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"Ha ha, I was too careless. It seems that the excitement of successfully obtaining the item got to me. I thought I had a firm grasp on the 'Janitor' route, and that the biggest threat had been resolved. I never expected to encounter such a situation just as victory was within reach." A man with orange hair, whose appearance resembled that of a white-collar worker more than a soldier, turned to face the figure in riot gear, helmet and all, pointing a gun at him with an expression of surprise.
At that moment, Hank's right hand was completely soaked in blood, and his handgun had been knocked aside. The only thing he held in his left hand was an inconspicuous tote bag that discreetly blocked the line of fire aimed at him.
The wound on his abdomen, caused by a bullet that penetrated his Bulletproof Vest, had stopped bleeding due to the tightness of his combat suit, but it had already stained a large area red.
On the other side of the scene, Yang Xiaoyou's left arm was also cut open, revealing a smooth gash with deep bloodstains on his exposed skin.
"Stop! If you make even the slightest move, even if it means abandoning what you have, I will definitely kill you. Compared to these things, I value my life much more," Yang Xiaoyou interrupted sharply, exuding an aura of Mutual Destruction.
Upon hearing this, Hank's expression changed slightly. He paused his movements and looked deeply at Yang Xiaoyou.
The threat posed by firearms varies significantly depending on who wields them. Hank was confident that if an ordinary person tried to use a handgun at this distance, he could easily dodge the trajectory of the shot and close in for a kill.
From their brief exchange moments ago, he could tell that Yang Xiaoyou was definitely a 'rookie.' However, knocking Hank's gun away, dodging his retaliatory knife throw, and stopping his movements were executed quite effectively.
Though not fluid, Yang Xiaoyou's shooting nonetheless put immense pressure on Hank. The speed may not have been fast, but the predictive ability was terrifying enough that Hank had no choice but to let one attack hit his Bulletproof Vest to use the momentum to retreat from subsequent attacks.
At this distance, if he went all out—even with his right hand injured—he still had some confidence in closing in on Yang Xiaoyou using high-speed movement and relying on his bulletproof vest. However, the risk was still too great, and protecting the Virus Sample he had fought hard to obtain would be difficult. Trying to distract Yang Xiaoyou had proven ineffective; it seemed that his only leverage now was the virus in his hand that seemed to pique Yang Xiaoyou's interest as well.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiaoyou silently lamented. He hadn't anticipated Hank's reaction speed would be so quick. Clearly, this fellow named Hank had relaxed for a moment while traversing this corridor due to feeling pleased. Yet even so, his ambush still failed.
His shot aimed at Hank's head was instinctively blocked by Hank raising his right hand with the handgun. Although it knocked Hank's gun away, he failed to achieve his intended target. It wasn't until Hank launched a fierce counterattack that Yang Xiaoyou's Cognitive Acceleration kicked in.
As he fired several follow-up shots at Hank with his handgun, he instinctively raised his right hand holding a military crossbow to deflect a knife that flew past like lightning. If not for this slight change in direction, the knife would have surely struck the gap between his helmet and neck.
The agility of the opponent exceeded all expectations. It was impossible for a human to outrun a bullet, yet he managed to surpass the speed of his own arm's movement and the trigger pull reaction. Even after entering Cognitive Acceleration, his predictions only resulted in minor injuries to the adversary.
Doubling his speed barely allowed his Reaction and thoughts to keep pace with the opponent, but the disparity in physical capabilities still hindered him from matching his mental speed.
Now, facing this situation, it was clear that the opponent had noticed his deliberate avoidance of the inconspicuous brown backpack and the dwindling ammunition in his handgun.
This modified 9mm had a double-stack magazine with a capacity of 15 rounds. In the course of ten consecutive shots fired at this fellow, only the first round had been particularly effective; the others merely grazed him. The shot that struck his abdomen, while appearing severe, caused minimal damage due to the bulletproof vest.
With the opponent intentionally using that backpack to shield his head, hitting him with the remaining two bullets from this distance seemed nearly impossible. Even though the adversary's Reaction speed had decreased due to his injuries and he had been forced to create distance after being shot in the abdomen, the previous shots had already pushed him to his limits. If he missed again, there would be no opportunity for a magazine change.
At this moment, maintaining control of the situation relied on the fact that the opponent was unaware he had wasted three rounds on a corpse. Evading his earlier shots had drained significant energy and stamina from the adversary. Coupled with some grazes and blood loss from his right hand, he felt uncertain about dodging the remaining five shots.
Both sides were painfully aware of their precarious situations; they were both strong on the outside but weak within.
"Buddy, it seems we don't need to fight to the death here. Since you care about what's at stake as much as I do, our goals seem aligned. How about we cooperate?" Hank rasped, keeping a firm gaze on Yang Xiaoyou's finger on the trigger as he spoke.
"Cooperation isn't necessary. In an unequal power dynamic, once you recover, you'll have no qualms about eliminating me. My demands are simple: leave behind Eight's virus and Antibody; everything else is yours. Watch your actions—any unnecessary moves will leave me no choice but to respond without mercy," Yang Xiaoyou replied calmly and steadily.
"That's fine, but how can I be sure that once I hand over half of what I have, you won't just disregard my other viruses and shoot me?" Hank licked his lips with a grin.
"Starting with Eight, you'll place them down one set at a time. After each set, you step back a bit. I trust that by the time you've placed all eight sets down, your speed will allow you to reach the other side of the passage before I can shoot you. If I can't guarantee a kill with my remaining five bullets, I certainly won't take any risks," Yang Xiaoyou said quietly, her gaze fixed on him as if her finger on the trigger tightened slightly—suggesting she would shoot if he disagreed.
Faced with such an overt threat, Hank readily agreed.
"Alright then; four sets of rare viruses should suffice for you. I hope we meet again someday—when we do, I'll expect full payment for what you owe me!" After placing down Five Virus and Sample, Hank suddenly retreated swiftly while executing evasive maneuvers toward a side door behind him.
Just as the side door was about to close, a round object rolled out from the gap—a grenade!
With a swift motion, Yang Xiaoyou, who had been highly focused and aware that the opponent would not let this go easily, entered a state of heightened awareness. He positioned his military crossbow on his left arm and shot a precise arrow that pierced through the grenade's pressure handle, pinning it in place.
With a loud explosion, the nearest containers of the Five Virus and Antibody burst open, while the other three sets of six containers were pushed toward Yang Xiaoyou.
The familiar blood-red Tempered Test Tube rolled right in front of Yang Xiaoyou, who was sprawled on the ground.
"I estimate that in about ten minutes, Luo Guohui will be able to implement a pulse interference on the mainframe. It will take another ten minutes to dismantle it, plus some time for my excuse to delay things. I should have at least half an hour. However, the journey from here will take at least eight minutes. If I proceed further, the risks will increase significantly." After extracting the Seventh Virus and its Antibody and placing the remaining Six and Eight into his waist pouch, Yang Xiaoyou fell into deep thought.
His recent actions and confrontation with Hank hadn't taken much time; in fact, they had allowed him to complete his plan to enter the laboratory ahead of schedule after the mainframe was interfered with.
From Hank's last words, it was clear that after taking the remaining Virus Samples, he had caused some degree of damage to the laboratory's equipment. This was why the virus in his hands was now one-of-a-kind.
Within Overcast Laboratory, the generation and mutation of the H Virus source model were uncontrollable and irreversible. The mutations were inherently random. With the laboratory damaged and the last vial of Seventh Virus in his possession, there was no need to worry excessively about anyone using it to discover something different.
Without any lingering concerns, Yang Xiaoyou could now scour some data within the laboratory. Before any issues arose at Overcast Laboratory, research here had been extremely confidential.
However, after several problems emerged, many secrets had leaked. If he remembered correctly, both H Virus and related data had become extremely expensive on the black market and were often sold out. If he seized this opportunity, he could even resolve some funding issues that had been troubling him in subsequent steps.
He felt around his waist where two sets of viruses and their Antibodies already existed. After hesitating for a moment, Yang Xiaoyou decided against searching for more; two sets were already sufficient. Moreover, how to handle them was still quite a headache. Being greedy by searching for more would only complicate matters further. With his waist pouch filled up and no suitable storage method available, he still needed to meet up with Luo Guohui later—being discovered would be hard to explain.
Most importantly, if he encountered Hank or anyone else again, he might not be so lucky this time.
Looking again at the vial of Seventh Virus and its Antibody in his hand, Yang Xiaoyou pressed the activation button on the virus source tube and casually tossed it into the distance. The red gas he had seen once before began to emerge again. He then took a needle-free injector containing Seventh Antibody and pressed it against his arm.
In a somewhat chaotic scene filled with overturned chairs and scattered A4 papers in a large hall, only the Control Panel's Display emitted a faint glow. There were also several corpses on the ground; it was unclear whether they were human or had died again after turning into Corpses.
"Feeling a low fever is really uncomfortable, isn't it, fellow?" Yang Xiaoyou said to the creature trembling on the ground in front of him, leaning against the Control Panel.
The creature was a brown-and-white hamster that Yang Xiaoyou had picked up on his way here. It seemed to be sneaking around for some reason, likely having escaped from being a test subject during the chaos. Perhaps it reminded him of his own fate as a White Mouse.
By some twist of fate, Yang Xiaoyou had decided to take it with him. Rodents were completely immune to the airborne transmission of the H Virus, so he didn't have to worry about any potential danger from this fellow.
Since arriving, he had started to experience a persistent low fever due to the injection of Antibody. Based on his memories as a White Mouse, he knew that injecting Antibody wouldn't be as intense as being infected by the virus, but it would last for quite some time.
The injection had occurred before the virus underwent a second mutation in his body, so the fusion should be more perfect, and the discomfort should be considerably shorter.
It had only been about ten minutes since the Antibody was injected, yet Yang Xiaoyou was already acutely aware of his body. Every muscle seemed to be shaking involuntarily, generating heat, and sweat was nearly soaking through his clothes.
Each muscle tremor felt like he was constantly in a sprinting state, and at that moment, the characteristics of his Cellular Memory Division began to manifest slowly.
"Is this what those madmen were talking about? Hmm, I won't know what specific changes will occur until the process is complete. I should let this fellow out now." After roughly assessing his physical condition, he picked up the brown-and-white fellow and placed it in the pocket of his chest. Yang Xiaoyou forced himself to get up and began inputting commands into the Control Panel again.
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