As the vent grate slid open, Chen Mo's axe blade barred the gap!
"Don't…" a raspy voice whispered. "Zhou Hui? Chen Mo?"
The flashlight revealed a haggard face—forties, nurse uniform blood-crusted, left shoulder braided with fungal tendrils that mysteriously halted. Her North Star pendant matched Chen Mo's mother's!
"Auntie Zhang?" Zhou Hui gasped. "Dad's ER colleague! You're alive?"
"For now." She grimaced. "Your mom and I hid in the vents… She got cut by mycelium. I sucked out the venom." Blackened gums showed. "Paid with nerve damage."
Chen Mo's blood iced: "My mother?!"
Aunt Zhang passed down a bloodied ID card—"Chen Aihua, Polaris Medical". The photo was eaten by slime, only her name remained.
"B-wing hive… She walked in as bait." Zhang's voice broke. "Said… the core hive recognizes her genes… could buy time…"
His father's warning exploded in Chen Mo's mind: "Pandora hungers for kin!"
Gray tracery surged to his temples. Double vision struck—he saw his mother smiling among fungal threads.
"Stay with us!" Lin Wei jabbed his neck with a stimulant. "Toxin-induced psychosis!"
Reality snapped back. Aunt Zhang cut the lock with medical shears: "Power lines run through here. Follow me!"
They crawled through reeking ducts. Zhao Qiang's fractured wrist scraped mycelium—no pain. "This shit numbs you?"
"Neural blockade." Zhang coughed. "Also… how the virus controls hosts."
After ten minutes, deep claw marks scarred the duct. Zhang froze: "It's ahead… Scarface's 'janitor'."
Six green eyes glowed in the dark—three Doberman corpses blocked a junction, exposed muscles coiled, fangs dripping luminous slime.
"Polaris α-strain test subjects." Zhang gripped her shears. "Only obey Scarface's blood…"
The lead dog lunged! Chen Mo blocked its jaws with the axe haft. Drool splashed his gray tracery—and was absorbed by his skin!
"Scent-marking prey!" Lin Wei yanked Chen Mo back. Su Qing flung the last citric acid—
It splattered harmlessly off fungal armor! The pack charged!
Zhang sliced her palm, smearing blood on rusted metal: "α-host blood… confuses them!"
The dogs sniffed, confused. They scrambled into a side duct.
It ended at an electrical room. Panels flashed red: "Backup Power: 00:23:17"
"Must restart the main generator before blackout!" Zhang pointed downward. "But the boiler room's…"
Security screens showed a massive fungal tumor pulsing. Half a man's body was embedded in it—the nametag read "Foreman Wang"!
"He wired his heart into the boilers…" Zhang retched. "The hive powers the heat…"
Chen Mo's phone buzzed. A dead forum flared to life:
[SURVIVAL]Polaris α Weakness: Sonic + Cryo. Cut main generator to freeze B-wing!
Poster: Witch Doctor
Attached schematics: "Sever liquid nitrogen line → Detonate coolant → Flash-freeze hive"
"Trap?" Zhao Qiang doubted.
"We gamble." Chen Mo pulled up nitrogen tube blueprints. "Old Knife, ether?"
The one-eyed vet cracked open a pharmacy cabinet: "Enough for anesthesia."
The plan: Zhao Qiang and Old Knife plant ether bombs in the boiler room; Chen Mo and Lin Wei hit the control room; Su Qing and Zhang guard the electrical room.
Before moving, Chen Mo plugged in a power bank. Final messages loaded:
Dad 17:30: "Son, Polaris breached! Classified data sent!"
Mom 17:42: "Don't come home! Find Aunt Zhang at shelter!"
17:45: [Attachment: Polaris_α_Genome.zip]
Chen Mo opened the file—
Embedded in the viral RNA was a human gene segment. Annotated in red: "Chen Aihua mtDNA"
His mother was the α-strain's genetic template?!
"No wonder the hive knows her…" Lin Wei paled. "Scarface used your mom as—"
WOOO—! Alarms shrieked! Backup power: 00:05:00
"Go!" Chen Mo buried the shock, charging for control.
Corridor mycelium clung like spiderwebs. Chen Mo hacked through binding threads. The hallucination struck—his mother beckoned from the hive: "Merge with us…"
"Get out of my head!" He smashed his temple with the axe handle.
Control room doors were sealed by mycelium. Lin Wei poured alcohol into the lock, ignited it. Fire raced through the cracks!
She threw the switch. Darkness swallowed the complex.
A muffled boom shook the boiler room. Hissing liquid nitrogen screams followed. The last camera feed showed Foreman Wang's face—frozen in relief, frost coating the hive.
The cold room plunged below zero. Gray tracery retreated to Chen Mo's wrist, replaced by blue crystals!
"Cryo-induced mutation!" Lin Wei grabbed the last antivenom. "This might accelerate it!"
Chen Mo snatched the syringe, self-injected: "Better than a monster!"
Gunfire erupted in the electrical room!
They rushed back. Scarface stood over Aunt Zhang, pistol smoking. Su Qing clutched a bleeding shoulder. A satellite phone lay in Scarface's grip.
"Thanks for the phone." Scarface dangled the pendant. "Just called Polaris remnants… Your mom's blood's worth more than gold!"
Old Knife's hunting knife pressed against Scarface's spine: "Drop it."
Scarface grinned, smashing the phone! He swallowed the SIM card! "No one gets—"
Steel flashed. Scarface gagged, card and blood spewing.
Chen Mo picked up the bloody SIM. On the shattered screen, his mother's last photo faded—standing before a glacier, Scarface smiling behind her.
Aunt Zhang seized Chen Mo, dying: "B-wing… waste plant… your mom left…" Her hand fell, revealing an electronic cuff—"Polaris-07"
Generators died. As darkness consumed them, Chen Mo's phone lit up:
Witch Doctor 00:00:
"Cryo successful. Go to waste plant. Bring α-antiserum—24h to save her."
Attachment: [Offline Map: B-wing → Incinerator]
The countdown began.