Chapter 123 - 122: Cyan Bird
Zhou Chaoxian was stunned for a moment before it hit him: Ye Qingzhou was right!
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand. It was just... he was afraid.
After a series of failures and losses, the military commander had found himself subconsciously trying to protect the last of his assets, even though they were as good as scrap iron if left unused.
He had faced constant combat and sacrifice, and in the process, lost the courage to risk it all.
Zhou Chaoxian couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. ’This "scientist" is terrifyingly calm. The situation has cornered even a career soldier like me, turning me into a miser trying to hoard what little I have left. And yet, she’s more of a gambler than I am.’
"Qingzhou... you’re right. I’ve grown weak."
He gave a self-deprecating smile, his shoulders finally relaxing from their despair-fueled tension. "I’ve been thinking... it’s not like I need a complete drone to put on my coffin. So, I’ll leave things on Cyan Bird’s end to you..."
"I’ll get to the preparations right away..."
Ye Qingzhou nodded, then turned and left the tent, heading for the armored vehicle she had arrived in.
She hadn’t gone far when she spotted a young girl wrapped in a blanket. The girl was standing in a muddy patch, her head turning back and forth as if searching for something.
"Cyan Bird, you’re awake? Are you all right? How are you feeling?"
Ye Qingzhou always wore a stern, impassive expression, to the point where a rumor circulated through the research institute: don’t let Dr. Ye’s beauty fool you; she’s completely emotionless.
But when she was with Ye Qingniao, her sister who was nearly ten years her junior, a rare, gentle smile would grace her face. She quickened her pace and walked over to her.
"What could be wrong with me..."
A flash of joy lit up Ye Qingniao’s eyes when she saw Ye Qingzhou, but she quickly turned her head away to look elsewhere.
"It was just exhaustion. It’s not like I died... I’m a soldier. Stop treating me like a kid."
Though she spoke tough, one hand clutched tightly at the blanket on her shoulders, and her slender frame trembled slightly.
Ye Qingzhou’s heart ached to see her sister, so obviously weak, putting on a strong front. But then she thought of her sister’s unparalleled, heaven-sent ability, and of the mission that now, perhaps, only she could accomplish. She forced herself to revert to the ice-cold Colonel Ye that everyone else saw.
"Cyan Bird, we need your help. The drone pilot was killed. Right now, you’re the only one who can operate it..."
At the word "mission,"
any trace of girlish vulnerability vanished, buried deep within Ye Qingniao.
"A drone? I’ve never flown one before..."
But then her eyes widened, and for an instant, her pupils flashed dark blue.
"Will it work?"
"I think it will... But regardless of whether it’ll work, we have to try."
"Go on and get ready. Just let me rest a little longer."
With that, Ye Qingniao turned and went straight back to the armored vehicle. She sat down, picked up a nearby energy bar, and took a bite, closing her eyes as she chewed.
Ye Qingzhou looked at the girl before her—a girl who should have been studying on some campus, but was instead repeatedly putting herself in harm’s way because of some inexplicable ability. She could only sigh, then turned and walked toward another truck.
The light rain had stopped, but the sky was still a gloomy, leaden gray.
Several soldiers were moving a large, shock-proof metal case from a truck bed to an empty, tarp-covered patch of ground. They then ran several cables from another vehicle, connecting them to the underside of the waiting control console.
...
"For this reconnaissance run, keep the flight time strictly under twenty minutes. You haven’t recovered yet. If you can’t take it anymore, you must prioritize your own safety, even if it means crashing the drone."
"I know, I know. You’re such a nag..."
Ye Qingniao sat on a crude chair, eyes closed, muttering under her breath. But the quickened rise and fall of her chest proved she wasn’t as calm as she looked.
Standing beside her, Ye Qingzhou carefully attached electrodes to Ye Qingniao’s forehead and arms, but she couldn’t shake her worry.
She knew better than anyone that her sister’s ability wasn’t suited for such delicate, precise operations. It could put immense strain on her brain, but under the circumstances, they had no other choice.
"You’ve just received the stream of electrical signals used for remote operation,"
After securing the electrodes, Ye Qingzhou squeezed her sister’s shoulder and gave her calm instructions,
"Now, just like in our experiments, analyze those signals and then use your ability to simulate them... Begin!"
The other ends of the wires from the electrodes were all connected to a square drone control panel. The panel itself, however, had been torn apart, with exposed cables soldered directly onto the mainboard.
The other side of the control panel was connected to a black box. From behind the box, an extremely thin, nearly transparent cable draped down, connecting to a spool underneath a large drone resting on the open ground some distance away.
Ye Qingniao’s brow furrowed. Her hair slowly began to rise, as if weightless, and a strange energy emerged from her body, flowing through the cables and into the control panel.
"BZZT... BZZT..."
With a soft crackle, the control panel suddenly glowed with a white light. In the distance, the rotors of the drone began to spin slowly, and then, wobbling, the machine started to lift into the sky.
...
BOOM—
Hearing the clap of thunder outside, Lin Fan glanced quizzically out the hallway window at the sky. It was overcast, but it didn’t look like it was about to rain...
"Lin Fan... it’s thundering."
Standing nearby, Chu Zhaozhao held one of Lin Fan’s galvanized steel pipe spears in one hand and a massive iron wok in the other.
Meanwhile, Su Qing stood ready, her long spear aimed at the door as she mentally rehearsed her next move.
The three of them now stood before the door of Apartment 501, Unit 2, Building 7 in De’anli. It was the third-to-last location on the list Liu Bin had given him.
Su Qing and Chu Zhaozhao had woken up, contacted Lin Fan via walkie-talkie, and tracked him down.
"Yep. Looks like it’s about to rain. Let’s finish up here quickly and call it a day, all right?"
Lin Fan asked, looking at the two of them, who were now well-rested and full of energy.
"Alright, kiddo. Open the door..."
Su Qing readied her spear, glanced at Chu Zhaozhao in her prepared stance, and spoke in a low voice.
Seeing they were both ready, Lin Fan tapped the security door’s lock with the tip of his spear. There was a soft click, and then...
THUD!
The door was smashed open by an immense force from within!
It was a strength-type Mutated Zombie!
The moment the door burst open, it lunged toward Chu Zhaozhao, who was closest!
Though it was her first time facing a Mutated Zombie, she showed no fear. With a flick of her left hand, the iron wok flew up to block the creature’s path!