Chapter 190: The Virus Carrier's True Form

Jia Dongxu, holding a wrench, just turned into the west wall, while Zhao Jianguo was already squatting in front of that new brick. His finger pressed against the brick seam, and the pad of his finger could feel a faint vibration, as if a small motor that hadn't been shut off was hidden inside the wall.

"Don't smash," Zhao Jianguo said without looking up, "scan it first."

Jia Dongxu set the tools down, pulled a detector from his bag, and attached an external antenna. The screen lit up, the waveform diagram jumped a few times, and the red line shot straight to the top.

"It's still that signal," Jia Dongxu frowned, "the frequency changed, but the encoding format is the same."

Zhao Jianguo opened the system interface and switched to low‑frequency resonance scanning mode. The aperture emitted from the Terminal and slid slowly along the wall surface. After three seconds, a three‑dimensional model popped up on the screen, showing a metal sheet about the size of a fingernail embedded in the wall's interlayer, flashing in a regular rhythm.

"It's not a bomb," Zhao Jianguo said, staring at the data, "it's a transmitter, continuously sending data."

"Who shoved this thing into the wall?" Jia Dongxu reached out to pry it, but Zhao Jianguo stopped him.

"Don't touch it. The outer shell has corrosion marks; it could be a Virus carrier."

As they spoke, the sound of wheels rolling over bluestone came from the Street Entrance. A black armored vehicle stopped at the doorway, and the Special Forces Captain stepped out, holding a transparent evidence bag that contained the old pocket watch.

"Did you find anything here?" the Team Leader asked as he approached.

Zhao Jianguo nodded, "There's a Signal Source inside the wall; we just confirmed it's a micro‑transmitter. It's made from the same batch of components used on the captured individual."

The Team Leader glanced at the west wall, handed the bag to Zhao Jianguo, and said, "This notebook was seized from Grey Jacket; a corner was burned, but some writing remains."

Zhao Jianguo took the bag, flipped through it; the pages looked blank, but using the system's enhancement mode he scanned once, revealing a few lines of pale‑yellow text—numbers, dates, codes, and a repeatedly appearing sentence: "Second‑generation fusion entity has been located."

【4】 He felt a weight settle in his heart.

His heart sank.

"We need to verify identity," Zhao Jianguo looked up, "I can query the Management Bureau database, using exemption Permission."

The Team Leader didn't object, "Go ahead. Our equipment can't read his genetic data; it seems someone tampered with it."

Zhao Jianguo pulled out his badge, connected to the system, and launched the DNA matching program. The sample came from skin flakes residue on the transmitter's surface. When the progress bar completed, the screen displayed a match—Xu Da Mao, with a family Y‑chromosome sequence highly consistent, a relative within three generations on a collateral line.

"He's his cousin," Zhao Jianguo tucked away the badge, "He smuggled out of the country years ago and now serves as a tool in someone else's hands."

"He came out of an overseas training camp," the Team Leader added, "We've interrogated him; a command set was implanted in his mind, so he can't answer much. But one thing is clear: they know there are two special children in the Siheyuan."

Jia Dongxu was taken aback, "You mean twins?"

"Otherwise what?" Zhao Jianguo stood up, "They went through all this trouble not just to remove a few bricks."

The three were silent for a moment. Jia Dongxu lowered his head, staring at the detector, then suddenly thought of something, "The metal sheet my dad left behind... could it be related to this?"

No one answered. The question was too heavy; no one dared to speak openly.

"First break the wall and retrieve the transmitter," Zhao Jianguo patted Jia Dongxu's shoulder, "Set up the shielding cover so the signal doesn't keep leaking out."

Jia Dongxu began setting up the equipment, while Zhao Jianguo crouched back to the stone table with the notebook. Chen Xiao Jian ran over at that moment, carrying a cup of hot water.

"Uncle Zhao, my mother said you should have something hot," he set the cup down, eyes fixed on the evidence bag, "What does that notebook say?"

"Can you read it?" Zhao Jianguo handed it over.

Chen Xiao Jian took the bag, squinted for a moment, "These numbers... look like coordinates plus timestamps. The preceding letter strings I've seen before in intercepted telegrams; they're encrypted prefixes used by overseas organizations."

He said, pulling out a small ruler he carried, etched with several notches, "This is a decoding ruler my dad made; it can translate numbers by reference."

Zhao Jianguo watched him skillfully cross‑reference the data, feeling a pang of sadness. The kid was only in his teens, should have been studying at school, yet he was crouched in the courtyard decoding enemy orders.

A few minutes later, Chen Xiao Jian looked up, "There's a plan code‑named 'Qishi', its goal is to activate the 1978 temporal anchor. The execution time... is next week."

"Next week?" Zhao Jianguo's gaze tightened, "Which day exactly?"

"It says 'when the clock resets'," Chen Xiao Jian pointed to the burned section, "and there's another line—'bloodline fusion, reboot sequence'."

Zhao Jianguo suddenly recalled something and turned toward the Main Hall.

The twins were building blocks inside the house; when they heard the footsteps, they both looked up together. Both wore identical Blue Cloth shirts, their round chubby faces breaking into grins as Zhao Jianguo entered.

"Dad!"

Zhao Jianguo didn't smile. He crouched down, grasped the two little arms and examined them closely. Each inner wrist bore a tiny red dot, like a mosquito bite, actually a birthmark left at birth.

He recalled the system file noting that such marks are extremely rare among the descendants of time‑travelers.

"Have you felt any discomfort lately? Dizziness, or ringing in the ears?" he asked.

"No," one child shook his head, "I could even climb onto the roof in one breath yesterday."

"Me too!" the other rushed to say, "I even dreamed that stars fell into a well."

Zhao Jianguo's heart skipped a beat. A dream? Or fragments of memory?

He scooped the child into his arms, gently patted his back, then stood up and walked toward the door.

The Special Forces Captain was standing in the courtyard, waiting for him.

"The situation is more serious than I imagined," the Team Leader whispered, "This person is not just a carrier; he was specifically sent to confirm the target's existence. Once the 'Second Generation' identity is verified, the next step is capture or contamination."

"Will they come again?" Zhao Jianguo asked.

"They will," the Team Leader closed his notebook, "and they won't launch a direct assault. Next time they may disguise themselves as relatives or as delivery people. As long as the child touches an item encoded with the Virus, the fusion program can be triggered."

"So the most dangerous thing now isn't outside the courtyard," Zhao Jianguo said, looking at the light spilling through the Main Hall's door gap, "it's that someone has slipped inside."

Jia Dongxu came over at that moment, holding the freshly removed transmitter sealed in a box. "I've already cut off its signal output, but the data it transmitted earlier... can't be retrieved."

"Then we can only guard against what's next," Zhao Jianguo took a deep breath, "Starting tonight, all entrants must register their names and purposes. The children are not allowed to go out alone; meals will be distributed by the adults. Install detectors in the twins' room; any approach will trigger an alarm."

"Including me?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"Including you," Zhao Jianguo said, looking at him, "unless you can prove you haven't been swapped."

The air suddenly grew cold.

Chen Xiao Jian stood nearby, clutching his collar. He said nothing, but his eyes shone brightly, startling.

"Uncle Zhao," he suddenly spoke, "May I stand watch? I can use the walkie‑talkie and recognize those codes."

Zhao Jianguo shook his head, "You're still young."

"I'm not little anymore!" Chen Xiao Jian raised his voice, "I know more than anyone! The three people who came that day, I immediately noticed their soles were different—one wore domestic rubber shoes, the other two wore imported leather boots. They definitely didn't come from the same place!"

Zhao Jianguo was stunned. He hadn't noticed that.

He looked at the frail teenager before him and suddenly realized that this generation's children were long no longer ordinary.

"Fine," he nodded, "You're on the third shift, midnight to two A. M., with San Daye."

Chen Xiao Jian's face immediately broke into a smile, and he turned and ran toward the Kitchen: "I'm going to tell my mom!"

Jia Dongxu watched his back, sighed: "We're all changing. We used to only want to have a full Meal Ticket, now we have to guard against others slipping into the cracks of history."

"The crack has been there for a long time," Zhao Jianguo said, looking at the western wall. "All we can do is keep it from tearing even larger."

The Special Forces Captain patted his shoulder before leaving: "Remember, next time they won't come with machines. It could be a letter, a bottle of medicine, or even a seemingly kind word. The real attack never makes a sound."

After the armored vehicle drove away, the Siheyuan fell silent.

Zhao Jianguo stood at the Main Hall Door Gap, watching the two children inside still playing with blocks. They piled the wooden pieces into a crooked house, with a small red flag stuck on top.

"This is our home!" a child shouted loudly.

"No one may take it away!" another shouted in response.

Zhao Jianguo didn't go in. He leaned against the door frame for a long while, until Jia Dongxu came over to remind him it was time to change posts.

He cast one last glance at the lights inside, then turned and walked toward the west wall.

The detector was still running, green lines on the Screen pulsing steadily. He reached out and touched the newly patched brick; its temperature was normal, and the vibration had ceased.

But just as he was about to leave, the Terminal beeped twice.

System Prompt: 【Detected a weak signal reflection, source direction—Courtyard】.

Zhao Jianguo spun around sharply, his gaze sweeping over the Courtyard.

Under the locust tree, there was no one.

Warm light seeped through the Kitchen window.

Through the Main Hall Door Gap, the faint laughter of the Shuang Baotai could be heard.

He lowered his head to look at the Screen; the signal strength was rising slowly, its frequency matching exactly that of the transmitter from earlier.

But this time, the signal originated from a moving point somewhere within the Courtyard.