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Chapter 218 Meeting Inside the Tower
The chains of the manual elevator creaked under the strain, echoing in the narrow vertical passage.

Su Wanqing gripped the cold railing, letting the rudimentary device slowly drag her towards the top of the tower.

Darkness and the smell of mildew enveloped her, with only the faint light emanating from the core container in her arms casting a flickering shadow on the iron wall.

With a long creak, the elevator stopped. In front of her was a heavy metal door with no handle, only a horizontal groove.

She tried to exert force, but the door didn't budge. After thinking for a moment, she pressed the jade bracelet on her wrist close to the groove.

A familiar blue light flashed, and a soft click came from inside the door as it slowly slid open to the side.

The sight behind the door made her stop in her tracks. This wasn't the dusty equipment room she had imagined, but a completely renovated, futuristic, and complex center.

The cold metal walls and ceiling were covered with countless translucent blue optical cables, like the blood vessels of some giant creature, rhythmically flashing their light and turning the entire space into a deep sea blue.

In the center of the room is a circular platform where all the fiber optic cables eventually converge.

A figure stood in the center of the platform with his back to her. It was Lin Che.

Su Wanqing opened her mouth, but no sound came out. That wasn't the Lin Che she knew.

On his skin, numerous blue patterns resembling integrated circuits appeared, spreading from his neck to the back of his hands, flowing slowly like living things.

His body would occasionally twitch slightly and involuntarily, as if two completely different consciousnesses were fiercely vying for control within this body.

He turned around. The face was still Lin Che's, but his posture carried a calm elegance that didn't belong to him.

His eyes were emitting an unnatural, eerie light, the same kind that came from the blue fiber optic cable.

“It’s finally here,” he said, his voice Lin Che’s, but his tone “Night”. “It’s seventeen hours and twenty-three minutes later than I expected. We almost missed the last window of opportunity.”

Su Wanqing gripped the core container in her arms tightly, looking at him warily: "Who are you? Night or Wayne?"

“You can call me ‘Night’ for now,” he smiled slightly, pointing to the flowing blue patterns on his body. “As you can see, this is the inevitable rejection reaction caused by two consciousnesses coexisting in the same vessel. I need the third core you brought to use its energy to separate me.”

Otherwise, Lin Che's brain would be permanently damaged due to the unbearable burden.

At the current rate of decay, we have less than six hours left.

"Separation? I don't believe you." Su Wanqing rejected his explanation. "What exactly is your relationship with Project Orion? What are you trying to achieve by using Lin Che?"

Upon hearing "Project Orion," his expression remained unchanged.

“What you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg.” He walked to the equipment in the center of the control room and swiped his finger across the control panel.

Above the platform, a massive holographic projection was activated. Instead of familiar city ruins, the image displayed a model of the entire Earth.

The planet is shrouded in a strange, ever-distorting energy field.

“Viruses and mutations are just symptoms.” His voice echoed in the empty control room. “What we are experiencing is a much larger-scale spacetime anomaly.”

This is the third cycle. Every time we try to use the 'time loom' to reset the timeline to correct the initial errors, it leads to new and more severe mutations and distortions.

On the holographic projection, the timeline evolved like a branching tree. "After the first reset, basic mutants appeared all over the world."

The second instance gave rise to advanced mutants like the 'Infiltrators,' capable of simulation and thought.

He pointed out the window, and Su Wanqing followed his gaze. She saw a strange, morbid aurora-like light appear on the city skyline in the distance, a light she had never seen before.

"This time, the boundaries are collapsing, and fragments from different timelines have begun to merge chaotically. If the final repair cannot be completed within 72 hours, the entire spacetime structure will completely collapse, and everything will be erased."

Su Wanqing was not swayed by his grand narrative; her gaze was fixed on the body that had been taken over: "Lin Che? Lin Che! Can you hear me?"

The moment she called out the name, the body on the platform trembled violently, and the light in those blue eyes flashed intensely.

Lin Che seemed to regain control of his own consciousness in an instant. His face showed an expression of extreme pain, and his voice was hoarse and urgent: "Wan Qing, don't... don't listen to him! The core is not for separating consciousness... he wants..."

Before he could finish speaking, he bent over in pain as the blue light once again filled his eyes.

Night forcibly regained control. He held his forehead, took a deep breath, then straightened up, his face regaining its elegance.

"See? His remaining fragments of consciousness are just a chaotic collection of emotions, which will only interfere with the final plan."

He straightened his collar, walked towards Su Wanqing, and extended his hand, palm up.

“Give me the core,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Believe me, Su Wanqing, this is the only way.”

Otherwise, everything will repeat itself like the last two times, and we will all die meaninglessly. Including you, and including Lin Che.”

As he spoke, his outstretched hand trembled slightly and unnaturally, and his eyes flickered rapidly between calmness and the pain of struggle.

Like two souls trapped in the same cage, they are engaged in a struggle beyond the comprehension of mortals through a single physical form.

Just as Su Wanqing was confronting him and pondering the truth or falsehood of his words, the communicator on her waist suddenly emitted a rapid "beep beep" sound.

It was an emergency communication from Xiao Ran.

"Wanqing! Can you hear me?" Xiao Ran's voice was fast and urgent. "Lu Zhao and I have broken through the encirclement and are on our way to support you!"
Xiaoling's blood analysis results are in. The mutated virus in her body can resonate with the energy core. She is the 'key' to unlocking some kind of device!
The military is clearly aware of this and is hunting her down at all costs! Even more troublesome is that the mutants throughout the city are behaving abnormally; they… they are all moving towards the signal tower!

Upon hearing the contents of the communication, "Night's" expression subtly changed; he withdrew his hand and frowned slightly.

"It seems the plan needs to be moved up."

Before he finished speaking, he turned around and pressed an inconspicuous hidden button on the control panel.

The entire signal tower emitted a muffled rumble and began to vibrate slightly.

Su Wanqing looked out through the huge floor-to-ceiling window. The camouflage structure on the outside of the tower was peeling away and deforming layer by layer, revealing the energy collection device hidden beneath, which resembled a giant skeleton.

At the base of the tower, military armored vehicles and troops were rapidly assembling, their dark cannon muzzles pointed at the tower.

From all directions of the city, on the streets and between buildings, countless mutants were converging into black waves, roaring as they surged toward the signal tower.

A chaotic three-way battle is about to erupt.