34: Chapter 34 Seventeen Minutes and the Purification Protocol

The power claw was stuck in the third chest cavity; recovery was delayed by 0.5 seconds.

The THRONE-00 engine shrieked as hydraulic oil seeped from the joint gaps, dripping onto the rusted pipe floor and mixing with the mucus secreted by the fungal carpet into a murky purple. EMP damage caused intermittent delays in the hydraulic system; the mechanical guard's right arm emitted a piercing metallic screech as it was pulled out, bringing a string of blood droplets and bone fragments with it. Lin Yuan stared into the mechanical guard's crimson goggles, which flickered in the dim pipe like the pupils of a dying beast. The impact of the corpse hitting the pipe wall echoed in the narrow space, the crisp sound of the collapsing chest cavity reflected by the walls into a tooth-aching echo.

"Seventeen minutes left." Rat Eye leaned against the corner, his single eye bloodshot, his pupil dilated into a pitch-black dot in the shadows. His hand against the wall trembled, dried blood and filth embedded under his fingernails. "Three hundred meters ahead is an abandoned airlock; beyond that is the edge of Area B. But sonar detection shows living things in that section of the pipe... many living things."

Chen Duo's terminal glowed with a ghostly blue light, turning his face a sickly pale. The cursor had lingered on the encrypted folder for too long, the screen's cold light casting two stark white reflections on his glasses. His breathing was rapid and irregular, his finger hovering over the touchpad with knuckles white from tension.

His right hand had lost all sensation. The foreign body sensation of alloy wires spreading to his elbow felt like ants crawling, or like countless tiny teeth gnawing at the fascia. The silver metallic veins glinted coldly in the gloom, pulsing slightly with his heartbeat as if they possessed an independent life. Lin Yuan used his left hand to press down on his twitching right arm, feeling the eerie texture of metal and flesh interwoven beneath the skin.

"Chen Duo." Lin Yuan lowered his voice to cover the distant mechanical footsteps, which sounded like the roar of heavy treads crushing bone. "The cursor has been sitting on that for three seconds. What is it?"

Chen Duo's hand jerked, nearly dropping the terminal. Lin Yuan's STC interface had already captured the reflected light, a waterfall of data streams flashing before his eyes, with keywords highlighted in blood-red: Purification Protocol, Biometric Recognition, non-pureblood Purge, Range Radius: 500 meters.

"You're hiding a clearing method," Lin Yuan stated, his voice colder than the metal walls of the pipe. His left hand pressed against the logbook, the rough texture of the parchment helping him stay focused. "Since when?"

Chen Duo's Adam's apple bobbed as sweat slid into his collar, leaving dark stains on his filthy shirt. "Data from the Area B terminal... the deep encryption zone requires the biological key of an ARK experiment subject to unlock." His voice was as dry as sandpaper. "The Purification Protocol is a byproduct of early ARK experiments, a targeted purge based on genetic markers. Activation requires an authorization key. I got it, but I didn't mention it."

"Because of the cost," Lin Yuan finished for him, his gaze sweeping behind Chen Duo. From the vents deep in the pipe came the breathing of non-pureblood slaves, faint but clear, along with the suppressed cry of an infant. Chen Duo's eyes avoided that direction as if avoiding a searing flame.

"The range covers the entire lower district." Chen Duo looked up, his eyes filled with cold calculation, but fear trembled deep in his pupils. "Once activated, all non-pureblood life will cease metabolism within ninety seconds. Protein synthesis at the cellular level terminates, and mitochondria undergo a cascade collapse. This includes the slaves, and it includes... me."

He pulled open his collar, revealing the ARK-EXPERIMENT-07 barcode glowing faintly beneath his collarbone. The veins under his skin appeared an abnormal bluish-purple—a permanent mark left by genetic modification.

Lin Yuan's breath hitched. He tore the breastplate off a corpse; the inner nameplate was engraved with ARK-EXPERIMENT-09. On the blood-stained metal surface, the edges of the serial number bore marks of laser burning. The Anvil King was using derivative models from the same batch of experiment subjects.

The THRONE-00 sensors suddenly alarmed, a sharp beep piercing the oppressive air in the pipe. Its mechanical head turned, joints letting out a rusty groan. It experienced a 0.5-second identification delay for ARK-EXPERIMENT-07 through 09. Red light flickered as if in confusion, and its mechanical voice was intermittent: "Detected... homologous signal... protocol conflict... recalibrating..."

"They're coming." Rat Eye lowered his body, his single eye squinting into a slit as his hand moved toward the melta bomb at his waist. "At least twenty of them, flanking from both sides. It's a dead end. We're trapped at the bottom of a Y-shaped pipe."

Heavy footsteps echoed at the end of the pipe, and the hum of pulse rifles charging sounded like thousands of wasps vibrating their wings inside a metal cavity. No cover, no retreat. The seventeen-minute countdown in his mind flashed blood-red, each second feeling like strong acid dripping onto his nerves. Chen Duo's terminal lit up automatically, the Purification Protocol activation interface popped up, a red confirmation button flashed, and a 15:00 countdown began to tick.

"It requires continuous power to maintain." Chen Duo's finger hovered over the confirmation button, his nails white and fingertips trembling with fear. "Once started, I must remain connected until I leave the range. The terminal is powered by my bio-electricity; if interrupted, the backlash will kill me, and my nervous system will be charred to a crisp."

Lin Yuan stared into his eyes, seeing the survival logic of a low-level technician: concealment for self-preservation, exposure for survival. In those eyes, there was calculation, fear, and a faint, almost imperceptible... humble hope for understanding.

Lin Yuan pulled out his logbook, his left hand writing rapidly, the pen nib tearing the paper: [Chen Duo: Subject to observe. Possesses mass destruction capabilities, hidden motives suspicious (self-preservation due to non-pureblood status?). Retention value higher than risk (bioreactor technology irreplaceable). Priority: Survival first.] The ink bled into the damp air like black blood.

"Activate it." His voice was flat, as if issuing a routine tactical command. "We'll settle the score after we get out."

Chen Duo's eye corner twitched, and his Adam's apple bobbed. He entered the key, and the terminal buzzed with a high-frequency trill. The biological fungal carpet on the pipe walls withered instantly, turning from emerald green to a dead gray as if its life force had been drained. An invisible electromagnetic pulse radiated outward with Chen Duo at the center; the air became thick, carrying the pungent scent of ozone. Violent coughing came from the vents, followed by the gurgling sounds of suffocation, and finally, silence. The STC interface counter ticked in the upper right corner of his vision: [non-pureblood life reactions: 47... 32... 15... 3... 0]. When the number hit zero, a spiritual chill traveled through the alloy wires in his right hand, as if forty-seven souls had instantly passed through the metallic veins, leaving a cold trail.

The airlock ahead opened as the protocol cleared the guardians' biological signals, and the automatic door unlocked, its hydraulic rods letting out a groan-like exhaust.

"Go!" Lin Yuan hauled Chen Duo up, feeling the other's body stiffen and tremble. THRONE-00 followed behind, its energy indicator flashing: 15%... 13%... 10%... each drop accompanied by a sluggishness in its mechanical joints.

Passing through the airlock, Lin Yuan looked back. Corpses were strewn across the pipe, Anvil King soldiers mixed with slaves. Some were curled up like shrimp, while others maintained a climbing posture, their faces purple and pupils dilated. A young woman clutched half a piece of moldy nutrient paste, her eyes open and fixed on the vent where there was still something she had tried to protect.

Chen Duo stumbled, the terminal's progress bar showing the protocol in operation. A green flow of energy surged through the data cable into his arm, making the veins under his skin glow faintly. He had become a walking fuse; if the connection broke, he would be incinerated by the backlash. Every step felt like walking on a knife's edge.

"Keep moving." Lin Yuan gave him a push, his palm feeling the cold sweat on the other's back. "You chose this."

The buffer zone was dim, with only emergency lights providing blood-red illumination. Rat Eye suddenly stopped, his single eye staring at the wreckage of a half-broken icon of the emperor on the wall. Its head had been replaced with an electronic array, a red light flickering in the eye socket like a mechanical compound eye. The icon's chest had been violently pried open, revealing a bizarre structure of complex wiring mixed with flesh.

"Su Wanqing was right." Lin Yuan pried open the icon's chest cavity; inside was embedded a control chip from the Anvil King, with fresh blood still on its surface. "Faith has become a bug. Every icon of the emperor is a camera, and every prayer is recorded."

THRONE-00's sensors suddenly erupted in a piercing noise, like the scream of tearing metal. The alloy wires in his right hand vibrated violently, their spread accelerating as they climbed to the middle of his upper arm, the silver filaments writhing under his skin. Electromagnetic interference swept through the passage, and garbled code appeared on Chen Duo's terminal, the screen flashing: [THRONE-01... coordinates... surface... SOS... error... repeat...]

The signal lasted only 0.3 seconds before being drowned by interference, but Lin Yuan had already memorized the incomplete string of coordinate digits.

"THRONE-01 is still alive." Rat Eye panted, leaning against the wall, the blood flowing from his right eye turning into a murky pus. "On the surface... someone is hunting it... or..."

Lin Yuan noted the partial coordinates while feeling a wave of dizziness. Whispers burrowed into his auditory nerves, not through his ears but by rubbing directly against his cerebral cortex: [Hunger... feed... grow... more...] The voice sounded like thousands of insects crawling inside his skull.

The alloy wires on his right hand spread faster, wrapping around his upper arm as they secreted a transparent mucus that fused with his skin. Lin Yuan bit the tip of his tongue to stay awake, the taste of blood mixing with a rust-like sweetness—the flavor of mental erosion, of the stc fragment demanding nutrients.

"Energy at 5%." THRONE-00's mechanical voice was intermittent, like a broken radio. "Warning... entering hibernation soon... power output... unstable..."

"Hold on until the exit," Lin Yuan commanded, his voice hoarse with pain. THRONE-00's goggle light dimmed, its power claw hanging at its side and dragging on the floor with a piercing metallic scrape.

There was a faint light at the end of the slope ahead; the Area B edge isolation gate was just fifty meters away, with pale moonlight leaking through the door gap. Chen Duo suddenly fell to his knees, his knees hitting the metal floor with a thud. The terminal issued an overload alarm, a sharp beep piercing his eardrums. To cover the pursuers, it had increased output power, causing the backlash to erode his nervous system. Black blood flowed from his nostrils, his fingers spasmed, and his eyes rolled back to show the whites.

"Can't... disconnect..." Chen Duo's voice was distorted, as if electricity were passing through his vocal cords. "Connection... locked... help..."

Lin Yuan pulled out the alloy wires, the silver metallic veins dancing in the air like the tentacles of a living creature. They wrapped around Chen Duo's wrist, the bio-interfaces resonating as he forcibly cut the connection. A blue electric arc jumped between the two of them; Chen Duo gave a miserable scream, his body convulsing violently before he fainted, white foam leaking from the corner of his mouth.

THRONE-00 stopped in front of the isolation gate, its energy indicator turning red: 4%... 2%... 1%...

The power claw smashed into the door lock. The first impact sent sparks flying, hydraulic lines ruptured, and black engine oil gushed out. The second impact deformed the metal, and on the third, the isolation gate groaned open, revealing the moonlight of the wasteland outside.

A cold wind blew in, carrying the pungent scent of radiation dust—a mix of burnt plastic and rotting metal. THRONE-00's goggles went dark, and it knelt on one knee to enter hibernation, its power claw wedged into the door frame to hold open the path of survival, its mechanical joints locking with a final hydraulic sigh.

Lin Yuan dragged Chen Duo, while Rat Eye supported the mechanical guard's heavy frame as they rolled out of the isolation gate. The passage behind them fell into dead silence, the electromagnetic pulse having jammed all tracking. They were safe for now, but the cost was etched into every corpse, into the terrified look in Chen Duo's eyes before he fainted, into THRONE-00's darkened goggles, and into the alloy wires spreading up his own arm.

Lin Yuan leaned against the wall, his right hand twitching as the alloy wires reached the middle of his upper arm, already touching his shoulder. The whispers became clearer, filled with pleasure and greed: [You ate them... now it's time to feed me... flesh... or... soul...]

He pulled out his logbook to add a note, his left hand trembling with fatigue: [Purification Protocol hostage. Possession is a threat, use is evidence of a crime. Chen Duo has become a living battery; disconnection means death. Observation level: Highest. Recommendation: Establish physical isolation immediately upon reaching the safe zone.]

Rat Eye sat to one side, wiping the blood and pus from his right eye, his breathing heavy. "What now? We've lost our greatest combat asset, and your technical partner almost made us accomplices to a massacre. We're carrying a ticking time bomb, and you've got that right hand that's eating you."

Lin Yuan closed the logbook and looked toward the surface, the moonlight shining on his pale face. He lifted his right hand; the metal wires glinted in the moonlight like a silver viper.

"Let's go." He hoisted Chen Duo onto his shoulder, feeling the man's terrifyingly light weight. "Before he tells his next secret, and before this thing eats my brain."

Their steps were staggering but their direction was clear. The isolation gate slowly closed, with THRONE-00 kneeling in the gap like a forgotten guardian god, its power claw deeply embedded in the metal door frame. The whispers echoed in his mind, growing louder and louder with a satisfied tremor.