Chapter 342: Mutated Spiritual Self!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
D1 and the others were not just sitting around idly. They had been constantly trying to contact D2 and D3 inside the secret base but were unsuccessful till the very end. Despite the good news coming again and again from the warehouse, their mood was steadily becoming worse.
They already had a vague sense that something was wrong — it was likely that an incident had occurred at the secret base. Every time they considered this possibility, their hearts were filled with regret — why had they been so preoccupied with the victory at hand that they had not immediately transferred the spectres on the other end over to help when D2 had requested assistance?
They were even more frustrated and hateful that the Federation army had played a good move by using diversionary tactics to split their forces, destroying their initial sure-win scenario.
"Say, do you think something happened to D2 and D3?" asked the youngest in the group, D10, unable to bear the depressed atmosphere.
The only response he received, however, was silence. Seeing everyone's mood becoming worse and worse, D1 rallied his spirits and retorted loudly, "Impossible! We just talked to them half an hour ago. D2 said everything was normal then, that the invaders had been successfully intercepted by the mecha teams, while Carter and Pete had also gained the upper hand."
"Then why hasn't the T-virus broken out yet?" D10 finally voiced the question in everyone's hearts. According to D2's report half an hour ago, the T-virus should have already erupted 20 minutes ago. Why was there still no sign of it now?
D10's words caused D1 to fall silent again for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again to rasp hoarsely, "Perhaps, some mutation occurred when the T-virus broke out. After all, we have only succeeded once. No one knows what kind of situation might turn up during its complete formation. Or perhaps the virus has a certain incubation period after breaking out and will not immediately manifest itself ..."
D1's words caused the others to take heart — indeed, just because there was no sign now did not necessarily mean they had failed. They might as well continue trying to establish contact with the secret base. Perhaps they would be able to get in touch with the people there right in the very next second and obtain some great news. Who knew?
Seeing everyone cheered up, D1's mood lifted a little as well. He continued to say, "Just now, I've contacted Reiter. He said he has already sent Witt over. With that, we should find out very soon what has happened on D2's end, and why we suddenly lost contact."
After all, this was not their own country's virtual network. As intruders, there was just no way for them to take complete control. Almost every day, there was the risk of them losing contact amongst their separated groups. It was just that the disconnect had never lasted so long before, previously lasting for at most a few short minutes. D1 reflexively glanced at the procedural activation key he had pre-programmed. He really hoped he would not have to use it ...
Their hopes rekindled, D1's group continued to try and find out what was going on with the secret base but they still failed. Not long after, they felt a horrifying wave of energy suddenly descend on their heads. Before they could react to it, that wave of energy had crashed down mercilessly.
When D1 sensed that energy wave, his face changed drastically, and he exclaimed in shock, "Spectre ... this cannot be!"
D1 initially thought that the Huaxia Federation had only sent one spectre this time, so they had purposefully lured that spectre and the Federation investigative team to the trap they had set up in advance. After that, they deployed two spectres of their own with the focused task of intercepting and killing that spectre.
When they had seen the other party walking into their trap without suspecting a thing, D1 and the others had barely had any time to rejoice when they had received D2's urgent notification. They found out that the secret base had been invaded by another unidentified team and there was another powerful spectre with the invaders. This fact had soured D1's mood greatly — he had not expected flaws to actually appear in such a foolproof plan as theirs.
However, D1 had not been too concerned. To ensure the security of the secret base, he had kept two spectres there to hold the fort. D1 felt that it should definitely be no problem for two spectres to handle just one enemy spectre.
That's right. This time, in order to ensure the success of project-T, the Caesar Empire had not only dispatched 30 top-class hackers, they had also generously sent four top-class spectres to handle that spectre the Huaxia Federation would send.
D1's planning was actually ideal. Both spots had two spectres in place — they would definitely be able to kill off the two spectres the Federation had sent. What he had never imagined was that they would succeed at the trap but for the secret base area to end up in a deadlock. In this situation where they had the great advantage of 2 versus 1, it was unexpected for the other to be able to hold them off and hold them at a deadlock. It was even more unexpected that he had actually lost contact with D2 and D3 at the last minute.
Frankly, he had already sensed that something was not right, but he also did not want to think or admit that they might fail. Deep down, he still hoped that everything was progressing as planned at the secret base, that this was just normal connection failure and that no accidents had occurred. However, when this great wave of spectre power emerged, D1 knew then that the secret base must be finished.
D1 was not just a simple hacker — at the same time, he had also awakened spectre powers. However, he had chosen to develop his hacker powers because he did not want to lose his freedom. Perhaps he was naturally extraordinarily gifted — his spectre power did not stop evolving despite his choice. He had achieved breakthroughs twice on that end, advancing to advanced level, only one step away from becoming a top-class spectre.
This had always been his secret. He knew that if the Empire military ever found out, he would definitely lose his freedom to become an experimental subject. Therefore, he had always sealed his spectre power away, only revealing his superior hacker abilities.
This was why D1 had still been able to speak even under the wave of horrifying spectre power. Due to the seal, he had a certain degree of resistance against spectre power attacks.
Still, even so, D1 could not escape this full-powered attack of Little Four's. D1 knew very well that under this horrifying spectre power, his spectre power could only provide some instinctive protection for a moment. Soon, just as if surrendering to one's own king, it would automatically release its defence to welcome death.
Inspiration sparked through D1's mind and he instantly realised that this spectre power was definitely not any so-called top-class existence but an existence that had gone beyond top-class. It was perhaps at the rumoured spectre king level, or perhaps even at the level of spectre god which had never before appeared in the virtual world ... These hypothetical types of existences had been mentioned in some of the research books he had read back when he had been studying about spectres.
D1 watched helplessly as his group D members became white dots and vanished from the virtual world. If not for his spectre powers providing some instinctual token defence, he would probably have already disappeared without a trace like his other companions by now. But even so, he knew he did not have much time left. He saw his own two feet begin to fade away into white spots to vanish into the air ...
"Are you a spectre king, or a spectre god?" asked D1 fearlessly. The black robe concealing his figure had already been stripped away by that horrific wave of spectre power, revealing his original appearance. He was about 24 to 25 years old with handsome features, golden hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and sharply-defined features. These were all characteristics of Caesarians 1 ...
"Eh? Actually still alive?" Little Four, who had initially assumed the sure-death of everyone with one strike, could not help but exclaim at seeing one of his targets still alive. The next second, Little Four appeared before the eyes of D1. The appearance of Little Four, who looked just like a 5 to 6-year-old boy 2 with a little pigtail braid sticking up from his head along with a chubby little figure and short limbs, made D1 stare at him in disbelief.
"How could the Huaxia Federation have a being like you?" It was obvious at a glance that Little Four was a Huaxian 3 . Although D1 knew that the one who had attacked them must be a spectre from the Huaxia Federation, he was dumbfounded upon seeing Little Four's childish appearance, unable to comprehend the situation. This was because at Little Four's apparent age, even the most talented spectre would have only be at the stage of awakening. Typically, a newly awakened spectre could only be at a trainee level — being able to advance straight into lower level would already mark one as an extremely aberrant existence, while advancing to intermediate level would mark the possibility of one being a spectre king ...
But no matter how aberrant a child was, it was impossible for one to immediately step into spectre king realm. D1 smiled bitterly — could it be that the Huaxians' luck was not yet at an end, which was why they could be so lucky as to possess this kind of natural king? D1 could only think so in the end.
Little Four did not answer D1. He only prodded D1's body and obtained the other's data. "You're so strange. Actually having both hacker power and spectre power existing within you at the same time, with both powers achieving quite a high level." Little Four naturally knew that the coexistence of spectre power and hacker power in this world was forbidden territory.
"I don't know why either." Seeing Little Four acting like a little grown up, D1 found the situation hilarious and actually broke out into laughter. Perhaps knowing he was going to die soon, D1 no longer suppressed himself. He might as well be himself without any restraints and laugh if he felt like laughing ...
"Hmm, there is a need for research." Little Four looked at D1 and perhaps the other's handsome appearance gave Little Four a favourable impression, for Little Four instantly came to a decision. Little Four reached out a firm little hand towards D1's brain.
D1 stared in stunned astonishment as Little Four's hands sunk into his brain, and then he felt his soul being grabbed. It was as if his soul was being forcibly extracted from his body, or perhaps like his body was being torn apart ...
"Ah ...!" The intense pain made D1 scream involuntarily, his entire body beginning to shake violently.
However, the agony made his mind extremely clear. In his mind, he had thousands of questions — what was this child planning to do to him? Why did he hurt so badly? Why could the other's hand sink into his brain like this ... but he would not have the chance to ask these questions. By the time Little Four's hand pulled back from his brain, D1 had lost consciousness, falling into darkness. His entire body suddenly shattered with a cracking sound, turning into countless white dots to disappear into the air.
All of Little Four's attention was on his right hand. He did not notice the little finger of D1's right hand twitching right before D1 lost consciousness. Somewhere in the distance, a hidden installation silently activated.
Little Four opened his right hand. In his palm was a bundle of pure energy, shining with an indistinct white light. Little Four studied it closely and very quickly found that within the white-coloured light, there were several strands of gold that were easily overlooked, much finer than silk threads ...
"Yup, as expected, his spiritual self is really rather abnormal. Looks like before Little Blossom wakes up, I won't be that bored anymore." The corners of Little Four's lips curled upwards involuntarily, his eyebrows bowed in a happy curve. It looked like he was in a great mood. "Consider yourself lucky, meeting me, Little Four, in a good mood, giving yourself a chance to live ..."
As he muttered to himself, Little Four pressed that spiritual self onto his body, where it was then absorbed by Little Four to disappear without a trace.