Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 417: Getting the Vaccine

The base hidden beneath the surface of this planet looked like a small town, complete with various districts, including research and living areas.

Both the research and living areas were bustling. From White Ghost’s visual perspective, the research district was largely the same as any other Miracle base. Having grown accustomed to such illicit research, Cillin and the others did not react much, not even when they spotted a newborn infant kicking its little legs inside a liquid-filled vat. They had simply seen too much of this. Anyone who dealt with Miracle or investigated them deeply knew a thing or two about these horrors.

“Can you get the layout of the base?” Cillin asked.

“I haven’t found it yet.” White Ghost darted through various instruments and networks. Sometimes she lingered on experimental equipment or appliances of all sizes, and other times she slipped into the personnel’s microcomputers to check, but she had yet to find any information regarding a complete layout of the base.

“Forget it then. Take it step by step, and stay steady,” Cillin said.

There weren’t that many people inside the base, but they appeared to be in good spirits. Sometimes a few of them would gather around to eat, drink, and chat, their conversations revolving around the current events unfolding in the GAL.

These people had no filter here, and they spoke openly about many topics, such as the Dream Tapir and those viruses.

It had to be said that those allowed to hide here held a fair amount of authority within Miracle. Even if they couldn’t compare to the higher-ups previously captured by the Eight Great Legions, the fact that they possessed such classified information spoke volumes about their status and position.

Cillin didn’t have White Ghost immediately search for the confidential data sealed within specific instruments. Instead, he told her to listen to their conversations first. Rather than searching blindly, it was better to wait, get a general idea from these people’s mouths, and then use that overview to search with a clear direction.

Here, everything White Ghost eavesdropped on and saw provided everyone with enough information and enough shock. There were drunkards getting carried away while bragging, lovers chatting during secret trysts, and researchers bringing things up while discussing progress and current events. This base made them feel secure, lowering their guards, and there were always a few whose lips weren’t quite as tight as one might expect.

Human willpower was actually far weaker than people believed.

The result was that, within two hours, Cillin and the others gained a rough understanding of the entire Dream Tapir operation. Two more particle storms occurred during this time. Whenever this happened, the personnel would put down their work to shoot the breeze or engage in certain lewd activities. Yet, it was precisely at these moments that the most information could be gleaned, making it the most convenient time for White Ghost to act. All the data from those instruments was stolen during these windows; only then would the slight anomalies in the equipment fail to arouse their suspicion.

According to these people, the Dream Tapir had indeed been unsealed and reactivated later on. In theory, it could carry thousands of viruses—a number calculated after conducting Dream Tapir research. However, following Sifang’s Tapir Extermination campaign, the revived and reactivated mother Dream Tapir was still somewhat restricted.

Based on the received information, the offspring Dream Tapir caught in the infected zone carried two hundred and thirty-seven types of viruses. If that was truly a newly divided generation, working backward suggested that the mother Dream Tapir could carry no more than a thousand types.

Every time the mother Dream Tapir divided, it produced only one offspring. Each offspring Dream Tapir would be stored away, waiting for the next one to split from the mother. Only those directly divided from the mother were the most effective, because every division resulted in a reduction of viruses. The viruses they carried wouldn’t necessarily be completely replicated; it was a random copy. For example, second-generation Dream Tapirs divided from the mother wouldn’t necessarily carry the same types of viruses, and there could even be a huge disparity in the total number of varieties.

The more virus types it carried, the slower it divided. Furthermore, the further down the line they went, the quality of the sixth, seventh, and eighth generation Dream Tapirs fell far short of the second and third generations.

To guarantee excellent infection sources, Miracle’s people had been waiting for the mother body to divide, only launching their retaliatory operation once they had acquired enough superior sources. This was why, despite so much time passing, and despite being besieged by all sides and having so many executives captured, they hadn’t made a move until now.

Regrettably, this was not a Dream Tapir research base, and these people didn’t know where the mother body actually was. To completely resolve this crisis, they ultimately had to find the mother body to eliminate future troubles; otherwise, the viral infections would drag on for a very long time. Only the reactivated mother body possessed the complete antibodies for all several hundred viruses. The offspring lacked these antibodies, meaning the information that could be gleaned from an offspring Dream Tapir was limited.

This base existed mainly for the development of certain viruses.

Eighty-six synthetic viruses were created in this hidden base. Afterward, these viruses were handed over to headquarters, where they would be implanted into the mother Dream Tapir along with viruses manufactured at other bases.

What frustrated everyone was that when this base handed over those eighty-six viruses, they also handed over all the detailed information on them. Within this base, every trace of data and information regarding those eighty-six viruses on all the instruments and equipment had been completely scrubbed and permanently erased. This was to prevent internal personnel from leaking information and ruining the entire endeavor. It showed just how careful Miracle was being regarding this matter.

“There’s no data on those viruses, but according to what that big-bellied guy just said, there’s still a set of vaccines here?” Lung tapped his fingers.

“These people have all been injected with the vaccine, so they aren’t afraid of infection. The vaccine should be real; we just don’t know where it’s hidden. Cillin, got any ideas?” Ci Jincheng asked. Since Cillin was the one handling the base infiltration, Ci Jincheng needed to ask for his thoughts.

Cillin thought for a moment and said, “If we look, we can definitely find it. However, once we do, we need to plan out how to extract it.”

It was true. Right now, no one could even get inside, and those sealed passage entrances would trigger emergency alarms if opened even a crack.

“The current problem is how to get that set of vaccines out. If we can move it to the entrance, then even if the alarm goes off, we can act as quickly as possible,” Ci Jincheng said.

Getting the vaccine...

“Let me think about it first.” After speaking to Ci Jincheng, Cillin contacted White Ghost.

“Can you control the domestic robots inside the base?” Cillin asked. In truth, White Ghost had already located where the vaccine was stored; what they needed now was to formulate an action plan.

“Yes, they aren’t hard to control. However, if I take over a domestic robot, I won’t be able to pay attention to anything else,” White Ghost replied.

“You won’t need to. The next minor particle storm will arrive in twenty-five minutes and last for about ten. That will be the best time to act, but you’ll have to hurry. Are you confident?”

“Ten minutes... that’s a bit tricky. The storage location is somewhat troublesome, and the nearest exit is a five-minute trip. The domestic robots here have speed limiters; they can’t exceed a certain speed, or they’ll attract attention.”

“How much time do you need in total? Factoring in the robot’s speed and the time it takes to decode the storage vault doors, how long will it take?”

White Ghost thought about it. “A conservative estimate is fifteen minutes. If I run into any other issues, it will probably take even longer.”

Cillin nodded, trusting White Ghost’s time estimate. In that case, they had to wait for an opportunity.

Having made up his mind, Cillin discussed it with Ci Jincheng and the others. Everyone agreed to wait for the right moment. After all, they could only afford to succeed this time; once they made their move, there would be no room for hesitation.

“This is the first time I’ve ever hoped for a larger particle storm,” Knight joked.

“Tell me about it. In the past, the moment I heard ‘particle storm,’ I’d run like hell to stay far away. I’ve never looked forward to one like this.” Fenghai Chao stretched his arms, preparing for the upcoming operation.

“Human strength is limited, after all,” Yue Lou sighed. So what if he was a sharpshooter? He had already faced quite a few setbacks.

Mengqialuo stood quietly in the back, remaining silent. Inside his draped “cloak”, Wheeze hadn’t reemerged since shrinking back in. The others assumed Wheeze was tired and wanted to sleep, but Mengqialuo could sense that something was off about the cat. Actually, shouldn’t it have wanted to follow Cillin out? Why exactly had it stayed behind on the aircraft?

While waiting for their chance, the group also discussed their next moves.

During the minor particle storm’s interference, White Ghost had already begun moving inside the base. She was selecting her targets—she had more than one, because robots from the research district couldn’t leave that area, and those from the living district couldn’t set foot in the research zone.

On the planet’s surface, Cillin said to Czedow, “I’ll grab the vaccine when the time comes. You back up White Ghost and prevent them from initiating any forced communication network jamming. Don’t hide your abilities—attack their control systems directly. Buy time for White Ghost. It doesn’t matter even if every control system inside crashes, especially their extended weapon systems; it’ll make leaving easier. There’s no way to do this quietly anymore. Since we can’t do it in the dark, we’ll just have to do it in the open. No matter what, prioritize White Ghost. Even if we don’t manage to get the vaccine, bring her back first. After all, her movement speed while possessing a robot is far slower than her speed in the network.”

“Understood. I will.”

Fortunately, after the minor particle storm passed, the next storm would be of a higher magnitude, with an estimated duration of around seventeen minutes.

“This is the one. Out of all the storms we’ve weathered, this is a relatively long one,” Cillin said. If they waited any longer, who knew if another storm lasting over ten minutes would appear anytime soon.

“Then it’s settled. You can start preparing; I’ll have them head over as well,” Ci Jincheng replied.

While waiting for the particle storm, Ci Jincheng informed the others on the aircraft. As usual, everyone besides Kang Man and Allen sprang into action. Mengqialuo was not included; he and Wheeze also stayed behind on the ship.

There were fourteen space fighters. They weren’t very large; the cockpits only held two seats—one for the pilot, and the other reserved for whoever they picked up.

“Can these fighters really withstand those particle storms?” Knight looked at the fighter in front of him with a hint of doubt—not out of fear, merely out of curiosity.

“They can’t withstand it; they’ll still be affected. But we’ll fly them over first and hide behind the asteroids closest to the planet. When the time comes, even if we can’t completely block the particle storm, we can pop the energy shields to hold out for a bit. The chances of being discovered at that time are very low,” Ci Jincheng explained.

In truth, even with the chances of discovery being minuscule, they had no intention of activating the shields. Once discovered, all their previous efforts would be wasted.

“Just wear your protective suits and hide inside the fighters. As long as we don’t die, it’s fine. We aren’t a bunch of weaklings. Didn’t you see Cillin and Czedow tank through several storms already?” Pride lifted his chin, looking at Knight and the others with profound disdain.

Knight twitched his mouth. “I was just saying.”

“Let’s go. Enough with the nonsense.” Lung had already hopped into a space fighter.

The others hopped in one after another. Mengqialuo remained in the control room, standing in his original spot. Allen wasn’t quite sure how to strike up a conversation with him, but he didn’t have the time for it anyway; there was too much work on his plate. As for Kang Man, he was still the primary operator and had even less time to entertain anyone. He sat there without saying another word. The previously bustling control room instantly fell completely silent.

On the control room screen, they could see the signal blips of the deployed space fighters. All of these signals were moving toward the planet.

Mengqialuo looked down at Wheeze, who was hiding inside the “cloak”. The cat currently had its ears perked up, twitching them from time to time. Clearly, it wasn’t asleep; it was paying close attention to the movements outside. It even looked a little nervous. Its restless paws revealed that it was already itching for action, but was constantly holding itself back.

Before the next round of the particle storm hit, Ci Jincheng and the others had found cover. They parked their space fighters on the closest asteroids, facing away from the planet as they waited for their moment.

Cillin and Czedow had now changed locations. The previous entrance was a bit too far from the one where White Ghost planned to bring the vaccine out. To better rendezvous with White Ghost and save time, Cillin and Czedow moved to the planned passage entrance.

This tightly sealed entrance led down to an intersection between the research and living districts. The security in the research district was rather strict, especially during periods without particle storms. Most likely to prevent information theft, all sorts of precautions were taken with the facilities. That was why White Ghost hadn’t made her move from there. There were also fewer entrances and exits in that area. Compared to the central research zone, the planned entrance had relatively loose security. Although choosing this route required an extra half-minute, it won out by having a higher safety margin.

Moreover, the research area only had a few large medical transport robots. It would be impossible to use them to transport the vaccine to the passage entrance; no transport robot would ever go to that area. The small robots in the living quarters, however, were different. They were numerous and went almost everywhere. There were even robots that came to the passage entrance to clean, so they wouldn’t arouse suspicion there.

Receiving the standby signal sent by Ci Jincheng and the others, Cillin notified White Ghost that she could begin.

Inside the base’s living quarters, a white light flashed through the eyes of a small cleaning robot, and it immediately headed in a specific direction. There were simply too many robots like this in the living quarters, so no one paid any attention to what this particular one was doing.

Just like the other robots, this small robot moved forward at the same speed, occasionally stopping to clean up a smudge on the floor. Although it stopped and went, did a little work, and took a few turns to wipe away stains, its final route always headed in one single direction.

In a corner near the passage entrance, the small robot stopped. Just like other cleaning robots, it would halt to rest after working for a while to conserve energy.

After this small robot stopped, a cart-like robot slowly moved down the corridor outside several large laboratories in the research area. Every time it passed the waste disposal port of a large laboratory, it would stop, open the outer cover, and extract waste materials that had undergone filtration and circulation, along with non-recyclable liquid waste, placing them onto its cart. This was also one of the Underground Base’s cleaning robots, but one that solely operated within the research area. They transported laboratory waste and used, non-recyclable hazardous materials to a centralized location for disposal.

The cleaning schedules of these robots were not fixed. Sometimes, when certain laboratories were busy, there would be more waste, resulting in more frequent cleaning runs. Because of this, the arrival of this cleaning robot did not draw the attention of the researchers inside the labs.

Slowly, it headed toward an intersection. As it arrived, the lighting equipment in the corridor and the instrument displays inside the various laboratories all began to flicker.

The storm had arrived.

Some people inside the labs started cursing, but whenever this situation occurred, they would stay put, sit down to rest, or take a nap. Going outside during times like these was not a good idea. It would be a tragedy to get unlucky and be accidentally injured by malfunctioning instruments or equipment that sparked or exploded because of the particle storm.

The corridor, which occasionally had people walking by, was now completely empty. The cleaning robot did not follow its usual sweeping route; instead, it turned a corner and headed the other way, speeding up significantly. The hidden sensory equipment here had all gone on strike, showing absolutely no reaction to the cleaning robot entering an unprogrammed path.

Soon, the cleaning robot stopped in front of a tightly shut metal door.

Inside the door, the impact of the storm wasn’t very significant. Perhaps because important items were frozen here, extra care had been taken during its construction, leaving the instruments running normally.

The combination lock on one of the freezers jumped a few times before automatically springing open, releasing a cloud of white mist.

On a shelf not far away sat a mechanical arm designed to assist in retrieving high-placed items. Now, its bottom rollers engaged, moving it over to extract a box from the freezer. It then closed the freezer door and restored the settings and data on the lock.

The box also had a combination lock. Just like the freezer, the data on the lock flashed a few times and then unlocked.

The mechanical arm opened the box, revealing the contents inside.

After inspecting them, the mechanical arm closed the box again and restored the combination lock. It moved the box toward the door. When it reached the entrance, the warehouse door opened. There was usually a warning chime when it opened, but at this moment, the particle storm was causing some laboratory instruments to malfunction and sound their own alarms, entirely masking the warehouse door’s alert. Meanwhile, the screens in the research area’s control room were flickering constantly, making it impossible to see what was happening there, and the monitor on duty was currently leaning back in his chair, resting his eyes.

The mechanical arm placed the box into a hidden compartment in the middle layer of the cart, then retreated as the door closed. The cleaning robot rolled back, calmly leaving at the intersection to head toward its planned destination. Everything here returned to calm.

Cillin checked the time. There were still three minutes before the storm passed. Three minutes was enough for White Ghost to reach the entrance.

One minute before the storm ended, the handover between the research area’s cleaning robot and the living quarters’ cleaning robot was complete, transferring the box from the former into the cleaning slot of the latter.

Thirty seconds before the storm ended, the small robot reached the planned entrance and opened the passage.

Beep—

A piercing alarm resounded throughout the entire base with overwhelming acoustic force.

“What happened?!”

“Who?! Who opened the entrance passage?!”

“Investigate it immediately!”

The people in the base were stunned by the alarm. Furthermore, the storm had not completely ended yet, so some people were even wondering if the particle storm had caused a system malfunction.

Just in case, the guards quickly mobilized. But by the time they noticed, the small robot carrying the box had already almost reached the exterior exit through the opened passage.

“Activate mandatory defense protocols!”

“But the storm hasn’t stopped yet...”

“Activate them!”

“Yes, sir!”

Chaos instantly erupted within the base.

But they quickly discovered that the external defense system was being jammed. It wasn’t just the particle storm; something else was interfering, making it impossible to forcibly close the passage entrance.

Just who was it?!

Outside that passage entrance, Czedow’s eyes were flashing. He was holding back the defense system, preventing it from forcibly closing the gate. To pull this off while the particle storm had yet to end was incredibly difficult indeed.

When the particle storm ended, the external passage was fully open. The small robot emerged from the rising gateway, and Cillin and Czedow rushed forward at the same time. Cillin grabbed the box, while Czedow retrieved White Ghost.

As Cillin and Czedow ran toward the entrance, five space fighters swayed as they flew in their direction. Due to the particle storm’s interference, they simply couldn’t maintain their stealth mode during the approach.

“Damn it, this is my first time flying a fighter through a particle storm! If the old man knew, he’d definitely say we were crazy!” Knight roared as he piloted the craft, though his tone was mostly filled with excitement. Although flying in the particle storm was unstable, everyone was now highly motivated. Because the vaccine for those eighty-six viruses had been secured, they were willing to risk their lives to protect Cillin and Czedow. At this point, who cared whether the storm had stopped or not?

By the time Cillin grabbed the box, two fighters had already flown to a spot just behind them. Cillin leaped into the air and, with the aid of his thrusters, shot directly into the cockpit of the fighter, which already had its canopy open. Nearby, Czedow boarded the other fighter.

The timing was perfect.

The remaining fighters flew over to assist in covering the two craft.

With the storm subsided, the base officially activated its weapon attacks, locking onto the two fighters bearing the wing numbers D-793 and D-791. They had seen those two individuals jump into these specific fighters. Regardless of what these intruders had taken, they had come out of the base, and they had to be killed without mercy.

The two large passage entrances on the surface also opened, and several fighters flew out one after another to intercept the intruders.

The crossfire between the two sides was intense. However, because Cillin’s group moved far too quickly, they were already nearing the asteroid belt by the time the base’s forces pursued them. This did not deter the base personnel; instead, it provoked an even more frantic assault. They didn’t even hesitate to use weapons like shockwave bombs in the area, not caring if their own people were caught within the blast radius.

But those fourteen fighters were simply too cunning. They wove through the asteroid belt as nimbly as swimming fish, skillfully dodging the shockwaves and enemy fire. They even deliberately released a smoke bomb, creating a thick cloud of dust that obscured the entire formation, preventing the base personnel from seeing exactly which two fighters were which. However, the base forces had already memorized the small wing numbers and directed nearly all of their firepower toward those two craft.

A spacecraft emerged from the asteroid belt. It didn’t slow down, weaving through the asteroids just as nimbly as the fighters while heading toward the outer edge of the belt. At the same time, its open hatch allowed the approaching fighters to enter.

The base personnel didn’t care about the other fighters going in; they just doggedly bit onto the two trailing fighters numbered D-793 and D-791. Unfortunately for them, these two craft moved the most erratically out of the whole group. They were extremely difficult to lock onto and pulled off several hyper-maneuverable turns.

Gradually, all fourteen fighters flew back into the ship, with the two targeted craft entering last. Once they were all inside, the ship’s energy shield activated, and it shot out of the asteroid belt at full speed.

Inside the ship, among the docked space fighters, the numbers on the two craft that Cillin and Czedow jumped out of were not D-793 and D-791. The ones who emerged from the fighters bearing those numbers were actually Knight and Pride.

At that moment, the numbers on the wings of all fourteen fighters vanished simultaneously. Something like serial numbers was meant to deceive people in the first place. Who the hell would be stupid enough to paint numbers on their wings to serve as target markers at a time like this?

In truth, if the people at the base had calmed down, they would have definitely figured it out. But in their sheer panic at the time, they had completely overlooked it.