25: Chapter 25 The Twin Resonance in the Tyrant's Cockpit

Rat Eye's right eye emitted a faint blue light in the shadows.

Lin Yuan leaned against the outer wall of Station Zero. The Master-Slave Contract trembled at a neural level; his optic nerves felt as if they were tethered by thin threads, with primal feedback crawling up his spinal cord. The other end was connected to Rat Eye's Anvil sensory network.

"Three hundred meters southeast, Tyrant-class TY-04."

Rat Eye's voice vibrated directly within his skull, a mechanically filtered rasp accompanied by static noise.

"Something is pulsing inside the cockpit. The frequency matches the pulse of the lock on that door."

War Premonition exploded in the depths of his consciousness.

The future from three seconds ahead overlaid his retinas like a transparent film. The Tyrant-class's hydraulic joints were twisting. The firing mechanism of the 30mm chain gun suddenly slowed, switching to a non-lethal mode. The trajectory of a capture shell traced an arc in his anticipation.

"They want us alive."

Lin Yuan's fingers brushed against the surface of the electromagnetic pulse grenade, the metallic chill seeping into his fingertips. The Wanderer lay silent three hundred meters away; with only 1.8% energy, its basic shields could not be activated.

"There is a second signal source inside TY-04."

Rat Eye's mechanical right leg adjusted its posture, the servo motor emitting a faint hiss. The Master-Slave Contract locked away any possibility of defiance, yet the sensory permissions granted by the Anvil Protocol expanded within the framework of neural enslavement. He "saw" that signal. It shared the same origin as THRONE-01, yet they were mutually repulsive—the flip side of the same coin.

"THRONE-02 Compatible Body."

As Rat Eye reported, the mechanical patterns in his right eye flickered for a moment.

"Or a tissue sample. It doesn't seem like a complete Adapter, but rather like a stripped biological component. It's stored in a Cryogenic Pod."

Lin Yuan's tactical calculations were completed within 0.3 seconds.

Four Tyrant-classes were closing in. TY-04 was at the vanguard of the formation because it carried the "component." The Anvil King's Commander was taking a risk, placing the precious second key carrier in the most vulnerable position just to reach the gates of Station Zero faster.

The door was thirty meters behind him. Su Wanqing's handwriting was engraved upon thirty tons of composite alloy: "Only the twins can open the Cradle of Birth."

Lin Yuan had already left a THRONE-01 biological signature, but the second slot remained blank. Since Rat Eye was controlled by the Master-Slave Contract, his Anvil signature was judged as a "subordinate node" and could not serve as an independent second key.

He needed that Cryogenic Pod.

"Lend me your right eye's field of vision."

Lin Yuan commanded through the neural link.

Instantly, Rat Eye's visual signals flooded into his brain.

The overlapping images made Lin Yuan dizzy for a moment. However, he saw the old-era military dog tag riveted to the side armor plate of TY-04's cockpit. The serial number was worn, but the letters "SWQ" were clearly discernible under the ultraviolet spectrum of the Anvil perception.

Su Wanqing.

Lin Yuan's blood ran a degree colder.

The three-second premonition was triggered again.

In five seconds, a capture net would be fired from a forty-five-degree angle to the upper left. If he remained still, the net would wrap around his left shoulder but miss his right hand—enough time to shove the grenade into the gap of the treads.

"I will expose my position; you cover LY-001."

Lin Yuan cut the link and stood up from behind the cover.

Almost simultaneously, the TY-04 turret rotated. The capture net launcher hissed. A massive net woven of nylon and wire unfurled, looking like a predator's web under the moonlight.

Lin Yuan did not dodge.

He allowed the net to entangle his left arm. The immense force dragged him toward the Tyrant-class's front armor. At the moment of being pulled, his right hand drew the EMP grenade and threw it precisely at the left front tread joint.

The EMP erupted in a silent blue light.

The TY-04's hydraulic system failed. The thirty-ton steel behemoth let out a metallic groan and kneeled forward. The cockpit went into emergency lockdown. Lin Yuan used the pulling force to leap onto the sloped armor plate.

"Don't move."

Lin Yuan's voice conducted through the armor, cold as the alloy door of Station Zero.

"If the Cryogenic Pod inside the cockpit ruptures, the THRONE-02 sample will degrade within thirty seconds. If the Anvil King wants what's inside the Cradle, he must first preserve the sample."

Three seconds of silence followed from inside the cockpit.

A voice-modulated male voice came over the loudspeaker, carrying the characteristic caution of a warlord.

"You know about the Cradle. You really are one of the keys."

"I know more than you do."

Lin Yuan's left hand was still entangled in the capture net against the armor plate, his posture awkward, but his tone remained steady. His right hand pressed against the hatch's thermal melt lock, carrying the residual Anvil signals transmitted by Rat Eye through the Master-Slave Contract.

"The orders you received were to capture me alive, not to eliminate me. That's because two Adapters are required to be present simultaneously to open the door. The one in the cockpit... is it a clone? Or an experimental sample from my mother twenty years ago?"

Static noise crackled over the communication channel. The other party was suppressing their shock.

Lin Yuan gave them no time to think. His consciousness sank into the THRONE-01 interface. The golden "Divine Intervention" option hovered in the corner of his vision like an unsheathed sword.

He did not activate it. He only let the interface's faint glow shine through his pupils, casting a golden light onto TY-04's external sensors.

"Two choices."

Lin Yuan's fingers tightened on the thermal melt lock.

"First, open the hatch and hand over the Cryogenic Pod. We cooperate temporarily, and after the door is open, we each take what we need. You want the Cradle samples; I want the data."

"The second?"

"Activate Divine Intervention. You, the vehicle, and everything within a five-hundred-meter radius will become dust under the God-Emperor's gaze."

Lin Yuan's voice was very soft, but every word struck like a hammer on metal.

"I don't recommend choosing the second one. I'm in a hurry, but I don't mind wasting divine grace to clear an obstacle."

A metallic clatter came from inside the cockpit, as if someone had slammed their fist into the console.

Five seconds later, the loudspeaker sounded again. The voice modulation was gone, revealing the tired yet shrewd original voice of a middle-aged man.

"How can you prove you can open the door? You only have the THRONE-01 signature. We've tried it; a single signature triggers a defense protocol that burns the opener to ash."

"Because I have this."

Lin Yuan raised his right hand, and the STC Mark on his palm lit up. Through the Master-Slave Contract, he remotely activated Rat Eye's Anvil perception, projecting the biological signal of the Cryogenic Pod inside the TY-04 cockpit in real-time.

Two points of light overlapped on the mark. The golden light of THRONE-01 and the faint blue of THRONE-02 formed a perfect double helix.

"twin keys."

The man inside the cockpit sucked in a breath.

"You found the second... no, did you extract it from the vehicle?"

"It can't be extracted. That's why I need you and the vehicle to stand before the door."

Lin Yuan said.

"Cooperate, or be destroyed. The Anvil King's rule: the end justifies the means. Our interests are temporarily aligned."

A long silence followed.

Then, the hydraulic lock of the TY-04 hatch depressurized, and it slowly opened.

Inside the cockpit, a middle-aged man in a black Anvil King uniform held up his hands. He had a mechanical prosthetic left eye, and an old-era military dog tag necklace was wrapped around his right arm.

Lin Yuan glimpsed more "SWQ" engravings. There was also a yellowed photograph showing a young Su Wanqing standing among a group of researchers in white coats.

"Chen Duo, Commander of the Third Reconnaissance Team under the Anvil King."

The man's gaze shifted between the STC Mark on Lin Yuan's face and the gates of Station Zero behind him.

"I can bring the Cryogenic Pod to the door. But once it's open, the Cradle samples will be split 70-30; I want seventy percent."

"A fifty-fifty split."

Lin Yuan said.

"And I need to check the integrity of the Cryogenic Pod first. If it was damaged during transport, you'll get nothing."

Chen Duo's mechanical eye whirred as he calculated the risks.

Finally, he nodded.

"Deal. But there's one condition."

"Speak."

"Your mutant subordinate."

Chen Duo looked toward the back of the sand dune. Rat Eye was supporting LY-001, hiding in the shadows.

"He has high-level permissions for the Anvil Protocol. I need him to act as a signal relay when we open the door to ensure the Cryogenic Pod sample isn't misidentified as an intruder by the station's defense system."

Lin Yuan's gaze turned cold.

War Premonition didn't trigger, indicating that Chen Duo had no immediate intent to attack. However, the warlord's paranoia allowed him to sniff out a deeper scheme.

"Rat Eye will serve as the interface."

Lin Yuan said.

"But I will monitor his neural state in real-time through the Master-Slave Contract. If you attempt a reverse intrusion through the Anvil Protocol..."

"Then you'll detonate the bomb in his head."

Chen Duo finished the sentence for him, revealing a weary smile.

"I understand. We'll plant tracking beacons on each other. The Anvil King's rule: cooperating parties must ensure the other cannot escape."

Lin Yuan nodded.

He reached out, and the STC Mark swept over Chen Duo's mechanical eye, leaving a trace of energy so faint it was nearly imperceptible.

Chen Duo pulled an anvil-shaped metal piece from his pocket and tossed it to Lin Yuan.

"Anvil Protocol physical anchor. Attach it to your vehicle; if I die, my team will know you did it."

Lin Yuan caught the metal piece, feeling the faint bio-electric fluctuations upon it.

A mutual shackle, a temporary alliance.

"Bring out the Cryogenic Pod."

Lin Yuan jumped off the armor plate.

"We're opening the door."

Chen Duo turned to command his crew to move it.

A fist-sized biological tissue floated inside a cylindrical glass container. Its surface was covered with patterns similar to the mark on Lin Yuan's palm, but its color was a sickly faint blue.

Rat Eye stepped out from behind the sand dune. His right eye throbbed with intense pain the moment he saw the Cryogenic Pod.

The Master-Slave Contract made it impossible for him to resist, but his Anvil perception resonated at a neural level.

He suddenly realized that through this controlled body, he had become the only signal bridge between Lin Yuan and the Anvil King.

His bargaining power had strangely increased within the framework of neural enslavement.

"Lin Yuan."

Rat Eye whispered through the neural link.

"That sample... it's responding to me. It's not a THRONE-02 command, but something more primal... like it's searching for its own kind."

Lin Yuan did not answer.

Standing before the gates of Station Zero, he watched as Chen Duo placed the Cryogenic Pod on the scanning table in front of the door.

The other three escort vehicles of TY-04 stopped a hundred meters away, their muzzles lowered in a gesture of ceasefire.

"twin keys verification starting."

A mechanized system voice rang out.

Lin Yuan pressed his palm against the left side of the door. Chen Duo connected the Cryogenic Pod's cables to the right side.

Two beams of light shone. Gold and faint blue converged at the seam of the door.

Then, the door moved.

It didn't open completely, only cracking open a narrow slit.

But from the crack, a biological signal carrying a metallic sweetness gushed out. Lin Yuan's STC interface refreshed frantically, displaying a series of unrecognizable genetic codes.

That was not a human signal.

Nor was it a mutant's.

It was an existence carrying a mixture of Warhammer 40K genetic technology and ARK primal sample characteristics, waiting quietly on the other side of the door.

Chen Duo's expression changed.

"There's... a living thing inside the Cradle?"

Lin Yuan stared at the crack. His right hand was pressed against the Divine Intervention activation interface, his knuckles turning white.

The gap in the door was widening.