Doomsday Reboot: My Superpowers Absorb Everything

As the feeling of weightlessness disappeared, Lin Ye's back bumped against something slippery. He opened his eyes abruptly, and the beam of his flashlight pierced the darkness, illuminating the scene before him—they had fallen onto the scales of a giant snake, each scale the size of a shield, shimmering with a moonlit blue light, the back of a white-scaled snake.

"I...we're not dead?" The skinny monkey's voice trembled. He lay on the scales, his fingers digging into the gaps at the edges of the scales, where a pale blue viscous liquid seeped out, carrying a faint fishy smell, but surprisingly it was not corrosive.

The white-scaled snake seemed startled; its massive body twitched slightly, and Lin Ye and the skinny monkey sat as if on a swaying boat, rising and falling with the snake's movements. A beam of light swept across the snake's head, revealing two lantern-sized eyes with vertical slits in their pupils, staring intently at them without launching an attack.

"What is it looking at?" Skinny Monkey asked in a low voice, reaching for the military knife at his waist, but Lin Ye stopped him.

Lin Ye's silver markings were burning hot, not from danger, but from a resonance as if he had encountered a kindred spirit. He could sense that the White Scale Serpent's energy was the complete opposite of the Corpse Mother's core's red light—pure and cold, like the surface of a lake in deep winter, carrying an ancient majesty. "It has no ill intentions," Lin Ye slowly stood up, the silver markings glowing softly on the serpent's scales. "Look at its scales."

Under the beam of light, the white-scaled snake's scales were covered with intricate patterns, exactly the same as the symbols in Zhao Feng's notebook. Even more astonishingly, red crystal fragments clung to the edges of the scales—the remnants of the Corpse Mother's core, slowly being dissolved by the blue slime, emitting a soft sizzling sound.

"It's eating the core of the Corpse Mother!" the skinny monkey exclaimed in sudden realization. "Dr. Chen's claim that the White Scale Snake serum could suppress the Corrupted Dragon cells wasn't just empty talk!"

The white-scaled snake slowly lowered its head, its forked tongue flicking out, carrying a chilling aura. It didn't approach them, but merely circled around them, seemingly confirming something. When its forked tongue swept across the silver markings of the forest, a sudden surge of blue light erupted, and the silver markings lit up as well. The purple and blue lights intertwined, forming a strange band of light.

Lin Ye's mind was suddenly flooded with countless fragmented images—people in white coats were busy in the laboratory, white-scaled snake larvae were soaking in huge glass jars, red crystals were dancing in petri dishes, and... Zhao Feng's face when he was young, carefully placing a snake scale into a tin box.

"So Zhao Feng knew it was here all along," Lin Ye muttered to himself, finally understanding the meaning of the symbols in the notebook. "He wasn't recording the Corpse Mother; he was marking the location of the White Scale Serpent."

The white-scaled snake seemed to understand his words, turning its head to the other side of the burrow. There was a narrow passage there, with a faint light shining through at the end, and the sound of flowing water could be heard faintly. Lin Ye understood its meaning, signaling the skinny monkey to follow. The two slid down the snake's body to the ground and headed towards the passage.

The air in the passage was moist and fresh, a stark contrast to the stench of the freezer. After walking for about half an hour, the faint light ahead grew brighter, and the sound of flowing water became clearer. The moment they emerged from the passage, Lin Ye and Shouhou were stunned—before them lay a vast underground lake, its water crystal clear, reflecting the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling. A white-scaled snake was coiled around a stone island in the center of the lake, its head submerged in the water, seemingly healing itself.

"This place... is like a paradise," the skinny monkey murmured. He squatted down, scooped up a handful of lake water, and found that the water was warm and had a faint sweet taste.

Lin Ye's silver markings suddenly pointed to the bottom of the lake. He shone his flashlight down and saw a metal box at the bottom, engraved with the wolf head emblem of the Iron Hoof Alliance. "Let's go down and take a look." He took off his coat and was about to go into the water when the white-scaled snake suddenly raised its head, its forked tongue pointing at the metal box. The lake water automatically parted to reveal a path leading to the bottom of the box.

The metal box was secured with three locks, but the lock cylinders had long been corroded by the lake water. Lin Ye opened the box, inside which was a stack of yellowed documents and a syringe filled with a pale blue liquid, labeled "White Scale Snake Serum, No. 073".

The document contained records of the biochemical experiments from years ago. Lin Ye quickly flipped through it, his heart sinking with each page—it turned out that the core of the Corpse Mother was cultivated by fusing the genes of the White Scale Serpent with a virus, with the aim of creating a biological weapon capable of controlling mutants. Zhao Feng's father was one of the project's leaders, but later, having a change of heart, he fled here with the White Scale Serpent's offspring, established the Iron Hoof Alliance, and had been secretly guarding this secret ever since.

"Alliance Leader Zhao... is atoning for his father's sins." The skinny monkey's voice choked with emotion. He picked up a photograph showing Zhao Feng's father and young Zhao Feng standing in front of a metal box, with the underground lake in the background.

Lin Ye picked up the syringe. The serum glowed blue under the light. He could feel the pure energy it contained, gentler yet more powerful than his own silver-patterned serum. "This is the key to restraining the Corpse Mother." He put the serum into his backpack. "We need to bring this back to the fortress. With the serum and Suya's vines, we can completely eradicate the mycelium."

On the way back, the white-scaled snake followed them until they reached the entrance of the passage. Lin Ye glanced back at it; the snake nodded slightly, as if saying goodbye. "It seems to know what we're going to do," the skinny monkey said.

Lin Ye nodded. He could sense that the White Scale Serpent had been using its energy to suppress the Corpse Mother's core and prevent it from spreading. And now, it had entrusted this task to them.

By the time Lin Ye returned to the biochemistry lab, it was already dark. On the ruins of the cryogenics room, the remaining fragments of red crystals were still wriggling, but they had lost their previous vitality. Lin Ye sprinkled white-scaled snake serum onto the fragments; the blue liquid, upon encountering the red light, instantly melted them, leaving only a puddle of clear water.

"It works!" the skinny monkey shouted excitedly.

Lin Ye, however, was not so optimistic. His silver markings could sense that in the direction of the distant clock tower ruins and fortress, countless faint red lights were still flickering, like scattered sparks, which would reignite into a raging fire if given the right conditions.

"We need to get back quickly." Lin Ye glanced at his watch. "Suya's warning vines must have been lit up for a long time. I wonder what's going on inside the fortress."

The two rushed back to the fortress, only to be stopped at the gate. The night watchman, pale-faced, cried out, "Chief Lin, you're back! Something's happened at the fortress!"

Lin Ye's heart sank: "What happened? Has the mycelium broken through?"

"It's not mycelium." The soldier's voice was filled with fear. "It's...it's the Ironhoof Alliance. They tied up the short man, saying he's infected with mycelium, and they want to burn him alive!"

When Lin Ye and the skinny monkey stormed into the fortress, the square was already packed with people. The Iron Hoof Alliance members, holding torches, had the short man tied to a stake. Old Zheng stood at the front, his face grave: "He has red spots on his arms, just like the people infected by the spores last time. He can't be kept alive!"

"Let him go!" Suya stood in front of the wooden stake, green energy gathering in her palm. "I checked, it's not a spore infection, it's an allergy. He's allergic to sunflower pollen!"

"Who are you trying to fool?" shouted a soldier from the Ironhoof Alliance. "Does an allergy cause fever and convulsions? He secretly went to the sewer entrance last night to check; he's definitely infected by the fungal hyphae!"

"I didn't!" the shorter man struggled, his face filled with fear. "I just went to check... to see if there were any mycelia..."

Lin Ye parted the crowd and walked to the short man, his silver veins gently brushing against his arm. The red spots, upon encountering energy, didn't recede like the mycelium; instead, they became even redder and sprouted fine rashes. "It's definitely an allergy," Lin Ye said. "Su Ya, give him some anti-allergy herbs."

Before Old Zheng could say anything more, Skinny Monkey suddenly threw the documents from his backpack in front of him: "Look at this! Left by Alliance Leader Zhao's father. The Iron Hoof Alliance has been protecting the White Scale Serpent from the very beginning, not to manufacture weapons, but to atone for their sins!"

Old Zheng picked up the document, his face growing paler with each reading, until he finally slumped to the ground, muttering, "So... the Alliance Leader has been lying to us all along... He said he wanted to reclaim the lab, but he was actually protecting this place..."

The crowd gradually quieted down. The Iron Hoof Alliance members looked at the documents, then at the short man who had been untied, their eyes filled with complex emotions. Lin Ye walked to the center of the square, holding up a syringe filled with serum: "This is White Scale Serpent serum; it can completely eradicate the mycelium. Starting tomorrow, Suya will use the serum to cultivate new vines, and the Iron Hoof Alliance members will be responsible for collecting mycelium samples. Together, we will completely eliminate the threat of the Corpse Mother."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "Zhao Feng showed us with his life that the Iron Hoof Alliance and the stronghold were never enemies. We have a common enemy, but also a common hope."

Old Zheng stood up and gave Lin Ye a crisp military salute: "I'll do as Commander Lin says!"

The Iron Hoof Alliance soldiers lowered their torches and saluted. The survivors of the stronghold also applauded, and the atmosphere in the square gradually eased. The previous barriers and suspicions slowly melted away in the face of the truth and a common goal.

Lin Ye watched all this, a warm feeling welling up inside him. He knew this was just the beginning; the road to eradicating the mycelium was long, and the remnants of the Corpse Mother's forces wouldn't give up easily. But as long as they united, with the White Scale Serpent's serum, Su Ya's vines, and everyone's efforts, they would surely overcome all difficulties.

Deep within the underground lake, the white-scaled serpent slightly raised its head, gazing towards the fortress. A hint of relief seemed to flash in its deep blue eyes. Beneath the ruins of the clock tower, the last fragment of the red crystal, illuminated by the moonlight, quietly shattered, turning into a wisp of smoke and dissipating into the air.

But Lin Ye knew this didn't mean the end. In more distant places, there might be similar experiments, similar threats. And they must continue to grow stronger, protecting this hard-won homeland, so that the sunflower seeds could grow freely on every inch of land.