The smoke in the underground nest of the Pentagon had not yet cleared, and the air was filled with the stench of dark energy and the smell of burnt metal. Liam stood in front of the symbiont transformation device, gently wrapped in the purple light of the pure symbiosis source. The exhaustion from defeating the nest leader had not yet faded. His brain activation level stabilized at 17.3%, neural symbiosis stability at 84%, and energy fusion degree at 80%. He was about to start the absorption process when sudden rapid footsteps, accompanied by the Reapers' unique roars, came from the depths of the corridor.
[Detected 3 weak dark energy fluctuations, which are Reaper remnants with energy intensities of 30-35 units, fleeing towards the ground! Their trajectory directly points to the ground water supply pipeline hub!] The AI's prompt sounded urgently. Liam turned to the corridor—three smaller Reapers were fleeing frantically, their biochips glowing dim red but carrying clear destructive intentions, clearly lucky survivors of the nest battle.
"We can't let them destroy the water supply pipeline!" Kane clenched his counter-weapon and chased after them first. Liam followed closely behind. The super perception brought by the 17.3% activation level allowed him to predict the Reapers' escape trajectory. He condensed an energy spear at his fingertips and threw it accurately, piercing the biochip of one Reaper. The Reaper let out a shrill roar, turned into a pool of grayish-black mucus, and its energy was absorbed by Liam, increasing his activation level slightly to 17.4%.
Seeing this, the remaining two Reapers suddenly turned around, spraying corrosive mucus. The rocks above the corridor crashed down, blocking the pursuit route. "They want to buy time!" Liam dodged the mucus sideways, his energy spear splitting the falling rocks, only to find that the Reapers had already rushed into the hidden exit leading to the ground, heading straight for the water supply pipeline.
On the ground, Washington D.C.'s morning rush hour was in full swing. Outside the restricted area, several curious citizens held up their phones to take photos of the cordon, discussing the authenticity of the "military exercise"; the convenience store owner was wiping shelves, complaining about the recent frequent "controls affecting business"; Lucy, a single mother living nearby, was about to make milk powder for her child when the faucet suddenly ran out of water. "Why is there no water?" She frowned at the empty water cup and turned on the TV to check for news notifications, but the screen was still playing morning entertainment programs.
At that moment, two Reapers rushed out of the exit, their biochips glowing red, heading straight for the water supply pipeline valve. Citizens screamed and scattered. Lucy held her child and hid in the convenience store, watching the two deformed monsters through the glass, her face pale. At the critical moment, Liam and Kane arrived just in time. The blue light of the counter-weapons flashed, instantly killing the remaining Reapers.
Amid the chaos, a sharp pain suddenly hit Liam's chest, and his heart stopped for 1 second—his eyes went black, his energy lost control, and the blue-black halo exploded chaotically, hitting the abandoned wall beside him, sending gravel flying. He stumbled and leaned against the wall, a trace of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, and his activation level dropped back to 17.3% in an instant. [Warning! Host's heart stopped for 1 second! For every contraction of myocardial cells, 0.3% of the cells die. The current myocardial damage rate has reached 8%! Fighting with activation level above 17.5% for more than 10 minutes will cause permanent heart failure!]
Kane quickly supported him, his face solemn: "What's wrong? Your energy is out of control!" Liam clutched his chest, breathing rapidly: "My heart... can't take it. Activation above 17% requires too much from the heart's pumping efficiency."
On the way back to the temporary stronghold, Liam's heart discomfort became more obvious, and he had to deliberately suppress his activation level at 17.0%. In the laboratory, Elena immediately performed a comprehensive scan on him. The heart image on the screen clearly showed traces of myocardial cell damage, and the red damaged area was shocking: "The situation is worse than imagined. Your myocardial energy conduction efficiency is only 60% of that of ordinary enhancers, which can't support activation above 18%. To break through, we must first perform local gene editing to strengthen myocardial toughness, and the editing requires 'β-7 special crystal' as an energy conductor."
She quickly tapped the keyboard, pulling up the material list and global inventory, and her face suddenly darkened: "β-7 crystal is the core material of the counter-weapon, and we used the last piece in mass production just now! This crystal is refined from 'meteorite ore', and there are only two mineral veins in the world: one in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil and the other in Siberia of Russia. The Russian mineral vein has been transformed into a small energy station by the Reapers, heavily guarded; the Brazilian mineral vein is remote and has not been fully controlled, but there are only 5 pieces left, secretly sealed by Professor Marcos back then."
"Without β-7 crystal, our counter-weapons are useless!" Technician Wang, who was in charge of mass production, stamped his foot anxiously, "Ordinary crystals can only produce weakened counter-weapons with 40% less power, which can't deal with the possible Reaper enhanced bodies in the future."
Liam leaned against the medical cabin, the dull pain in his chest coming in waves. Under the faint nourishment of the pure symbiosis source, his brain activation level barely rose to 17.5%, but he couldn't go further—the heart had become the first insurmountable shackle. At this time, the TV screen in the laboratory switched to the news channel, broadcasting a notice about the water supply pipeline repair: "The water supply pipeline around the Pentagon has burst due to aging, and water supply is expected to resume within 3 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to citizens." Lucy watched the news and breathed a sigh of relief, not knowing that the water outage was caused by the Reapers' destruction, let alone that someone almost sacrificed their life to protect the water supply pipeline.
Just then, the stronghold's early warning system suddenly alarmed: "Weak dark energy fluctuations detected outside the stronghold, suspected to be tracking signals from Reaper remnants!" Liam's heart tightened—these remnants not only wanted to escape but also tracked the energy of the pure symbiosis source. However, their counter-weapons and the protagonist's breakthrough were stuck due to the crystal shortage.
Outside the laboratory, Kane led the soldiers to clean up the remnants. Injured soldier Mark chatted with his comrades in the medical cabin: "My hometown is nearby. After the war, I want to take my family to the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. I heard the tribes there are very simple and there are many rare animals." These words touched Liam—Brazil not only had crystals but also ordinary people's yearning for peace.
Elena was video-calling Professor Marcos. In the rainforest background on the screen, tribal thatched houses could be seen, and Marcos' face was solemn: "The 5 crystals in the mine were sealed by me back then, but recently Reaper remnants have been guarding the mine—they also seem to need β-7 crystal to repair the transformation device. When you come, be careful of their 'corrosion traps'. Three tribal hunters have accidentally triggered them and died without a trace."
After hanging up the call, Elena looked at Liam: "Professor Marcos agreed to take us to the mine, but it's too dangerous. Your heart..." "I have to go." Liam interrupted her, slowly standing up. The 17.5% activation level allowed him to barely suppress the heart discomfort, "Without crystals, we can't strengthen the heart or produce qualified counter-weapons. Next time the Reapers come, we can't even protect ourselves, let alone more ordinary people."
He walked to the window, looking at the street that was gradually returning to calm—the convenience store reopened, citizens returned to the road one after another, and Lucy held her child and walked out of the convenience store, looking towards the water supply pipeline, hoping for the water to resume soon. Liam clenched his fists, the dull pain in his heart reminding him: the road to breaking through from 17% to 20% was destined to be full of thorns from the very beginning. And the exposed crystal shortage and heart crisis at this moment were just the first test of this difficult journey.
Kane patted him on the shoulder: "I'll take the soldiers to clean up the peripheral remnants first. You and Elena prepare, and we'll set off for Brazil tomorrow morning. Don't worry, we'll solve both the crystal and your heart problems."
In the laboratory, Elena was debugging the myocardial support device, and the screen displayed the "β-7 crystal acquisition plan"; Wang was repairing the weakened counter-weapons, his eyes firm; Liam leaned against the medical cabin, watching the news of "water supply resumption" on TV. Lucy happily turned on the faucet to get water, a relieved smile on her face. This ordinary scene made him more determined to move forward—no matter how dangerous the road ahead, he had to guard this hard-won peace.