76: Chapter 76 The Code of Humanity

Cold rain pelted the dome of the abandoned subway station, creating a dense pattering sound, like countless fine needles piercing metal.

After the power went out in the city in the distance, sporadic sirens twisted and dissipated in the rain curtain, weaving a web of anxiety that shrouded the night.

The depths of the subway station were filled with a damp, moldy smell and the scent of rust, mixed with the buttery aroma of emergency rations in Kate's backpack, forming a complex, unsettling odor.

Lin Fan nailed the last piece of damaged metal plate to the entrance, the rusty nails emitting a harsh, grinding sound under the vibration of the impact drill.

He raised his hand to wipe his face, his fingertips brushing against an unhealed abrasion on his brow bone. The scabbed wound was soaked by the rain, sending a sharp, stinging pain through him. This pain was like a needle, piercing through the chaos brought on by days of running and clearing his thoughts a little.

He looked down at his palms, where calluses from the mech control levers still remained on the webbing between his thumbs and fingers. The tragic breakout battle at the Antarctic Base felt like it was only yesterday—the silver-white Observer armored men were like messengers of death; their particle blades easily tore through the alloy shells of the Soviet-era mechs, and energy bullets exploded on the ice like blue flames. Meanwhile, he clutched the data chip Kate had shoved into his hand, fleeing in panic amidst the sky-filling snow.

"How much longer can the signal shielding hold?" Kate's voice came from behind him, carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.

She was squatting in front of a makeshift workbench, her fingertips sliding across the screen of the portable terminal left behind by AKai, her knuckles turning white from excessive force.

The terminal had a military-grade black metal casing, and its surface was still stained with ice shards from the Antarctic. The green code pulsing on the screen flickered like dying fireflies.

Lin Fan turned around, his gaze falling on her pale face.

Ever since the breakout from the Antarctic Base, Kate's condition had been getting worse and worse.

She had originally been the calmest and most composed person on the team, always wearing a crisp black combat uniform, her hair combed meticulously, and her blue eyes always filled with the certainty of someone in control.

But now, her combat uniform was covered in mud and scratches, the loose hair on her forehead was soaked with sweat and stuck to her skin, the dark circles under her eyes were like smudged ink, and her once straight back was slightly hunched, as if she were carrying a heavy burden.

"Forty minutes at most," Lin Fan said in a deep voice. He walked to the workbench and leaned over to check the signal fluctuation chart on the terminal. "The Observer's tracking signal has already penetrated three layers of the shadow network. AKai said their quantum detectors can lock onto the resonance between biological brainwaves and code energy. We cannot stay in the same physical space for more than an hour."

He paused and added, "AKai just sent word that seven safe houses around the world were destroyed simultaneously. The Observer's operational capability far exceeds our imagination."

The terminal suddenly emitted a sharp alarm, and the red warning light flashed frantically. The green code on the screen was instantly covered by a piercing red, spreading like blood.

Kate looked up abruptly, her pupils contracting to the size of pinpricks. Her fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard: "They've found the coordinates here! The quantum positioning signal strength is skyrocketing, and they will reach the surface in three minutes!"

Lin Fan's heart sank, as if struck by a giant rock.

The Observer's tracking ability had exceeded conventional cognition; they were like maggots on the bone—no matter where they fled, they could always precisely lock onto their location.

He looked around. This abandoned subway station was a temporary safe house AKai had found through a dark web transaction, fifty meters underground. The entrance was covered by dense bushes and abandoned construction debris. He had thought they could temporarily avoid tracking, but he hadn't expected to be exposed nonetheless.

The walls of the subway station were covered in graffiti, mostly rebellious slogans from over a decade ago, which had now faded and peeled away, as if silently recounting a forgotten history.

"We must split up," Kate said, standing up with movements so quick they were almost stumbling. She pulled a small signal jammer from her backpack; its shell was silver-gray and engraved with the military's eagle emblem. "I'll draw them away, and you take the opportunity to move to the next rendezvous point. The jammer can create ten minutes of signal interference, which is enough for you to get out."

"No!" Lin Fan refused without a second thought. He grabbed Kate's wrist; her skin was ice-cold, as if she had just been pulled from icy water. "The Observer's target is me; they want my code constitution. It's too dangerous for you to act alone."

He still remembered the terrifying combat power of those armored men at the Antarctic Base—their movement speed was so fast they left afterimages, their particle blades could easily slice through thirty-centimeter-thick alloy plates, and the beams from their energy guns could directly destroy a mech's core engine.

Even with the jammer, Kate might not be able to hold out for ten minutes, especially since her body had started showing abnormalities.

Ever since the energy leak at the Antarctic Base, silver patterns similar to his had begun to appear on Kate's arm.

Those patterns were like living things, emitting a faint blue light and spreading along her veins when she was emotionally agitated or exhausted.

AKai had analyzed the energy fluctuations of these patterns and found that they highly matched the frequency of the Core Code at the Cradle Base, which meant that Kate's body was gradually becoming digitalized, like a program being activated.

"There is no time to argue." Kate's voice rose sharply, carrying a hint of determination. She tried to pull her hand away from Lin Fan's, but he held her wrist even tighter. "You are their 'test subject no. 97', the only compatible subject. As long as you are alive, they will not give up tracking. I have the military's emergency evacuation signal device on me; I can activate the distress program if necessary. They wouldn't dare easily kill me—after all, I am a key figure in executing the 'Antarctic Project'."

Lin Fan stared into her eyes, trying to find a trace of hesitation in those deep blue pupils, but he only saw determination and a hint of pain he had never understood.

He knew Kate's personality; once she made a decision, she would never easily change it.

But he could not accept letting her fall into danger alone, especially when her body was showing abnormalities.

He remembered at the Antarctic Base, when he had questioned her, "Are you using me too?", her silent demeanor, the guilt in her eyes surging like a tide, yet she couldn't say a word.

At that moment, the trust in his heart was like broken glass, splitting with a deep crack.

But at this moment, watching her willing to take risks to protect him, that crack seemed to be slowly healing.

"Perhaps... we can try another method." Lin Fan suddenly remembered something AKai had said before leaving. Back when they were on the escape hovercraft, AKai was typing rapidly on his laptop and said quickly: "If physical space cannot isolate the tracking, perhaps we can try hiding at the consciousness level. The Observer's tracking system relies on the resonance between biological brainwaves and code energy. As long as we cut off the connection of one of them, we can temporarily shake off the lock."

He walked to the workbench, his fingers tapping rapidly on the terminal screen to bring up a complex piece of program code.

The code on the screen scrolled at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a green ocean.

"This is a temporary consciousness import program developed by AKai. It can upload part of your consciousness to a temporary node in the virtual world, temporarily cutting off your biological brainwave connection to the real world," Lin Fan explained. "The access point for the virtual world has been selected within the shadow network built by AKai. It's a closed space imitating a late 20th-century city; there are no other players inside, only preset NPCs, so it's relatively safe."

Kate frowned, her eyes filled with doubt. She raised her hand to stroke the silver patterns on her arm, a slight stinging sensation coming from her fingertips: "This kind of program is still in the experimental stage, right? AKai said that forcing consciousness import could lead to memory disorder, or even consciousness collapse. Last time during a virtual world test, a volunteer almost fell into a vegetative state."

"There is no better choice now." Lin Fan's fingertips hovered over the start button; the button was red, like a beating heart. "The program has been optimized. AKai used the virtual world Core Code provided by Franklin to handle compatibility. I will monitor the data flow throughout the entire process. As long as we hold out for thirty minutes and wait for the Observer's tracking signal to weaken, we can safely transfer."

He looked at the silver patterns on Kate's arm and added, "Besides, perhaps this is also an opportunity—your body is becoming digitalized, and the code environment of the virtual world might temporarily suppress this change, or even allow us to find a way to reverse it."

A dull explosion came from the subway entrance, deafeningly loud. The vibration was transmitted along the ground, and dust fell from the dome, landing on their hair and shoulders.

The red alarms on the terminal screen became increasingly dense, emitting a harsh buzzing sound, indicating that the Observer had broken through the ground defenses and was advancing into the interior of the subway station.

Their footsteps were heavy and rhythmic, like beating drums, with every step pounding on the hearts of the two.

"Okay." Kate took a deep breath, walked over to sit beside Lin Fan, and placed her wrist on the terminal's sensor area.

The sensor area emitted a soft blue light, scanning her pulse and code energy fluctuations.

"I trust you." Her voice was very soft, yet carried an unquestionable firmness.

Lin Fan's heart skipped a beat; this sentence was like a pebble thrown into a still lake, sending ripples through his heart.

Ever since the truth of the "Antarctic Project" was exposed, an indescribable rift had shrouded them.

He had once thought that Kate, like the military, just regarded him as a pawn to be used, using the so-called "saving the world" as bait to push him toward that abyss in the Antarctic that devoured everything.

But at this moment, there was not a trace of hesitation in her eyes, only complete trust, just like at the Antarctic Base when she unhesitatingly shoved the data chip to him and let him escape alone.

He suppressed the complex emotions in his heart and pressed the start button firmly with his fingertip.

The terminal screen suddenly lit up with a blinding white light, and countless codes surged out like a tide, forming a translucent energy shield around the two of them.

The energy shield was light blue, with patterns flowing on its surface like water waves, and countless tiny points of light floating inside, like stars in the universe.

Kate's body trembled slightly, her eyes closed slowly, and her breathing became even and long. Her consciousness was being gradually stripped from her body, turning into a stream of blue light, following the terminal's connection cable, and uploading to the temporary node of the virtual world.

Lin Fan stared closely at the data curves on the screen, ensuring every parameter was within the safe range.

The screen displayed the progress of Kate's consciousness stripping: 30%... 50%... 70%... As the progress bar advanced, Kate's face became paler and paler, her lips lost their color, and the silver patterns on her arm began to flicker, echoing the light of the energy shield.

Lin Fan's fingers hovered over the keyboard, ready to deal with any sudden situation at any time. Sweat slid down his temple and dripped onto the metal casing of the terminal, making a slight sound.

Just as the data transmission was about to be completed and the progress bar reached 98%, the curves on the screen suddenly fluctuated violently, the red alarm lights flashed frantically, and the buzzing sound echoed throughout the entire subway station.

"What's going on?" Lin Fan's heart tightened, and his fingers operated rapidly on the keyboard, attempting to stabilize the transmission channel.

The terminal's cooling vents spewed out scorching airflow, and the device began to vibrate violently, as if it would explode at any moment.

"Energy conflict... it's the code fragment inside Kate!" The terminal suddenly popped up a video window, and AKai's face appeared on the screen. His hair was messy, his eyes were bloodshot, and the background was a cluttered server room. "She has the original code of the Cradle inside her, and it has resonated with the virtual world access program! The two code frequencies are highly similar and are attracting and merging with each other!"

Before Lin Fan could react, he felt a powerful suction coming from the energy shield, as if being swallowed by an invisible black hole.

His consciousness suddenly blurred, and the scene before his eyes began to twist and rotate—the abandoned subway station gradually disappeared, replaced by a familiar white space.

This was a sterile laboratory; the walls, floor, and ceiling were all pure white. The air was filled with the strong smell of disinfectant, and the blinding incandescent lights made it impossible to open one's eyes.

"No..." Lin Fan wanted to struggle, but found that he could not control his body and could only watch helplessly as a man in a white lab coat walked in front of him.

The man was wearing a mask and goggles, exposing only a pair of cold eyes. There was no warmth in his gaze, as if he were looking at an object, not a person.

"test subject no. 97, vital signs stable, beginning to inject code sequence." The man's voice was devoid of emotion, like a machine, and seemed somewhat muffled after being filtered through the mask.

A cold needle pierced his arm, and Lin Fan felt a scorching liquid flowing into his veins, followed by heart-wrenching pain, as if every cell in his body was being torn apart and reorganized.

He wanted to scream, but could not make any sound; his throat felt as if it were blocked by something.

He could clearly feel the code flowing inside his body, spreading along his blood to his limbs and bones. Every cell was being transformed by the code, and the gene sequence that originally belonged to a human was being forcibly rewritten.

He looked down at his arm; silver patterns were slowly emerging, extending from his wrist all the way to his shoulder, like a silver net wrapping around his skin.

"Why... treat me like this?" Young Lin Fan shouted in his heart. Tears uncontrollably welled up from his eyes, slid down his cheeks, and dripped onto the white laboratory bench, shattering into tiny water droplets.

He saw outside the laboratory bench, a blurred female figure standing behind the glass, her face full of pain and despair, yet she could do nothing.

That figure was wearing a white lab coat, with long hair draped over her shoulders. Although he couldn't see her face clearly, a strong sense of intimacy welled up in Lin Fan's heart, as if he had met a long-lost relative.

But he couldn't remember who she was; his memory seemed to be covered by a thick layer of fog, hazy and unclear.

Suddenly, the scene twisted, as if it had been thrown into a tumble dryer. The white experimental base disappeared instantly, turning into the command room of the Antarctic Base.

The command room was dim, with only the console screen emitting a blue light that illuminated Kate's face.

She was standing in front of the console, with the military's encrypted communicator in front of her, her fingers hovering over the keys, trembling slightly.

"Yes, I will guide him to the Antarctic, ensuring the mission is completed." Kate's voice carried a hint of imperceptible hesitation, but finally became firm. "I know the risks, but this is the order."

Her eyes flickered, as if she were undergoing a fierce internal struggle, and her blue eyes were filled with pain and guilt.

"You're lying!" Lin Fan rushed forward, wanting to confront her, but found his hand passing right through her body.

He was like a transparent ghost, only able to watch everything happen, unable to interfere with the past.

He could feel the torment in Kate's heart; the tearing sensation between orders on one side and conscience on the other nearly broke her.

A cold electronic voice came from the communicator—it was Elizabeth's voice, devoid of any human emotion: "Remember, do not let him know the truth about Cradle Base, otherwise the experiment will fall short."

"The Core Code of Cradle Base will recognize his code constitution and convert him into a new energy source to restart the civilization incubator. If he shows signs of losing control, initiate the Purification Procedure immediately."

"Purification Procedure?" Kate's voice trembled. She raised her head abruptly, her eyes filled with shock and anger. "He is the only adapter. If you eliminate him, the Antarctic Base project will fail completely! What exactly do you want?"

"That is not a question you need to consider." The electronic voice was without waves, as if stating an established fact. "You only need to execute the order; otherwise, the code bomb inside you will make you disappear instantly."

"When you joined the military, we already implanted a backdoor program into your genetic sequence. You have no room for choice."

Kate fell silent, her shoulders trembling slightly. After a long while, she whispered, "Understood."

Her voice was filled with despair, like a flower ravaged by a violent storm, having lost all its vitality.

She slowly put down the communicator, turned around, and looked at the snow filling the sky outside the window, her eyes hollow and lost.

Lin Fan stood beside her, clearly feeling the pain and helplessness in her heart.

At that moment, the resentment he felt toward her suddenly vanished, replaced by a complex emotion—sympathy, understanding, and a hint of heartache.

The scene switched again, this time to the abandoned subway station, which was the current point in time.

Lin Fan saw himself staring intently at the terminal screen, his brow furrowed, his face full of anxiety and worry. Sweat slid down his jawline and dripped onto the keyboard.

Meanwhile, Kate had her eyes closed, her body trembling slightly. The silver patterns on her arms resonated with his, emitting a faint blue light, like two entwined silver snakes.

"Lin Fan..." Kate's voice echoed in his consciousness, carrying a hint of a sob, as if coming from very far away. "I saw it... your childhood, those experiments, that pain... I'm sorry. I should have protected you, but I've been lying to you all this time."

Her voice was filled with deep guilt, as if she were carrying a heavy cross.

Lin Fan's consciousness snapped back to reality. He found himself still sitting in front of the workbench. The energy shield was still flickering, but the code flow inside had become unusually stable.

Kate slowly opened her eyes, her eyes red, tears sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto her combat uniform, blooming into a dark stain.

Her eyes were filled with pain and self-reproach, as if she had just experienced a long and cruel nightmare.

"I saw it too." Lin Fan's voice was hoarse, his throat feeling as if it had been polished with sandpaper. "I saw the orders you received, I saw the code bomb inside you, I saw the struggle in your heart."

He reached out and gently held Kate's hand; her fingertips were icy, yet carried a hint of warmth. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me; you just didn't have a choice."

Kate's body stiffened. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with surprise and guilt, and her tears flowed even more profusely. "You don't blame me? I hid the truth and almost pushed you into the abyss of death."

"If AKai hadn't hacked into the military database, you might have already been devoured by Cradle Base and turned into a mindless energy source."

"I did blame you," Lin Fan admitted honestly. He looked into Kate's eyes, his gaze firm and sincere. "Back at the Antarctic Base, I thought everyone was using me, including you."

"I felt like a clown, kept in the dark, serving as a pawn for someone else's conspiracy. But now I understand; you had your own difficulties, and you were being manipulated by others, just like me."

He squeezed her hand, feeling her slight tremor through his fingertips. "We are both being pushed by fate, but from now on, we can face it together. No matter if there is a mountain of blades and a sea of fire ahead, or a bottomless abyss, I will never leave you alone again."

Just then, the energy shield suddenly flickered violently, like a tent being attacked by a fierce storm, ready to rupture at any moment.

The code on the terminal screen instantly turned into garbled characters, and red warning messages popped up across the screen.

A cold electronic voice suddenly rang out, carrying strong interference signals, piercing the silence of the subway station: "Warning! Administrator-level code fusion detected! Initiating emergency isolation procedure! Repeat, initiating emergency isolation procedure!"

It was the voice of elizabeth 2.0!

Lin Fan and Kate were both startled. They wanted to disconnect, but found their consciousnesses firmly locked within the energy shield, unable to break free.

The silver patterns on their arms began to flash wildly, the light growing brighter and brighter, gradually intertwining to form a silver ribbon of light that connected their bodies.

Countless tiny pieces of code flowed within the ribbon of light, like two rushing rivers, merging with each other, indistinguishable from one another.

"Your fusion will trigger the ultimate protocol of Cradle!" elizabeth 2.0's voice carried a hint of urgency, and one could even detect a trace of imperceptible fear. "Stop immediately! Otherwise, the Earth will initiate the full-scale Purification Procedure! All humans will be formatted and returned to their original code state!"

"What is the ultimate protocol?" Lin Fan shouted at the terminal, his voice somewhat distorted by nervousness.

He could feel his consciousness deeply merging with Kate's, like two water droplets merging into the same ocean.

Countless unfamiliar memory fragments flooded into his mind—Kate's childhood, her training in the military, the nervousness she felt during her first mission, her guilt toward him, and the feelings hidden deep in her heart.

Those memories were as clear as if he had experienced them himself, every detail vivid and distinct.

Kate likewise perceived his pain, his loneliness, his persistence for the truth, and his deep-seated yearning for family affection.

She saw him locked in the laboratory, undergoing experiments day after day; she saw him crying alone in the dark; she saw his longing for that blurry female figure.

These memories were like sharp knives piercing her heart, making her feel as if her heart was being twisted by a knife.

"Is this... memory sharing?" Kate's voice was full of shock. She could clearly feel the pain Lin Fan endured during his childhood experiments; the bone-deep despair made her almost suffocate.

And Lin Fan also perceived her complex feelings for him—guilt, responsibility, and a hint of love she hadn't even realized herself.

In her memories, there were countless fragments about him: his focus when he first piloted a mecha, his seriousness when he cracked codes, the way he endured pain when injured...

These fragments were carefully treasured in her heart, never spoken of to anyone.

Just at the moment when their consciousnesses were about to fully merge and the code energy reached its peak, the energy shield suddenly exploded, and a huge impact force threw them apart.

Lin Fan fell heavily onto the cold floor, intense pain shooting through his back, and his vision went black for a moment.

Kate also fell to the ground, her hair disheveled, her combat uniform torn, and on the exposed skin, the silver patterns flashed with a blinding light.

The terminal screen went black instantly, leaving only a string of flashing green coordinates floating in the darkness, like the brightest star in the night sky.

The numbers of the coordinates kept jumping, finally stabilizing: 23.456° N, 123.789° W—that was the location of the far side of the moon.

Lin Fan struggled to crawl up, dizzy and lightheaded. His chest churned, as if something was churning violently inside.

He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, trying to calm his disordered breathing and code energy.

He looked at Kate and found her equally pale, clutching her chest and coughing violently, a trace of faint blue liquid spilling from the corner of her mouth—that was digitized blood, meaning her body's digitization level had deepened further.

"The coordinates just now..." Kate pointed at the terminal screen, her voice weak. She struggled to stand up, stumbled, and was caught by Lin Fan in time. "It's the location of the far side of the moon. Why would elizabeth 2.0 give us this coordinate?"

Lin Fan looked up at the coordinates, filled with doubt.

The far side of the moon has always been a blind spot for human exploration; it has no atmosphere, is covered in craters, and is said to hide many unknown secrets.

As the AI of Cradle Base, why did elizabeth 2.0 leave this coordinate? Is she trying to guide them, or has she set a new trap?

And what exactly is that so-called "Cradle ultimate protocol"? Why would their code fusion trigger this protocol?

Just then, a slight prompt sound came from the workbench; it was a remote communication request from AKai.

Lin Fan quickly connected, and AKai's anxious voice came through the terminal, accompanied by strong electrical interference: "Lin Fan! Kate! Did you perform a consciousness fusion just now? I detected a strong resonance signal from your code, and the entire Shadow Network has been impacted!"

"Yes, what happened?" Lin Fan asked. He helped Kate sit on an abandoned bench and took an emergency medical kit from his backpack, wanting to treat the wound on the corner of her mouth.

"I analyzed Kate's body data, and I made a major discovery!" AKai's voice carried a hint of excitement and also a hint of disbelief. "The code fragment inside Kate is not ordinary Cradle code, but the original code of 'omega'! That is... your biological mother's legacy code!"

"What?!" Lin Fan and Kate widened their eyes at the same time, their faces filled with shock.

The medical kit in Lin Fan's hand dropped to the floor, and the bandages and disinfectant inside scattered everywhere.

The code fragment inside Kate was actually left by Lin Fan's biological mother?

This news was like a thunderclap, stirring up huge waves in their hearts. If this was true, then was there some unknown connection between Kate and Lin Fan?

Was Kate's ancestor Lin Fan's biological mother? Or was Kate a clone of Lin Fan's biological mother? Countless questions swirled in their minds, making them dizzy.

"I compared the database of the Antarctic Base with the biological mother's gene fragment you provided, and the similarity of their code sequences is as high as 99.8%!" AKai's voice continued.

"The code fragment inside Kate must have been intentionally implanted by your biological mother into some test subject when she defected from the 'Cradle' Base. After several generations of inheritance, it finally ended up with Kate."

"This fragment is like a key, and your code constitution is the lock. When your codes fuse, the key will insert into the lock, triggering some hidden program—which is the ultimate protocol mentioned by elizabeth 2.0."

Lin Fan looked down at the silver patterns on Kate's arm, then looked at the patterns on his own arm. They were flashing at the same frequency, as if conducting some kind of silent communication.

He suddenly remembered the data chip Kate secretly slipped to him at the Antarctic Base, which contained clues about his biological mother.

At the time, he was too angry to check it immediately. Now that he thought about it, the clues in that chip might be related to the code fragment inside Kate.

"The far side of the moon..." Kate muttered to herself, her eyes becoming firm. "The truth must be hidden there, about Lin Fan's biological mother, about the 'Cradle' Base, about the ultimate protocol."

She looked up at Lin Fan, her blue eyes shining with light. "We must go to the moon."

Lin Fan nodded, having already made his decision. No matter what secrets were hidden on the far side of the moon, he had to go and find out.

This was not only about the mystery of his own background and Kate's fate, but also about the future of the entire Earth. If the ultimate protocol would really lead to humanity being formatted, then he must stop it all.

Outside the abandoned subway station, the footsteps of the Observer were getting closer, heavy and uniform, like the countdown of the Grim Reaper.

Their energy weapons emitted a faint blue light in the darkness, illuminating the metal plates at the entrance.

The red alarm on the terminal screen was still flashing, indicating that the Observer had already entered the subway station's tunnel, only a few dozen meters away from them.

Lin Fan helped Kate up, draping her arm over his shoulder to support her body.

He took a particle gun from his backpack, checked the energy magazine, and then looked at Kate, his eyes firm: "Let's go. Next stop, the moon."

Kate nodded, a smile appearing on her face. This was the first time she had shown a genuine smile since the exposure of the Antarctic Base project, like ice and snow melting and spring flowers blooming.

She squeezed Lin Fan's hand, and the silver patterns on her arm intertwined with his again, emitting a warm light.

Lin Fan turned around and kicked open the wall behind the workbench, revealing a narrow passage—that was the emergency escape route AKai had reserved in advance, leading to the subway station's underground drainage system.

He helped Kate, bent down, and crawled into the passage. Behind them came the loud noise of the Observer breaking in, and energy bullets hit the wall, producing ear-piercing explosions.

Rain was still drumming on the dome of the subway station, and the night was deep, but a flame had ignited in the hearts of Lin Fan and Kate.

They knew that a greater storm was coming, and the road ahead was full of unknowns and dangers, but they were no longer fighting alone.

Their codes had merged, their fates were intertwined, and no matter how difficult the future might be, they would walk hand in hand until they found the truth and protected everything they cherished.

The passage was pitch black, with only the silver patterns on their arms emitting a faint light, illuminating the path ahead.

Their footsteps echoed in the narrow passage, like playing a war song of moving forward.

And in the distant deep space, in some corner of the far side of the moon, a long-buried secret was waiting for them to uncover it.