Star Hunter.

Chapter 300 You're lying again

In a basement room of about fifty square meters, lay more than a dozen people infected with the zebra virus. However, compared to others, these people were in a critical condition and unable to move freely. The muscles in their bodies clearly showed alternating periods of firmness and weakness along the stripes on their skin, and their inner thoughts could be seen in their eyes. {Free Novel}

Some people's eyes are lifeless, silently accepting these futile and barely temporary drug treatments, or filled with resentment, anger, and sadness; while others seem to have already come to terms with it, appearing more peaceful, with a look of reminiscence in their eyes.

The former are mostly young people, while the latter are mostly elderly people, reflecting the different reactions to life-threatening situations brought about by age and experience.

Besides those lying in makeshift hospital beds, there were also some people who were still able to move around, and these people helped with cleaning and simple medication changes for the patients.

However, the once dull and despairing basement was changed by the arrival of the gray cat and Xilin. They were the first truly vibrant animals they had seen in a long time.

Many people were watching the gray cat walking around and jumping up and down. The long-standing gloom and silence were brought to life by the cat's movements.

It was like a ray of sunlight in the darkness; after being in the dark for so long, I was almost afraid to accept this warm light.

A woman was sitting in a corner holding a child who was about two years old. The child, who was originally drowsy and listless, happily reached out his hand towards the gray cat after seeing it.

"Mommy, look! It's a kitten that can move!"

The woman's eyes reddened as she touched the child's hair, which had changed color, feeling the texture of the hair in her hand, which was different from before. She whispered, "Yes, it was a kitten that could move."

Because of the disaster brought by this virus, they have forgotten how long it has been since they saw such vibrant and energetic life. Their memories are filled with striped shadows, and against the backdrop of gunfire and thick smoke, there are wreckage everywhere—human, animal, and building remains. All are a striped gray.

The gray cat circled around Xilin's hospital bed. Xilin's bleeding still wouldn't stop. Although the wound wasn't big and the bleeding wasn't much, if it continued like this, he would die from blood loss.

Seeing the gray cat that kept pacing around the hospital bed, the woman sighed. "I don't know why either. The equipment is limited right now, so we can't do any more tests."

  

Upon hearing this, the gray cat's ears drooped. The look in its eyes made the woman unable to look it in the eye. She felt as if she were guilty.

The gray cat jumped onto the hospital bed, bent its legs, and squatted next to Xilin's arm. It checked Xilin's physical condition again.

It's even more chaotic now.

What should I do?!

I patted Xilin with my paw, no reaction. I patted it again, and again...

Seeing the gray cat like this, the people around fell even more silent. They had seen many people who lay down and never woke up again, and every time they saw such an example, they wondered: How much longer would it take for me to become like the person lying there?

Xilin was unable to give the gray cat a response; he had concentrated all his strength fighting the unknown substance. He couldn't even spare any extra energy to repair his wounds. Many components of his bodily fluids were no longer the same as before, and this chaotic state was caused by the struggle between the two.

Xilin tried every means to use the biochip embedded in the gene chromosome to fight against the many new zebra viruses brought about by the unknown substance, but in the end he found that he himself would be the one who was consumed the most, and the possibility of expelling the unknown substance after excessive consumption was extremely slim.

The virus that had originally entered the body became unusually active because of the appearance of this unknown substance, as if it had met the leader. The two-colored stripes on Xilin's body surface have gradually deepened, and the boundary between the two colors is quite obvious, which shows that the zebra virus in Xilin's body is now unusually active.

The body's homeostasis is on the verge of collapse, and once it does, it's uncertain whether Xilin will be able to recover. However, the chip is gradually becoming unable to sustain itself.

Would it be better to fully activate the chip at this time using this substance?

No, analysis of the information obtained from the equipment in Hou Lei Hansen's underground laboratory showed that when this biochip is fully activated, there is a greater than 50% chance that the individual will experience an excessive rejection effect due to the body's inability to fully integrate, ultimately leading to death. (Plain Text)

So, what about the other method? Although it's risky, the success rate is slightly higher than the former.

Xilin changed his strategy, no longer forcefully rejecting the unknown substance. The chip, which had begun to become unstable, gradually calmed down. However, after this period of calm, Xilin suddenly manipulated the chip to start decomposing the unknown substance.

The gray cat's ears twitched, and it opened its eyes to look at Xilin. The energy emanating from Xilin reappeared, but it was different from before. Moreover, it seemed that due to the excessive energy consumption in that instant, Xilin had lost weight, and his skin had wrinkled due to this change. However, the wrinkles were quickly smoothed out, the epidermal cells began to die, and pieces of skin peeled off, turning into powder.

What exactly happened?

The gray cat stared intently at Xilin, witnessing this series of unprecedented changes.

But Gray Cat was relieved to see that the boundary between the two colors of stripes on Xilin's skin was beginning to blur. Gray Cat secretly glanced around; the lights in the room had been dimmed, and most people were asleep, including the two women. No one seemed to be paying attention to what was happening here, and the person next to them was also asleep. The instruments next to them had flickered several times earlier, but no one had noticed; perhaps everyone assumed it was a lingering effect of damage caused by previous malfunctions.

The gray cat then looked at Xilin, raised its paw and lifted Xilin's sleeve. The stripes on Xilin's arm were in the same condition; although the blood from the wound had not clotted, it had stopped flowing.

Half an hour later, the gray cat blew away the layer of "ash" that had formed on Xilin's body surface due to the death of a large number of cells.

The chaotic state within Xilin's body had subsided, but the previously blurred black and white stripes had reappeared, and the boundary between the two types of stripes was still very clear. What was going on?

After listening carefully to Xilin's heartbeat, the gray cat felt a little relieved and continued to lie there guarding.

Another hour passed, and it was beginning to get light outside. But the basement remained quiet.

Xilin opened his eyes and turned his head to see a pair of wide-open cat eyes.

She twitched her fingers, still somewhat out of control, but quickly regained her composure. She raised her hand and pinched the gray cat's ear, communicating in a mechanical language known only to the two of them and imperceptible to others.

"Where is this?" Xilin asked.

Grey Cat recounted what had happened and then hurriedly inquired about Xilin's current physical condition. He asked if they should urgently contact Guan Feng to send someone over.

Xilin shook his head, relaxed his muscles, and then sat up, supporting himself on the makeshift hospital bed. With his eyesight, he could see the area very clearly.

Several people who weren't asleep vaguely saw Xilin sit up but didn't react much. In their minds, even if someone infected with the virus could sit up now, they would die soon anyway, so there was nothing surprising about it.

Xilin saw the dog lying on a small operating table not far away. The dog's gunshot wound had been treated, but it could only lie there, struggling to breathe.

There was a water glass on the nearby cabinet. Xilin poured himself a glass of water and drank it. He found a bag of compressed biscuits; although they were crudely made, they would do in the short term. To get rid of that stuff, Xilin seemed to have lost weight in a month.

Xilin had originally planned to treat the unknown substance gently, breaking it down step by step and then eliminating it. However, she unexpectedly found a turning point. After decomposition, the unknown substance became a balancing force stabilizing the chip, embedding itself into the biochip on the genetic chromosome, causing the chip to change.

To Xilin's delight, during this intercalation process, the chip was fully excited, exhibiting an unusually peaceful state under the influence of the decomposed unknown substance.

In other words, Xilin absorbed the material that created the zebra virus and made it his own. It is precisely because of this that Xilin was able to better understand this new virus.

Often, naturally occurring life forms are far stronger than artificially modified ones, and viruses are no exception. In fact, the most dangerous viruses are not those in secret research institutes, but rather those unknown virus species that have not yet been discovered by humankind.

This virus is definitely not man-made. It is a new life form, a new viral entity. Unlike other known viruses, it does not appear in the form of DNA or protein, but in this unknown form of matter.

The unknown substance that entered Xilin's body allowed the zebra virus to appear. Now, without this substance, the zebra virus will no longer appear.

As for those so-called mutants, Xilin was able to analyze the best solution based on the interaction between the chip in his body and that substance.

During this time, Xilin reviewed the records kept by the scanning machine in the underground laboratory where the substance was discovered. It detailed the discovery of the substance and the origins of the zebra virus.

He was a frustrated researcher who had only stumbled upon the substance that had fallen with the meteorite and brought it into his lab. However, he soon discovered that he had been infected with a virus.

After the discovery, the person didn't report it immediately, but instead set a trap out of hatred. The dead people on the planet the patrol found were the victims. Through the records there, Xilin knew that the researcher had contacted seven people, meaning that in addition to the five dead already discovered, there were two more.

These seven people were the carriers who spread the virus from one planet to another.

This was a retaliatory act.

"Oh, you're awake?" said the woman who brought Xilin over.

Xilin discreetly put away the scanner and smiled, "Thank you for bringing me in."

"No need to thank me, thank your cat. We really can't be of much help." The woman looked at Xilin and noticed that the small wounds had healed, and even the marks had faded. However, she didn't smell anything directly; she had seen many people with special constitutions.

Xilin took a few steps and stretched. If it weren't for the stripes on his face, people would think he was a normal person who hadn't been infected with the zebra virus.

"In short, thank you for bringing me here."

The woman gave a bitter smile: "This is all I can do. I know everyone will die, but I still instinctively want to do something. Come here, I'll take you to get some hot food."

There was a small cubicle in the basement used for preparing hot water and hot food. The woman served Xilin a bowl of porridge there; these were the only simple foods available.

Xilin drank a large bowl of water, though it wasn't enough to fill him up. He was still very hungry, but he noticed that the basement supplies were also limited, so after eating a little, he told the woman to stop.

It's already daylight outside, but no one dares to go out, afraid of being riddled with bullets.

The gray cat was also hungry, but it was a picky eater. It wouldn't eat this porridge. Xilin pinched its ear and told it that he would get it food when they went out later.

While resting in this cubicle, Xilin talked to the woman and learned that she was a doctor. She didn't attend a particularly good school, her family was poor, and she didn't have any outstanding talents. The disaster had taken many lives, including her relatives; now only she and her cousin remained. This was the little girl that Gray Cat was pretending to be pitiful with.

"It will be alright. Things will turn around soon," Xilin said.

The woman simply smiled. She didn't answer. They had been hoping for a turning point for far too long, but the final result was always disappointing. Now, numb with despair, she was only sustained by her remaining medical ethics, clinging to the thought that every extra second those people could live was her motivation.

After talking for a while, Xilin took out a vial of medicine. It was a previously developed broad-spectrum medicine; although it couldn't completely cure the symptoms of zebra virus, it could provide some relief.

"Try this medicine; every second that buys us a chance is a glimmer of hope."

The woman accepted the medicine and thanked him. She didn't doubt the medicine; after all, in a situation like this, any medicine wouldn't matter. She might as well give it a try.

When Xilin said he wanted to go out, the woman gave him a gun, but Xilin refused, as the gun would be more useful to them if left in their possession.

After Xilin promised not to tell the rioters about the location, the woman opened the basement door for Xilin and let him out.

It was still gloomy outside, and a foul smell permeated the air. There were some people sitting on the ruins with guns at their sides; they were the kind of people who chose madness in despair.

Xilin and Grey Cat did not choose to confront them; now was not the time. The most important thing at the moment was to contact Guan Feng.

After leaving the city and arriving at a remote place, Xilin turned on his communicator to contact Guan Feng.

The communication was quickly established. Guan Feng looked at Xi Lin's black and white face on the communicator's screen, opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

While Guan Feng remained silent, Xi Lin voiced his thoughts: he wanted to research the zebra virus and its drugs here, and asked Guan Feng to send a robot to deliver the drug synthesizer. Guan Feng refused.

"Robots have already reached that planet, but they couldn't find you before. Now that you've come out, let the robots take you off the planet. I won't object if you want to conduct research. The starship I sent should have already reached the outer reaches of that planet. It has the relevant equipment on board, so you can conduct research there, but you can't stay on that planet any longer!"

Xilin understood Guan Feng's meaning, because such a heavily infected planet could be abandoned at any time, and if the order came down, Xilin could avoid it if he was on the starship.

Xilin did not refuse; he now needed to seize the time to try synthesizing the drug.

Before Xilin could finish speaking to Guan Feng, robots appeared around him. They had received the signal and were rushing over. Stealth aircraft had already flown over.

After turning off the communicator, Xilin took Gray Cat up. Outside the planet, there was indeed a starship waiting there. It wasn't Guan Feng's own; it looked like it belonged to Black Viper, because Guan Feng's starship couldn't possibly have such complete drug synthesis equipment.

Without contacting anyone else, Xilin went straight to the drug workshop after boarding the starship to begin experimenting with the synthesis of the viral agent.

The gray cat, perched on a nearby shelf, asked Xilin during a break, "You seem to be doing quite well now. If you didn't see the zebra stripes on your face, you would never guess that you are an infected person."

Xilin looked away from the molecular synthesizer that was working nearby and smiled, "You can't judge a book by its cover."

Under the gray cat's wide, staring eyes, the black and white stripes on Xilin's body began to fade until they disappeared, and then reappeared, restoring their original black and white appearance.

The gray cat raised its paw, indignant, "You, you, you, you're lying again!"

"There's nothing we can do about it. It was indeed because of the infection that I became like that at first, but it wasn't after I woke up. Besides, if other people found out... do you want me to be dragged into research by those people at the Royal Academy of Sciences or those fanatics from the Black Viper?"

The gray cat shook its head vigorously. Who would want to do something like this? But before, it was afraid of being dragged into research. Now that Xilin is in the same situation, it's good to have a companion.

"So, you're completely alright now?" The gray cat happily wagged its tail.

"That's one way to put it."

"That's fine then. You go ahead and get busy. I'm going to sleep now that I've eaten!"

"Go to sleep."

Xilin rubbed the gray cat's head. This time, the foodie had really had a hard time. It had probably been tense the whole time. Now that it was finally relaxed, he let it get some sleep.

In half a day, Xilin selected three of the more than ten experimentally synthesized drugs and tested them on small animals infected with the virus. The results were all satisfactory. He then chose the drug that worked the fastest and had the robot try it on some severely infected people on the planet. If it was effective, then it would be a true success.

As soon as the robot left with the medicine, Xilin sat down, and his communicator rang. This time it wasn't Guan Feng, but a dejected Peter. (If you like this work, please visit ( ) and give it a monthly pass. Your support is my greatest motivation.) You can search for " " on Baidu to find this book! Is Chen Ci Lan Diao's writing good? If you haven't finished reading it, you can add it to your bookshelf for easy reading later. If you have any suggestions, please send a message to the administrator.