Chapter 16: The Mothership

Seeing Chu Cheng's silence, Chen Meiyue couldn't help but laugh. "Ha, don't burden yourself with unnecessary worries. The technology for memory erasure is already quite advanced. We can precisely eliminate relevant memories based on key words, and in general, it won't mistakenly delete other necessary memories."

Chu Cheng noticed the qualifier "in general" and instinctively sensed something was amiss.

"What about non-general situations?"

"Well, nothing in this world is absolute. Even with advanced technology, there can be occasional mishaps," Chen Meiyue tried to recall. "I remember witnessing an unexpected incident once. It seemed that a male student who underwent memory erasure forgot he was male and developed a gender identity disorder."

Chu Cheng: ...

"But don't worry, it's not a major issue," Chen Meiyue reassured him. "Firstly, the likelihood of such an occurrence is very small, and most surgeries are successful. Moreover, there's nothing wrong with considering oneself a girl. Nowadays, boys who can dress up are even cuter than girls."

Damn, it's not a big deal. Chu Cheng's face darkened.

Fortunately, he had already decided to join them, so he would leave the risk of cross-dressing to others who were destined for it.

"So," Chu Cheng surveyed the people in the car, "you're all anomalies?"

"Yes," Chen Meiyue nodded.

"And do all of you have abilities?"

"Haha, it's not that easy," Chen Meiyue responded. "Anomalies' minds are not affected, and they cannot infect others in any way. However, in contrast, the average infection rate among anomalies is much lower compared to regular infectees. Anomalies with an infection rate above 90% are extremely rare. My infection rate is around 52%, Xiaotang's is 30%, and Pingping..."

She hesitated for a moment, then glanced awkwardly at the young driver who was focused on the road.

"27%," the young driver succinctly answered.

"Ah, right, 27%. I remember now," Chen Meiyue added.

This made Chu Cheng realize that he wasn't the only one who thought the driver guy was inconspicuous.

"Among us, the highest is Detective Luo. He's at 87%," Chen Meiyue introduced, stealing a glance at the bald man sitting in front. Luo Yajun continued humming a tune, seemingly oblivious.

Throughout the journey, he seemed to be humming the same melody repeatedly. Chu Cheng hadn't heard that melody before, but he felt like it was an old song.

"This coefficient reflects the depth of our susceptibility to influence, and the higher the coefficient, the more pronounced our unique characteristics tend to be. So, generally speaking, the higher the coefficient, the more outstanding the abilities."

"Of course, this only refers to the hardware aspect. Combat abilities are comprehensive, involving fighting techniques, combat skills, weapon utilization, combat awareness, and strategic thinking, which all determine the outcome."

"So, as long as one is well-trained, even supernaturals with lower infection coefficients can defeat infected individuals with higher coefficients."

Chu Cheng nodded, indicating his understanding. It was just like the common trope of challenging higher-level monsters in novels.

He simplified the trope of challenging higher-level opponents from old novels, making it feel like a first-grade student challenging a second-grade student.

There's an insurmountable gap between second grade and first grade, mainly because second graders have already mastered multiplication and division while first graders can only count on their fingers. However, although the protagonist is only in first grade, they are an exceptional student, with mental calculation abilities far surpassing their peers, capable of instantly using numbers up to fifteen in battle.

Moreover, when the protagonist really can't win, they usually have a super-powered calculator as a backup. However, they rarely use it unless absolutely necessary, as it is too astonishingly remarkable. Once it is revealed, they must show off in front of all the elementary school students.

The car quickly came to a stop, and ahead was an unassuming two-story building, concealed by lush vegetation. Chu Cheng followed the group out of the car and walked through the entrance.

"You seem a bit disappointed," Chen Meiyue observed with interest as she scrutinized Chu Cheng. "Do you think our office building should be more grand?"

Chu Cheng didn't say anything, but he did think so deep down.

After hyping up their organization so much in their conversation, it sounded like they were the ultimate defense line for maintaining peace. However, this two-story building didn't even look as impressive as a village committee.

Chen Meiyue smiled and didn't explain further.

The group entered the building. Next to the entrance was a duty room where an old man sat with his legs crossed, blowing a fan and reading a newspaper. He lazily lifted his eyelids when he noticed the arrival of the group, but quickly resumed burying his head in the newspaper.

They walked through a long corridor and, surprisingly, there was an elevator at the end. Chu Cheng followed the three people into the elevator and noticed that there were only two buttons: 1 and 2.

However, Chen Meiyue seemed to press a hidden mechanism, and soon the seemingly old metal panel automatically split open, revealing a delicate nine-grid combination lock. Her fingers flew across the keypad as she entered a sequence of numbers. Without pressing a specific floor button, the elevator started moving on its own.

Chu Cheng felt the elevator descending, heading towards the underground.

Chu Cheng felt like he had figured it out. It was a common trope in movies and TV shows for powerful organizations to conceal their true headquarters in inconspicuous buildings, like the tailor shop in the movie "Kingsman: The Secret Service." Their real base was often hidden deep underground.

Just as he felt he had uncovered the truth, he sensed the elevator stop its downward motion.

Then, unexpectedly, it began moving forward.

Suddenly, Chu Cheng felt a bit confused upon perceiving the direction the elevator was moving.

Wait a minute, is this thing really an elevator? Can it move forward underground?

As the elevator doors opened along the tracks, Chu Cheng suddenly felt like the scene had completely changed.

In front of him was a metallic corridor, with alloy walls reflecting a pale metal sheen, and LED-like light strips extending along the corridor.

The more he looked, the more it reminded him of the underground sci-fi bases in science fiction movies.

The automatic doors slid open before the group, revealing a room that was even more futuristic and filled with a sense of sci-fi. Floating screens reminiscent of future technology hovered in mid-air, and men and women in uniforms moved busily in the space.

The scene suddenly matched perfectly.

"Is this your underground base?" Chu Cheng asked, turning his head.

Chen Meiyue smiled mysteriously. "Not entirely."

...

A few minutes later.

The calm lake surface rippled with waves, and the birds on the shore spread their wings and flew away.

Suddenly, the lake surface rose up like a mountain, and tens of thousands of tons of water crashed back down, as if a black whale had breached the water.

It was a steel and iron behemoth, resembling an aircraft carrier in its design.

However, in the general sense, just as there are no cherries in cherry tomatoes and no wives in wife cakes, an aircraft carrier doesn't fly. But this one was an exception.

The six turbine engines' fan blades turned into blurs at an invisible speed, evaporating tons of water into steam. The unseen propulsion flames lifted the colossal giant into the air, obscuring the sky like an iron cloud.

Chu Cheng stood in a room within this massive entity, watching tons of water cascade down the porthole, causing a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"How is it?" Chen Meiyue looked somewhat smug. "This is our mobile fortress, one of the only five airborne carriers in the world."

Chu Cheng: ...

Wait, is your carrier related to the one from the Marvel movies, the floating ship of S.H.I.E.L.D. with that Blad headed guy?

He couldn't help but have certain negative associations with this kind of "fans-turned-airborne" carrier. Even Maria Hill, the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the original works, made fun of it. These things seemed to fall out of the sky three times a week.

Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely their fault. According to various movies and TV fantasies (incomplete statistics), the only fate of these flying bricks seemed to be crashing. It was like an inescapable curse that came with the territory of flying through the Skies.

Perhaps due to the repetition of such plotlines, Chu Cheng had developed a strong dislike for these flashy airborne contraptions. In his eyes, the sci-fi behemoth beneath his feet had already transformed into a flying tombstone, and it wouldn't be surprising if it came crashing down one day.