Chapter 300

An incredible thought took shape in his mind: Xu Jianhua was still alive, or rather, some form of his existence was still active.

And Xiao Ya... her consciousness was backed up? Sent away?

Xu Xiaochuan felt the world spinning, swaying before he barely stood firm.

What did this mean? What was the "Ark" project?

He hurriedly wrote down the coordinates, wanting to check the system again, when the communication terminal suddenly screamed!

【Warning: Backup power is about to run out. System will shut down in 60 seconds.】

The information on the screen began to flash frantically, garbled characters appearing on the edges.

Xu Xiaochuan hurriedly tapped the keyboard, wanting to save more information, but the system couldn't hold on anymore.

Just a second before the screen went completely black, a line of new text flashed:

"She is waiting for you. Protect her container."

Then, the terminal crashed completely, the screen pitch black.

The last light source in the room went out, and Xu Xiaochuan was swallowed by complete darkness.

He stood in the darkness, his brain racing.

"She" is Xiao Ya? What is the "container"? What needs to be protected?

Just then, the chip in his pocket suddenly started to heat up.

Xu Xiaochuan took it out, and the surface of the chip actually began to glow with a faint blue light, flashing rhythmically, one by one.

The feeling was like a heartbeat.

"Xiao Ya?" Xu Xiaochuan subconsciously called out in a low voice.

The blue light flashing frequency of the chip seemed to speed up for a moment, as if responding.

The metal piece in his palm became hotter and hotter, and at the same time, Xu Xiaochuan felt a long-lost warmth slowly spreading from the mark on his back.

Xu Xiaochuan gripped the chip in his hand; it pulsed with blue light, illuminating his pale face.

The rhythm of the light was irregular, but persistent, really like a heartbeat.

The chip became hotter and hotter, from the initial warmth to almost burning his skin, but he didn't dare to let go; this thing was his only hope now.

The mark on his back also heated up, the heat spreading rapidly from a single point to his entire back, a tingling electrical sensation running up his spine and straight to his forehead.

This feeling had never been so intense before.

Many images flashed through his mind in the darkness: Xiao Ya smiling at him, his father's blurred back, and a few months ago, Xuanyuan Qing appearing at the laboratory door for the first time...

Memory fragments flashed in the darkness, in the same rhythm as the chip's light.

"Ark project..." Xu Xiaochuan's throat felt dry, muttering these three words, his tongue feeling heavy.

Suddenly, the temperature of the chip dropped sharply, and the light became stable, leaving only a faint blue.

But the heat on his back didn't retreat, instead spreading along his blood vessels to his arms and legs.

A strange warmth rushed through his entire body, bringing a brief, unreal strength.

He subconsciously clenched his fist, then relaxed it, a bit of blue light seeming to flash at his fingertips, then disappearing again.

Xu Xiaochuan carefully put the chip back into his pocket, closed his eyes, and memorized the coordinates.

It was pitch black all around, but he could vaguely see the outlines of things—as if a layer of extremely faint blue light was covering his eyes.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

The chip, the mark, the information left by his old man... all clues pointed to a guess that made his spine chill: these thirty years, he was probably not just an ordinary researcher.

"Xuanyuan Qing!"

He suddenly came back to his senses; his companion was still outside!

Xu Xiaochuan groped his way to push open the door of the control room, following his memory, walking back in the almost pitch-black environment.

The strength brought by that heat flow came and went quickly, and the familiar fatigue and bone-piercing pain returned.

The wound on his right leg made him gasp, and he could only lean against the wall to move forward.

Returning to the room where Xiao Ya had been, Xuanyuan Qing's condition was worse than when he left.

She was curled up in the corner, her breathing short and rapid, her face frighteningly sallow.

The last bit of light from the emergency light above was about to go out.

"Xuanyuan Qing, I got the coordinates! We have to go!" Xu Xiaochuan crouched down to look at her.

Xuanyuan Qing raised her head, her originally clear eyes filled with bloodshot veins. "What did you find?" her voice was hoarse, but her brain was still clear.

"You might not believe it, Xu Jianhua... my dad, he might still be alive... in some sense. There's an Ark project, Xiao Ya's consciousness was backed up and sent away." Xu Xiaochuan said a few sentences quickly, his hands not stopping as he checked her wounds.

Xuanyuan Qing coughed a few times, her chest heaving violently. "The air... is no good here, oxygen is getting less and less. The base's oxygen supply system is probably... completely finished. No time left."

"Did you find a way?"

She shook her head, raising her finger to point in a direction. "Over there... I don't have the strength to go look... communicator has no signal, Lin Yu he..."

"Forget about Lin Yu for now! Let's survive first!" Xu Xiaochuan wanted to help her up, but found she was as soft as a noodle, unable to stand at all.

The cloth strip temporarily bandaging her thigh had long since been soaked in blood, having lost too much blood, her body was ice-cold.

"I can't do it," Xuanyuan Qing pushed him away, "The chip... what exactly is that chip?"

Xu Xiaochuan took out the chip, the faint blue light flashing between the two of them. "It might be a key to open a door, or something for identity recognition. It reacts with the mark on my back."

Xuanyuan Qing stared fixedly at the chip, her eyes changing uncertainly. "Not just a key... have you thought about it? If it itself is... a container."

"Container? You mean Xiao Ya's consciousness..."

"A part, or all of it, who can say. Your dad, that person, wouldn't put all his eggs in one basket," Xuanyuan Qing reached out, wanting to touch the chip, "Thirty years ago's technology, storing a simplified version of consciousness encoding is enough. The military has been working on this."

Before she finished speaking, she convulsed violently, a mouthful of black blood gushing from her mouth.

Xu Xiaochuan was startled, hurriedly supporting her, his hand shaking, the chip falling to the ground, the blue light flashing once and then extinguishing.

"Xuanyuan Qing! Hold on!"

She grabbed Xu Xiaochuan's arm tightly, her nails digging into his flesh. "That coordinate... go... take the chip. Ark project... isn't just for Xiao Ya." her voice grew smaller and smaller, "Xu Xiaochuan... that thing on your back... isn't an accident..."

Her head tilted, and she fell into a coma completely.

Xu Xiaochuan hurriedly checked her breathing and pulse; they were there, but frighteningly weak.

Must leave this ghost place immediately, the oxygen was getting less and less!

He picked up the chip, stuffed it into his pocket, gritted his teeth, carried Xuanyuan Qing on his back, and walked in the direction she had just pointed.

Every step was like stepping on the tip of a knife, making him break out in a cold sweat from the pain. But the mark on his back started to emit that strange heat flow again, supporting him so he wouldn't collapse.

The situation in the ruins was worse than when he came.

The ceiling kept dropping things, and the walls had collapsed in several places.

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly remembered a hand-drawn map tucked into his father's notebook, which was the emergency escape route.

That map was tucked into a page of notes about white mouse behavior, very easy to overlook.