After becoming rich overnight, I handed over the system.

Chapter 406 5 hours 7 minutes

Upon hearing this, Cheng Hai grinned, revealing a cunning expression that remained even in the midst of crisis.

"Old friend, remember how we sneaked into restricted areas back in college?"

Yu Yang suddenly realized: "Wastewater treatment channel!"

“That’s right! Every floating city has its weaknesses, like the underwater pipes designed to discharge treated wastewater.” Cheng Hai pulled up the structural diagram of New Atlantis on the control panel. “Large enough for a single person to pass through, and requiring minimal surveillance.”

Kobayashi looked both worried and admiring: "I'll be waiting for you at the C-zone processing station. But please be careful, the gene bomb's countdown has begun, and Mori has set the detonation time for tomorrow at sunrise!"

After communication was lost, the two quickly prepared their equipment.

Cheng Hai's mutated left arm requires a special protective sleeve to prevent damage to his diving suit, while Yu Yang must carefully conceal the gill slits on his neck.

"Are you ready?" Yu Yang checked the oxygen reserves, even though he himself didn't really need them anymore.

Cheng Hai looked at his reflection in the mirror. His whole body was covered by a diving suit, with only his eyes showing. His left arm appeared unusually large.

"He looks like a villain from a cheap sci-fi movie, but it's passable."

They boarded the research station's small submersible and headed towards New Atlantis.

Night had fallen, and a blood moon rose over the sea, casting an ominous red hue over the waves.

“Before sunrise,” Yu Yang said softly, “less than eight hours.”

Cheng Hai adjusted course, avoiding the patrol zone: "Enough to reveal the truth and prevent a massacre."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Old Yu, if we fail..."

“We won’t,” Yu Yang said firmly.

Cheng Hai shook his head: "I mean, if ultimately humans and the new humans cannot coexist peacefully, whose side are you on?"

Yu Yang gazed at the unfathomable sea, then looked up at the sky illuminated by the blood moon: "I won't choose sides, Lao Cheng. I choose the third path—the path of a hybrid like you and me. Not purely belonging to either side, yet connecting two worlds."

The submersible plunged into deeper waters, heading towards the little-known passageway at the bottom of New Atlantis.

Behind them, the moonlit ocean resembled a sea of ​​blood, while ahead, salvation or death awaited them.

But one thing is certain—whatever the outcome, the definition of humanity will be forever changed from this night forward.

The wastewater treatment pipes at the new Atlantis are narrower than I remember.

Yu Yang squeezed into the passageway that reeked of sour rot, his bioluminescence on his armor turned down to the lowest brightness, barely enough to illuminate a few meters ahead.

Behind him, Cheng Hai's breathing was heavy and restrained—his mutated left arm was particularly cumbersome in the confined space, scraping against the tube wall several times and making a sound.

"How much further?" Cheng Hai asked in a low voice, his voice echoing through the metal pipes.

Yu Yang checked the locator on his wrist: "We're approaching the C-zone processing station. Xiao Lin should—"

A faint knocking sound interrupted him. Three short knocks, three long knocks, then three more short knocks—a distress signal.

Yu Yang responded with two long knocks.

A moment later, the inspection cover on the pipe ahead was unscrewed, and Xiaolin's face appeared at the opening, pale and tense.

"Quick! The patrol passes by every twenty minutes!" He reached out and pulled them out.

The three hid in a nearby equipment room.

Xiao Lin handed Yu Yang and Cheng Hai two sets of maintenance worker uniforms: "Wear these. The security forces are conducting a city-wide manhunt for 'aquatic terrorists,' and all checkpoints have strengthened their identification measures."

Cheng Hai laboriously shoved his mutated left arm into the specially made loose sleeve: "Where is the gene bomb deployed?"

"The launch silo beneath the central platform," Kobayashi pulled up the secretly filmed footage, "the Ocean Biology technical team completed loading an hour ago. Mori personally authorized the parliament to skip the voting process using the emergency law."

In the footage, a silver capsule about five meters long is being loaded into a vertical launch device.

Yu Yang's gills flared with rage: "They call this 'defense'? This is clearly a weapon of mass destruction!"

“Worse still,” Kobayashi lowered his voice, “the bomb uses genetic targeting technology, theoretically only affecting individuals carrying aquatic adaptation genes. But according to the data I saw after hacking into the system, its spread is enough to cover the entire Pacific Ocean, including the lower waters of all floating cities.”

Cheng Hai and Yu Yang exchanged a shocked look.

The lower waters of the floating city are aquaculture areas and drinking water purification zones; if contaminated...

"Are they insane?" Cheng Hai hissed. "This will kill tens of thousands of ordinary people!"

“Morley believed this was a necessary sacrifice,” Kobayashi said with a wry smile. “He said at the meeting, ‘An opportunity to purify the bloodline of terrestrial humans.’”

Yu Yang's fist slammed against the metal wall with a dull thud: "We have to stop the launch. Is the evidence ready?"

Kobayashi nodded and took out a data chip: "Your father's research log, records of human experiments on oceanic organisms, and... this."

He played a recording, Morrie's voice clearly coming through: "Make sure the bombs launch before sunrise. The doves in Parliament are starting to waver. If they know the ocean creatures have already..."

Another voice interrupted him—OceanBio CEO Davidson: “Relax, Speaker. Once the bomb explodes and the new human race is wiped out, nobody will care about the origin of the technology. We will be the heroes who save humanity.”

Recording has ended.

Cheng Hai whistled silently: "The evidence is irrefutable. The question is, who will believe us?"

“The people from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health,” Kobayashi said definitively, “they’ve already become suspicious of Mori. And come with me.”

They quietly slipped through the maintenance tunnel and arrived at a secluded observation platform.

Hundreds of ordinary citizens unexpectedly gathered in the square below.

Some people held up crudely made signs that read: "Stop Hate," "Coexistence is Not a Sin," and even "Dr. Yu Yang is Right."

“Ever since your last speech in parliament, some people have started to question the official narrative,” Kobayashi explained. “Karl’s attack has actually made more people believe that not all Newtypes are monsters. Especially those whose family members are missing.”

Yu Yang took a deep breath.

The slits of his gills trembled slightly in the air, a reminder of the dual identity he bore.

Now, he is not only a scientist and a soldier, but also the only bridge between the two worlds.

“Here’s the plan,” he quickly instructed. “Xiao Lin, you’re in charge of contacting the members of parliament from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health to make sure they assemble in the parliamentary hall. Cheng Hai and I will go to the central platform and try to delay or disrupt the launch procedure. Twenty minutes before sunrise, play that recording.”

"It's too dangerous!" Kobayashi objected. "The central platform is a heavily guarded core area!"

Cheng Hai stretched his mutated left arm, the claws gleaming coldly under the light: "Just what I wanted. It's time to test this thing's combat capabilities."

There are still five hours and seventeen minutes until sunrise.