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Chapter 256 Emergency Operations at the Southwest Dam

On the large screen in the fortress command center, the blood-red warning message—[High-threat unit 'Hunter' has locked onto the network at this time anchor point. Estimated arrival time: 71 hours and 59 minutes]—remained glaringly obvious.

The somber atmosphere was broken, replaced by a more urgent calm.

At the impromptu meeting in the early morning, Xiaoling and Xiaoyu stood in front of a huge city map spread out on the ground.

They didn't speak, but simply held hands and closed their eyes. A faint band of energy extended from the two of them, outlining a three-dimensional, ever-changing image above the map.

The image centers on a dam in the southwest corner of the city. A phantom purple lightning bolt symbol is precisely marked in the center of the dam, next to which a line of numbers appears: "60 hours later, lightning strike, structural collapse."

What's even more chilling is that the area representing the reservoir on the map is filled with a dense array of red dots.

These points of light continued to wriggle and converge, like a pot of venom about to boil.

"Once the dam collapses, these substances will flood the entire downstream city along the river."

Lu Zhao pushed up his glasses and pointed to the simulated water flow path on the screen.

Looking at the horrific scene, Su Wanqing made a decision: "We can't stop natural disasters, nor can we stop the Weaver's plan. But perhaps we can mitigate the impact of the disaster."

The team immediately divided the tasks. Su Wanqing, Xiao Ran, and Lin Che formed an advance team and went to the dam to scout.

Lu Zhao, along with Xiao Ling and Xiao Yu, stayed behind at the fortress to continuously monitor the temporal field fluctuations throughout the city.

“This operation is very risky.” Su Wanqing’s left wristband screen lit up, and she operated it without hesitation.

"I need to exchange for some equipment."

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Three silver briefcases appeared out of thin air on the ground.

Lu Zhao took out three syringes, which contained a light blue liquid.

"I have improved the vaccine to provide 24-hour resistance to mutations. Remember, vaccines are not a panacea, and do not directly contact any purple active material for more than 30 seconds."

He handed the syringes to the three men one by one.

Xiao Ran inspected the weapons and put several pieces of specially made plastic explosives into his tactical backpack.

“If the situation allows,” he said while adjusting the scope of his rifle, “we might be able to blast open the flood discharge channel in advance and divert some of the water to the no-man’s land. Every block less will be flooded.”

Around noon, a jeep painted in military green camouflage sped along the deserted road and stopped on a high ground a few kilometers away from the dam control area.

Xiao Ran raised his binoculars, his brows furrowing slightly. "Strange. There are three checkpoints ahead. Judging from the equipment and the number of people, it's at least a fully equipped company. The military is keeping a very tight watch on this place." He moved the lens, then quickly fixed it again. "On the other side of the dam... there's a white car. It's the same group of people from the 'Watchmen' organization that Lin Che encountered in the Northeast region last time."

High-definition images transmitted by drones show that the military has set up a temporary observation station on top of the dam, where scientists in protective suits are busily collecting samples.

Meanwhile, a dozen or so Watchmen members in white uniforms were gathered near the central control room of the dam, confronting the military personnel like two opposing forces.

"The military and the Watchers are fighting for control. This is abnormal; in such a crisis, the military usually has absolute priority."

Xiao Ran put down the binoculars.

The three decided to take a detour. The jeep turned off the highway and proceeded along an abandoned maintenance road on the west side.

The vegetation on both sides of the road has turned a sickly purple and is growing in a twisted way.

Finally, they arrived at a rusty barbed wire fence, behind which lay the interior of the dam.

An electronic lock hangs on the door, its red light flashing.

Lin Che stepped forward, extended his palm, and blue lines appeared on his arm.

He didn't touch the lock body, but simply hovered above it. The indicator light on the electronic lock flashed wildly a few times, and then with a "click," the green light turned on.

The situation inside was far more dire than imagined. The massive concrete dam was riddled with a spiderweb of tiny cracks, from which wisps of viscous purple substance slowly seeped.

The reservoir, which should have been clear, now had an unsettling purplish-red hue. The surface was calm, but occasionally a huge, indescribable dark shadow could be seen flashing by in the deep water.

"Split up and proceed separately," Su Wanqing ordered in a low voice.

Xiao Ran straightened his military jacket and strode towards the military observation station on the mountaintop.

Using his familiarity with military passwords and procedures, he disguised himself as a logistics personnel coming from the city to provide reinforcements and actually managed to infiltrate the area.

He stood behind several officers and overheard a conversation that sent chills down his spine. "...The orders from above have come down: abandon Sector C-7, which is the entire city."

All personnel and equipment on the 'Noah's Ark' list must be evacuated within forty-eight hours.

"What about the common people in the city?"

"There are no civilians left. The order says that once the evacuation is complete, the 'purification protocol' will be activated. This place will be wiped off the map with a tactical nuclear weapon."

Meanwhile, Su Wanqing had already connected her system to the dam's internal network through a maintenance terminal.

On the screen, a document marked "Top Secret" was forcibly decrypted.

The city map was divided into different colored blocks, with the division of "rescue zone" and "sacrifice zone" being particularly alarming.

The entire southwest district where they were located was marked in dark red – “Extremely high risk, no rescue.”

At the end of the document, a countdown timer is relentlessly ticking: 57 hours, 12 minutes, and 04 seconds.

The dam collapsed a full three hours earlier than Xiaoling had predicted.

Lin Che then came to the edge of the reservoir alone. He squatted down and reached out to touch the purplish-red water.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the water's surface, he activated his ability, an invisible sense probing into the water.

He wanted to sense the degree of change in this body of water.

The next second, he froze.

The calm water surface suddenly churned violently, as if it were boiling.

Underwater, one pair, ten pairs, hundreds and thousands of huge purple eyes suddenly opened, piercing through the murky water and staring intently at Lin Che on the shore.

A powerful, chaotic, and hungry torrent of consciousness instantly overwhelmed his senses.

On Su Wanqing's retina, the system AI's warning shone sharply: [Warning! A massive swarm of mutated creatures has been detected! Extremely high danger level!]

They are facing not only natural disasters, but also a "purification protocol" prepared to sacrifice three million people.

During their evacuation, the three were surrounded by a group of mutated amphibians that crawled out of the flood discharge channel.

These creatures resemble a hybrid of salamanders and frogs; they are small in size but numerous and emit a piercing hiss.

Xiao Ran quickly emptied a magazine of bullets, but it was just a drop in the ocean.

Just as a mutant lunged at Su Wanqing, Lin Che instinctively stretched out his left hand, and the blue patterns on his arm burst forth with an unprecedented light.

He made a series of strange, polysyllabic sounds from his throat, which did not belong to any human language.

A bizarre scene unfolded. All the attacking mutated creatures seemed to be paused, instantly ceasing their movements.

Confusion and obedience were evident in their purple eyes, and they then voluntarily stepped aside to make way for a safe passage.

Lin Che himself was stunned. He was panting as he looked at his hands.

“I… I can sense their thoughts, very primitive, but connected, like a collective.”

“The Weaver’s genes,” Su Wanqing thought for a moment and concluded, “give you not only purification abilities, but perhaps also the authority to establish connections with these mutants.”

Upon returning to the fortress, Lu Zhao immediately tested Lin Che. The results confirmed Su Wanqing's suspicions: Lin Che could indeed influence mutated organisms with relatively simple genetic structures over short distances.

But the price was heavy.

Each time Lin Che uses this ability, the blue lines on his left arm expand one more point.

Now, those lines have spread all over his left arm, like some kind of living tattoo.

What worries Lu Zhao even more is that Lin Che experiences brief memory loss and slowed emotional responses every time he uses his ability.

Lin Che looked at his arm, where the blue light had not completely faded.

He asked, somewhat bewildered, "If things continue like this, what will I become? Will I still be myself?"

Su Wanqing walked over, gently pressed his shoulder, and said firmly, "No matter what happens, we will face it together. Perhaps this ability is the key to our fight against the mutation tide."

Everyone on the team realized that Lin Che's transformation was both an unpredictable crisis and a chance to turn the tide.