Max found it extremely thorny.
Zhuang Fan had disguised himself as Xu Renyi, which meant the AI system could not kill him. Instead, like a snowball rolling downhill, more and more armored soldiers were joining his ranks.
If they sent security personnel to encircle Zhuang Fan, it would be like using flesh and blood to block a tank—anyone who went would not return.
David could not help sighing. “This kid’s something. Using the enemy’s spear to turn against the enemy’s shield.”
“Shut up.”
Seeing Max’s cold expression, David did not dare make another sound.
After a while, Max issued a new order:
“All squads, immediately recall the armored soldiers and Iron Guards in your jurisdictions. Remove their batteries. Management personnel in all sectors, shut down the sentry-tower machine guns, mechanical dogs, and drone swarms. Lock down all armories.”
But very soon, he received a warning from the system:
“Xu Renyi” had gone invisible again, and had shut down the majority of the shelter’s communication modules and access-control permissions.
Max frowned. After waiting for quite a while, he attempted to make contact. “Mr. Xu, please restore the command permissions.”
Xu Lanshan’s weary voice came from the other end of the comms. “Master Xu is too tired. He just fell asleep. Let him rest for a while.”
“Apologies. I was inconsiderate.”
Max instead contacted the control center, but the people there were helpless as well. “The system security module is rebooting and performing a self-check. Estimated time required: thirty minutes.”
His face turned ashen, his mood terrible.
This meant that Zhuang Fan could now leave the shelter without obstruction.
Gunfire still echoed in the distance. Through emergency permissions, Max revoked the firing authorization of six armored soldiers.
The other guards then swarmed forward and removed the battery packs from their backs.
Max pondered for a long while, then issued a new order:
“Everyone withdraw. No need to stop him. Have the soldiers at the lift platform withdraw too. Doesn’t he want to run? I’ll indulge him.”
David could not help speaking up. “Old Max, did you take a hit or something? That kid really will run!”
Max shook his head. “He’ll weave a cocoon around himself.”
On the other side, Zhuang Fan was already utterly exhausted.
Sweat had soaked through his clothes. His face was covered in melted paper paste, and the disguise that belonged to “Xu Renyi” had almost nothing left of it. Only eight loyal armored soldiers remained by his side.
After wrestling with that old fellow for several hundred rounds, the old man finally “conked out” and went offline.
Zhuang Fan issued one final command: have the system reboot and run a self-check, set the duration to thirty minutes, and make it irrevocable.
He had also tucked away a few thoughts of his own. He always felt that this thirty-minute power vacuum might encourage certain people to start getting restless.
Now, he could no longer maintain his disguise. All his advantages had vanished completely, and he had already prepared himself for a desperate last stand.
But in the latter half of the journey, he was surprised to discover that no enemies obstructed him at all. He made it to the lift platform unimpeded.
The armored soldiers’ rotary machine guns roared with a “tat-tat-tat,” directly blasting the doors of the control center to pieces.
There was not a single person inside.
Zhuang Fan felt more and more that something was fishy, but the arrow was already on the string. He had no choice left.
Relying on his own analysis, he found the most important mechanical activation button and successfully started the lift.
Then, together with the eight armored soldiers, he stepped onto the lift, placing himself in the very center under their protection.
The lift rose slowly. The hope of escape was right before his eyes, and Zhuang Fan’s heart clenched tight.
However, accidents always arrived right on schedule.
At that moment, the lift let out a shrill screech of metal grinding against metal. Sparks flew from the cable brake, and the entire lift jolted violently before stopping dead in midair.
Zhuang Fan checked all around and discovered that the lift had no accessible ports whatsoever. It was purely mechanically operated and had no backup power source.
The nearest escape ladder was thirty meters above. The shaft walls were smooth; there was no way to climb up.
He froze for a moment, then mocked himself. “This time, I really am stuck on the wall.”
……
On the other side, after Max learned that Zhuang Fan was trapped, a faint smile of victory appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Now his armored soldiers have no place to be of use.”
Suddenly, an emergency report came through. A hoarse, desperate roar sounded from the communicator:
“Commander! Commander! Mr. Xu has been attacked! Twenty assailants breached the door! They have heavy firepower! Return at once!”
Max froze. He had just set Zhuang Fan up, but he had not expected Zhuang Fan to turn around and slap him hard across the face.
His eyes flared with rage. “Hold them off, all of you!”
Max was truly furious. He had calculated everything, yet he had never imagined that the enemy would take advantage of the gap to strike at his home base.
He immediately pulled together a combat squad and, with heavy fire support, forcibly punched through several defensive lines that had been sealed off by the enemy.
He quickly noticed that something was wrong.
These assailants were all bionic soldiers. They bore no markings, but their appearance was that of domestic-service models.
Because they were not connected to the network and lacked computing support, their combat skills were poor, but they were utterly fearless of death.
Max finally saw their objective—self-destructive attacks. They wanted to completely eliminate Xu Renyi.
“Rumble—!”
The bionic soldiers self-detonated one after another. Countless holes were blasted into the steel walls. Dust filled the scene, and flames shot into the sky.
Max was both shocked and enraged. Ignoring his own injuries, he grabbed a shotgun cannon and charged at the very front, blasting the heads of the remaining bionic soldiers apart at close range.
It took a little over ten minutes in total to wipe out all the invading enemies.
He rushed into the innermost room. Fortunately, the walls here were exceptionally thick and had not suffered too much impact.
Only four of the guards at Xu Renyi’s side remained. Xu Lanshan’s left arm was injured, blood staining her sleeve red, but overall she was not in serious trouble.
Only after confirming that there was nothing wrong with the medical team did Max allow them in to treat Xu Lanshan and the others’ wounds.
Xu Renyi, having been mentally and physically exhausted, had earlier been given a sedative and fallen asleep.
At this moment, as if sensing the commotion outside, he struggled for a long time before slowly opening his eyes.
“Mr. Xu, are you all right?”
“Did something happen?”
Xu Renyi regained his clarity. “Help me up first.”
With Xu Lanshan and Max’s assistance, he sat back in his wheelchair. Looking somewhat weary, he asked in a low voice:
“What happened just now?”
Max wiped away his cold sweat and reported truthfully.
“Heh. Some people are always hoping I’ll die. Things haven’t even begun in earnest, and they already can’t wait.”
Max’s expression was grave. “I will investigate this thoroughly.”
Xu Renyi was more concerned about Zhuang Fan. “What about our young friend? Has he been caught?”
“He’s trapped in the lift. He can’t escape.”
“Mm. Then bring him back.”
Xu Renyi’s gaze turned icy. “To avoid further complications, we’ll begin the operation shortly.”
“Mr. Xu, won’t you rest for a while?”
“No.”
Xu Renyi thought it over, then said cautiously, “Or rather, do this first. Take our young friend for an examination. Conduct a deep scan of his memories and ensure nothing goes wrong.”
Too much information was missing from Zhuang Fan’s cryogenic pod, and the abilities he had displayed on the spot were astonishing as well. Xu Renyi could not help growing suspicious.
The blond doctor accepted the order and left the room.
Max decided to stay by Xu Renyi’s side, so he had David deal with those armored soldiers and bring Zhuang Fan back tied up.
David pointed at himself. “Me?”
“You can also go squat in prison.”
“I guarantee I’ll escort him back!”
David prepared multiple layers of protection for himself, then climbed upward along the iron-grate passage, carefully approaching the lift platform.
He saw Zhuang Fan sitting cross-legged in the center, with eight armored soldiers standing beside him, awe-inspiring and majestic.
David was extremely wary. If he did not use shock grenades and plasma rifles, it would indeed be difficult to take them down quickly in a short time.
However, when he saw that Zhuang Fan had recovered his original appearance, he immediately understood what was going on.
This kid definitely had no authorization, so he also could not make the armored soldiers actively attack. It should count as him having completely given up.
In truth, after Zhuang Fan realized he could not escape, he had stopped struggling and had simply sat there in a daze the entire time.
For someone like him, who had long devoted himself to research in the laboratory, spacing out was an extremely extravagant and wasteful act. But at this moment, he only wanted to empty his mind for a while, to dispel the absurdity and grotesqueness lingering in his head.
It was as if one second he had still been discussing a brain-computer anti-interference system with his professor, and the next he had been frozen into a future world seven hundred years later, alone and helpless, trapped deep inside a thieves’ den. It all felt deeply unreal.
“Hey, you’re not running anymore, right?”
Seeing a familiar face, Zhuang Fan smiled. “We could also both suffer heavy losses, but there’s no need for that anymore.”
He had guessed Max’s thoughts. If David came over to persuade him to surrender, the effect would naturally be better.
“Right, right. As the ancients said, harmony is precious.”
David was truly frightened. As he spoke, he had someone bring over signal-cracking equipment and first restored the armored soldiers’ network.
Only after Xu Renyi’s command came through and the armored soldiers’ defensive mode was removed did David let out a breath of relief and smoothly arrive at Zhuang Fan’s side.
“Let’s go, little brother. Come back with your big brother.”
Zhuang Fan nodded and silently stood up.
“No need to tie him up. If this kid really wanted to run, none of you could stop him.”
“You think that highly of me?”
After Zhuang Fan said that, he stopped in his tracks. His gaze fell on the standby armored soldier nearby and the rotary machine gun in its hand.
David was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
He did not make a sound, staring at it for a long time.
Zhuang Fan only felt a stifling gloom in his chest, smothering and irritable, almost impossible to suppress.
He suddenly raised his leg.
“Boom—”
The heavy gun barrel was kicked crooked by him with all his strength, letting out a crisp “crack.”
He kept kicking, as if gone mad.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!”
After seven or eight consecutive fierce kicks, the gun barrel was completely snapped off. Parts shattered all over the ground, producing an ear-piercing clang.
David waved a hand to stop the guards from raising their guns. He merely watched in silence, allowing Zhuang Fan to vent.
After he finished venting, Zhuang Fan did not speak again. He silently followed behind David, utterly different from the frenzied state he had been in just moments ago.
Only after a long while did he speak. “Brother, sorry. I caused you trouble.”
Hearing this, David merely sighed softly and shook his head.
The group did not escort Zhuang Fan back to the prison cell, but instead sent him to the laboratory.
At the blond doctor’s command, Zhuang Fan’s hands and feet were firmly bound, and four or five alloy steel cables were added around his body.
The doctor looked at him with a hint of pity. “Why struggle? In the end, the result is the same, and you only have to suffer more.”
“You talk too much nonsense. Hurry up.”
“Still so stubborn.”
A huge black disc covered Zhuang Fan’s head. The machine emitted a continuous roar, and a powerful electric current immediately surged into his brain and through his entire body.
“Bzzzt—”
Zhuang Fan’s body spasmed instantly. He clenched his teeth hard, his fists tightening, sweat rolling down his forehead, yet he still had the presence of mind to sneer. “Is this all you have for torture?”
The blond doctor smiled. “I have plenty of methods. But your body is too precious. I don’t dare use too much force.”
Zhuang Fan stared at the huge black disc and said through gritted teeth, “So you’re reading my… memories again?”
“Correct.”
Zhuang Fan’s face was filled with anger and helplessness. He felt as if he had been shocked for nothing. “Next time, can you say so earlier? I would definitely cooperate!”
He likewise hoped that these people could examine things carefully and see whether they could uncover some of the secrets of his past.
For example, his powerful physical constitution, extraordinary reaction speed, enhanced memory… All of these were like a fog, and he did not know who had tampered with him.
As for the memories of controlling the uncanny mist, he was certain they would not be able to dig them out. Deep in his subconscious, he resisted with absolute determination.
In the end, the memories that were read were the trajectory of his life and growth before he had been frozen, composed of many fragmented scenes.
The memories of his experiences after thawing were likewise fragmented, and the process of controlling the uncanny mist was perfectly hidden.
“Top-tier science and engineering talent, hyperthymesia, astronomy enthusiast, brain cancer patient, cryogenic subject…”
The researchers analyzed for quite a while longer but found nothing unusual, and could only classify Zhuang Fan as a “Common Era human with excellent physique.”
Max had endured beside them for a long time, and finally cut in. “Since you can’t find anything, hurry up and carry out the operation. Don’t drag this out anymore.”
The blond doctor bowed slightly. “Commander, you may invite Mr. Xu over now.”
Very soon, Xu Renyi was pushed in lying on a hospital bed. His eyes were slightly closed, his breathing steady. It seemed he had fallen asleep again.
Xu Lanshan said softly by his ear, “Master Xu, we’re about to begin the operation.”
As if sensing something, Xu Renyi slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were still cloudy, and his entire person seemed somewhat fatigued.
“So it’s finally come…”