Does he really have to die here? Cheng Ming wondered.
Just as he felt his spine was on the verge of being crushed, something hard suddenly grew out from beneath his skin, quickly piercing through Cheng Ming’s skin and stabbing into G09’s palm.
In that instant, Cheng Ming felt G09’s grip on him suddenly diminish, and those scarlet eyes surprisingly showed a very human-like emotion of fear.
Cheng Ming then saw that what had emerged from under his skin were indeed red spikes.
Just like that bizarre cactus that had once been on his desk.
Cheng Ming couldn’t help but widen his eyes—if the accelerated reaction and physical enhancement were abilities given to him by the mysterious girl, then these red spikes... could they be his own Meme Ability?
But why had he never been able to use it before?
"Of course this is your ability," the mysterious girl’s voice sounded in his ears, "it’s just that you might never be able to utilize it in your lifetime."
"Why?" Cheng Ming asked in his consciousness.
"Your meme is too stable, stable to the point where even if your human lifespan is exhausted, the infection process wouldn’t advance to this degree... So, I just added a little ’catalyst’ for you..."
"So the cost of using this ability is the acceleration of the infection process?" Although he had mentally prepared himself not to return before departure, Cheng Ming couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable hearing those words.
He didn’t want to become a spectral wreck, didn’t want to become a bizarre creature, didn’t want to die... If his mother knew about this, she would surely be very sad, wouldn’t she?
"Don’t worry, it’s just activating the ability within the meme ahead of time, your infection process hasn’t changed at all." As the mysterious girl’s words faded, the red spikes retracted back into Cheng Ming’s body, as if they’d never appeared.
G09 released his grip, and the severely wounded Cheng Ming slipped to the ground, but before he could support himself to get up, G09 collapsed abruptly as well.
Its skin turned crimson, just like that colleague who had touched Cheng Ming.
But G09’s skin didn’t ooze blood droplets—its body had no blood, instead, its tissues began to dissolve and evaporate rapidly. In just a few minutes, only a scorched mechanical skeleton remained of G09.
The test room door opened, and a group of people in protective suits rushed in. They quickly lifted Cheng Ming onto a stretcher.
Cheng Ming felt a needle pierce his arm, and cold liquid flowed into his body through his veins.
The pain began to slowly fade; someone shone a flashlight into his pupils, shouting something loudly.
Cheng Ming couldn’t hear what he was shouting, so he just blinked to indicate he was still conscious.
...
"What’s the situation?" Meng Yunfeng asked his attendant as he crossed his arms over his chest, watching the medical personnel urgently attending to Cheng Ming.
"Multiple fractures and bone fissures, muscle contusions, and subcutaneous incisions, but no fatal injuries were found. All organs are intact, and the infection process is stable... With our current medical means, it will only take two days for him to recover." The attendant replied.
"That’s good." Meng Yunfeng nodded, then turned coldly to Tao Ge, who sat slumped at the control console, muttering to himself, "Chief Engineer Tao Ge, I think the technical department needs to provide an explanation."
"I will," Tao Ge nodded.
"Let me be clear, this explanation is not for me, nor for the Bai Group... but for the Dragon City Defense Army," Meng Yunfeng said, "If I’m correct, last month the Defense Army just placed an order for equipment, including twenty G09 units, due for delivery at the end of this month. But now, with this incident, do you think the Defense Army will still want these things?"
"Conservatively estimated, our losses are at least four hundred million." Security Director Bai Yaotong touched the few remaining hairs on his head, "I’ve just said, never assume you can fully control these bizarre creatures... It’s a swamp that drags you deeper and deeper. Tao Ge, I’m already old; the future belongs to you youngsters. You still have many opportunities; I hope you can learn from this lesson... Changing the research direction might still be time enough."
"Director, now might not be the time to bring this up," Meng Yunfeng shook his head, "Although this matter isn’t really within my purview, the exposure of issues with G09 is too significant, even if we want to protect it, we might not be able to protect Tao Ge and the entire research team."
"You mean... the entire project will be scrapped?" Upon hearing this, Tao Ge abruptly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixated on Meng Yunfeng, "This is our entire research team’s... even the whole technical department’s eight years of hard work. It can’t possibly be out of control! There must be an oversight somewhere, I need time to check every remnant of G09, I’m sure I can find the problem!"
"Out of control?" Meng Yunfeng sneered, "Then how do you explain what just happened? You’re lucky G09 didn’t crush 116 to death. Had this ’accident’ occurred during the Defense Army’s training, the entire Bai Group would be finished, do you know that!"
The latter half of his sentence was nearly shouted, with spittle flying directly onto Tao Ge’s face.