Self-Destruction

Diao Hongzhi remained perfectly composed. "I was the one who proposed that these students visit Songwu Base for their study trip, so it's only natural that I'm responsible for their safety afterward. The Deputy Director of the Executive Department assigned this task to me. If you have a problem with it, go talk to him."

"You dead-eyed bastard, you're abusing your position for personal revenge!" Xiao Di was furious. He hadn't forgotten that on their first day in Pandalim District, this dead-eyed bastard had threatened them and told them to wait. It had been so long without any trouble that they'd overlooked the fact that a piece of trash like him still existed.

Being called dead-eyed, Diao Hongzhi's face turned green instantly. "What did you call me?"

"He called you dead-eyed." Among the students, Pang Xi stood with her arms crossed and said it loudly.

The students watching the spectacle couldn't hold back their laughter.

Diao Hongzhi glared angrily at the kid who spoke, but when he saw it was Pang Xi, his expression shifted from fury to fawning in an instant.

Pang Xi was the younger sister of Pang Xinting, the Deputy Director of the Executive Department. He couldn't afford to offend her.

"Miss Pang is right." His bootlicking demeanor made Xiao Di sick to his stomach.

Xiao Di pressed close to the base entrance, peering through a small pane of glass in the massive door. Inside, he could see Tu Ran being flung around by the alien creature as Shen Yunhe and Min Tao watched frantically from below.

His eyes were red as he said, "Diao Hongzhi, don't forget what the Federation's new laws stipulate. If something happens to them in there, I will drag you into court."

Diao Hongzhi shrugged dismissively. "Aren't they Pioneers? There's no way they can't handle a single alien creature. If something happens to them, it's because they weren't skilled enough. What does that have to do with me? I'm not letting you in for the safety of these students. What if that alien creature gets out when you open the door and hurts the kids?"

He turned to look at the students again. "Young masters and misses? Am I right? Your families are sending people to pick you up soon. What if this alien gets out midway and you can't see your mommies and daddies again?"

"You're right, don't open the door. Wait until we leave to open it," the children said in unison.

Xiao Di clenched his fists. These kids—they were all offspring of the upper class, born selfish and mercenary. They possessed every disgusting trait of the elite. He didn't expect them to have any sympathy for the people trapped inside the base, people who had stayed behind specifically to buy them time.

He closed his eyes, turned around, and searched his communicator for Deng Changtai. Maybe Deng Changtai could come help.

Inside the base, Tu Ran had finally sawed a five-centimeter-deep gash into the creature's neck after more than a dozen cutting attempts.

She pulled the pistol from the small of her back, shoved it into the wound, and pulled the trigger.

Two bullets drilled straight into the back of its skull. The creature's strength drained away in an instant, its wings stopped beating, and it plummeted from seven or eight meters up.

Tu Ran had deliberately chosen a relatively low spot to make her move. She was afraid that if they fell from too high, both she and the creature would be half-dead from the impact.

Even so, at seven or eight meters, with the creature as a cushion underneath, Tu Ran still hit the ground hard enough to see stars. The creature's muscles were too tough and uneven—landing on it was no different from slamming straight into the ground.

Shen Yunhe and Min Tao rushed over immediately, taking one arm each and helping her up.

"Are you okay?" Shen Yunhe asked, worried.

"I'm fine." Tu Ran rubbed her head and shook it. "Let's get out of here quickly."

She had a bad feeling about this.

Ever since she couldn't reach Zero through the communicator, she'd had this premonition.

But no clear image had formed in her mind, so she couldn't be sure if her "future prediction" ability was working.

The three of them supported one another as they walked to the base entrance. Min Tao stepped forward to push the door open. It didn't budge.

"What's going on?" He frowned. He tried pulling it back, but there was still no movement.

There was a pane of glass the size of a palm on the door. He pressed closer and peered through it, spotting the Executive Department guards—and Xiao Di, blocked by them.

"What's going on?" Min Tao contacted Xiao Di through the communicator.

Xiao Di's voice was seething with rage. "It's that dead-eyed bastard. He won't let us in, afraid the alien will get out."

"We've already dealt with the alien. You can open the door now," Min Tao said.

Xiao Di didn't reply immediately. Presumably he was arguing with Diao Hongzhi.

Tu Ran waited for Xiao Di's response with nothing to do, and glanced behind her.

Her heart lurched.

All the anesthetic gas in the glass tanks had stopped spraying.

The alien creatures inside were stirring, restless.

Shen Yunhe followed Tu Ran's gaze and noticed it too. His scalp crawled.

"Open the door!" Tu Ran no longer needed Shen Yunhe's support. She pounded hard against the metal door.

Finally, there was movement outside. But it wasn't the door opening.

Through the narrow pane of glass, Tu Ran saw Diao Hongzhi's arrogant dead-eyed face.

His voice came through Xiao Di's communicator.

"Aren't you supposed to be tough? Acting so high and mighty? Handling these alien creatures should be a piece of cake for you, right?"

Tu Ran stared at him hard, took a few steps back to put distance between herself and his ugly face.

"It's not that I don't want to open this door—it's that no one can open it anymore. Songwu Experimental Base has already initiated its self-destruction sequence. The door is sealed. If you don't believe me, take a look." He made a show of tugging at the door a few times, failing to open it.

There were still people inside! What self-destruction?!

Tu Ran immediately tried to contact Zero. Zero was the super AI responsible for managing the aboveground sections of Songwu Experimental Base.

With people still inside, Zero wouldn't initiate self-destruct directly.

Watching Tu Ran's frantic expression, Diao Hongzhi was in an especially good mood. He added, "Oh, right. I forgot to mention—due to scheduled maintenance, Zero is in hibernation today. It'll be about seven hours before it comes back online. In the meantime, all emergency defense measures in this base are running according to previously set protocols."

"You people probably can't understand this, so let me explain. In the past, when an alien escaped from its containment, Zero would run a series of assessments. When it determined that risk outweighed reward and losses were unrecoverable, Zero would directly initiate the self-destruction sequence."

"Now that Zero is hibernating, the base's program suite is running automatically, mimicking Zero's past behavior and triggering self-destruct mode. These lines of code aren't like Zero—they don't check whether there are still living people inside."

"Of course, unless you can kill those aliens before the code initiates self-destruct—but..." Diao Hongzhi tilted his head and looked at the creatures hammering against their glass enclosures. "You definitely won't make it in time. Just wait to die... Hahaha..."

Tu Ran burned his image into her memory. She had so many abilities; she wasn't going to die here. And when she got out, he would be the first one she dealt with!

"Senior, what do we do?" Shen Yunhe stared at the creatures banging against their glass tanks and gripped his weapon tightly.

Strangely, he believed that Tu Ran would find a way out of this. He believed he wouldn't die here.