Chapter 169: Underground - Xiao Qi
White Box's underground laboratory isn't on any map.
After TF took over, they wiped out all the markers. But the old janitor's sketch had one detail: ventilation pipe numbers. Pipe B-7 leads to the "abandoned zone." But the abandoned zone is bigger than the main lab.
Not abandoned. Hidden.
I'm taking Xiao Ba with me. She insisted on coming. Five-year-old body, but she walks steady. The fragment inside her, though suppressed by the seed, still has traces left. She can "smell" the Forge's scent. Like a dog smelling prey.
"Sister," she says, pointing at the ground. "Down there... there's a sound."
"What sound?"
"Heartbeat," she says. "But not human. It's... a machine. Like... a really big... drum."
We find the B-7 vent. In Side B's industrial district. Surrounded by abandoned factories. Rusted smokestacks. Broken glass windows. Graffiti-covered walls. Human slums.
The vent is half-sealed with cement. I shine my flashlight inside. The pipe's about eighty centimeters across. Big enough for Xiao Ba to crawl through. Not me.
"Wait here," I say.
"No," she says. "I want to go down."
"Too dangerous."
"Down there... there are... little friends," she says, looking at me with round pupils flashing. "Like me... cut open. Crying."
I freeze.
"How do you know?"
"I can hear," she says. Fingers covering her ears. "Here."
She closes her eyes. Lips moving. Like she's listening to something.
"Three," she says. "Two girls. One boy. About my age. They're locked in... glass rooms. Someone's... giving them shots."
"What shots?"
"Blue," she says. "Same as... what they gave me."
White Box's experiments are still going.
Even after TF took over. Even after the Forge died.
Someone...
Is continuing them.
"Okay," I say. "We're going down."
I pull out my UV pistol. Check the magazine. Three bullets. Need to use them carefully.
Xiao Ba goes into the pipe first. Her body's small, flexible. Like a cat. I follow behind. Knees and elbows scraping against the metal pipe walls. Making harsh sounds.
The pipe slopes down. About thirty degrees. We walk maybe fifty meters. Hit a vertical shaft. There's light below. Red. Like warning lights.
We climb down the ladder along the shaft wall.
Ten meters. Twenty meters.
We reach the bottom.
It's a... storage room. Full of boxes. The boxes have White Box's logo printed on them: a cross and a box.
I open a box.
Inside are... test tubes.
Glass test tubes. Filled with liquid. Dark red. Not blood. Some kind of... concentrate. The label says: "DN-001. Batch 12."
De Noct family... gene samples?
Another box. Inside... clothes. Kids' clothes. Small. About five to eight years old. White. Like hospital gowns.
Third box. Inside... toys. Building blocks. Crayons. Dolls. But they're all... taken apart. Like someone was searching for something hidden inside.
"Sister..." Xiao Ba pulls my hand. Her fingers are ice-cold. "Over there..."
She points to the end of the storage room. There's a door. Metal. With a viewing window.
Light coming through the window...
I walk over.
Look through the window.
Then...
I freeze.
Inside the room...
Three children.
And...
An adult.
The adult is...
Dr. Chen.
Not a backup. Not a ghost. Real. Alive. White coat. Glasses. Holding a syringe. Blue liquid.
On the bed in front of him...
A girl is lying there.
About seven. Black hair. Human round pupils. But on her back... bumps. Like wing buds. Like something... trying to grow out.
"Don't move," Dr. Chen says. His voice comes through the door crack, muffled. "Almost done. This time... it won't hurt."
He pushes the syringe.
Blue liquid injects into the girl's spine.
The girl...
Screams.
That scream... isn't human. It's some kind of... mix. A human throat making... an animal's howl.
Her back...
Splits open.
The skin unzips.
Revealing... the bones underneath.
Not white. But... silver.
Like metal. Like...
Wings.
"Success," Dr. Chen says. Corner of his mouth curving up. "Third generation... hybrid... success."
"You..." I kick the door.
The door isn't locked. Or... the lock's broken.
I rush in.
UV pistol aimed at Dr. Chen.
"Don't move!"
He turns around.
Sees me.
Smiles.
"Xiao Qi," he says. "You came. Later than I expected."
"You... didn't you die?"
"That body died," he says. "But my consciousness... was preserved by Forge fragments. After the Forge died... the fragments released me. I found... a new body."
He points at himself.
Young body. About thirty. Black hair. No wrinkles. But his eyes carry... some ancient... exhaustion.
"Clone," he says. "White Box's backup. My own DNA. Plus... Forge fragments."
"I..."
"Am new."
"Also..."
"Old."
Xiao Ba walks in. She sees the girl on the bed. The girl's passed out. Silver wings on her back... still growing. Like plants. Like... some kind of... horrible flower.
"She..." Xiao Ba says. "Is like me."
"Yes," Dr. Chen says. "But she's more... complete."
"You're... not complete."
"Missing... something."
"Heart," Dr. Chen says. "You have fragments. But no... heart. The heart organ."
"So... you'll... hurt."
"She won't."
"Because she has..."
"A new heart."
"Made from... Forge fragments..."
I pull the trigger.
UV bullet hits his shoulder.
His skin burns. But he doesn't fall. He smiles.
"Xiao Qi," he says. "You can't kill me."
"Why?"
"Because... I'm also... a fragment."
"Same as the Forge..."
"If you kill me..."
"The Forge... will wake up."
"Inside... the bell."
"Inside... your husband's... consciousness."
"It will..."
"Re..."
"Awaken."
"Hungry."
I freeze.
"What do you want?" I ask.
"Cooperation," Dr. Chen says. "Use these three children. Plus... Xiao Ba. Plus... the twins."
"Build a... new door."
"Bigger than the original..."
"More... stable."
"Let Side A and Side B..."
"Forever..."
"Merge."
"No... separation."
"No... hunger."
"Only..."
"Wholeness."
I look at the girl on the bed.
Her back's still bleeding. Silver wings trembling. Like a newborn bird. Like... a torn angel.
"No," I say.
"Then you'll regret it," Dr. Chen says. "Because..."
"New visitors... have already arrived."
"From Side A."
"Through the door."
"They're not... friends."
"They're..."
"Reapers."
"Come to harvest..."
"The fruits you planted..."
"Including..."
"Your children."
"And..."
"You."
The room's alarm suddenly blares.
Red. Flashing.
From the ground. From the direction of the city.
Something's...
Coming.
Very big.
Very fast.
I pick up Xiao Ba.
Look out the window—the basement ventilation shaft. I can see the sky.
The door in the sky...
Is shaking.
Not black shaking.
But...
Golden.
Like something...
Golden...
Is...
Passing through it.
Dr. Chen smiles.
"They're here," he says.
"Reapers."
"From..."
"Side A's..."
"Deepest place."
"Deeper than the Primogenitor ruins..."
"Older than the Forge..."
"They..."
"Want to..."
"Restart."