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

Chapter 277 Split up
Xiaoling suddenly said, "What if the weaver wants to mess up the timeline, but the time observer won't allow it?"

She pointed to Su Wanqing's bracelet, "This bracelet of yours might be a tool they gave you."

Lu Zhao nodded, "That makes sense. It's like giving ants a lever and letting them pry open a rock themselves."

Xiao Ran drew three circles on the map: "Main Beacon, Antidote, Time Watcher".

He tapped the first circle. "The center of the underground city, but it's definitely heavily guarded now."

Lu Zhao turned the tablet towards everyone, "Xiao Ling's blood can neutralize the mutant factors. Inhibitors can be made, but the antidote... we'll have to wait." He glanced at Xiao Ling, "We have to thank you for your blood."

Xiaoling looked down at the silver substance on her wrist. "I'm the one who should thank you. If it weren't for you, I would have become an infected person long ago."

The door creaked open. Lin Che stood there, leaning against the doorframe. The blue markings had faded, revealing the normal skin underneath.

He walked step by step to the map, pointing to a small dot at the deepest part of the dungeon. "Not the main beacon."

Everyone crowded around. The tiny thing, as small as a sesame seed, was labeled "Backup Energy Station".

“Time Anchor Point,” Lin Che said. “The core of the time portal. Destroy it, and the portal won’t open properly.” His voice was stronger than in the medical room. “The Weaver. Afraid this secret will be discovered.”

"How did you know?" Xiao Ran asked.

Lin Che touched his temple. "Their collective consciousness. I can hear it."

Seven or eight people were crowded in the corridor outside the medical room. A middle-aged man in a plaid shirt gripped the strap of his backpack. "If you ask me," he said, "we should leave now. Running into the mountains is better than waiting to die."

"Run?" The young man in overalls next to him scoffed. "The road is full of infected people. You'll get eaten alive if you run two steps."

"That's still better than being cannon fodder here!" The middle-aged man's neck turned red.

An elderly man with white hair and a slightly hunched back stood up from the crowd. "I teach history."

His voice wasn't loud, but it silenced the commotion. "Humanity has survived the Black Death and the nuclear winter. Each time, wasn't it the minority who held on so that the majority could survive?"

He swept his gaze across the crowd. "Look outside—" He pointed out the window, "Those guys are building the wall, and that girl is distributing medicine. They didn't run away, so why should we?"

The middle-aged man loosened his grip on the backpack strap. The young man in overalls scratched his head. "I...I'll go move the sandbags."

The crowd slowly dispersed. A woman carrying a child caught up with Lu Zhao and shoved a glass jar into his arms. "Alcohol. The last half bottle at home." She bent down and kissed the child's forehead. "Use it if you can make medicine."

The wind was strong on the top floor of the fortress late at night. Lin Che leaned against the railing, looking up at the stars.

Xiaoling brought over a coat and draped it over him.

“I can hear them talking,” Lin Che suddenly said. “The history of the weavers, their hatred, their homesickness.”

He turned to look at Xiaoling, "Sometimes I can't tell which ones are my thoughts."

Xiaoling didn't say anything, but held his hand. His fingertips were still cold, just like in the warehouse.

"If one day I become like them," Lin Che's voice lowered, "you have to help me."

Xiaoling gripped his hand tightly. "No, it won't." She pointed to her wrist, the silvery substance shimmering in the moonlight. "I've changed too. But I'm still me, right?"

Lin Che looked down at their clasped hands. "Tomorrow. The operation."

"Yes," Xiaoling said, "The final battle."

The wind lifted the hems of their clothes. In the distance, the city glowed blue, like a sea about to burn.

In the pre-dawn preparation room, fluorescent lights hummed on the ceiling.

Su Wanqing squatted in front of the tactical backpack and stuffed the sonic jammer into the side pocket, the metal casing making a crisp sound.

With his back to her, Xiao Ran pointed to the underground city map spread out on the wall. “The density of cameras in the main passage is too high,” he said, tapping on the maintenance passage marker in the southeast area. “Go this way, it connects to the underground water system.”

Su Wanqing looked up at him, "Is the security weak?"

“There are few surveillance cameras, and no mechanical guards are deployed.” Xiao Ran turned around, the buckle on his tactical vest not yet fastened. “But we have to be wary of traps. The Weavers are better at underhanded tactics than open attacks.”

She looked down to examine the jade bracelet; its pale blue light shimmered on her wrist. She had checked the data with Lin Che the night before, and the system's functions had been mostly restored.

The holographic projection unfolded with a "whoosh," and the rhomboid device rotated in the void. "The core of the anchor point is in the deepest layer," she pointed to the groove at the bottom of the device, "We need to put the explosive bomb here."

A small black box suddenly appeared in his backpack. Xiao Ran bent down and picked it up. "What's this?"

“Lu Zhaoxin’s biological interference bomb.” Su Wanqing stuffed the bomb into her side pocket. “It’s made from Xiaoling’s blood and can sever the Weaver’s biological links.”

The door creaked open. Lin Che leaned against the door frame, the blue markings fading to a faint line on his wrist, but his eyes occasionally flashed with blue light.

He walked over, holding a silver disc in his palm. "These are for you."

Su Wanqing took it, and tiny red dots appeared on the surface of the disc. "A locator?"

“Sensing the time energy of the weaver.” Lin Che tugged at his collar, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “The Weaver Master… he’s been constantly on my mind lately.”

He suddenly looked up and said, "He's paying special attention to you."

Xiao Ran tucked his tactical knife into his boot. "What do you mean?"

“He called you a ‘variable’.” Lin Che’s fingers unconsciously rubbed his cuff. “His exact words.”

The light in the preparation room flickered twice. Su Wanqing put the locator into her breast pocket. "Thanks."

Lin Che turned to leave, then stopped. "Be careful."

In the medical lab, Lu Zhao's white coat was stained with blood. He leaned closer to the microscope, the eyepiece pressing against his nose until it turned red. "See that?"

He tapped the display screen. "Blue Grain is hiding from your silver liquid."

Xiaoling sat at the operating table, the blood collection band on her wrist loosely tied, and the silver substance dripped into the culture dish through the tube.

She leaned closer to look, and in the silvery-blue solution, broken DNA strands were slowly coiling together. "Is this neutralization?"

“The inhibitory factor is at work.” Lu Zhao adjusted the parameters, and the liquid in the test tube began to bubble. “During the infection at the water plant, your genes triggered the resistance mechanism.”

He straightened up. "The problem is how to replicate it."

Xiaoling held the test tube tightly. "Why am I the only one?"

“Different genetic responses.” Lu Zhao took off his glasses and wiped them. “Just like some people are born immune to malaria.”

The alarm suddenly went off. Dr. Zhang poked his head in. "The defense team needs weapons. Which of you two is going?"

"Me," Xiaoling said, tearing off the blood collection tourniquet. "Brother Lu is overseeing the experiment."

When she returned carrying a box of stun guns, Lu Zhao was staring at the data screen and smiling.

“65%.” He pointed to the success rate. “If it could reach 80%…”

"Mass production?" Xiaoling placed the stun gun in the corner.

"Stabilize the patient's condition first." Lu Zhao took out a small medicine bottle. "Dr. Zhang was distributing food, and I saw Old Wang give the last half bag of salt to the medical team."

The wind whipped up dust in the abandoned tower. Lin Che sat cross-legged on the top floor, a tattered coat spread across his knees to shield him from the wind.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness spreading in all directions—like casting a net into a pond, trying to catch those faint ripples.

Three hours passed, and only the distant roars of the infected remained. He took a deep breath, tasting rust on his tongue—the Weaver genes churning within him.

Suddenly, a slight tremor ran through the air, and a dark figure emerged from the wind, standing five steps away.

"Why didn't you stop it?" Lin Che opened his eyes.

The shadowy figure's voice sounded like many people speaking at once: "Don't interfere with the timeline."

"That bracelet of Su Wanqing?"

“The original agreement.” The figure paused. “She is an exception.”

Lin Che tugged at his collar, "Where's the time portal?"

"It's both a threat and an opportunity." The silhouette of the shadowy figure began to blur. "The outcome is up to you."

"Wait!" Lin Che stood up. "Anchor point."

The shadowy figure displayed coordinates, indicating, "The Weaver has moved."

As the sun set, the projection screen in the command center lit up. Su Wanqing placed the locator on the table. "The new coordinates are two kilometers northeast."

She pointed to the map, "The original route needs to be changed."

Xiao Ran swiped the tablet, "The defensive forces are unknown, we need to scout ahead."

Lu Zhao pushed over an insulated box, saying, "The prototype of the antidote has a 78% success rate."

He lifted the lid, "That's enough for 50 people for now."

Xiaoling added, "There's no problem stabilizing the condition." Lin Che leaned against the window, "The Time Observer said the Time Gate has a dual nature."

He looked at Su Wanqing, "They brought up the original agreement."

The meeting room fell silent. Dr. Zhang poked his head in from outside the door. "Dinner's in the cafeteria."

No one moved. Xiao Ran touched the holster at his waist. "This time tomorrow."

"Either stop the apocalypse, or the apocalypse begins." Su Wanqing finished speaking and looked down at the jade bracelet.

Lin Che walked to the window, where the blue light of the distant city resembled a rising tide.

He touched the locator in his pocket. "The energy is gathering faster now."

On the top floor of the fortress in the dead of night, the wind swirled dry haystacks. Su Wanqing leaned against the railing, Xiao Ran stood beside her, their shadows overlapping on the ground.

"If it succeeds," Xiao Ran suddenly asked, "what do you plan to do?"

“Rebuild.” Su Wanqing gazed into the distance. “Help the survivors make a living.”

She turned her head and smiled, "Maybe we should find a place to settle down."

Xiao Ran rolled up his sleeves, the veins on his arms gleaming faintly. "My transformation is irreversible."

Su Wanqing grasped his hand, "Humanity isn't in our DNA."

Xiao Ran looked down at their clasped hands, "Come back alive."

"It's a word."

The lab lights were still on. Xiaoling walked in with a cup of coffee, while Lu Zhao was rubbing his eyes while staring at the microscope.

She placed the coffee next to him. "Will this work?"

Lu Zhao took off his glasses. "The scientific probability isn't high." He pointed to the photos on the wall. "But we have to try."

Xiaoling looked at the woman and child in the photo. "Can we still find them?"

“At first, I looked for it every day.” Lu Zhao touched the photo. “Later… but I had to try.”

Xiaoling tugged at her sleeve. "My parents died in the first wave."

She smiled and said, "Meeting you all made me realize that loss is not the end."

Lu Zhao looked up, "Continue?"

"continue."

Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the silvery-blue solution on the lab bench.

At three in the morning, the stench of the sewer seeped into the breathing valve of the fully sealed protective suit.

Su Wanqing bent down to pass through a pipe less than a meter in diameter, her helmet hitting the pipe wall with a dull thud.

Xiao Ran, shining a flashlight ahead, swept the beam across the moss-covered brick seams: "The third branch pipe to the left. Lin Che said the coordinates are in the northeast district; it used to be the military's underground command center."

The joints of their protective suits creaked. After crawling for twenty minutes, the two finally squeezed into a huge drainage chamber.

Cracks in the concrete slab overhead allowed a few rays of moonlight to filter through. Su Wanqing pulled out the detector Lin Che had given her; the red dot on the screen was flashing wildly: "Signal is 50% stronger than expected."

She tapped the instrument. "The anchor point may have been activated."

Xiao Ran's flashlight beam swept across the wall. The two stopped simultaneously—the gray brick wall was engraved with fine patterns, exactly the same as the carvings on Su Wanqing's jade bracelet.

"It's too quiet." Xiao Ran tucked his tactical knife into his waistband. "The Weaver couldn't possibly be unprepared."

Before she could finish speaking, a "crack" sound came from the corridor ahead. Su Wanqing grabbed Xiao Ran by the back of his collar, and the ground collapsed, revealing churning blue slime beneath.

The slime splattered on the wall, corroding and producing a hissing white smoke. Xiao Ran used the tip of his knife to pick up a piece of gravel and threw it in. In the blink of an eye, the gravel turned into foam: "Organic corrosive liquid, capable of dissolving biological tissue."

Su Wanqing activated the jade bracelet, and a pale blue light film spread out at the collapsed area.

As the two walked across the light membrane, yellow-green gas suddenly shot out from above their heads.

Xiao Ran grabbed Su Wanqing and ran back, the filter of the gas mask instantly turning black.

"Induction-activated poison gas." Su Wanqing wiped her mask. "It's designed to wait until we walk into the center of the trap."

Further ahead was a sloping corridor. As soon as Xiao Ran stepped onto it, the ground suddenly flipped into a vertical wall.

The two fell into the protective membrane. Su Wanqing touched the protruding metal plate on the wall: "Gravity reversal device."

She pulled up the energy readings of the jade bracelet, "The triggering logic of these traps is completely consistent with human attack habits."

As Xiao Ran passed through the laser grid, a spark flew from his protective suit.

When the two rushed into the rotunda, their backs were soaked with sweat. The monitors on the wall were lit up, displaying real-time images of various areas on the ground—the blue infected zone was expanding at a visible speed.

Xiao Ran leaned closer to the screen. "It only covered the North District yesterday, and now even the old city area in the east is blue."

At the far end of the lobby was an elevator. Su Wanqing tried the hacking program three times, but the interface always displayed "Insufficient permissions".

Xiao Ran pulled off his protective gloves and placed his palm on the identification panel: "The modified genes of Project Leopard overlap with the Weaver's technology."

The veins on his arm glowed faintly, and the panel suddenly lit up with a green light.

The elevator took an absurdly long time to descend. Su Wanqing stared at the depth gauge, and when the number jumped to -800 meters, the door opened with a "ding".

The spherical space is larger than a basketball court. A diamond-shaped device floats in the center, its blue light so bright it's blinding.

The device was surrounded by silver tubing that extended in all directions like blood vessels.

“This isn’t an anchor point,” Su Wanqing said, holding up the detector. “It’s a miniature time gate. The Weaver has been building the connection for a while now.”

Xiao Ran pulled out an explosive bomb from his backpack: "It's not too late to detonate it now."

He had just placed the bomb on the device's base when a red light suddenly illuminated above his head.

A mechanical voice echoed in the space: "External energy interference detected."

Su Wanqing's jade bracelet suddenly became hot. Just as the pale blue cocoon of light enveloped the two of them, the countdown to the explosive bomb reached zero.

The shockwave from the explosion struck the cocoon of light, and the rhomboid device burst into countless blue fragments.

The entire space began to shake, and chunks of cement fell from the ceiling.

Amidst the chaos, Su Wanqing caught a glimpse of a dark figure standing in the corner—it was the Time Observer, quietly watching everything unfold.

At the same time, a dense roar erupted outside the fortress. He turned and shouted, "Little Bell! Has the antidote been distributed to each group?"

Xiaoling shoved the last vial of medicine into the defense team member's hand, then knocked over a chair as she turned: "Just finished distributing! But there are only twenty vials!" She grabbed a stun gun and ran out the door, shouting, "Lin Che is on the top floor!"

Lin Che stood on the fortress roof, the wind ruffling his clothes. His eyes had turned completely blue, allowing him to clearly perceive the location of each mutant—three charging towards the wall on the left, seven heading towards the medical area on the right.

The weaver is holding us back. He said to Lu Zhao, who was following behind, "He knows we're going to blow up the anchor point."

The foremost mutant lunged at the fence. Lin Che took a deep breath, a low hum escaping his throat.

The ten mutants suddenly froze in place, their claws hovering in mid-air. "These... still have some consciousness left."

He was panting, leaning against the railing, but he managed to stay calm for the time being.

As Xiaoling rushed up, she saw a mutant trembling after being hit by a stun gun.

She chased after it and injected it into its neck. The mutant's blue scales began to fade, and it uttered muffled words: "Family." Xiaoling shouted to Lu Zhao, "It works! The antidote really works!"

Lin Che suddenly covered his head. Blue energy emerged from his fingertips, burning scorch marks on the ground: "Anchor point... exploded."

He looked up towards the northeast, but the real time portal was in the main facility. Su Wanqing and Xiao Ran had been tricked.

Lu Zhao grabbed his arm: "Where are you going?"

"Main facility." Lin Che shook off his hand, "We have to stop it."

“He looked at the mutants he controlled,” they said. “Follow me.”

Xiaoling pulled a stabilizer from her waist: "I'm going too. My blood might be useful."

Lin Che stared at her: "This is suicide."

"It's better than waiting to die." Xiaoling shoved the stabilizer into his hand. "Let's go."

The mutants seemed to understand, spontaneously surrounding the two. Lin Che glanced one last time in the direction of the fortress, then turned and walked towards the underground passage.

The moonlight cast long shadows of them, which, along with the low growls of the mutants, disappeared into the night.