364: Chapter 364 Lin Wan, it's you again.

By the time the technicians gathered around, the grayish-white figure had stopped moving completely.

It wasn't unconscious; it had simply given up struggling. It knelt on the sandy ground with its head bowed, limbs limp, with only the rise and fall of its chest indicating it was still alive. Several people in fully sealed hazmat suits approached quickly, carrying various testing instruments and a pair of specialized restraint shackles.

The instruments scanned over it. Red lights flashed, but there was no alarm. A technician looked up and gestured to Golden Bone—negative for virus detection.

Another technician had already knelt down to fit the shackles onto its wrists. They were made of alloy, with the inner walls embedded with dense electrodes; once activated, they would release a continuous low-frequency current to paralyze the nerves, making any attempt to break free futile. A similar set was placed on its ankles. Finally, there was the mouth—not to gag it, but for injections.

A syringe was pricked into the skin on the side of its neck, and a pale blue agent was pushed into its body. A nerve paralytic, it would prevent the creature from moving any muscle for the next few hours. At the same time, the agent was mixed with a high concentration of nutrient solution, enough to sustain an evolution creature's life even in a state of starvation.

It didn't even struggle. When the needle went in, it only closed its eyes for a moment.

Once all procedures were complete, the technician stood up, took off his gloves, and let out a long breath.

"Good news," he said, his voice laced with obvious relief. "The batch with the Universe virus seems to be afraid of high temperatures. When the aircraft re-entered the atmosphere, the heat was enough to incinerate any organic structure. We've scanned it three times and haven't detected any active virus residue."

Golden Bone nodded.

"Then isolate it," he said. "To be safe, isolate it for fourteen days first."

Nearby, Shen Mingyuan had already deactivated his transformation and was walking toward a transport vehicle parked to the side. Hearing this, he paused and turned his head.

"It feels like..." He opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Forget it, it's nothing. It just feels like going through a pandemic again."

He continued walking forward and pulled open the rear door of the transport vehicle.

Lu Jianchuan had also deactivated his transformation and helped him lift the shackled, immobile figure into the carriage. Its body was very light—much lighter than a normal human's. That layer of grayish-white exoskeleton seemed to be hollow, or perhaps its internal structure had completely changed. They secured it to a restraint chair inside the carriage and closed the door.

Golden Bone got into the passenger seat. Shen Mingyuan and Lu Jianchuan sat in the back, flanking the motionless figure on either side.

The motorcycle was towed away by another vehicle. The Green Snake coiled on the back seat of the motorcycle, its four white wings folded, its amber vertical pupils staring at the transport vehicle until it disappeared from view.

Golden Bone had just sat in the passenger seat and hadn't had time to look back yet.

Right then, everything in front of them suddenly began to blur.

It wasn't that their vision became unclear—it was that the entire world was like an old screen with an unstable signal, its edges flickering. The Gobi, the night sky, the seats inside the car, the grayish-white figure beside them—the outlines of everything were trembling slightly, as if seen through a shimmering heatwave.

Shen Mingyuan snapped his head around to look at Lu Jianchuan. Lu Jianchuan was also looking at him.

Then, darkness descended.

It didn't grow dark slowly. In an instant, it was as if someone had slapped the entire world out of existence.

At the same time, several heavy thuds came from the darkness—the dull sound of someone being hit, and the car body swayed.

Lu Jianchuan reacted extremely quickly. Following the direction of the sound, he threw a punch—

His fist slammed into the metal paneling inside the car, producing a heavy thud that shook the entire vehicle. He missed. He hadn't hit anything.

"Oh my, that was close."

A woman's voice came from the darkness, carrying a hint of a smile and a certain lazy, cat-and-mouse-like composure.

"You almost hit me."

Lu Jianchuan's pupils suddenly constricted.

This voice—

"Lin Wan?!"

He blurted it out. Impossible. This was impossible. He remembered clearly that in that battle, he had punched her, feeling the solid impact, the way her body went limp—she should be dead.

"How could you possibly—"

"Oh, Lu Jianchuan," the voice interrupted him, the smile in it deepening. "You really underestimated me."

There were no images in the darkness, only voices echoing as if coming from all directions at once, making it impossible to pinpoint.

"I remember telling you from the very beginning, didn't I? I'm a Painter," she said, every word carrying that familiar, playful tone. "I'm very good at painting within other people's vision."

The car swayed again. The sound of something being dragged.

"So, this Mr. Astronaut—" her voice moved, heading in a certain direction, "we'll be taking him with us for now."

Lu Jianchuan punched again, striking toward the sound. Empty again. Only the sound of his fist tearing through the air.

"How is this possible—" his voice was very low, filled with disbelief. "How did you get in?"

"We were able to get in," the voice said, having already moved to the car door, "thanks to the help of that doctor."

The sound of the car door being pulled open.

Shen Mingyuan stumbled toward that direction in the darkness, but his foot caught on something—perhaps someone's foot, or equipment scattered on the floor—and he lost his balance, falling heavily onto the carriage floor.

Golden Bone's reaction was the fastest. His Mechanical Exoskeleton could operate without vision; its sensors instantly locked onto the sound source, and the hydraulic joints exploded with maximum power as he launched himself toward the car door.

But that speed was too fast.

Lin Wan was already outside the car.

In the darkness, only the sound of a stretcher being dragged could be heard—the shackled, immobile grayish-white figure, along with the stretcher beneath him, was being dragged out of the carriage. The wheels rolled over the edge of the door and landed on the sandy ground outside with a dull thud.

"Alright," Lin Wan's voice came from outside, already sounding some distance away. "I'm taking the person with me."

A pause.

"Lu Jianchuan—"

Her voice trailed off with that familiar, ambiguous tone that was hard to tell if it was provocative or flirtatious.

"We will definitely meet again. After all..."

A soft chuckle.

"I really like you."

Outside the darkness, footsteps receded.

Lu Jianchuan's hands fumbled for the edge of the car door in the darkness as he stumbled out.

Beneath his feet was soft sand. He chased a few steps in the direction where the voice had vanished, but he could see nothing and touch nothing. The night wind blew from the depths of the Gobi, swirling fine sand against his face; other than that, there was no movement.

Golden Bone had already gotten out of the car and was standing not far behind him. The Mechanical Exoskeleton's sensors were running at full power—infrared, sonar, vibration detection—all feeding back normal results. There was nothing around.

"Everyone, seal off the area!" his voice went out over the communication channel, carrying suppressed fury. "The target has been hijacked. One suspect, female, likely still nearby—sweep the area!"

A series of urgent responses came over the channel. In the distance, searchlights flared up at the blockade line, and several armored vehicles started up, the roar of their engines piercing the night sky.

Then, the darkness began to recede.

It didn't brighten slowly, but rather faded rapidly, shrinking from the edges toward the center. It was as if someone was pulling a black curtain off the world. Within seconds, the Gobi, the dunes, the distant armored vehicles, and the sparse stars in the night sky—everything reappeared.

Lu Jianchuan stood in the sand, with nothing around him.

Only the transport vehicle remained where it was, its door wide open. The interior was empty; the shackled grayish-white figure had vanished along with the stretcher. There was a drag mark on the sand, extending eastward for a dozen meters before disappearing into a rocky area.

The voices of the pursuit team came through the communication channel:

"Report: No target found within a three-kilometer radius to the east!"

"Report: No abnormalities to the west!"

"Report: Search of the north side complete, nothing found!"

Golden Bone stood by the car, his expression grim. He stared at the drag mark that disappeared into the rocky area without saying a word.

Lu Jianchuan stood there, gazing at the empty Gobi, his fists slowly clenching.

The sandy ground was vast and empty.