Wanting to Kill It

The gene monsters' sonic attacks caused hallucinations in humans, but by the same token, their sonic waves betrayed their position.

The Federation's current equipment couldn't block such sonic attacks, but it could detect the source of the waves.

At that moment, seven or eight glowing green dots appeared inside Tu Ran's visor.

Those glowing dots were the sonic sources Zero had detected.

Tu Ran lightened her steps and moved toward the nearest green dot.

That dot was behind a completed heavy mech.

The mech stood there, its top nearly touching the factory ceiling.

Tu Ran stood before it, barely a head taller than its foot.

The green dot was on the mech's left foot.

The gene monster hid there, ready to ambush passing humans.

Tu Ran caught it off guard, slipping between the mech's legs, raising her rifle, and firing at the gene monster crouching half-prone on the mech's foot.

Before the monster could react, two bullets struck it—one hit the center of its throat, cutting off its sonic attack, and the other hit its forehead, halting its moss assault.

The dark green moss had barely spread a foot beneath it before it was forcibly stopped.

Its body stiffened instantly, toppling off the mech and slamming hard onto the ground, its eight legs sticking up like poles.

Similar to how the beetle had died.

Tu Ran glanced at it indifferently and headed for the next target.

Two more shots—one to the throat, one to the head.

According to the Research Institute's findings, a gene monster's last cry before death could unleash a sonic attack five times more damaging than usual.

Tu Ran wasn't afraid of its sonic attacks, but the members following her couldn't withstand them.

Every less cry was one less.

Tu Ran moved calmly, unhurriedly, disposing of the green dots on her visor one by one.

These gene monsters posed no threat to her.

They merely had the advantage of numbers.

Occasionally, she encountered a clever one, like this one hiding behind the assembly platform.

It didn't emit a sonic attack.

Zero couldn't detect its position.

Tu Ran's visor showed no green dot for it either.

She passed by the assembly platform naturally.

The gene monster observed Tu Ran with her back to it, its eyes lit up, and it scrambled out, opening its wide mouth to bite at the back of her neck.

Just within arm's reach, a long blade suddenly struck, its gleam flashing, and the next second it pierced the monster's mouth, through its throat.

The gene monster's eyes widened in fury and disbelief, staring at the human who turned around slowly and smiled at it.

She had—she had actually drawn the blade backward.

Did this human have eyes in the back of her head?

That was its last question before losing consciousness.

According to the Research Institute's later investigation, among the gene monsters appearing at Sankar Arsenal, only the mother had independent consciousness; the rest of the offspring had only a one in ten thousand chance of evolving self-awareness, and most were among the lower animals.

And that one in ten thousand—Tu Ran disposed of with a single clean slash.

Tu Ran only remarked indifferently that this one was smarter than the others, then moved toward the next.

Tu Ran wanted to find the one that had appeared first, the mother that had bred so many gene monsters.

This brood was nothing but small fry, easy to kill; the real challenge was only the mother.

"You have now entered the East Sector, which is outside your jurisdiction. Please return immediately," Zero's mechanical, cold voice rang out.

Tu Ran chose to ignore it; she had circled the South Sector without finding the mother, and she suspected it was in the East Sector.

It was possible Xie Hong had chosen to handle the East Sector not because he had the "Ice Freeze" ability, but because the gene monsters were there.

When no reply came, Zero spoke again, its tone cold and hard.

Still a machine voice, but Tu Ran inexplicably sensed its anger.

"Pioneer Tu Ran, you have now entered the East Sector, which is outside your jurisdiction. Please return immediately."

Tu Ran's jaw tightened, and she turned back angrily, retracing her steps.

She began to consider the feasibility of killing Zero.

This super AI was truly a nuisance.

It had too many eyes. If it could be used for her, it would be a great asset; if not, it was an enemy that must be eliminated.

Back in the South Sector, Tu Ran, expressionless, shot gene monsters while pondering where Zero's mainframe was.

It was said to be in a secret estate of the Xie Family. Which secret estate? Tu Ran didn't know.

Such information couldn't be found online either.

Even searching for it would get the Inspection Department tracing the connection, accusing her of malicious intent, and throwing her in prison.

She could only obtain it by reading the memories of relevant people.

Tu Ran thought of Xie Xu. He must know, but he would certainly be on guard against her now.

He knew she had abilities but wasn't sure which ones, and he would be very wary of her sudden touch.

But she could use "Illusory Realm."

Ask him outright and erase his memory afterward.

But that seemed a bit unethical.

They were about to ally, and yet she would use "Illusory Realm" on him.

Tsk, Tu Ran considered honesty and keeping promises among her few virtues, and she couldn't lose that one.

She'd go find Xie Hong instead.

After all, the source of the inner core he bore was also quite intriguing to her.

To go to the East Sector, she'd need to deal with the gene monsters in the South Sector first.

Otherwise, just an AI could annoy her to death.

With a goal in mind, Tu Ran was full of drive.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang..."

Gunfire rang out continuously.

While others were alternately groggy and lucid, dizzy, with scrambled memories, as if in purgatory, Tu Ran had cleared half the South Sector.

"How does she have so much energy?"

Le Qin leaned weakly against the stairs beside the conveyor belt, watching Tu Ran dash around carrying a machine gun, and couldn't help speaking up.

This was her sixth time entering the factory's interior, and she was nearly exhausted.

The gene monsters' infrasound waves spread throughout the entire Sankar Arsenal, including the East, West, and North Sectors besides the South.

Her whole head was ringing with a constant hum.

The first few times, she could recover after resting for a few minutes, but these last few times, she clearly felt her stamina dropping rapidly, her head dizzy, her vision chaotic, and images that didn't exist appearing in her mind from time to time.

Looking around, the guards and pioneers who had been advancing with her had clearly decreased by half.

Those people had stayed outside the factory, and many were already unconscious and delirious.

In contrast, Tu Ran was still so energetic, which was really hard to explain.

"I don't know." Shen Yunhe killed two more gene monsters, then leaned on his rifle against a small patrol vehicle.

He rubbed his brow, struggling to stay alert.