The Third Rebirth (REBIRTH)
Ling Chen took out a bottle of medical spray from his backpack and treated the various wounds on Ye Xiao's hands.
Jiang Cancan's hands had recovered from the numbness, and he couldn't help but start chattering again.
"Can Ye here has been reminiscing about the glorious days of the past. Once, during a mission, I dislocated my ankle and asked Chen Ge to help reset it. Xiao Mu, what did Chen Ge say at the time?"
"Do you not have hands?" Jiang Mu's face was expressionless, but his tone was spot on.
Jiang Cancan punched his right palm with his left fist and looked accusatory, "Yes, yes, that's exactly it! At the time, I thought I had met the devil!"
He sighed dramatically, "Ah, turns out, you're my devil, and his angel."
Ling Chen was getting irritated by his rambling and narrowed his eyes, "Do you want your ankle dislocated again?"
Jiang Cancan quickly took half a step back, "Chen Ge, stay calm! As our respected Captain and dear Commander, you are the last moral bottom line of our Second Division!"
Ling Chen raised the corner of his mouth, "Well, I'm sorry to say, but this moral bottom line of mine has already sunk to the core of the earth."
Jiang Cancan put on a smile wishing for world peace, "In that case, then... let's sing a song! Yes, yes, a song! Let's sing the theme song of the Second Division to awaken the conscience of our Commander Ling."
Without further ado, Jiang Cancan cleared his throat and started singing with passion, "...Hot blood sacrifices comrades, green hills bury loyal bones..." After singing two lines, he noticed that Ling Chen and Jiang Mu were both coldly refusing to join in. So, he turned sideways and happily sang the entire song from start to finish. After finishing, he took a breath, "Alright, even if there are bugs everywhere, Can Ye here is not afraid! The predecessors of the Second Division have bestowed me with strength!"
Ling Chen, with his hands in the pockets of his camouflage pants, patiently waited for Jiang Cancan to finish the song before stepping forward with his gun, "Let's go, finish the mission, and go back to eat."
The stairs from the second basement level to the third were well hidden—in a dusty corner, there was a large round hole covered with a one-inch thick steel plate.
Jiang Cancan holstered his gun, "I'm moving it now, brothers, focus!" With that, he exerted force with both hands and moved the thick steel plate aside.
In the next second, Jiang Mu quickly covered Jiang Cancan's mouth and nose. Ling Chen was even more straightforward as he casually pressed Ye Xiao's head into his chest.
A strong, putrid smell wafted out from the opened hole.
Ling Chen frowned, utterly disgusted, "...This stench is even worse than the gas weapon the Engineering Institute just developed!"
Jiang Mu nodded with his hand still covering Jiang Cancan's mouth and nose, "It's the same smell we encountered when opening the door to the first basement level, only much more concentrated."
Ye Xiao's nose was pressed against Ling Chen's chest, and with every breath, he was filled with the man's scent. His ears felt slightly warm, and he struggled gently, only to be subdued by Ling Chen's single hand.
Ling Chen casually said, "Be good and don't move. This smell can lower a kid's IQ."
Jiang Mu: "..."
But there was no avoiding it.
When the four of them prepared to go down, they had to endure the smell, even if it made them want to vomit.
The ladder leading down to the third basement level was narrow, allowing only one person at a time.
Jiang Cancan stepped onto it with one foot before first using a military flashlight to scan the ground below. After confirming there was nothing unusual and no strange sounds, he continued down the ladder while muttering softly, "This really feels like descending into a mine to dig for coal or gold, except I'm here to dig up monsters..."
Ye Xiao was the second to descend.
His senses were extremely sharp, and with the light from Jiang Cancan's military flashlight, he caught a glimpse of something rope-like moving on the wall. His pupils contracted instantly, and he shouted, "Be careful!"
But words were too slow to convey the urgency. Ye Xiao pressed his lips together before he pushed off with his right foot against a rusted rung, and leaped backward in mid-air. With a loud "clang" Water Cutter met the rope-like object that had swept through the air with a fierce force. The recoil was so strong that the wound on Ye Xiao's palm reopened.
In the next moment, Ling Chen, who had somehow already descended, stepped in front of him. With a swift throw of his military knife, he severed the rope-like object hanging in mid-air.
Ling Chen turned back and about to say something, but when he met Ye Xiao's clear, calm eyes, he remained silent. Instead, he took out a spray and began treating the reopened wound on Ye Xiao's palm.
Realizing that Ye Xiao had taken the hit for him, Jiang Cancan wanted to go over and thank him, but a sharp glance from Ling Chen stopped him in his tracks.
Jiang Cancan thought to himself: Is this the legendary possessiveness of an older man?
Meanwhile, Jiang Mu used his military flashlight to examine the severed object on the ground. He confirmed, "It's a plant vine that is approximately eight centimeters in diameter, red in color, and with raised bumps on the surface."
Jiang Cancan crouched beside him but did not dare to touch it. "Are you sure it's not something like an octopus tentacle?"
Jiang Mu replied, "It's a plant." He added, "It actively attacks and hides. It might be a mutated plant created through experiments and possessing a certain level of self-awareness."
Hearing this, Jiang Cancan no longer cared about the foul stench permeating the air. He cursed under his breath, "Who the hell set up this biological research institute?! They should've been executed ten thousand times over!"
He had been on many missions that took him into biological research institutes, but he had rarely seen experiments that fused the genes of animals, plants, and humans to create entities that defied classification. Cross-species gene fusion not only had an extremely high failure rate and was conducted with cruel methods, but the resulting experimental subjects were also highly dangerous.
Jiang Mu, as always, spoke in a detached tone, "Human greed and malice will never be in short supply."
He pressed a few buttons on the device in his hand and began reporting, "The layout of the third basement level is completely different. The entire space, spanning several hundred square meters, is open. Aside from eight load-bearing columns, there's nothing else. The entrance we just came through is the only exit."
Ling Chen walked over with Ye Xiao and asked, "Can you identify what kind of plant attacked us?"
Jiang Mu's fingers flew across the device's keyboard, and after a few seconds, he answered, "It's a mutated Rafflesia, also known as a man-eating flower. It emits a foul odor and is carnivorous. Based on the size of the vine, the flower itself must be enormous."
Ling Chen nodded. "Then our earlier assumption was correct. The experimental subjects from the first and second basement levels must have become food for this Rafflesia."
Jiang Cancan raised his hand, trembling slightly. "I have a rather unpleasant thought... Is the entrance we just came through the feeding point? So when I descended, it reached out for me—well, not with claws, but with its vine!"
Ling Chen had no intention of coddling his fragile feelings and nodded, "Pretty much." He then asked Jiang Mu, "The specific location for installing the detector?"
Jiang Mu pressed a few buttons, "I've sent the map to your Communicators. It will alert you when you reach the designated location."
"Got it." Ling Chen pondered for two seconds, "See if we can install the detector without confronting the Rafflesia. If we can't avoid it, then we'll fight."
As a commander, he never liked rushing into battle at the slightest provocation. After all, every life was not to be sacrificed lightly.
The four of them moved along the wall towards the target location and occasionally stepped on the remnants of the Rafflesia's shed petals, which left a sticky black substance on their feet. Occasionally, there were also fragments of undigested animal bones mixed in.
Jiang Cancan was nearly overwhelmed by the stench, "Chen Ge, do you think the Rafflesia won't attack us if it finds out we're inedible?"
Ling Chen, walking at the back, replied, "Correction, we are edible."
Jiang Cancan wanted to take a deep breath, but the smell was too unbearable. Just as he was about to speak, Ye Xiao, who was walking second, stopped, "Here it comes."
What happened next proved that the Rafflesia had no intention of letting go of these delicacies delivered to its doorstep.
First, it extended four vines to test them. After they were severed, it took a few seconds to regroup, and then over twenty deep red vines came at them, like the tentacles of a giant octopus.
Ling Chen immediately set up his gun and fired a Tracer bullet, illuminating the area as bright as day. Then, he switched to a Demolition bullet and blew the twenty-plus vines that had reached them into pieces.
But the group remained vigilant. Ling Chen asked Jiang Mu, "Does this thing emit heat on its surface?"
Jiang Mu understood Ling Chen's meaning, "Yes, it can emit infrared."
Ling Chen nodded and ordered, "Put away the flashlights and put on the Infrared night vision goggles." Because the night vision goggles were fragile, Ling Chen had been hesitant to use them earlier because he feared they would break and be irreplaceable.
The group quickly changed their equipment.
Ling Chen tapped the gun stock, "Let's scout the situation first."
Jiang Cancan responded and moved towards the center of the area with minimal noise before stopping about twenty meters away from Ling Chen. After signaling, he fired a shot. Almost simultaneously, Ling Chen also fired a shot.
The two gunshots overlapped less than a second apart.
Soon, wrist-thick vines attacked the positions of Ling Chen and Jiang Cancan. After blowing them up with another shot, Ling Chen said, "It can fight on multiple fronts."
Before he could finish, Jiang Cancan, carrying a forty-plus kilogram backpack, jumped over while running and shouting, "Damn! The deep red vines are bulletproof! Their skin is so thick that even bullets can't penetrate! Run, run, run!" Behind him, nearly ten vines were chasing.
The group didn't scatter and ran towards the target location, with the deep red vines following closely. As he ran, Ling Chen recalled the scene when the Tracer bullet had illuminated the area. He spoke calmly without panting, "Xiao Mu, locate it. Is it the Rafflesia's main body at four o'clock to the right front?"
The screen on Jiang Mu's device flickered, looking unreliable. He manually operated it, and ten seconds later, he got the answer, "Eighty percent chance it's the main body! From the shape, it seems the vines have wrapped around the main body."
"Can Can, Xiao Mu, keep running! Ye Xiao, follow me!" With that, Ling Chen kicked off the wall with his right foot, driving his dagger deep into the concrete. Then, with his left hand, he grabbed Ye Xiao by the waist and, holding onto the military knife, climbed up the wall. "Hold your breath!"
Ye Xiao complied.
Sure enough, the vines chasing them seemed to ignore their presence and instead pursued Jiang Cancan and Jiang Mu, who were deliberately making a lot of noise. Ling Chen knew that as soon as they resumed breathing or moving, the Rafflesia would quickly detect them. But what he wanted was that brief window of time in between.
Ling Chen: "Help me!"
Ye Xiao nodded before kneeling on the ground the moment they landed with his left hand steadying himself with the long sword. Ling Chen landed behind him before swiftly drawing the heavy sniper rifle from the gun holster on his back and resting it on Ye Xiao's shoulder.
As he adjusted the scope, he spoke in a low voice, "If I hurt you, you can hit me back when we're on the ground. I won't fight back."
At the same time as his last word, a tracer bullet was fired, with its trajectory glowing like a streak of light in the darkness!
Ling Chen corrected the bullet's deviation in three seconds and quickly fired an armor-piercing explosive bullet, hitting the center of the Rafflesia!
The dark vines shot out by the Rafflesia were now right in front of them. Ye Xiao kept his left shoulder steady as he reached behind with his right hand, and pulled out the short knife Ling Chen had strapped to his calf. He threw it directly and sliced off the tip of the vine, which caused it to pause for a few seconds—but this gave Ling Chen the time he needed to reload. Finally, as the center of the Rafflesia was blown apart, the vines that had reached them were also taken out by Ling Chen's precise shots.
The four of them stood at the target point, but before they could speak, Ling Chen installed the detector while the other three guarded the perimeter.
Taking out a small blue square the size of a fingernail, Ling Chen placed it on the ground. Then, centered around the blue square, the area within three centimeters became transparent, with countless data and codes flowing like water. After the blue square completely merged into the ground, everything returned to normal.
Ling Chen stood up and let out a sigh of relief, "Alright, installation complete!"
Hearing this, Jiang Cancan nearly collapsed to the ground, "This third coordinate point is such a nightmare! Absolute hell!"
Ling Chen kicked his calf to keep him alert and noticed that Ye Xiao and Jiang Mu were both looking in the direction of the Rafflesia. "What are you two looking at?"
Jiang Mu: "No matter how we attack it, the Rafflesia doesn't move from its spot. There might be something hidden underneath."
Ye Xiao: "It doesn't seem completely dead yet."
As if to confirm both of their statements, the severely damaged Rafflesia suddenly moved a short distance toward the entrance and revealed a black box that had been hidden beneath its body.
A hint of excitement appeared on Jiang Mu's usually indifferent face, "Its biological instinct makes it seek energy replenishment through feeding after being injured, so it moves toward the entrance. The important thing is that black box is likely the central processor of the research institute. I need time to extract the data from it!"
Ling Chen nodded, "Be quick. We'll buy you time." With that, he handed over a bomb, "After you're done, plant it next to the processor. We'll blow this place to smithereens when we leave."
Jiang Mu took it and quickly ran toward the black box. Ling Chen twirled his military knife between his fingers, showing off a bit, "Alright, let's see how long it takes for this thing to finally die!"
Two minutes to set up two medium machine guns and one heavy sniper rifle, Ling Chen commanded, "Ye Xiao and Can Can, you two each take one. Estimate your ammo usage and lay down the suppressive fire."
After speaking, he himself lay prone behind the heavy sniper rifle, adjusted the bipod lower, supported his left elbow on the ground, and placed his right hand on the trigger. His jawline was tense, and his aura was completely restrained.
It was Ye Xiao's first time using a medium machine gun. His accuracy was indeed mediocre, but he only needed to work with Jiang Cancan to lay down suppressive fire, block the returning Rafflesia, and protect Jiang Mu, who was transferring data behind them.
As for Ling Chen, he was wearing night vision goggles with the lenses pressed against the scope, and he counted in a low voice, "3—2—1—".
Each time he reached one, he fired a shot.
Soon, the petals of the Rafflesia were shattered, leaving only the hard-shelled pistil. Under the barrage of dense ammunition, the tangled vines were also mostly severed.
Ling Chen slightly raised his voice, "Xiao Mu, report progress."
Jiang Mu: "Eighty-seven percent!"
Ling Chen rubbed the trigger with his index finger, "Armor-piercing rounds are almost out. Once Xiao Mu finishes exporting the data, we'll retreat immediately. Run out through the entrance, and after leaving the building, blow this place up, got it?"
Jiang Cancan: "Understood!"
Jiang Mu: "Eighty-eight percent, estimated to be three minutes and five seconds!"
Ye Xiao: "Alright."
The moment the "ding" sound of data transfer completion rang out, Jiang Mu swiftly stuffed the instrument back into his bag. And following Ling Chen's instructions, he planted the bomb next to the central processor. Meanwhile, Ling Chen and the other two had already packed up their weapons, and the group quickly rushed towards the entrance.
The four reached the staircase at the entrance.
Jiang Cancan went up first with his gun, in case of any ambush above. Jiang Mu followed second, Ye Xiao third, and Ling Chen took the rear.
Just as Ling Chen stepped onto the staircase's crossbar, the already battered Rafflesia sprayed a stream of mucus at him. Whether it was toxic or not, it was extremely disgusting.
With no cover, Ling Chen was prepared to be drenched, but then a waterproof and dustproof combat uniform jacket appeared in front of him—Ye Xiao had taken off his own jacket and used it to shield Ling Chen from the mucus attack. Then, with his right hand, he grabbed the tripod of the medium machine gun and hurled it like a shot put, with such force that it pushed the Rafflesia back two to three meters.
Ling Chen looked up at him and saw Ye Xiao's delicate face tense while looking angry. After confirming that the tripod had hit the Rafflesia, he looked down at Ling Chen with concern.
Ling Chen smiled at him before he threw the dirty combat uniform jacket to the ground, and said, "Good boy, let's go."
After exiting the hole, Jiang Cancan first replaced the thick steel plate.
The four of them ran swiftly, passing through the corridors of the basement levels and straight out the main door.
Standing at a safe distance, Ling Chen held the remote control device and pressed the red detonation button with his thumb. Three seconds later, with a loud "boom", the entire biological research institute collapsed like a row of dominoes, with dust and sand flying, and the shockwaves lasting for a long time.
Ling Chen said to Jiang Mu, "Go check if the Rafflesia is completely dead."
Jiang Mu took Jiang Cancan with him. He stepped on the rubble and used a detector to sense if there were any infrared thermal energy fluctuations. Three minutes later, he reported the result, "No survivors."
Ling Chen nodded before holstering his gun back into its holster, and his posture returned to its usual relaxed state. "Alright, let's wrap it up and grab some food."
Although none of the four had any particular aversion to dirt, the idea of eating while covered in stench and various dust and sticky substances was unacceptable. Jiang Mu scanned the map and found a mountain spring flowing down from a cliff. Taking turns, the four of them stood under a protruding rock on the cliff and used the flowing water for a completely natural shower.
After changing his clothes and stepping out of the back of the vehicle, Ye Xiao instinctively looked for Ling Chen. Noticing that he was standing quite far away with Jiang Mu, with their expressions serious and the atmosphere tense—likely discussing something important—Ye Xiao decided not to approach. Instead, he sat down next to Jiang Cancan with his hair still wet.
Peeking into the fragrant military helmet, Ye Xiao asked curiously, "What are we eating?"
"Meat!" Jiang Cancan exclaimed with excitement. "Chicken cans, spicy chicken, super delicious!"
It was long past mealtime, and after all the jumping around in the research institute, their energy was thoroughly depleted. Ye Xiao was so starving that his stomach occasionally cramping with hunger. But he was used to enduring, so he just nodded quietly and waited patiently for the meal.
He was wearing his own black T-shirt and jeans with his long knife in hand, and the bandage on his right wrist replaced with a clean one. Sitting on the ground with his knees hugged, he glanced once more in Ling Chen's direction.
His subtle movement didn't escape Jiang Cancan's notice, who also looked towards Ling Chen—he had to admit, the title "Bu Cao" was well-deserved.
Ling Chen's features were indeed handsome, and his physique was excellent, but his fierce demeanor was anything but friendly and his aura too intimidating. Seeing that Ling Chen and Jiang Mu were deep in conversation and unlikely to finish soon, Jiang Cancan pulled Ye Xiao into a chat.
"Kid, I saw that! You were sneaking glances at Chen Ge again!" He stirred the spicy chicken with a stainless steel ladle, curious. "Actually, I've always been amazed that you're not the least bit afraid of Chen Ge!"
Ye Xiao shook his head, "I'm not afraid of him. He's very kind."
Jiang Cancan: "I can see that, I can see that! That's why, on this point, Can Ye admires you! You know, when Chen Ge was in his teens, all the kids in his neighborhood would avoid him. If they accidentally bumped into him, they'd start wailing instantly—it was an immediate effect!"
Ye Xiao hadn't heard this before and was intrigued with his eyes widening slightly. "Just seeing him would scare people to tears?"
"Exactly!" Jiang Cancan nodded. "That's why everyone in the Second Division believes that unless he completely reforms and sheds his intimidating aura, Chen Ge will never find a wife. Girls all run far away at the sight of him. And so, despite being old and nearing thirty, our Chen Ge remains a single, virgin bachelor!"
Jiang Cancan quite enjoyed chatting with Ye Xiao and, once he started, couldn't stop.
"Let me tell you something. Even though Chen Ge has really bad luck with women, there’s always an exception." Jiang Cancan said while patting his buzz cut with a gossipy tone. "It was about three years ago, when Chen Ge was twenty-four. He led a team to take down a hostile organization’s base. There were a lot of kids locked up inside, and Chen Ge went in to set them free. According to people who were there, there was this delicate little girl who seemed to be injured. Her face was bandaged below the nose, and she couldn’t speak. But she had long black hair that reached her shoulders, very pale skin, and big eyes. She was wearing a simple white cloth dress and looked really pretty. The key point is, before she left, she used her finger to write something in Chen Ge’s palm, saying she would definitely come back to find him someday."
Ye Xiao’s grip on the hilt of his knife tightened abruptly, and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. His throat felt dry as he heard himself ask, "And then?"
Jiang Cancan laughed gleefully, "Hahaha, I bet that little girl after recovering from her injuries, is probably out there enjoying her freedom in the Brave New World. Who’d have time to think about Chen Ge? Even though he looked incredibly dashing in his formal uniform when he rescued her, it’s been so long and she hasn’t shown up. There’s definitely no follow-up."
"Ah, poor Chen Ge. Still no girlfriend in sight. My heart aches for him for three seconds!"