Chapter 337: T-Virus?
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Only then did Ling Lan move forwards to find a large display screen before her. On it, countless codes were flashing by swiftly, and right at the top, there was an image of a cocoon. It was pulsing violently like a heart as a string of numbers counted down beside it.
Ling Lan tapped on that image and asked Little Four, "Is this it?"
"Yup, it'll be born in another three minutes or so. I did not expect your technology here to actually be able to cultivate the larvae of this virus. It's truly amazing!" exclaimed Little Four.
"How harmful is this virus?" Ling Lan thought of the computer viruses back in her previous world — those viruses would always cause various kinds of problems for those networks that got infected — and she could not help but ask worriedly.
"It would cause the virtual world here to collapse, but it will still be a baby when it's born and can only do so much. Once it matures, it'll be able to consume some of those people with low spiritual power ..." Little Four told Ling Lan about the harm the virus could cause. "In fact, once matured, it can be called an artificial virtual version of a spectre. As long as someone has less spiritual power than the virus, it will consume them."
"This thing is truly vicious!" Ling Lan's brow furrowed and she slammed a heavy fist onto that image. "It looks like there's an organisation that wants to destroy our virtual world and even kill the people of the Federation ... what is this virus called, and do you have a way to resolve it?"
"We call it the Doomsday Flower on Mandora, because its matured form really resembles a flower," said Little Four proudly, "We successfully cleared it out on Mandora. In my databases, I naturally have the solution for it, not to mention that it still hasn't even been born yet."
"Then help me destroy it completely. This type of malicious virus should not exist in this world," said Ling Lan, tone tinged with revulsion.
"Got it, Boss. I'll handle it immediately." Ling Lan had given her orders, so of course Little Four would carry them out perfectly. In the next second, Little Four had once again disappeared from Ling Lan's mindspace. Ling Lan knew that Little Four must have gone to wipe out that Doomsday Flower virus.
Ling Lan believed in Little Four. Since Little Four said there would be no problems, then there would certainly be nothing to worry about, so she set this matter aside. She walked over to a chair by the side and sat down. Seeing this, Luo Lang automatically moved to stand behind Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng's gaze flickered, and he also walked over ...
He would not hand over the position beside the rabbit to anyone! Li Lanfeng wanted to proclaim this point to everyone from this point onwards.
Ling Lan was not at all concerned over Li Lanfeng's and Luo Lang's actions. Settled in her seat, she tapped on the armrest and suddenly raised her head to look at D2 and asked, "Which faction are you all from?"
When Ling Lan had pounded the image of the cocoon earlier, D2 had been extremely nervous, afraid that the other would notice something and think of a way to destroy it. Although there were still 3 minutes before the virus would be done and D2 did not believe the other side would be able to do anything to destroy the T-virus in this short duration of time, for safety's sake, he still did not wish for the opponent to notice anything.
Now, seeing Ling Lan leave the virus alone to turn around and ask him this insignificant question, his heart relaxed. His mind spun quickly and he decided to chatter aimlessly with the other for a while and distract them in these final three minutes.
Having made up his mind, D2 calmly replied, "I'm of course someone from the Swift Dragon base. Who the hell are you people? Why did you sneak into our base?"
Ling Lan raised an eyebrow and she clapped her hands slowly, saying, "Stop acting. You and I are both real people. Just looking at your outfits I can tell you all are a bunch of hackers. The mainframe already knows something is up here, which is why it sent us over to investigate. I don't want to hear you all say any more nonsense. If you don't want to talk, that's fine, I'm sure I can find someone who's willing to tell me."
At this point, Ling Lan turned her head slightly to the side and said to Li Lanfeng who was standing beside her, "Leopard, if he doesn't want to speak, you can ..." Ling Lan made a swiping motion across her neck.
Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan truly meant with this gesture. He definitely wanted him to use his spectre abilities to kill the other party for a cautionary effect.
Beside Qi Long, controlling the scene along with him, Li Shiyu could not help but frown slightly when he saw Ling Lan's gesture towards Li Lanfeng, a sense of aversion rising in his heart. However, he resolutely turned away and hardened his heart. Li Shiyu knew that they could not be merciful with their enemies at this time. And wasn't it the opponent who had sent two spectres to attack them from the start to kill them all? If Li Lanfeng had not been a spectre and protected them, they would probably all be dead by now.
Although Li Shiyu was rather compassionate, he understood well when he could be merciful and when he could not.
Qi Long and the others had no objection to the proceedings — back when they had only been ten, they had already witnessed Ling Lan piloting a mecha to kill enemy mecha operators before their eyes. They had long become accustomed to Ling Lan's ruthlessness, and besides, they had been taught from young that they needed to show no mercy to their enemies.
D2 did not understand the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan's warning. Stubbornly, he shouted, "You thugs, don't expect to make me submit! I will definitely report this to the senior officer and have him send soldiers over to kill you all ..."
At this point of his speech, Ling Lan said nothing, only coolly making the kill gesture to Li Lanfeng.
This was Li Lanfeng's first time killing anyone — whether it was in the real world or in the virtual world, he had never killed anyone before this. Li Lanfeng was under extreme mental pressure, but he did not want the rabbit to be disappointed in him. And so, with a clench of his teeth and a hardening of his heart, he circulated his spectre power and leapt ferociously towards the enemy. As someone who wanted to change his fate, if he could not do something small like this, how could he talk about going against the heavens? Perhaps because he was clenching his teeth so hard, his entire mouth was filled with the stench of blood ...
D2 abruptly felt a powerful surge of energy rolling over him, and his initially vigorous spiritual power was instantly sent scattering under this force.
He saw his own body start to disappear slowly — not in the white light which marked a departure from the virtual world, but in a gradual dissipation into countless tiny particles of light.
He stared in horror at Li Lanfeng, and with his final bit of consciousness, he croaked out, "Spec ..."
After this final utterance, D2's entire being dispersed into the air, instantly vanishing into nothing. At this scene, D3 stumbled a great step backwards in shock and horror. If they had not been invaders and thus were not able to go offline from this Swift Dragon base, they would have definitely chosen to leave this place as soon as they could. This was because, before spectres in the virtual world, they were like a bunch of defenceless children without any ability to fight back.
Ling Lan watched dispassionately as D2 disappeared and then turned to look at D3, asking calmly, "Are you willing to talk? Or perhaps you want to be like him?"
At these words, D3 nodded his head emphatically, showing that he was willing to cooperate. He instinctively looked towards the cultivation area of the T-virus. Due to D2's stalling, he only needed to delay the opponents for another one minute or so and everything would work out. At that time, he would definitely avenge D2.
"Where are you all from?" Ling Lan continued to ask.
D3's gaze flickered and then he answered, "We're from the anti-government freedom army."
"A terrorist organisation?" The corners of Ling Lan's lips curled up in a subtle sneer and she once again gave the kill signal to Li Lanfeng.
D3 shouted out in terror, "I've already answered. Why do you still want to kill me?"
D3's terrified question did not garner Ling Lan's reply. Ling Lan merely flicked her fingers and Li Lanfeng resolutely ran the other over with his spectre power. Swiftly afterwards, D3 followed in D2's footsteps and disappeared from this virtual world. If he were still conscious, he would probably be regretting his decision ...
"Is it possible for a small terrorist organisation to have so much financial and material resources and manpower to cultivate such a terrifying virus?" said Ling Lan coldly. Her gaze turned to that hacker who had been cultivating the T-virus. "Tell me, isn't that so?"
That hacker's face paled at these words. He found that this cold youth before him seemed to know everything — it was a suicidal act trying to deceive the other.
"If you know, why aren't you trying to stop it? In another minute, it'll be born. At that time, the virtual world of the Federation will collapse completely. When you all no longer have a centralised command system, you all will not be able to resist our forces ..." The hacker finally could not help but blurt out in his shock.
"Hn, you're very honest. I like that very much." Ling Lan nodded and continued, "But how would you know that I didn't stop it?"
Ling Lan's words made the hacker's expression change once more, but he quickly calmed down. He just did not believe that the other would have a way to resolve the virus that even they had no way of controlling 1 .
"From what you've said, it proves that you all are from some other country. I just need to look at which countries' troops are moving unusually in real life and I'll have a list of candidates." Ling Lan could almost guess the truth from what the other had inadvertently revealed. "I know you do not believe what I'm saying, so let's do as you wish and just wait for the rest of the time needed for the virus to form. How much time is needed? One minute, or ten more seconds or so?"
"It's 57 seconds," The hacker blurted out.
"Fine, then I'll give you all those 57 seconds. Let us see whether things will turn out as you all have predicted, that our Federation's virtual world will truly be ruined by that virus," replied Ling Lan evenly.
Seeing Ling Lan's composed attitude, the emotion named panic inevitably rose within the hacker's heart. Did the opponent truly have a solution to this virus? No, they had researched so hard for 16 years before succeeding by chance just once. Even they themselves had not been able to develop a solution — how could the oblivious Huaxia Federation 2 have the ability to stop the evolution of the T-virus?
Fifty-seven seconds went by quickly. The T-virus the hackers had been eagerly anticipating did not bring any effect — the virtual world they were in did not change in any way and was still functioning normally.
That hacker could not help but lunge to stand before the screen of the cultivation area. There, he found that the original flashing codes and the cocoon image which represented the T-virus had already disappeared. The screen was a white blank, as if the T-virus they had cultivated had never existed in the first place.
"What happened? How could the T-virus fail? This is impossible, impossible ..." The hacker could not stop himself from shouting. Sixteen years of painstaking research, sixteen years of long days and sleepless nights, and in the end, all of it was but a dream ... when they woke up, there was nothing there. He just could not accept it; his emotions were thrust into instant turmoil.