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Chapter 40 The Shadow of the Plan

"We didn't find any obvious clues at the first base and are heading to the second location," Xiao Ran's voice came. "Have you made any progress over there?"

Su Wanqing briefly reported their findings and mentioned that Lin Che was needed to crack the encrypted file.

"We'll be back as soon as possible," Lin Che said. "The second location looks abandoned, so it shouldn't take too long."

After the call, Su Wanqing and Lu Zhao continued to sort through the materials. Lu Zhao's mood became noticeably depressed, and he would stop and rub his eyes from time to time.

"Are you okay?" Su Wanqing asked.

Lu Zhao shook his head: "I just remembered something. Elizabeth used to organize data in the same way. We were working together at that time."

Su Wanqing hesitated: "Would you like to talk about her?"

Lu Zhao took a deep breath. "She's a genius, much better than me. We entered the institute together and worked on early projects together. But then she started to change, becoming more focused on research, at all costs."

"and then?"

"Then we had our disagreements. I thought some experiments were too dangerous, while she thought the risks were worth it for the sake of scientific progress."

Lu Zhao's voice was low. "Ultimately, I left the project, and she continued her research."

Su Wanqing did not ask any further questions, she could feel Lu Zhao's pain.

A few hours later, Xiao Ran and Lin Che returned to the safe house.

"We didn't find much useful stuff," Xiao Ran said, "but in the abandoned office at the second location, we found this."

He took out a small storage device and handed it to Lu Zhao.

Lu Zhao connected to the computer: "What's in here?"

"I'm not sure," Lin Che replied, "but there's a 'Shadow' mark on the device."

Lu Zhao tried to open the file, but ran into an encryption barrier. "This requires a special key."

Lin Che stepped forward and said, "Let me try."

He placed his hand on the device and closed his eyes. A drop of blue liquid oozed from his fingertips and flowed into the device's port.

After a few seconds, the encryption lock on the screen was released and the files began to open automatically.

"It's amazing," Su Wanqing exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

Lin Che shook her head. “I’m not sure either. I just sensed the pattern of the data flow and adjusted it.”

Lu Zhao quickly scanned the file: "This is one of the core documents of the 'Biological Reset Plan'. It seems that the main purpose of the plan is to modify human genes through special viruses."

"What will it be transformed into?" Xiao Ran asked.

"Based on this data," Lu Zhao continued his analysis, "they hope to create new humans that can adapt to extreme environments. The document mentions 'evolutionary leap' and 'genetic optimization.'"

Lin Che frowned: "This sounds like the entire human race is being reshaped."

Lu Zhao nodded. "Not only that. There's also mention of 'weaponized applications'. They might be developing some kind of biological weapon."

The room fell silent as everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.

"My sister," Xiao Ran said suddenly, "she might have been involved in this plan."

Su Wanqing looked at him: "Why do you say that?"

"Because she has special genes," Xiao Ran explained, "she has shown extraordinary abilities since she was young. Our family has always kept this secret, but three years ago, someone came to us and said they wanted to help her 'develop her potential.'"

"And then she disappeared?" Lin Che asked.

Xiao Ran nodded. "Yes. I've been looking for her, but the clues are always intermittent. Now it seems that she may have been taken to participate in this 'biological reset plan'."

Lu Zhao continued analyzing the data: "Seven special samples are mentioned here, codenamed S-1 to S-7. Each sample represents an elemental ability."

"Seven elements?" Su Wanqing asked, "Just like we discovered before?"

"That's right," Lu Zhao replied, "Water, fire, earth, metal, wood, light, and darkness. Seven basic elements. According to this data, they need to gather the energy of those with seven elemental abilities to activate a certain device."

Lin Che suddenly felt a headache. He held his forehead and sat down: "I seem to remember something."

Others immediately paid attention to him.

"I remember a laboratory," Lin Che said with difficulty, "There were many people in white coats, and they were discussing 'element fusion'. They said I was a carrier of the water element." "S-2," Lu Zhao flipped through the documents, "There is indeed a mention of a water element carrier here, codenamed S-2."

Su Wanqing looked at Lin Che: "What about me? Which element am I?"

Lu Zhao looked up information: "Based on your ability description, you might be S-5, space element."

"Space?" Su Wanqing was puzzled. "It's not among the seven basic elements."

"In this project, they reclassified the elements," Lu Zhao explained. "Space is classified as a special form of the element 'light'."

Xiao Ran frowned: "What about my sister?"

Lu Zhao continued searching: "It's mentioned here that S-7 is the most special sample, possessing the ability of 'fusion'. It can absorb and integrate the power of other elements."

Lin Che suddenly stood up. "I remember now! S-7 is the key. They call it the 'key.' Only by gathering the energy of the other six elements and using S-7's fusion power can we open that passage."

"What passage?" Su Wanqing asked.

Lin Che shook his head: "I'm not sure. But they attach great importance to this channel, saying that it can bring a 'new world'."

Lu Zhao's expression became more serious: "Based on this data, I have a guess. They may be trying to open an inter-dimensional channel to connect to another world or dimension."

"Why do you do this?" Xiao Ran asked.

"Resources, technology, or..." Lu Zhao paused, "escape."

"Escape from what?" Su Wanqing asked.

Lu Zhao pointed to a text on the screen. "It mentions 'depletion of Earth's resources' and 'irreversible environmental collapse.' They may be foreseeing some kind of global disaster and are looking for an escape route."

"But by releasing viruses and modifying human genes?" Lin Che questioned, "That sounds more like creating a disaster than preventing one."

Lu Zhao pondered for a moment: "Unless... they believe that only genetically modified humans can survive in the new environment."

The room fell silent again as everyone digested the information.

"We must stop them," Xiao Ran finally broke the silence. "No matter what their purpose is, this method is wrong."

Su Wanqing nodded in agreement: "And we must rescue Yang Ye and the others involved."

Lin Che looked at Lu Zhao: "How far do you think their plan has progressed?"

Lu Zhao analyzed the data: "Based on these timestamps, they have collected energy samples from at least four types of elemental ability users.

They may be searching for the remaining three.”

"That includes Lin Che and me," Su Wanqing said, "and Xiao Yu."

Xiao Ran clenched his fists: "I won't let them succeed."

Lu Zhao closed the file: "According to this data, their main experimental base is located underground in the abandoned nuclear power plant in the north. There are the most complete equipment and personnel there."

"We should sneak in there," Lin Che suggested, "to get more information and look for Xiao Yu at the same time."

Su Wanqing thought for a moment: "But we need more preparations. That place must be heavily guarded."

Lu Zhao nodded: "I can use my mechanical manipulation ability to help us sneak in. But we need detailed terrain maps and defense system information."

"I can contact some old comrades," Xiao Ran said, "and see if I can get some military intelligence."

Lin Che stood up: "I can also try to use my water ability to sense the surrounding environment. This will help with infiltration."

Su Wanqing looked at everyone and said, "That's settled. Let's gather more intelligence first, then develop a detailed plan to infiltrate the nuclear power plant."

Lu Zhao began to organize the equipment: "We need to complete the preparations within two days. Based on this data, they plan to conduct the final experiment on a full moon night."

Xiao Ran checked the weapon's loading status. "We must prepare for the worst."

Su Wanqing comforted him: "We will take care of each other. No matter what happens, we will face it together."

Lin Che nodded in agreement: "That's right. We have come this far and cannot retreat."

Lu Zhao looked at the data stream on the computer screen with an extremely serious expression: "I just hope we can stop this in time. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable."

(End of this chapter)