The night arrives as scheduled, and the lit street lamps point the way for those returning home. At this time, the research institute was empty, leaving only Bai Ying, who was sorting out the materials, and Meng Qingqiang, who was sitting with her.

After carefully sorting out and preserving today's research records, Bai Ying stretched her waist, although she has been a mother for many years, her figure is still not out of shape, and the charm of a mature woman makes her even more beautiful. She lowered her hands and turned her head, just as she saw her husband sitting on the operating bed behind her, smiling at her, his eyes full of familiar tenderness. She smiled in return, then stood up, poured two cups of coffee to the side, walked over to Meng Qingqiang and sat down, and handed him a cup.

Looking at his wife who was leaning on him, Meng Qingqiang didn't speak, but just gently grabbed her shoulders, and there was silence in the institute at this time, and the husband and wife enjoyed this rare warmth.

After a long time, Bai Ying said softly: "Honey, do you have something on your mind?" ”

Meng Qingqiang put down the coffee in his hand and lit a cigarette.

"Yes."

"Don't take anything to heart, there is no one else now, you can talk to me, okay?"

Meng Qingqiang was not surprised by his wife's notice, he was silent for a while, and said slowly: "Since the beginning of winter, I have inexplicably felt a kind of crisis, and now as the weather warms, this sense of crisis is getting more and more serious. ”

"Isn't it worrying that when the weather gets warmer, the mutant will become active? Now that we've all got a totem tattoo, don't worry about it anymore. ”

"No, it's not for this reason, I've never been worried about those ordinary monsters outside, there will be no problem with you and the child with me, but the kind of crisis I'm talking about is different, how to say it, I don't know the source of the sense of crisis, but I can affirm its existence." Meng Qingqiang replied with a frown.

"Actually, Old Chen, they are all vaguely aware of it, although you are still smiling, but your plan is too anxious, whether it is the construction of the village, the expansion of the army, or the strengthening of the people in the village, they can feel your urgency without saying anything, and is all this because of your sense of crisis?"

"Well, yes, something must happen, and I'm sure it's definitely not going to be a good thing, so I'm seizing every second to save money for you, your children, and everyone around us. When things do change, we can take it easy. ”

"Don't push yourself too much, you're not really a god like Tie Feng said, don't worry, we're not trapped in a small hardware store anymore." Bai Ying looked at her husband's frowning brows and comforted her distressedly.

Listening to Bai Ying's words, Meng Qingqiang wiped the worry from his face, nodded with a smile, and then the two held hands and returned to their home, where their son Meng Le had already slept. Looking at his resolute little face, the couple let go of their worries and hugged each other and fell asleep.

With the completion of the tattoo of the whole clan, the Institute began the second part of the work, the reinforcement of specific personnel. These elected clansmen are all physically strong, strong-willed, most of them are members of the armed forces, have experienced countless fights in the last days, and are the most elite warriors in the village, and it is they who can increase the area of the totem in order to obtain power beyond the limits of human beings. But at the same time, there will be huge risks.

According to the research and analysis, the level of reinforcement was determined, the first level is only under the ear pattern, known as one pattern, then the wrist, ankle, spine, and chest, the level is two to five lines (one for each hand and foot), and the strongest warriors of the Mon tribe can only withstand the spine, and the chest is only theoretical. And even so, not all of these selected people can reach four lines, most of them are only two or three lines, of course, this is also linked to their own wishes, such as Huang Guangming, who was born in special forces, his physical strength is second to none in the village, but he chose to only get three lines, which Meng Qingqiang didn't mind.

Wang Yan calmly came to the gate of the research institute, the ordinary statues of black hands on both sides of the door generally did not react, but this was just a special order for Meng Qingqiang, if other people thought that these guards were really statues, what was waiting for them would be blood and death.

Standing in front of the door, Wang Yan looked at the black hand beside him and suddenly smiled. "If something goes wrong, maybe I'll be like these guys, and that's fine." She whispered and rang the doorbell on the door. The camera on the door turned to her with her movements, and soon, a researcher walked out and led Wang Yan into the institute.

Meng Qingqiang and the others were already waiting inside, but to Wang Yan's surprise, at this time, a shirtless man was sitting on the operating bed among the various instruments in the room. "Stone, you're so late!" Liu Tiefeng, who was sitting on the bed and communicating with Zhang Tiansheng, saw Wang Yan walk in and said with a bright smile.

Wang Yan was stunned, she remembered that today was the last day of strengthening and the strongest one, and it seemed that there was no Liu Tiefeng who chose to strengthen the four patterns. Looking at the man in front of him, with white teeth, strong muscles, and a sunny smile, people couldn't help but feel kind, just like his younger brother, Wang Yan couldn't help but think of it, and Liu Tiefeng's thoughts she instantly understood. But it's a pity, when I see him, I always think of my brother.

"Your words, I thought about it and thought it made sense, so I found Brother Meng and begged him to let me also participate in the strengthening of the four patterns, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you, stone, I'll start first." After speaking, he slowly lay down on the operating bed. Everyone else looked at Meng Qingqiang behind him, only to see him nod slightly.

The sharp probe, quickly piercing the epidermis, injecting black liquid, under the scanning of the instrument, these countless extremely fine black threads popped out from under the black pattern, slowly piercing into the dermis and muscles, bringing pain several times stronger than normal tattoos, Liu Tiefeng was still talking and laughing, but beads of sweat were already covering his forehead.

The totem on his hands, feet, and spine slowly took shape, and the sweat on his body also wet the operating bed under him, Liu Tiefeng was completely unable to make a sound at this time, in order to make the recipient resist the invasion of the totem with his own will, he would not inject anesthetic during the whole process. The first and second lines are better, but it is difficult for ordinary people above the third level to endure it. Soon all the patterns except for the chest had been completed, and Liu Tiefeng also fell into a semi-comatose state. Normally, this means that the immune system has reached a certain balance with the invading virus, and then the virus will fuse with the receptor and begin to strengthen the real flesh.

Suddenly, the alarm sounded, and several surveillance receptors flashed a dazzling red light at the same time, and Liu Tiefeng's whole body suddenly tensed and twisted into a bow. Numerous thick blood vessels appeared on his skin, and he awoke from his semi-coma, howling in pain, as several researchers quickly stepped forward to hold him down.

The other researchers lunged into the surrounding instruments, shouting incessantly.

"The body temperature continues to rise, and the cordon has been broken!"

"The body's hormone indicators soared, the immune system collapsed, and the totemic activity increased."

"The receptor's heartbeat is fast, the peak EEG fluctuations exceed the threshold, and he is losing consciousness."

Zhang Tiansheng, who was standing in front of the instrument, said nervously: "It's too reluctant, Tie Feng's body and will are not ready to bear the four lines, and the transformation of the black hand has begun!" ”

"Inject 800 units of reserved blood, preheat the extracorporeal radiation inhibition respirator preparation, ten seconds after blood injection, radiation inhibition begins, and the transformation process is interrupted within thirty seconds!" Bai Ying on the side also commanded loudly.

For a while, the whole room was boiling. Liu Tielan on the side was already red-eyed, she grabbed the corners of her clothes tightly with both hands, and asked Yang Lili, who was tidying up the respirator on the side, with a trembling voice: "How can this be, my brother he, he, what will happen?" ”

Yang Lili, who also had red eyes, replied quickly and in a low voice: "If you can't interrupt the transformation within thirty seconds, Brother Liu's immune system will collapse, and the virus will. . . Kill him and turn him into a member of the Black Hand. ”

"No, brother" Hearing Yang Lili's words, Liu Tielan couldn't bear it anymore, shouted and threw herself into the twisted body on the operating bed, Wang Yan on the side grabbed the crying Liu Tielan, although the same tears were rolling in her eyes, but she still calmly stopped Liu Tielan's movements to prevent hindering the actions of others.

A large amount of blood was injected into the body with its own immune cells to stimulate its own immune system, and it started a life-and-death struggle against the invading virus, but it was soon defeated, and the instrument showed that Liu Tiefeng's immune system was still slowly collapsing, and the radiation suppression respirator had been turned on to the maximum, but Meng Qingqiang's blood was still too domineering, and the transformation process was still in progress.

Liu Tiefeng's body is no longer distorted, his sense of pain has almost been lost, and his consciousness is a little clearer, but the people around him understand that when he loses consciousness again, he may no longer be him, and as for whether he can leave his sanity behind, he can only resign himself to fate.

He looked at his crying sister, the corners of his mouth wanted to smile, but he still couldn't laugh, he knew his current situation. For this reinforcement, he had already prepared for the worst, but he didn't expect that when he really faced death, his heart was still full of fear and reluctance, he slowly turned his eyes to look at Wang Yan beside his sister, she cried, can the stone cry too? Hehe, it's good, she cried for herself, it seems that she is not useless and has no status in her heart.

The people around them felt sad, Liu Tielan and Yang Lili had already cried into tears, although Wang Yan didn't make a sound, the tears kept flowing, people had done their best, but there was no way to stop the transformation, they could only stop what they were doing and fell silent, and the rest of the surrounding equipment still made a piercing alarm sound.

Looking at the sister who was crying in front of him, and his brother who was nostalgic for the world, Meng Qingqiang seemed to have returned to the day when Yang Bin left, that day he burned him to ashes with his own hands, and today he will never let the tragedy happen again. In the midst of a cry and alarm, Meng Qingqiang, who had been silent, walked to the bed.

He could feel that the blood in Liu Tiefeng's body, the viruses in the cells, these hateful things, were frantically carnivaling, they kept eroding the flesh and blood, pulling this young life into hell. He grabbed Liu Tiefeng's hand and said to him, "Tiefeng, can you still hear me?" ”

"Well, Brother Meng, thank you for your care and protection, I will protect you in the future. If I can't wake up, my sister, I'll have to take care of you. Chapped lips said slowly.

"Didn't you say I was God? Can you trust me? ”

Hearing Meng Qingqiang's words, a flash of light gradually lit up in his cloudy eyes: "I believe in you!" "Okay, let go of your will, and trust me with all your heart."

As soon as the words fell, a big hand waved down violently, and the five fingers in the shape of claws instantly pierced Liu Tiefeng's chest, and an exclamation sounded around him.