Ye Shen's back slammed against rusted steel beams as he tumbled from the ventilation shaft. His fingers froze midway to the stun gun at his belt - a dozen coins hovered in the darkness, each crackling with cerulean arcs that illuminated a man's razor-sharp jawline.
"You used triple VPNs to hack the meteorological bureau, but forgot Tesla coil residue." Li Beichen emerged from shadows, his spinning coin halting mid-air. "New Era Group traced your IP in four hours."
The teen's pupils constricted. His cyber intrusion three days prior should've been untraceable, unless... His gaze locked on fluorescent blue ooze staining the man's combat boots - corrosion fluid exclusive to Abyssal Strain.
"Proof I'm a prophet?" Li tossed a metallic case. Ye's modified wristwatch screeched as radiation levels spiked 300% lethal. Inside glowed a Monarch-class specimen, its amethyst core swirling with nebula patterns he'd only seen in darknet channels.
Metal screamed in the warehouse depths. A thirty-meter hydraulic press crumpled like foil under invisible forces, iron filings swirling in mid-air. Li's left hand flexed, lightning javelin piercing the metallic storm to impale a translucent silhouette. The creature's shriek revealed half-visible insectoid limbs spewing binary code instead of blood.
"Phantom-class..." Cold sweat soaked Ye's shirt. These data-capable mutants weren't due for three more months post-Rain. The radiation spike made sense now - temporal rifts were festering in this sector.
Su Yao's lab coat dripped viridian blood. Emergency lights flickered overhead, casting jerky shadows from twitching bodies. Volunteers vaccinated three days prior were melting, their skin sagged like molten wax to reveal jade-colored skeletons.
"Dr. Su to Lab 3." The security chief's radio voice buzzed with metallic distortion. She edged backward, scalpel glinting, as refrigeration units mirrored the horror behind - guards' necks elongating, eyes splitting into compound lenses.
A ventilation grate exploded. Tactical-gloved hands muffled her scream as soothing currents calmed her nerves. "Your brother's pocket watch stopped at 3:17." The stranger's breath grazed her ear. "Last moment before acid dissolved his cortex."
Passing the morgue, Su saw tempered glass vaporizing. A bloated torso unfurled crystal tendrils through concrete. Li's lightning orb ricocheted between appendages, each refraction branding Fibonacci spirals into walls.
"This isn't mutation..." Su stared at writhing samples in her vial. "They're restructuring carbon chains... building bio-antennas."
Lin Zhan's prosthetic oozed blood droplets. Military-grade neural ports screeched against bone, error codes flooding his retinal display. The ex-commando had just snapped his seventh mercenary's neck when the intruder emerged from container shadows.
"Your cerebrospinal fluid conducts 42% beyond norms." The stranger tossed a violet-veined core. "Check bootleg inhibitor half-lives next time."
Smoke curled from Lin's mech-hand upon catching the core. Nanoscale tendrils crawled up his veins, the burn reminiscent of phosphorus-scorched comrades. At pain's apex, memories surged: black helicopters in monsoons, thawing hearts in coolers, a voiceless girl on the operating table.
Containers wrenched skyward. Five milky-eyed mutants formed a pentagram, fluorescent glyphs igniting beneath their feet. Li's lightning whip disintegrated into devoured photons. Lin roared charge, his melting prosthetic revealing newborn flesh beneath.
"EM pulse matrix..." Ye's voice crackled from corroded speakers. "They're using human protocols! Kill 2.4GHz!"
Li shattered his pendant's core into stardust. When prismatic storm erupted, mutants froze with QR code patterns surfacing. Su's thrown vial exploded, liquid gold etching the symbols into smoking scars.
A wedding gown floated in void darkness.
Li stood before the unopened package, holographic Su Wan smiling beneath thunderheads. As her hair lifted, the burning TV tower behind reconfigured into double helix. Seventh lightning flash revealed ivy-choked clocktower with reversing hands.
"The Chrono-Cocoon waits at seventh chime." Her lips moved through rain. This scene belonged to wedding photos never taken, six days before apocalypse.
Basement alarms wailed. Surveillance showed construction workers carving blast doors with bone blades. Their synchronized movements painted fractal patterns with blood droplets. The smallest ripped open his thorax, crystal heart pulsing with electromagnetic fury.
"Not ordinary infected!" Ye's holographic keyboard wove DNA strands from code. "These are Inverse Awakened... Someone's using pure humans as Abyssal vessels!"
Lin's newborn arm bulged with veins. His torn shirt revealed matching QR code over heart. "The core's rewriting my genes..." The hardened soldier trembled. "I hear... cloud whispers..."
The building quantum-phased. Walls flickered between dimensions as Su's petri dish sprouted axons. Li's lightning raged uncontrollably, arcing between them. When his eyes bleached silver, he deciphered the blood fractals - miniature geostationary orbits with twelve pulsating eggs.
The wedding portrait self-immolated. From ashes rose a metal sliver engraved with coordinates targeting New Era Tower's subterranean lair.
---
Ye Shen's back slammed against rusted steel beams as he tumbled from the ventilation shaft. His fingers froze midway to the stun gun at his belt - a dozen coins hovered in the darkness, each crackling with cerulean arcs that illuminated a man's razor-sharp jawline.
"You used triple VPNs to hack the meteorological bureau, but forgot Tesla coil residue." Li Beichen emerged from shadows, his spinning coin halting mid-air. "New Era Group traced your IP in four hours."
The teen's pupils constricted. His cyber intrusion three days prior should've been untraceable, unless... His gaze locked on fluorescent blue ooze staining the man's combat boots - corrosion fluid exclusive to Abyssal Strain.
"Proof I'm a prophet?" Li tossed a metallic case. Ye's modified wristwatch screeched as radiation levels spiked 300% lethal. Inside glowed a Monarch-class specimen, its amethyst core swirling with nebula patterns he'd only seen in darknet channels.
Metal screamed in the warehouse depths. A thirty-meter hydraulic press crumpled like foil under invisible forces, iron filings swirling in mid-air. Li's left hand flexed, lightning javelin piercing the metallic storm to impale a translucent silhouette. The creature's shriek revealed half-visible insectoid limbs spewing binary code instead of blood.
"Phantom-class..." Cold sweat soaked Ye's shirt. These data-capable mutants weren't due for three more months post-Rain. The radiation spike made sense now - temporal rifts were festering in this sector.
Su Yao's lab coat dripped viridian blood. Emergency lights flickered overhead, casting jerky shadows from twitching bodies. Volunteers vaccinated three days prior were melting, their skin sagged like molten wax to reveal jade-colored skeletons.
"Dr. Su to Lab 3." The security chief's radio voice buzzed with metallic distortion. She edged backward, scalpel glinting, as refrigeration units mirrored the horror behind - guards' necks elongating, eyes splitting into compound lenses.
A ventilation grate exploded. Tactical-gloved hands muffled her scream as soothing currents calmed her nerves. "Your brother's pocket watch stopped at 3:17." The stranger's breath grazed her ear. "Last moment before acid dissolved his cortex."
Passing the morgue, Su saw tempered glass vaporizing. A bloated torso unfurled crystal tendrils through concrete. Li's lightning orb ricocheted between appendages, each refraction branding Fibonacci spirals into walls.
"This isn't mutation..." Su stared at writhing samples in her vial. "They're restructuring carbon chains... building bio-antennas."
Lin Zhan's prosthetic oozed blood droplets. Military-grade neural ports screeched against bone, error codes flooding his retinal display. The ex-commando had just snapped his seventh mercenary's neck when the intruder emerged from container shadows.
"Your cerebrospinal fluid conducts 42% beyond norms." The stranger tossed a violet-veined core. "Check bootleg inhibitor half-lives next time."
Smoke curled from Lin's mech-hand upon catching the core. Nanoscale tendrils crawled up his veins, the burn reminiscent of phosphorus-scorched comrades. At pain's apex, memories surged: black helicopters in monsoons, thawing hearts in coolers, a voiceless girl on the operating table.
Containers wrenched skyward. Five milky-eyed mutants formed a pentagram, fluorescent glyphs igniting beneath their feet. Li's lightning whip disintegrated into devoured photons. Lin roared charge, his melting prosthetic revealing newborn flesh beneath.
"EM pulse matrix..." Ye's voice crackled from corroded speakers. "They're using human protocols! Kill 2.4GHz!"
Li shattered his pendant's core into stardust. When prismatic storm erupted, mutants froze with QR code patterns surfacing. Su's thrown vial exploded, liquid gold etching the symbols into smoking scars.
A wedding gown floated in void darkness.
Li stood before the unopened package, holographic Su Wan smiling beneath thunderheads. As her hair lifted, the burning TV tower behind reconfigured into double helix. Seventh lightning flash revealed ivy-choked clocktower with reversing hands.
"The Chrono-Cocoon waits at seventh chime." Her lips moved through rain. This scene belonged to wedding photos never taken, six days before apocalypse.
Basement alarms wailed. Surveillance showed construction workers carving blast doors with bone blades. Their synchronized movements painted fractal patterns with blood droplets. The smallest ripped open his thorax, crystal heart pulsing with electromagnetic fury.
"Not ordinary infected!" Ye's holographic keyboard wove DNA strands from code. "These are Inverse Awakened... Someone's using pure humans as Abyssal vessels!"
Lin's newborn arm bulged with veins. His torn shirt revealed matching QR code over heart. "The core's rewriting my genes..." The hardened soldier trembled. "I hear... cloud whispers..."
The building quantum-phased. Walls flickered between dimensions as Su's petri dish sprouted axons. Li's lightning raged uncontrollably, arcing between them. When his eyes bleached silver, he deciphered the blood fractals - miniature geostationary orbits with twelve pulsating eggs.
The wedding portrait self-immolated. From ashes rose a metal sliver engraved with coordinates targeting New Era Tower's subterranean lair.
---