her train of thought remained. "Zhou Weihong's madness... he wanted to use other people's emotions to 'feed' his daughter's digital ghost? To let her grow up in the data?"

"Something's wrong..." Xu Xiaochuan propped himself up, wanting to climb up, but fell back down. "If he was really raising her... why stuff her into the Zero Machine core? That's not raising a daughter, that's turning her into... the battery and slave of the entire system..."

The flames in the distant ruins struggled in the rain a few times, then extinguished completely.

The terrifying clouds in the sky slowly dispersed, revealing a dead-gray sky.

"Leave this damn place first." Lin Yu stood up unsteadily, his hair now pitifully sparse. "Xiao Chengzhou is finished, but his subordinates will definitely come back."

Xuanyuan Qing supported her broken arm, barely standing steady. "Go... where?"

Xu Xiaochuan closed his eyes, trying to catch that faint cry for help again, but his mind was empty, nothing left.

That voice seemed never to have appeared.

Lin Yu scanned the surroundings, pointing to a dark, dilapidated building in the distance.

"That place, looks like a dormitory building. Go there first to bandage up, survive first before talking about returning to the city."

The three of them supported each other, stumbling toward the dilapidated building.

Every step tugged at their wounds, the pain excruciating.

Xu Xiaochuan's legs were numb, nearly dragging them, but the sound of the girl crying for help in his brain couldn't be shaken off.

Ya... Xiao Ya...

He couldn't help but stop, looking back at the ruins.

"Lin Shu..." Rain blurred his face. "If... I mean if... Xiao Ya really..."

"Worry about your own life first!" Lin Yu interrupted him impatiently, dragging his arm and pulling him forward. "If you're dead, nothing matters!"

The dormitory building was filled with a musty smell mixed with the scent of earth, making one cough.

Most of the wall plaster had fallen off, revealing the red bricks inside, cold and damp to the touch.

Rain washed over this dilapidated worker dormitory building, the faded slogans and wildly growing vines on the four-story gray walls entangled.

The three of them dragged their injuries, squeezing into a room full of dust and debris.

Half the window frame had rotted away, wind wrapped in rain pouring in, forming a small puddle on the floor.

Xuanyuan Qing slid down against the cold wall, her face deathly pale, her left arm hanging limply, her brows knitted in pain.

Xu Xiaochuan rummaged in the corner, finding a rusted iron medical kit, the bandages inside yellow and brittle, but they had no choice.

"Bear with it, set the bone first." Lin Yu's voice was dry and hoarse, crouching beside Xuanyuan Qing.

Xuanyuan Qing bit her lower lip, nodding hard, then closed her eyes.

Lin Yu didn't say much, gripping her arm with both hands and twisting it abruptly—

"Crack!"

A crisp sound.

A suppressed groan escaped Xuanyuan Qing's throat, cold sweat instantly covering her forehead, her nails nearly digging into her palms, yet she didn't cry out.

Xu Xiaochuan scrambled to tear open the yellowed bandage, helping Lin Yu wrap and fix it.

Lin Yu found two broken wooden boards, tearing off a few strips of sturdy cloth to act as tape, making a simple splint. "Looks like the special training wasn't in vain."

"Shut up." Xuanyuan Qing opened her eyes with difficulty, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her right hand, her voice weak, carrying a hint of gritted teeth. ===== CHAPTER 269 =====