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Chapter 189 Mysterious Communication
After the last person left the control room, Su Wanqing remained at the front desk, her notebook lying open beside her.

Just as she was about to pick up the keys and put them back in her bag, the jade bracelet on her wrist suddenly became hot, as if it had been stimulated by something, and the heat went straight to her skin.

Su Wanqing raised her wrist to take a closer look, when suddenly there was a crisp "snap" sound, and the silver chain hanging from the jade bracelet retracted like a snake. Layer upon layer of data light streams suddenly intersected in the air, and in the blink of an eye, the layers of cold light in the control room were shattered by the holographic projection.

A vague outline appeared in the projection, with only lines and blurred edges remaining.

The air was filled with electronic noise and extraneous sounds. A cold voice, seemingly from a man in the shadows wearing a heavily modified voice changer, said: "Su Wanqing? I'm R."

Su Wanqing's fingers tightened involuntarily. She glanced around but didn't move. Her throat was dry and hoarse. "Who are you? How do you know our communication frequency?"

"There's no need to try to trace the source; I have secondary access to the equipment at your base, including the data key that binds the jade bracelet."

The voice abruptly stopped, then turned to the main point: "I know you're looking for seven energy cores—without them, the shield will collapse within thirty-one days. This is a deal, not a rescue."

Su Wanqing frowned, and the computer sound card beeped urgently. She asked in a steady voice, "What do you want?"

The other party cut off the beginning and end of each sentence without any hesitation. "I need Xiaoling's blood sample and her latest gene sequencing data. Take her blood to the main control area experimental platform and encrypt and upload it using your lab's second port. Whether it succeeds or not, it will not affect the given clues for the first energy core."

After a few seconds of silence, R continued, "The Dark Guardian of the Heart of Energy. This is all the location clues we have. I will monitor whether you upload samples."

Su Wanqing's hands, gripping the table, were sweating. She leaned closer to the terminal, lowering her voice to a whisper: "What exactly do you want her blood for?"

There was a half-second silence in the holographic image, followed by a persistent low hum from the voice changer: "You understand the core meaning of the virus, and you understand the importance of the child beside you. My goal is not aimed at any individual, but at the future of the entire human race. Blood and genes are the only keys to unlocking the fundamental data of Project Eden. Now, you don't have many choices."

The video abruptly stopped, the data stream dissipated, and the jade bracelet grew cold, as if nothing had ever happened.

Su Wanqing looked up, said nothing, wrote the matter down in her notebook, then quietly called Lu Zhao to the control room, and also used the internal communicator to call Lin Che and Xiao Ran over.

A few minutes later, they all came inside. Lu Zhao casually closed the briefcase, frowning as he looked towards the holographic device: "What happened? What did you encounter?"

Su Wanqing recounted the entire incident. Four people sat around the conference table, each with a different expression.

Xiao Ran tapped the edge of the table. "These anonymous contacts are most likely a trap. They're asking for Xiao Ling's genes and blood samples—it's exactly the same tactic they used before Dawn. They just want to keep all the initiative in their hands and force us to reveal our last trump cards."

Lu Zhao crossed his arms and didn't interrupt, "But R can hack into the main control and the jade bracelet. You can't do that without some skill. Whether it's Dawn or not, this guy either really has intelligence about the energy core or he's a high-level feint. Who knows if he got the blood and immediately exchanged it with the military and sold us out?"

Xiao Ran hooked his finger, his voice cold: "I don't agree to send him out. No matter what he says, doing so is equivalent to securing an inside contact, and it may also open up a new loop for the outside world."

Lin Che lowered his head and thought, "But he has already given us a clue," he said slowly, "The Dark Guardian of the Heart of Energy. This could be true. Now we only have less than thirty days left. If we can't find the core, everyone is waiting to die—if 'R' can deliver on the clue, he might not be willing to give us a second one without some exchange."

Lu Zhao slowly wrote on the table, “Of course the risk is great. There is one issue we cannot avoid: if we don’t provide the blood sample, the clues will be cut off; if we send the blood out, it might just be the solution to this dead end. At this point, playing it safe and not taking any risks is tantamount to slow suicide.”

The atmosphere around the conference table became tense, with various voices rising and falling.

Xiao Ran said, "Let's stall for time. Tell him we're preparing, but we won't let go until the very last moment."

Lin Che nodded silently, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Su Wanqing pursed her lips, "Is it possible to get a fake blood sample? Using someone else's data?"

Lu Zhao shook his head, "'R' can blacken the jade bracelet and simulate all data streams, so any forgery will be exposed immediately. It can monitor the entire environment inside our machine, and it can even tell when the blood was drawn and whether there was any confusion during the process."

As they were arguing, a few coughs came from the control room door. Xiaoling, wrapped in a blanket, leaned against the door, her face frighteningly pale.

She said in a very soft voice, "R is a good person."

Everyone turned to look at her. Xiaoling kept repeating, "R is a good person." Her voice was expressionless, and she didn't explain why; she just kept repeating it over and over like a mantra. Lin Che walked over, carefully put his arm around Xiaoling's shoulder, and tested her temperature with a pen.

Xiaoling stopped talking, hugging her arms. She showed no fear, nor did she try to defend herself.

Xiao Ran lowered his head, "Just because of her word, we're going to take all the risks?"

Lin Che slowly said, "She would never speak to strangers like that. Last time Li Ming met her, she just cried. Her intuition is always the most accurate, and I think it's worth trusting this time."

Su Wanqing wrote a line on the paper, then crossed it out. After a long pause, she spoke: "We won't agree to the deal yet. Let's find out the information about the first energy core first. This 'R' has only given us clues, and won't give up so easily. I'll make the decision: we'll prioritize finding the clues, and we'll discuss the blood sample after we confirm it's safe enough."

The meeting was temporarily put on hold, and it was decided to first check the relevant data on energy guidelines.

Just as the meeting ended, Xiaoling suddenly gasped for breath on the sofa. A layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead, her palms glowed blue, and curved pale blue symbols appeared on her skin.

Lin Che reacted quickly, taking two strides to rush over and gently placing his palm on Xiao Ling's collarbone.

The blue light, accompanied by a sharp pain, rushed into Lin Che's body. He endured the taste of blood in his throat and activated the healing factor.

Half a minute later, Xiaoling gradually calmed down, but she was much quieter than before, her fingers clenched into fists, and she shrank back to her mother's side.

Lin Che's face was pale, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the corner of his clothes was soaked with sweat.

He had only been sitting for two minutes when Night's voice suddenly echoed in his mind, "You are depleting your own resources. Every time you save her, you are fighting against the virus's origin. Your body can't withstand doing this repeatedly. Xiaoling's problem isn't something that can be easily cured; she is part of the virus's subsystem."

Lin Che took a breath, his fingers trembling slightly, and silently resolved not to be stubborn anymore.

A moment later, he made a brief note, writing down Xiaoling's body temperature and heartbeat, but stopped halfway through.

This was no ordinary infection. After recovering, the blue power within me was even more intense than before. Each time it was used to counteract the previous one, it was a hard-fought battle that no one could necessarily withstand.

Su Wanqing took out a spare antipyretic from the medicine box and handed one to Lin Che.

She said softly, "Is there anything particularly wrong with you?"

Lin Che shook his head, unwilling to say more, and looked to Lu Zhao for help.

Lu Zhao frowned and said in a low voice, "Don't try to hold on any longer. Wait until I get more virus data from the database, and then we'll formulate an adjustment plan based on her latest changes."

Xiao Ran watched the whole process, dividing the team into two groups: night watch and patrol, with everyone on duty at the appointed time, while he himself kept a close watch on the vicinity of the main control console.

After the meeting, Su Wanqing lowered her head and carefully wrote down a long string of words: "R, energy core, blood sample, risk, delay, clue priority."

She paused, pressing the jade bracelet as she pondered whether to believe it or delay further.

As the night deepened, a hazy, restless smell filled the room.

Xiao Ran was outside quietly reprimanding several team members who were changing shifts, while Lin Che took Xiao Ling back to the medical area and helped her rearrange the corners of the blanket.

Lu Zhao turned back to check the remaining data files on the USB drive, but he didn't expect to find any new clues within a day.

It was eerily quiet outside. The small desk lamp in the control room cast a few faint reflections from the screen, and the fluctuating data seemed to be waiting for some new information to arrive.