Deep within the wound in his right leg, the dark green toxin core was like a startled venomous snake. Every pulse brought a tearing sensation of alternating ice and fire. The foul, sweet, rotten "warm current" stubbornly seeped through him, while the tug from the azure light screen in his mind whispered like a devil, tempting Lin Xiao to embrace this poisonous "sweet spring."
Source Energy Points: -0.158. Beside it, the crimson +0.001 had already vanished, yet it was etched into his consciousness like a brand. Devour the poison and replenish his Source Energy! This insane possibility was like a poppy swaying at the edge of an endless abyss, exuding a deadly allure.
Just as this dangerous thought began to run rampant, the alloy door silently slid open again.
This time, it was not Qin Bing who entered, but two personnel wearing the medical uniforms of the Special Operations Ninth Division. Their expressions were as stern as stone carvings. They pushed in a complicated-looking device that flickered with a faint blue radiance and went straight to Lin Xiao's bedside.
"Lin Xiao, Captain Qin has ordered a deep toxin purge." The middle-aged medical officer in the lead spoke in a flat voice, leaving no room for explanation. Several long, slender, icy metal probes extended from the device and precisely pierced several acupoints around the wound in Lin Xiao's right leg. A powerful suction force instantly surged forth!
Lin Xiao's body went taut! He clearly felt that the device's probes were targeting the toxin core—the source of the poison that had just given him a sliver of "hope"!
No! At least... it can't all be removed!
The instant the probes' powerful suction touched the toxin core, Lin Xiao's will, like a dying beast, slammed fiercely into the dim azure light screen in his mind! He was not mobilizing his Source Energy Points—that was an utter fantasy—but using the last of his mental strength to interfere with the core's faint pull!
"Hide it! Keep part of it! Even if it's only a trace!"
Buzz—!
The core of the light screen in his mind suddenly lit up with an extremely faint glow, almost impossible to notice! The black cracks at its edges seemed to spread a little farther! A violent dizziness and soul-rending pain suddenly swept over him!
In the real world, the powerful suction seemed to encounter an extremely faint, instinctive resistance originating from the depths of Lin Xiao's flesh and blood the instant it touched the toxin core! The toxin core vibrated violently, and a dark green radiance flashed deep within the wound! Most of it was forcibly stripped away by the device's tremendous power and sucked into a specially sealed container inside it, producing a sizzling corrosive sound.
Yet in that final instant of extraction, a thread of dark green energy as fine as a strand of hair, like a cunning parasite, took advantage of the tiny gap created by the instinctive contraction of Lin Xiao's flesh and blood. It drilled into the deeper meridians and completely concealed itself.
Warning! High-pollution anomalous energy (Viper's Kiss core residue) deeply concealed! Risk of contamination spread: Extremely high! Core instinct suppression... Suppression efficiency: 0.1%... Contamination erosion rate: 0.0001%... Source Energy Points replenished: +0.002 (passive extraction of trace active energy) Source Energy Points: -0.158 + 0.002 = -0.156!
The icy notification carried an unprecedentedly severe warning! Lin Xiao's vision went black, and he panted heavily as his back was instantly drenched in cold sweat. Had he succeeded? Or had he... buried an even greater disaster? The bone-deep icy numbness had not completely vanished. It had merely become subtler and deeper.
The medical officer looked at the green indicator on the device's screen reading "Removal Rate: 99.9%" and nodded in satisfaction before pulling out the probes. "The toxin core has been removed. The residual contamination is within safe limits, and the nerve paralysis will gradually ease. The wound has been treated again. Rest is all you need." He said nothing more, packed up the device, and left with his companion.
The alloy door closed, and the room once again fell into utter silence.
Lin Xiao lay sprawled on the cold bed as if he had just been hauled out of the water. He stared at the ceiling, feeling the dark green core lurking deep within his right leg like a time bomb, as well as the still-blinding -0.156 in his mind. His heart turned cold.
Devouring the poison to replenish his Source Energy? This path was even more perilous than he had imagined! The 0.002-point replenishment had come at the cost of burying a contamination source inside his body that could explode at any moment! Drinking poison to quench his thirst—an apt description indeed!
Time passed in an oppressive silence. The suppressant's effects completely faded. The numbness in his right leg slowly receded like the ebbing tide, replaced by clear, sharp pain from the wound and a lingering chill that seemed to originate from the depths of his bone marrow. The wound on his back also began to scab and heal under the Ninth Division's highly effective medicine, bringing waves of itching.
Three days later.
The alloy door slid open once more. Qin Bing appeared in the doorway.
She was still dressed in a crisp black uniform, her icy, beautiful face revealing nothing of her emotions. She entered the room, her gaze like a precise scanner as it quickly swept over Lin Xiao's complexion, his bandaged right leg, and his back.
"Can you walk?" Her voice held no warmth.
Lin Xiao braced himself against the edge of the bed and carefully shifted his right leg, testing the floor with his foot. Pain shot from the wound, but the maddening numbness had indeed vanished, replaced by a heavy, obscure chill. He barely managed to stand and forced out a pale, roguish grin. "Thanks to Officer Qin, I'm... not dead yet."
Qin Bing neither accepted nor rejected his answer. She walked to the metal table and picked up the empty shell of the nutritional paste tube Lin Xiao had long since consumed. Her fingertip lightly tapped the cold metal twice, producing two crisp sounds.
"Lin Xiao." She turned around, her gaze stabbing straight into the depths of his eyes like two daggers tempered in ice. "Your luck is astonishingly good. Or perhaps your talent for causing trouble is astonishingly great as well."
Her tone carried an icy scrutiny that seemed to see through everything.
"The Shadow Alliance's 'Viper,' the sudden outbreak of World-Erosion Contamination... both coincided closely with the time you appeared at that abandoned factory. Although the existing 'evidence' is insufficient to nail you to the wall, but..."
She paused, then stepped closer. The icy pressure belonging to an elite of the Special Operations Ninth Division descended over him like something tangible. "Remember, my eyes are always on you. Your name in the Ninth Division's files has already been bolded and marked in red. Next time, if you drag yourself into another 'coincidence' like this and fall into my hands..."
She did not finish, but the chill in her eyes had already made everything clear—next time, it would definitely not be as simple as a "temporary safe house."
Lin Xiao's heart beat heavily in his chest. Qin Bing's warning was like ice water poured over his head, making him clearly understand his present situation—a prey watched by the authorities, dancing on the edge of a blade.
"Rest assured, Officer Qin." He worked hard to maintain his roguish grin, while his eyes carried just the right amount of lingering fear and "sincerity." "I promise I'll go back and study hard, and stay as far away from this nonsense as possible! This time, I was really... scared out of my wits!"
Qin Bing stared coldly at him for several seconds, as if assessing the truth in his words. At last, she turned slightly aside and cleared the way to the door. "You can leave. Someone is waiting outside to escort you out." Her voice returned to its utterly emotionless chill. "Don't die too quickly. Your 'luck' hasn't been squeezed dry of its value yet."
Her final sentence carried a trace of icy amusement and hidden meaning.
Lin Xiao's heart tightened, but his face looked as though he had just been granted a reprieve. He thanked her repeatedly and limped awkwardly toward the door. With every step, the dormant dark green core deep in his right leg gave a faint, icy throb, reminding him of the bomb buried inside his body.
The heavy alloy door silently closed behind him, completely sealing off that cold iron cage.
An unmarked black sedan took him to a secluded intersection several streets away from the school. The door shut, and the engine growled before quickly vanishing into the flow of traffic.
The cold night wind struck his face, carrying the city's din and the scent of freedom. Lin Xiao stood on the street corner, greedily breathing in that free air, but his back still retained the cold touch of the safe house.
Freedom? No! This was merely stepping from one cage into another, larger, invisible cage!
Qin Bing's warning clung to him like a bone-eating parasite. Having his file marked red by the Ninth Division meant he was completely exposed to the authorities' attention, and every move he made might be scrutinized under a magnifying glass. The dormant Viper's Kiss core residue inside him and the glaring -0.156 in his mind were even more like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head!
Passively taking hits? Waiting to die? Never!
Lin Xiao's gaze instantly turned as fierce and calm as that of a lone wolf. Beneath his roguish exterior was the ferocity and scheming forced out of a desperate situation.
Qin Bing wanted to use him as bait to catch a bigger fish? The Ninth Division wanted to control him? Then let's see who was the true hunter!
Drive the tiger to swallow the wolf!
A mad plan instantly took shape in his mind.
Dragging his still-heavy, icy right leg, he quickly turned into a more secluded alley nearby. From a close-fitting pocket, he pulled out a cheap, wrinkled communicator soaked with sweat. It had not been confiscated before he entered the safe house, clearly left behind intentionally by the Ninth Division for convenient monitoring. He switched it on and quickly dialed a number.
A few seconds later, Fatty Wang's familiar voice came through the communicator, lowered with worry and urgency. "Br... Brother Xiao?! Is that you, Brother Xiao?! Are you all right?! These past few days..."
"Fatty, listen to me!" Lin Xiao cut him off, his voice low and urgent, carrying an unquestionable command. "I'm out. I'm fine for now. Right now, immediately, at once, spread the news as fast as you can! Spread it through the black market, to every corner where the Blood Wolf Gang might hear it! Tell them—"
He drew a deep breath and spoke each word like a dagger coated in poison.
"Qin Bing of the Special Operations Ninth Division has set her sights on the Blood Wolf Gang! Why? Tell them the gang colluded with the Shadow Alliance and traded World-Erosion Seed fragments at the old factory! Qin Bing already has the key evidence! Her next targets are the Blood Wolf Gang's several hideouts! Tell them to wash their necks and wait!"
On the other end of the communicator, Fatty Wang sucked in a cold breath, his voice turning stammering. "Br... Brother Xiao?! This... this news... it's... it's deadly! The Blood Wolf Gang will go mad! What about the Ninth Division..."
"That's exactly what I want— for them to go mad!" Cold, crazed light flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes. "Do as I said! Keep it discreet! I'll double your payment when I get back!"
"Y-yes... yes, Brother Xiao! I'll take care of it right away!" Fatty Wang heard the resolve and ruthlessness in Lin Xiao's voice and did not dare ask anything more.
After ending the call, Lin Xiao leaned against the cold, damp wall and panted heavily. The dark green core deep within his right leg seemed to sense his intense concentration and the madness of his plan. It gave a faint pulse.
Warning! Intense mental concentration... Core load increased... Source Energy Points consumed: -0.004 Source Energy Points: -0.156 - 0.004 = -0.160!
The crimson number jumped once more!
Lin Xiao looked at the glaring -0.160 in his mind, yet the corner of his mouth curved into an icy arc like that of a lone wolf.
Qin Bing, Ninth Division, weren't you curious how great a wave this fish of mine could stir up?
Blood Wolf Gang, didn't you want my life?
Then come on!
Let's see whether you pack of tigers and wolves tear each other apart first, or whether this chess piece forced into a desperate corner overturns the board first!
Dragging his still-cold, heavy right leg, he slowly melted into the deeper shadows of the city at night.
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