Raine's claws gouged into the alloy hatch, slime eating through the metal like acid through skin.
"Welcome home, Synced Vessel 001." The intercom crackled with Elaina's voice—but it ended in the static-screech of Garret's ice claws on steel.
(The 2400-meter-deep rock groaned. Vent pipes bled void-mist, that same toxic blue as the quantum tides. The lab's ceiling was a hexagon of high-density polyethylene blocks, seams carved with 「298.5」 codes—identical to the coral matrices from the plague village .)
Ellen's starlight chips flashed crimson warnings: 「Genetic contamination 900%超标」. Her metal fingers jammed into the hatch interface, yanking out data cables tangled with Lyria's hair: "This isn't a lab... It's a fucking womb..."
Three hundred incubation pods floated inside, each cradling mermaid-dragon hybrid embryos. Their spines fed by mechanical umbilicals, foreheads branded 「III」—pulsing in sync with Raine's scar. The nearest pod's occupant—a fetal Serena—snapped open triple-layered eyes: dragon-gold outermost, Inquisitor-mechanical red mid-layer, Lyria's tear-blue at the core.
"Surprise?" Misha's voice dripped from the vents. Her prosthetic arm shed its 「III」 plating, revealing 「Raine+Lyria」 gene codes: "They mass-produced your childhood sweetheart..."
(Gills spasming, Cycle 198's memory shards stabbed into his mind—)
Elaina plunging a syringe into child-Raine's scar, the pod's observation window reflecting her grin: "You'll be perfect..."Garret smashing the adjacent pod, slime splashing the 「Serena 000」 embryo: "Fuck... Baby assembly lines now?"Lyria's song leaking through vents, all embryos recoiling as mechanical cords strangled three.
Serena's asphalt wings erupted from Raine's back, claws shredding the nearest pod. The fluid gushed out—only to quantum-solidify midair into holograms of Raine's 298 deaths, Elaina always scribbling notes in the background.
"Alert... Fluid contains reverse-purification wavelengths..." Ellen's spine creaked, scales projecting the First Inquisitor's logs: 「Maternal Protocol v3.14—298 cycles data harvested」.
Misha's arm stabbed the control panel. The floor split open, revealing another pod matrix. Thirty more Raine clones floated below, foreheads marked 「001-030」, Lyria's tear-crystals embedded in their chests.
"Know why it's 298.5?" Misha kicked a clone's carcass, exposing the pod's hidden label: 「Cycle 299: Vessel retrieval failed. Reason: Synced Vessel 001 achieved autonomy」. Her mechanical eye projected Raine picking up the scale in the plague village, the horizon quantum-collapsing behind him 3 11.
Raine's claws impaled the controls—but slime reversed up his arm, skin etching 「Reclamation: 99%」. All pods rotated, embryos' mechanical umbilicals lashing like tentacles—
Serena's asphalt blood formed a sacrifice matrix, fangs sinking into Raine's neck: "Choose... God or fuel?"
Submerged Currents
In the Citadel's quantum surveillance room, the First Inquisitor's mask activated. Its inner codes read 「Maternal Protocol Final Stage Initiated」—as live feeds showed Garret's claw debris reassembling into a counter-clock's final gear...