89: Chapter 89 Self-Destruction Countdown

"Tonight's unboxing session was worth it."

Yan Zheng pinched the empty titanium container, spun it half a circle in his palm, and tossed it into the shadow at the foot of the cabinet.

His Mental Power had a little over 60% remaining.

The headache receded from his temples to the back of his head, turning into a dull ache—bearable, but the control precision was compromised.

No. 4 and No. 6 sent weak pulses from the upper level, the signal containing noise.

"Withdraw."

Yan Zheng turned and walked out of the cold storage, Brute following behind. Its Petrified Scales crushed the fragments of liquid nitrogen tanks and frozen floor tiles, each step emitting a crunching sound of ice shards.

The emergency lights in the corridor were still flashing.

The red light turned the iron doors of the isolation rooms on both sides dark brown. Behind the observation windows, human faces were pressed against the glass, looking out, eye sockets sunken, pupils unfocused.

Yan Zheng slowed his pace by half when passing the first isolation room.

The system panel popped up a prompt.

[Biological signal detected: Isolation Rooms 1 to 6, alive. Mutant tissue characteristics confirmed. Status: Severely weakened.]

"The six test subjects in the culture pods."

Yan Zheng glanced at the lock on the iron door of the isolation room.

Electromagnetic lock.

The main power was cut, the electromagnetic lock failed, and the door was only held by a mechanical bolt.

He used the back of his scalpel to flick open the bolt of the first room.

The door pushed open.

The smell inside rushed out—the rusty scent of oxidized blood, the pungent sour smell of excrement mixed with disinfectant, and the sweet, decaying aura of a human body after long-term bed rest.

The test subject lay on a metal bed, limbs fixed by restraints. The scales on its back had peeled off in large patches, the wounds were covered in black scabs, and its chest heaved very shallowly.

Yan Zheng pressed his hand on its forearm.

[Mutant gene collected: Scaled Armor gene (aberration), Quality: Inferior.]

[Collection complete.]

The test subject stopped breathing.

Yan Zheng didn't look much, turning to the second room.

Second, third, fourth.

He pushed the door, pressed his hand, collected, and left each one.

The process was as fast as sweeping goods in the cold storage, the only difference being that what he touched under his palm was living skin, warm, with slight tremors.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ≖ ⌓ ≖ ˵ )

[Electric Pulse gene (aberration), Quality: Inferior. Collection complete.]

[Bone Eversion gene (severe aberration), Quality: Poor. Collection complete.]

[Sensory Amplification gene, Quality: Ordinary. Collection complete.]

The test subjects in the fifth and sixth rooms had already died due to the life support system shutting down from the power cut, and their bodies were starting to stiffen.

The system collection efficiency was actually higher; there was no biological resistance in the dead tissue, and the extraction speed was 20% faster.

All six isolation rooms were cleared.

Yan Zheng wiped the body fluids off his gloves and retreated to the corridor.

"Nine frozen samples, six test subjects, one legendary Weapon X-23."

"The haul tonight is not bad."

He issued an instruction via Mental Link.

"No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, assemble at the truck passage."

"Mr. Knight, report on the ground cleanup."

Knight sent a steady golden pulse from the first basement level.

Attached image: Three security guards in the truck passage had been knocked down, one unconscious, two with photon burns on their legs, unable to move.

In the duty room, two security guards were controlled by No. 4 inside the room; the door hinge structure had been deformed by bone fragments, and it couldn't be opened from the inside.

"Clean."

Yan Zheng walked along the corridor to the stairwell.

4:11 AM.

Seven minutes since the detonation.

His rhythm was still within the safety window.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ω ˘ )

"Full withdrawal."

"Knight, exit via the truck passage."

"Brute, take the emergency exit."

"Skeleton Soldier, disassemble into stealth mode and return the same way through the drainage pipes."

"I will go with Knight."

He stepped onto the stairs, climbing up from the third basement level. His footsteps were twice as fast as when he entered, each step on the metal surface leaving a hurried, short sound.

The passage on the second basement level was filled with the smell of gunpowder and fire extinguisher powder. There were bullet holes and scorch marks on the walls. The overhead lights were all out, and only the emergency lights were flashing.

When Yan Zheng passed the laboratory corridor, he glanced at the supervisor's office.

The door was open.

The paper files on the table had been taken away.

The map of the Red Hook District underground structure on the wall had also been torn off, leaving only four thumbtacks and torn paper corners.

"The supervisor ran."

Yan Zheng didn't stop, continuing upward.

The supervisor had files and structural maps, but it didn't matter anymore.

He had already gotten what he wanted.

Knight was waiting for him at the entrance of the truck passage on the first basement level.

Its 2.5-meter body blocked the light from the entire passage exit, the golden light sphere in its chest cavity pulsing steadily, and shrapnel fragments were stuck to its scaled armor.

Yan Zheng walked beside it.

"Mr. Dawn, thank—"

The voice didn't finish.

A metallic friction sound came from the end of the corridor, dull, from a low source.

The fire door of the safety passage was pushed open.

A person walked out from behind the door.

About 50 years old, bald white man, about 1.85 meters tall, wearing an improved dark blue tactical suit, with a layer of silver-gray alloy armor added outside the bulletproof vest.

He was holding a rifle.

Not a standard rifle.

The barrel was a circle thicker than a standard assault rifle, and there were three concentric metal rings at the muzzle, with blue glowing elements embedded between the rings.

Blue light spread from the muzzle to the surface of the handguard, exceptionally dazzling in the dark.

E.S.S. Outpost Commander.

His gaze crossed over Yan Zheng, looked at the aftermath in the corridor, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"You are the 'Undertaker' that those people in the South District talk about?"

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ≖ ꈊ ≖ ˵ )

"Good evening, sir."

Yan Zheng's voice returned to that standard gentle tone, as if the seven-minute raid and slaughter were just a break in an academic experiment.

"Sorry to disturb you with a late-night visit."

The Commander didn't waste words.

The muzzle lifted, blue light gathering into a bright spot between the metal rings.

He pulled the trigger.

A blue beam shot out from the barrel. The sound wasn't a gunshot; it was a high-frequency hum that drilled against the eardrum, making one's teeth ache.

The beam hit Brute's chest.

Brute's Petrified Scales began to change shape at the point of contact with the blue light, the surface transitioning from solid to a semi-liquid state, edges bubbling, emitting tiny steam.

It dissolved.

Not shattered, not pierced, but the armor structure was directly dissolved.

Brute made a low resonant sound and took a step back.

A bowl-sized dent appeared on its chest, and the petrified layer at the bottom of the dent turned into gray sludge, slowly dripping down.

Yan Zheng's expression changed.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ✧ ‸ ✧ )

"Energy weapon."

The Commander fired a second shot, then a third.

The blue beams hit Brute's left shoulder and right thigh respectively.

Dissolved areas appeared on the stone armor in both places.

Brute's knees bent, its center of gravity unstable. It supported itself against the wall with one hand, the inscription luminosity fluctuating violently.

"Knight."

Yan Zheng's voice became sharp.

Knight turned from the direction of the truck passage, the brightness of the light sphere in its chest cavity surging.

Photon Ray was released from the emission array on Knight's right arm, and the white-gold beam swept across the corridor.

The Commander reacted quickly, side-stepping the main beam, but the tail end of the beam swept the middle section of the rifle in his hand.

The blue glowing elements exploded under high heat.

The rifle broke into two pieces from the middle, the Commander's hand was cut by the fragments, and he lost his weapon.

The explosion blast pushed him out, his back hitting the wall at the corridor corner. The bulletproof vest cushioned most of the impact, but blood still seeped from the corners of his mouth.

The Commander coughed twice on the ground, supporting himself with his hands to stand up.

Yan Zheng walked two steps toward him.

"Sir, your gun is very interesting."

"Do you mind telling me the model?"

The Commander spat a mouthful of blood on the ground.

His right hand reached into the inner pocket of the alloy armor on his chest.

What he pulled out wasn't a weapon.

It was a palm-sized remote control.

Gray shell, with only a red button in the middle, and a yellow warning strip pasted on the button.

"I don't know what you got."

The Commander's thumb pressed the red button.

"But you won't be able to take a single byte out."

"Self-destruct sequence initiated."

An electronically synthesized female voice came from the speaker at the top of the corridor.

[Attention, self-destruct sequence activated. All personnel evacuate immediately. Countdown thirty seconds.]

The ground began to vibrate.

It wasn't just one place; the structure of the entire underground facility was resonating. Dust and debris fell from the cracks in the walls, and the pipes emitted a metallic groaning sound.

Yan Zheng looked down at the floor.

Then he looked up at the Commander.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ꈊ ˘ ͈ )

"Sir, by doing this, you can't escape yourself either."

The Commander leaned against the wall, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, but he smiled.

"I don't need to run."

"My mission ends here."

Yan Zheng didn't continue chatting with him.

[Twenty-five seconds.]

"Full team retreat! Now!"

Knight turned and rushed toward the truck passage, its Petrified Scales smashing the wreckage of the overturned van blocking the way, the sound of metal fragments sliding being dragged into a long tone in the passage.

Brute dragged its dissolved left leg and retreated from the direction of the emergency exit.

No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 had fallen apart into bone fragments and entered the drainage pipes.

Yan Zheng ran behind Knight.

[Eighteen seconds.]

The truck passage sloped upward. The gradient wasn't large, but the impact on the knees when running was greater than on flat ground, and every step was felt in the ankles.

At the end of the passage was the rolling shutter door torn open by Brute.

Outside the door was the parking lot.

Outside the parking lot was the perimeter wall.

Outside the wall was the night of the Red Hook District.

[Twelve seconds.]

When Yan Zheng rushed out of the rolling shutter door, the first structural collapse came from underground behind him.

It wasn't an explosion; it was the load-bearing pillars breaking, the concrete slabs collapsing under gravity. The sound was dull, long, and traveled upward from the soles of his feet.

Knight used its shoulder to smash open the iron gate of the parking lot.

Yan Zheng climbed out through the gap, his shoe soles stepping onto the asphalt road outside, the feel changing from metal to rough asphalt.

He didn't stop, continuing to run.

[Five seconds.]

The ground of the chemical plant behind him collapsed.

It wasn't a collapse where the whole building fell down; it was the ground caving in from the middle, like a giant hand dragging it down from underground.

The foundation of the main plant building was sinking, walls developed cracks, windows shattered, and dust and broken bricks sprayed out from the cracks.

Then came a muffled sound.

The explosion from deep underground was suppressed by the soil, and the sound only left a dull heavy blow on the ground, like someone punching in the belly of the Earth.

The ground shook once.

Yan Zheng staggered half a step, steadying himself with his hand on a telephone pole by the road.

He looked back.

The plot where the chemical plant was located had collapsed by about three to four meters.

The main plant building was tilted, the north wall had peeled off in a whole piece, and the concrete floor of the parking lot had broken into several pieces, sliding into the collapse pit at an angle.

The white van was overturned at the bottom of the pit.

A column of dust rose from the center of the collapse, scattering into a gray curtain in the night wind.

Dogs were barking in the distance.

Further away, car alarms were triggered, the sharp electronic sounds bouncing back and forth on the empty industrial district streets.

Yan Zheng stood at a street corner three hundred meters away, dust falling on his black jacket, the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses covered with a thin layer of gray, his breathing carrying the residual smell of gunpowder and mud.

In the Mental Link, Brute reported its position from the direction of the emergency exit, having already withdrawn from the south side of the plant.

The bone fragments of No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 had returned to the periphery of the drainage pipes.

Knight stood five meters behind him, the brightness of the golden light sphere dropped by two levels, entering low-power standby.

Full withdrawal.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ͈ ᴗ ˘ ͈ ˵ )

He took a final look at the ruins of the collapsed chemical plant, the dust curtain slowly dissipating under the night sky of the Red Hook District.

"Operation Termite."

He pushed up his dust-covered gold-rimmed glasses, his voice not loud, speaking only to himself and the Knight behind him.

"End."

He turned and walked into the dark alley of Red Hook District at 4 AM.

"Nine ordinary samples, six test subjects, one legendary Weapon X-23."

"Brute is damaged but repairable, Skeleton Soldiers all survived, no structural loss."

"E.S.S. Red Hook District Outpost, physically deleted."

"The only regret."

Yan Zheng's scalpel spun half a circle between his fingers, a bit of gray dust on the blade.

"That blue light rifle exploded."

"Weapon X's experimental equipment, an energy weapon capable of dissolving Petrified Scales."

"If I had brought it out intact, it would have been enough for me to upgrade Mr. Brute's defense twice."

He put the scalpel into his pocket and raised his hand to pat Knight's petrified forearm.

"Let's go home, Mr. Dawn."

"I have to write a thank-you letter to Mr. Fury tomorrow."

"By the way, I'll ask him if the design drawings for that gun are in his filing cabinet."