Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 654: Black Well
The two of them immediately rushed out the door, ran to the corridor and looked down.
Aya, wearing a power armor, fell to the ground. A tentacle covered with mucus and blood drilled into her mouth and kept wriggling. The other end of the tentacle was connected to the body of a little girl who was only five or six years old.
"This little girl is a container?!" Ke Lan felt his scalp tingling and he simply flipped over the railing in front of him and jumped down. At the same time, Asano Akira had thrown out his sword and accurately cut off the tentacle.
Ke Lan grabbed the broken tentacle that was about to drill into Aya's stomach and pulled it out with force. Along with the tentacle, a large amount of blood and organ fragments were also pulled out... After the foreign object occupying her throat was taken out, Aya immediately began to cough violently. However, every time she coughed, blood would splash out of her nose and mouth, and soon dyed a large area of Ke Lan's clothes on her chest red.
After crushing the struggling tentacle on the ground with one foot, Ke Lan took out the spare stimulants and blood tonics from his pocket and inserted them into the injection holes on the surface of the power armor.
Many of Aya's organs had been shattered by the tentacles of the Seed of Erosion. Her internal organs were damaged and she was bleeding profusely. The only reason she was still alive was because of her strong physique as an advanced enhanced person.
What's worse is that many parts of her body have been invaded by cells of the Seed of Erosion. Even if her life can be saved by surgery, she cannot escape the fate of being infected and parasitic.
“Cough cough… cough…”
Aya opened her eyes with some difficulty. Her vocal cords and trachea had been damaged by the tentacles. She could no longer speak and could only look straight at Ke Lan.
Ke Lan understood the meaning in her eyes—she wanted to die quickly.
As a member of the Security Bureau, Aya knew very well that she was beyond help... The infection in her body was so severe that even if her internal organs and muscles were removed, it would be too late to save her. The cells of the Seed of Erosion had already penetrated deep into her bone marrow and spread throughout her body through her blood and body fluids.
In addition to the severe pain, she could also feel a crazy tingling sensation, as if countless small buds were stirring under her skin and were about to burst out at any time.
"You should close the mask of the power armor." Ke Lan said to her.
Aya had lifted her mask earlier in order not to scare the little girl, but she never imagined that the little girl in her arms actually had an erosion seed that was about to enter a critical period of change in her body, and it attacked her when she was least prepared.
If her mask had not been removed, her injuries would not have been so serious, and she would not have been infected by the Seed of Erosion cells.
Aya shook her head with some difficulty.
"You want to tell me that it's too late to say this now, right?" Ke Lan turned her head. On the other side, Asano Akira had already killed the corrosive seed that had drilled out of the little girl's body. The tentacles and broken body parts scattered on the ground were rapidly rotting and festering, and the stench mixed with blood filled the room.
"Lend me the knife." Ke Lan said.
Asano Akira shook off the blood on the sword and threw it over.
Grabbing the hilt of the knife in mid-air, Ke Lan looked down at Aya who was already on her deathbed, and then pierced the tip of the knife into her body.
…
"You avoided the vital points in her body?" Asano Akira's earlobe twitched slightly. Although his eyes could not see, the tentacles of his mind could clearly capture the angle and depth of Ke Lan's knife.
"Of course, I want to save her, not kill her." Ke Lan said, "This knife can temporarily suppress the erosion cells in her body. When the time comes, as long as she can get a cyborg body, she can survive."
"Like Ivan ?" Asano Akira tilted his head.
"Ivan only lost an arm, but as for her... I guess everything below the nose will have to be replaced." Victoria's figure couldn't help but appear in Ke Lan's mind.
"The medical team, come in and rescue her immediately! Be careful not to have any contact with the injured person's body, blood or body fluids. She has been infected by the cells of the Seed of Erosion." Ke Lan shouted into the communicator.
According to the regulations of the Security Bureau, agents infected by the Seed of Corrosion, whether dead or alive, must be "properly dealt with"...but with Ke Lan's identity, he has the authority to modify this rule.
"You just need to save the lives of the injured. I will send people to take over the rest, whether it is follow-up treatment or replacement of artificial organs and cyborg prostheses." Ke Lan added.
At this time, Asano Akira came out, holding a slender and white arm in his hand.
This is a severed arm from the little girl who was parasitized by the Seed of Corrosion.
"Look." said Asano Akira.
I saw several needle holes on the inside of my arm that had not yet healed, and it was obvious that they were recently injected.
When the Security Agency surrounded Williams' mansion, the little girl was injected with a high concentration of erosion seed cells, and she was injected more than once.
If Ke Lan had not seen the photo, he would have doubted whether this girl was Roger Williams' biological daughter.
Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs...and this group of people using the word "beast" to describe Ke Lan was an insult to the word.
A helicopter hovered over the manor, and four security agents wearing special power armor for medical soldiers jumped out of the cabin and landed in the central courtyard.
Aya, with Asano Akira's sword still stuck in her body, was carried onto a folding stretcher. Four agents quickly connected the life support device on the back of the power armor and injected Aya with a large dose of adrenaline.
"Remember, don't pull out the knife during or after the rescue." Ke Lan said to the four agents, "Make sure the blade has direct contact with Minister Breya's body. This knife can suppress the erosion cells in her body and delay the infection process. Do you understand?"
The four agents nodded emphatically and carried the stretcher into the helicopter.
Immediately afterwards, Ke Lan and Asano Akira also jumped into the cabin.
"There should be no survivors in the Williams family's mansion." Ke Lan said in a deep voice, "Allow the military to use large mechas and heavy weapons to directly flatten the entire mansion."
"yes!"
…
…
Security Bureau, Headquarters.
Aya didn't know how many hours she had been unconscious. In her confused state, she vaguely remembered that Ke Lan first stabbed her with a knife, and then she was carried onto the plane by her colleagues... They injected her with a lot of drugs... Then there was a long operation... Then, her body seemed to be put into the medical cabin...
The cells of the Seed of Erosion will contaminate the LCL fluid in the medical cabin, right?
Are they planning to save themselves?
But... this level of infection is already irreversible, right?
She felt as if she was falling into the abyss, and darkness was everywhere as far as she could see... But at this moment, fresh air was suddenly pumped into her lungs, and a strong electric current flowed through her limbs and bones!
“Uh…”
Aya couldn't help but let out a groan, but at the same time, she heard a voice coming from very close.
"Success! The new prosthetic body was successfully activated! All indicators are perfect, and the fit is almost 100%!"
"The assimilation of those invading cells has also been suppressed! The mineral fragments provided to us by 'that person' actually have such a magical effect!"
"Check again... Hey, she seems to be awake?"
…
Aya tried to open her eyes and found that she was lying on a sterile operating table covered with a laminar flow hood. Beside the bed stood a row of equipment whose names she could not remember. Countless tubes and cables extended from these equipment to the bed and connected to the interfaces of various parts of her body.
"Electroencephalogram, heart rate, and blood pressure are all normal," said a man standing in front of the testing machine. Another man in sterile clothing came closer and took out a medical flashlight that looked like a pen from his pocket. He waved it at Aya's eyes. After noticing that Aya's eyesight would consciously track the light source, he leaned forward excitedly and asked softly, "Can you hear me? If you can, blink your eyes."
Aya blinked.
"Very good, he is conscious." The other party nodded, and the assistant beside him quickly made a note on the tablet.
"Then do you still remember who you are?" the other party asked again.
Who am I... I am... Aya Breya... an agent of the Ark Security Agency...
Aya blinked again.
"Can you still remember what happened before you fell into a coma?" the man in the sterile suit continued to ask, "We need to confirm whether you have symptoms of amnesia... Your body has been replaced with a large area of cyborg prosthesis, and there are more than 100,000 circuits connecting to the spinal nerves and cerebral cortex alone. This may have a certain impact on your brain."
"Don't worry, take your time to think about it. It doesn't matter if you can't remember it. Don't worry." He said in a soothing tone, "Everything is over. You are safe now and have plenty of time. You can take your time to think about it."
What happened before the coma...
Aya's body couldn't help but tremble violently - she clearly remembered that the body temperature of the little girl in her arms suddenly rose sharply, and then a tentacle broke out from her chest and attacked her face!
It was impossible to dodge this kind of attack at almost zero distance. He only had time to let out a broken cry before the tentacle went through his mouth and into his throat ...
Later... Later, Ke Lan appeared... He pulled out the tentacle, but it was too late...
I wanted to ask him to end my life, but I couldn't make a sound, so I could only use my eyes to convey the message...
Fortunately, he understood my expression... He took the knife and stabbed me...
I'm not dead?
Aya was stunned for a moment? Was I rescued?
However, the tentacle that had invaded his body had already reached his stomach, severely damaging his internal organs. Under such circumstances, the cells of the Seed of Invasion had already spread throughout his body through his blood. It was impossible to stop the infection...
Could it be... Could it be that I have become a container for the seeds of erosion?
This thought suddenly made Aya feel a little desperate. She struggled unwillingly and tried to sit up.
"She's very emotional! She's on the verge of losing control!" The man in the sterile suit suddenly became nervous and held down Aya's limbs. "Give her twenty units of sedatives! At the same time, use a restraint device! If necessary, cut off the energy supply of the cyborg prosthesis!"
With the sound of machinery, several mechanical arms extended from the edge of the laminar flow bed and restrained Aya's hands and feet. At the same time, an indescribable drowsiness surged from the depths of her brain.
"Am I really...going to turn into a monster?" She thought with despair and fell into a deep sleep once again.
…
North District 1, United Parliamentary Group Office Building, sixth underground floor, entrance to the "Black Well".
Ke Lan walked into the elevator alone. A dark red laser slowly scanned him from head to toe. A mechanized female voice sounded in the elevator: "Identity confirmed. Welcome to Black Well, Your Excellency the Pope."
The so-called "Black Well" is actually the only external terminal of the main archive. This terminal is buried deep underground in the North District 1, and only members of the Undead Crew can enter it. The data of the "external archive" connected to the Ark network comes from here. After layers of screening (deletion and modification), those messages that can be "publicly disclosed" will be provided to different departments and institutions according to different authority levels, while the original, most original and most complete information will all be sealed in the Black Well.
For safety reasons, Black Well did not connect to the Ark's network. Instead, it adopted a somewhat stupid but very reliable information storage method - the vast amount of data was stored in countless large-capacity physical hard drives, which were neatly stacked on labeled cabinets, just like the archives in the old era that were specifically responsible for collecting and preserving file files.
Ke Lan handed over the work of the Disaster Relief and Post-Disaster Office to Hound, Zofia and others. Although there was a suspicion of nepotism, at least Ke Lan could fully trust their character and ability.
As for himself, he had more important things to do.
According to the time calculation, Aya Breya's prosthetic transformation surgery should have been completed by now. In order to inhibit the erosion cells in her body, Ke Lan provided a lot of stalagmite fragments and asked the technicians in charge of the operation to implant them into Aya's prosthetic body. These fragments also reminded Ke Lan of many things.
The abyss of the underwater city, the nameless island without day or night, the underground ruins where primitive species were once kept in captivity... and the mysterious mission that the 776 Special Forces Team once carried out.
And that puzzling code word.
The answers to these questions lie in the black well.
