Card Room (Rebirth)

Lu Jiuchuan couldn’t help cursing when he saw countless copies of himself. “Fuck! Is this a damn clone army consisting of human weapons? All these clones have chips installed in their brains?”

Chu Huaying’s expression was calm. “I’m afraid so. The version 3.0 they have researched and upgraded is a real biological weapon. These clones have no self-consciousness and will only act according to the instructions of the chips.”

At this time, the instruction of the chip should be: smile.

Therefore, hundreds of clones smiled at the same time and it was like their expression had been copied and pasted.

Tang Ci had never smiled in front of his teammates. Seeing countless clones of himself smiling so strangely, Tang Ci frowned unhappily. Lu Jiuchuan looked at these people with strange smiles on their faces and felt sick to the bottom of his heart. These people were just wearing their skins! This was fucking piracy!

Could something purely transformed from a cell be called human?

Lu Jiuchuan was just about to shoot the submachine gun when the next moment, the ‘Xiao Lous’ in the front row moved collectively. Their bodies had the bug genes and after upgrading and improvements, they had inherited the excellent climbing and jumping ability as well as the self-healing.

The dozens of Chu Huayings also crawled over the walls quickly and reached out to grab the gun in Lu Jiuchuan’s hand!

In the back, the dozens of Lu Jiuchuans and Tang Cis moved like lightning, cutting off their escape route!

The clones of Shao Qingge and Ye Qi surrounded the five people. The clones of Ye Qi were as petite as him but they were the most flexible and crawled extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, a few Ye Qis were right in front of Xiao Lou. One was to the left and one to the right. They reached out with tacit understanding to grab Xiao Lou’s neck!

Xiao Lou looked at the bright smile on Ye Qi’s cute face while the hands mechanically attacked and a chill rose in Xiao Lou’s heart.

Yu Hanjiang reached out his long arms and grabbed Xiao Lou’s waist. He quickly jumped away with his light footwork card. He dodged a few attacks from the clones without any danger while the Night Devil Saber in his hand simultaneously slashed. The white blade fell and severed the arms of the Ye Qis!

The shocking thing was that they grew a new arm at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lu Jiuchuan cursed as he fought the Lu Jiuchuans who came after him. “Fuck, the upgraded clones heal too quickly. We have to set fire to them as soon as possible. This space is too small to be used. Throw them off and go to the factory!”

Hitting (copies of) himself was something he absolutely never wanted to experience again.

In addition, the genes of these Lu Jiuchuans had been upgraded. The clones that had the bug genes incorporated were superior to the original Lu Jiuchuan in physical fitness and sensitivity. Furthermore, he was fighting more than one at a time. He could barely cope at first but it definitely wouldn’t last long.

Chu Huaying was surrounded by more than a dozen clones but she relied on the flexibility of her body to move between the clones. The spider dagger in her hand swung quickly and for a while, the area where she was in was splashed with blood. One after another, the Chu Huayings around her had their body parts cut off relentlessly. It was just that the bugs’ healing ability meant she could only slow down the attacks of these clones, she couldn’t kill them. Chu Huaying was surrounded and looked to be in a slightly embarrassing state. Her ponytail was loose and her hair was messy.

Xiao Lou was hugged by Yu Hanjiang and flew into the air. He saw this scene and summoned Li Qingzhao. “Everyone, quickly look for Uncle Qin. He must be manipulating the chips!”

Li Qingzhao read a familiar poem. “Seeking, searching, what comes of it but coldness and desolation; a world of dreariness and misery and stabbing pain! As soon as one feels a bit of warmth, a sense of chill returns…”

The skill immediately slowed down the actions of hostile targets.

The large scale group control made all the clones seem to be in ‘slow motion playback’ in a movie. Their movements were slow and stupid. It took them several seconds to lift their hands slowly. They each seemed to have lost the ability to move and appeared like zombies.

Lu Jiuchuan hurriedly dragged Tang Ci out of a large number of clones while Chu Huaying also rushed like a sharp arrow. Yu Hanjiang flew directly in the air with Xiao Lou in his arms. Chu Huaying told them, “The laboratory area is very large and the assembly line factory is in the innermost part. Hurry!”

The five people rushed out of the third room and into the innermost part of the laboratory.

In front of them was the ‘production factory’. It was the size of a football field and mass produced clones.

Everyone was horrified to discover that the entire factory was arranged like a bug fungus blanket. A circular ‘fungus blanket conveyor belt’ was made. There were countless successful clone babies lying on the fungus blanket and automated machinery was feeding them a strange nutrient solution. Every time a baby was fed, it would grow quickly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The baby placed on the fungus blanket at the beginning was already an adult when leaving the fungus blanket…

The process of creating clones was really faster than raising pigs at a feed factory. There was mass production, rapid catalysis and a fully automatic assembly line operation. Based on this efficiency, how many Xiao Lous could be produced in a single day?

The vein on Xiao Lou’s temple bulged as he looked at the clone ‘Xiao Lou’ lying on the fungus blanket. He was really speechless.

Once the clone left the factory, they would be taken by conveyor belt to the factory next door. The process that took place there should be the ‘chip implanting’ step described by Chu Huaying.

Yu Hanjiang waved his hand with a serious expression. “Go!”

They walked quickly along the conveyor belt toward the next factory where the surgery was indeed taking place.

The clones transported along the conveyor belt were already adults. There were sophisticated instruments that drilled directly into each clone’s temple at the most fragile part of the human skull to directly implant a microchip.

The clones had the self-healing ability of the bugs so the wound in the skull was automatically repaired. The blood coagulated quickly and even the skin became intact.

A clone with the implanted chip had completed the last step of the transformation. It finally became a qualified humanoid weapon.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other. There was a door at the end of the factory. This should be the entrance to the control center of the entire factory. It could control the operation of all the instruments as well as manipulate the chips in the clones to give instructions.

Yu Hanjiang made a gesture to Lu Jiuchuan. Lu Jiuchuan pointed at the door and stretched out his long leg. He kicked open the door while pointing the submachine gun into the room.

A person was sitting in the middle of the room. He had a familiar face. It was Uncle Qin whose voice trembled and whose eyes looked away when he was questioned by Chu Huaying on the starship.

It was just that the gray-haired old man no longer looked timid. Instead, there was a gentle smile on his face.

The moment Lu Jiuchuan pointed the gun at him, the old man spoke in a gentle voice, “Children, get up and eat. These people who sent themselves to the door today are left for you. You must tear them up and eat them.”

The screen was filled with experimental data. There were many instruments on the console and Uncle Qin pressed one of the buttons. Xiao Lou hurriedly said, “Stop him!”

Chu Huaying rushed into the laboratory like a gust of wind. She twisted his arm behind his back and pressed the spider dagger against his throat. “How do you control the chip? Say it!”

Uncle Qin’s lips curved in a weird arc. “It’s too late… it is impossible to tell you.”

Yu Hanjiang’s voice was cold. “You would rather die?”

Uncle Qin burst out laughing. “Hahaha, death? Do you think there are hunters who are afraid of death?”

Chu Huaying didn’t talk to him again and directly cut his throat!

Suddenly, there were rustling movements from outside. Xiao Lou looked back and saw the clones who just finished production on the assembly line surrounding them like hungry wolves after receiving instructions from the chip.

At the same time, Li Qingzhao’s slow motion control finished. A large number of clones outside the factory also rushed in according to the instructions.

They were densely packed like a tide and stared at the group of five like they were the most delicious food. Some clones even drooled.

By the way, these clones had the same faces as them!

Yu Hanjiang ordered, “Brother, set them on fire! We can’t handle so many clones!”

Lu Jiuchuan cursed. “Fuck, if I set fire to such a large area then I might burn you. Back away!”

Fortunately, the cloning factory was spacious enough. The space that was the size of a football field was large enough for the vermilion bird to play. Yu Hanjiang’s group stayed in the control centre while Lu Jiuchuan summoned the vermilion bird and broke through the window.

There was a sharp scream as the vermilion bird’s wings spread out. Lu Jiuchuan rode it around the factory and at the same time, he activated the extremely powerful and fierce limited big move—Vermilion Bird Heavenly Fire!

Hot flames emerged from the vermilion bird’s mouth and a raging fire instantly swept through the factory. The entire factory turned into a sea of fire. The clones were swallowed up by the flames and let out loud screams.

However, due to the instructions from the chip, their faces still maintained that strange smile even as they burned to death.

Xiao Lou stood in the office and watched many clones with the same appearance as him dying. His heart felt extremely heavy. These clones might have no self-awareness and were grown from cells using scientific means but they were also living beings. Until they died, they didn’t even know why they came into this world.

The people who proposed the cloning plan were really damned!

***

At the same time, Ye Qi’s piano music was reaching the end.

He knew that the song was about to finish. The piano didn’t allow him to change the song in the middle so once it ended, the controlled bugs would instantly wake up.

There were countless bugs at his feet and a sea of bugs in the distance!

The consequences of the bugs waking up were unimaginable.

Ye Qi trembled while playing the piano. “I don’t know what is happening on Professor Xiao’s side. Why hasn’t he used the Peach Blossom Spring to pull us over yet? I will be finished playing in half a minute!”

Shao Qingge frowned and asked in a low voice, “Can you slow it down?”

Ye Qi shook his head. “No, the piano music must be played normally. If I play it wrong, it will immediately fail.”

Shao Qingge thought carefully and gently patted Ye Qi on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, if time isn’t sufficient on Professor Xiao’s side then I can delay for a few more minutes.”

Ye Qi didn’t know what Shao Qingge’s solution was but he had to trust the other person.

Ye Qi gritted his teeth and played the last note.

The piano music stopped and the last note echoed in the cave for a few seconds.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet. The bugs were drowsy from listening to the piano for 10 minutes. At this moment, they woke up and were still in a daze at first. They didn’t seem to know where they were. Then they saw Ye Qi and Shao Qingge in front of them and finally recovered from the music. They immediately aimed their teeth and claws at the two people!

Outside, the voice of the bug queen rang out. “Don’t let them escape!”

The queen had arrived. After receiving the order from the queen, the bugs’ combat effectiveness instantly improved. Ye Qi and Shao Qingge were about to be overwhelmed when…

Shao Qingge suddenly raised his hand.

Golden coins scattered all over from the sky!

This was the S-grade tool card, Thousand Gold Coin Throw. By throwing one million gold coins around him, he could make any target within the range of the gold coins fall into a dizzy state for five seconds.

The bugs in the area were blinded by the flash of gold coins and were collectively stunned.

The five second duration was very short but…

Chief Shao had a lot of money.

Five seconds later, he scattered many more gold coins!

Ye Qi, “……”

It turned out that he meant to delay those bugs by using money.

It really hurt to see him control the bugs in this way!

It wasn’t known how much money Shao Qingge had scattered. If this continued, their family would be ruined. Chief Shao’s skills couldn’t be easily used. Ye Qi couldn’t help calling Xiao Lou using the voice earpiece. “Professor Xiao, how is your side?”

Currently, Xiao Lou was using the compass to draw a protective circle around them to prevent them from being burned by the flames.

Meanwhile, Lu Jiuchuan had burned the three areas in succession.

Lu Jiuchuan’s voice came from the earpiece. “I’m done. No fish slipped out of the net.”

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and ordered, “Withdraw!”

The team members were collectively pulled back to the Peach Blossom Spring.

The sea of fire in front of them flashed past and turned into the familiar peach blossom trees.

The team members recalled the thrilling scene just now and fell silent.

Xiao Lou thought to himself that he probably wouldn’t forget the previous scene in his life. Those cute babies lay on the conveyor belt and were quickly catalyzed to grow to an adult. Then they were implanted with brain chips and turned into weapons.

Humans weren’t as good as pigs and dogs.

Once the ethical bottom line of science was broken, the evil consequences would be tasted by humanity itself.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and looked at his teammates. “Let’s go. We have to return to Capital Star as soon as possible!”

If he was right, the previous captain had probably gone to Capital Star, the place where the Noah’s Ark project began.

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality