Chapter 336: Tricked!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Seeing this, a lieutenant general with two stars on his shoulder, the person in charge here, immediately instructed medical specialists to step forward and check on the men. Two medical professionals in white coats, each holding a small portable instrument, went over respectively to one of the virtual pods.
The instruments were soon connected to the men lying inside the pods. Looking at the data reflected by the instrument, the expressions of the two experts became darker and darker. In the end, they could only stand up, shaking their heads, and tell everyone that the brains of the two people in the pods were completely destroyed. In medical terms, brain death. Even though their hearts were still beating, they were actually already dead.
"How can this be? They are elites from our bureau. They cannot be dead. You must have made a mistake." Hearing the professionals' declaration, a major general of around 40 years of age could not help but point fingers.
"Wilson, calm down!" The lieutenant general barked, shocking Major General Wilson out of his rage. He squatted down with his hands around his head, muttering uncontrollably under his breath, "What in the world could have happened? Why are Pete and Carter dead? Could it be that the Chinese Federation has discovered our plot?"
"Didn't D1 say that everything was going well?" As if thinking of something, Wilson suddenly jerked his head up to stare sharply at someone in the crowd. It was a middle-aged man who was also at the rank of major general.
"Although D1's group has successfully infiltrated the virtual world of the Chinese Federation, there are many limitations. We cannot transmit any messages, and so can only wait for them to send someone back to find out anything about what's going on. The latest news we have is from two days ago, when they suspected that the Chinese Federation had sent someone over to investigate. In order to ensure the success of the plan, they requested the help of some spectres ..." That major general was frowning as he gave a brief explanation to Wilson.
Major General Wilson wanted to retort, but at this moment, the lieutenant general walked over and patted him on the shoulder in comfort and said, "Even though Pete and Carter are dead, this does not mean the project will not succeed. For the Empire, some sacrifices are necessary. Let us wait another 5 minutes and we will know what the results are."
The lieutenant general's words of consolation made Wilson stop talking, merely waiting patiently for these final 5 minutes to pass. He too wished that the project would succeed so that Pete's and Carter's sacrifice would become worthwhile.
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Meanwhile, in the virtual world, D2, who was holding the fort in the secret research centre of the Swift Dragon base, saw the two mecha teams he sent finally manage to stall the invading enemy at the central square of the base. He temporarily relaxed but kept a close eye on the surveillance monitors of the central square to observe the situation between the two fighting parties, and he did not forget to ask his subordinate hacker about the progress of the evolution of the T-virus.
As the time ticked closer and closer to the completion stage, while that invading mecha team still continued to tussle with the two mecha teams of the secret base, only then did D2's heart finally settle ...
After this period of fighting, six of the nine mecha which had snuck in had already been taken down, while there were only five more mecha left from the two mecha teams sent. Both sides were scarred from the battle. D2 did not care. After all, the mecha teams protecting the secret base were all the original mecha teams from the Swift Dragon base and had nothing at all to do with them.
D2 only cared about whether the mecha teams could complete their task of holding back the invading mecha until the T-virus was successfully cultivated. And now, it looked like the mecha teams were performing pretty well, successfully completing the task they had been assigned.
At this time, even if the other party managed to finish off these final five mecha, they would no longer have time to rush over and stop their operation. The scene of him becoming the primary hero of the Empire rose in his mind's eye. He was receiving the Supreme Medal of Honour from the Great Emperor and enjoying the frenzied adoration of his fellow countrymen in front of the House of Parliament ...
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In another hidden room, the two spectres who had been fighting all this while with Li Lanfeng were already panting heavily with exhaustion. They had almost used up all of their spectre power but still had not been able to break the other's defences.
"What's going on? Why is the opponent getting stronger as we fight? At first, there would still be some fluctuations in his defensive power, even some openings. Why has it become so strong and impenetrable from half an hour before? We've been attacking for so long and there's no effect at all?" Carter asked Pete who was beside him as he panted. This truly did not adhere to the common sense of spectre battles.
Pete initially had not thought much about it, but when he heard Carter's question, a jolt ran through his heart. He was just about to say something when his heart began to pound in a warning from their spectre abilities. Their faces changed drastically and they hurried to pull back the spectre power they were using to fight the opponent, but it was too late.
A powerful, overwhelming surge of energy wrapped their spectre powers completely and then pulverised it. They could only hear their own spiritual power being squeezed like a water balloon and then there was a pop ... and then there was no more.
No one saw as their bodies became tiny particles slowly dissipating into the air. This meant that their consciousness had been successfully erased.
"Boss, mission complete!" Little Four reported smugly to Ling Lan after returning to Ling Lan's mindspace.
In fact, from half an hour ago, Little Four had silently begun intercepting the attacks of the two men. Li Lanfeng had been rather baffled by this, wondering why those two spectres attacking him had suddenly disappeared. Because Little Four's energy was too powerful yet very hard to detect, Li Lanfeng did not discover the truth.
Ling Lan rubbed Little Four's head in satisfaction and looked towards the doors, asking, "Little Four, is this the place?"
"Yup, they're right inside. I sensed a familiar energy from inside. If Boss had not stopped me from going in, I would have long gone to find out what that energy is," grumbled Little Four.
"I'll bring you in immediately and you'll finally find out what the final answer for this mission is." Ling Lan instructed Little Four to prepare to open the door. Right then, Ling Lan had already kept away her mecha, while the other eight members of her team, who had similarly kept away their mecha, were hiding behind both sides of the door. They were already holding onto their own laser weapons, prepared to rush in at first notice to take control of the situation inside instantly.
"4 minutes and 30 seconds to go for the T-virus to mature," said that hacker subordinate who had been in charge of cultivating the T-virus all this while, sounding pleasantly surprised as he looked at the data reflected on the screen. Previously, they could only make rough estimates, but now, they could really determine the exact time the T-virus would be born.
When D2 and D3 heard this news, they instantly ran excitedly to the screen monitoring the cultivation of the T-virus to wait together for the last four minutes or so till the T-virus came into the world. Right then, the doors which had been shut tightly all this time were suddenly flung open. Before they could even react, a team of warriors dressed in night combat clothes suddenly charged into the room with short laser handguns aimed at them, shouting, "Don't move!"
There were a few people in the room who had quick reflexes — they were just about to pull their own guns when the well-prepared opponents shot them in the arm, preventing their resistance. D2 saw that they had no chance at all, and so indicated for everyone to calm down.
The situation was very quickly controlled. At this moment, crisp footsteps could be heard coming from the doorway and then a person with a cool demeanour surrounded by cold air walked through it. His cold gaze swept dispassionately over them and actually made their hearts quiver unexpectedly.
"Boss, task complete!" Qi Long waved his laser handgun excitedly at Ling Lan. Whether it was in the real world or here in the virtual world, they would never lack for this kind of thrilling battle following Boss. Qi Long felt that he had truly fallen in love with this type of exciting lifestyle.
D2 saw the final person who walked in and knew that he had been tricked, because this person was that strongest mecha warrior still fighting with the mecha teams of the base on the monitor screens right now.
D2 and D3 reflexively glanced at each other, knowing that they needed to delay. Even if they all died here, they needed to complete their mission.
"Who are you people? What are you doing here?" Turning back to face the invaders, D2 pretended he knew nothing and acted just like an NPC would, asking in a shocked manner.
He only received silence in response, however, as Qi Long and the others naturally would not say much with their boss around. As for Ling Lan, right then, her attention had been pulled away by Little Four in the mindspace.
The moment she had entered this hidden room, Little Four had suddenly become extremely excited and had actually ignored her original warnings to run out. In the virtual world, Little Four could roam freely, unlike in the real world where he could only follow Ling Lan.
One second later, Little Four returned, his expression pleased and surprised, and he could not conceal his excitement as he said, "Boss, I've discovered something great!"
"Oh? What is it?" asked Ling Lan calmly.
"Boss, it's incredible. I never expected this world to actually have such a thing." Little Four's expression was dreamy. Till now, he could not comprehend why this thing would appear here. Logically, with this world's technology, this thing should never be here.
"What in the world is this thing?" Ling Lan sweatdropped. This Little Four seemed to be so astounded by this thing that he was ungrounded, completely out of sorts.
"It's a type of virus, right over there. They seem to be in the process of cultivating it. This type of virus is really too famous in our Mandora star system. Back then it almost destroyed our great virtual world and killed off all of us intelligence entities. Luckily, we had a powerful mainframe computer so in the end we managed to resolve the situation." Little Four's proud tone had a trace of cold fear running through it, as if extremely afraid of that virus.
Ling Lan looked in the direction Little Four had pointed out. D2 and D3 saw Ling Lan's line of sight turn towards the T-virus and were startled. Their bodies jerked involuntarily but they forcefully suppressed the reflex. They were well aware that they could not be too impetuous, or else the other side would become suspicious. They just needed another three minutes or so for the tides to turn and for success to fall to them.
Ling Lan walked over and one of the hackers tried to stop her from approaching. But before he could do anything, he had been pushed aside by Luo Lang who had been following right behind Ling Lan.