Distant Killing Intent (Special Update for Alliance Leader)

Ten minutes earlier, In the rolling desert tens of thousands of kilometers away.

The sun blazed directly overhead, hundreds of meters of sand dunes undulating in endless waves, the fine yellow sand sculpted into graceful curves by the wind. Yet the surface temperature of the sand had already exceeded eighty degrees Celsius, and under such intense heat, the very air warped into visible distortions.

The towering peak of a great pyramid loomed faintly in the distance, but the clear waters of the Nile flowed in from a distant canal, reflecting the sunlight. Small white sails dotted the water as fishermen cast their nets, exuding a vibrant sense of life.

This was Egypt's Fayum Oasis.

However, amidst the swirling yellow sands beyond the oasis, there lay a peculiar valley. At first glance, it seemed strewn with rubble and utterly desolate, but upon closer inspection, many of the stones scattered on the ground were actually ancient fossilized shells.

Not only that, but within the valley, eleven fossilized skeletons of prehistoric giant whales lay exposed on the surface. Their remains stretched over ten meters in length, and even turned to stone, they sprawled across the earth, coldly narrating the mysteries and vastness of antiquity.

This place was the famous Valley of the Whales.

Now a barren valley of rolling sand and scorching sun, forty million years ago it had been a beautiful, azure, vast strait. Ancient giant whales had risen here, mated, bred, and eventually perished, leaving only these massive fossils as evidence of it all. Tourists flocked here year-round in an endless stream.

But now, one kilometer outside the Valley of the Whales, armed military police had set up a blockade. Tourists were turned away from afar, and at the entrance to the valley, a group of stern-faced men in black stood guard. Even the military police were barred from entering.

Inside the Valley of the Whales, several large pits had been excavated. In one massive pit, the skeleton of a colossal creature was starkly revealed—one of the most ferocious beings in Earth's history: the skeleton of a Basilosaurus!

This behemoth possessed a body over twenty meters long and terrifyingly sharp teeth. Scientists believed that when alive, its bite force could easily exceed thirteen thousand kilograms—roughly thirty times that of a brown bear and six times that of an adult Nile crocodile!

Around the head of the Basilosaurus fossil, a group of staff in white lab coats had gathered, but it was clear that the leader was a middle-aged man with a thick beard sitting in a wheelchair. Numerous wires were connected to the Basilosaurus's skull, and various data streams were rapidly aggregated, then fed back to a screen in front of him.

A man operating nearby spoke quickly and excitedly:

"As everyone knows, the Basilosaurus is a unique creature. It evolved an unparalleled closed spinal column, with marrow flowing through the vertebrae in a peculiar liquid state. The junction between its cranial cavity and spinal cord also has a distinctive sealed structure, where the bone tissue thickness exceeds half a meter!"

At this, the man grew even more animated:

"So, if this Basilosaurus was buried alive directly by a submarine volcanic eruption, and then carbonized within a coal seam formed from massive kelp beds, it's possible that within this sealed structure of its cranial cavity, we might find still-active gene fragments!"

Just then, a flash of light flickered nearby, and a holographic projection of a little girl in a white dress appeared. But her voice was cold and emotionless, a pure mechanical electronic synthesis.

"Warning. Warning. A first-priority event has occurred."

Everyone looked over simultaneously, expressions of surprise on their faces. They knew this was merely a holographic projection, but it was the manifestation of the entire conglomerate's AI, Elizabeth. For her to appear and issue a warning at this moment meant something major must have happened.

The middle-aged bearded man looked up, somewhat displeased:

"Elizabeth, we are currently attempting to extract the Basilosaurus's gene fragments. You know the significance of this—if successful, it could more than double the combat effectiveness of our biological weapons! Go contact the other directors!"

The AI Elizabeth replied coldly:

"Director Swan, this sequence event concerns you. It is a follow-up to the Retroviral Vector Injection."

Director Swan said coldly:

"As for the Retroviral Vector Injection matter, wasn't a resolution already passed at the board meeting? The perpetrator has been sent as a Test Subject, and SRT rapid response teams have been dispatched to recover the injection. Is there a problem?"

Elizabeth continued in her flat, mechanical voice:

"Of the two SRT rapid response teams we dispatched, one has been completely annihilated, and the other has suffered severe losses, nearly losing combat effectiveness. The target is about to escape. The Asian Command Center has requested authorization to deploy the Ouroboros B biological weapon."

Upon hearing Elizabeth's words, before Director Swan could speak, another person nearby loudly objected:

"No! Absolutely not. That place isn't some remote, isolated archipelago in Oceania—it's Tai City, one of the world's seven great free ports, a metropolis of twenty-seven million people! Deploying the Ouroboros B biological weapon there—if anything goes wrong, we'll be in a very passive position!"

Director Swan, however, said indifferently:

"Give it to him."

The man urgently pressed:

"But the consequences—"

Suddenly, Director Swan, seated in his wheelchair, turned his head and glanced at the man. The man immediately panicked, opening his mouth to speak but producing no sound. Then, with a "bang," his head exploded. A mist of blood spread, enveloping the surrounding area with a foul stench. The headless corpse spun around a few times in place before slowly collapsing.

Director Swan then said calmly:

"There was too much data redundancy earlier. Restart the servers. We'll continue the research."

Elizabeth replied in her mechanical synthesized voice:

"Deploying the Ouroboros B biological weapon requires secondary authorization. Please authorize via voiceprint, Director Swan. Secondary directive received. Analysis servers are now beginning restart."

Director Swan said flatly:

"Authorization confirmed."

As Director Swan's words fell, the screen before him flickered and entered a self-check restart state. But the standby icon that appeared on the screen was a black-red triangle! Then, the words "Umbrelia" flashed onto the display!!