First Encounter with Hydra

Only Lin Xiaosu remained where he was.

With the gun in his hand and the Heavenly Insight Eye, he shot down every unpredictable threat around him.

It was the only option available.

His combat skills were his weak point.

He could not even jump across a ditch five meters wide.

The moment he moved, he would expose that weakness and give the enemy an opening. So his best tactic was to stay on the hillside and monitor the entire battlefield; whenever someone showed themselves, he would shoot them.

Ten minutes!

A full ten minutes.

Number 88 let out a long howl, brought down with one slash the formidable enemy who had tangled with him for so long, and reached the cabin in a single step.

Changye extended a finger and pointed into empty air. When she made the gesture, there was no one ahead of her, yet just as her finger arrived, a figure appeared out of nowhere, slashing a blade at Changye's finger.

It looked as though Changye's finger had caught the direction but possessed no killing power at all. Yet her fingernail flicked, and a wisp of barely visible mist rose.

That formidable enemy collapsed at once.

Poison!

That was her greatest specialty!

Lin Xiaosu saw everything clearly, and his heart filled with emotion.

The bamboo grove suddenly shook. Xin Yue sprang up from the bamboo, vaulted over the roof, and landed before the cabin, her face brimming with smug delight. "Instructor, I took out seven people! A hundred points each—that's seven hundred points just from that! My total score is secured!"

Her gaze shifted, landing on Lin Xiaosu on the distant hillside, and she grew even more delighted. "Lin Xiaose, you're still standing there? Even if you were a turtle, you should at least crawl to the edge of the ditch..."

Whoosh!

Changye rose into the air and shot toward Lin Xiaosu.

Number 88 turned directly around and entered the cabin behind him.

Changye arrived before Lin Xiaosu. "Come, I'll take you over!"

She stretched out a hand and grabbed Lin Xiaosu's. The next moment, they crossed the ditch ahead and arrived before the cabin. The whole way, Lin Xiaosu felt as though his feet had never touched the ground.

They entered the cabin together.

From the outside, the cabin looked no different from a rural cottage. Yet it had to be different, because the most skilled old woman among the enemies had remained stationed before it the entire time.

Once they entered the cabin and passed through the front room, middle room, and back room—all no different from an old country house—they saw what was different. At the point where the house connected to the mountainside, a cabinet had turned over, revealing a Gate behind it.

The Gate was already open.

Once they entered the inner room, the scene was entirely different.

Inside was clean and orderly, like a modern control room.

A long row of machines flashed red and green lights.

At the very center was a computer. Before it lay a middle-aged man sprawled face-down on the floor. In front of the computer, Xin Yue was drenched in sweat, her hands moving so fast they blurred as they danced across the keyboard...

On the monitor before her, rows of code scrolled upward like lightning.

Between the lines of code was a demonic face formed by two crossed skeletons.

The demon even emitted a chilling laugh.

Amid that laughter, a percentage appeared on the monitor: 93%, 94%...

It jumped once every five seconds or so...

"Hydra's symbol!" Changye's heart jolted. "They're destroying the computer data! Xin Yue, hurry..."

Xin Yue's speed visibly increased, but the destruction percentage still pressed ruthlessly toward 100%.

The veins on Number 88's forehead bulged violently as well...

He knew exactly how important the research data inside was. Yet the moment they had broken into this secret chamber, the enemy had activated the self-destruction program.

Only six percentage points remained—half a minute!

Could they truly solve this problem in half a minute?

Could they preserve the research data from one of Hydra's secret bases for Qianlong?

In a moment, the percentage reached 96%, then 97%!

"Too late! Retreat!" Number 88 gave the order in a low voice.

Once the computer's self-destruction program activated, it would destroy far more than just the computer's storage. According to Hydra's usual style, it would destroy the entire base along with it.

Fifteen seconds was only enough for them to flee for their lives.

Changye suddenly reached out toward Lin Xiaosu beside her. It seemed to have become her reflex—when danger struck, protect him first.

Yet she grabbed empty air.

At some point, Lin Xiaosu had already reached the wall on the left.

This place would explode in another dozen seconds.

There was no time to waste!

Changye pushed off with the tip of her foot and crossed ten meters of open space...

At the same time, Lin Xiaosu swept a hand across the wall...

Click!

Another Gate opened beneath his hand.

Number 88's eyes lit up sharply.

"Come!" Lin Xiaosu shouted and jumped down.

Whoosh!

Three figures jumped down almost simultaneously.

The stone slab above them closed.

With a thunderous boom, the earth shook and the mountains swayed. The control room above was ripped completely apart, and countless rocks and sand poured down, carrying a terrifying blast wave that swept all four of them up and hurled them toward the stone wall behind them.

Just as Lin Xiaosu was helplessly about to slam into the stone wall.

A figure appeared behind him, reached out fiercely, and wrapped him in an embrace. With a turn, she pressed him against the stone wall.

Lin Xiaosu felt nothing but soft jade and warm fragrance in his arms.

Changye!

Amid the explosion's shockwave, Changye had used her own body as a shield to protect him!

That impact produced a terrifying twist of fate: Lin Xiaosu's lips brushed against her flying hair.

The instant they touched it, Lin Xiaosu felt as though his lips no longer belonged to him.

Neither did any part of his body.

A moment ago, he had still been savoring the unique pleasure of soft jade and warm fragrance. The next, all five senses left him, and even the Silver Fish in his mind seemed to have sunk into a mire, slowly losing itself.

Poison?

She was a poison user. Had she poisoned me to death?

Did it have to be this ironic?

Perhaps this was the last flicker of Lin Xiaosu's consciousness...

The next moment, sensation slowly returned to his lips. He felt a pill in his mouth, and with that pill as its center, his nerves seemed to slowly awaken.

At last, the Silver Fish of his consciousness broke free of the mire and returned.

His entire body could move again as well.

The dust around them slowly dispersed. Changye's bright eyes watched him in the darkness. "Are you all right?"

"I don't think I'm hurt."

Changye let out a long breath. "If you're fine, walk around a little. 88 and Xin Yue should have found something new."

They walked side by side through a natural cave, where light shone ahead.

It was the hazy glow emitted by Number 88's Qianlong uniform. Beneath that dim light, someone lay sprawled on the ground, dressed in a diving suit.

"There's still an enemy?" Changye's gaze swept the surroundings. This was a cave visible at a glance. There were many boxes, but they were all relatively small, with nowhere for anyone to hide.

"This is probably the last one!" Number 88 pointed at the person on the ground. "When the explosion went off upstairs, he tried to run. I kept him here!"

"It was 'we'! 'We' kept him here, Instructor!" Xin Yue called out, placing special emphasis on the word "we," afraid that her contribution would be erased.

"Is this where they kept all kinds of specimens?"

"Yes!" Number 88 said. "We opened and inspected four boxes. They were all genetic samples. We have to admit it—Comrade Xiao Su deserves the foremost credit!"

Just now, with only a dozen seconds left before the massive explosion, according to standard procedure, they should have fled the control room.

They should have run as far as they could.

Had they truly fled like that, the control room would have exploded, and the ruins would have completely buried the specimen room below. No one would have imagined that beneath it lay specimens worth no less than the research data.

Yet Lin Xiaosu had thought of it.

And in that moment of extreme urgency, he had opened the hidden secret Gate, allowing them to obtain the most valuable target of this operation.

Xin Yue's lips curled in the darkness, deeply displeased. She wanted to highlight herself and belittle Lin Xiaose, but how could she? She actually admired that bastard quite a bit, and she simply could not bring herself to say words against her heart...

Changye said, "Since this person tried to flee, he must have been carrying the most important sample. Has his personal baggage been checked?"

"We were just about to inspect it!" Number 88 reached toward the man's diving suit.

"Wait!" Lin Xiaosu said.

Everyone's eyes turned toward him at once.

Lin Xiaosu said, "The most important sample may be very unusual. Be careful. If there's anything alive, you need to be ready to react at any time."

Of everyone present, only he knew that one item among the samples could not be judged by ordinary reason: that White Serpent.

He had been tracking that White Serpent all along.

After the White Serpent was subdued by No. 325, these people had taken it away.

Then they had brought it to this specimen room. It was now on the person before them.

If that White Serpent suddenly attacked, even 88 would have to swallow a bitter cup.

Even if it could not take 88's life, if it escaped and slipped into some crack in the rocks, that would still be a tremendous loss. One had to know that No. 325 had practically traded his life for that White Serpent.

Number 88 looked deeply at him. "Step back!"

Changye and Lin Xiaosu stepped back.

Xin Yue was utterly unconvinced. "It's just a specimen. You make it sound so horrifying. I'm starting to wonder whether you have any professional knowledge at all..."

Though she said that, she still stepped back.

Because Number 88 had given the order.

She could act without restraint before Lin Xiaosu, but asking her to disobey Number 88's order? Even if beaten to death, she would not dare.

Because the root of her life was firmly held in Number 88's hands.

Number 88 carefully opened the man's diving suit. Inside the pouch where he kept his belongings was only one thing: a metal cylinder.

Holding the metal cylinder, Number 88 slowly opened it with the posture of someone dismantling a bomb. A puff of white vapor emerged. As soon as it came out, the cave's temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Inside was a frozen-stiff White Serpent and a cluster of grapes.

The White Serpent did not move. It seemed dead, yet also seemed to be hibernating.

Changye lightly touched the White Serpent with a finger, her brows slightly furrowed. "Its scales are incomparably hard, and their structure is extremely unusual. If all its scales open, its crawling speed will be unimaginable."

"That's why it needs a dedicated specimen container made from G95 material!" Number 88 placed the snake and the grapes back into the container, preparing to screw it shut again.

"Wait!" Changye said. "Don't put this together with the snake."

Number 88 opened the container again, took out the cluster of grapes, and screwed the cap back on.

"What is this cluster of grapes?"

"These aren't grapes. They're Green Orchid flower seeds that No. 325 took from the bud of that mutated 'Green Orchid.' They're his spoils of war." Changye reached out and picked them up. "I'll take them back for research."

She was a grandmaster of plant research.

Even in Qianlong's entire team, she ranked among the top three.

Therefore, plant research itself was her proper duty.

Changye took out a bottle that looked much like this one, though far smaller, and placed the cluster of grapes inside.