“Is it done deleting? It’s done deleting, right? Is it done deleting? It’s done deleting, right?”
The supervisor Fort paced back and forth in the main control room, panting after just a few rounds.
He was somewhat fat, but as a third-tier spirit user, his physical condition was good; the sweating was purely from psychological pressure.
On the Central Computer’s screen, there was only a progress bar—a program left behind by Svina before leaving, which was said to delete all the more dangerous records to ensure that the inspectors wouldn’t find anything suspicious.
The progress bar was now over eighty percent, with about ten minutes remaining, indicating that at least seventy to eighty percent of the files had been deleted.
“Supervisor, are you there?” a security officer’s voice came through the communicator. “There’s someone stepping on our toes.”
“Shop 2.”
A few minutes later, the Elevator descended carrying a confident and imposing girl with a thunderous aura, flanked by two tall male bodyguards, with two teachers standing behind them.
“Center City, former Crisis Response Team, now the Inspection Team.” Xu Chuyao slammed an inspection order onto the table. “We have the authority to interrogate and search anyone suspected to be related to the Clown Gang or the Supreme Society!”
The hastily arrived supervisor Fort was stunned: “Clown Gang, I’ve heard of that, but what’s the Supreme Society? And what do they have to do with us… Weren’t you here to inspect the research project Ming Sha?”
Were the files deleted in vain?
Xu Chuyao approached him and sized him up: “Who are you?”
“Research Institute Project Supervisor, Fort.”
“Where’s Svina? I heard he’s the supervisor here.”
“Hmph, he is the institute supervisor, overseeing more than I do, but he’s not here right now.” Fort shrugged. “He went out early on some business.”
Realizing these people weren’t here to inspect the research project, he suddenly felt much relieved.
Clown Gang? Nothing to do with him. Supreme Society? Never even heard of it.
“Svina isn’t here? What about Shen Ning?”
“Miss Shen is the institute’s most valuable asset. Her family requested and was specially granted a job transfer. Without the highest authorization, I cannot let you contact her.” Fort straightened his back.
At that moment, he heard the ding of a system startup prompt from the Central Computer in the main control center, broadcasted to every corner of the institute.
Most people didn’t know what it meant.
Fort couldn’t waste time talking with these people and hurried to the nearest computer, muttering to himself, “This is bad, this is bad. The professor overreacted. They’re not here to inspect the project, so the confidential files were deleted for nothing.”
But then again, he remembered the professor put a tape into his bag before leaving; there must be a backup of important files inside. The professor really was meticulous. Alright, let’s see which files this program deleted.
He opened the database, entered his username and password, and casually opened a confidential file.
[Conversion ratio: One Petrified Entity equals the same mass of Inorganic Matter, one-tenth of a Standard Unit’s X Crystal radiation dose, and one Mutant soul. Except for the soul, everything else is consumable.
Initially irradiated mutants do not follow the conversion formula; they do not require inorganic matter, only their own bodies, and require less radiation.]
Fort slammed the ESC key, instantly closing the file.
What the hell was deleted? What about Jichen? Aren’t they all still here?
“What did you just say?” Xu Chuyao approached with her team. “Repeat that for me.”
“Ah, that’s, um, nothing…”
Fort hastily shut down the computer, clasped his hands behind his back, and said, “I’m telling you, since you’re not here to do anything, don’t stay here too long. Don’t interfere with everyone’s work…”
Before he finished, a staff member hurried over: “Bad news, supervisor. The Conversion Device is currently undergoing the startup procedure and is about to activate.”
“What the hell, then just shut it down!”
“We can’t!” The staff member was almost in tears. “The operation commands have been overwritten, all manual controls are disabled!”
At that moment, another person rushed over: “Bad news, supervisor. The Isolation System has failed.”
Fort was dumbfounded, spun around, and reopened the computer he had just closed. “How did so many problems happen at once? Not a single alarm… Could it be that the alarm system is shut down too…?”
Then he realized, yes, it really was shut down. But how was that possible? Only the main control center’s program could control so many systems… Gulp!
“Svina! Damn you, why?!”
He understood the purpose of the program Svina left behind but didn’t understand why he would do such a self-destructive thing.
The activation of the Conversion Device meant that the institute’s X Crystal would be triggered, releasing radiation outward. The failure of the Isolation System meant the radiation would fill the entire institute.
The good news was that everyone in the institute was a spirit user, so radiation wasn’t inherently terrifying.
The bad news was that there was a considerable amount of inorganic matter here.
“Go! Quickly! If the elevator can’t be activated, break through using the emergency passage!”
Fort knew what was about to happen and called to evacuate, but Xu Chuyao blocked him.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“This place is going to collapse. Do you want to be buried alive?”
Fort ignored her, grabbed a notebook computer from the table, and tried to leave.
“Class leader, help me out.”
Hey!
A scorching flame chain locked down his plump body, an absolute suppression from a peak third-tier spirit user. He really couldn’t move now.
“What exactly do you want?” Fort was frustrated. “Didn’t you hear me? This place is collapsing!”
Then he saw the thunderous beauty walk up to him, speaking slowly and clearly:
“I’ll ask again, where is Shen Ning?”
In the end, Fort was not only forced to reveal the girl’s detention room but was also led forward, handcuffed. Seeing he couldn’t escape, he didn’t struggle much and said while walking:
“Miss Shen was originally treated as senior technical staff. We cooperated well until this afternoon—just before you came—Svina secretly took her to conduct another experiment. Then an accident happened, and when I arrived, they were already fighting.”
The plump supervisor looked helpless, his features squeezed together like he had eaten a lemon. “I had no choice. Svina said she lost control. I didn’t know the situation, so I just helped suppress her and locked her in the isolation room.”
Along the way, staff hurriedly ran out. Because Svina controlled the broadcast system, the evacuation order could only be given verbally, making the passages crowded. Fortunately, Fort used his authority to open a special passage, allowing them to move quickly inward.
“Experiment 2?” Cheng Chen was baffled. “What kind of experiment are you doing?”
“Isn’t Shen Ning in Yu Jing’s class? And isn’t she also the strongest member of the Crisis Response Team? I remember her well. Why hasn’t she come here for a week?”
Fort snorted at him, then glanced at Xu Chuyao and quietly asked, “Should we say it here?”
Her sharp eyes clearly recognized who was leading the team, somewhat incredulous.
“No, let’s find her first.” Xu Chuyao tugged at her collar. “No time for long explanations.”
Yu Jing silently made the Hand Gesture for Silence at Cheng Chen, who understood—meaning their Authority was insufficient to know this… Huh? This kind of thing exists?
As they moved forward, the Conversion Device’s system command overwrite completed, and the X Crystal stored in the institute began to break free from its containment device and activate.
At the same time, a low-frequency throat sound played over the building’s broadcast, quickly becoming inaudible, leaving only the vibration of the broadcast air indicating something was still playing.
Fort looked up and cursed:
“Damn Svina, this is betrayal, betrayal against the family!”
“Stop cursing,” Xu Chuyao nudged him, “lead the way.”
“It’s just ahead…”
The days in detention were familiar but truly boring. Fortunately, compared to before, Shen Ning was no longer alone; there were several echoes to chat with.
“I really miss Chuyao.” The suppressed echo repeated what she had said countless times these days, “I miss her cute face, her shiny eyes, her silky hair, her mischievous smile, her pitiful look when she begged for dumplings…”
“The first few sentences sound like you want to tear her apart.” The broken echo interrupted, “Next time just start from the last sentence, no need for those flowery phrases upfront.”
The quote sounded so pure.
“What? Can’t I have a moment of virtue first?”
Shen Ning listened to their banter and was somewhat entertained, at least enough to pass the boring time. But then, the broadcast overhead emitted a throat sound.
“What’s that sound… choke…”
It was like suddenly drowning deep beneath the sea, with endless panic and fear surging into her heart, unstoppable.
The girl curled up into a ball immediately.
“What the hell’s wrong with you? Chuyao said your claustrophobia was a joke; don’t tell me you really have it.”
Even hugging herself didn’t help. The panic spread like a tide, and an unfounded rage squeezed out from the fear.
“Ahhhhh!”
She didn’t know what scared her, but now all she wanted was to kill everything causing her fear!
Bang!
The isolation room’s door was kicked open, primarily thanks to Fort’s identity card.
Xu Chuyao scanned the room, first seeing the girl curled on the ground, then looking up at the broadcast device.
“That thing.” Fort weakly pointed it out.
Yu Jing was about to act when Xu Chuyao threw a small punch, her spirit-powered gauntlet sliding off the girl’s small hand and smashing the broadcast device to pieces.
Yao Yao did have ranged attack skills—not very strong, but sufficient.
Xu Chuyao rushed over, embraced the frightened girl, and covered her ears.
“It’s okay now, it’s okay. Listen to me, baby, the tummy is having thunder…”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.