Chapter 117

The first wave of attackers consisted of over twenty hyenas, wolves, and leopards infected by the Iron Plague—more like specialized biological weapons than wild beasts.

Their original fangs and claws had been replaced with serrated blades; their hearts swapped out for high-torque miniature engines, providing relentless power to their bodies.

Hydraulic and linkage structures at the joints greatly enhanced strength and leaping performance. Mechanical ocular implants in their eye sockets could clearly lock onto high-speed moving targets even in dim, chaotic environments.

Mounted along their spines were rotary machine guns or other heavy weaponry.

Click-click-click-click—

The infected creatures leaped back and forth along the cabin walls, using their claws and fangs to tear open the Zero soldiers' power armor at blinding speed, then swung their tails into the seams between armor plates.

Blood sprayed, screams echoed through the cabin; wounded soldiers fired blindly, their Gao Si rifles' bullets ricocheting everywhere, punching holes into the cabin walls.

The first wave was merely an appetizer; through the windows, several giant infected creatures shaped like pterosaurs, each as large as a fighter jet, were flying in formation alongside the transport.

Clang-clang!

The pterosaur infections opened panels along their undersides, revealing smoothbore barrels that fired more steel darts. Each dart, like a delivery tube, released additional small infected creatures, further escalating the chaos.

Li Cheng drew his 170 Straight Blade, holding it vertically before him to block stray bullets, calmly observing the cabin's internal situation as he searched for the potential engine room.

Red button.

Though the Iron Plague creatures were clearly equipped with firearms, none were used—they clearly did not want the cabin to break apart. Some infected held back human soldiers, while others lunged toward the sealed lead barrels inside the armored vehicles, containing superheavy elements.

Superheavy elements refer to elements with atomic numbers above 104. Generally, the heavier the element, the more unstable its nucleus, making superheavy nuclei highly prone to decay.

But under certain conditions—such as when nucleons are arranged in specific patterns, and proton or neutron counts precisely fill a shell layer—the element can remain stable. Like books on a shelf: when few, they tilt and fall; when fully packed, they stay steady.

If stable elements are likened to land, and unstable ones to an endless ocean, then stable superheavy elements are islands suspended far offshore, potentially holding revolutionary scientific discoveries.

On Earth in the real world, stable superheavy elements remain a scientific fantasy and prediction. Here, they have become reality—and are regarded by both warring sides as an extremely vital strategic resource.

Riiip!

The only soldier in the cabin wearing a red helmet, Gao Da, casually tore a plague beast off a comrade's body and ripped it in half with his bare hands.

He then gripped his Gao Si rifle, moving like a blur, aiming and firing precise bursts that eliminated over a dozen plague creatures rushing toward the superheavy element lead barrels—without damaging the cabin.

Such conspicuous behavior naturally drew the attention of the plague beasts. Dozens of infected creatures leaped in rapid succession along the cabin walls, charging toward the red-helmeted soldier.

He set down his rifle, drew a long red sword from his back, and slashed, chopped, thrust, and swept—with astonishing slaughter techniques, he cut through more than half the cabin.

"Holy shit, that's some damn fine swordwork."

Li Cheng silently marveled, drew his Bat Hook Gun, and pulled the trigger. The metal hook shot forward, piercing a plague beast hanging from the cabin ceiling that was about to ambush the red helmet, dragging it back, pinning it down with one foot, and decapitating it with a rusted cleaver.

Hssss—

From the severed neck of the plague creature, a thick black mixture of blood and machine oil gushed out, reeking of foul, pungent stench.

The red-helmeted soldier heard the noise behind him, turned slightly, nodded at Li Cheng, then returned to the fight.

The Iron Plague creatures' goal was not to kill as many humans as possible, but to seize the superheavy element barrels—deliberately avoiding heavy firepower to prevent the transport from breaking apart and triggering a human last-ditch detonation.

The Zero soldiers were fully aware of this; they dared not fire indiscriminately, instead using power armor's gauntlets and fist-blades to engage in brutal close-quarters combat at ten thousand meters altitude.

"Button. Button."

Gao Si, moving through the cabin in search of the red engine room button, had no interest in joining the battle, only striking when necessary—using cold weapons hanging on the walls to chop infected creatures, while avoiding their black blood.

Boom!

Another thunderous crash came from outside the cabin; the transport's third engine failed and shut down, spewing thick black smoke, causing the entire aircraft to shake violently.

If the fourth engine was destroyed, the plane had only one possible fate: a crash.

"Hold on tight!"

The red-helmeted soldier shouted, yanked a lever marked with a warning label inside the cabin, and the transport's rear ramp opened.

Howling winds surged in; several unstable plague beasts were instantly blown away, vanishing into the misty clouds.

The red helmet detached a steel cable used for cargo loading, hooked it to his belt, then seized a laser sniper rifle and charged out of the cabin, braving the high-altitude gales as he climbed upward along the fuselage's exterior.

He finally found his position, set up his rifle, and fired at a giant pterosaur.

A beam of high-energy laser shot from the muzzle, piercing the creature's tail fin. Compared to its massive body, it was like poking a tiny hole in paper.

But this was ten thousand meters up; with its tail fin destroyed, the flying pterosaur's posture shifted abruptly, its speed plummeted, and in an instant, it was left far behind.

The steel dart delivery tube it had fired also snapped in half.

"First one."

The red-helmeted soldier, expressionless, shifted his laser rifle and aimed at the second giant pterosaur.

The Iron Plague creatures truly were born biological weapons. The infected beasts inside the cabin began crawling out, lowering their bodies to reduce air resistance, then activated their mounted rotary machine guns to unleash a torrent of fire at the red helmet.

Forcing him to divert attention, barely dodging.

"The button might be in the cockpit! You go press it, I'll help him!"

Li Cheng shouted to Gao Si, then copied him—fastening a steel cable to his waist and using the Bat Hook Gun's displacement effect to burst out of the cabin and climb up the fuselage's exterior.

His left hand unleashed the Death Curse Current, spraying high-pressure water jets to knock and fling infected creatures off; his right hand kept firing his rifle in sweeping bursts to suppress them, buying time for the red helmet.

The red helmet understood instantly, trusting his back to Li Cheng, and lay flat on the fuselage, aiming his laser rifle at the second and third giant pterosaurs, firing.

As each pterosaur fell, the steel dart delivery tubes ceased transporting smaller infected creatures, and conditions inside the cabin gradually stabilized.

The few remaining plague beasts, seeing the situation was hopeless, immediately overloaded their engine hearts, attempting to detonate themselves and destroy the plane—at the very least, denying the superheavy elements to the humans.

Fortunately, the red helmet and Li Cheng had already returned; the former slashed with his sword, the latter cut one down after another, kicking every plague beast off the aircraft.

This high-altitude battle, though described as perilous, lasted only a few minutes.

Of the original hundred-plus soldiers, only twenty to thirty remained; survivors leaned against the walls, gasping for breath.

The cabin floor was littered with severed limbs, human blood, and the infected's machine oil, mixed together into a reeking mess.

"."

The red-helmeted soldier stepped forward silently, gently lifting a fellow soldier from the armored vehicle's cargo bed.

The female soldier, whose chest plate bore the name Anjelina, had stood atop the vehicle, fighting desperately to prevent the plague beasts from seizing the superheavy elements, successfully protecting all the lead barrels—but her body had been severed at the waist, her intestines and organs spilled across the floor.

"Cough—cough—"

Angelina lay in the red-helmet soldier's arms, blood-flecked foam spilling from her mouth, her hand weakly lifting a photograph and pressing it into the other's grip as she tried to say something.

Before she could finish, the light of life in her eyes scattered like a candle in the wind. The red-helmet soldier gazed silently at the photograph — it showed a young mother and daughter.

"Li Cheng, I found the button!"

Hui Yu's excited voice came from the front of the cabin. She had pried open the cockpit hatch, and the red button lay right there on the control console.

As for the two pilots — a steel spike had run straight through each of their chests, matching the breach in the cockpit's windshield. Clearly, the Iron Plague creatures had taken care of them long ago.

With the pilots dead, the entire transport gradually tilted downward, diving and gliding as it plunged toward the cloud layer.

"Don't press it yet."

Li Cheng drew a deep breath. Ignoring the puzzled looks from the other Zello soldiers in the cabin, he turned toward the red helmet and asked tentatively, "Can you take your helmet off?"

Unlike the others, the red helmet's chestplate bore no name engraved on it.

He was silent for a moment, set down his weapon, and with a sharp crack pulled off his helmet with both hands.

Beneath was a frosty, ice-cold woman with long gray hair. The bone structure of her skull was identical to Isaac's, and her beautiful, aloof features bore a striking resemblance to Hui Yu.

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched violently. He asked, "Your name — is it Isaac?"

"Aisha."

The woman named Aisha corrected him on her own. Meanwhile, at the far end of the cabin, the impatient Hui Yu had already pressed the red button.

The scene before their eyes shifted instantly. Li Cheng and Hui Yu appeared in an empty engine room — only the powered armor shells they wore, and the blood spattered on them, proved they had truly left just now.

"Quick! All five engine room buttons are pressed — get to the Warden's room!"

Seeing the breakout on the verge of success, Hui Yu excitedly recalled all the liquid metal, clenched her fists, and charged out of the engine room in the lead.

Li Cheng followed behind and said slowly, "The red-helmet soldier in the transport — she looks just like you, only more mature. She calls herself Aisha."

"Hm?"

Hui Yu froze at his words, but her body kept running on instinct. "Aisha, Isaac — are those two the same person? Forget it, never mind. As long as I can get out, nothing else matters. As for the appearance... maybe I lost my memory and mistook the face of someone I saw during a previous breakout for my own."

She turned the doorknob of the Warden's room, and the wooden door that had been sealed until now finally swung open.

The room was brightly lit. All four walls of the square chamber were crammed with small "Handsome Rogue" brand televisions, each one playing footage of what Li Cheng and Hui Yu had just experienced inside the Narrative Cage. In the middle of the room sat a tea table.

The Warden sat behind the tea table. He was not a person, but a complex contraption made up of hundreds upon hundreds of mechanical eyes, with a single red eyeball embedded in the center. A tag reading 【Warden】 hung on his chest to certify his identity.

"Welcome, you two!"

The Warden did not speak (he seemed to lack the organs for it). Instead, the televisions on all four walls emitted a synthesizer-like electronic voice on his behalf: "Congratulations — you are the pair of prisoners closest to a successful breakout in the past three months."

"."

Li Cheng said nothing, glancing left and right as he surveyed his surroundings. Hui Yu, however, had no such patience. She blurted sharply, "We pressed all five engine room buttons in a row — per the agreement, the Narrative Cage is supposed to let us go!"

"Easy now, young people."

The Warden's mechanical eyes swiveled slightly, gesturing for Li Cheng and Hui Yu to sit. "Much as I regret it, despite the two of you successfully completing the breakout procedure, I still cannot let you leave."

"What?!"

Hui Yu's brows shot up, fury blazing in her chest. She slammed her palm down on the wooden tea table. "What's that supposed to mean? Going back on your word, are you?!"

"Believe me, if the decision were mine, I would follow the rules to the letter and let you break out — that is the guiding principle of the Narrative Cage."

The Warden said unhurriedly, "You've broken through five engine rooms in a row — you must have noticed the pattern by now, haven't you? Every room is connected to Isaac.

Isaac is Aisha. Aisha is Isaac."

The Warden said, "She was originally a mechanical soldier produced by Zello civilization. She performed with distinction in the Iron Plague War, and after ten years of fighting, accumulated enough merit points to retire with the rank of Colonel.

Only, a certain incident occurred in the meantime, causing her to defect from Zello civilization and become the interstellar pirate Isaac.

As for the details of that incident—"

He paused, glanced at Li Cheng, and said, "You must already know, I take it."

"Mm."

Li Cheng slowly produced the clues — four newspapers: 【Unknown Virus Breaks Out on Swan B】, 【Food Poisoning Case at a School in Proxima A District】, 【Terrorists Detonate Nuclear Bomb in Proxima A District】, 【Navy Special Operations Squad Destroys Key Node of Iron Plague Nest】.

A child's drawing — Anna and her mother.

After briefly organizing all the clues, Li Cheng began to speak: "Taking the Iron Plague War as the timeline, 【Unknown Virus Breaks Out on Swan B】 — the virus referred to here is the Iron Plague.

Isaac enlisted as a mechanical soldier and carried out the contents of this newspaper — 【Navy Special Operations Squad Destroys Key Node of Iron Plague Nest】 — which is exactly the plot that took place in the connected engine rooms."

(End of Chapter)