Chapter 60: Underground Labyrinth

"Don't waste bullets." She flung an ice shard to blast open the airtight door at the tunnel's end, "By the usual script there should be a fork sending each of us to a side."

Before the words finished, the passage suddenly split into two.

A rush of water sounds came from the left, while the right emitted an eerie blue glow. Lin Xue was about to speak when Zhang Jun suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Wait!"

He fished a half‑can of Laoshan Cola from his pocket, twisted off the tab and tossed it toward the fork. A metallic clank sounded from the left, but nothing on the right— the can passed through some projection and vanished without a trace.

"Damn, a holographic trap!"

They exchanged a glance and instinctively chose the left passage. Lin Xue's ice spear pierced three surveillance probes, and the exploding sparks illuminated a sign on the wall: 【Cì'ān Mental Hospital Basement Level 3】.

"Shit, it really is here!" Zhang Jun spat seawater, "How many layers of nesting does this busted hospital have?"

At the tunnel's end, light surged in like a flood.

The dazzling incandescent lamps made them squint. After adjusting, they realized they faced a brightly lit underground space—a neatly arranged cluster of towering metal structures, streets crisscrossing, resembling a miniature city.

But the streets were empty, only the low rumble of machinery, making it especially eerie.

Red warning signs reading "Plan Terminated" hung before each building, and tactical gear and everyday items littered the ground, as if residents had fled in haste.

"Welcome to the Ark Project ruins," a hoarse voice suddenly crackled from the overhead public broadcast system, "also your true birthplace."

Zhang Jun raised his sword toward the source, only to find empty speakers. Lin Xue's ice crystal armor had completely shattered, revealing silver patterns writhing under her skin, climbing up along her clavicle.

"Damn! This busted place doesn't even have a living soul?" Zhang Jun kicked open the glass door of the third building, the metal frame clanged to the ground, "Playing ghost tricks for fun?"

Inside, the building was standard military style—metal desks and chairs, displays, weapon racks, and an old Lin Group emblem on the wall. Yellowed documents littered the desk, the cover stamped "Primeval Project – Stage Seven".

Lin Xue suddenly pressed his shoulder: "Look at the monitors!"

A corner display flickered blue, twenty‑seven surveillance feeds lit up simultaneously, covering the whole underground city. In the central screen, a silhouette sat at an oval console, back to the camera.

"This isn't—"

The hoarse voice sounded again: "I know you have a bunch of questions. Come to the control room, and I'll tell you the truth."

The silhouette on the screen turned, and Zhang Jun almost bit his tongue— it was Wang Jun's face, only the right mechanical prosthetic looked far newer than master's.

"Wang Laotou is back again? How many times has he died?" Zhang Jun patted his tactical pack, confirming his sandalwood pipe was still inside.

"Clone body, same batch as Zhao Wushuang," Lin Xue sneered, "cheekbone height differs by 0.7 mm."

The feed suddenly switched, showing hordes of augmenteds pouring in from every entrance, their purple visors flashing eerie light in the darkness.

"Time's running out," the cloned Wang Jun's keystrokes echoed over the broadcast, "The control room is on the top floor of the central tower; the elevator code is Zhang Tiangang's birthday reversed."

"Again, the old man?" Zhang Jun let out a low hum, the crystal chip at the back of his neck burning like a soldering iron, "Is this guy his illegitimate child?"

The two sprinted out of the building, racing through the empty streets toward the central tower. Along the way they passed a clinic, a cafeteria, and residential blocks, all left in a hurriedly abandoned state, as if time had frozen here.

Lin Xue suddenly halted, picking up a half‑card on the ground, its surface printed "Ark Project Supervisor – Lin Yuehua".

【9】 "My god, a security clearance card?" Her voice trembled unusually, "What the hell is this damn project—"

"My mom's security level card?" Her voice trembled unusually, "What the hell is this bullshit plan—"

From afar a metallic clang rang, cutting her off. Dozens of augmenteds turned the corner, joints glowing an odd blue, their steps synchronized as they closed in.

"Move!"

Zhang Jun hauled Lin Xue toward the central tower, the transparent elevator car shimmering coldly in the moonlight. Lin Xue launched the last three ice spears, freezing the hydraulic joints of the pursuers' front ranks.

The elevator doors just closed behind them, and Zhang Jun exhaled, "0517, old man's birthday reversed."

The numeric keypad suddenly turned purple, displaying "Password Incorrect".

"Damn! It's really a nesting doll!" Zhang Jun punched the metal wall, "Old thing playing us?"

"Wait!" Lin Xue suddenly laughed, "Zhang Tiangang isn't your real dad."

She entered "0927", and the elevator shot up instantly toward the top floor. Zhang Jun stared blankly for a moment before realizing—that's the birthday he registered at the orphanage.

The elevator doors slid open, revealing a curved control hall. The cloned Wang Jun sat in the center, mechanical fingers tapping the console, his back a near‑exact replica of the deceased master.

"Finally arrived." He said without turning his head, his voice much clearer than over the communicator, "Time's short, you need to make a choice."

A large screen displayed a map of the entire underground city, red dots marking the augmenteds' positions—they were converging on the tower from all directions.

"Choose what the hell!" Zhang Jun thrust his sword toward the cloned Wang Jun's occiput, "Who the heck are you?"

The cloned Wang Jun slowly turned, revealing a half‑burned face—the scar pattern identical to the master's before death.

"I am Wang Jun's backup consciousness, implanted into a clone," he raised his mechanical right hand, palm glowing purple, "Three years ago the real Wang Jun foresaw this day."

Lin Xue flung an ice spear, pinning it to his seat armrest: "Prove your identity."

The cloned Wang Jun gave a wry smile, pulling a yellowed candy wrapper from his pocket: "Do you know what this is?"

Zhang Jun suddenly went numb all over— it was the fruit‑candy wrapper Wang Jun had slipped to him on his fifth birthday. Inside the wrapper was scribbled "Happy Birthday, little rabbit", the handwriting crooked.

"This damn thing can even be forged!" Zhang Jun clenched his teeth, feeling his throat tighten.

"You have a scar beneath your second right rib, from a rooftop fall at twelve," the cloned Wang Jun said calmly, "Master carried you to the hospital, and on the way you vomited all over him, then cried saying you couldn't tell Uncle Lin."

Zhang Jun's sword tip trembled slightly. Even Lin Xue didn't know this memory.

Lin Xue suddenly asked, "What did Master Wang say the last time he saw my mother three years ago?"

"He told Lin Yuehua that the Ice Soul power isn't a weapon but a key," the cloned Wang Jun sighed, "Unfortunately she wouldn't listen, insisting on using Ice Soul to seal the energy gate."

Lin Xue's ice spear shattered into powder in her palm.

"Damn!" Zhang Jun, irritable, kicked a chair over, "Old thing, what's the point of this charade?"

"Time's tight, I'll be brief," the cloned Wang Jun played an encrypted video, "Lin Zhen discovered an energy gate twenty years ago, leading to an unknown dimension. He used that gate to harvest purple energy, developing augmentation and cloning technologies."