After stocking up at the maximum level, all the handsome men in the apocalypse are looking for suppo

Chapter 275 Fortress Crisis
The laboratory fluorescent lights flickered at 3:30 a.m. Lu Zhao rubbed his aching neck and put the eyepiece back on the microscope.

Lin Che's blood sample appeared bluish-green on the slide. The granular material was dividing along the edges of the red blood cells, like a group of worker ants on fast-forward, but always avoiding the central cell nucleus.

He circled a word in his notebook and wrote down the words "brain-avoiding structure".

"Brother Lu, is this data correct?" Xiaoling looked up from another microscope. Her blood sample looked like tiny silver stars under the lens. "The concentration of silver solution is 3.2%, which is the same as yesterday."

"Come here." Lu Zhao pushed his microscope over. "Look at this."

Xiaoling bent down and saw blue particles recombining with red blood cell membranes. Suddenly, silver stars floated over from the edge of the slide, and the blue particles curled up as if they had been scorched by fire.

Lu Zhao turned the fine-tuning knob: "I just dripped two drops of your blood."

Xiaoling paused in her breathing: "Are they hiding?"

“It’s not hiding, it’s being broken down.” Lu Zhao pulled up a comparison image. “The protein chains of the blue particles are breaking, and the nanostructures in the silver liquid…” Before he could finish speaking, a violent coughing sound came from the direction of the medical cabin.

Lin Che propped himself up, his hospital gown soaked with blue liquid, his knuckles white from clenching it.

When Xiaoling rushed over, his pupils were glowing with a bluish light: "Something underground is calling me."

His voice was like sandpaper scraping against metal, “Beacon. Activated.”

Xiaoling grabbed his hand, and the silver liquid on her wrist crawled out of her skin and wrapped around the back of Lin Che's hand.

Blue scales rippled where the two touched, and Lin Che's breathing gradually evened out: "The time gate is about to open."

"Lie down first." Xiaoling took a tissue and wiped the blue liquid from the corner of his mouth. "Brother Lu is trying to figure something out."

As Lu Zhao put the sample tubes into the refrigerator, the alarm in the monitoring room went off.

As he rushed over, twelve blue figures in the holographic projection were passing through the outer fence, their movements as synchronized as puppets on strings.

“Twelve mutants.” Lu Zhao tapped the projector. “Operation mode: Level C coordination.”

He zoomed in on one of the faces, the scales spreading from the forehead to the chin, “the same source as the samples taken from the water plant.”

Xiaoling grabbed the stun gun and was about to leave when Lu Zhao stopped her: "You stay here and watch over Lin Che."

He pulled a blue vial from his white coat pocket. "These things aren't for hunting; we're here to find someone."

Lin Che leaned against the headboard of the medical pod, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Looking for me. The secondary beacon is being summoned."

"I know." Lu Zhao injected the medicine into his vein. "This injection will last for four hours, but the side effect is a headache."

He turned to Xiaoling, "Lock the lab door, and press the emergency button if there's any noise."

Gunfire erupted outside the fortifications at two in the afternoon. Lu Zhao crouched behind the sandbags, the recoil of the sonic gun making his hands numb.

The mutant staggers when hit, but pounces again the next second, the sound of its fingernails scraping against metal plates is painful to the ears.

"Dr. Zhang! Hemostats!"

"They're here!" Dr. Zhang leaned out from behind the cover and pulled the wounded soldier, wrapped in gauze, back.

Lu Zhao's left arm suddenly felt hot, and when he looked down, he saw a bloody gash—the claw of the mutant had just grazed it.

Xiaoling's voice came through the communicator: "A mutant is heading towards the lab!"

Lu Zhao wiped the sweat from his face: "Stop it!" He grabbed an electromagnetic mine and threw it out. In the blue light of the explosion, three mutants fell to the ground and convulsed.

But more poured in through the gaps in the fence, like a tide overflowing a dam.

The lab door was slammed shut. Xiaoling pushed Lin Che into a corner and grabbed a chair to brace against the doorknob.

The mutant's fingernails scratched across the door crack, leaving white marks on the metal.

She reached for the stun gun on her lower back, and just as she turned around, the door was slammed open with a loud bang.

The thing rushed in, bringing with it a foul stench. Xiaoling swung her gun at its neck, but was instead thrown to the ground.

The moment the claws grazed her arm, drops of blood splattered onto the mutant's face—it suddenly screamed, covered its face, and backed away, its scales falling off as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid.

"Xiaoling! Your blood!" Lu Zhao's voice boomed from the communicator, "Get a sample tube and collect it!"

Xiaoling grabbed a test tube from the lab table and cut her finger.

Blood dripped onto the mutant's feet, and the thing turned and ran towards the door, knocking over two pieces of equipment in the process.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and found Lin Che standing behind her, leaning against the wall, his eyes so blue they looked like they were about to burst with water.

“I can help them,” Lin Che’s voice was hoarse. “Their consciousness is calling to me.”

"No," Xiaoling grabbed his arm. "You can't do it now."

"It's too late." Lin Che pried her hands off and walked step by step toward the door.

The mutant's roars grew closer and closer. He stood in the middle of the corridor, arms outstretched.

A sound somewhere between a buzzing and a chanting came from his throat.

The mutant that was tearing at the wounded suddenly stopped and tilted its head to look at him.

Two of them slowly retreated, but the strongest one charged forward, baring its teeth—its scales were thicker than its companions', and there was no confusion in its eyes.

Xiaoling picked up the sonic gun that Lu Zhao had left in the lab, bit her finger, and pressed it onto the energy bar.

A silver-blue light crept up the gun barrel, and she pulled the trigger. A wave of light, wrapped in silver, struck the mutant's chest.

The thing was thrown three meters and stopped moving when it hit the wall.

When Lu Zhao rushed in with Dr. Zhang, Xiao Ling was stopping Lin Che's bleeding.

The mutant's blood congealed into a bluish-black scab on the ground. Lu Zhao squatted down and scraped off some sample: "Silver liquid can decompose the Weaver's gene chain and reverse the mutation."

He looked up at Xiaoling, "You are an antibody."

Xiaoling looked down at the wound on her arm, where blood was slowly congealing: "I thought this was..."

“No.” Lin Che leaned against the wall, his voice as soft as a sigh. “There is a secondary beacon in their collective consciousness calling all individuals carrying the gene to the underground.”

"Su Wanqing and Xiao Ran," he coughed, blue blood mixed with froth splattering on the ground, "we have to tell them."

Footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor. Several survivors helped the wounded over, with the middle-aged man who always liked to argue with Lin Che leading the way.

He glanced at Lin Che, then at the mutated corpse on the ground, opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

"Brother Lin." A young girl with a ponytail squeezed through the crowd, her eyes red like a rabbit's. "My brother was taken those things. Is he still conscious?"

Lin Che closed his eyes: "Most of them are gone, they've been integrated into the group."

"But some..." He glanced at the sample tube in Lu Zhao's hand, "If Xiaoling's blood is useful..."

The girl gripped his uninjured hand tightly: "I believe you."

The middle-aged man snorted and turned to leave. But the few people who were with him stayed behind to help Dr. Zhang move his medical kit.

Lin Che looked down at his hands; the blue scales were receding, revealing the normal skin underneath.

Xiaoling handed him a glass of warm water. He took a couple of sips, then suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Su Wanqing's jade bracelet," his voice suddenly became clear, "might be related to the time portal. They are now..."

The alarm sounded again. Lu Zhao rushed to the monitoring room, Xiao Ling grabbed her gun, and Lin Che stood up, leaning against the wall.

The sky outside the fortress was tinged with an unusual purple, and the roars of the mutants were even more intense than before.

Sparks flew as the metal wall of the ventilation duct scraped against Xiao Ran's shoulder. He crouched down and took two steps forward, his tactical flashlight sweeping across the rusted gap at the end of the duct—an abandoned subway tunnel, the tracks covered in a layer of dust half a finger thick, the sound of dripping water coming from afar.

"Safe." He gestured back. Su Wanqing followed him out of the pipe, the jade bracelet on her wrist feeling slightly warm.

Just as the two breathed a sigh of relief, Xiao Ran's communicator suddenly vibrated.

Lu Zhao's voice boomed out amidst the static: "Just repelled the mutant attack. Summoning a secondary beacon."

Su Wanqing pressed her ear close. "Lin Che said the mutants are being summoned to the underground facility."

"Lu Zhao?" Xiao Ran patted the communicator. "The signal is bad, say it again!"

"Lin Che's condition is unstable. He insists on going to support you, and you can't stop him."

The communication suddenly dropped. Su Wanqing took out the facility hologram she had downloaded earlier, blue light flowing in her palm: "These blue dots on the map are secondary beacons, used to charge the main beacon."

She pointed to the southeast quadrant. "This must be destroyed."

Xiao Ran pulled off his tactical glove and touched the tunnel wall. A layer of blue slime, like solidified fluorescent glue, was stuck to the wall: "The temperature is rising, and these things are getting denser."

He rubbed some of the mucus on his skin and said, "It's like a biological conduit, transferring energy."

The two followed the map southeast. The moss on the tunnel ceiling had an eerie blue hue, and the dripping sound was mixed with low-frequency vibrations—the footsteps of the mutants.

After rounding the bend, the view suddenly opened up. The circular underground plaza was as large as three basketball courts, with a 20-meter-tall blue crystal pillar in the center that pulsed once every three seconds, illuminating the scales of the mutants around the plaza.

They circled the pillar, their movements as mechanical as a wind-up toy.

“That’s explosives.” Xiao Ran patted the tactical pouch at his waist. “Enough to blow up the crystal pillar. The problem is how to get close.”

Su Wanqing affixed the jade bracelet to the railing of the observation platform. A system notification flashed on her retina: "There is a terminal at the base of the pillar that can shut down the beacon. But you have to get through the swarm of mutants."

Before he finished speaking, the sound of leather shoes hitting the ground came from the other side of the square.

Professor Gray came out wearing a white lab coat, followed by the all-blue "Weaver".

Several scientists carried instruments around the base of the pillar, their terminal screens glowing with a blinding red light.

The crystal pillar pulsed faster, and the mutants spun around faster, emitting a uniform low growl from their throats.

Xiao Ran raised his binoculars: "They are accelerating the accumulation of energy. The bioenergy of the mutants is being drawn into the pillars."

Su Wanqing brought up the energy monitor: "Two hours, at most two hours to the critical point."

The two crouched down and slid off the observation platform, feeling their way along the maintenance passage toward the base of the pillar.

When they were ten meters away from the terminal, the nearest mutant suddenly stopped and slowly turned its head toward them.

It opened its mouth and emitted a shrill whistle similar to a siren.

"We've been spotted!" Xiao Ran raised his gun and fired three shots, taking down three mutants who rushed towards him.

Su Wanqing placed her right hand on the jade bracelet, causing ripples in the air in front of her—the three mechanical guards were twisted three meters away by her.

Professor Gray turned around, a cold glint in his glasses: "Protect the beacon!"

More mutants poured out from the corner of the square, the sound of their fingernails scraping the ground was painful to the eardrums.

A muscular mutant broke through the defenses, its claws aimed straight for Su Wanqing's throat.

The moment the wind rushed into his ears, a beam of blue light struck from the side, knocking the mutant to the ground.

It was Lin Che. His entire body was covered in blue scales, with several translucent spikes protruding from his back, and his fingernails had grown into shiny black claws, but there was still a trace of humanity in his eyes: "I had to come because I sensed danger."

Su Wanqing supported his swaying shoulders: "How did you find it?"

Lin Che raised his hand and pressed his temples, the skin beneath the scales tinged with blue: "The beacon was calling me, so I followed my senses."

He suddenly coughed violently, blue liquid splattering on the ground. "Quick, let's go, I can't hold on any longer."

The three charged towards the pillar back to back. Xiao Ran emptied a magazine and was pounced on by the mutant while reloading.

Lin Che grabbed the thing by the neck with his other hand, and the blue scales crawled up his arm, instantly turning the mutant into a limp mess.

The "Weaver" moved. It raised its hand and pressed it to the ground, and the metal floor tiles bulged up like dough, solidifying into three sharp spikes that pierced towards Su Wanqing.

Xiao Ran lunged forward and pushed her away, the sharp thorn grazing his ear and embedding itself in the wall.

Lin Che stood in front of the two. A blue light rose between him and the "Weaver," and an electric hissing sound filled the air.

Lin Che's spines stood erect, the blood vessels beneath the scales gleaming with a ghostly blue: "I'll restrain it. You go to the terminal."

Su Wanqing dragged Xiao Ran towards the base of the pillar. Professor Gray burst out of the shadows and grabbed her wrist: "Foolish! The Time Gate is humanity's future!"

"What kind of future is it to betray your own kind?" Su Wanqing shook off his hand and slammed her knee into his abdomen.

Gray staggered a couple of steps, leaning against a pillar and panting, "The end of the world is coming! We have no choice but to accept evolution."

Xiao Ran pressed the explosives to the base of the pillar, and as he turned around, he was slammed against the wall by the mechanical guard.

Su Wanqing touched the terminal interface, and the jade bracelet suddenly became hot—the system had automatically connected.

The lights across the entire square began to flicker. Countless data streams flashed before Su Wanqing's eyes, and she suddenly realized that she could "see" the spatial structure around her.

With a thought, she "lifted" three mechanical guards and slammed them down on the other two.

"Weaver" took two steps back, her voice like the scraping of glass: "Impossible, you activated ultimate privileges?"

Gray's face turned deathly pale: "Retreat! She's activated the time controller!"

Xiao Ran detonated the explosives. The crystal pillar made a tearing sound, and cracks spread like a spider web.

Lin Che roared to the sky, and blue light burst forth from his body, sending the "Weaver" flying and crashing into the wall.

"Let's go!" Su Wanqing grabbed Lin Che. The three of them had just run onto the maintenance passage when a loud crash came from behind them—the plaza began to collapse.

As she rounded the bend, Su Wanqing glanced back. "Weaver" stood in the dust, blue light illuminating the smile on its lips, as if watching a preordained play.

Lin Che's breathing grew heavier. Half of his face was still covered in blue scales, while the other half began to peel, revealing the normal skin underneath.

Su Wanqing supported his trembling arm and heard him whisper, "Just now... 'Master Weaver' spoke in my mind."

"What did you say?" Xiao Ran asked, turning around.

Lin Che closed his eyes, and his eyelids under the blue scales twitched: "It said I could have been a bridge between humans and them."

He suddenly gripped Su Wanqing's wrist tightly, his nails almost digging into her flesh. "But I heard you call my name."

Debris began to fall from the tunnel ceiling. The three quickened their pace, the sound of collapse growing closer behind them.

Lin Che's eyes shone in the darkness, half blue and half black, like a torn curtain of night.