Chapter 154: Silhouette in the Rain 16
The entire 50th floor was leveled by artillery fire, and the 49th floor was also mostly destroyed. The fire brought by the explosion spread rapidly. The cryogenic cabinets in Laboratory Three toppled one after another, various test tubes “clinking and clanking” as they rolled chaotically across the tilted floor. The colorful medicinal liquids were instantly vaporized by the high temperature. Fierce flames blazed, quickly swallowing the entire Laboratory Three.
All the medications were destroyed.
Through the black smoke and high-reaching flames, Zhuang Ningyu saw that in Laboratory Four, the freezer storing Ford’s body had disappeared. In its place was a deep pit in the floor—not caused by the explosion, but Liam’s careful design. One second before the shells reached the tower’s peak, black steel covers rapidly ejected from all four sides of the freezer and closed around it, wrapping it tightly into a ball that quickly rolled down through the floor crack to lower levels, avoiding being affected by the explosion.
Ford’s frozen, rigid corpse was actually more important to Liam than tens of thousands of medications?
Flames greedily licked the broken building, wild wind making them increasingly ferocious. Zhuang Ningyu could clearly feel the steel bar in his palm gradually heating up. Blood flowed down his pale wrist, sweat also seeping drop by drop from his forehead. Wind rolled the black smoke mixed with various chemical vapors toward them. Zhuang Ningyu glanced at Yi Ke still unconscious, made a decisive decision, and released his hand that had almost completely adhered to the steel bar.
His body instantly plummeted. The tilted curtain wall provided some friction deceleration. Zhuang Ningyu leaned back, his back tight against the glass, one hand firmly gripping Yi Ke, the other rapidly pulling out a single glove from his waist. The sensor lock immediately wrapped around his wrist automatically. “Snap!” Accompanied by a harsh dragging sound, the suction cup at the palm position firmly adhered to the glass curtain wall, and the two stopped in midair again.
Zhuang Ningyu seized the time to breathe a few mouthfuls of air, then using the strength of one hand and his legs, dragged Yi Ke up, firmly protecting him between his chest and the glass curtain wall. Heartbeats transmitted between them—one so weak as to be almost imperceptible, the other so intense as to nearly burst from the body.
The monsters guarding below also discovered them at this moment and again began climbing upward on all fours. Zhuang Ningyu glanced down, stepped on a small protruding steel bar on the glass curtain wall to borrow force, and kicked at the glass window with all his might with his other foot!
“Bang!” A huge crash came, but Zhuang Ningyu kicked at empty air. The thick glass cracked outward with a “crack” before he could, and the suction cup also detached. Yi Ke, now conscious, hugged Zhuang Ningyu’s body and rolled into the laboratory with him, gasping heavily as he struggled to sit up amid a pile of broken glass shards. Zhuang Ningyu had no time to remove his gloves. He first cupped Yi Ke’s face with both hands, leaning close to observe: “How are you?”
Blood surged through his “reborn” body. Yi Ke clasped one hand on the back of Zhuang Ningyu’s head, pressing him heavily into his embrace, while his other hand rapidly leveled his gun and continuously pulled the trigger, sweeping down a large group of monsters that had just appeared at the window.
“I’m fine.” The low, hoarse reply was mixed with the monsters’ splattering blood and sharp screams. After the world returned to quiet, Yi Ke lowered his gun-holding hand, turned his head and briefly buried it at Zhuang Ningyu’s neck for a few seconds until he completely found his heartbeat, then pulled the person up to stand.
The gloves were wet and sticky. Yi Ke looked at the bloodstains left on his palm and frowned: “Your hand is injured?”
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head, indicating he was fine. He pressed the earpiece talk button and said: “This world has hundreds of rules.”
Yi Ke’s brow jumped. Ye Jiaoyue on the other end of the earpiece also asked in shock: “Hundreds?”
“Yes, hundreds. Liam used hundreds of rules to jointly construct the Lullaby Island rule zone.” Zhuang Ningyu said. “For us, it’s completely impossible to find the solution corresponding to each rule.”
All the rule zones experienced before—Taoli District, Doll Party, Little White Building, Zeus Grand Hotel, Neo-organism, Wandering Sea—even the modified ones all had unique answers. But the Lullaby Island rule zone was equivalent to mixing countless such small worlds together—the puzzle was hidden, yet there were hundreds of answers. Missing even one wouldn’t count as answering correctly.
Other action team members also heard the two captains’ conversation, but no one had time to think carefully at this moment because passages were still constantly being opened. The number of monsters was so large they could trample the entire island—practically gushing forth. The premise for solving problems was staying alive first, so they must first solve these immediate troubles.
Thick smoke rolled across the sky, seas of fire scorched the ground. The world seemed pulled into endless purgatory.
The seven researchers weren’t written into Liam’s slaughter program. After detecting their faces, shooting gun muzzles would automatically raise. However, this didn’t mean these people could move freely because monsters eyed them covetously, possibly snatching them at any time. Qinggang, because he kept bringing Nathaniel along, was practically chased by monsters wherever he went. Although monsters wouldn’t attack Nathaniel, they would attack Qinggang. His hit shoulder sent waves of severe pain. He staggered two steps, turning to fire at the monster group behind again when a huge black shadow suddenly crashed down from above! “Bang!” Qinggang knelt on one knee, struck until his vision blackened.
But the one that died was the monster. Nathaniel’s withered hand rested on the wheelchair—a lethal injection had just been fired from there, originally prepared for Liam. Qinggang scrambled up from the ground. No time to ask more, he wanted to continue running pushing the old man, but Nathaniel waved his hand, accommodating this young man’s impoverished and even more impoverished when nervous vocabulary with one word: “Go.”
Qinggang of course wouldn’t abandon him, but a new batch of monsters charged over. This time the one solving the trouble was Yi Ke, arriving just in time. Nathaniel said: “I’m already very old. Old trash shouldn’t drag down young people’s lives. You go.”
“There are tens of thousands of ordinary people forcibly transformed into Evolvers there.” Yi Ke pointed toward the broken Tower One. “Your research might save many young people. Please try to stay alive. Ford is also there.”
Nathaniel said nothing more, only helplessly shaking his head.
…
After destroying the tower’s mainframe, Liam didn’t continue launching destructive attacks on the main building—possibly because this rule zone’s logic chain didn’t allow it, or possibly because he still didn’t want to abandon his years of careful design.
Zhuang Ningyu met with action team leaders from several other countries, briefly discussing the current situation. Although hundreds of rules couldn’t be found one by one, certainly one person knew all the answers.
Liam.
Zhuang Ningyu said: “Liam programmatically reconstructed all the small worlds and extracted specific code portions from them. The extracted portion is the core solution to the rule zone. Based on this person’s usual behavior and these photos”—he shared the images as he spoke—”I think this silver ornament he always wears around his neck should be a portable device storing this critical data. Last time during the North Africa firefight, he risked his life to return for the necklace. It must be something very important.”
“You mean, unless Liam himself enters the rule zone with this USB drive, even if we eliminate all the monsters, we’ll never be able to complete the code and will still be permanently trapped in the rule zone?”
Zhuang Ningyu nodded: “Correct.”
“OK, then we can only pray our external comrades’ work efficiency is a bit higher.” After the meeting, everyone gripped their weapons, stretched their muscles, said no more nonsense, and dispersed again in all directions.
Firepower grew increasingly dense.
Gao Weicheng was also in this massive confrontation. He had just used his job convenience and Fu Han’s remote assistance to forcibly shut down the latest entry permissions for hundreds of Hundred-Armed Giant HKC08 point-fire drones on the island, basically turning them into waste. Gao Weicheng ran a large circle on the island, specifically finding Yi Ke to remind him that currently only he alone was in the HKC08’s facial recognition system—couldn’t be deleted, could only rely on himself to disguise well and not be tracked.
Yi Ke glanced at the drones buzzing around aimlessly like headless flies in the sky, had no time to care about this, instead asking: “What exactly happened to your boss?”
Gao Weicheng hadn’t expected him to ask directly, hesitating for a moment. Yi Ke was speechless at this familiar conflicted feeling. He rarely had the patience, spreading his hands: “At a time like this, at least explain clearly. What exactly is POV3? Although Laboratory Three was destroyed, other places might not have no medicine.”
Gao Weicheng looked into his eyes and finally spoke: “Because of my carelessness, the boss once injected an evolution agent that had been replaced by Liam. Due to that injection, his body was severely destroyed. These years he’s been barely maintaining normal functions with large amounts of medication. POV3 is a devolution drug researched by Liam.”
Yi Ke nodded, lifting his gun and turning to run in another direction.
Meanwhile, according to coordinates provided by Fu Han, Lullaby Island in the real world was also surrounded airtight by joint military forces. This rule zone hidden in the vast international waters for several years was finally found. Huge waves beat against thick white fog. From a distance, it glowed blue like a devil’s cocoon born in a vortex.
And another brand new rule zone was also rapidly forming in Zhan City.
Zhuang Ningyu held his earpiece. Huo Ting’s voice came through: “Liam killed Roman and used him to create a rule zone.”
A golden beam opened a gap in the thick white fog. Zhuang Ningyu looked at the figure appearing in the white fog and said: “I see. Looks like he’s really been pushed by you all into a corner with nowhere to go.”
Even though Liam had made multiple precise modifications to the Lullaby Island rule zone, there was one rule he could never interfere with: once anyone entered a rule zone, to leave safely again, they must wait for the rules to be lifted. In other words, Liam currently had only two paths to choose—one was to stay here forever with the rescue teams from all countries, two was to personally destroy the rule zone.
Zhuang Ningyu said: “Seems you’re not very satisfied with your own creation.”
Liam’s gaze swept across the devastated island and answered: “No, I’m just somewhat heartbroken. You destroyed this place.”
“Your heartbreak is deserved.” Zhuang Ningyu nodded. “After all, in your delusions, the first island landing scene must have been grand as a god descending. Everyone must fearfully greet you like welcoming their creator, not like now, chased by my colleagues like a homeless dog, forced to flee here in panic.”
Liam wasn’t angered by these words but instead laughed, his gaze becoming even more unrestrained as it examined him: “Being provoked by a beauty like you is my honor. Unfortunately, I originally prepared a very grand welcome ceremony for you, guaranteeing you’d appear in my Collection Hall in a very perfect form. Who knew”—his gaze fell on that face covered with fuel, blood, and dust—”you’d be more clever than I imagined.”
As he spoke, another terrifying figure slowly emerged from the white fog—Roman. This fanatical, arrogant pure-blood supremacist finally arrived at a theoretically perfect world completely ruled by Evolvers, a true Eden. Unfortunately, he himself had already been transformed into a monster even more “inferior” than ordinary people.
“When we shall—” Liam looked at Zhuang Ningyu, about to repeat that Shakespearean line, when we meet on the day of reckoning. But before he could “shall” out the rest, the coconut tree above his head crashed down with a thunderous crack, falling straight down. He hastily dodged. The heavy crown thudded into the ground, coconuts also rolling chaotically. Only then did Yi Ke put away the laser gun in his hand, walking over to stand shoulder to shoulder beside Zhuang Ningyu, looking at the somewhat disheveled Liam with a contemptuous snort from his mouth.
The pampered young master knew how to mock people. Liam’s expression indeed changed slightly. Locking eyes with him, he threatened through gritted teeth: “You seem to forget who the master here is.”
“Struggling half a lifetime just to earn this one virtual island—really didn’t expect you’d actually be proud of this.” Yi Ke said. “Although Adam isn’t anything good either, he at least travels to and from bases on private jets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, unlike you, still having to search the world for desolate places to create rule zones.”
Liam’s Adam’s apple rolled twice. Who knows whether he wanted to argue but couldn’t think of good words and sentences, or timely realized he was the “creator god” here with no need for verbal sparring. He spread his arms wide. Dozens of black passages immediately split open parallel behind him. Monsters flew out continuously like locusts. Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke had to simultaneously fire to suppress them, while Liam, across the dense black-winged monsters, showed them a slightly pitying smile that believed itself on par with gods.
“The game has just begun.”
…
The modified Roman’s entire body flowed with lava. Wherever he passed, trees all burned in rolling flames. Qinggang was greatly shocked: “What kind of new century flame warrior is this?”
Nathaniel answered: “Another experiment Liam conducted was using gene editing and synthetic biology methods to precisely target different Evolvers’ different abilities for precise targeted modification, integrating and recombining them in a controllable manner, ultimately transforming into the monsters he wanted.”
This vocabulary was no longer something Level 4 or 6 could cover—it became GRE. Fortunately Zhuang Ningyu was also present. He asked: “Liam is using Evolvers for experiments?”
“Yes, he wants to become the creator god of rule zones and needs a more powerful army, but the Evolver laboratory isn’t here—perhaps it’s another rule zone.” Nathaniel answered. “He often shares some results for our reference. Regarding those Evolvers who became experimental subjects… his methods are very cruel. Some have even exceeded the research scope, becoming a kind of angry venting.”
Zhuang Ningyu pondered slightly, then thought of the gaze Liam had cast at Yi Ke earlier. Indeed, besides normal hostility, it seemed to contain a trace of—
“Boom!” Another explosion came, interrupting his thoughts. No time for more consideration, Zhuang Ningyu ran over and snatched back two team members from Roman’s hands. The modified lava monster emitted an enraged roar. And accompanying his roar, dozens more monsters identical to him actually walked out from the forest. Fierce flames rolled skyward, and Liam stood behind this group of monsters, still with that high and mighty bestowing attitude.
Ants only deserved to wag their tails and beg for mercy.
But unfortunately, there were no ants here.
A powerful black-red beam emitted from Zhuang Ningyu’s hands, dazzlingly bright. Almost in an instant, that batch of lava monsters including Roman became red heat waves flowing on the ground.
Liam’s smile froze on his face.
Nightfall Arbiter.
He had indeed analyzed in detail the conventional weapons of action team members from various countries, but Mrs. Deng’s profound maternal love could never be conventional. Upon hearing international action teams would enter the Lullaby Island rule zone to provide support, she immediately used connections to bring this “terrorist attack-style monster exterminator capable of cutting off ninety-nine point nine percent of the opponent’s survival paths” to her daughter-in-law—as for how exactly she knew other countries’ action deployments and where her network came from, don’t ask.
Liam also had some understanding of the Nightfall Arbiter. This exterminator had about a one-minute interval charging period and couldn’t fire continuously, so he decisively summoned a new batch of powerful monsters transformed from Evolvers, preparing to seize the mass destruction weapon from the opponent before the charging period ended.
“Boom!”
A silver-white beam swept across, perfectly cutting all monsters in half at the waist. The cuts were neat. The extremely cold temperature even thoughtfully helped them “suture” all wounds—not a drop of blood flowed. Even at an international ethics tribunal, they’d praise it as humane and dignified.
Abyss Terminator.
This time not only Liam but also teammates from all countries were stunned together. They couldn’t believe how a normal person could simultaneously possess two of the world’s most advanced, terrifying, illegal, extremely expensive, possibly only legendary monster exterminators!
But Zhuang Ningyu did indeed possess them, because he not only had a mother-in-law but also his mother-in-law’s lifelong rival, Auntie Liu Yihua.
Liam’s rationality and expression twisted together. Although he still fancied himself the creator god at this moment and was confident the situation would ultimately be controlled by himself, deep down he still unavoidably felt intense crisis, forced to advance certain plans.
Zhuang Ningyu’s gaze rapidly swept across the silver necklace on his chest, then fell back to the distance. In that place, white fog was gathering more and more densely.
“Captain Zhuang!” A teammate’s voice came through the earpiece. “The rescue team’s entry passage seems to have been cut off.”
Lullaby Island once again became a completely closed world.
Liam disappeared without a trace amid smoke from an explosion, not knowing specifically where he retreated under monster cover. Shortly after his disappearance, the Hundred-Armed Giant HKC08s flying chaotically around the island suddenly hovered at ultra-high altitude at the same time, neat and orderly, like metal locusts blocking out the sky. Ye Jiaoyue said: “He should be restoring the program remotely tampered with by Fu Han.”
HKC08’s lethality couldn’t be underestimated, especially with so many. If truly repaired, there’d be big trouble. Zhong Mu said: “We’d better solve them before the program restoration.”
The drones hovered too high—shooting them down one by one wasn’t realistic. Just as Zhuang Ningyu picked up the communicator, preparing to ask if any team carried high-range large-damage weapons, three small drones suddenly appeared “buzzing” like wasps at the coconut grove edge. Zhuang Ningyu looked toward the sound and recognized them as Eagle Eye X3, the most commonly used observation drones with no lethality—advantages only being flying fast and high.
Zhong Mu said: “Seems like our paint job?”
Ye Jiaoyue observed with binoculars: “Indeed our paint job.” And modified into transport models—each drone’s cantilever hung something unknown, looking very heavy, so it affected work efficiency, wobbling for a long time before finally “panting” up above the HKC08s, then “snap!”
The rope broke on cue. The originally neatly bundled square heavy objects were instantly scattered by wind—a stack of printing paper. Papers “rustling” tumbled in the air, then spiraling lightly fell into the neatly lined drone group below. Immediately, something magical happened. Those HKC08s, upon contacting the paper, suddenly went crazy and began firing at each other with full firepower!
Instantly, continuous “bang bang bang” booms came. Hard propellers tangled and shattered each other. Electric light and black smoke simultaneously spread with “crackling.” The entire island was filled with pungent metallic and burnt smells. Burning wreckage fell like raindrops. Nearby action team members quickly dodged, moving to a relatively safe position to continue watching this large-scale drone collision. Only after the last drone also turned to ash in the air did a team member ask incredulously: “System bug or hacker intrusion?”
Zhuang Ningyu bent down, picking up a piece of printing paper from the ground. After gently blowing off the dust, it showed Yi Ke’s headshot. Probably due to haste, the camouflage on his face wasn’t washed very clean, but it must be said—supremely cold face, even more handsome.
The phone “buzzed” vibrating—Yi Ke sent a new photo, same angle as the printed paper but different expression, smiling very sunny and bright, eyebrows slightly raised. That’s right, your very capable husband, wife kiss kiss kiss.
Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
More than ten minutes earlier, when Liam was still modifying programs, Yi Ke had already rushed back to Laboratory Building One ahead of him, found several ultra-high-speed printers there, “swish swish” operated them, and double-sided copied hundreds of photos of himself.
The two teammates he pulled along: “Although you’re indeed very handsome, what exactly is this for?”
Yi Ke stacked the printed papers neatly: “Don’t ask, work quickly.”
The three jointly launched three Eagle Eye X3s, remotely controlling them to scatter hundreds of photos like heavenly flowers toward the HKC08s, indeed precisely triggering the drone group’s targeting shooting mode.
Ye Jiaoyue breathed a sigh of relief. Teammates from other countries also became elimination-game possessed, shouting “Unbelievable” and humbly inquiring what the principle was.
The story was too long. Investigating thoroughly might have to start from that black chain covered with engine oil at Little Pegasus Amusement Park, so Zhuang Ningyu briefly answered: “Liam is jealous of Little Yi.”
Foreign team members were greatly amazed: Such crazy jealousy!
However, although the HKC08 problem was solved, most crucially, they still had to find a way to leave here as soon as possible. Currently the Zhan City action team had surrounded the building where Liam entered the rule zone airtight. As soon as he appeared, he’d immediately be arrested, so Ye Jiaoyue said: “He’ll choose to stay here, stay in the rule zone.”
“But he definitely doesn’t want to stay in the rule zone with action team members from so many countries.” Zhuang Ningyu looked toward that broken Tower One, saying softly: “I have a method that should make him voluntarily unlock the Lullaby Island rule zone’s password.”
