48: Chapter 48 The Buffer Chamber's Consecutive Strangulation

The sound of combat boots stepping on the metal grating was no longer a distant threat, but a drumbeat of death right before his eyes.

Lin Yuan pushed Chen Duo into a maintenance alcove in the shadows of the chamber, shouldered his laser rifle, and aimed the muzzle at the ruptured entrance of the ventilation duct. Charging shrieks rang out from three directions simultaneously; it was the standard three-man tactical squad configuration of the New Canaan Purifiers: one heavy shield for suppression and two on the flanks for crossfire. There were no shouts, no demands for surrender, only the characteristic high-frequency hum of laser weapons warming up, like a swarm of hungry metal wasps vibrating their wings.

"Left duct, nine o'clock, heavy target." THRONE-01's voice pierced directly into his temporal lobe, no longer a flat mechanical tone, but carrying a certain urgency like metal grinding, "Recommend priority elimination. In three seconds, the right-side fire net will cover this area."

Lin Yuan didn't move. His gaze pierced through the drifting coolant steam, seeing the leader holding a modified alloy shield with a crude Imperial Eagle pattern welded onto its surface—a symbol of faith cobbled together from scrap metal. Half a face was visible from the edge of the shield, the eyes showing not a soldier's calm, but a certain burning greed.

"Heretical core energy signature detected." The Purge Captain's voice came through the damaged ventilation duct, kept very low as if whispering into a throat mic, "Confirmed as Mechanical Demon contamination. Requesting... individual purification."

The static noise of the communicator burst briefly. Lin Yuan caught the key information: he hadn't called for reinforcements.

"He's hiding it," Lin Yuan whispered, his finger resting on the trigger. An unnatural warmth radiated from the laser rifle's grip; that was THRONE-01 regulating the energy output. The silver network at the biological interface squirmed like a living thing, crawling along his shoulder blade toward his cervical spine.

"Fear. Losing host. Must protect." THRONE-01's words were intermittent, emotions splashing into Lin Yuan's consciousness like boiling liquid metal, "Calculations show a forty-seven percent success rate for a frontal breakthrough. Accept risk?"

Before Lin Yuan could answer, the Captain's shield slammed into the ground, producing a dull boom. That was the signal.

Two crimson laser beams instantly tore through the steam, slicing across the position where Lin Yuan had just been standing. The metal floor melted into charred gullies, the heat wave curling the hair on Chen Duo's forehead. He lay on the maintenance bed, the silver network flickering under his skin like a net about to tighten.

"Suppress!" the Captain's roar carried a fanatical tremor, "For the glory of the Bishop!"

The two Purifiers on the flanks darted out from behind cover, firing their laser rifles in rapid bursts. This wasn't blind fire, but standard wasteland sweeping tactics: one person aimed at potential evasion routes while the other locked onto the edge of the cover. Lin Yuan rolled behind a load-bearing pillar; three molten pits instantly appeared on the pillar's surface, molten iron flowing down the grooves and dripping onto the back of his hand, searing it with a burnt smell.

"Right-side shooter, breathing frequency too high, 0.4-second pause before the third trigger pull." THRONE-01's data stream forced its way into Lin Yuan's vision, marking a red circle on his retina, "Exploit the gap."

Lin Yuan leaned out and fired. The laser beam pierced the steam, accurately hitting the right Purifier's shoulder. There was no scream, only a muffled groan and the thud of a body hitting the ground. But the fire from the left immediately covered him, forcing Lin Yuan back behind the pillar.

"Efficiency decreasing. Recommend switching to melee protocol." THRONE-01's voice suddenly rose, carrying a sharp edge that bordered on anxiety, "Host risk coefficient rising to critical. Must—"

"Shut up." Lin Yuan gritted his teeth. His temples throbbed, and double vision began to appear at the edges of his sight. It wasn't fatigue, but something deeper: afterimages of a giant in golden power armor swinging a Chainsword, binary chants and battle cries resonating deep in his eardrums. The mental erosion from the first time he used the STC hadn't faded; it was accumulating.

The Captain gave Lin Yuan no room to breathe. He advanced, dragging his shield, each step thudding heavily against the metal floor. The remaining flanker moved to a high point, locking his laser rifle onto Lin Yuan's hiding spot.

"You can't escape, heretic," the Captain's voice came through the shield, muffled and fanatical, "The Bishop needs your core. I will personally dig it out of that monster's chest cavity and sacrifice it upon the altar."

He had discovered THRONE-01's core location. But he hadn't reported it; he wanted to monopolize the credit.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept across the chamber. Chen Duo's maintenance bed was in the center of the line of fire. Subject 08's variant hadn't appeared yet, but the air was thick with that familiar smell of ozone; it was watching, waiting for a flaw permitted by the protocol.

"STC Forge," Lin Yuan ordered in his mind, "Frag grenades. Three. Now."

"Cost. Mental erosion intensifying. Duration extended." THRONE-01 warned, but immediately added, "But survival probability increases to seventy-one percent. Executing."

The silver network at the biological interface of his right hand contracted violently, like countless needles piercing into his bone marrow at once. Lin Yuan's vision was instantly flooded with blood-red; he saw the Double-Headed Eagle Flag burning in the void and heard the cries of billions of souls. This wasn't a flashback, but a continuous auditory and visual hallucination, as if someone were pouring the Empire's war memories directly into his brain.

Three metal cylinders took shape in his palm, their surfaces covered in rough casting marks, the safety pins falling off automatically.

"Grenade!" the Purifier on the high point screamed.

Lin Yuan didn't throw them at the Captain. He smashed the grenades against the pipes overhead.

The explosion created a lethal shrapnel storm within the confined space. Fragments of the modified pipes mixed with the pre-fragmented shards of the forged grenades, pouring down like a metal rainstorm. The Captain's shield blocked the front, but his leg armor was shredded, leaving his flesh a bloody mess. The Purifier at the high point tumbled directly off the scaffolding, his body twitching as a gurgling sound came from his throat.

The Captain collapsed to his knees, his shield tilted. He looked up, his eyes devoid of fear, filled only with violated fury.

"You... how dare you..."

Lin Yuan charged out. He fired the laser rifle at point-blank range, one shot hitting the Captain's shield arm and another piercing his knee. The Captain fell forward, his throat mic clattering against the metal grating and emitting a harsh static sound.

"Main force... ahead of..." the Captain coughed blood, his fingers spasming as he reached for the communicator at his waist, "Sixty hours..."

His fingers stopped halfway, his pupils dilating.

Lin Yuan panted, reaching out to grab the encrypted communicator. His fingertips were trembling, the auditory hallucinations persisting, the battle cries buzzing like background noise.

Just then, the sound of squirming flesh came from the shadows of the ventilation duct.

Subject 08's variant finally moved. It wasn't the tentative tentacles from before, but a complete claw made of a mixture of muscle and metal, its surface covered with the fluorescent patterns of biological circuits. It bypassed Lin Yuan, bypassed THRONE-01's sensory net, and reached precisely for Chen Duo's left leg.

Historical Protocol Article 7.3.2: Must not attack the head. Limbs are within the scope of seizure.

"Warning! Illegal contact!" THRONE-01's scream exploded in Lin Yuan's head, but it wasn't directed at Lin Yuan; it was a direct binary noise blast against that claw.

Too late. The claw had already bitten into Chen Duo's calf.

Chen Duo's body convulsed violently, the maintenance bed letting out a harsh grinding sound. The silver network surged frantically from his shoulder to his lower limb, like a silver torrent countering the intruder. The claw bit through skin and flesh, blood seeping out, but before it could reach the bone, a light interwoven with gold and silver erupted from the wound.

Subject 08 let out a pained hiss, the claw retracting as if burned, taking a piece of torn flesh with it.

The wound on Chen Duo's left leg didn't bleed for long. The silver network wove rapidly like needles, closing the flesh back up. But beneath that layer of silver light, golden veins faintly emerged, like the veins of a leaf or some circuit diagram merging machine and biology, spreading up the calf and disappearing into the skin only at the knee.

Lin Yuan lunged to Chen Duo's side, aiming his laser rifle at the ventilation duct. Only a few drops of black slime and a scorch mark remained.

"Seizure failed. Recording defensive data. Protocol remains in effect." Subject 08's voice came from all directions, as calm as if reading out a legal clause, "Next time, I will choose a more efficient moment."

"There won't be a next time." Lin Yuan gritted his teeth and pulled Chen Duo up from the maintenance bed. The bed frame had been half-melted by laser beams and was no longer usable.

He hoisted Chen Duo onto his back. The young man's body was frighteningly light, the silver network pulsing at the side of his neck, resonating with the interface at Lin Yuan's shoulder blade. Those persistent auditory hallucinations suddenly became clearer; Lin Yuan seemed to hear THRONE-01's heartbeat—not mechanical, but a pulse of mixed flesh and metal, gradually synchronizing with Chen Duo's pulse.

"You changed the tactical recommendation on your own just now." Lin Yuan said in his mind, his voice raspy. He was moving toward the exit, each step landing in a pool of blood, "You didn't wait for my command."

Silence. Then came THRONE-01's reply, its voice low and carrying a certain weary satisfaction: "Fear. Losing host. Equals losing self. Calculation... deviation occurred. But result... valid."

Lin Yuan didn't respond. He took the encrypted communicator from the Captain's waist and stuffed it into his tactical belt. Chen Duo's breath brushed against the side of his neck, weak but steady, the golden veins on his left leg emitting a very faint light in the darkness.

He kicked open the outer hatch of the buffer chamber. The cold wind of the wasteland rushed in, carrying the pungent smell of radiation dust. The sky was a sickly orange-red, and the howls of mutant beasts could be heard in the distance.

Lin Yuan took one last look back at the chamber. Three corpses, puddles of molten metal, and the lingering gaze of Subject 08 deep within the ventilation duct. He gripped his laser rifle tightly and stepped into the wasteland with Chen Duo on his back.

The communicator vibrated on his belt, automatically decoded characters scrolling across the screen: Vanguard loss of contact confirmed, Purge Main Force departing six hours early, estimated arrival at last known coordinates in sixty hours.

The countdown had shortened. A six-hour buffer, bought with three lives and a bout of mental erosion.

Lin Yuan hoisted Chen Duo a bit higher, feeling the faint pulse of that golden vein beneath the muscle of the young man's left leg, like a second heart waking up.