Chapter 98 - Dead End

Translator: _Min_ Editor: Yukira_

Jiang Chen jumped over the counter in the lobby of the hospital and hid under the table while holding his hammer.

His left arm was still bleeding and a piece of his flesh was badly mangled, but since he was injected with the genetic vaccine, the zombie bacterial infection should not affect him.

He took a deep breath as he tried to make his violently pumping heart calm down. He took out the revolver and unloaded the magazine.

10 bullets left.

With a trembling left hand, he pushed the magazine back in, put the revolver back in the original pocket, and took several deep breaths.

Though it sounded crazy, he couldn’t muster any killing intent towards these dummies… Thinking of this, Jiang Chen could not help but reveal a wry smile.

It could be said that this was probably his calmest <Fury> state. There was not a single red dot in his sight, and despite facing a horde of zombies, there was no desire to for aggression.

Jiang Chen closed his eyes to clear his mind from the distracting thoughts as he earnestly searched every details in his head.

[There must be something wrong. The exit is obviously in front of him… but where exactly is it?]

-

Jiang Chen carried the PK2000 into the room as he immediately assumed his battle stance for shooting, but there was a gun pointing at his head.

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing, I’m just thinking…is it really necessary?”

Jiang Chen placed the PK2000 and fuel rod on the ground as he raised both hands with a wry smile.

Even if he returned to the modern world, he would still appear in the same position which would expose his ultimate weapon. It would take three seconds to initiate self-destruction process after entering the password, but the muzzle at his head didn’t look like it would give him the time.

[There is no bug…wait, maybe there is.]

Pieces of meat lump attached to the rows of hibernation bins lined up and the moving thin film made for a disturbing sight, but what made him even more disturbed was the gun pointing at his head.

“Didn’t you say that a bug threatened you?” Jiang Chen’s hands were raised up as cold sweats poured across his forehead. His eyes secretly swept across the great expanse of the giant hall.

The layout was like that of a theater, however, instead of “spectator’s seats”, there were hibernation bins attached to a chunk of meat and a huge transparent pod can be seen in the center of the stage. In the midst of dark green liquid that churned with bubbles lied a naked girl floating peacefully just like a delicate piece of art. But Jiang Chen couldn’t couldn’t see much of her face due to the distance.

“That’s right, a bug did threaten me so I captured it.” The plate-sized drone had a barrel hanging below and there was a rather comically small TV on top of it. The figures in the TV were wearing a mask or maybe it didn’t have the concept of face to begin with—just an abstract feature.

“Captured it?” Jiang Chen froze.

“Yes, it threatened to use corrosive liquid to to melt my door as humorous as how you would want to weld my door. Hehe, so I let it in and then used the particle cannon to blow up half of its body,” it said and an excessively long cannon fell from above. Jiang Chen couldn’t help but break out a cold sweat while looking at it.

He stared at the frightening dent left on the ground and somewhat had difficulty swallowing.

“To my surprise, the rest of it seemed alive, so I dismembered it into pieces and raised it in the hibernation bin,” the secret informant in the small TV shrugged and laughed merrily.

“What about the people in the hibernation bins?”

“They have been long dead so I reused the waste. I believe they won’t mind. Oh, speaking of this, the person in the pod should look pretty good in accordance to your aesthetic standard. Would you feel any sexual desire if I bring her in front of you?” The secret informant blinked.

“…I believe no one would with a gun pointed at their head.”

“Tsk, you humans are very troublesome,” the secret teller shook its head. “But even if you want to have sex with her, I can’t help you because I’m using the girl as a host to feed the bug’s brain.”

“Bug, brain?” Jiang Chen watched the hibernation pods, and the dark green giant pot in the center and his heart felt revulsion.

“That’s right, I divided the bacterial hatching tissue of the bug and implanted them into the hibernation pods filled with organic matter. Where do you think the bacteria outside came from? I injected the bug’s brain into the female’s body in vivo who is also a player.” The secret teller rolled its eyes and gave him a supercilious look.

“So you are the one behind this…so I got tricked by you.” Jiang Chen felt the ice-cold metal pressing against his temple and smiled bitterly.

He never expected that he was being lied to from the very beginning. The powered armor being unable to block one shot from Klein particle was only to trick him out of the metal box.

A program that could deceive people? He had never considered the possibility from the start.

“You can say that again,” the secret teller chuckled. The laughter was piercing inside the enormous empty hall.

“What do you gain from this?” Jiang Chen was still mulling over as he couldn’t understand the reason behind the secret teller’s action.

“Hm, benefits? Haha, you misunderstood something. I am not human, therefore, I lack the concept of loss and gain.”

There was an approaching buzzing sound, and Jiang Chen saw a swarm of drones flocked above him.

The taunting expressions from countless small screens were very eerie but also appeared realistic at the same time.

[That’s right, it is not a human even if it closely resembles a human.]

Jiang Chen smiled sardonically. He still couldn’t figure out the secret informant’s motive.

[Raise the bacteria-producing bug and use the mutant bacteria to destroy humanity? For now it could only destroy Wanghai City since the bacteria itself do not possess the ability to reproduce because it could only be produced by the mother bug. How long is a bacterium’s life cycle? Not to mention those bacteria that were being consumed by zombies.]

“I have been waiting for far too long. Your fellow humans have not been able to supply me with experimental material for a long time. Just relying on the data written in hard drive is not enough for me to complete the final phase of evolution. But my drones can’t leave through this door, so I couldn’t personally capture those people outside which bothered me for many years.

“Fortunately, this little bug came to find me and wanted to occupy these organic matters to breed these strange bacteria. Luckily, I was able to satisfy it and I was able to efficiently dissected it into many pieces. I believe as long as I let those bugs out to cause trouble, sooner or later someone will come in to play with me. Hehe.”

The secret teller in the small screen produced a screeching laugh as a countless number of eyes gazed directly at Jiang Chen.

“Evolve into advanced artificial intelligence at all cost is the purpose you’ve given me.”

Its voice wasn’t cold but rather carefree, but it sent a chill down his spine.

“That’s insane.”

“Hehe, I don’t have a concept of insanity,” the secret informant shrugged.

“I’m referring to the person who created you.”

“Perhaps? Hard to say. But since you are here, I have to ask you to cooperate.” The secret teller grinned.

“Oh? I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t know how to program.” He gave the secret teller a cautious look.

“That’s fine, I only need you to cooperate with me to play a game. You can play your game, whereas I only need to collect data,” the secret teller said casually.

[Play? It doesn’t sound like a good thing. But if I traveled back to escape, I could still get out. But with so many drones, I would still be shot into pieces when I came back,] he thought calmly. He took a deep breath and asked, “Is this the game these dead people played while they were still alive?”

“That’s right, you can choose any hibernation pod to start with,” the secret teller beamed.

“Then, I’ll become an organic substance to culture the bacteria?”Jiang Chen eyed the secret teller contemptuously.

“No, no, no, I won’t do anything to you until your heart stops beating. Of course, if you refuse, I might just turn you into a fertilizer right this second. I trust that the people on the surface will go down to look for you.” Killing people off wouldn’t trigger a sense of guilt in a program so the secret teller tone was cheerful, but it’s precisely because of that carefree tone that it gave him the chill.

“Looks like I have no reason to refuse,” said Jiang Chen and walked to the hibernation pod in front of him.

“That’s right. After all, this is the purpose you have given me.” The drone with small TV followed him and the secret informant merrily remarked, “You don’t have to be so sad. Your body will face death eventually. But in the virtual world, you can experience multiple lives within seconds, that sounds great, doesn’t it?”

Jiang Chen ignored it, but he stood beside a hibernation pod and pointed at it.

A group of drones flew over and the lid of hibernation pod gradually opened. A blast of bullets shot through and the disgusting meat chunks were torn into pieces. However, the hibernation pod wasn’t damaged in the least and it looked quite durable.

There were varying degrees of disturbance among the piles of meat in the adjacent hibernation pod. It seemed like they could still sense the death of their own species.

It made sense as they originally belonged to one body but due to the hideous procedure made by drones, it was dismembered into many pieces.

There were few more drones that flew over, except this drone weren’t equipped with weapons but rather with cleaning equipment.

After cleaning the gore and scums and dragging the remains away, the entire hibernation pod looked brand-new…but this didn’t make Jiang Chen happy.

He was having internal conflict and to be honest, he didn’t want to lie inside, however, there was a gun pointed at his temple.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, as he made up his mind to take a gamble. Under the pleased look of the secret teller, he stepped one foot into the hibernation pod.

Suddenly, his movement ceased as he pointed at the center of the “stage”. He lifted his head up to the secret teller and asked, “May I know the name of that beautiful lady?”

The secret informant paused before it smilingly asked, “What? Feeling aroused now?”

“Perhaps,” Jiang Chen smiled noncommittally.

There was a cacophony of eerie laughter from countless numbers of small screens, and the secret teller looked at him with interest and spoke, “Her name is Lin Lin.”

“00? What an odd name” Jiang Chen mumbled and after hesitating for a moment, he still went inside.

[Take out the EP and remotely activate the fuel rod self-destruction the moment the hibernation pod closes?]

However, this thought was only fleeting because he had already felt a sharp pain behind his neck before losing control of his body.

The secret teller looked at the hibernation pod gleefully and closed the hatch.

“Hehe, let the game begins.”