Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Just as Bai Mi was about to throttle her neck again, Wen Yishu reached out, swung the metal case next to her, and knocked the woman down. Bai Mi slumped limp onto Wen Yishu’s body, completely unconscious.

Wen Yishu gasped for air and patted Bai Mi’s back. There was a very obvious red mark on Bai Mi’s face; it seemed she had been hit quite hard. “Team Leader,” Wen Yishu whispered, but the other woman’s eyes remained shut.

She really hadn’t expected such a dangerous presence in this Robot Town. She couldn’t be lucky enough to scramble into ventilation ducts every time. While she knew that improving her own strength was the ultimate solution, there was no reason for every bit of bad luck to find her. Her luck was indeed subpar—no matter where she went, she ended up in such a mess. This was already the second time today.

The String of Pearls, which had been flung away, now crawled back slowly. Its moving body looked extremely weak, its shriveled leaves wiggling as it reached Wen Yishu’s side. It lay back in her hand and completely ran out of strength, shrinking into a tiny puddle in her palm.

Wen Yishu called out to the plant in her mind, but received no response. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt candy wrappers moving in her hand; she almost ignored the rustling plastic sound. Raising her hand, she found the String of Pearls’ roots gripping a candy. She peeled the wrapper and popped the candy into her mouth. The sourness gave her a jolt, instantly clearing her head.

The energy in her body recovered quickly. After lying there for a while, she felt some liquid leaking from the back of her neck. She reached back to touch it; a thick, blue fluorescent liquid stained her fingers. It had no scent and was likely the substance from the syringe. She used her optical computer to provide light and saw that the liquid was draining out of the puncture.

The patch of numb skin began to tingle with a sharp pain, but as Wen Yishu tilted her head, she actually felt much better. Perhaps her unique ability wouldn’t tolerate strange substances in her body; once her strength recovered slightly, the liquid was being squeezed out of the wound.

Wen Yishu sat up, moved Bai Mi to a flat position on one side, and placed the silver briefcase on her lap. The latches were protected by a password, fingerprint, and iris lock. If only Bai Mi were awake—she would have opened it with ease. Wen Yishu didn’t dare wake her now, fearing that if she hit her even harder next time, the two of them would truly turn into enemies.

“Within seven steps of a snake, the antidote is found,” but the antidote was locked. Wen Yishu felt a mix of laughter and tears. She rested for another moment. Her goggles had been confiscated. She contemplated her next move to escape.

First, she didn’t know the external situation or the layout of the basement. Ideally, she needed to know her location and see a map of the floor below. This place looked like a temporarily repurposed robot warehouse; it wasn’t very sophisticated. Even the brackets holding the prisoners were modified from robot charging piles. This was almost certainly still within Robot Town. The reason they had lost consciousness was the substance injected by the robots.

She didn’t know who the mastermind was, but anyone controlling this many people couldn’t be a good person. She wondered if it would be convenient to take down the two robots below. However, this mastermind clearly didn’t understand “big tech”—they hadn’t even confiscated her optical computer. She wasn’t sure if that was a oversight in the inspection.

Just as Wen Yishu was about to turn on her optical computer, she heard footsteps again. She gripped her other wrist and held her breath as the footsteps drew closer. They seemed to stop right near her.

Below stood two identical robots, looking up at the ventilation duct with synchronized movements. They set a ladder against the wall. One robot housekeeper climbed up, pushed aside the blinds, flashed a smile, and looked into the dark passage.

“Found you, Guest.”

A second later, Wen Yishu’s face appeared before the robot. A similar smile played on her pale face. “Looking for death, are we?”

Wen Yishu grabbed the robot’s face and twisted its head off. The robot housekeeper still wore its smile as the synthetic skin at the neck-cheek junction tore apart. The head spun several times before Wen Yishu kicked it down. She then executed a flying kick onto the other robot attempting to flee, held its head down, and forced its fingerprint and iris onto the scanner.

She hadn’t been sure if robots were made with such fine detail, but her guess proved correct: the case’s latches popped open with a click. Inside was thick black foam with several vials of pale blue and silver-white reagents embedded in protective sleeves.

Wen Yishu tapped the robot’s metal skull. “Well? Do you want to die too? Be honest—answer what I ask. Serving humans is your core code, right?”

The robot housekeeper no longer had its previous arrogance. It replied in a flat voice, “Yes, Guest. Please speak.”

Wen Yishu grabbed its hair, forcing it to look at the reagents in the case. “What are these?”

Robot: “Reagents and antidotes.”

Wen Yishu: “Who can understand that? Be specific!”

The robot slowly explained: “The case contains biological reagents capable of interfering with consciousness control. However, the cost of use is unknown. For details, please consult Dr. Zhao.”

Wen Yishu raised an eyebrow. The mastermind was ratted out that quickly? “Which one is the antidote?”

The robot answered honestly: “The blue one.”

“Who is Dr. Zhao?”

The robot housekeeper’s voice seemed to skip. Wen Yishu watched its jaw twitch; its mouth opened several times but no words came out, as if a certain restriction had been imposed.

Wen Yishu changed her line of questioning: “Where is the safest building in the town?”

The robot answered fluently again: “The three-story English-style attic in the southwest corner.”

Wen Yishu patted its head with satisfaction. “What is the experiment here, and what is the goal?”

The robot’s tone suddenly became stiff: “You do not have authorization. Please obtain relevant permissions.”

Wen Yishu asked again, but received the same reply. She stubbornly tried other questions, but the answer remained “no authorization.” It seemed she had triggered a core protection mechanism. Wen Yishu was checking where the robot could be rebooted when a hand suddenly expanded in her field of vision.

She propped herself up and shrank back. A palm brushed past the tip of her nose, nearly slapping her. She immediately snapped the robot housekeeper’s neck and folded its arm back. Standing up, she delivered several kicks, smashing the pile of scrap metal to pieces. Her movements were so natural she barely had time to process it before the robot was completely junked.

Wen Yishu unclenched her fist and sighed. “You had to do it the hard way.”

She picked up a vial. The robot would have known many of Dr. Zhao’s secrets, but it wouldn’t tell her, which meant that lead was dead. There was no other way; she would have to meet this person herself to find out the truth.

She looked at the vial. There were no test subjects here. She looked at the people around them; they all seemed to be in a deep sleep. She didn’t want to risk ordinary lives. She didn’t know how much of what the robot said was true or false.

Unscrewing the vial, she poured out a capful of the solution and drank it cautiously. The moment it entered her mouth, a rich chocolate flavor filled her mouth. She liked sweets, but this reagent clearly had no sugar. It was so bitter she knit her brows, her tongue trying to dodge the liquid, urging her to swallow quickly.

After some mental preparation, she swallowed the white reagent. Before the bitter chocolate flavor could even dissipate, Wen Yishu felt her body become light. Whatever was suppressing her ability seemed to melt away. She looked at the vial in surprise, suddenly feeling a hundred times more energetic.

The initial grogginess vanished, and the energy in her body was overflowing. She felt that even if countless robots arrived now, she could handle them. Wen Yishu was very satisfied with the results. She didn’t know what was in it, but using this as a mere antidote for hallucinogens felt like a waste. It felt more like a pre-combat stimulant. Wen Yishu carefully stowed the vials and poured a capful for the String of Pearls.

The plant became lively the moment it touched the medicine. Its shriveled leaves became round and firm; the near-death silence from moments ago was gone. It started chattering in her ear: “That’s too much, Master! I almost lost you. Please stop playing with people who have split personalities, okay?”

“You’re talking nonsense again, Xiao Zhu. Did you really inherit this personality from the Terminalia tree?” Wen Yishu’s mouth twitched. Recalling the gentle, massive shadow of the Terminalia, she patiently explained what happened to Bai Mi—it wasn’t a split personality at all.

The String of Pearls drooped its waving “hands” and scratched Wen Yishu’s palm sheepishly. Her heart softened, wondering if she had been too harsh. She rubbed the plant like she was petting a cat. The plant’s limitation seemed to be that it could only sense her well-being; it knew nothing about the physical condition of people not directly linked to her.

She stepped forward to deal with the other robot’s body. It had been playing dead; the breathing light on its head was still flickering. Wen Yishu decided to dismantle their limbs and kicked their heads far away. She searched their bodies and found no weapons—not even a single item.

Wen Yishu frowned, hands on her hips, her gaze finally landing on the ladder. She rubbed her chin, her hand covering the iron leg of the ladder. Just as she was about to have the String of Pearls dismantle the whole thing, a foot suddenly appeared on the ladder.

She took a step back, only to find that Bai Mi had woken up at some point. A pair of eyes stared straight at her. In the next second, the woman lunged toward Wen Yishu.

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