Chapter 14 He's Here to Save Me

Aurora looked at the large hand reaching out to her, then raised her head to look into Han Xiao's eyes, timidly asking, "Why did you come to save me?"

Han Xiao thought for a moment and said, "Just think of me as a helpful person."

"Who are you?" Aurora tilted her head.

"You can call me Number Zero," Han Xiao said casually.

A look of surprise flashed in Aurora's watery eyes, "So you're Uncle Number Zero."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. Being called "Uncle" suddenly gave him the illusion of luring a little loli.

Cerberus hesitated for a moment, then reminded him, "She's been brainwashed. If you want to save her, you should pay attention to that."

Brainwashed?

He knew about this rumor, but Aurora's expression didn't seem like she had been brainwashed. Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he said, "Tell me more."

Cerberus whispered, "We have several methods of brainwashing: destructive methods that reshape personality, gentle methods that distort and transform thinking, and we're also researching chips...uh, but there's not much progress."

"Which one did you use on me?" Han Xiao asked with interest.

Cerberus immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and forced himself to say, "I've seen your file. When we found you, you were already seriously injured, delirious, and showing obvious symptoms of amnesia. When you became a test subject, we valued your brain, and you were already muddled, so we used a gentle brainwashing method."

This was within Han Xiao's expectations. At the time, Lin Weixian tormented him for a long time with contradictory images and sounds. Immunity could be gained with an intelligence of over ten points, so it couldn't have been a destructive method. The matter was already in the past, and Han Xiao didn't feel any sense of belated gratitude. He was calm and asked, "What about her?"

"Her sister is a powerful executive, her ability is very special, she has a special status in the organization, and has made great contributions. Based on this, Aurora's brainwashing is a gentler method that retains her original thinking. She maintains a normal personality most of the time, but once she says certain sensitive words, her brainwashed personality will take over, and she will completely obey orders."

Han Xiao understood roughly. Although Aurora was important, she was already firmly under control and couldn't cause any accidents. Her older sister, Hela, was a sharp knife, so they kept Aurora's personality as a means of directing Hela. This gentle method of brainwashing could be removed, and wasn't a big problem at all. Aurora herself was a soft and weak little girl. If the brainwashed personality was awakened, Han Xiao could just knock her unconscious with a single palm... although that would turn from luring a loli into kidnapping one.

"Hey, wait a minute, how does this little girl know me?" Han Xiao suddenly came back to his senses.

"My sister told me stories about you."

For some inexplicable reason, what would Hela bring me up for?

Han Xiao muttered to himself. This little girl seemed to have a good impression of him. He didn't know what Hela had told her. It was strange, they were enemies, weren't they?

Aurora stood up unsteadily, placed her small hand in Han Xiao's palm, and said, "Thank you for coming to save me, please take me away."

Han Xiao became interested, "Aren't you afraid that I'm saving you to use you, like Germination?"

"My sister said that even the most dangerous future is better than living a life worse than death." Aurora looked up, her innocent face full of seriousness.

Seeing Aurora being so cooperative, Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. His understanding of Aurora was limited to the few rumors from his previous life. Aurora became known to players after she was made into a potion. There was a side quest to investigate the source of the potion, which led to Aurora's story.

So he didn't know Aurora's personality. He originally thought it would take some effort to convince her, but he didn't expect it to be so smooth.

There would be plenty of opportunities to develop a relationship later. Now was obviously not a good time to chat.

The cameras in this area were frozen, but it was impossible to hide it forever. Time was precious.

Han Xiao brought the corpses in and stripped a white coat and mask from one of them to disguise Aurora. Aurora obediently let him dress her up.

When his palm touched her rib-like body, Han Xiao realized how thin and weak Aurora was. Her pitiful appearance easily aroused pity, but an old codger like Grand Technician Han didn't have extra emotions. After she was disguised, he turned to Cerberus and shouted, "Lead us through the underground tunnel. I guarantee I won't kill you when we're safe. The Six Nations like talented people like you. You can still get funding there to do research."

The escape route with Aurora naturally couldn't be the main entrance. The underground headquarters was connected to many underground tunnels, which were underground railways for transporting supplies and personnel, extending in all directions, like a spread-out spider web.

The plan was to use Cerberus as a hostage, using his authority to leave the headquarters through the underground tunnel. In order to make Cerberus cooperate, Han Xiao gave him a reassurance-like promise.

Although Cerberus was reluctant to abandon his research in Germination, at least he wouldn't have to die. He could accept it, and even felt a sense of relief.

Germination was a large ship about to sink. Being able to switch decks at this critical moment and defect to the winning side might be a better choice.

Just as they were about to leave, Han Xiao suddenly stopped and realized that Aurora's small size was still too eye-catching, even with a disguise. His heart stirred, and he took out an empty single-shoulder equipment bag and said, "Sorry to trouble you, get in."

Aurora obediently did as she was told and climbed into the bag.

As the zipper closed, her vision suddenly became pitch black. She could only feel herself being carried and moving back and forth.

"Sister..." Aurora curled up in the bag, folded her hands in front of her chest, and prayed silently.

...

The three quickly passed through various floors and headed towards the underground passage.

At the same time, the leader, who was listening to a war situation analysis meeting, suddenly took out his phone.

"There are traces of the host data being accessed. The operator is Cerberus, who accessed a large number of secrets..." The leader narrowed his eyes, became suspicious, and said to his assistant, "Find Cerberus's location and put the surveillance footage on my computer."

Immediately, the leader controlled the computer, entered the host system with a background command, checked the operation traces, and immediately discovered Cerberus's various behaviors of closing the defense measures. The surveillance video also switched over, showing Cerberus entering the host room with another person.

The leader's eyes were cold, and he immediately judged that Cerberus had been coerced. This stranger was likely Number Zero. He didn't fall into his trap, but sneaked in quietly by other means.

"But... once you're here, don't even think about leaving."

The leader quickly issued an order, "Dispatch all standby executives to surround Area C-11 and the entrances to underground tunnels three through eleven. Secret operation, don't alert the enemy."

For the sake of prudence, the leader did not activate the headquarters' alarm status. He wanted to quietly set up a death trap for Number Zero to ensure nothing went wrong.

In a lounge in the underground headquarters, a group of familiar executives were playing cards, bored.

"Waiting on standby every day, it's so boring, I really want to go to the battlefield," one person said.

"What's so good about the battlefield? It's dangerous everywhere. With that group of espers and super soldiers as cannon fodder, we don't need to risk our lives," someone sneered.

"Super soldiers, heh, a bunch of monsters even more disgusting than espers, all just semi-finished garbage." Someone said with disdain. Proper superhumans looked down on this kind of mass-produced warrior.

On the side, Hela, with a indifferent face, sat on the sofa in the corner, closing her eyes to rest. Her cold temperament kept people at arm's length. She ignored everyone, and no one paid attention to her, detached from the lively atmosphere.

Suddenly, Hela suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head sharply in one direction. Her expression broke the ice, and shock, rage, and astonishment surged into her eyes.

The life imprint she left on Aurora had moved!

This group of executives suddenly received orders from their superiors. Before they could finish listening, there was a loud bang in their ears. They looked up in shock and saw the door shattered all over the floor. Hela had already turned into a high-speed dark red shadow, disappearing frantically at the end of the corridor.