Chapter 711

Chapter 711

Jack clutched a reinforced tactical suitcase tightly to his chest. Inside were the raw data disks snatched from the core platform and a few unknown samples sealed in cryogenic containers—the only gains from this brutal mission, and the hope bought with countless sacrifices.

At the end of the corridor, the heavy isolation door, forcibly breached, was finally in sight!

Beyond it lay a relatively safe buffer zone and the path to the ruined surface!

"Break through!" Ronnie roared, his chainsaw unleashing one last savage sweep, shredding the final few BOWs blocking the doorway!

The remnants of the Blade Squad, like a flood bursting through a dam, carried their wounded, their heavy spoils, and the stench of blood and gunpowder, finally charging out of that hellish core of a laboratory!

Behind them, deeper in the lab, came the sounds of more incubation pods shattering, monsters howling, and the groaning of some massive structure on the verge of collapse.

The shrill alarm grew more frantic, red lights flashing wildly, signaling that this desecrated testing ground was on the brink of total destruction—whether by a self-destruct sequence or the chain reaction caused by those rampaging BOWs losing control.

No one looked back.

They raced along the blood-soaked corridor they'd come through, sprinting toward the light above that represented survival.

Every step tugged at their wounds, every breath carried the metallic taste of blood, but the will to survive overpowered exhaustion and pain.

Time blurred—maybe just a few minutes, but it felt like a century.

When the last team member stumbled out of the bullet-riddled, explosion-scarred ruins entrance and breathed in the cold air laced with dust and radiation, everyone nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

"We're out."

Ronnie's massive frame leaned against a broken concrete pillar, his arm dropping to the ground with a heavy buzz.

"Wounded! Hurry! Medical team!"

Sophia's voice trembled with sobs, the glow of her life-link fading completely. Her vision darkened, and she slumped to the ground, only to be caught by Sabrina nearby.

I shook off the support, forcing myself to stand tall.

Looking around, I saw that of the nearly hundred elite members of Blade Squad who'd set out, fewer than thirty were still standing. All were injured, utterly drained.

The Rock Squad was almost entirely critically wounded or unconscious, and the Blade Group had suffered heavy losses.

The list of the fallen felt suffocatingly heavy.

"Contact the evacuation ship! We're leaving now!" My voice was hoarse but resolute.

The comms officer immediately opened the encrypted channel to call for help.

Soon, the roar of engines grew closer. Several battered assault crafts bearing the Elite Alliance emblem broke through the thick radiation clouds, hovering above the lab as they lowered landing cables.

The evacuation proceeded methodically yet with desperate speed.

The critically wounded were hoisted up first, followed by the core data and samples, and finally the team members who could still move.

I stood by the landing cable, my gaze lingering one last time on this steel graveyard that had swallowed so many lives.

Heart Eater's body, along with his lab full of insane creations, would be buried forever beneath these ruins.

I looked down at my hand, where the blue light of the Control Spirit Crystal faintly pulsed under my skin.

Heart Eater's venomous glare and his dying whispers about the "Mainframe" clung to my mind like a curse, impossible to shake.

The assault craft's hatch slowly closed, shutting out the cold air and the eerie silence of the ruins.

Inside the cabin, the air was thick with the smell of disinfectant, blood, and sheer exhaustion.

Medics moved through the cramped space, giving emergency care to the wounded.

Jack slumped in a seat, his trembling hands connecting a portable terminal to try and access the data disk. His face, lit by the blue glow of the screen, looked grim.

I sat in a corner, and Sabrina silently handed me a high-energy nutrient drink.

I took it but didn't drink, my eyes fixed on Jack's screen.

Suddenly, Jack let out a sharp gasp, "James, look at this!"

I got up and walked over.

On the screen was a partially decoded fragment of the most critical encrypted file from the data disk. It wasn't full experimental data—it looked like a log!

---

Recorder: Heart Eater (Codename: Shepherd)

Access Level: Direct Mainframe Connection (Highest)

Note: Observation Report on the "Key" and the "Source"

"Target individual (James) shows adaptability to the Control Spirit Crystal far beyond expectations. His mental resilience and compatibility with purification energy have reached the 'Candidate' standard threshold. The Mainframe's prediction model is once again validated. The Control Spirit Crystal does not randomly select a host; it is searching, or rather, 'returning.'"

"The essence of 'purification' is not creation, but 'restoration.' It forcibly reverts a chaotic, distorted life-force field to its original, purest form. This contradicts our pursuit of 'evolution.' The Mainframe believes that the power source of the Control Spirit Crystal and the 'ultimate evolution' source we seek may share a common origin—or even be two sides of the same coin?"

"Multiple attempts at mental infiltration have failed. The target's mental core is deeply protected by the Control Spirit Crystal's power, rendering standard psychic interference ineffective. Its energy signature exhibits strong repulsion to the Mainframe's will projection, like magnets repelling at the same pole. This further confirms the 'key' and 'lock' relationship."

"Must obtain the target individual or a complete Control Spirit Crystal sample! This is the critical key to unlocking the 'Source' and realizing the Mainframe's ultimate blueprint! At any cost!"

The log cut off there, followed by even higher-level encryption that even Jack couldn't crack right away.

The cabin fell dead silent.

Everyone was stunned by the information revealed in the log fragment.

The Control Spirit Crystal is "searching" for a host?

Its power source might share an origin with the "ultimate evolution" the Mainframe seeks?

My energy signature naturally repels the Mainframe's will? I'm the "key" in the Mainframe's eyes, and also the "prey" it must capture?

My fist clenched unconsciously, the Control Spirit Crystal faintly warming in my palm.

Every word Heart Eater spoke in the lab now carried a deeper, more chilling meaning.

"Key... prey..."

I muttered under my breath, the blue light in my eyes deep as an abyss.

Heart Eater is dead, but the Mainframe's gaze seems to pierce through endless starfields, landing on me with an even colder, more direct intensity. In this battle, we secured vital data at a horrific cost, but it also fully exposed me to the terrifying entity hidden behind the curtain—the "Mainframe"—placing me at the top of its hunting list.

"Boss," Jack looked at me, his voice heavy, "we've got the key, but we've also stirred up big trouble. The real storm might just be starting."