458: Chapter 455 should have no typos this time.

Shen Mingyuan stood up from the shadows, arms crossed over his chest, and spoke in a voice that was deliberately lowered and resonant.

"The Dominator of the dark night, the mysterious messenger of salvation, I—the black savior—have descended here."

He paused, lifting his chin slightly.

"Long Qingyun, look up."

Long Qingyun was crouching behind the truck. Hearing this, he looked up and immediately recognized the plain white armor—Wei Ziqing. And the black one beside him... Shen Mingyuan.

He froze for half a second, then his eyes lit up.

"Ah! It's you guys!"

He stood up with a swoosh, also striking an exaggerated pose, one hand clutching his chest, the other pointing to the sky.

"The future Dragon Overlord, the favorite of fate, has finally waited for his allies!"

Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, the two shaking hands.

"Comrade!"

"Brother-in-arms!"

Qing Lian stood to the side, watching them, and couldn't help but reach out to rub Long Qingyun's face, ruining his serious expression.

"Oh my, oh my, stop talking, we need to hurry up and run."

Long Qingyun was rubbed so hard he couldn't speak properly, frantically batting away her paws.

"Don't... don't rub anymore, let's go, hurry up!"

Shen Mingyuan and Wei Ziqing jumped down from the high ground, landing beside them. Shen Mingyuan put away his chuunibyou expression and looked at Long Qingyun.

"What happened? Why are you here?"

Long Qingyun caught his breath and began to explain.

"It was that infection, it just came suddenly. We hadn't had a chance to drink water yet, so we weren't infected. The others weren't so lucky..."

He glanced at Qing Lian.

"It's all thanks to her. Qing Lian has incredibly sharp hearing and helped us avoid the infected along the way. Occasionally, when we ran into a few stragglers, we managed to find ways around them; it was a close call, but we made it."

Wei Ziqing nodded.

"I see."

Shen Mingyuan took over the conversation.

"The base here has also fallen for the most part. However, there are still survivors in the experimental building, sealed inside by emergency devices. We were just preparing to find a way in."

He looked at Long Qingyun.

"Let's go together."

Long Qingyun nodded.

"Okay."

The four continued forward. With Shen Mingyuan's perception scouting ahead, they avoided patrolling infected and successfully circled around to the back door of the experimental building. That door was sealed tight with thick iron sheets, and the windows were the same, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

Shen Mingyuan looked up at the outer wall of the experimental building and gestured to the others.

"I'll go up and take a look first."

He used his hands and feet to climb up the pipes and windowsills on the outer wall to the second floor, landing in front of a window sealed with iron sheets. He looked through a gap in the iron, and the thermal imaging showed several figures gathered deep inside the room.

He knocked on the iron.

Knock, knock, knock.

A slight commotion came from inside, and then a voice came through the iron, filled with vigilance.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Shen Mingyuan." He lowered his voice, "Friendly, here to support. Can you open the door?"

There was silence inside for two seconds.

"How can you prove you are Shen Mingyuan?"

Shen Mingyuan was stunned for a moment.

"Then how do I prove I am Shen Mingyuan?"

"If you can't prove it, that means you aren't Shen Mingyuan."

Shen Mingyuan's mouth twitched, he took a deep breath, and then switched to a deep tone, starting to ramble:

"In the city shrouded in darkness, above the ruins filled with despair, there is always a figure walking between the shadows and the light."

"He is the black watcher holding the twin stars, he is the shadow Detective who sees all, he is the weaver of fate who reverses the tides in countless desperate situations!"

"He has stood side by side with the Hero Shadow, traveled with the silver skeleton, torn the veil of truth in blood and fire, and pulled the lives of comrades back from the edge of life and death!"

"His name is Shen Mingyuan—no proof is needed, because he himself is the answer!"

It was quiet inside for two seconds, then a suppressed laugh came through.

"Alright, alright, that's definitely Shen Mingyuan. Open the door."

A slight mechanical sound rang out, and the layer of iron on the window was lifted from the inside, revealing a gap. Shen Mingyuan turned back and waved to those below, and Wei Ziqing, Long Qingyun, and Qing Lian quickly climbed up, crawling in one by one.

After everyone was inside, the iron was lowered back down, covering it seamlessly.

In the room stood several people wearing lab coats, including Researchers and a few armed guards. The middle-aged man leading them walked up and let out a long sigh.

"You've finally arrived."

Shen Mingyuan waved his hand and asked directly, "How is the situation?"

The man sighed.

"Normal research, I guess. The infection broke out too suddenly. We immediately initiated an emergency lockdown and sealed the entire experimental building. The infected outside can't get in, so we are safe for now."

He paused and pointed to an instrument still running nearby.

"But we aren't just sitting around waiting. Through various monitoring equipment, we've discovered something—those infected receive commands via electromagnetic waves. Moreover, a special organ has been modified inside their bodies, specifically for receiving these signals."

Wei Ziqing stood to the side, watching Shen Mingyuan and the Researcher discuss the electromagnetic jammer with such seriousness, and suddenly sighed.

"Sigh," he muttered, "I always feel inferior because I'm not chuunibyou enough to join you guys."

Long Qingyun heard this from the side and couldn't help but chuckle.

The Researcher didn't notice the interlude and continued.

"We are currently researching this. We caught a few infected. Although we know they have that special organ inside to receive signals, we don't dare to cut it out casually—we don't know what impact it will have on the body. Plus, we don't have enough manpower."

He paused.

"If we want to research an antidote, this thing is a permanent physical modification; there's no other way besides surgical removal. It's impossible to have any kind of blocker; we need specialized equipment."

Shen Mingyuan nodded, signaling him to continue.

"So, our ideal approach is to build a special instrument to interfere with the surrounding electromagnetic waves. If we can make the infected unable to receive signals temporarily, it might just make them stop moving."

He pointed to the device being assembled on the Experimental Table nearby.

"We're working on it, a wide-range electromagnetic wave jammer."

Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up.

"That's great." He thought for a moment and asked, "What about the survivors in the city?"

The Researcher shook his head.

"There's no way. In the entire city, almost anyone who has drunk the water will be infected. Except for a few lucky survivors, there's nowhere safe."

He looked at Shen Mingyuan.

"Better to say, let them stay where they are hiding for now. As long as we can quickly deal with the collective and resolve the issue, they shouldn't be in danger before their food runs out."

Shen Mingyuan was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"It seems that's all we can do for now." He looked at the jammer being assembled, "So you're working on this right now?"

"Yes."

Shen Mingyuan took a deep breath.

"Lu Jianchuan and the others have gone to find the enemy's main body. You guys hurry up and finish the research, and then I'll take this to find them."

The Researcher acknowledged and turned back to continue working.

Wei Ziqing deactivated his transformation, the plain white armor faded away, revealing his casual clothes underneath. He looked around, his gaze landing on Long Qingyun, and walked over.

Long Qingyun was leaning against the wall. Qing Lian had jumped onto his lap at some point, curling her entire body into a ball, her tail wrapped around his wrist. Long Qingyun held her, his movements very natural.

Wei Ziqing stood beside him, glanced at the cat, and then at Long Qingyun.

"You seem to be getting more and more skilled at this."

Long Qingyun looked down at Qing Lian in his arms and smiled.

"I'm just used to it, so it's just become like this gradually."

He paused.

"The threshold has increased, right?"