MASG chapter 138

 

To Mo An, the gunshot fired by Xia Yu was a formal declaration of war against Nuwa.

A surveillance camera was blown apart. Xia Yu emptied the magazine with the same satisfaction as gulping down ice water in one breath. The metal wall was riddled with pits; bullets ricocheted everywhere; and the sound of gunfire echoed across the level. Xia Yu gradually accepted all of this and began to familiarize himself with his real life.

The senior-year graduate Xia Yu no longer existed.

The jellyfish synth Xia Yu was back.

Talos’s gun wasn’t as high-tech as Silver Fang’s. It felt extremely heavy in his hand. Its cold-forged body pressed heavily into his palm, making his wrist ache. But that still wasn’t enough. As if trying to kill someone, he fired at every camera within his line of sight.

Cameras couldn’t withstand bullets. The metal burst apart as if the targets were living people.

“Enough, enough.” Talos hurried to calm him. “You just woke up. You shouldn’t be so agitated.”

“Agitated? I think… I’ve lived too calmly and foolishly all these years.” Xia Yu muttered. In the end, he returned the gun to Talos. “Sorry, I think I used up all your bullets.”

“It’s fine. We have plenty of ammunition for now.” Talos put the gun away decisively, afraid Xia Yu might aim and fire again. Talos placed Xia Yu on a table and took off his jacket to cover Xia Yu’s upper body. Xia Yu was weak and could only lie there with his eyes open.

When he had just awakened, he thought he was floating. Now, gravity gave him a sense of reality.

“Where’s Mo An? Right, Mo An…he’s in danger.” Xia Yu turned his head to look. Mo An always tugged at his heartstrings, leaving him unable to relax.

As he turned his head, blood flowed from his right temple, dripping onto the tabletop and forming a bright red pattern. The pain slowly subsided. Xia Yu began to survey his surroundings, trying to identify where he was.

“I’m here, I’m here.” Mo An wiped the blood off his face and slid over. It was hard to tell whether the liquid on his face was sweat or liquid from the pod. He looked like he had cried several times. Xia Yu reached out to wipe the droplets from the bridge of Mo An’s nose.

“I… can I touch you now?” Xia Yu asked, as if trying to verify his suspicions.

Little Blue the jellyfish retracted its tentacles. It no longer struck the bottle wall; instead, it floated happily in the seawater. The pink diamonds became its warm bed; now, they represented happiness.

There was still blood on Mo An’s face that hadn’t been wiped away in time. The red blood contrasted sharply with his blue blood. From this, Xia Yu formed a new understanding: Perhaps he could control the toxin?

“You can try. I think… there’s no problem.” Mo An nodded boldly. If there were a problem, he would have passed out by now.

Being poisoned by the blue jellyfish wasn’t a once-or-twice thing. Mo An had prepared himself for everything. He was ready to face a stronger Xia Yu.

Xia Yu focused and held his breath. He had lain in the sleep pod for too long. His black hair had stuck to his collarbone, and some strands blocked his eyes. His blue blood vessels gradually lost their fluorescent glow, and his eyes returned to normal. He didn’t dare touch Mo An. Instead, Mo An took the initiative to touch him.

After some cautious probing, Mo An moved forward boldly.

He touched Xia Yu’s brow bone with his finger, tapping it once before separating. Mo An looked curiously at the fingerprint on his fingertip, waiting for a response. But he felt nothing, as if he had just touched air. Mo An relaxed and smiled. He placed his hand back on Xia Yu’s forehead and brushed aside his bangs. Once the forehead was fully exposed, Mo An pressed his lips to it.

Xia Yu nervously widened his eyes, not daring to move at all.

Throughout the entire process, neither of them dared to speak, but both prayed loudly in their hearts.

“I… can touch you now?” Mo An slowly leaned down, lowering his eyes. “Has Haisruola finally favored us?”

Xia Yu shook his head blankly. Only in front of Mo An did he show this harmless, helpless look.

Jingwei: [You’re so romantic that I can’t bear to interrupt you. But did you forget about me? Xia Yu, Xia Yu, Xia Yu, Xia Yu…]

“Alright, alright, I hear you.” Xia Yu couldn’t help but touch Mo An’s wrist. Mo An turned his wrist and grabbed back, and the two of them finally held hands tightly.

Jingwei: [I thought you’d look for me the moment you woke up. I missed you so much. Although I don’t really understand the concept of ‘death,’ I think I can still use this word.]

“How long was I unconscious?” Xia Yu rubbed his head. The wounds on his temples were healing. The needle holes, which were several centimeters deep, had already grown new flesh.

Jingwei: [A very, very long time. While you were in the virtual world, Mo An also lost his memory. He circled the seabed before remembering you.”

Ling Shi: [Do you need us to explain it to you in detail? Xia Yu, what about Mo An’s miraculous seabed experience? He even successfully met Haisiruola.]

Xia Yu stared at the ceiling light for a long while, then shook his head. “No need. I want to hear the story from Mo An himself. Where are we now? What’s the situation around us? Is it safe?”

Jingwei: [I knew it would be like this once you woke up. All right, this is the Xia Yu I know: always rational and always taking action. Currently, we are in the city center of Yukun City. Nuwa brought you here. 107 and Xi Ban are still missing. Xiang Xing’s spores have already been obtained. Report complete.]

“Xiang Xing’s spores, right? That’s correct. That’s what he told me at the end, too. We must cultivate him again. He’s my anchor in the virtual world. I can’t let him disappear.” Xia Yu tried to sit up on his own. “Dou Dou, can you do it?”

Mi Dou was helping Lao Gui stand up. Lao Gui looked the weakest out of everyone, possibly due to his age. The older one was, the more exhausting it became to go back and forth between worlds. “I didn’t even have time to start cultivating it. I was just about to change into sterile clothes when everyone woke up.”

“It’s fine. It’s not too late to start now. I believe the spores grow very fast. Xiang Xing is still attached to this world. He’ll be willing to come back.” Xia Yu braced himself and sat up straight, leaning against Mo An’s chest. “Everyone… everyone’s okay, right?”

As he spoke, he looked to the side. This was their original destination: Yukun City. After all the twists and turns, they had still come here. The light outside the window wasn’t bright; it was shrouded in damp mist, like an extremely cruel testing ground.

“Right, where’s my sister?” Only after overcoming the pain did Xia Yu look toward the pod glowing with a green light not far away. “Why hasn’t Xiaoxiao woken up?”

Jingwei: [I can detect her brainwave signal, but I can’t detect her awakening.]

Ling Shi: [Xiaoxiao? Is Xiaoxiao your dual-bodied sister?]

Seeing that Xia Yu was low on strength, Mo An answered for him. “Yes, that sister. She should have entered the virtual world earlier than Xia Yu. Is that why she hasn’t woken up yet?”

Ling Shi: [I can only detect her brainwaves, but I can’t find any signs of her waking up.]

“That shouldn’t be the case. This was the agreement between Nuwa and me. It promised to let my sister wake up.” Xia Yu wanted to walk over to her, but he was too weak to even stand upright. In the end, Mo An carried him over. Through the opaque pod wall, Xia Yu couldn’t clearly see his sister’s condition.

Ling Shi: [Although I don’t want to say this, Nuwa is capable of anything. If she unilaterally breaks the agreement, there’s nothing we can do. Xia Yu, I have even worse news for you.]

“What other bad news? You might as well say it all at once.” Xia Yu looked at the wristband. “No, Nuwa won’t break the agreement. You don’t understand it well enough yet.”

Ling Shi: [I connected to the ecological monitoring system here. There is something inside your body. It should be some kind of… unknown lifeform that Nuwa implanted.]

“What? Say it more clearly!” Mo An immediately looked at Xia Yu’s body but couldn’t see anything unusual.

Ling Shi: [It may be inside the chest cavity or the abdominal cavity. I can’t determine whether it belongs to an organic organism yet.]

Xia Yu closed his eyes briefly, as if he already had an idea. “I knew it… It would…”

“Would what?” Mo An asked urgently. Xia Yu hadn’t been like this before. Why was he suddenly speaking so haltingly? It was as if he had discovered a new clue but wasn’t telling anyone.

“Nothing. I understand in my heart.” Xia Yu touched his fully healed temple. “Ling Shi, tell me how to remove that thing. Even if I have to carve it out alive, I won’t leave here carrying Nuwa’s thing.”

Ling Shi: [Connecting to Yukun City laboratory… connection failed… retrying connection…]

Mo An wasn’t idle either. He couldn’t just sit and wait, relying on the distant Ling Shi to find a way out. And the white cats that had run off earlier gathered around again, jumping around Xia Yu. They seemed so anxious that they appeared as if they were about to speak.

“Could it be a mutant species?” Talos said.

“Why? How is that possible?” Mo An steadied himself, telling himself not to panic.

“The white cats are a mutant species. They feed on other mutant species, which is why they can move freely in Yukun City. Xia Yu is a synth, but he is nurturing a mutant species inside his body. This really does sound like something Nuwa would do: a grand fusion of life.” Talos guessed. “This whole floor is laboratories. Is there an operating room? A surgical pod? At the very least, find a low-temperature isolation observation room!”

Ling Shi: [Found it. There is a fully equipped operating room in Area A that can be put into use. It’s equipped with the highest-level remote surgical control blade. However, to activate the Area A laboratory, you must shut down the mainframe of the virtual world in front of you.]

“Just tell us what the consequences will be.” Xia Yu looked at his sister’s pod.

Ling Shi: [After shutting it down, all the pods may explode. The mainframe’s energy supply is completed by ecological electricity, which generates a new chip. Intense ecological electricity will disrupt the surrounding magnetic field and form a massive electronic corruption zone.]

“T-this… what do we do?” Mi Dou panicked.

If they don’t operate on Xia Yu, the mutant species will continue to grow inside his body. However, if they did operate, Xiaoxiao’s pod might explode, leaving her without a body. After the explosion, a dangerous chip would also appear…

“I can absorb the chip.” Mo An decided swiftly. “No need to worry about that. I can suppress the formation of electronic corruption.”

Ling Shi: [But your absorption also has a limit. The power contained in this chip may exceed your limit. What will you do when that happens?]

“Power Plant No. 3.” Mo An answered without hesitation. “I can return to Power Plant No. 3, release the electricity, and activate the mysterious reclamation project at the same time. We can disconnect Xiaoxiao’s pod in advance. I trust Xia Yu’s judgment. Xiaoxiao will definitely wake up; it’ll just take more time. The most important thing is…”

Everyone looked at Xia Yu.

“The most important thing is when you’re going to operate on me.” Once again, Xia Yu was at the center of attention, but he could already see the road ahead through the fog. “Dou Dou, enter the cultivation room immediately and activate Xiang Xing’s spores. Once the spores start to divide and grow, we can begin the surgery. I already know what to do.”

He touched his chest and abdomen. The artificial intelligence’s tricks turned out not to be that complicated. He had already grabbed its tail. Now, it was humanity’s turn to take control.