Longzang

Chapter 789 It’s not me

How long is "a long time"? That is the question.

Wei Yuan found that he had completely lost his sense of time. The process of various sensory and psychological stimuli echoing from one extreme to another seemed to be very long, so long that it was innate until death; yet it also seemed to be just a short moment. In the eyes of those high above, it was nothing more than mosquitoes and moths, whose lives, though long, were only a moment.

Wei Yuan is now unusually calm and composed, as if all emotions have been stripped away. Nothing can frighten, shock, or sadden him anymore, but he has also lost the ability to be happy.

A piece of knowledge from memory suddenly surfaced: after taking large amounts of drugs, the part of the brain responsible for pleasure is damaged, which seems to be the feeling right now.

Wei Yuan felt something terrible had happened to him, but he couldn't remember it. In an instant, everything seemed so ambiguous. However, something undignified had indeed happened just now, but he didn't care about it now.

At that moment, something warm seemed to flow from his nose; it was the only warmth on his body. Wei Yuan reached out and wiped it away, only to find it was pale pink blood.

Ji Liuli reappeared in front of Wei Yuan, handed him a tissue, then pointed to the side and said, "Your clothes and equipment are over there. You have five minutes to pack them up and then come out."

Wei Yuan wiped away the blood from his nose and looked at the pale pink stain on the tissue. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't understand why. Based on his knowledge of biochemistry, he couldn't figure out what element could turn blood pale pink.

But at this moment, his body instinctively feared Ji Liuli, so Wei Yuan walked to the equipment box on the table next to him, opened the lid, and saw that inside was a complete set of special operations unit combat uniforms and equipment.

The company's elite security team is renowned worldwide for its stylish and sophisticated uniforms and equipment. Every year, they invest heavily in hiring top designers to improve the designs, creating customized versions for different body types. Wei Yuan had once dreamed of owning a set, but now it was actually in front of him.

He quickly put on his combat suit, zipped it up, fastened the armor buckles, then picked up the pistol inside, ejected the magazine and examined it. The bullets in the magazine seemed to have glass tips, all gleaming with a ghostly green light. Wei Yuan took out the three remaining magazines from the box and put them in the special pocket of his combat suit.

There was also a pair of multi-functional combat sunglasses. Wei Yuan picked them up, put them on, and then bound his identity to activate the combat assistance system.

It took exactly five minutes to walk out of the outer room.

A light screen floated in front of Ji Liuli, who was watching the rapidly scrolling messages on it, his expression somewhat solemn. Seeing Wei Yuan, Ji Liuli called him over, pointed to the screen, and said, "Take a look."

The screen was dark, with thick, swirling black clouds in the sky, threatening to devour everything. It was almost pitch black on the ground, with only fleeting flashes of lightning illuminating the world.

However, beams of bright light illuminated a building, where numerous heavy armored vehicles formed several impenetrable defensive lines, fiercely engaging the enemy inside.

The building was surrounded by the company's security forces, who deployed heavy equipment and were numerous. However, judging from the firefight, they were actually at a disadvantage.

Every now and then, a ball of something flashing with a ghostly blue light would fly out of the building. If it touched anything, whether it was a tank or a self-propelled gun, it would instantly become ineffective and stop responding. The people inside would also become motionless.

Wei Yuan immediately recognized that the building under attack was the main building of the base, but he remained remarkably calm and asked, "What's going on?"

"Haven't you noticed that the access you've obtained is abnormally high? You can access any kind of data, and even use the most valuable genetic engineering manufacturing core in the experimental base. Even Mike himself doesn't have such access. Naturally, this kind of fake temporary access will quickly attract the system's attention and trigger an alarm. And your role is to trigger this high-level alarm."

Actually, you're just a pawn in their whole plan, the kind they can discard after serving your purpose. And there are dozens of pawns like you. Your role is to distract the security department, so that when their real operation comes to light, I'll have no one left to rely on.

Of course, the most crucial thing was to divert me from the real target area, hoping I might be interested in investigating any of the alarms myself. As long as I didn't return, their plan would be more than half successful.

"Who are they?" Wei Yuan asked.

"The Superpower Alliance is an organization formed by a bunch of useless people who are only slightly stronger than normal people. They were originally targets of the company's hunt. The gene fragment in your computer comes from the vice president of this alliance. I've always wanted to find their president, but that guy is quite cunning, and no one has confirmed his true identity yet."

Ji Liuli picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and said, "But the investigation over the years has yielded some results. That guy is very likely lurking inside the company. He could be a department director, or maybe a janitor, or even...you."

Wei Yuan's lips twitched upwards, as if trying to indicate that the joke was funny. But he couldn't laugh at all; his body was devoid of any sense of humor. So the distorted smile froze on Wei Yuan's face before slowly disappearing.

Ji Liuli had a smile on her face when she looked at Wei Yuan, but the smile slowly disappeared.

"Really you?"

"not me!"

Ji Liuli suddenly laughed and said, "I was just kidding."

But Wei Yuan had a gut feeling that she wasn't joking.

The battle intensified, the clouds pressing down on the base so high they nearly touched the main building's antenna, flashing intermittently. Lightning bolts struck randomly, setting some buildings ablaze. Amidst the raging flames, Ji Liuli's stunning face shone through; her calm, golden eyes seemed oblivious to the distant battle. She looked at Wei Yuan and said, "What, aren't you going to rescue them? It wasn't easy for you to gather so many people. Those plasma balls were launched with the lives of your comrades. All I'm using are warriors injected with gene-enhancing drugs; you can have as many of those as you want if you have the money. You know, the company has no shortage of money."

Wei Yuan was somewhat confused, not understanding why the other party suddenly assumed that he was the leader of that organization.

Wei Yuan knew perfectly well that he wasn't, but even if the other person was joking, it wasn't worth wasting so much time on someone as insignificant as him. Unless she had some peculiar fetish...

In that instant, his emotions returned to Wei Yuan, and he subconsciously shivered. The female secretary who disappeared behind the door, and his recent experience, both indicated that the other party's fetishes were not only unusual, but also varied.

Looking at Wei Yuan's expression, Ji Liuli said, "What you—no, what you want most—is right downstairs in the main laboratory building. If you're willing to assist me, you can have a share of what's in the lab. Then you can continue to be the leader of your alliance, but the objectives of your important operations will have to be discussed with me."

I'm not asking you to give up your hostility towards the company; on the contrary, you should continue your actions, and even achieve brilliant success in some of them.

Wei Yuan sighed, "Do you want me to help you eliminate your enemies?"

"You are very smart."

Wei Yuan sighed again: "I'd love to, but I'm really not the person you're looking for! If I had that ability, I would have run away long ago, instead of ending up like this."

Ji Liuli's lips curled up slightly as she gently lifted Wei Yuan's chin and said, "I knew you wouldn't give up. What you just experienced was more of a reward for you. But if I lose my patience, then what awaits you is pure punishment. Alright, I'll show you the evidence."

She waved her hand to open a light screen, which displayed the virus designed by Wei Yuan. She then said, "Your privileges seem high, but in reality, they have been secretly restricted. The gene functional fragments you selected were not provided with interface data. To implant the main gene into each fragment, at least several hundred or even thousands of biochemical interfaces must be correctly connected."

But you activated every functional segment without any API data. Now tell me, with tens of thousands of APIs in total, how did you manage to ensure that not a single one of them went wrong?

Wei Yuan was speechless, unable to utter a single word.

Functional segments with interface data are like pre-packaged chips that can be easily inserted into a slot. However, without a set number of interfaces, it's as if Wei Yuan has to solder pins onto each interface and arrange them correctly before they can be inserted into the slot.

Wei Yuan wanted to say that he simply plugged it in and all the interfaces automatically matched. But he also knew that no one would believe him.

Ji Liuli wasn't in a hurry. He said, "You have the ability to hide and disguise yourself. To hide, you'll even deceive yourself. But I have plenty of ways to detect it. When you were installing these functional fragments, did you feel something inside your body disappear at that moment?"

Wei Yuan did indeed have that feeling, and he nodded honestly. It wasn't out of fear, but rather a strange sense of closeness he felt towards one of the three giants before him.

This sense of closeness suddenly brought a term to Wei Yuan's mind: Stockholm Syndrome...

The word immediately popped into his mind.

Ji Liuli patted Wei Yuan on the head and said, "Alright, at least we have a good start now. If you can do something for me, then you're my friend, and it's not impossible for you to ask for some reward."

What can I do for you?

"Kill Wang Bing, the head of the company's intelligence center."

Wei Yuan smiled wryly and said, "It might be easier to kill you."

Ji Liuli surprisingly agreed: "Indeed."

At that moment, a soldier walked in and said firmly, "General, the passage to the underground experimental area has been opened, and the communication cable has been connected. The experimental area encountered an unexpected situation as planned and has been completely sealed off. We are currently breaking through the outer concrete layer. It is expected to be open in ten minutes."

"What about those superpowered clowns?" Ji Liuli asked.

"They don't have large-scale engineering machinery, and their superpowers are being used up in large quantities, so their progress should be behind ours."

"Very good, let's set off now."

Ji Liuli took out a magazine and threw it to Wei Yuan; it was full of bullets with purple bullet heads.

Ji Liuli said, "This is to save your life, so use it sparingly. One shot costs more than ten lifetimes' worth of salary. We need to hurry, or there might be an unexpected surprise in the lab."

(End of this chapter)