15: Chapter 15 Rusty Blood and Countdown

Funeral of the Fusion Reactor and the First Blood

Lin Yuan's index finger hovered half a second above the laser fence overload button.

It wasn't hesitation. It was calculation.

The gene-lock countdown at the edge of his vision blazed a bloody red: [00:57:43]. The erosion was accelerating. On the main control room's holographic screen, the fusion reactor's remaining energy read [47:00], mirroring the arrival time of the main Scavenger force. Outside the corridor, Tyranid-modified scouts were using bio-acid to corrode the B-3 level blast door, the metal giving off a sickly-sweet, protein-burning stench.

"Left corridor, three o'clock, two targets setting up a sonic resonator."

The voice sounded directly inside his skull. Not a system prompt, but an auditory hallucination. Yet this time it was precise, cold, like a tactical marker branded onto his retina. The price followed immediately: the walls in his vision seeped dark red blood, forming spiral-shaped genetic codes; a corpse in the corner suddenly blinked at him, its lips moving to utter meaningless syllables.

His sense of reality was peeling away. Lin Yuan bit his tongue, the taste of blood anchoring his consciousness. The 0.5-second pause wasn't out of mercy for the Scavenger scouts (those Tyranid-modified half-human, half-insect creatures were no longer human), but a dark, cruel elegy for this ARK medical station as a relic of civilization. Another beacon of the old world was about to be extinguished.

"Scarface, progress on LY-000 sample extraction from the cryo-vault?" Lin Yuan's voice held no inflection, his finger still hovering above the button, ready to drop at any moment.

"67%! The gene-lock is resisting the STC interface!" Scarface's voice, crackling with static, came from the cryo-vault. "Give me 90 more seconds! I have to manually calibrate the stem cell activity, or we'll extract dead cells!"

90 seconds. The fusion reactor needed exactly 90 seconds to warm up from critical to directional detonation.

Lin Yuan pulled up the tactical interface. The sting from the neural link with the Biological Armor on his left arm made him frown. Pale yellow tissue fluid seeped from the armor's seams, dripping onto the console with a corrosive *hiss*. He quickly input commands: laser fence overload program initiated, energy conduits rerouted to the fusion reactor core, simultaneously activating the comms-boost module—the electronic warfare tool obtained during the ARK-11 blood tax.

"Infiltrate Scavenger channels, forge an abandoned station signal. Radiation reading... set to 500 roentgens per hour. Add the calcification sound of wind-eroded bones to the ambient audio."

The comms-boost module cut into the Scavengers' encrypted frequency like an electronic scalpel. Lin Yuan's fingers flew, inputting forged data packets: radiation storms beneath a shattered dome, the shrieks of mutated bats, the subtle crackle of calcifying bones. A narrative of 'medical station abandoned, target relocated' was constructed within the data stream and uploaded to the Scavengers' orbital tracking vessel.

"Disinformation transmission complete. Expected delay to main force's judgment: 15 minutes." A confirmation code flashed on the system interface. H014 fulfilled.

At the same moment, Lin Yuan caught Scarface's movement out of the corner of his eye.

His technical partner was busy at the cryo-vault terminal, his fingers seemingly adjusting extraction parameters. But the audit log—the covert monitoring program established after discovering Scarface's hidden stash of anti-radiation agents—had captured anomalous data flow. Scarface's secondary permissions were quietly downloading STC basic templates, the data packets sliced into fragments of medical logs, flowing into a hidden partition of his personal data core.

He was preparing an escape route. Witnessing the inhuman coldness in Lin Yuan's decision-making (that gaze overlapping with the Lin clan ancestors in the ARK recordings), Scarface had developed a fear of being discarded.

Lin Yuan didn't turn his head. Didn't call him out. He merely added a new entry to the internal audit log: [Timestamp: T-90s, Subject: Scarface, Behavior: Unauthorized copying of STC core data, Risk Level: Orange]. Now was not the time for a reckoning. He needed Scarface's skills to complete the extraction, and Scarface needed to believe his theft went unnoticed. This balance of power was itself part of the cruel, dark survival.

"My lord." Rat Eye's voice came from behind, carrying a religious calm. "The manual detonation sequence in the main control room is ready. I request to remain and execute the final ignition."

Lin Yuan turned. Rat Eye wore carapace armor, his power pack emitting a low hum, his eyes glowing with an inner fanaticism. This man, who believed himself an Astartes attendant, was stroking the detonation controller with his power-gloved hand as if caressing a holy relic.

"Enemies in the left corridor have breached the second blast door," Rat Eye said softly, reciting an impromptu prayer. "Let this flame become a torch of holy purification. I shall bathe within it, becoming the cornerstone of your ascension. Main control room defenses can delay them for 120 seconds. Enough time for you and Scarface to evacuate. I shall become a martyr, purging the heretics with holy fire."

"Denied." Lin Yuan cut him off, his voice like an anvil striking steel. "Evacuate. Now."

"But my lord, it is the most efficient—"

"I sacrifice things, not people." Lin Yuan noted the twitching muscle at the corner of Rat Eye's mouth from excitement. "That is an order. Pick up your bolter and follow me. Or die here, becoming an efficiency negative in my audit log."

Rat Eye froze. The fanatical light in his eyes flickered several times, transforming into a deeper awe. "You would not sacrifice a believer," he murmured, tracing a crude Imperial Aquila on his chest with his finger. "You are a living saint."

Lin Yuan did not correct his theological misconception. He turned back to the console. The countdown echoed in his mind: [90... 89... 88...]

"Scarface, in 60 seconds, regardless of extraction completion, you must sever the connection." Lin Yuan's voice went directly to the cryo-vault. "The fusion reactor will enter an irreversible warm-up. Directional blast radius is 200 meters. Everything from B-2 level down will be vaporized."

"I know! Don't rush me!" Scarface's reply was sharp with fear. "This damn gene-lock... wait... first layer cracked! I've got the stem cell sample! LY-000 compatibility at 91%! This thing is practically tailor-made for you!"

A sudden, violent pain shot through Lin Yuan's left arm. The pulsing light from his Biological Armor shifted from pale yellow to deep crimson, flashing in sync with the fusion reactor core's energy readings. The sense of depersonalization struck again. He felt he was both Lin Yuan standing in the control room and the STC system itself monitoring it all. A hallucinatory whisper: "Sample confirmed. LY-001 clone, genetic sequence match. Evolution protocol activation conditions met."

Clone. The word hit his consciousness like a bullet.

A fragment of an encrypted file, parsed from the LY-000 genetic code, popped up on the holographic screen: [Project LY-001: Optimized clone batch based on the LY-000 prototype, designed to carry the STC Master Template and undergo forced evolution...] H021 partially fulfilled. A fragment of his origins revealed.

The countdown jumped to [45 seconds].

"All personnel, evacuate to the B-1 level maintenance conduit." Lin Yuan pressed the laser fence overload button. A red confirmation light lit up. "Fusion reactor directional detonation sequence initiated. Target: Scavenger scout cluster. Collateral damage: medical station."

The moment the button was pressed: silence, then a roar from deep underground. Fusion reactor energy was forcibly injected into the laser fence. The blue defensive beams instantly turned into blinding white light, the temperature soaring to a hundred thousand degrees.

B-3 level corridor. The Scavenger scout squad leader was calmly uploading his final data packet. His compound eyes flashed with bio-optical signals, transmitting the medical station's 3D coordinates and Lin Yuan's biometric signature (the unique radiation signature of the Biological Armor on his left arm) to the orbital tracking vessel.

"Target confirmed. LY-001 sample shows extremely high activity. Main force ETA: 46 minutes." He calculated. "Laser fence energy anomaly... Damn it..."

The Tyranid instinct screamed to life in his throat. He turned to retreat, but the white light had already consumed the corridor.

Directional detonation successful. Energy was precisely directed at the Scavenger cluster below B-3 level, forming an instantaneous plasma fireball. The shockwave reverberated violently within the confined space, vaporizing the Tyranid-modified flesh.

Lin Yuan turned and ran. The carapace armor's power assist system engaged fully, his footsteps pounding dully in the corridor. Scarface burst out of the cryo-vault, tightly clutching a thermal preservation case containing the pale golden LY-000 stem cells. Rat Eye followed behind Lin Yuan, his bolter pointed backward.

As they rushed past B-2 level, the walls began to tremble. The fusion reactor was compressing energy, preparing for directional release.

"30 seconds!" Lin Yuan roared, shoving open the maintenance conduit blast door.

The moment Rat Eye crossed the threshold, a sound like space tearing apart came from the direction of B-3 level. The shockwave caught up to them, slamming into their backs like a giant's hand. Lin Yuan crashed into the conduit wall. The ceramic plates of his carapace armor cracked, the shock-absorbing gel instantly hardening then softening. He clenched his teeth, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

"Keep running! The structure is collapsing!"

They climbed upward along the maintenance conduit, a chain collapse following behind them. Concrete blocks fell. Reinforcing steel rods jutted out like broken bones. Rat Eye slipped while climbing the incline. A sharp concrete fragment sliced across the seam of his right leg carapace armor, tearing it open. Blood gushed out.

"I'm fine! Go!" Rat Eye gritted his teeth, dragging his injured leg as he climbed. "For the Emperor!"

Lin Yuan didn't stop to check. In the dark wasteland, this kind of injury counted as 'not serious'. They had to reach the surface before the main structure collapsed.

When they tumbled out of the abandoned ventilation shaft and rolled onto the ground covered in radioactive dust, a muffled roar sounded behind them. The medical station collapsed inward during its fusion reactor funeral, forming a radioactive crater fifty meters in diameter. Dust and smoke billowed skyward, churning like an opening wound, forming a small mushroom cloud.

Lin Yuan lay on the ground, feeling the pain in his back and the pulse from the Biological Armor on his left arm. He opened the thermal preservation case, confirming the LY-000 sample was intact. In his vision, the gene-lock countdown jumped: [24:00:00], then paused. The erosion was temporarily contained, but the words [Evolution Protocol: Stage One] still hovered on the system interface, like a curse.

The communicator suddenly emitted a piercing static, followed by Martin Lin's electronically processed voice, dripping with oily malice: "Well done, nephew. You destroyed our little lab. But District 7 has seventeen more sites just like it. Your acting with that false intel was truly poor. The orbital tracking vessel has locked onto your biometric signature. The harvesting protocol... has been upgraded to highest priority. No longer capture. It's a hunt."

The comms cut off. Lin Yuan looked up at the sky. Above the lead-grey radiation clouds, churning like an open wound, a massive shadow prowled in synchronous orbit—the Scavengers' orbital tracking vessel.

Scarface sat on a chunk of concrete, secretly checking the STC backup in his data core, thinking Lin Yuan hadn't noticed. Rat Eye was treating the wound on his leg with a medkit, muttering under his breath, calling the earlier explosion the 'Holy Purifying Fire.'

Lin Yuan added another entry to the audit log: [Scarface download action confirmed. Trust mode upgraded: Guarded]. Then he stood up, stowing the LY-000 sample inside his armor.

"47 minutes." He looked at the dust cloud rising on the distant horizon—the main Scavenger force turning, hunt mode activated. "They're not coming to capture now. They're coming to hunt. Let's move."

The Biological Armor on his left arm flashed with a pulse of light synchronized with the moment before the fusion reactor's explosion, as if responding to some distant summons. The mobile warfare of the permanently displaced had now begun.