TIC Chapter 45

 Chapter 45

Hein yanked Xiao Yan behind him. Peering through his goggles, Xiao Yan could make out something ahead—something roughly the size of a monster—crawling out. Beside him, Mark had already gripped his weapon tightly, his knuckles cracking audibly. Xiao Yan’s breath caught in his throat; after all the running and dodging along the way, he was utterly exhausted.

Suddenly, something shot out from the passageway. Hein hauled Xiao Yan aside to dodge; it was a viscous slime. A special forces soldier behind them was struck by the spray, but he swiftly severed the goo with his blade. Just then, a two-headed zombie burst out and lunged viciously at the soldier. Mark rushed forward and, in the instant he yanked the man to safety, felt the zombie’s jaws clamp down hard on his own shoulder. With a roaring bellow, he flung the creature away.

At first, Xiao Yan assumed it was merely a deformed zombie. Two necks extended from its shoulders, bearing two heads that faced in opposite directions; two extra arms sprouted from its back, though it possessed only a single pair of legs. Yet, this zombie’s speed was astonishing; one moment it was right beside Mark, and the next it had darted in front of Sharon. Sharon sidestepped and slashed at its throat—only for the creature to clamp its jaws down on her sword!

As Sharon wrenched her blade free, the zombie’s fangs shattered—yet almost instantly, they grew back.

“Mark, Liv—this is on you,” Hein ordered decisively. They had to keep moving forward.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath. With Mark and Liv holding the zombie at bay, the rest of the team followed closely behind Hein and entered the passageway. From the far end of the corridor came a cacophony of hideous sounds, and Xiao Yan stood frozen, stunned by the scene that unfolded before his eyes.

Inside a massive metal cage were confined dozens of deformed zombies—identical to the one they had just encountered. They thrashed about, their faces contorted with a strange, inexplicable anticipation as they struggled to squeeze their way out of the cage. Xiao Yan recognized the material of the prison at a glance: high-density titanium—the densest and hardest metal currently capable of being refined. Yet, even a cage of such formidable strength was now shaking and swaying under the relentless thrashing of these zombies. Even Jian—who typically possessed little sense of urgency—furrowed his brows. He unobtrusively edged closer to Xiao Yan and, in a low voice, asked Hein: "I have a feeling these guys are going to burst out any moment now."

No sooner had the words left his lips than the cages sprang open, and the zombies surged out in a chaotic scramble. Everyone was plunged into a desperate struggle.

Hein showed not the slightest inclination to linger in the fight; dragging Xiao Yan along, he slashed wildly, cutting down everything that stood in his path. They charged deeper into the facility, with Jian and Sharon close on their heels—leaving behind the special forces soldiers tasked with covering their retreat, with no way of knowing how many of them would ultimately make it out alive.

Xiao Yan realized that Major General Gordon had miscalculated. He had utterly failed to anticipate that this base was far more than just a place fraught with danger. If they pressed any further inward, there was a very real possibility that their entire unit would be annihilated.

At that very moment, a massive holographic projection materialized before them. Countless images of Professor Manson’s face flickered across the screen—displaying a dizzying array of expressions—yet all of them spoke the exact same sentence:

"This is the final gate. Are you certain you wish to enter?"

Xiao Yan took a sharp intake of breath. As a combat-ineffective rookie, the fact that he had survived this long was nothing short of a miracle. He felt a pang of regret for having used his cryogenic gun too early; perhaps he should have saved that final cryogenic round for himself. In a dire extremity, he did not want to become a burden to anyone; rather than being torn apart by these monsters, he would sooner end up as a flash-frozen rookie technician.

Someone reached out and grasped Xiao Yan’s hand; long, slender fingers interlaced with his own. The moment their fingers locked together, Xiao Yan’s heart began to pound wildly in his chest. It was Hein’s hand.

"Do you remember what I told you your mission was this time?"

That deep, cold voice swept away every other thought in Xiao Yan’s mind, leaving him unable to utter a single word.

"You must survive."

Having said this, Hein released Xiao Yan’s hand.

The gate before them slowly began to open, and once again, a horde of mutated zombies came surging out.

Xiao Yan knew that he absolutely could not become a liability to Hein and Jian; this was no longer a game. With a sudden, decisive motion, he whipped out the miniature injector gun holstered at his waist and plunged it forcefully into his own thigh.

It was an untested serum—one that had never undergone clinical trials—and Xiao Yan himself had no idea what consequences its entry into his bloodstream might trigger. But he could hesitate no longer. Hein and Jian turned around in unison, their eyes widening in shock as they stared at Xiao Yan; the very next second, they were engulfed by the horde of zombies. Hein and Jian struggled desperately to push their way toward Xiao Yan. Hein had just managed to extend his fingertips to brush against Xiao Yan’s shoulder when the zombies surged between them once more, tearing them apart.

Xiao Yan closed his eyes, feeling the zombies constantly brushing past him. They shoved him aside, yet not a single one of them launched an attack against him.

Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes, disbelief written across his face. He stepped forward, moving through the horde as if he were invisible—as if he didn't exist at all.

This was the Marking Virus: it caused the zombies to perceive him as one of their own, thereby rendering him immune to their attacks. However, this virus was highly unstable; according to research and analysis, it would remain active within the body for a maximum of twenty minutes before being completely metabolized.

But twenty minutes—that was more than enough time for experts like Hein or Jian to accomplish a great deal.

Hein was the closest to him, and Xiao Yan attempted to move toward him. At that very moment, however, Sharon stumbled violently and collapsed right in front of Xiao Yan. A zombie lunged forward, poised to sink its teeth into her head, while several others swarmed in from all sides.

There was no time to hesitate. Xiao Yan raised his wrist, pressed the injection gun against Sharon’s arm, and injected the remaining dose of the Marking Virus into her. Instantly, the frenzied zombies seemed to lose their target; they turned away from Sharon and redirected their attacks toward Jian and Hein instead.

Sharon sat frozen on the ground, while the zombies completely ignored her—acting as if she were invisible.

"W-what is going on...?"

"Don't waste time! Finish them off before the virus wears off!" Xiao Yan shouted, hauling Sharon to her feet.

With no time to dwell on questions, and with Sharon’s assistance, they began cutting down the zombies one by one. No matter how fiercely Sharon attacked the creatures, the zombies remained completely oblivious to her presence. Finally, every last zombie was eliminated, leaving the ground strewn with carnage.

Stepping over the corpses of the fallen zombies, the group pressed onward.

"Xiao Yan, how many more monsters do they have left?" Jian asked lazily, twirling his blade in his hand.

"Would you prefer monsters... or assassins?" Xiao Yan gave a wry, helpless twist of his lips.

"What's the difference?"

The moment the door swung open, they were met by the sight of over a dozen assassins—each wielding a lethal blade—waiting patiently for their arrival. "Ah..." Jian let out a soft sigh. "At least they’re a lot cleaner than the zombies."

The assassins charged out. Through the gaps in the crowd, Xiao Yan caught sight of a man clad in a white lab coat; he turned his head and stepped through a sliding door. Based on Xiao Yan’s analysis, the other side of that door should lead to the base’s main control room.

But they were cut off before they could reach it. Blades flashed; Xiao Yan could feel the cold steel slicing past his hair and grazing his neck. Hein and Jian fought ceaselessly to fend off the assassins while simultaneously shielding Xiao Yan. Sharon, too, was beginning to falter under the strain.

Just then, Liv and Mark arrived, plunging into the fray without a word.

Hein cut a path through the chaos, pushing Xiao Yan toward the entrance of the corridor. The assassins swarmed in once more; Hein’s hair whipped into the air, his back and shoulders tensing into lines of coiled, explosive power.

Anyone who attempted to approach Xiao Yan was instantly cut down by Hein’s blade.

Xiao Yan frowned; he knew he could not remain a mere bystander. What he *could* do—the only thing he *could* do—lay behind that sliding door.

At that moment, Jian shoved Sharon out of the battle zone.

"Hein and I will hold the line here! You go protect Xiao Yan!"

Xiao Yan looked toward Hein.

"Liv!" Hein called out her name. Under Mark’s covering fire, Liv fought her way through the encirclement to reach Hein’s side.

"Boss!"

"You and Sharon go together."

Liv nodded. "Xiao Yan! Let’s move!"

Escorted by Liv and Sharon, Xiao Yan reached the sliding door. He severed his external connections once more; calming his mind, he took a deep, steadying breath. His greatest weakness was his utter lack of experience in countering "blockers"—those who specialized in disrupting neural links. Yet, his greatest strength lay in his mind’s staggering processing speed: three hundred quadrillion operations per second.

*If you want to hack me... why don't you just try keeping up?*

In an instant, Xiao Yan’s consciousness expanded infinitely—a surge of arrogant, frenzied power that swept through the laboratory, seizing control of its core systems. Any force attempting to block his advance was ruthlessly shattered into dust.

In the realm of the mind, this struggle spanned tens of seconds—perhaps even minutes—but in the physical world, it passed in the mere blink of an eye. The sliding doors parted, and Xiao Yan opened his eyes.

Sharon was astonished; she had never seen a technical specialist breach such an incredibly complex system with such speed. Liv, however, remained far more composed. She stepped in front of Xiao Yan and cautiously advanced through the sliding doors.

It was a massive research laboratory—its equipment rivaling, if not surpassing, that of Cathy’s own facility. Countless streams of data raced across holographic screens, shifting and morphing with every passing instant. Xiao Yan shut down all active analysis protocols, and the vast laboratory suddenly fell silent and empty. They could now clearly see rows of culture vessels, within which motionless zombies lay suspended in a state of deep dormancy.

He came to a halt before a colossal piece of machinery.

"What is it?" Liv asked.

"It’s a Gene Fusion Synthesizer. This is the very device they used to create those monstrous zombies."

Gene fusion requires incredibly complex computational processing; even when successful, the resulting hybrids typically perish due to immunological rejection. Xiao Yan was desperate to uncover exactly how the "Tide" organization had managed to pull it off. He projected his consciousness into the gene fusion database, extracting every last byte of data and research material stored within.

At that very moment, a figure flashed across the space above their heads. Liv and Sharon simultaneously drew their blades to parry the attack; their assailant executed a steady, agile maneuver to deflect the blow, landing several meters away.

Xiao Yan recognized the figure clad in combat gear: it was the very researcher he had spotted just moments earlier.

"Stealing other people's things isn't very nice, now is it?" the man sneered, a smirk twisting his lips. "In the academic world, we call that plagiarism."

Judging by the man's agility and combat prowess, he had clearly injected himself with the X-Virus as well.

"What’s your name, you technical specialist from 'Char'? You’re the first person ever to successfully breach my system—you were so fast just now that I couldn't even keep up with you."

Xiao Yan pursed his lips and remained silent. He had already successfully acquired all the technical data regarding the gene fusion process. Upon analyzing the data via his terminal, he discovered the secret behind the modified zombies' apparent success: the "Comet Virus" coursing through their bodies constantly repaired the biological rejection barriers triggered by the gene fusion. However, this restorative effect was not sustainable in the long term. The Comet Virus would inevitably deplete the zombies' physical vitality; within a mere three days, they would suffer total systemic collapse and die.

"Before asking for someone else's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Xiao Yan retorted coldly. “My name is Dylan. Honestly, I never imagined that someone from Xar would actually manage to get inside this research lab.” The man wore a look of polite courtesy—it was impossible to tell whether he was offering a compliment or a taunt. “And your name?”

Xiao Yan was just about to speak when Liv stopped him with a look. She did not want the Tide organization to learn Xiao Yan’s name; doing so would very likely make him a target for their hunts.

“Oh my, it seems we have a good little boy being kept on a leash by his mommy.” Dylan chuckled softly. “But I already know your name: Xiao Yan. That’s what your companion called you.”

Xiao Yan found this man utterly tiresome; if he already knew the answer, why bother asking in the first place?

“I gave you the chance to introduce yourself because I wanted to ensure that, once I extract your brain, I can label it with the details you provided. With your brain in my possession, I imagine my research will progress much faster, won’t it?”

Dylan raised his blade. Liv moved to intercept him, but it turned out to be a feint; Dylan suddenly lunged toward Sharon, who swiftly severed his right arm with a clean stroke.

Dylan recoiled violently, blood dripping from the wound—yet, almost instantly, the injury healed over.

“Oh my... oh my...” Dylan murmured in feigned dismay. “Looks like I’m in for a prosthetic attachment surgery now! You people really are a nuisance.”

Suddenly, Sharon—who had been standing right beside Xiao Yan—slumped to the ground, her blade clattering against the floor with a dull thud.

“Sharon!” Xiao Yan reached out to catch her, but it was as if she had suddenly been drained of all strength. Her body trembled, her breathing grew labored, and her arms hung limply at her sides; the usually formidable special forces soldier appeared to have been robbed of every last spark of life in an instant.

“What did you do?!” Liv charged forward. With only one arm remaining, Dylan was no match for her.

In less than thirty seconds, Liv had severed his left arm as well, bringing her blade to rest against the back of his neck. Dylan pursed his lips, his eyes brimming with a smile as he fixed his gaze upon the now-feeble Sharon. “Sharon! Sharon!” Xiao Yan noticed Sharon attempting to press down on her own arm; glancing in the direction she was looking, he followed her gaze and realized there was a miniature syringe lying beside Dylan’s severed arm.

“What did you inject into Sharon?” Xiao Yan roared at Dylan.

“The X-Virus Accelerator,” Dylan replied with a knowing smile. “Xiao Yan, you possess a neural processing speed of three hundred quadrillion—and right here, we have the most advanced research equipment available, even more sophisticated than what they have at Char. Why not put it to the test? Let’s see if you can save her!”

“The X-Virus Accelerator…” Liv stared blankly in Xiao Yan’s direction, as if seeking confirmation from him that such a thing truly existed in this world.

Xiao Yan’s expression turned glacial; he lunged toward the research lab’s main terminal and immediately interfaced with the system.

The data streams, previously shut down, flickered back to life—flashing and surging continuously, coalescing into a digital world of their own.

The accelerator had amplified the X-virus’s replication rate within Sharon’s body. Multiplying exponentially, the virus would rapidly deplete her physical strength and vital nutrients, leading to systemic organ failure and total physiological collapse. There was simply no way Xiao Yan could develop a complete neutralizing agent before the X-virus claimed Sharon’s life. His only option was to formulate a palliative agent to slow the acceleration, stabilize Sharon’s condition, and then transport her back to Char—a place teeming with scientific talent, where, with Casey’s assistance, they would surely be able to devise a definitive cure.

Xiao Yan analyzed Sharon’s blood samples and every physiological parameter, working to decipher the nature of the hyper-active X-virus. His focus was absolute—his thoughts moving with a precision and speed that brooked no interruption or obstruction.

Liv grabbed Dylan by the head and slammed it violently against the wall. “Talk! Where is the neutralizing agent?”

Blood trickled down from the crown of Dylan’s head, though the X-virus within him caused the wound to heal almost instantly. He curled his lips into a smirk and answered with unhurried nonchalance: “My dear, if I actually knew how to formulate the neutralizing agent myself, why on earth would I have handed this arduous project over to Xiao Yan to tackle?”

“The next time,” Liv snarled, seizing Dylan by the hair, “I’m going to smash your skull to pulp!” Dylan looked in Xiao Yan’s direction. "He has already absorbed all the information available here. If I had truly succeeded in developing a neutralizing agent, Xiao Yan would have seen it by now—wouldn't he?"

Dylan was right. There was indeed a wealth of research on neutralizing agents within these archives, yet every single attempt had ultimately ended in failure. Xiao Yan had analyzed all the data; viewed from a different perspective, he was actually grateful for Dylan’s research—without it, he would never have had the time to formulate the current antidote. Xiao Yan had successfully compounded a serum capable of slowing the viral replication within Sharon’s body by sixty percent; however, if he were to attempt further purification, he feared Sharon would not survive long enough to receive it!

Xiao Yan disconnected from the terminal, grabbed an injector gun, and sprinted to Sharon’s side.

By now, Sharon had completely lost consciousness. Her half-lidded eyes were vacant, devoid of any focal point; her face was deathly pale, and on the holographic display, her vital signs had flatlined into a lifeless, unbroken line.

As the serum was injected into Sharon’s body, Xiao Yan’s breath caught in his throat.

*Wake up, Sharon! Wake up, Sharon!*

Xiao Yan stared intently at the screen; it remained a flat line. Her eyes were as still and lifeless as stagnant water.

Xiao Yan sprinted back to the terminal, compounded another dose of the serum, and injected it into Sharon. He repeated this process dozens of times, yet Sharon remained utterly unresponsive.

*Did I make a calculation error somewhere? Did I overlook something? Why is there no reaction?*

Xiao Yan relentlessly tormented himself with these questions. In that instant, every terminal throughout the entire laboratory surged to life, whirring and grinding in a frenzied, chaotic overdrive. Liv looked up at the scene unfolding before her, overcome by a profound sense of dread.

"Xiao Yan... Xiao Yan..."

Just as she rushed to his side, the instruments—pushed beyond their operational limits—suddenly ground to a halt. The data streams shattered into a shower of sparks, and the laboratory plunged into darkness.

Liv activated her light emitter, and the entire space was once again bathed in brightness.

All she saw was Xiao Yan sitting motionless where he was, his eyes fixed in the direction of Sharon.

"Stop, Xiao Yan. Sharon is dead." Liv reached out and detached the terminal connected to him.

He still hadn't snapped back to reality.

"My calculations must have gone wrong somewhere... It must be because I'm too stupid! If Casey were here... if only..."

Liv gently pressed Xiao Yan's head against her shoulder, stroking his back.

"You didn't do anything wrong, and you aren't stupid. Even if Casey were here, there are things you can do that he might not be able to."

Dylan, who had been quietly observing the entire scene, spoke up with an air of detachment: "Indeed... you made no mistakes whatsoever; your mind operates at such speed that even the terminals here couldn't keep up. It is simply that you could never quite catch up to the speed of the X-virus."

Xiao Yan’s shoulders gave a sudden tremor.

Liv spun around instantly; her blade flashed through the air in a swift arc, and Dylan’s head was severed from his body. With a cold, impassive expression, she picked up Dylan’s head, walked over to Xiao Yan, and sat down beside him.

This was the first time Xiao Yan had ever witnessed Liv’s ruthlessness.

Liv remained silent throughout. She did not know how to comfort him, for the look of profound bewilderment on Xiao Yan’s face was something she had never seen before. Thus, she could only sit quietly by his side, knowing that she could not share the burden of his solitude. For there was a certain realm that belonged solely to Xiao Yan—a place where no one else could venture, nor could anyone else fathom its depths.

This young man might lazily pluck a single leaf and spend an entire day lost in contemplation; just as easily, he might join them for beers and drink until he passed out completely. The only times he ever displayed any significant emotional fluctuation were when Mark grabbed him by the collar to drag him off on a mission—he would be terrified, yet he never once threw a hysterical fit or refused outright. But the Xiao Yan sitting before her now... Liv didn't even dare reach out to touch him, fearing he might shatter into dust in the very air around them at any moment.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You aren't a god; you can't solve every problem," Liv finally managed to utter after a long, heavy silence.

Xiao Yan remained gazing in the direction of Sharon. He recalled the first time he had met Sharon: she had leaped nimbly down from a hovercraft, while he—at the time—could only stare up at her in dumbfounded awe.

“Look at how miserable you seem. By rights, shouldn't *I* be the one grieving more than you? She and I were in the same graduating class; during our training, we were even assigned to share the same dorm room. She was always the superior one—she made Lieutenant within her second year in the Special Missions Unit, Captain in her third, and by her fourth year, she was already a Brigadier.”

According to protocol, Liv should have been leading Xiao Yan in a swift evacuation. Even if Dylan was dead, that didn't mean the area was free of danger; for all they knew, some experimental specimen could come charging out at any second. But Xiao Yan was exhausted—and so was Liv.

Suddenly, Liv found herself wanting nothing more than to simply sit there quietly with Xiao Yan, listening to the sound of their own breathing—even if death were to come and swallow them whole.

“How many years has it been since Sharon was first infected with the X-virus?” Xiao Yan asked in a low, detached voice.

“Six years. To be honest, very few special forces operatives ever make it to their sixth year—whether due to a sudden flare-up of the X-virus, or simply because of the missions themselves.” Liv paused. “Xiao Yan, your wireless terminal is still operational; transmit all the data to the base. If anything happens to us now—as long as our people receive this information—then none of our sacrifices will have been in vain.”

Xiao Yan silently retrieved his wireless terminal and transmitted all the data.

The light source gradually dimmed.

By now, Xiao Yan no longer felt his initial fear of the darkness; he simply sat there, numb and listless.

Until, finally, someone entered the room.

Another light source flared to life, illuminating the entire space once more; it was Hein and Jan.

The moment Jan spotted the bloodstains on the floor, he rushed to Xiao Yan’s side. Seeing the vacant, dazed look in his eyes, Jan cupped Xiao Yan’s face in his hands, forcing his gaze to focus.

“Xiao Yan! Xiao Yan! Are you hurt anywhere? What happened?” For the first time, Jan had completely wiped the smile from his face in Xiao Yan’s presence—a sight that left Xiao Yan feeling as though he were caught in a dream.

Xiao Yan thought he would want to evade Jan’s questions, but in the end, he faced him directly and answered—delivering every word with deliberate precision: “I successfully retrieved all the research data from this facility and transmitted it to the nearby base. However, in order to protect me, Brigadier Sharon was injected by the enemy with an X-virus accelerant; she subsequently succumbed to rapid systemic failure and passed away.”