Chapter 400
Base Parasite Detection
Chapter 400 Base Parasite Detection
The following morning, Guan Tong arrived at the Countermeasures Research Office base as agreed.
Strictly speaking, this was his first time here. Although he had worked closely with the Countermeasures Research Lab during the [Earth Dragon Turns Over] rule period, he had not ventured deep into the base.
The Countermeasures Research Office is entirely underground, and access to it requires a special train; ordinary transportation is not possible.
When Guan Tong arrived at the boarding point, someone was already waiting for him.
The person waiting was wearing a beige jacket and dark blue overalls, with a pair of military boots of a common type used in the military.
Hearing footsteps, Silver Fox turned around and smiled, "You're right on time."
"Do we enter the base from here?" Guan Tong walked to Silver Fox's side, looking at the long rails leading to a tunnel ahead.
"Of course, you need a private car to get in."
Silver Fox took out his phone and sent a signal. Soon after, a black train emerged from the tunnel and stopped in front of the two of them.
Guan Tong looked at the train's design; the complex mechanical levers made him feel that it was an old antique from many years ago.
The car door opened with a "whoosh," and Silver Fox got in first, turning back to wave to Guan Tong: "Get in."
Guan Tong stepped onto the train, and the doors closed.
"This train..."
“Very old, isn’t it? Apparently, the base designers thought it would be dangerous to use electronic and automated equipment for everything,” Silver Fox said.
Guan Tong nodded.
That's true. While electronic and automated systems are convenient, they are relatively less secure.
Just like a hard drive can hold a lot of data, but it can be lost with a single shake or impact, it's always safer to have a paper copy of the most important documents.
Soon, as the train re-entered the tunnel, everything went dark.
"Approximately how long will it take to get to the base?"
"About ten minutes. What, can't wait to see it?"
visit?
Guan Tongxin thought to himself that he wasn't there to visit.
However, since Silver Fox said that, it means she doesn't know the purpose of his visit to the base.
Guan Tong believes that only a few people, such as Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu, may know that he came to the base to test for the presence of lurking parasites, and that Silver Fox himself was one of the test subjects.
Silver Fox assumed Guan Tong's silence meant he was there for a visit, and asked with great curiosity, "Haven't you always been uninterested in the research lab? What, is this visit a sign that you're considering joining?"
“That’s not the case,” Guan Tong said. “I have business to attend to at the base.”
"Oh, I see. It seems to be confidential. I won't ask then."
Silver Fox reacted quickly, knowing that if Guan Tong didn't elaborate, it meant she couldn't say anything.
"Did you just get back from a mission out of town?"
Guan Tong changed the subject. He remembered that Silver Fox wasn't there when the team met last time; Li Meng said she was out of town on a mission.
"Yeah, it was a small but urgent mission. I just got back three hours ago, just in time for your business. How about it? I didn't even have time to rest before picking you up and bringing you to the base. Aren't you touched?"
"It's alright."
“You…” Silver Fox shook his head, “This won’t win you any girls’ favor. Hmm, but I bet quite a few people like you, right? Aren’t you planning to date? Although this era isn’t ideal for having children, dating shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
"..."
"Seriously, do you have any plans?"
"There are none before the end of the forty-nine rules of the apocalypse."
"Oh? Are you the type who 'worries about the world before others' and 'no home without rules'? That doesn't seem like it. Isn't your age the time when hormones are at their peak?"
Guan Tong couldn't stand Silver Fox's gossipy questions, so she ignored them and changed the subject, asking, "We're going to Fahe later this month. Section Chief Li said one of our team members can't go out. Do you know anything about that person?"
Silver Fox chuckled a few times, then said, "I know, but I can't tell you yet."
"why?"
"I think it's better to maintain a bit of mystery when two people meet for the first time, right? If a third party introduces them first, it's easy to create a preconceived notion. Do you think I have a point?"
"...I guess so."
Guan Tong didn't really believe in making preconceived notions based on a few words from someone else. But since Silver Fox was being so mysterious and wouldn't say anything more, he didn't ask any further questions, figuring he'd meet him soon enough.
A few minutes later, the train slowed down and came to a stop.
The car door opened, and Guan Tong got out, only to see a square gate of unknown material in front of her.
Silver Fox stepped forward to verify his pupil membrane, and an electronic voice immediately sounded.
[Silver Fox, Level 3 access, entry permitted]
The upper part of the gate rises and the lower part descends, revealing a passageway.
Silver Fox went in first, then turned to Guan Tong and said, "You should have temporary access, please verify it."
Guan Tong walked up to the detector, and an electronic voice immediately sounded.
[Guan Tong, Level 7 access, entry permitted]
"Is level 7 the lowest?" Guan Tong asked as she entered the room.
Silver Fox shook his head: "Level 7 is 'temporary visitor privileges.' Sometimes people from other official departments need to come to the base, and they will be granted Level 7 privileges. This privilege only allows them to move around in the base's public areas for a limited time and cannot enter the classified areas."
"I see. Then your level 3 must be considered high."
"Probably in the middle?" Silver Fox explained as they walked. "The base's permanent staff have access levels from 1 to 6, but it's said that there's also a level 0, which is the highest level of administrator access. Perhaps only the top manager is level 0? Of course, I don't know if that's true or not; the list of personnel with level 2 or higher access is confidential."
"Then isn't it considered a leak if you tell me something like this?"
"Haha, I didn't tell you who has high-level access. I was just mentioning the different levels, don't take it so seriously~"
"..."
As they spoke, the two passed through the passage and arrived at the base's main hall.
This area, being one of the public areas, appears to be a leisure space, with sofas, lounge chairs, a television, tea sets, and some people in uniforms chatting in small groups.
“This is a ‘relaxation moment’,” Silver Fox said. “You know, being constantly on edge isn’t good for your work.”
Guan Tong nodded.
"Alright, my task is complete now that I've brought you here. Sit here for a while; I think Dr. Zhang will come looking for you."
After Silver Fox finished speaking, he left first, and Guan Tong found an empty sofa to sit down.
The base personnel around him would glance at him from time to time, some with curious eyes, and others with surprised expressions as if they recognized him.
However, while these people looked around, none of them approached to speak. Guan Tong guessed that there must be relevant confidentiality clauses within the base prohibiting resident personnel from freely communicating with visitors.
He sat for a moment, and Zhang Minglu appeared from the elevator and walked over, saying, "Guan Tong, you're here. Come with me."
Zhang Minglu took Guan Tong to take the elevator. Guan Tong looked at the densely packed numbers on the panel, the largest of which was 37.
"The base has 37 floors?" This base was already built deep underground, but I didn't expect there to be dozens more floors below. It's truly unfathomable.
"There was no other way. Experts from all disciplines were concentrated here, and each important research project required dedicated laboratories, storage rooms, and so on. Even dozens of floors were not enough. So later, we opened Base No. 2 and Base No. 3 and moved some less important institutions and departments there."
Zhang Minglu pressed the button for the 13th floor while explaining.
"The 13th floor is the medical examination center. This time, we will use the guise of a temporary medical examination to have you come and test the base members. The specific procedure is to tell the base members that there will be an additional 'neural test' this time. The test subject will enter a designated room and wear a test tube - the inside of the tube is hollow so that your 'shadow' can move through it."
"You don't need to show up in front of the test subjects during this process. You can't see them, and they can't see you. I think this is a good thing for both parties and won't cause any unnecessary trouble."
Upon hearing this, Guan Tong asked, "Are you afraid that some of the parasites might give up and cause trouble if you don't explicitly tell the base members that you're going to test for parasites?"
"Yes. If a parasite knows it will be detected, it might take risks and do things that endanger the base or the personal safety of others, so we must operate in secrecy."
The elevator arrived at the 13th floor, which looked no different from a hospital. The rooms were predominantly white, and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Zhang Minglu led Guan Tong to a room, and upon opening the door, they saw Gao Liangwei, dressed in a crisp military uniform and wearing the epaulettes of a senior colonel, standing inside.
"Manager, Guan Tong is here."
"Ah."
Gao Liangwei turned around and looked at Guan Tong.
"Thank you for your help, young man. Well then, let's start the test with me."
Guan Tong was somewhat surprised to hear this, while Zhang Minglu, who was standing next to her, said, "I was also surprised when the person in charge told me that he was going to be the first test subject."
“Leading by example is the foundation of leadership. If you can’t even do it yourself, what right do you have to ask your subordinates to do it?” Gao Liangwei stretched out his hand. “Come on, I also want to experience what it’s like to be tested by the Mind Network.”
"If the person in charge is not a parasite, then he will not feel anything."
Guan Tong reached out and shook hands with Gao Liangwei, and their mental network was activated.
There was no feedback, which was exactly what he expected.
If there were any connection feedback, Guan Tong would be greatly surprised—if the head of the Countermeasures Research Office were a parasite, Bei Xing would probably have already suffered a severe blow.
"No problem." Guan Tong withdrew her hand.
Gao Liangwei nodded: "Then, Dr. Zhang should have explained the testing process to you. He will arrange the relevant matters. I'll go back to my office now."
After Gao Liangwei left, Zhang Minglu said, "Let me get mine tested too. The person in charge has set an example, so I can't be an exception."
Guan Tong tested Zhang Minglu, and there were no problems.
"Then it's all the permanent staff at the base," Zhang Minglu asked. "Guan Tong, you said you could test multiple people at the same time, but how many exactly?"
"I haven't tried it yet, how about we start with two?"
"Okay, I'll have two test subjects enter different rooms and wear test tubing. The other end of these tubing is connected to your room, and you can control your shadow to make contact with the test subjects through the tubing channels."
Guan Tong glanced at the pipe connections in the room; there were ten in total. If the test was successful, he could use these pipes to test ten people simultaneously, greatly increasing efficiency.
Zhang Minglu was very efficient and quickly arranged for the two test subjects to enter different rooms.
They lay on the bed, fitted with the tubing, thinking they were undergoing some new type of neurological test, when in reality Guan Tong's shadow had already reached their bodies through the tubing.
The two strands of mental energy attached to the shadow line simultaneously gave zero connection feedback, and no image or sound representing the spore appeared in Guan Tong's mind.
"Test passed," he replied to Zhang Minglu.
"How about it, can we add a few more people at once?"
"Okay, let's go for ten."
Zhang Minglu arranged for ten test subjects to enter the room, while Guan Tong continued the testing.
Ten people are no problem.
"Next batch."
Wave after wave, with thousands of permanent staff at the base, it would take hundreds of tests for even ten people at a time to complete all the testing.
To compensate for the loss of mental energy, Zhang Minglu traded some consumable items to Guan Tong for the purpose of instantly replenishing mental energy.
It has to be said, this is a boring job.
But Guan Tong quickly found a way to enjoy herself.
That is, although the parasite cannot be detected, his mental power can, to a certain extent, determine the strength of the test subject's mental power when it comes into contact with them.
The weaker test subjects showed almost no reaction to his psychic contact.
Those with stronger mental abilities will instinctively defend against contact with external mental forces.
However, since even the strongest test subjects cannot exceed Guan Tong's limits, it is still within a controllable range.
Therefore, by comparing these changes in strength, even without meeting in person, Guan Tong could roughly distinguish whether the test subject was a civilian employee, a scholar, or an officially trained individual.
"Next batch."
After another ten people finished their tests, Guan Tong couldn't help but yawn.
He wasn't sleepy, but after testing more than two thousand people, the mechanical work inevitably made him feel bored.
Once the next batch of ten people was ready, he released ten shadow lines.
Just when he thought there would be no reaction this time, a shadow suddenly met with strong resistance!
"Ok?"
Guan Tong's spirits lifted, and the moment his shadow line touched the test subject, the latter unleashed a powerful mental force to resist it.
What surprised him even more was that the mental force seemed to be a master strategist, destroying his shadow line through some kind of "pincer attack"!
"This test subject... is very strong."
Guan Tong felt a sense of surprise as she sensed the broken and dissipating shadow line.
Even if he multitasks and his power is scattered, making him unable to break through in one point, he is still far beyond what ordinary strong people can contend with.
The test subject's shadow line was destroyed within a single second of contact between their mental energies, indicating that his mental energy limit was at least nine hundred.
Could it be the Dragon Soul? Or someone else entirely?
Guan Tong did not contact Zhang Minglu about this, because this was a mental power confrontation between Ascended beings, and did not mean that the test subject was a parasite. If the latter were a parasite, he would definitely connect with Zhang Minglu's mental network, rather than simply resisting Zhang Minglu's mental power.
However... in this way, the person being tested might guess that this is not a "neurological examination".
...Never mind, the cleanup is Zhang Minglu's job, I'm only responsible for the testing.
"Next batch."
The slight excitement that the unknown powerful figure brought Guan Tong was quickly worn down by the increasing mechanical testing.
An hour later, Zhang Minglu entered the room and told him, "Only the last batch of test subjects remains."
"Really? We're finally free." Guan Tong said. "Let them in. This round of testing is done, no problems."
Zhang Minglu chuckled twice and let the last test subject enter the room.
Guan Tong continued operating as before. Just when he thought he could finally finish, images of the Spore Palace and those gentle whispers suddenly appeared in his mind.
The mind network is connected! It's a parasite!
He immediately disconnected the connection, turned to Zhang Minglu and said, "The subject connected to the third pipeline is a parasite!"
(End of this chapter)