The night before the promotion

Chapter 94 Destined
Alarm bells rang throughout the stone fortress, and relevant information had already been sent to the outside world when Huo Daochuan and others invaded. Although the situation was terrifying and critical, it did not seem to pose a real threat to everyone's lives.

After all, those fallen rioters were just a group of steel corpses, without real life.

As a researcher with a comfortable life, Wu Qinwen had never experienced such storms, but he still relied on his professional qualities and tried to calm himself down after a brief panic.

"It doesn't matter. So what if they can paralyze the armed avatar?"

Wu Qinwen comforted himself, his tone becoming more resolute, "The multiple isolation gates of the stone fortress are enough to slow down their pace, and this amount of time is enough for external support to arrive."

The moment the stone fort was attacked, the nearby military district had already received the news. If Wu Qinwen guessed correctly, a group of armed incarnations were rushing towards this place.
"Then have you ever thought about whether the people coming to support you are humans or armed avatars?"

Zhou Si's words made Wu Qinwen's heart fall into the ice cellar again. He said bluntly, "You have also seen that the other party has the means to paralyze the armed incarnation... No, this is not just paralysis, but it penetrates the high wall and large system, directly causing the operator to fall into the symptoms of the consciousness disease."

"Even if more armed incarnations come to support us, as long as they step into the range of the virus, they will just fall one by one, adding more steel debris to the ground."

The more Zhou Si thought about it, the more he felt the absurdity and despair of this matter. "If the armed avatar doesn't work, what about sending soldiers? This is even more ridiculous. You and I both know how fragile the flesh and blood body is in front of the armed avatar."

Wu Qinwen's face was pale. He no longer had the disdain he had for Zhou Si before. Instead, he was full of help and regarded Zhou Si as his only life-saving straw.

He pleaded, "Help...help us."

Every profession has its own specialties. Researchers like Wu Qinwen are only suitable for studying technology in the office. When it comes to actual operations on site, they still have to rely on professionals like Zhou Si.

"It is obviously unrealistic to confront the armed avatar head-on," Zhou Si ordered, "Notify the security director of the Stone Fortress to seal all the gates and use all means to prevent the enemy from invading quickly."

"And you, aren't we very close to this group of armed avatars? Find a way to analyze their telepathic consciousness signals, and then send the signals to the Supervisory Bureau, so that the supervisors can track the real location of these invaders!"

Zhou Si gave instructions to a group of stunned researchers.

After hearing this instruction, the researchers looked at each other, and then they reacted, with a look of joy on their faces as if they had survived a disaster.

Huo Daochuan and others are indeed very troublesome. Relying on the signal interference of the catalyst virus, they are like several mobile high-radiation sources. Any armed avatars that approach will be paralyzed, and even the operators behind them will go crazy. At the same time, conventional soldiers are also unable to fight against this group of lunatics due to the fragility of their flesh and blood.

But you must know that no matter how powerful the armed incarnations of Huo Daochuan and others are, and no matter how strange the catalyst virus is, it is always their human consciousness itself that controls everything, and their human consciousness is quietly hiding in their bodies.

As long as we follow the signals of consciousness and locate their real position, we don't need any powerful incarnations to be armed. Just a few strong adults are enough to drag them out of the dream pool and break their noses.

“We are all racing against time.”

Zhou Si took a deep breath and summed up all the current difficulties in one sentence.

"Either Huo Daochuan and the others break through the stone fort before we find them, or we shoot them to death in the dream pool before the stone fort is breached."

After listening to Zhou Si's words, Xiang Ji silently picked up the electromagnetic rifle. He knew that the firepower of the electromagnetic rifle had no effect on the armed avatar, but Xiang Ji liked the feeling of holding the weapon, which made him feel unexpectedly at ease.

"Make room for me."

Ruan Linrui called out to a researcher and asked him to move away from his workstation. As a talented hacker, she also wanted to join the chase in this mind network.

"I'm going to meet the person in charge of Shibao. Keep in touch anytime." Dong Yuan patted Zhou Si's shoulder.

Wu Qinwen is just a researcher, not the person in charge of Shibao, and Dong Yuan still needs to cooperate with him on the specific details.

Although the crisis was terrible, everyone immediately found their own suitable positions and performed their duties.

"I still don't quite understand."

Li Weiyu stood behind Zhou Si and asked in a low voice, "If the goal was just a terrorist attack, their action against the parade was already very successful, why did they try to invade the Stone Fortress?"

Invading the Stone Fortress requires not only a careful plan and sufficient resources, but also the determination to not fear death.

Li Weiyun found it hard to believe that such a mob could have such a belief.

"You don't realize the essence of the matter, Captain Li."

Zhou Si stared at the big screen above his head and said slowly, "Terrorist attacks are just a means to achieve their demands. What we really want to know is not the means, but the purpose of their demands."

"Terrorist attacks are designed to make more people see them, hear them, and fear them.

Then the attacks on the march will at most cause sadness to many families and anger and hatred towards them in the whole society.”

Zhou Si shook his head in denial, "But this is not enough. What they want is real fear."

"How can we fundamentally create a fear of a society approaching collapse?"

Zhou Si turned his head, looked into Li Weiyu's eyes and asked back.

Li Weiyun was silent and slowly raised his head. He was not looking at the big screen above his head, but something higher up, the data tree that was buried deep underground and absorbed endless information nutrients.

The data tree looks tall in reality, but in fact, it is just a tiny one. However, in the world of the Internet, its shade covers one-third of the country's land. The shadow covers the sky and the sun, supporting a high wall to protect everyone.

"Destroy the servers of the high-walled and large-scale systems, allowing the virus to spread out and trigger a cyber-zombie crisis."

In this nightmare fantasy of the future, extreme coldness spread along Li Weiyun's bone marrow, almost freezing his blood completely.

"From that moment on, the avatar shells that were once trustworthy to humans will no longer be reliable. They will become out-of-control monsters, ruthlessly devouring everyone around them."

Li Weiyun felt that his breathing was about to stop for a moment, and asked in confusion, "Why...why do you have to go to such lengths?"

"No reason."

Zhou Si maintained his usual coldness, "You know, in the eyes of a few humans, other humans are not humans, but just a renewable resource."

After saying that, he looked at the big screen above his head. Four armed avatars wearing masks of great men had invaded the vertical freight elevator of the stone fortress. Even though the security chief had blocked all the gates and prevented the operation of the freight elevator, this did not prevent the armed avatars from moving forward.

"I can't tell what model they are. They should be some unfinished experimental incarnations."

Song Qiliang came closer and tried to identify the model of the other party, but no matter how carefully he observed, he found nothing, just like analyzing the wreckage of Ucchusma a while ago. At present, the four armed incarnations are all tall humanoids, looking similar to the Riot Suppressors, but the difference is that their backs are full of various specialized external weapons.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of fire lit up on the big screen, and John was seen lying in front of the gate that blocked the vertical freight elevator. A thermal cutting robotic arm extended from the backpack behind him, slowly but firmly melting the gate.

With a roar, John successfully pushed down the gate. The heavily armed incarnation grabbed the slide rails on both sides and slowly descended along the shaft-like space.

Zhou Si asked, "Are there no defensive weapons?"

One researcher responded, “Yes, and it has been fully activated!”

As the voices rang out, several flashes of light appeared in the vertical freight elevator, and then four hidden heavy machine guns at the top of the vertical freight elevator were activated. They spewed out tongues of fire and rained down heavy fire on John.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Si seemed a little disappointed. The rain of fire seemed fierce, but it was ultimately a weapon aimed at flesh and blood. When it fell on John's body, it only jumped out countless sparks.

John was fed up with the endless noise, and he flipped up the magazine cover on his shoulder. There was a short flash of fire, and the micro-missile hit the hidden machine gun at the end, and the explosion engulfed everything.

Song Qiliang suggested, "We can test the impact range of their virus and let our armed avatars fight them outside the impact range."

"That's indeed a good suggestion," Zhou Si retorted, "but have you ever thought that we are now fighting in a closed facility underground, and there is no open space for both sides to maneuver."

Zhou Si clenched his fists tightly, and then slowly loosened them. He found a chair and sat down, as if he was comforting himself, or as if he was comforting someone else.

"Relax, everyone. This is no longer something we can control."

Zhou Si said as he looked at Ruan Linrui, "The outcome of winning or losing depends on who finds who first."

Looking at the big screen, except for John, the other three armed avatars have also invaded the vertical freight elevator. Although the entire vertical freight elevator has been closed horizontally by triple gates, Zhou Si feels that Huo Daochuan and others must have done their homework and these things can't stop them.

Zhou Si asked, "They are getting closer and closer to the server of the high wall system...Ms. Ruan, how long will it take?"

Ruan Linrui shook her head and complained, "I don't know. Their signals have been encrypted multiple times, which means they also have hackers helping them."

"It's okay. The gate's defense level is very high. Even thermal cutting will take a whole day." Wu Qinwen interrupted.

"Then...what's going on here?"

Song Qiliang pointed to the picture displayed on the big screen. This time, John did not even start the thermal cutting. The horizontal interception gate actually opened slowly, as if welcoming their arrival.

"what happened!"

Zhou Si quickly stood up and roared,
"He... they hacked into the security system!" A researcher brought a message from the security chief, "The gates are gradually being unlocked!"

In an instant, the actions and thoughts of everyone present stopped for a moment, and cold sweat soaked the backs of their clothes.

"Ruan Linrui!"

This time Zhou Si called out her name directly, eager to get some good news from her, but Ruan Linrui took her hands off the keyboard in despair and shook her head at Zhou Si.

"The other side also has hackers, and their strength is beyond imagination."

Ruan Linrui's eyes were empty, as if all her confidence had been crushed. "Not only did he encrypt and interfere with our tracking, he also broke through the firewall of the stone fortress and removed the gate restrictions."

She asked a soul-searching question, "What kind of enemy are we facing?"

Zhou Si replied with gritted teeth.

"Exalted Immortal."

If possible, Zhou Si really wanted to calm down at this moment and use all the clues at hand to carefully deduce the truth of the mystery of the immortal, but unfortunately, the objective reality did not intend to wait for Zhou Si.

The armed avatars were paralyzed one after another, the conventional defense mechanisms were helpless, and even the gates of the stone fortress were wide open.

Despair was written all over everyone's face. They had already lost everything before even fighting the enemy.

Li Weiyun silently picked up the microphone and communicated, "It's time for the personnel to evacuate."

Huo Daochuan's goal is to destroy the server of the high-wall system rather than carry out a meaningless massacre. The most reasonable decision now is to evacuate all personnel into the safe house, and then wait for the Supervisory Bureau to find their real bodies in reality.

As for the various unrest that would occur afterwards, that was no longer something Li Weiyun could consider.

Some researchers stood up hesitantly, while others remained sitting at their workstations, launching a final counterattack. Ruan Linrui took out her laptop, intending to continue the counterattack while moving.

Zhou Si kept staring at Ruan Linrui in confusion until Ruan Linrui also felt the strange and sharp gaze. She stopped what she was doing and looked at Zhou Si in confusion.

"what happened?"

Ruan Linrui didn't know what Zhou Si was doing. She even suspected that it was this highly tense environment that made Zhou Si see the environment of Li Shi disease again.

Zhou Si did not answer, still staring at Ruan Linrui. After about ten seconds, Ruan Linrui suddenly saw a touch of almost forgotten warmth in Zhou Si's cold eyes.

"I don't want you to die."

Zhou Si said these incomprehensible words, and then he walked quickly towards the door.

Ruan Linrui held her notebook and tried to catch up with him, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to the Dream Pool, control the armed avatar, and stop them," Zhou Si said without looking back, "It's okay, I've long been accustomed to living in the hallucinations of the Lishi Disease."

As if it was destined, if someone had to stand up and face all this, it seemed that only Zhou Si, who was sinking in illness, could be it.

The door closed tightly, and like a long sound that suddenly stopped, Zhou Si disappeared.

(End of this chapter)