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Chapter 268 Rescuing Dr. Zhang

The electronic screen in the fortress command center flickered with a ghostly blue light. Su Wanqing pushed the terminal onto the table, projecting Dr. Zhang's last location coordinates.

“City East Military Research Center.” Lu Zhao tapped on the keyboard, and a cluster of gray buildings appeared on the satellite image. The barbed wire on top of the high walls gleamed coldly in night vision mode. “National Security Bureau temporary detention point, with military signs on the surface.”

Xiao Ran leaned closer to look at the surveillance screenshot: "There are three security gates, eight guards at the entrance, and they change shifts every hour. The electronic lock uses iris and fingerprint dual verification, and the blind spot of the surveillance is in the northwest corner—" He pointed to the drainage ditch, "but there are sensors there."

“We can’t break through head-on.” Lin Che stood by the window, the blue markings on the back of his neck slightly burning. “I can control the water to avoid the sensors, but it will take time.”

Su Wanqing touched the jade bracelet on her wrist; it was two degrees warmer than usual.

She brought up the system shop and swiped through the equipment list: "The invisibility vest can block thermal imaging, and the jammer can hack the surveillance for thirty seconds." When she clicked confirm, a message popped up saying "800 rebate points consumed," but she didn't hesitate.

"Lin Che and I will go." Xiao Ran sheathed his tactical knife in the scabbard on his leg. "Lu Zhao will provide remote support, and Team Leader Su and Xiao Ling will guard the fortress."

He looked up at the tactical clock on the wall. "It's 1:17 a.m. now. We have to bring the man back before 3 a.m."

Lin Che looked down to check his waterproof gloves, his knuckles turning white from gripping them so tightly. "When I control my water-based abilities, the blue markings won't spread more than 30%."

He said, "It's enough to handle the pipes inside."

Lu Zhao adjusted his glasses: "The thermal imaging shows a separate heat source on the third floor on the east side, which should be the interrogation room."

He tossed the earpiece to Xiao Ran, "Keep in touch, report your location every five minutes."

The night was as thick as ink that couldn't be dissolved. The modified vehicle was parked in an abandoned factory two kilometers away from the target. Xiao Ran put on the invisibility vest over his tactical uniform, while Lin Che squatted by the roadside, his palms pressed against the damp soil.

“The drainage ditch leads to the ground floor of the building,” he said. “The sensor is at the third pipe opening.”

Lu Zhao's voice came through the earpiece: "Three, two, one—"

The distant hum of an overloaded transformer could be heard, and the searchlights on the building's exterior walls flickered on and off.

Lin Che flicked his wrist, and the water in the ditch suddenly surged, bursting through the rusted iron fence.

The two crouched down and crawled inside. The musty smell from the pipe filled their nostrils. Lin Che was in front, his fingertips touching the pipe wall. "There's a sensor on the left."

He said softly, "Move half a meter to the right."

They crept along the wall to the ground floor of the building, where a sliver of light shone through a ventilation opening, illuminating the patrol team at the end of the corridor.

Xiao Ran pulled Lin Che into the storage room. As soon as the door closed, footsteps approached.

Through the crack in the door, Xiao Ran saw two agents escorting a person wearing a black hood. As the person struggled, the name tag on his shoulder was revealed—the four small characters "City News".

"Another blabbermouth." The agent kicked the detainee in the shin. "You were asked to report on some 'unknown disease,' are you feeling better now?"

Lin Che clenched his fist, and the blue markings climbed up his arm two inches.

Xiao Ran patted the back of his hand and shook his head.

Once the footsteps faded, the two moved along the wall towards the third floor. As they rounded the corner, the interrogation room door was ajar, and Dr. Zhang's voice came through: "I was just recording the case files."

"Records?" Another voice, cold as ice, said, "The emails you sent are enough for a ten-year sentence. Tell me, who is the contact person?"

Xiao Ran gestured to Lin Che to activate the jammer. The corridor lights flickered twice, and the monitor screen went completely black.

The moment he kicked the door open, the agent on the left had just reached for his gun when Xiao Ran's tactical knife was already pressed against his throat; the agent on the right went to press the alarm, but Lin Che flipped his wrist, the water pipe burst, and the jet of water carrying mud and sand wrapped around his wrist before slamming it against the wall with a "thud".

Dr. Zhang was tied to an iron chair, and there was a bruise on the chest of his white coat.

"You..." His voice trembled.

“Dr. Zhang.” Xiao Ran cut the restraints. “We’re here to take you away.” Lin Che examined his wrist: “No fractures, just red marks from being restrained.”

"Thank you." Dr. Zhang rubbed his wrist. "They were in a hurry to interrogate the newly arrested reporters, so they didn't touch me much."

Before he could finish speaking, a piercing alarm blared. Lu Zhao's voice boomed from the headset: "The surveillance is back! Seal all exits, you must evacuate now!"

The three ran up the stairs, and just as they reached the second floor, they bumped into four secret agents at the corner.

Lin Che looked up at the sprinkler heads on the ceiling, closed his eyes and concentrated—the water pipes throughout the building roared at the same time, the sprinkler heads sprayed water jets, and the water from the fire hydrants gushed out like dragons, quickly accumulating to a depth of half a foot on the ground.

The agents stumbled and staggered to the wall for support, while Xiao Ran dragged Dr. Zhang down to the basement.

As they passed the archives, Dr. Zhang suddenly stopped: "There are documents inside!"

"No time!" Xiao Ran grabbed his arm.

"Just ten seconds!" Dr. Zhang rushed into the room, plugged the USB drive into the computer, quickly clicked to download, and then grabbed a stack of paper documents from the table and stuffed them into his pocket.

Xiao Ran peered out the door and saw agents rushing down the stairs with guns in hand.

"Let's go!" Xiao Ran grabbed him and ran, the water already up to their knees.

The exit of the underground parking garage was guarded by four agents, their gun barrels gleaming coldly.

Xiao Ran pushed Dr. Zhang behind Lin Che, his eyes slowly turning red, his muscles bulging under his tactical uniform.

“Run,” he said, and then charged toward the bullets—the first shot grazed his ear, the second hit his chest but was deflected by his invisibility vest, and by the time the third shot came, he was already in front of the agent, his fist slamming into the man’s Adam’s apple.

Lin Che dragged Dr. Zhang outside, and the modified car was parked outside the wall.

Xiao Ran was the last to jump into the car, blood seeping from his back. "Drive!"

He shouted at the driver.

Dr. Zhang didn't dare to catch his breath until he had driven two kilometers. He took out a document from his pocket, the cover of which read "Scorched Earth Policy Contingency Plan".

“The government knew from the beginning that the infection couldn’t be controlled.” He flipped through the documents. “The green zone is for high-ranking officials and experts, the yellow zone is for their families, and the red zone”—his throat tightened—“is where sacrifices are to be made.”

Lin Che was flipping through documents in the back seat when he saw the "List of Key Personnel Evacuation" and his finger paused: "There are no ordinary citizens on this list."

“What’s even more troublesome is that,” Dr. Zhang pulled out a blood sample tube, “the blood of infected individuals contains nanostructures that can rewrite DNA.”

He looked up at Lin Che, "Some early infected individuals are starting to have abilities similar to yours."

Su Wanqing's voice came through the earpiece: "It's safe now, let's head straight back to the fortress."

Outside the car window, the city lights shimmered as a blurry yellow in the fog. Xiao Ran wiped the blood from his tactical knife, Lin Che stared at the burning blue markings on the back of his neck, and Dr. Zhang carefully put the files away again—they all knew that this night was just the beginning.

Meanwhile, in the fortress medical room, Su Wanqing sat in a chair rubbing her wrists.

The jade bracelet had been getting hot since earlier, and the blue light flickered like breathing.

Xiaoling stood next to her, the silver liquid on her wrist climbing up her veins, “just like the reaction in my body.”

she says.

Lu Zhao projected the two people's biological data onto the screen, and a line of text popped up in the system analysis box: "Energy characteristics match spacetime distortion, a sign of a large teleportation portal being activated."

Su Wanqing took out her terminal and sent a message to Lin Che: "Come back for an emergency meeting."