Before pushing open the safety door on the negative third floor, Lin Yuan first helped Carol Anna reset the fractured bones. He then waited for her to recover her strength after she drank the special HSAC healing potion.
Although the potion wouldn't take immediate effect, it could temporarily relieve pain, reduce swelling, prevent further bruising, and accelerate bone regeneration. Complete recovery was expected in about two days, with no worries about bone displacement or overgrowth. Excess bone fragments would be expelled through rejection, accumulating on the skin's surface for self-removal.
After consuming five energy bars in a row, Lin Yuan felt the intense craving for nutrients and energy in his body gradually disappear, almost to the point of being overwhelmed by the sweetness. Carol Anna was also eating energy bars beside him; both for her accelerated recovery and to continue their journey, sugar and calories were indispensable.
"Have some water," Carol Anna said, seeing Lin Yuan pursing his lips. She knew he must have found the energy bars too sweet and offered him a full bottle of water she had.
Lin Yuan didn't refuse. His own water bottles had been broken during the fight, so this was a welcome refill. He downed half the bottle in one go and returned it, as Carol Anna also needed hydration.
After a brief rest, they opened the equipment case for "Thor," which contained the Thor individual artillery. A firearm, similar to the blue Thor sniper rifle in CSOL, appeared before them. It had only three rounds of ammunition. Each round was large, cylindrical, with a slight protrusion at the tip, and measured 15cm in length.
However, besides the two of them, there were no other living souls in this experimental room.
Seeing that Carol Anna hadn't answered for a long time, Lin Yuan switched to another question. Since Edgar wasn't visible, he took the opportunity to ask. After all, according to Carol Anna, Edgar, with his current physique, couldn't have appeared without a sound: "Anna, what does Subject 3 mean by '3', and what does Subject 1 mean by '1'?"
"In the Western world, the number 1 represents divinity. It signifies the beginning and origin of all things, the most fundamental power of creation. 1 signifies unity, self, consistency, uniqueness, completeness, and infinity. As for the number 3, it represents creation, stability, and reproduction."
Hearing Carol Anna's explanation, Lin Yuan felt a sense of confusion; the script didn't seem right. "Wait, then doesn't that mean Subject 1 is more important than Subject 3? Why is it that after Fang Yuxin switched places with me, my importance actually increased?"
"Actually, I lied to you. The company initially designated you as Target 1 to turn you into an experimental subject for the god-making project. Later, after Edgar took over, he changed your designation to Target 3, while Fang Yuxin's designation remained unchanged. He believed that people from your China would never obey the company and could never be truly loyal. Therefore, he proposed restarting the reproduction project. The exploration of eternal life in this project held immense appeal for the council, so they didn't have time to deal with such trivial matters. With the apocalypse arriving and no profit to be made, ensuring their own longevity became the goal of those in the council, including my father and uncle." Carol Anna said this, then glancing nervously at Lin Yuan, she continued, "Moreover, my earlier statement about merging with Fang Yuxin wasn't the initial promise that simply using body tissues would suffice. The council's requirement was for you to truly become one with this monster, inseparable."
Lin Yuan's scalp tingled upon hearing this. Despite his willpower, he couldn't resist the churning in his stomach. Could this be something a carbon-based life form would conceive? He truly wished he could split open the heads of those in the council and see what was different in their brain structure compared to normal people!
He tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself, but the smell in the air almost made him ascend. Even with the helmet's gas filtration system, it couldn't block out the nauseating odors. The mucus secreted by the moving monster was emitting a foul stench!
Standing still for a few seconds, Lin Yuan's soul finally returned. Pointing at the monster that occupied more than half of the laboratory, he asked, "What are those people in the council thinking? This thing can achieve eternal life?"
"Not simply eternal life, but also rejuvenation. The intermediary for achieving this goal is Fang Yuxin, the current reproductive mother. Once you are successfully merged by Fang Yuxin, she will gain the ability of gene replication, completely different from ordinary cloning. It can revert an elderly person back to infancy. It absorbs the target's body, and then a new individual, around five years old, will be gestated from the reproductive cavity. This new body will possess all the memories and personality of the elderly body. In layman's terms, it's transferring a soul on the verge of death into a vibrant new body, thus achieving eternal rebirth."
"But this could be achieved through cloning!"
"Like Alice from Resident Evil 5? You're too naive to understand the thoughts of those old madmen. They believe this process, being a replication born from the mother, holds divine significance. It's entirely different from cloning!"
"And the price is that Fang Yuxin, as the so-called mother for these people, will live on in this form forever?"
"No, after you are merged with her, her appearance will change to be relatively normal."
"Isn't the result the same? Reduced to a breeding tool without consciousness!"
Lin Yuan could no longer tolerate it. He wanted to destroy all of this! To end Fang Yuxin's suffering!
"Thump, thump, thump..." Just as Lin Yuan picked up the C4 explosives, heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
"It's Edgar, he's back!" Carol Anna was the first to react. Without needing Lin Yuan's reminder, she grabbed "Thor" and hid among the nearby corpses. She knew that if Lin Yuan fought him, she would only be a hindrance. It was better to provide cover fire from the side.
"Hide yourself well and look for an opportunity to attack," Lin Yuan said back to her, holding the C4, before facing the door squarely, waiting for Edgar to appear.
The footsteps stopped at the door, as if sensing something, but they paused only for a moment before continuing.
"Hahaha, I didn't expect the two of you ants to actually find your way here?" Edgar roared with laughter, carrying two large barrels as he entered. He looked at Lin Yuan with a ferocious expression and pointed to Fang Yuxin, who was close to transforming into the mother. "What, my dear Target 3? Are you going to save your little lover?"
Lin Yuan met Edgar's gaze expressionlessly and answered a question with another: "Are you carrying fuel?"
Edgar wasn't angered by Lin Yuan's disregard for his question. After taking the Hell No. 1 potion, he believed he was invincible and didn't take Lin Yuan seriously. Instead, he wanted to play with him. Simply put, he was full and had no appetite. Maintaining the Hell No. 1 potion's effects wasn't an easy task. He had to consume half the base's population just to feel somewhat satiated.
"That's right, it's fuel? Want to try shooting it? My resistance to fire is pretty good right now."
"Throw it over. I want to give her release."
"Hahaha, and what if I say no?" Edgar originally intended to destroy Fang Yuxin, the mother nearing completion of her transformation. But since Lin Yuan had said that, he suddenly didn't want to make it so easy. Seeing these Chinese people unhappy made him incredibly happy.
Lin Yuan didn't waste any more words. He raised his gun and fired. Carol Anna, hidden among the corpses, had already completed the 3-second charge for "Thor." The sudden blue light made Edgar's eyelids twitch. "Tho..." Before he could finish speaking, a blue beam of light, faster than an M500 bullet, instantly blew Edgar's head off. At that moment, the bullet Lin Yuan fired had just hit the fuel barrel he was carrying, causing it to explode.
The massive shockwave from the explosion pushed Lin Yuan back several steps. Carol Anna, in the pile of corpses, was flung directly against the wall. Fortunately, she managed to stabilize herself as she fell, preventing her from fainting again.
"You wouldn't listen when I spoke to you nicely, playing tough for no reason!"
Lin Yuan spat fiercely at the headless corpse burning in the roaring flames. Without a head, Edgar's body's resistance to fire gradually disappeared, and he was soon reduced to a pile of charcoal.
"Is this the Hell Potion? It's nothing special."
"Roar!!!"
Before Lin Yuan could take a few steps, a deafening roar echoed from deep underground, as if something had been awakened.
"What is that?!" Carol Anna was also bewildered. She shook her head, unclear what it was. "We need to get out of here, back to the surface. This thing is definitely not good news."
Time was of the essence, and Lin Yuan couldn't wait to burn the mother. Gritting his teeth, he rushed forward and retrieved Fang Yuxin's body. The soul transmission was interrupted, and Fang Yuxin's body began to tremble violently.
"She's still alive?!"
Carol Anna shook her head. "She's already dead. Her brain has suffered irreversible damage and cannot wake up. Her physical functions will also decay rapidly."
Lin Yuan could only clear the crushed meat from her mouth and, carrying Carol Anna, rushed outside. After they left, Wang Xiaoxin's figure slowly emerged. He silently sensed the movements below and said expressionlessly, "Interesting."
The desperately fleeing pair were now on the negative first floor. The people on these two floors had all been eaten by Edgar, so they encountered no resistance. Anna was using the precious time to copy the data stored on the negative first floor. The transfer would take two minutes.
"Anna, is there something locked below level 22 underground?!"
"I don't know. The elevator only has a button for level 22. But Edgar was involved in the construction of this base, so I don't know what he put down there!"
The roaring sounds were getting closer. Fortunately, the transfer was completed. Lin Yuan grabbed Carol Anna and ran towards the surface without looking back.
The moment they burst out of the safety passage, the door was exploded open by something. Lin Yuan looked back, his mind going blank.
A massive mass of flesh squeezed out of the door. It looked like a tentacle monster from some hentai, covered in fleshy bumps and festering eyes. The body's flesh was highly deformed and very malleable. After moving a few meters outwards, it finally extricated its entire body, piling up into a mountain of flesh. Tentacles extended from its orifices, waving constantly. In the center, there was a dark spot, as if it was encasing something. The head was simply a mouth, lined with concentric rings of teeth, like a meat grinder. There was no doubt that anyone falling into it would have a terrible fate.
"Yellow-skinned monkey! You're dead!!!" A face appeared on its chest. It was Edgar's, roaring at Lin Yuan!
"What the hell? Edgar has clones?! What is this thing?!"
"Holy shit, I'm cheating!!"