The giant corporations that started from Night City

Chapter 492 Gene virus bomb! Order falls apart! Chaos!

Paul's words made everyone feel depressed. That was true. The dungeon was full of electronic devices, and anything could pop up a holographic screen.

Everything is powered wirelessly. The power supply of the equipment emits current through microwaves or various electromagnetic oscillation beams, and forms a power supply field within a certain spatial range.

Any electronic device within this range does not require cumbersome wires for power supply, and can charge itself with just an antenna or electromagnetic resonance coil.

Therefore, in this huge underground city, they had no way to stop the electronic equipment controlled by Sophon, and could only be careful and vigilant.

Paul and others returned to the busy streets again. Since they couldn't hide anywhere, they decided to go to a larger place so that they would have more space to hide.

If Chieko dares to carry out another blatant assassination, the human agents here will notice that something is wrong and quickly launch an investigation.

By then, it would be even more difficult for Tomoko to kill Paul and others.

Standing at a corner of the street, Paul, Agent K and others turned their backs to each other and watched their surroundings carefully, patiently waiting for the passage of time and the arrival of Tomoko's next wave of assassinations.

Ahem——!
A passerby walked past Agent Leon and coughed in a very restrained manner. Although Leon was dissatisfied, he just subconsciously held his breath and waited for the man to go away.

At this moment, the giant holographic screen in the square began to broadcast the midday news, which was mainly insignificant trivial matters.

The deliberate whitewashing of the situation has prevented the local news media from paying too much energy and attention to the hibernators above.

Even a common flu can make it to the news.

[Recently, there has been a mild case of influenza in New Life Underground City, mainly manifested as cough and runny nose, and some patients may experience sore and itchy throats. ]

[This disease does not require medication, and it will heal on its own after three days of rest. Please drink more water, exercise more, and maintain good work and rest habits. ]

【…】

Paul and Luke were the elders in the team, so they naturally focused their attention on the pedestrians on the roadside or the electronic equipment around them, while K and Leon observed the passing vehicles and various airships in the sky.

The four of them complemented each other and changed positions from time to time.

But not long after, Agent Lyon suddenly felt an itching in his lungs and coughed.

This naturally aroused Paul's vigilance. He frowned slightly and asked, "What's going on? Do you have a cold too?"

Paul has a good memory and can remember everything he sees. Naturally, he heard all the news that was broadcast on the giant screen in the square.

Including the influenza that just happened.

"It shouldn't be. Maybe it's just that my throat is a little itchy." Agent Lyon shook his head subconsciously. How could he catch a cold so easily with his physical condition?

Even if you really have a cold, you should still be full of energy and jump around.

But Paul realized that something was wrong. The agents who came here to carry out the mission had all undergone relevant genetic modifications, and their physical fitness was much stronger than that of ordinary people.

Not to mention a cold, even if a virulent virus came into contact with Leon, it would not necessarily cause any effective infection to him.

Even though Leon is just a newcomer in the team and has undergone less genetic modification, compared to ordinary people, it is no problem to say that they are of two different species.

Ordinary people can catch a cold, so how could he catch a cold!

Seeing the suspicion in Paul's eyes, Agent Lyon wanted to continue holding on. He waved his hands and was about to say that he was really fine.

As a result, he coughed up blood the next second, and the itching in his lungs quickly worsened into a tingling sensation.

Now even he realized the seriousness of the problem. This was obviously a genetic virus attack arranged by Chieko!
Seeing Leon coughing so badly, passers-by around him dispersed and looked at Paul and others with vigilance. They also suffered from influenza to varying degrees.

But this is the first time I've seen someone coughing as badly as Leon.

"Ahem! Boss, we have to retreat..."

Leon's throat was so sticky that it was difficult for him to speak. Men rarely say that they can't do it, but when they really say that they are about to fail, they are actually on the verge of death.

Paul obviously understood Leon's critical condition at the moment. He helped Leon up and prepared to take him away from here first.

The hospital here definitely cannot cure Leon, so they can only take him back to the Wasp spacecraft that is picking up the investigation team for treatment.

In order to buy more time for Leon's emergency treatment, Paul called for the transforming spaceship to come over and used the nano first aid kit he carried with him to relieve Leon's painful symptoms.

Agents of giant companies rarely carry healing items because their genes are the best healing measure and most injuries can heal on their own.

Being stabbed by a knife or shot by a gun, as long as you are not blown into pieces by a large-caliber artillery shell, there is a possibility of self-healing.

As for genetic viral infection, let’s not even talk about it.

But Lyon was so unlucky that he came here to carry out the mission before he had time to complete the giant company's full genetic modification, and ended up encountering such a thing.

People like Paul and other agents were not infected with the virus.

This incident also reminded Paul that the methods used by Sophon were far more than physical attacks; biological weapons were also one of their methods.

As expected, after successfully infecting one of the giant company's agents, Tomoko's attacks became more and more blatant.

Paul took away the AI ​​Red Queen that had collected half of the data, and left for the exit of the underground city on a transforming spaceship.

But the billboards on the road kept emitting sparks, and then broke and fell down with a bang. It was definitely aimed at them, so there was no need to act.

Fortunately, the transforming spaceship's dodge speed was fast enough, and it avoided the falling billboard with a lightning-fast drift limit. Wherever Paul and his gang went, electronic equipment would fall and break down.

The passers-by around were completely dumbfounded.

When did their underground city become so fragile? Why do all kinds of inexplicable problems occur all the time? This shouldn't happen.

At this moment, Sophon's attack methods had become rampant and crazy. It knew that if it did not take extreme measures, it would not be able to stop Paul and his team from leaving with the information.

On the giant screen in the square, there were also many cases of inexplicable and unexpected news:

[Now, an urgent news. Just ten minutes ago, there were explosions and collapses in many underground cities including Tokyo, Paris, London, and Washington.]

[The specific cause is currently unknown, and relevant departments have launched an emergency investigation. ]

[……] It was obvious that the other members of the investigation team had also suffered various attacks, and they were facing an explosion attack arranged by Tomoko, and several agents had been injured and evacuated.

"Others have also run into trouble, but fortunately there have been no serious casualties so far."

Agent K learned the information of other members through the team's internal channel.

Paul did not let down his guard because the accidents arranged by Sophon were becoming more and more like targeted attacks. As long as the human beings here were not fools, they could clearly see that the Trisolarans were causing trouble.

Now all they have to do is let Sophon use missiles to kill them.

Before Paul could drive out of the underground city, new troubles came knocking.

Countless bionic robots came out from restaurants, game halls, and streets, and surrounded Paul.

Such an abnormal situation naturally caused unrest among the people. The humans in the underground city who lived in a comfortable and peaceful environment had never seen such a strange situation.

Faced with the interception of ordinary humans, the bionic people remained unmoved. They lined up in neat queues and blocked the path that Paul and others had to pass.

The street where Paul was located soon became jammed with traffic. What was even worse was that other bionic people were also crowding towards them through other intersections.

It's like a constant stream of ants eyeing a piece of sweet and delicious cake.

This scared the other passers-by on the street. They thought an artificial intelligence crisis had broken out and that these robots were going to rebel.

Seeing that there was no way to go on the main road, Paul could only activate the flight mode of the transforming spaceship, fly up into the air in front of all passers-by, and fly to the other side.

Each traffic channel in the underground city strictly restricts the type of vehicles. Cars can only go on the road, and hovercrafts can only fly on the aerial track.

People like Paul who run on the ground and fly in the sky at the same time will have their driver's license revoked and their vehicles confiscated in minutes.

But in this chaotic scene, no one cared about Paul who violated traffic rules.

The entire dungeon has long been in chaos, and it seems that Tomoko is determined to kill them at all costs.

Faced with the pursuit and interception of other hovercrafts flying in the air, Paul had to activate the weapon system of the transforming spacecraft and blow up all the hovercrafts in front of him.

These hovercrafts are basically civilian transportation tools and do not have any weapons or equipment. Paul only needs to press a switch to quickly clear a large area of ​​vehicles blocking the road.

Leon's condition was still getting worse, which made Paul more and more anxious. Fortunately, the weapon system carried by the transforming spacecraft was powerful enough, so the way forward was smooth.

The crashable hovercraft and large-scale bionic robot riots have caused chaos in the city. A large number of citizens have fled in all directions and hid in areas they thought were safe in panic.

In addition, the blue sky and white clouds at the dome of the dungeon disappeared due to the failure of the electronic equipment, and were replaced by a dim light flashing blood red.

Without sufficient lighting, the underground city seemed to have ushered in the end of the world. People who had previously sneered at the Three-Body Civilization now felt that a disaster was imminent. Fear and madness made them give rise to the most primitive violent instincts.

At first, the crowd only used weapons for self-defense, but then the violence escalated and they took the initiative to hunt down the bionic robots that were running around.

However, since the appearance of bionic robots is almost the same as that of humans, they can only judge by the movements of the other party. However, in conditions of limited lighting, most people kill their own people by mistake.

These panicked people killed each other and shot each other with guns over disagreements. Among them were thugs who took advantage of the situation to burn, kill and loot.

The modern city that was civilized and harmonious a few hours ago has degenerated into the beasts of tens of thousands of years ago simply because of the chaos that occurred in the city without the watchful eyes of the blue sky and white clouds.

The pouring ammunition intertwined in the city forest, flames flickered on countless branches, and broken buildings continued to fall from the sky, randomly killing a lucky passerby.

All order fell apart in the blink of an eye.

Along the way, broken underground pipes would appear from time to time, spewing out water columns dozens of meters high, and high-voltage cables would whip towards us like snakes.

Then a natural gas pipeline exploded from nowhere, sending huge rocks flying in front of the transformed spacecraft.

Everything seemed to have eyes and was looking towards them. It was clear that the Trisolarans were determined to use any means necessary to kill Paul and his group of investigators.

Fortunately, the onboard AI of the transforming spacecraft is quite smart. It can plan the best escape route on its own and successfully avoid all attacks without Paul's manual control.

In the blink of an eye, the situation in this underground city had become so chaotic that even the police could not control it.

After a long while, a police hovercraft with sirens blaring finally arrived next to the transforming spaceship. It was different from the previous AI driverless car.

This floating car was controlled by a real person. The policeman inside spoke to Paul through the car intercom: "I am Guo Zhengming from the Digital Reality Department of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. I am here to help you. The exit of the underground city ahead is blocked. Follow me."

As soon as Guo Zhengming finished speaking, the onboard AI of the transforming spacecraft also reminded Paul that the exit ahead had been blocked, and now he could only re-plan a new route.

But they didn't have a specific map of the underground city, and couldn't find another exit for a while.

Now they can only believe that the policeman in front of them is here to help them sincerely.

Without further ado, Paul also chose to trust the other party and said, "You lead the way!"

Seeing this, Guo Zhengming immediately accelerated and rushed in another direction, and Paul followed closely behind.

In fact, this kind of outrageous accident is not the first time it has happened. It happened as early as half a century ago. Relevant departments have gradually realized that these accidents were caused by Tomoko.

So after this situation occurred, Guo Zhengming quickly received instructions from his superiors to protect the person assassinated by Tomoko.

Fortunately, their movements were not too slow and they finally caught up.

At this moment, the dome screen of the dungeon also exploded, and a large number of transparent glass tube fragments turned into a rain of knives and fell down.

A glass rain fell in some parts of the underground city, and the sharp fragments fell like hail. Many passers-by were unable to dodge and the heavy glass fragments pierced their heads, killing them on the spot.

Paul also had to activate the backup energy and turn on the energy shield to prevent other accidents.

Who knows if Tomoko will suddenly arrange surface-to-air missiles to shoot them down.

The transformable spaceship they were riding on was only slightly more comprehensive than the flapping-wing aircraft, but its defensive capabilities were not that outstanding.

If there were no protection from the energy shield, even the humans here could shoot down their spaceships.

(End of this chapter)