Chapter 774: Ultraviolet
The main doors of the facility were tightly shut, but a small side door was slightly ajar. Valerie signaled her team to halt.
"A3, thermal scan of the interior."
A security consultant aimed his sensor at the building. A moment later, he reported, "Multiple massive heat signatures inside, concentrated in the central area. Architectural scans indicate an entrance to a subterranean space."
"Raiders, hold the entrance. A3, A4, with me. A1, secure the perimeter."
Valerie pushed open the small door, and the three of them slipped inside silently.
The interior of the facility was dim, with only a few emergency lights providing faint illumination. Garbage and debris were scattered across the floor. In the central area, beside a massive trash compactor, was an open maintenance shaft leading downward, emitting an eerie green fluorescence.
The intensity of the neural signal reached its peak here.
Valerie signaled her team to approach the shaft carefully. Looking down, there was a basement roughly five meters deep, filled with thick pipes and storage tanks. In the center of the basement, a nauseating sight presented itself:
A massive, fleshy, tumor-like object composed of a mix of flesh and metal grew among the pipes.
Its surface pulsated rhythmically, extending numerous tentacle-like nerve bundles that connected to the surrounding equipment and pipes.
Around the tumor knelt over a dozen completely motionless infected, seemingly "offering" something to it. Looking closely, it was organs and tissue extracted from other infected or corpses.
"A central neural node... or rather, a Hive Mind," Valerie said softly. This was clearly not naturally formed; it was a creation of some sort of biotechnology.
"Detecting high-concentration biomass and energy signatures," A3 reported. "Recommend destruction via high explosives."
Valerie nodded. "Plant the charges. Set a ten-second delay. Then we extract."
A4 pulled C4 explosives from his pack and began planting them. Just then, the tumor in the basement suddenly pulsated violently, emitting an ear-piercing, high-frequency shriek!
The kneeling infected all raised their heads simultaneously, their clouded eyes locking onto Valerie and the others above the shaft!
"They spotted us! Move!"
A4 quickly finished planting the charge, and the three immediately turned and sprinted for the exit. The sound of scrambling came from the shaft behind them; the infected were climbing up with terrifying speed.
"Charges primed! Ten seconds!"
The three burst out of the facility doors. "Everyone, fall back from the building! Take cover!"
The team scattered rapidly, diving behind shipping containers. Nine seconds, eight seconds, seven seconds...
The pursuing infected had just burst out of the facility doors—BOOM!!!
A violent explosion erupted from underground, blowing the entire sorting facility open from the inside, sending bricks, stone, and metal shrapnel flying in all directions. Green slime and chunks of flesh rained down. A powerful bio-electric pulse swept through the area, temporarily disabling everyone's electronic devices.
After the explosion came a brief moment of silence.
Then, chaotic, meaningless roars from the infected echoed from all corners of the refugee camp. Having lost their unified guidance, they began wandering aimlessly, even attacking each other.
"The signal source is gone!" Dr. Hanson's excited voice came through the newly restored comms. "The collective coordination of the infected has been broken! Well done, Miss Valerie!"
"Now they're just scattered stragglers!" Raynor's voice followed. "We can hold out until dawn much easier now!"
Valerie watched the first hint of white appear in the eastern sky. Dawn was approaching.
And ultraviolet light would be the final judgment for these nocturnal monsters.
With the central neural node destroyed, the movements of the infected descended into obvious chaos.
They no longer launched organized charges against human strongpoints, instead wandering the streets like headless flies, even attacking one another.
This bought the survivors precious breathing room.
The sky gradually shifted from pitch black to dark blue, a faint light peeking over the eastern horizon. Meinhoff's star was about to rise.
"All units, be advised, dawn is approaching," Dr. Hanson's voice rang out over the public channel, carrying a trace of exhausted excitement. "According to my analysis, the unstable genetics within the infected cannot withstand strong ultraviolet radiation. Once exposed to direct sunlight, their cellular structure will break down rapidly. Hold out until sunrise, and we win the first phase!"
Raynor's team had reached the designated warehouse and established a defense. After rendezvousing with Raynor, Valerie's squad also entered the warehouse to rest and resupply. The warehouse was structurally sound, with only one main entrance and a few high windows, making it easy to defend.
Inside the warehouse, the Raiders hurried to treat wounds and restock ammunition. Valerie's security consultants silently checked their gear; their power armors bore numerous scratches and signs of corrosion, but remained fully functional.
Dr. Hanson guided the Medics over the comms on how to treat potentially infected casualties: "Any open wounds must be repeatedly disinfected with high-concentration alcohol or UV lamps! If there is fever, confusion, or skin discoloration, quarantine immediately!"
Tychus sat on an ammo crate, wiping slime off his power armor with a rag, cursing, "What the hell are these things? We haven't even dealt with the bugs, and now these contagious freaks pop up."
"They aren't a natural product," Dr. Hanson's voice came from the loudspeaker. "The signs of genetic modification are too obvious. This looks like... a biological weapon. Someone intentionally created or released these things."
"Mengsk?" Raynor guessed. "To clear out the refugees? Or to frame the Swarm?"
"The possibility exists, but we lack evidence," Dr. Hanson said. "Right now, the primary goal is to survive, then investigate."
Valerie listened quietly. She compiled everything that had happened here—the characteristics of the infected, the structure of the central neural node, and the speculation that it might be a biological weapon—into a detailed report and sent it to Ryo.
Such highly contagious biological weaponry, controllable by a central node, undoubtedly held immense research value—whether for defensive purposes or something else entirely.
Ryo's reply arrived swiftly: "Data is extremely valuable. Collect tissue samples from the infected if possible (maintain protective protocols), especially remnants of the neural node. Dr. Hanson's speculative direction is correct; you may guide her to delve deeper. Your safety is the priority."
The sky grew brighter. Outside the warehouse, the roars of the infected gradually became anxious and pained. They instinctively began seeking shadows to hide in, squeezing into the ruins of buildings, crawling into sewers, and even piling on top of each other to block the light.
"They're scared!" a Raider observing from a window shouted.
Finally, the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds, shining upon the land of Meinhoff.
The sight was unforgettable.
The infected exposed to the sunlight let out agonizing, bloodcurdling screams. White smoke billowed from their skin as they blistered, festered, and carbonized rapidly, as if splashed with potent acid. Some infected clawed madly at their own burning bodies until their bones were exposed.
Others thrashed about blindly like headless flies, eventually collapsing in the sunlight, melting into pools of bubbling, dark green sludge.
In just a few minutes, the streets were covered in melting corpses. The stench of rot permeated the air, faintly detectable even through their filtration masks.