Beneath the gazes of Ji Liuli and the short-haired woman suspected to be Peacock, Wei Yuan felt cold sweat practically dripping from his forehead.
The virus he had designed was clearly just the most ordinary, generic strain. Aside from self-replication, it lacked any special functions whatsoever. He hadn't had the time to design genetic sequences capable of infecting human cells, nor did it have the ability to infect plants.
Yet such an utterly commonplace virus had wiped out the company's latest cutting-edge strain and even assimilated all of its advantages? Wei Yuan felt that even if he were directing a sci-fi movie, he wouldn't dare write such a plot.
It was like an academic slacker taking the college entrance exam, scribbling nonsense all over the paper, and somehow walking away with a perfect score—enough to infuriate every top student to death.
Given the biochemical knowledge Wei Yuan currently possessed, the virus he designed shouldn't have succeeded in the first place, let alone possessed such terrifying power. The most reasonable explanation seemed to be that someone had swapped out his design with a pre-existing virus.
Yet the lengthy monitoring logs proved beyond doubt that it was indeed Wei Yuan's virus that had overthrown everything.
The monster spawned from the polymeric virus had destroyed the container holding Wei Yuan's design, causing the original virus to leak. Like a match tossed into a pool of gasoline, it had erupted into a horrifying sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
Under the deliberate encouragement of certain individuals, the feed ports of the underground experiment area had continuously discharged airborne organic nutrient particles to sustain viral growth. These nutrient-rich microparticles suspended in the air served as natural sustenance for the virus, causing the underground experiment area to fall completely in a matter of moments.
At the time, hundreds of samples stored in the repository cabinets had all been released. The air filtration system automatically captured multiple strains, and diagnostic results showed that every single one of them had been wiped out by Wei Yuan's virus—after which it turned its sights on the polymeric virus.
The cold, hard data rendered any defense from Wei Yuan pale and feeble.
Suddenly, Wei Yuan recalled a detail: while designing the virus, he had distinctly felt something draining from his body. Ji Liuli had mentioned it at the time, but he had assumed it was merely an innate ability tied to this host body.
Now fully awakened, the memory resurfaced, and he realized with a start that what had drained away back then was actually karmic luck. For it to give him such a noticeable sensation, a massive amount of karmic luck must have been channeled into the virus—which resulted in this supervirus.
Wang Bing suddenly brought up a rapidly climbing data curve. "Something is wrong," she said. "These new organisms are evolving too fast. Their intelligence is already approaching human levels, and their data processing capability is far beyond ours.
"Judging by the monitored data, it's very likely that in the deepest depths, a creature akin to a master brain is about to emerge. It will possess an intellect far surpassing humanity's. We cannot allow it to obtain the data inside the central mainframe!"
Ji Liuli asked, "So what? We go save the world?"
"No, save ourselves. If these things spread outside, all of humanity will perish."
"Didn't Wells design an abort switch? If necessary, we only need to release the targeted counter-virus to wipe them out."
Wang Bing's expression turned grim. "I didn't see an abort switch in their cellular genome! I don't know whether it was overwritten by the new virus or if Wells never designed one in the first place. Once we get out, I'm going to demand a clear answer from him."
Compared to Wang Bing and Ji Liuli, Wei Yuan was quite familiar with Wells's track record. The man was a true technical fanatic and a biochemical genius who had presided over the company's research department for thirty years.
It was precisely under his leadership that several of the Umbrella Company's key projects had achieved major breakthroughs, conquering a host of complex, intractable diseases. The Umbrella Company had consequently risen to become the world's largest biomedical conglomerate before expanding into armaments, evolving into an unprecedented biomedical-military-industrial complex.
Before this nascent behemoth, all financial giants had been reduced to a mere service industry.
Wang Bing pulled up the surveillance feed, showing an orange path leading into the underground sector, with the orange zone steadily expanding. Orange represented the Superpower Alliance's control perimeter, which was presently pushing forward slowly but steadily, though their casualties remained unknown.
Wang Bing tapped a few commands on the console. To their surprise, she opened several vital blast gates beneath the orange sector, clearing a path for them to descend into the lower levels, while deactivating most of the automated defense systems along their route. The monsters had all been categorized as ambient airborne viruses, meaning those automated weapon systems had solely targeted the Superpower Alliance personnel.
Ji Liuli watched from the side without intervening.
Glancing at Wei Yuan, she explained, "The pressure on us is too great right now. The three of us alone might not make it to the bottom floor. We need others to shoulder part of the burden. Ordinary soldiers are useless on a battlefield like this; only superpower users can contend with polymeric life-forms."
Wei Yuan voiced no objection. In truth, he had never even laid eyes on anyone from the so-called Alliance, so he naturally felt no sympathy for them.
The three made their way to a nearby workstation. Ji Liuli used her credentials to boot it up and located a considerable stockpile of raw materials in an adjacent storage bay. The workstation began continuously producing green biochemical ammunition in various calibers. As for purple rounds, their warheads had to be packed with an active gene-decomposition agent that required laboratory synthesis, far beyond what a workstation like this could manufacture.
An hour later, the three had restocked over a thousand rounds. By then, the Superpower Alliance had also breached this floor, though through a different sector. Wei Yuan could already hear intermittent rumbles echoing from afar; the battle was clearly fierce.
The three set out once more, finding their route met with far less resistance this time.
Their weaponry was distinctly unbalanced. Ji Liuli wielded a 7mm pistol, while Wang Bing's shotgun was loaded with solid slugs of an exaggerated 20mm caliber. Only Wei Yuan carried a standard 9mm sidearm; aside from a slight edge in rate of fire, its damage output was worlds apart from theirs.
Yet as the combat dragged on, Wei Yuan gradually grasped the technique of utilizing the azure qi of human fortune. He began imbuing every single round with a wisp of karmic luck, resulting in critical strikes with every shot—a performance that drew surprised glances even from Ji Liuli and Wang Bing.
Wei Yuan blanketed the area with his divine sense. No matter how many monsters charged in, they were all tagged and processed, generating the optimal firing solution automatically.
Even when the creatures swept in like an overwhelming swarm, every single one of them had to take a bullet from Wei Yuan straight to the head first. Moreover, Wei Yuan struck exclusively at their weak points, dealing staggering damage. The weakest abominations collapsed dead on the spot, medium ones were grievously wounded, and even the large ones had their mobility impaired, leaving them easy prey for Ji Liuli and Wang Bing to finish off.
The deeper they ventured underground, the more origin qi Wei Yuan found lingering within the monsters. Upon being slain, the lion's share of it flowed into him, with only a small portion claimed by Wang Bing and Ji Liuli. Before long, Wei Yuan discerned the pattern: whoever dealt the killing blow reaped the origin qi.
It seemed that after the heaven and earth of this realm had fractured, the laws of karma had grown exceptionally pronounced, giving rise to the bizarre phenomenon where the slayer directly claimed the harvest.
Judging by Wang Bing and Ji Liuli's reactions, however, neither of them seemed capable of sensing this. Wei Yuan had only detected the transfer of origin qi thanks to the newly acquired Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form, which had drastically sharpened his karmic perception.
The battle grew exceptionally arduous and prolonged. The deeper they pressed, the more numerous and formidable the monsters became. Later on, when Wei Yuan opened his Eye of Wisdom through the Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form, he could actually discern distinct spiritual glows radiating from the creatures. A spiritual glow of this magnitude was already sufficient to rank them among sentient beings endowed with spirituality.
Even back in the Native Realm, it would be enough for immortals to carve out a separate minor world for them to dwell and reproduce, just to see what kind of flowers and fruit they might yield.
By this point, the Superpower Alliance's advance had long ground to a halt. But two of the three here were titans of the Umbrella Company, their combat prowess beyond question. With ample ammunition and seemingly boundless karmic luck, Wei Yuan's actual kill count surpassed both of theirs, allowing him to seize the largest share of origin qi.
Though the monsters were vast in number and terrifying in strength, they could not halt the trio's advance, and a path was carved open through sheer force.
No one knew how much time had passed before the three descended along the emergency stairwell, finally stepping onto the lowest level—the seat of the entire underground research center's central processor.
After slaying another corridor of monsters, Wei Yuan stepped through the doorway with his gun raised, entering an exceptionally lofty hall. At its center stood dozens of towering, gleaming pillars—the central processor, capable of generating billions of gene fragments in an instant.
At this moment, however, the massive pillars were smothered in a sludge-like biomass. That biomass flickered with light of its own, fully fused with the central processor.
In front of the central processor stood a man dressed in a sharp, immaculate suit. Turning around, he looked toward Wei Yuan and said, "I have been waiting for you for a very long time. Why have you only arrived now?"
Wei Yuan's body activated of its own accord once more. A consciousness surfaced, and an illusory silhouette materialized before him. Just as the silhouette opened its mouth to speak, the formerly dull look in Wei Yuan's eyes vanished, replaced by a sharp glint. He thrust out a radiant golden hand and seized the silhouette by the head!
With a clench of Wei Yuan's fingers, the golden hand crushed the silhouette on the spot, popping it like a soap bubble. The figure dissolved into a face twisted in terror and shock, but before it could utter a single word, it vanished into nothingness.
"Haha! I've endured you for so long, and you finally showed yourself!" Wei Yuan felt thoroughly invigorated, a radiant grin spreading across his face, like a wild man from deep within the mountains who had finally stepped into a bathhouse and scrubbed off a lifetime of grime.
Smiling warmly, Wei Yuan looked toward the man in the suit. "You don't need to wait anymore."
Chapter 790