Chapter 55: Ice‑Sealed Desperate Situation

Master you…

Lofty Mountain Cola is about to expire. The phantom suddenly raised a hand, gesturing a bottle, "The password is…"

The ventilation pipe suddenly collapsed halfway. Zhang Jun grabbed Lin Xue and jumped down; upon landing he shattered a glass petri dish. Sticky purple liquid soaked his pant legs, and he suddenly recalled the blueberry jam he'd spilled last week.

Dragon Mountain Cave… The phantom twisted in the electric noise, "The contract… fake…"

Lin Xue suddenly kicked over the console: "Another hologram!" The encrypted file flashed on the screen, the header blatantly read "Clone Body Emotion Simulation Experiment Log".

A rumble came from afar as a load-bearing wall collapsed. Zhang Jun felt the warm jade pendant in his pocket; blue light illuminated the faded candy wrapper in the wall crack—orange-flavored, its production date was yesterday.

The metal door split open a crack; Zhang Jun had just extended his foot inside when he jerked it back: "This chill is more invigorating than Old Zhao's lame jokes!"

Lin Xue crouched, grabbed a handful of ice shards, and shoved them into his neck: "Cut the chatter, point the sword at me."

Purple light flashed from the sword hilt across the wall; the whole room's experimental gear, frozen stiff, glowed blue. Zhang Jun picked up a metal file folder and knocked on an ice lump: "Your old man sure knows how to pick a spot—this creepy place is too cold even for a freezer."

"Shut up!" Lin Xue lunged at the wall‑corner computer, clacking the keyboard, "That main control machine might still work…… hold on!"

The screen's blue light turned her face pale: "Project Aurora? How did my mother's diary end up here…" Her finger suddenly trembled like a vibrating phone.

As the document popped up, I saw the title—Logbook_Y. Zhang Jun leaned in, nearly bumping my nose: "Wow! Auntie's encryption is weak; even my middle‑school diary would be harder to crack."

Line five. Lin Xue suddenly grabbed my sleeve, "She said she'd use Ice Soul Power to seal some door—what the heck is this door…"

Before her words finished, the whole building shuddered. A lump of ice fell from the ceiling and hit the keyboard; the screen crackled, flashing a countdown: 00:59.

Damn! Zhao Wushuang's lame trick even got an upgrade? Zhang Jun swung a chair at the ice wall, "Where's the escape route? Didn't your dad leave a back door?"

Behind the washing machine! I yanked him into the passage, "Last time I was fixing the dishwasher I caught a glimpse of a hidden door…"

Coolant streamed down his pant legs into his shoes; Zhang Jun ran and cursed, "I'll make the old man pay for a new pair of shoes!" Suddenly his foot slipped, and he plunged headfirst into the ice pit.

I backhanded an ice spike to hook his belt: "Even a 200‑pound weight wouldn't dare flail like that!"

This is a tactical roll! He scrambled up the ice edge, "Hurry up, this stupid countdown…"

The alarm suddenly shifted pitch; the overhead ventilation pipe cracked with clacks, and a big blob of purple, jelly‑like liquid dripped down. Zhang Jun raised his sword to slash, but the hilt suddenly burned, making him grit his teeth: "Ow, fuck! Does this thing have auto‑heat?"

Purple light flared from the sword blade; the swung sword qi froze the goo into ice lumps. Lin Xue suddenly stared at the screen: "The countdown stopped! The pattern on your sword…"

Enough! Zhang Jun shook his frozen claws, "First find a spot to start a fire—my toes are about to turn into ice sticks…"

Behind the hidden door was a small storeroom, shelves piled with canned goods. Zhang Jun snatched a bottle of Lofty Mountain Cola and shook it hard: "Wow! Stock from twenty years ago?" The bubbles sprayed his face.

Lin Xue suddenly froze: "The third shelf… Mom always used to stash snacks here…" Her finger rubbed the can label, then she peeled off a yellowed scrap of paper—a crooked heart doodle.

This busted computer is harder to use than Old Zhao's dentures! Zhang Jun hammered the console with the sword hilt, the screen's blue light flickering over his blue‑tinged face. Lin Xue suddenly grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him in, her tactical glove scraping the frosted keyboard.

A dense cascade of logs popped up; her voice caught: "My mom… back then she used Ice Soul to seal a door? What dimension is this stupid door in?"

The twenty‑eighth experiment failed. Zhang Jun leaned in and read aloud; the white breath he exhaled condensed into droplets on the screen, "Auntie's shaking like the cafeteria lady ladling soup—hey, why'd you kick me?"

Lin Xue stared at the line 'bodily rejection'; her eyelashes crusted with ice shards trembled. The lab shuddered like a sieve, a chunk of ice fell from the ceiling and hit the keyboard, and the countdown suddenly popped up at 59 seconds.

Damn! Zhang Jun yanked up a chair and smashed it into the ice wall, "Did your old man build this lab out of tofu dregs? Is the escape route hidden behind the washing machine?"

Coolant streamed down his pant legs into his combat boots; his foot slipped, nearly sending him into the ice pit. Lin Xue whipped out an ice spike to hook his belt: "Even a 200‑pound weight shouldn't flail like that!" Suddenly he let out a muffled groan, a thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth and bloomed into a dark‑red flower on the ice.

Zhang Jun caught her slipping form with a backhand; his tactical jacket's front instantly frosted over: "Hey, does your ice‑stick physique come with a contagion?" His fingertip touched her neck, cold as a morgue's metal cabinet.

Lin Xue clung to his cuff, shivering: "The wash‑tub… third tile…"

When the hell are we still washing dishes! Zhang Jun suddenly noticed cracks spreading across her breastplate like a spiderweb, the hairs on his back standing on end. The main console crackled wildly, and the silhouettes shifting inside the ice‑sealed chamber made him uneasy.

The countdown froze at 37 seconds. The sword hilt suddenly burned, making him grit his teeth; purple light swept over the ice wall, revealing a dense network of circuit traces. "Is this voice‑controlled?" he waved the sword wildly across the ice, "Open sesame! Hurry up and obey the law!"

Lin Xue suddenly laughed, coughing fit: "The password is… Lofty Mountain Cola…" Before she finished, the hidden door clicked open and a frozen‑solid mouse darted out. Zhang Jun grabbed a can and hurled it: "The old man sure stocked up well!"

Deep in the shelving, blue light surged; the sharp crack of shattering ice‑crystal armor mingled with the alarm, ringing painfully in their ears. Lin Xue dug her fingers into his forearm, her tactical suit seeping blood stains: "Inside the container… is…"

Zhang Jun suddenly felt the ice shard protruding from the back of her neck; his Adam's apple bobbed: "First, promise me—if you turn into an ice sculpture, I can't drag you…"

When Zhang Jun's tactical dagger pried open the seventh floor tile, ice shards flew into his mouth. Lin Xue curled up in the corner, her exhaled white mist growing thinner, while purple ice‑crystal tracings crawled up her neck like something growing.

Damn! This busted computer is harder to use than Old Zhao's dentures! He hammered the console with the sword hilt; the screen's blue light showed the last line of the experiment log: 【Energy Core Coordinates: 108.93,34.27】. That was the hill behind Wang Family Village, where he and Wang Jun had buried the daughter red wine last year.

The alarm shifted pitch; twenty‑seven monitor screens flared purple at once. Lin Zhen's hologram floated up from the ice coffin, his gold‑thread eyes veiled with frost: "Xiao Jun, look at the third culture chamber on your left."

The crisp crack of splitting ice made teeth ache. Zhang Jun kicked open the frosted chamber lid—his whole body's blood instantly froze—there, twenty years ago, his own self blinked in the culture fluid, his chest bearing the Lin Clan Group's barcode.

A surprise? Lin Zhen's image flickered twice, "Back when your parents clutched the dead infant and wept, I personally pulled you out of the culture chamber…"