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Chapter 276 Escaping the Collapse
The aftershocks of the beacon explosion traveled through the tunnel. Xiao Ran's shoulder slammed against a rusty pipe, the metallic scraping sound piercing his eardrums.

Su Wanqing grabbed Lin Che's arm and ran forward. A muffled thud came from above, and gravel fell down in a flurry.

"The original route is blocked!" Su Wanqing pulled out the system map, the blue light in her palm making her dizzy. "The backup route to the east—"

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a scraping sound of metal behind him. Xiao Ran turned around and saw three mechanical guards emerging from the collapsed ruins, sparks flying from their joints.

He drew his pulse pistol from his waist and fired three shots that pierced the chest of the nearest guard. "Run!"

Lin Che stumbled two steps, his knees hitting the train tracks. Su Wanqing bent down to help him up, and froze when she touched his arm—the scales were peeling off, revealing the normal skin underneath. "What's wrong with you?"

"Reorganize." Lin Che twitched the corner of his mouth, half of his face still covered in blue scales. "Not for better, not for worse, just... mix together."

He coughed twice, splashing blue liquid onto the rails. "Don't stop, the pursuers are almost here."

The passageway suddenly shook violently. Xiao Ran looked up and saw spiderweb-like cracks appearing in the ceiling. "Run!"

The three had just rushed into the backup passage when a deafening roar came from behind them. Su Wanqing turned around and saw that the tunnel entrance had been blocked by falling rocks.

Lin Che leaned against the wall, panting. One eye was a deep blue, while the other still had a human-like color.

"This way," Xiao Ran pointed his gun ahead, "the crossroads."

The walls of the cross passage were covered in mold, and Su Wanqing's system map suddenly went black.

She tapped the jade bracelet. "The signal is being jammed."

Lin Che suddenly looked up and stared at the fork in the road to the north. "There's wind over there."

He staggered over, pointing to the direction of the ground.

Xiao Ran followed behind, the butt of his gun against his shoulder. "How did you know?"

"I can feel it." Lin Che reached out and touched the wall. "The direction of the airflow."

The three turned into the north passage. Suddenly, the mold on the wall glowed blue, as if activated by some kind of energy.

Su Wanqing's jade bracelet shimmered, and when she touched the wall, the entire wall suddenly emitted a door-shaped light.

"The system indicates this is a time anchor point." Su Wanqing stared at the jade bracelet. "It might be possible to teleport out."

Xiao Ran pointed his gun at the portal, "A trap?"

"There's no time to try." Lin Che coughed so hard he couldn't straighten up. "The pursuers are here."

The buzzing of mechanical guards came from behind. Su Wanqing gritted her teeth and dragged the two of them through the portal.

A wave of dizziness washed over them. When their vision cleared, they found themselves in an abandoned warehouse with peeling paint on the walls and rusty oil drums piled on the floor.

“This is…” Xiao Ran walked to the window and could see a billboard in the distance through the broken glass. “It’s in the suburbs, at least five kilometers from the entrance.”

Lin Che leaned against the oil drum, his voice weak: "The time is off. We entered the underground at two in the morning, and now" he pulled out his tactical watch, "it's eight seventeen."

Su Wanqing inspected the jade bracelet. "The system shows a time offset of six hours."

She knelt down in front of Lin Che and scanned his neck with a medical scanner. "The mutation program in his body is being reconstructed; the gene chain seems to have been re-encoded."

"Can you control it?" Xiao Ran placed the gun at his feet and stood guard at the door.

Lin Che shook his head. "I can't explain it. Sometimes I can sense the location of the mutants, and sometimes it feels like I'm being pulled into the ground by something."

He rolled up his sleeve; the scales on his arm were peeling off, revealing pale blue veins beneath the exposed skin. "I think I heard someone speaking inside the portal just now."

"Who?" Su Wanqing pressed.

"I can't hear clearly." Lin Che closed his eyes. "It sounds like a lot of people talking at once, or like the sound of the wind."

Suddenly, a metallic scraping sound came from outside the warehouse. Xiao Ran pressed his finger to his lips, grabbed his gun, and went to the window.

Through the broken glass, he saw a dark figure swaying outside the warehouse. The silhouette was completely black, neither like a mutant nor a mechanical guard.

"We're being followed." Xiao Ran turned around. "I have to go."

Just as the three of them reached the warehouse entrance, Lin Che suddenly grabbed Su Wanqing's sleeve, "Wait."

He stared at the ground. "There's an energy fluctuation."

Su Wanqing brought up the energy monitor, and a glaring red dot appeared on the screen: "Southeast direction, mutant."

"Elite level." Lin Che's half-eye turned completely blue. "The scales are denser, and the movements are more synchronized."

Before the words were finished, footsteps sounded outside the warehouse. Six mutants emerged from the shadows, their bodies covered in perfect blue scales, each clutching an energy blade.

The leader raised his knife, the tip pointing directly at Su Wanqing.

"Protect the anchor point." Its voice sounded like the friction of metal.

Xiao Ran fired his gun, and the bullet struck the mutant in the chest, only sending up a few sparks.

Su Wanqing activated her spatial defenses, barely managing to block an energy blade.

Lin Che suddenly let out a low roar, and blue light surged from his body, knocking the two nearest mutants to the ground.

"Go!" Lin Che's scales began to spread. "I can't hold on!"

The three ran towards the back door of the warehouse. Xiao Ran turned back and fired a shot to distract the pursuers.

Lin Che's breathing became heavier and heavier, and he staggered every two steps.

Su Wanqing took out her communicator, "Lu Zhao? Please respond if you receive this!"

"Wanqing?" Lu Zhao's voice was mixed with noise. "Energy fluctuations detected. Where are you?"

"An abandoned warehouse in the suburbs!" Su Wanqing shouted, "Bring backup!"

The back door was suddenly kicked open. Three mutants rushed in, their energy blades flashing blue light.

Lin Che turned around, placed his hands on the ground, and blue light surged over him like a wave.

The mutants suddenly stopped, their expressions turning confused.

"Run!" Lin Che's voice no longer sounded human. "They've been reset!"

Xiao Ran grabbed Su Wanqing and rushed out. The sound of an engine came from afar; an armored vehicle sped up from the street corner. Xiao Ling poked her head out and shouted, "Get in!"

Lin Che was the last to jump into the car. Xiao Ling immediately pulled out a syringe, "Temporary suppressant, bear with it."

The needle pierced Lin Che's arm, and his blue light gradually faded as he lost consciousness.

Lu Zhao closed the car door. "The fortress will be ready in ten minutes."

Su Wanqing looked out the car window, and the dark figure reappeared on the rooftop in the distance, silently watching them.

The paint on the walls of the abandoned warehouse was crumbling, and Lin Che leaned against a rusty oil drum, breathing heavily.

Su Wanqing squatted down in front of him, the medical scanner pressed against his neck, the blue light from the screen making her brows furrow slightly: "The mutation program is reconstructing, not worsening nor improving, it's reorganizing."

Lin Che raised his hand and touched his cheek. In some places, the scales were peeling off, revealing normal skin, while in other areas they were becoming more prominent, as if being torn apart by two forces: "After the beacon exploded, the connection with the Weaver was mostly severed, but recently I've always felt that something else is stirring things up."

"There's movement." Xiao Ran suddenly lowered his voice. He had his back to the broken window, the muzzle of his gun pointed diagonally at the ground. The sound of metal scraping was too faint, like a fingernail scratching on sheet metal.

The three held their breath. A faint rustling sound came from outside the warehouse, growing louder as it approached.

Su Wanqing took out a tactical flashlight, and the beam shone through the window lattice—a completely black humanoid silhouette stood in the corner, without facial features or outlines, as if the night itself had been molded into a human shape. It stood still, its head slightly turned, as if scanning something.

"We're being watched." Xiao Ran pulled the gun closer to his chest. "We have to go."

The dark figure flickered again and disappeared into the night in the blink of an eye. Su Wanqing helped Lin Che up; his arm was burning hot, but his fingertips were as cold as ice.

Once outside the warehouse, the abandoned area on the city's edge resembled a ghost town. Xiao Ran walked ahead, stopping at every corner to scan the broken walls and ruins with his tactical scope.

Lin Che had to lean against the wall to catch his breath after taking just a few steps. One of his eyes was a bright blue, while the other half still had a human-like hue.

"Communication is still not working." Su Wanqing gripped the communicator, the screen filled with static.

Her jade bracelet suddenly began to flash, and a string of unfamiliar code popped up on the screen, like a star map scattered by the wind.

"It's here again." Lin Che suddenly stopped. Everyone looked up and saw the dark figure standing on the opposite rooftop. This time it didn't hide, but just stood there quietly. The moonlight shone on it, but it was like the light was shining into a deep pool, leaving not even a shadow.

Xiao Ran raised his gun, aiming the sights at the shadowy figure's chest. The thing suddenly moved—not by walking, but by teleporting—and was standing in the middle of the road ten meters away the next second.

"Jade artifact holder, you have activated the original protocol." Its voice sounded like many people speaking at once, men and women, old and young, "The Flow of Time has taken notice of you."

Su Wanqing gripped the jade bracelet tightly; it felt hot in her palm. "Who are you? One of the Weavers' people?"

"Time Observer." The shadowy figure tilted its head slightly. "Neither a Weaver nor a human. Observing, recording, maintaining balance." Its gaze turned to Lin Che. "The mutated carrier has begun its final phase transition; the timer has been started."

Before she could finish speaking, the shadowy figure vanished again. Su Wanqing looked down at the jade bracelet; the interface was still flashing, this time displaying an option for "Time Stream Observation Permission," with the cursor bobbing up and down on it.

"Let's go." Xiao Ran pulled her along. Lin Che suddenly stumbled, grabbing Xiao Ran's arm: "There's an ambush!"

As soon as he finished speaking, six mutants sprang out from behind the surrounding buildings. They were covered in blue scales, moved in perfect unison like a single person, and their energy blades gleamed coldly.

The leader raised his knife, the tip pointing directly at Su Wanqing.

Xiao Ran fired three shots in quick succession, but the bullets only sparked a few flecks when they hit Lan Lin.

The energy beam grazed Su Wanqing's ear and burned a charred hole in the wall.

She activated her spatial defenses, and the shield barely held off the second wave of attacks, cold sweat beading on her forehead—the shield was at least half the thickness it usually was.

"They're trying to link me to the head!" Lin Che clutched his head, blue scales creeping up his neck and face. "Mental link. Trying to control me."

The mutants formed a circle and closed in. Xiao Ran pulled out his last modified pulse gun, the barrel still warm, the one he had used during the earlier firefight with the mechanical guards.

Su Wanqing tried teleporting again, but the jade bracelet interface kept flashing and the system notification sound was stuck on "Unable to establish".

"Let me do it!" Lin Che suddenly shouted. His eyes turned completely blue, and blue light rose from his body, like a burning blue flame.

The two mutants closest to the ground were knocked down, their energy blades clattering to the floor.

But the light was too intense. Large patches of Lin Che's blue scales began to peel away, revealing the blue-veined skin beneath. His breathing was heavy, like a bellows: "Run! I can't hold on!"

Xiao Ran dragged Su Wanqing towards the alley entrance. Lin Che roared from behind, his voice growing increasingly inhuman: "Don't look back! Run!"

The change came suddenly. Lin Che's blue light exploded with a "boom," and the surrounding mutants suddenly stopped, their expressions blank, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Xiao Ran seized the opportunity to fire an emergency signal flare, the red flames piercing the night sky.

The sound of an engine came from afar. Xiao Ling's armored vehicle sped out from the street corner, and Lu Zhao, holding a gun in the passenger seat, shouted: "Get in!"

Lin Che was the last to jump into the car. A flash of silver light appeared on Xiao Ling's wrist, and a silver substance automatically wrapped around his arm.

The mutants didn't chase after them, but slowly retreated, as if being pushed by some unseen hand.

“A temporary suppressant.” Xiaoling took out a syringe and injected it into Lin Che’s arm. “It’s not perfect yet, but it will last for a while.”

Lin Che's blue light gradually weakened, and he passed out. Lu Zhao closed the car door, the tires screeching on the ground: "The energy fluctuations are outrageously large, I guess it's you."

Su Wanqing leaned back in her seat, panting, and glanced out the car window—the dark figure reappeared on the rooftop in the distance, standing silently like a black monument.

Her jade bracelet suddenly popped up a holographic projection. The interface was the same symbols she had seen in the underground facility, but more complex, with the "Time Flow Observation Permission" in the very center flashing blindingly.

Su Wanqing reached out to touch it, then withdrew her hand and whispered to Xiao Ran, "The relationship between this system, the weaver, and the time observer is more complicated than we thought. They are all related to time, but their positions are different. If it's alien technology, we might be using it far beyond our comprehension."

Xiao Ran remained silent, staring at the unconscious Lin Che. The car sped along, the wind rushing in, carrying away Lin Che's shed scales, which drifted out the window and into the night.

The smell of disinfectant mingled with the hum of medical equipment, and the white walls of the medical room were tinged gray by the blue light of the monitors.

Lu Zhao gripped the microscope eyepiece so tightly that his knuckles turned white. On the screen, Lin Che's heartbeat curve looked like a tangled wire in the wind.

Xiaoling sat by the hospital bed, a blood collection band around her wrist. Silvery substance dripped into a petri dish through a catheter, the "drip-drop" sound louder than her heartbeat.

“A hybrid.” Lu Zhao straightened up and pulled up the comparison images from two microscopes. On the left was the DNA strand of an early infected person, broken into a tangled mess; on the right was Lin Che’s sample, where the blue particles and human genes looked like two intertwined snakes. “It’s not destruction, it’s recombination. It has preserved the advantages of both sides.”

Dr. Zhang adjusted his glasses and pointed to the brainwave diagram on the monitor: "The activity in the consciousness area is normal, but the sensory area has expanded."

He tapped the screen. "To give you an example, you used to only hear human voices, but now you can hear ants crawling."

Xiao Ling's fingers rested on the back of Lin Che's hand. His skin was hotter than usual, and blue veins crawled across his wrist like tree roots.

"Is he still him?" she asked softly, as if afraid of startling the person in bed.

Lu Zhao stared at the sample in silence for a moment, "I haven't lost my memory. It's just that my way of seeing the world has changed."

The monitor suddenly beeped. Lin Che's eyelashes trembled, a flash of blue light crossed his half-open eyes, before they returned to their deep brown hue.

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper, as he spoke: "The door of time is about to open. The weavers are gathering."

Xiao Ling's hand trembled, and the blood collection bag almost fell to the ground. Lu Zhao leaned closer, "Can you sense the exact location?"

Lin Che closed his eyes and shook his head, "It's like many people are shouting the same sentence."

His fingers curled slightly, gripping Xiaoling's sleeve. "It hurts."

The projection screen in the command center was lit up, and a 3D map of the underground city was spinning above everyone's heads.

Xiao Ran plugged the USB drive into the port, and data flowed down like a waterfall: "The logs of the underground facility, which Gray and his men have kept hidden for three years."

Su Wanqing raised her hand, and the jade bracelet projected another holographic image—a blue vortex hovering below the city center, "The secondary beacon exploded, but the main beacon is still absorbing energy."

She pointed to the center of the vortex. "At the current speed, 36 hours."

Lu Zhao pushed over a tablet, and the simulation program started. The vortex began to expand, and the covered area turned red. "The time gate is not a teleportation gate, but a passage."

He swiped the screen, "It will bring the whole thing from the other end over."

Xiaoling frowned as she stared at the red area. "What should I bring?"

“Returners.” Su Wanqing pulled out a crumpled notebook, which she had smuggled from Gray Labs. “They said they built a civilization on Earth tens of thousands of years ago, but were driven away by something. Now they want to open the door and bring the entire race back.”

Xiao Ran tapped the vortex in the projection, "Then we'll be the ones occupying the nest."

Su Wanqing slammed the notebook face down on the table. "There's also the Time Observer."

She told him about the dark figure she encountered in the warehouse, "That thing said it was maintaining its own balance and wouldn't take sides."

Lu Zhao flipped through an old county gazetteer, its pages yellowed. "The gazetteer mentions 'punctual people,' who wear black, don't speak, and only appear before major disasters."

He adjusted his glasses and said, "They call them 'gatekeepers of time'."

Su Wanqing touched the jade bracelet, which had been getting hot lately at night. "I suspect this bracelet isn't an ordinary piece of equipment."

She looked up at the crowd, "It can open underground doors, teleport us, and even confront that dark figure."