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Chapter 185 The Truth Revealed
The footsteps outside the base gradually faded away, and the remaining people in the safe house leaned against the door, panting.

Su Wanqing held the doorknob with one hand and gripped the backpack strap tightly with the other. Only after the metallic click of the door lock completely closed in the safe zone did she allow herself to loosen her grip.

Lin Che handed the medicine bottle to Tong Yin, whose arm was trembling as she barely managed to take it.

She closed her eyes, let out a soft hum, and drank it anyway. Lu Zhao leaned against the corner of the wall, constantly adjusting the terminal in an attempt to recover the external monitoring data.

Xiao Ran bolted the door shut, then turned around and pushed the pile of clutter on the ground to the doorway.

The survivors were busy bandaging the wounds on their fingers and legs.

There were no more gunshots outside, but the air still carried the lingering smell of gunpowder, along with the scents of sweat and disinfectant.

Su Wanqing checked the girl's condition again. The girl was leaning against Lin Che's chest, her forehead rough and red from the effects of the medicine.

Her eyes were half-open, her breathing shallow and short, and a few words of murmured speech escaped from her lips, the content of which was intermittent.

"Apple, raindrop, key... rewriting the rules..."

Su Wanqing squatted down and gently straightened the child. She plugged the USB drive into the backup computer, watched the verification interface display instructions, and had the child's voice repeat the recording.

The girl's throat was hoarse, but her voice remained steady as she repeated, "Dawn, start."

The indicator light on the computer flashed, and a new progress bar suddenly appeared on the screen.

Lu Zhao leaned closer to the screen, his brows furrowed slightly. The other team members, suppressing their fatigue, also looked up at him.

“The voiceprint and the incantation match.” Lu Zhao said in a low voice, “Han Xue left a double lock, it seems she was waiting for this moment.”

The unlocking process took about thirty seconds. A folder popped up on the system.

Without hesitation, Su Wanqing opened the files. Several audio clips, multiple text files, and a hidden video appeared in the pile of files.

She put the audio aside and clicked on the first paragraph of text.

The title consists of only two words: "Dawn".

Han Xue's handwriting was very neat: "Li Ming, real name Li Ze, chief scientist of the government's biological weapons research institute, one of the main initiators of the Eden Project, and designer of the virus's main evolution program. He was asked to withdraw due to an 'ethical denial order' and subsequently disappeared."

Su Wanqing checked repeatedly, her knuckles clenching. Lin Che whispered, "He never revealed his identity. No wonder he knows so much about the virus's mechanisms."

Lu Zhao stared at the screen and slowly scrolled down, as the following content appeared line by line.

"Li Ze advocates 'moderately controlled evolution,' believing that the vast majority of vectors are uncontrollable. 'Apple'-X03 possesses unique gene expression capabilities and is the only 'key.' All data point to: a girl with a child's voice."

The screen flickered, and an audio/video playback interface popped up, automatically switching to a nighttime laboratory surveillance video.

Han Xue appeared in front of the camera, her voice steady:
"The fact that you can see this means the base has fallen. Dawn's real target is not the antibody, but X03—the 'programming gene' in her body. This is the product of his joint experiment with the government, initially hoping to create a controllable virus and forcibly promote the optimal mutation."

The screen switches to a database backup, and the subtitles follow one by one.

"The 'evolutionary engine' created by Dawn can couple with the key gene, pushing the virus into an uncontrollable new variant. The global release of the virus is not a simple leak, but a phased process according to the 'adaptation window.' Once he obtains X03, he can choose the next step—mass extermination or recombination of the human species."

Lu Zhao pursed his lips after reading it. "Escape to the ends of the earth, unless we completely destroy the data, we'll just be Dawn's lab rats."

Su Wanqing switched back to the file and listed an internal report: "In addition to antibodies, the girl with the childlike voice carries a novel RNA fragment. This fragment can automatically rewrite the information of the surrounding viruses under the stimulation of specific frequency sound waves and codes by external signals, and can actually trace and edit the replication template of the entire virus. Project code name: 'Re-creation'."

Lin Che watched quietly as lines of text scrolled across the screen. The Night personality remained silent, seemingly calculating the pros and cons and risks internally.

Su Wanqing was speechless and could only read out slowly and deliberately: "The so-called serum is just a byproduct - what can truly determine the fate of the world is Tong Yin herself."

Lu Zhao pressed a button on his computer, and a set of surveillance snapshots popped up on the screen: Li Ming and several researchers in white lab coats were whispering in a closed room, with complex circular gene formulas drawn on the wall. They repeatedly discussed "system parameters," "engine harmonization factors," and "X03 critical response steps."

Near the end of the video, Han Xue reappeared on camera, speaking somewhat urgently: "If you come to this point, you only have two paths left. First, use the 'Recreation' plan to completely inactivate the virus and eradicate the source of infection worldwide. Second, if you hand over the child's voice, whoever controls her controls the future of humanity."

Lin Che's brow twitched slightly. The oppressive atmosphere silenced everyone.

Su Wanqing took a deep breath and opened the remaining documents. The last military secret memo popped up in the center of the page: "X03 experimental subject positioning device activated."

The plan is to bring it back to base after the assault. Using the key gene, biological weapons will be designed for the region to control the mutation rate of zombies, achieving the longest possible period of control and balanced epidemic control.

Xiao Ran looked up at this moment, "They're not trying to cure the disease, they want to use Tong Yin's genes as a programming tool to create controllable infected bodies at will?"

Lu Zhao nodded and said, "The military's final plan is not treatment, but weaponization."

He tapped the equipment box twice, signaling everyone to quickly pack up anything they could carry.

The atmosphere grew increasingly heavy. The girl with the childlike voice held the medicine tightly, still whispering something despite her fever.

She is delirious and still occasionally utters strange codes and instructions, which she cannot stop.

Just then, a commotion came from outside the door in the distance. Xiao Ran alertly approached the door, peeked out a crack, and whispered back, "The military has set up large obstacle courses on the perimeter, cleared out three batches of engineering vehicles, and there are at least two special operations teams."

Su Wanqing asked, "What's the situation with the zombies on the outskirts?"

Xiao Ran buttoned up his team uniform and said, "There are ten times more zombies than before. The gathering points aren't random; they're being drawn by some kind of attraction from the outside—not just noise, but very likely related to the genes of the child's voice. They're all moving towards the safe house."

Lu Zhao pulled up the aerial thermal imaging map on the secondary terminal. He flipped several layers together and said in a low voice, "The outer perimeter has formed an encirclement, with the scavengers, the military, and the zombie horde advancing from three directions. Our safe point can only hold out for a maximum of six hours."

Lin Che didn't say anything, but simply pressed the child's head into his arms.

Su Wanqing touched the USB drive again and backed up all the files to her personal hard drive.

Xiao Ran threw a silent flashbang cover near the door and gestured for everyone to be ready for an emergency evacuation at any time.

Lu Zhao fastened the experimental equipment again, kept all the data close to his body, and prepared the disposal instructions in advance.

Su Wanqing rechecked Tong Sheng's condition. The little girl's fever had subsided somewhat, but her temperature was still higher than normal, and she kept muttering incomprehensible gene fragments.

Her metal numbered bracelet faintly glowed with a small blue light, as if it was being activated by some remote signal.

Lin Che looked at Su Wanqing, his voice hoarse: "Her condition is becoming increasingly dangerous."

Su Wanqing pulled Tong Yin to a corner, "Once it breaks out, we must immediately seal off all entrances."

"How many backup plans do we have?" Lu Zhao asked. Su Wanqing prepared the several sets of advanced instructions left by Han Xue in order, then bent down to write the hard drive address on a piece of paper and stuffed it into the tactical backpack compartment.

There was no extra space inside the safe house, and everyone was fully armed. The atmosphere was extremely tense, with only the hum of computer cooling fans and occasional fragments of spells drifting out from children's voices.

Xiao Ran pushed the bolt all the way down and said in a low voice, "The situation outside could change at any moment. In less than six hours, the blockade will tighten, and all three teams will be pressing in. The zombie horde will be a common problem for everyone."

Lu Zhao encrypted and backed up all the files, then crossed out the destroy button.

"Wait another ten or twenty minutes. If the medicine doesn't work, then we'll have to rely on Plan Two."

Su Wanqing calmly recorded every piece of data. The team organized all the remaining resources under a brief period of safety, and then erected the last steel bar at the door.

The oppressive atmosphere outside gradually intensified, and the team members silently awaited the next variable.