Chapter 1271: Melee

The girl's eyes lit up when she saw the chip in Lu Yang's hand. However, her expression turned grave when she noticed the robot gradually regaining its ability to move; she instantly felt a formidable threat.

“Not only did the chaebol send people to hunt me down, but robots as well!”

The girl thought to herself, 'This isn't good.' She hadn't expected the chaebol to be so thorough, having robots ambush her here in advance.

Never mind. I need to get the chip first!

Agile, the girl glanced back at her pursuers. She pushed over tables and chairs to block their path, then, with a few quick movements, reached Lu Yang's side.

She spoke to Lu Yang seriously, “I don't know who you are, but the chip in your hand is too dan—”

“Here.”

Without a word, Lu Yang shoved the chip into the girl's hand. His decisive action momentarily stunned her.

The girl quickly realized this was no time to be dazed. She immediately checked the chip.

“Strange, why isn't it this one?”

She had assumed that finding a fingernail-sized chip in the library meant it was definitely the one left by her contact. But upon inspection, she realized she was mistaken. It was just a similar-looking chip.

The girl shook her head in disappointment. She handed the chip back to Lu Yang, saying, “This isn't the chip I'm looking for.”

Lu Yang was speechless.

So, whose chip was this anyway?

“Forget about the chip! How do we deal with the enemies on both sides?” The young man asked anxiously, unclear if he was talking to himself or to someone else.

Of the three people present, only Lu Yang remained calm. The young man and the first girl were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. To their left were operational robots, and to their right, chaebol mercenaries. There was nowhere to escape.

Furthermore, they couldn't flee. The chip was nearby. The AI and the chaebol already knew the chip was here. If they escaped, the chip would fall into the wrong hands, and humanity would be in danger!

They noticed Lu Yang's placid expression, which seemed completely out of place in the chaotic environment. They sighed inwardly, assuming an innocent bystander caught in such a dangerous operation had probably given up on thinking.

The robots and mercenaries dared not act rashly. Their muzzles pointed at each other, each mistaking the other for the target's accomplice.

For a moment, the atmosphere was at a standstill.

Suddenly, the third wall of the library burst open, breaking the momentary stalemate. Another girl rushed in. With golden hair, blue eyes, and delicate features like an elf, she saw the chip in Lu Yang's hand, and her eyes lit up.

“Found it!”

This blonde, blue-eyed girl also had pursuers behind her. However, these pursuers were living people.

When the new pursuers saw the robots and mercenaries, they were startled. “As expected, they have accomplices!”

The new pursuers preemptively raised their guns and fired. The robots and mercenaries returned fire simultaneously, and the scene erupted into chaos!

Amidst the hail of bullets and general confusion, the blonde, blue-eyed girl dodged the gunfire and found Lu Yang.

“This ch—”

“Here.”

The blonde, blue-eyed girl examined the chip. She let out a sigh of relief. “This is it!”

Lu Yang also breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally found the owner of the chip.

“So you are the contact person the Professor arranged!” the blonde, blue-eyed girl stated confidently. With the Professor's help, she had escaped the organization. Unfortunately, the Professor was shot and killed while covering her escape. Before he died, the Professor told her to come to the library to find the chip. He had passed away before finishing his sentence; she presumed he also wanted to say there was a contact person in the library.

“Uh, miss, I think you've got the wrong person. I'm not a contact,” Lu Yang felt it was necessary to clarify.

“You definitely are. Otherwise, we've never met, so why would you hand me the chip the moment you saw me?” The blonde, blue-eyed girl became even more convinced that Lu Yang was the contact. This was just a simple intelligence test.

“I'm really not.”

The blonde, blue-eyed girl looked surprised. “What? Didn't the Professor record the organization's illegal genetic modifications on this chip? And then he gave you the chip so you could meet me, a genetically modified person?”

Lu Yang had wanted to stop the blonde girl from spilling everything. But unexpectedly, she spoke as fast as a machine gun, explaining the entire backstory in just a few sentences.

“I'm here to read,” Lu Yang helplessly held up the book about the cosmic map.

Seeing Lu Yang repeatedly deny it, the blonde girl became convinced she had overthought things. She quickly apologized. “Oh, I'm so sorry! I got the wrong person and dragged you into this disaster!”

“What? It's that book!” The young man noticed the cover of the book Lu Yang was holding. His body stiffened, and an idea struck him.

“Of course, why didn't I think of it? This was Grandpa's favorite book to read when he was alive. He used to say that the universe is infinite, and the Interstellar Alliance is merely a drop in the ocean, incredibly small, and should hold a sense of awe for the universe.”

He remembered his grandpa holding him on the rooftop as a child, telling him about the wonders of the universe. The young man couldn't help but cry at the memory.

This was something only his grandpa and he knew. Only he could find the chip his grandpa left behind!

The young man took the cosmic map from the book. Pointing to a specific star region, he wandered around the astronomy section bookshelves, muttering to himself, “According to the layout, it should be in this spot.”

The first girl saw the author of the book Lu Yang was holding. Her body tensed.

“How could I have not realized? The author of this book is an alias used by our resistance leader.”

The first girl took out a mysterious note from her pocket. She had received it before coming to the library but never knew its purpose.

Now she understood. The numbers on the mysterious note corresponded to page numbers and specific words in this book!

She took Lu Yang's book and quickly began deciphering the mysterious note.

Meanwhile, the three factions were still engaged in a firefight. Gunfire and explosions thundered around them. The young man and the girls raced against time between the bookshelves, searching for their respective chips.

“Found it!”

Both the young man and the first girl found their chips at the same time. They were overjoyed. However, the sounds of gunfire quickly pulled them back to reality.

“How do we escape?” Their crisis was far from over.

The young man proudly showed off the chip in his hand. “The chip Grandpa left has a virus that can paralyze robots and mechanical bodies! Then we can just take the opportunity to escape!”

The chaebol's mercenaries were mostly mechanical in body.

The blonde, blue-eyed girl was shocked to hear this. “That won't work! The ones chasing me are genetically modified humans; the virus won't affect them!”

The first girl pulled out a bomb. “I have a tear gas grenade; we can catch the genetically modified humans off guard with it!”

“Good idea!”

The young man peeled back the skin on his arm, revealing the mechanical arm underneath. He inserted the chip into his mechanical arm, tapping the screen on it a few times. The sounds of combat sharply decreased; the robots and mercenaries had been infected by the virus, leaving them vulnerable to the genetically modified humans' attacks.

The first girl threw the tear gas grenade. It exploded with a bang. Tear gas filled the air, choking the modified humans and making it impossible for them to open their eyes.

The three young people seized the opportunity to escape. They weaved thrillingly through the three warring factions, and before leaving, they didn't forget to drag the innocent bystander, Lu Yang, with them.