9: Chapter 9 Holy Blood and the Iron Gate

The sound of scales scraping metal emanated from deep within the ventilation shaft, like a dull saw cutting through bone.

Lin Yuan's back was pressed against the cold corridor wall. The bio-armor on his left shoulder twitched with a regular rhythm, three times per second. It wasn't pain, but a more ancient pulse, a mixture of hunger and vigilance, flowing directly to his brainstem along his nerve endings.

Rat Eye huddled at his feet, his breathing a rattling wheeze. Scarface pressed against the blast door, his fingers rapidly tapping on the access panel, beads of sweat dripping from his nose onto the rusty alloy floor.

"Seventeen seconds left," Scarface's voice was extremely low. "The door access crack will take seventeen seconds, but that thing..."

The ventilation grille buckled inwards, the metal groaning under the strain. A claw punctured the filter, its tip gleaming with bone luster, carrying a piece of fresh flesh. Canine fur and fascia were tangled in the barbed nails, emitting a fishy sweet, metallic odor.

Lin Yuan's pupils contracted. STC's crimson warning flashed at the edge of his vision: [Tyranid gene sequence identified... 62% similarity... Threat level: High].

The thing crawled out.

It had a humanoid silhouette, with an overly curved spine, limbs folded backward at the joints, and a body covered in grayish-green scales. The most terrifying part was its face. Where eyes should have been, two rows of fine tentacles writhed wildly in the air, capturing every sound wave and scent.

A Genestealer prototype. The ARK-11 experimental tag was branded on its shoulder blade: T-001.

"It's blind!" Rat Eye shrieked, his voice cracking. "It relies on hearing!"

No sooner had he spoken than T-001 abruptly turned towards Rat Eye's position. Tentacles locked on, hind limbs pushing off the ground. The grayish-white shadow cleaved through the dim corridor. Lin Yuan lunged at Rat Eye, and the two tumbled together. Claws grazed the back of his head, leaving five grooves an inch deep in the wall, sparks splashing on his cheek, causing a fine stinging pain.

[Tactical suggestion: Sacrifice target 'Rat Eye' as bait to 100% preserve the team and eliminate the threat. Estimated loss: 1 unit bait. Estimated gain: Safe evacuation.]

STC's prompt flickered at the edge of his vision. Lin Yuan bit the inside of his mouth, the taste of blood spreading on his tongue. He calculated the angle: push Rat Eye into the monster's path, then seize the opportunity to shoot, and Scarface opens the door. Three seconds to end the fight.

His fingers found the grip of the laser pistol. Energy display: 4%. Three shots, or create a big commotion.

T-001 adjusted its posture, its tentacles turning towards Lin Yuan. It smelled the pheromones emanating from the bio-armor, the scent of its own kind, yet mixed with an unfamiliar majesty. The tentacles paused for half a second, hesitating.

Lin Yuan stared at the number on the monster's shoulder and raised his laser pistol, aiming it at the fire sprinkler at the end of the corridor.

He pulled the trigger. Continuous beam.

The high-energy laser vaporized the alloy casing of the sprinkler head, and the roar of the pressure tank exploding echoed in the confined space. Water poured down like heavy rain, and white mist instantly engulfed the corridor. T-001 let out a piercing shriek, its eyeless head thrashing wildly. Its tentacles flailed in the water curtain, losing direction. It crashed into the wall, claws flailing indiscriminately, scraping the metal with a teeth-grinding noise.

"What are you doing?!" Scarface roared, the door access progress bar stuck at 89%. "There's only 1% energy left!"

"To mask our heartbeats." Lin Yuan pulled Rat Eye up and pushed him towards the blast door. "The water curtain disrupts sound waves. Run!"

The three rushed towards the door. T-001 recovered from the chaos, its tentacles piercing through the water curtain, locking onto Scarface's back. It leaped, claws spread, cleverly bypassing Lin Yuan and aiming directly for Scarface's spine.

Scarface's face turned pale. He saw death, saw himself becoming shredded meat on the claws. His wasteland survival instincts made him want to curl up, to pull someone else in front of him.

Lin Yuan hadn't pushed Rat Eye earlier.

The hairs on Scarface's neck stood on end, and his hand went to his waist. Hidden there was a personal item he had never shown anyone: an EMP grenade, standard Anvil Gang equipment. He cursed, pulled the pin, and threw it over his shoulder at T-001.

The electromagnetic pulse exploded in the water curtain, blue-white arcs of electricity wrapping around the monster's body. T-001 convulsed in mid-air, crashing heavily to the ground, twitching. The experimental tag on its shoulder was charred by the arcs, emitting the stench of burning protein.

The door access beeped, and the green light came on.

"Go!" Scarface kicked the door open.

The three stumbled into the maintenance tunnel behind the door. Lin Yuan took one last look back. T-001 was getting up, its EMP-scorched tentacles wriggling again. It crawled back into the ventilation shaft, the scraping sound of scales gradually fading. The rhythm had changed, becoming more cautious. It wasn't surrender; it was a pause in the hunt.

At the end of the aisle was the ARK-11 access point. Unlike ARK-07's industrial crudeness, the walls here were covered with white bioceramic. Large brown stains splattered the walls, dried blood in a spray pattern, as if someone had been torn to shreds here. The smell of blood mixed with the pungent odor of disinfectant, congealing in the air.

Lin Yuan accessed the terminal. The moment the screen lit up, a familiar line of code scrolled across: [Data transfer complete. Destination: ARK-11 Main Control Room. Sender:...]

The subsequent characters were encrypted. But Lin Yuan recognized the protocol signature. The Lin Group's internal code, his grandfather's private key.

"Did you find the antibiotics?" Rat Eye clutched his ribs, his breathing flecked with blood.

Lin Yuan didn't answer immediately. His gaze was drawn to a folder on the screen: "Sacred Blood Project, Bio-Armor Erosion Treatment Plan." He opened the file; it contained experimental records.

[Plan A: Inject Sacred Blood sample (Lin's gene adaptate), 89% success rate, side effects: gene reconstruction, irreversible.]

[Plan B: Limb amputation, block nerve connection, 100% success rate, cost: permanent loss of left arm.]

[Note: Supervisor Martin Lin has approved Plan A for elite Scavengers, ARK-11 Medical Station repurposed for bio-weapon development and human modification.]

The armor on his left shoulder throbbed intensely, as if countless needles were simultaneously piercing his nerves. Lin Yuan switched to the medical inventory interface and searched for antibiotics. The screen displayed: [Broad-spectrum antibiotic X-9, inventory: 3 doses. Effectively suppresses radiation infection and bio-erosion, single dose effective for 24 hours. Warning: Insufficient stock for a complete course of treatment.]

72 hours. Just enough to last until the next decision point.

"There are three doses of antibiotics." Lin Yuan tore off a syringe and injected it into a vein in his left arm. The cold liquid pushed into his blood vessels, and the pain slightly subsided. "A 72-hour window."

He looked towards the end of the corridor. There was an airtight door, and behind the glass window on the door, numerous cryogenic pods were arranged. Pale golden liquid floated inside the pods, and the labels read: [Lin's Gene Adaptate, Sacred Blood Sample: LY-00X].

A sharp buzzing exploded inside his skull. The STC system's warning box flickered violently: [God-Emperor's Gaze increased: 0.9% → 1.0%. Side effects upgraded: Neuropathic pain turns into continuous low hum. Warning: Value erosion intensified.]

It was no longer intermittent sharp pain. Rusty gears were stuffed into his skull, a continuous, low-frequency hum resonating deep in his tooth sockets. Blood-colored noise appeared at the edge of Lin Yuan's vision, and the golden liquid in the cryogenic pods twisted and deformed, hallucinating into some sacred blood, calling him to accept modification.

Scarface noticed Lin Yuan's daze. He hesitated for a second, pulled a folding dagger from his boot, and carved coordinates into the wall.

"B-2 level, behind the west side maintenance shaft." Scarface's voice was low, his fingers slipping on the wall. "I hid a box. Two EMPs, a usable melta-gun. The password is today's date, reversed."

Lin Yuan looked at him, his gaze refocusing from the hallucination.

"Don't misunderstand," Scarface avoided his gaze, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the access panel. "I just don't want to die here. If you die, who will take me out?"

The lights throughout the station turned blood red. Alarms blared, and a mechanical synthesized voice cut through the air: "Unauthorized personnel intrusion. Activating automatic defense protocol. Isolation door will close in ten seconds. Repeat, isolation door will close in ten seconds."

Scarface lunged at the control panel, his fingers frantically tapping: "Damn it! This is Lin Weiguo's AI, it's identifying you as..."

Lin Yuan's bio-scan appeared on the screen, highlighted in a red box: [Potential threat/Experiment subject. Threat level: Highest. Recommended action: Isolate for observation.]

"It's treating you as an experimental sample!" Scarface's face contorted. "Heir? Guinea pig!"

The heavy alloy isolation door descended from the ceiling, crashing to the ground with a deafening roar. The airflow kicked up dust from the floor, blinding Rat Eye. The Scavengers were blocked outside, but they were also trapped on B-3 level.

Lin Yuan stood before the cryogenic pods, looking through the glass at the golden liquid that resonated with his genes. The pain in his left arm had turned into a continuous low hum, a buzzing sound rubbing against his eardrums.

Rat Eye knelt, pulling a rusty blade from his boot. The blade wasn't aimed at his thigh but pulled down his zipper, pressing against his groin. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated, breathing rapid and feverish: "You didn't sacrifice me... I'm unworthy... I'll cut it off, to prove I have no desire, no self, only loyalty..."

Lin Yuan kicked his blade away. The crisp clang of metal hitting the wall echoed in the isolated laboratory.

"Save your blood." Lin Yuan stared at the liquid in the cryogenic pod, which was of the same origin as himself, his voice hoarse. "We might need every drop."

In the corridor outside the isolation door, the ventilation grille once again emitted a faint scraping sound. T-001 was back. And in Lin Yuan's vision, the continuously humming God-Emperor's Gaze number quietly hovered: 1.0%.