Chapter 1288: Melee
The young girl’s eyes lit up at the chip in Lu Yang’s hand. But when she noticed the robots regaining mobility, she looked prepared to face a formidable foe. “The conglomerates didn’t just send hitmen after me. They deployed robots too?!”
She cursed inwardly. I hadn’t expected the conglomerates to be so thorough, lying in ambush with robots in advance. It doesn’t matter. I’ll grab the chip first!
The young girl was nimble on her feet. She glanced back at her pursuers and shoved tables and chairs to block their path. After performing a few deft leaps, she landed beside Lu Yang.
She turned to Lu Yang and solemnly said, “I don’t know who you are, but that chip in your hand is far too danger—”
“Here.” Without hesitation, Lu Yang pressed the chip into her hand, his decisiveness catching her off guard.
Realizing it wasn’t the time to be stunned, she quickly snapped out of it and examined the chip. “Strange. This isn’t it?”
She had assumed that a fingernail-sized chip in the library had to be the one left by her contact, but upon inspection, she realized that she had been mistaken. It merely looked similar.
She shook her head in disappointment and handed it back to Lu Yang. “This isn’t the chip I’m looking for.”
Lu Yang was speechless. So who actually owns this chip?
“Forget the chip. How do we deal with the enemies on both sides?” the young boy asked anxiously, though it was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to someone else.
Of the three present, only Lu Yang remained calm. The young boy and girl were frantic like ants on a hot pan. With robots on their left and conglomerate mercenaries on their right, there was no escape route in sight.
Furthermore, they couldn’t flee. The chip was nearby. Both the artificial intelligence and the conglomerates knew it was here. If they were to escape, the chip would fall into enemy hands, and humanity would be in terrible danger!
Noticing Lu Yang’s placid expression, which was out of place amidst the chaos, they sighed inwardly. Being an innocent bystander dragged into such a dangerous operation, I'm sure he has given up.
The robots and mercenaries dared not act rashly. Their guns were aimed at each other, each mistaking the other party for their target’s reinforcements.
For a while, the standoff continued.
Suddenly, the library’s third wall burst open, shattering the brief stalemate. Another young girl stormed in. She had golden hair and blue eyes, her features as delicate as an elf’s. Her eyes lit up at the chip in Lu Yang’s hand.
“Found it!”
This young girl also had pursuers hot on her heels, though these were living humans.
The new pursuers spotted the robots and mercenaries and immediately went on guard. “So there are reinforcements!”
They struck first, raising their guns and opening fire. The robots and mercenaries returned fire simultaneously, and chaos erupted.
The golden-haired girl wove through the hail of gunfire to reach Lu Yang.
“This chip...”
“Here.”
She examined the chip and breathed a sigh of relief. “This is it!”
Lu Yang also let out a sigh of relief. Finally, the chip’s owner has been found.
“I knew it! You are the contact the doctor[1] had arranged!” she declared with certainty. She had escaped the organization with the doctor’s help, but the latter had been fatally shot while covering her.
In his last moments, he had told her to search for the chip in the library, but before he could finish, he stopped breathing. He must have wanted to tell me that there is a contact waiting in the library.
“Uh, miss, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not your contact.” Lu Yang felt the need to clarify.
“You must be! Otherwise, why would you hand me the chip even without having met me?” The golden-haired girl grew more convinced that Lu Yang was her contact. This is simply a test of intelligence.
“I really am not.”
She was taken aback. “What? Hadn't the professor recorded the organization’s illegal genetic modifications on this chip, then gave it to you so you could meet up with me, a genetically modified person, to help me escape?”
Lu Yang wanted to stop her from blurting everything out, but she rattled off the whole story like a machine gun in just a few sentences.
“I came to read books.” Lu Yang helplessly held up the astronomy book.
With Lu Yang’s repeated denials, the golden-haired girl realized she had overthought things and hurriedly apologized. “Ah, I’m so sorry. I mistook you for someone else. I’ve dragged you into this disaster!”
“What? It’s that book!” The young boy jolted as he noticed the cover of the book Lu Yang was holding, realization hitting him. “That’s right. Why didn’t I think of it? Grandpa loved that book most.
"He used to say the universe was boundless and that the Interstellar Alliance was but a drop in the ocean. He believed that the alliance should show reverence for the cosmos.
When he was a child, his grandfather had held him on the rooftop and spoken of the universe’s wonders. Remembering those memories, the boy couldn’t help but shed tears. This is something only Grandpa and I know. Only I can find the chip Grandpa left behind!
The young boy took the cosmic map and pointed to a particular region. Pacing through the astronomy section, he muttered to himself, “According to the layout, it should be right here.”
The first girl noticed the author’s name on the book Lu Yang was holding and jolted. “Why didn’t I think of it? The author of this book is our resistance leader’s alias.”
𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
She fished out a mysterious slip of paper from her pocket. She had received it before coming to the library but never knew how to use it, but she understood it now. The numbers on the slip correspond to specific pages and characters in this book!
She took the book from Lu Yang and urgently began deciphering the message.
Gunfire thundered as the three factions clashed. The boy and girl raced against time as they searched the shelves for their own chips.
“Found it!”
The boy and girl found their chips at the same time and were over the moon. However, the sound of gunfire quickly pulled them back to reality.
“How do we get out?” Their crisis wasn’t over yet.
The young boy proudly displayed his chip. “Grandpa’s chip contains a virus that can disable robots and mechanical bodies. We can make our escape then!”
The conglomerate mercenaries were mainly machines, after all.
The golden-haired girl was alarmed. “That won’t work! The ones chasing me are genetically modified humans. The virus won’t affect them!”
The first girl produced a bomb. “I have tear gas. It’ll catch the genetically modified humans off guard!”
“Great idea!”
The young boy peeled back the skin on his arm, revealing a mechanical limb beneath. He inserted the chip into his arm and tapped the screen a few times. The sound of battle abruptly died down—the robots and mercenaries had been infected by the virus, allowing the genetically modified humans to beat them without resistance.
The first girl tossed her tear gas bomb. It exploded with a bang, and thick smoke filled the air, choking the genetically modified humans and forcing them to close their eyes.
The three seized the opportunity to flee, weaving through the three factions in a thrilling escape. Before they left, they remembered to drag the innocent bystander Lu Yang along with them.
1. The doctor here is not a medical doctor but someone with a doctorate. ☜