"Is the call over?" Director Wu asked towards the projection of the ended call, not wanting to retract his stretched neck.
"Yeah." Li Feng sat on a chair, opened a can, and prepared to have a simple dinner. After thinking about it, he asked again, "Do you have any wine?"
"This is the laboratory's conference room, not your headquarters' conference room," Director Wu said. "Where did the wine come from?"
"There's no wine in the headquarters' meeting room," Li Feng sighed, "I have some in my office."
"You keep wine in the office?" Director Wu was a little surprised.
"I always have to check the new products after they are produced," Li Feng said, "they don't taste good. When I contacted them the other day, they said there were some old foods out there that tasted very good. I asked someone to look for them. When they get them back, I'll have the food department study the process. They haven't done any serious work for decades. You can try them then."
"You think too far ahead. You think so much about a can," Director Wu sighed. "The base is right in front of us, why don't you look at it?"
"What are you looking at?" Li Feng glanced at him, poured the canned food into the bowl as usual, and took a bite.
"The base. All the equipment and machines from Yuncheng were shipped there. All our research bases are there," Director Wu said. "Don't you want to see what it looks like there? What else is there?"
"So you are too curious. Xing Bi will not lead all the biochemical bodies into the important area until it is our turn to see it," Li Feng said. "Old Wu, remember two points. First, that place is not Yuncheng's territory. Yuncheng currently has no ability to control it. Second, the base has a different meaning for the biochemical bodies. If someone must occupy it, it should belong to them."
Director Wu didn't say anything, just glanced at Chen Dang.
"Why are you looking at him? It's not him who said that." Li Feng said.
"I want to confirm if this is the case." said Director Wu.
"That's where the existing bio-organisms were produced. Indeed, many of them have been staying near the base," Chen Dang said. "Vagabonds and refugees rarely approach it. After all, it is rumored that there are many viruses and fungi there."
"But..." Director Wu sat next to Li Feng, "You have to know..."
He couldn't help but look at Chen Dang again: "That place was once able to produce biochemical bodies. If, I mean, if there is something... the number of biochemical bodies suddenly increases... it will be difficult for humans to maintain balance."
"My brain suddenly starts working again," Li Feng smiled and said while eating, "Xing Bi and the others will know what's going on. It hasn't come to that point yet."
The base was not the target of this operation, and it was not on the original route. However, when Jiang Liu suggested taking a detour for half a day, going to the base seemed to be a natural thing to do.
This is the original "birthplace" of all biochemical organisms, the starting point of the war, and the place where biochemical organisms and humans broke up.
Almost no one spoke as the convoy found a secluded location to park the cars, set up communication equipment, and prepared for defense. They were waiting for Xu Jie's team to join them.
Jiang Liu had been to this place many times and seemed to have no emotional fluctuations anymore, but other biochemical beings, especially Xing Bi and others from Yuncheng, seemed unusually silent when they stood outside the door and looked at the building over there.
"Is this place the hometown of the biochemical beings?" Li Rui asked in a low voice while standing behind Qiu Shi.
“I guess so,” Qiu Shi said, “They were all ‘born’ here.”
"This place is really huge, it's as big as a city," Li Rui said. "It must have been even bigger before it was destroyed."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded. He had not seen many cities, but compared to Yuncheng, this place was indeed incredibly large.
As a human child who has only experienced a short life of fifteen years in this world, Li Rui did not have much feeling about the scene in front of him, except that it was big and that this was the hometown of the biochemical creature.
But for a human like Qiu Shi, who has only had a brief experience of twenty-five years, he still has very strong emotions. His understanding and contact with these biochemical beings is much deeper than that of ordinary humans.
At this moment, he could understand a lot from the silence of the biochemical beings around him.
The convoy led by Xu Jie arrived at the base after the sun set. The size of the convoy was much larger than that of Qiu Shi and his team, with more cars, people, and machines.
"Li Rui, this is it," Xu Jie handed a bag to Li Rui, "Your sister asked me to bring this to you and Daxiong, saying that you were wearing too little when you left."
"Hey," Li Rui couldn't help but smile, took the bag and gave it to Da Xiong, "She's just worrying about nothing. We're in the car, how can we be cold?"
"Jiang Cheng did not return to Xingchuan with our people," Xu Jie said, "He took them to the place where your sister and the others were hiding and then left."
"Yes," Li Rui nodded, "Thank you, Brother Xu Jie."
"You're welcome." Xu Jie said.
"Arrange the people to go in." Xing Bi said.
"Me?" Xu Jie glanced at him.
"Well, you are more familiar with these people than I am," Xing Bi said, "From now on, you guys will make all the arrangements."
"Are you going to leave?" Ji Sui asked.
"No." Xing Bi said, "It's just that from now on I won't be in charge of these things. You guys come."
"Send a small team to deploy defenses..." Xu Jie glanced at him and began to arrange personnel.
Qiu Shi looked at the human soldiers and biochemical beings who quickly got out of the car. Under the command of Xu Jie and Ji Sui, they quickly dispersed and disappeared in the surroundings quietly and orderly.
Apart from the two of them, Lin Sheng is now in charge of the Yuncheng Command Center. In Xing Bi's team, except for Sang Fan who lacks experience and has no command work, Xu Jie and Ji Sui would have been commanders on the Yuncheng defense line if it weren't for this mission.
Xing Bizheng handed over the work that originally belonged to him bit by bit.
"In a little while, the three of us will join Qiu Shi in entering the core area," Xu Jie said, "and the rest of you will search the work area and equipment area..."
"Do you need to bring weapons?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Just bring the simple ones," Xing Bi said, "If the core area is not completely destroyed, we can't bring weapons in."
"I understand." Qiu Shi nodded.
The first group to enter was a small human convoy led by several biochemical beings, searching in a scattered manner. Next came Xing Bi and his group, with a small unmanned equipment vehicle.
After the first group is confirmed to be safe, the following teams will follow.
The main purpose of this temporary mission is to find out the current status of the base, the extent of damage, and whether there is anything that can be found. In addition to instruments and equipment, there may be other things. After all, Li Feng once led people to find an unactivated biochemical body in the base warehouse to the south, and Sang Fan came from there.
However, the base is a large target and is known to all biochemical entities, so it is not certain whether anything can be found.
"The outer area is normal." Sang Fan's voice came from the headset, and she followed the first team in.
"Let's go." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi tuned his headset to the team call mode and followed Xing Bi into the gate whose foundation had collapsed.
It can be seen that there used to be long walls on both sides of the gate. Now, except for the base of the wall, no trace of the wall can be seen, but the inside and outside areas of the base can be clearly distinguished from the ground.
Even after all these years, the ground inside the base walls is still relatively flat, albeit with some cracks. However, as you get closer to the main building complex, the feel of the ground changes, becoming smooth and solid.
Qiu Shi lowered his head and stamped his feet. Xing Bi glanced at him and said, "It's made of metal. There's still space underneath."
"So awesome." Qiu Shi sighed.
"Yes." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi didn't say anything else and looked at the dark shadow in front of him.
It was already dark all around, but the silver-white building was still very conspicuous. As they got closer, some building ruins began to appear around them.
"The area near the main building is normal," Sang Fan's voice came out again, "The people behind can come in, we'll go to the office building on the east side."
The buildings that could be seen clearly in the distance became less and less complete the closer they got. Although the buildings were tall, they covered a huge area. The eastern office area where Sang Fan and his team were going and the core area where Qiu Shi and his team were going to go were very far away, and their swaying figures could no longer be seen.
"There should be a lot of biochemical bodies around here," Qiu Shi said, "but why do I feel like there is no one here?"
"They've all hidden. After all, there was a lot of fanfare when we came here," Xu Jie said. "If we don't know their intentions, no one will show up easily. Bio-bodies are very good at waiting."
Qiu Shi didn't say anything. Xu Jie's last words reminded him of the long years they had been locked in the hibernation capsule, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable.
They were waiting quietly in the hibernation capsule, and some of their kind were also waiting quietly near their former "home".
But no one knows what is waiting.
The unmanned equipment vehicle drove in front of them and entered a hall first.
"Reception hall, visitors, and tour groups," Ji Sui said, "all enter from here."
The hall was already in a state of disrepair, but unlike the dilapidated scenes in the buildings outside the city, the various facilities inside were still there and had not been looted by vagrants or refugees. The reception desk, the sofas in the waiting area, the tables and chairs in the meeting area, and the wine cabinet, although some were overturned and broken, one could still see their original splendor.
Across the hall, there is a garden at the back. There were traces of fungi, but they have withered and been cleaned, leaving only some black marks.
Sculptures, fountains, stone benches, various old-looking dead trees...
It was not until Qiu Shi entered the base that he slowly realized what kind of world Xing Bi lived in. Although living conditions had begun to become harsh, the world shared by humans and biochemical organisms still maintained its final prosperity.
The building complex seen from the front is not the entire building. After passing through the hall and the garden, there is another large building. After entering the building, it seems like a maze, with corridors and doors all around. At first, Qiu Shi habitually wanted to remember the way, but gave up after walking around for a while.
"People who come here for the first time will probably get lost," said Qiu Shi.
"There are many Level 2 biochemical guides who will take visitors to where they want to go," Xing Bi said, "You can't move around freely without a guide."
Qiu Shi met these second-level guides when they entered the first-floor lobby of the third building.
The sheer number of them frightened Qiu Shi so much that he subconsciously raised his gun when he entered. If Xing Bi hadn't grabbed his hand, he might have shot.
The entire hall was filled with biochemical beings, sitting quietly and neatly in rows.
They were all dead, the systems behind their necks had been taken out, leaving only a shell that was quietly rotting and falling off bit by bit, with only the neat uniforms on their bodies maintaining their original form.
However, it was obvious that no one had entered this area for a long time. The change in airflow caused by their entry and the vibration of the instrument vehicle caused several bodies near the door to collapse suddenly.
"How...what should I do?" Qiu Shi suddenly panicked, feeling very sorry for these guides who had been sitting here for more than a hundred years.
"It's okay," Xing Bi stretched out his hand, "They were already dead when the system was taken away. I guess someone put them here."
"The guide cemetery." Xu Jie said.
“…Oh.” Qiu Shi responded and looked at Xing Bi’s hand, not knowing what he meant.
Xing Bi waved his hand at him and grabbed again.
"What are you doing?" Qiu Shi couldn't help but ask. Under normal circumstances, he should have reached out and pulled, but Ji Sui and Xu Jie were also here, and there was a small car in front that was recording the entire process with video.
"Hold hands." Ji Sui said.
Xing Bi didn't say anything, but just smiled and grabbed his hands again.
Qiu Shi could only reach out and grab his hand.
"Don't be afraid." Xing Bi held his hand and squeezed it.
"I'm not fucking scared." Qiu Shi whispered.
"Let's go," Xing Bi said, "we're almost there." The core area is a separate two-story building. The top two floors are office areas, and the bottom floors are various laboratories. When he saw the scale of the place, Qiu Shi finally truly believed that the two-story laboratory in Yuncheng, which he had thought was very large, was moved away from the base in its entirety, and indeed only one of them was moved away.
However, the core area was also the most severely damaged area. Various traces of explosions could be seen, blackened burnt walls, deformed internal pillars, a half-collapsed first floor, the elevator door was also deformed, and the interior of the building was in a mess, with debris all over the floor.
But there is still electricity in many places throughout the building, and some floor lights will even light up automatically when you pass by.
The elevator was out of service, and even if it could be used they didn't dare to use it. They went down the stairs, and after several floors Qiu Shi saw a circular hall that was still fairly well preserved, perhaps because the door was locked.
This glass looks just like the glass in the laboratory in Yuncheng. It cannot be easily broken. Moreover, you can see that there is a thick iron door inside the glass door.
"How do we get in?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Scan your face." Xing Bi pulled him slowly to the door and looked inside. "All the rooms inside can block information. If there are biochemical bodies hiding in them, we won't be able to find them. Be careful."
Ji Sui and Xu Jie both drew their guns.
Qiu Shi also took out the gun from the holster on his leg: "I may be able to shoot more accurately with two hands."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded, but did not let go of his hand.
"Okay, at least the right hand is left." Qiu Shi said.
Xing Bi didn't say anything. He stretched out his hand and touched the glass door lightly. A blue light flashed where his fingertips touched, and then a frame appeared on the glass like ripples from the light. There were a lot of words on it. Qiu Shi, who seldom read words, glanced over it. With the messy background, he couldn't even understand what was written on it.
But compared to those words, the photo of Xing Bi that appeared on the left made him feel his breathing tighten.
It was like he was suddenly pulled back to two hundred years ago and walked into Xing Bi's former world.
Xing Bi in the photo had no smile and looked stern and serious. The exposed neckline was very similar to Yun Cheng's current uniform. Maybe the uniform was also taken from here.
Qiu Shi could clearly see the words written below the photo.
Xing Bi, Level 1, Submarines, B31-007.
The glass doors slid open silently to both sides.
Dry air rushed out of the door, which was obviously much warmer than the cold air outside. This place was actually air-conditioned.
"Fuck." Qiu Shi whispered.
Xing Bi finally let go of his hand when he walked into the glass door, and Qiu Shi quickly changed to holding the gun with both hands.
After Ji Sui and Xu Jie entered, the door closed silently behind them.
Inside was a circular two-story structure. They were on the second floor, with a circle of closed doors. Looking down through the railing in the middle, one could see a circular hall with doors around it. The tightly closed heavy iron door ran through both floors.
"Do you want to go through that door?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Yes." Xing Bi responded.
"Do you also use face recognition?" Qiu Shi asked again.
"Biological information," Xing Bi said as he slowly walked towards the stairs, "Everyone who enters needs it."
Xu Jie and Ji Sui's guns were always pointed at the tightly closed doors on the right.
"Then I can't get in?" Qiu Shi said.
"It requires authorization from three people internally at the same time." Xu Jie said.
"Normally, the three of us go in first," Xing Bi said, "If the equipment is not damaged, the authorization operation takes fifteen seconds."
"That means under normal circumstances, I need to wait alone outside that door for fifteen seconds," said Qiu Shi.
"Yes." Xing Bi said.
"What about abnormal situations?" Qiu Shi asked.
"We can't get in for now." Xing Bi said.
"What do you mean?" Qiu Shi didn't understand.
"There are people in these doors." Ji Sui whispered.
"Fuck?" Qiu Shi was stunned.
Ji Sui pointed his gun at an open door at the end of the corridor.
Qiu Shi took a closer look and was shocked to find that it was filled with empty supplement bags.
They walked down the stairs, and the equipment vehicle that followed them in was left at the entrance of the second floor stairs, with a circle of gun muzzles protruding from the top of the vehicle.
After standing in front of the big iron gate, several people turned around and pointed their guns at the doors around them.
Xing Bi touched the side of the door with his backhand, and a thin "beep" sound was heard. Something like a password box extended from the door. It was opened in the same way as the doors in Yuncheng that locked important secrets.
However, when Xing Bi slowly stretched out his hand, the doors upstairs and downstairs opened at the same time.
Qiu Shi had counted them before. There were seven doors upstairs and five doors downstairs. If one person came out of each door, that would be twelve.
But when the doors opened, two people came out of each door.
Upstairs and downstairs, there was a neat sound of gunfire, and twenty-three guns were pointed at them at the same time.
There should have been twenty-four, but the man standing opposite them at the stairs on the second floor had no gun in his hand, and his clothes were different from those of the other people in uniform. He was wearing an ordinary hooded sports suit that was very worn out and its original color could not be seen. The hat on his head was so torn that it had come loose, so his face could not be seen clearly.
"Level 2 Submarines, twenty-three," Xing Bi said, "Level 1 Bio-Human, one... is in critical condition."
The man in the hat slowly raised his head.
Under normal circumstances, the second-level subterranean guards were no match for Xing Bi and his men, but facing twenty-three second-level subterranean guards who had their guns aimed at them at the same time, Qiu Shi felt that even if the strongest group of subterranean guards were present, their chances of winning were not very high.
But Xing Bi had obviously already judged that such a scene would occur.
"Xing Bi?" The man spoke under the hat, his voice was very weak and trembling slightly.
What surprised Qiu Shi was that this was a woman.
"Assistant Yao?" Xing Bi lowered the hand holding the gun.
"It's me, Yao Xiu." The man raised his hand and slowly lifted his hat, revealing his face.
It was indeed a female biochemical body, and she looked about the same age as Sang Fan, but her whole body was somewhat unstable and swaying slightly.
When they heard this name, Ji Sui and Xu Jie both lowered their guns.
"Have you been here all the time?" Xing Bi asked.
"Yes," Yao Xiu leaned on the railing with both hands and stared at them, "Who is this human?"
"My friend." Xing Bi replied.
"Where is Lin Sheng? Where is Zheng Ting?" Yao Xiu asked.
"They are all in Yuncheng." Xing Bi said.
"Is he alive?" Yao Xiu asked again.
"Alive." Xing Bi replied.
"Outside..." Yao Xiu looked at them, "What's going on?"
"It's another world." Xing Bi said.
"Ah." Yao Xiu responded, "What are you doing here?"
"We have another mission passing by," Xing Bi said, "but there may be information or something else in there that can help us."
"Who are you fighting for?" Yao Xiu held the handrail of the stairs and slowly walked down from the second floor. "You are fighting, right?"
"Yes," Xing Bi replied, "for humanity and ourselves."
"Who are we fighting against?" Yao Xiu asked.
"The symbiont controlled by A01249." Xing Bi said.
Yao Xiu didn't say anything, and after a while he sat down at the bottom of the stairs.
"You need treatment." Xing Bi said.
"My organs are failing," Yao Xiu said. "I'm running low on supplements. I need to make sure they can live a little longer."
"Let them put away their guns." Xing Bi said.
Yao Xiu didn't move or speak, he just looked at Xing Bi, as if he was thinking and judging.
After a while, she said softly, "Release the alert."
The undercover guards on the upper and lower floors put away their guns at the same time.
Qiu Shi felt his arms starting to ache, so he quickly put down his gun.
Xing Bi walked quickly to Yao Xiu, took the injection handed over by Ji Sui, and pushed it into the back of Yao Xiu's neck.
"One shot is not enough." Xu Jie said.
"Another one." Xing Bi stretched out his hand, and Ji Sui took out another one and put it in his hand.
After the two injections, Yao Xiu remained motionless as if in hibernation. Almost a minute later, she spoke again: "I don't know who I'm waiting for here, but maybe it's you."
The author has something to say:
Ah, I don’t have time to think of a title, I’ll leave it blank for a while and add it later!
I was too busy today to write any words.
I have to go get my blood drawn tomorrow morning. If there isn't a long queue, I should be able to update normally. If there are a lot of people, it might be a little later. I will notify you promptly on Weibo!