Chapter 102: Infiltration — Lin Chen Goes Undercover in Erebus

The moment Lin Chen stepped into the wind-swept desolation outside the safehouse, the world felt different.

He was no longer just a survivor. No longer just a host to a mysterious system. With the fusion partially complete and Li Chu recovering, the rules of the game had changed. He now carried something more dangerous than power—a purpose.

The system's voice resonated faintly in his mind.

[Mainline Subtask Activated: Operation Serpent's Tongue — Infiltrate Erebus Outer Division][Objective: Disguise identity. Establish trust. Extract central database node key.]

Beneath his reinforced combat gear, he wore a layer of thermal camouflage laced with biochemical decoys — a gift from the Strategic Brain Module unlocked days ago. Everything from his vitals to his scent had been altered. Lin Chen no longer existed in the world's bio-database. The man who walked the ash-swept ruins of Eastern Europe's no-man's land now carried a new name: "Riven", a rogue S-Class host seeking sanctuary after a supposed rebellion against the Pan-Asian Confederation.

And Erebus was buying the lie — at least, for now.

He arrived at the Kernstadt Outpost, one of Erebus's known peripheral settlements, tucked between gutted skyscrapers and rusted power lines humming with residual quantum radiation. The guards didn't recognize him, but they scanned the forged ID chip without protest. A flicker of blue light confirmed its acceptance.

"Another one who's had enough of the world, huh?" one of the masked guards muttered. "They'll eat you alive inside if you're not ready."

"I've already been eaten," Lin Chen replied coldly.

He passed through the checkpoint with his hood low and his gaze lower. The outer district pulsed with a muted chaos—part military barracks, part biotech laboratory, part experimental gulag. Malnourished test subjects huddled inside glass chambers, some twitching with unnatural spasms. Overseers—augmented hybrids—paced along narrow corridors, some humanoid, others barely so.

The deeper he walked, the more he saw how far Erebus had fallen into moral decay. What had once been a rogue research syndicate was now something far more sinister: a cult of evolution.

Inside the processing wing, Lin Chen waited for initiation.

His internal HUD blinked softly in his left eye:

[Connection established: Observation drone deployed][Mission Directive: Make contact with Beta-class handler "Dr. Nyx". Extract test subject itinerary.]

He didn't have to wait long. A tall woman with jet-black hair tied into a clinical knot approached him. Her white coat was pristine, but her eyes—augmented with gold irises—held an eerie detachment.

"Riven," she said, skimming a tablet. "S-Class volatility. Borderline psychotic traits. Claims immunity to Category-3 neural disruption. Why haven't we heard of you before?"

Lin Chen met her gaze without blinking. "Because the ones who knew me are dead."

She narrowed her eyes. "Convenient."

He said nothing. The silence stretched just long enough to feel like a challenge before she nodded. "Fine. Come. Let's test your loyalty."

What followed was less a test and more an initiation ritual.

Lin Chen was brought into a chamber filled with sedated sub-hosts — failed experiments, barely conscious. A mechanical voice boomed from the ceiling.

"Eliminate three. Select one to extract. Efficiency, not empathy."

His gut turned.

This was Erebus's way of testing control — not power.

He hesitated only long enough to calculate angles. Then, with three surgically precise blows, he ended the lives of three motionless sub-hosts. Mercy, if anything. For the fourth, he mimicked dispassion, dragging the body to the extractor station. But inwardly, he marked the coordinates, burned every detail into memory.

"Protocol override: empathy compression engaged."[SYSTEM]: Temporary emotional dampener active. You may continue mission integrity.

That was the first time Lin Chen realized the system was now shielding him from himself.

Later that night, Dr. Nyx led him to a surveillance hub nestled beneath a false clinic. Dozens of monitors displayed live feeds from Erebus's global outposts.

"See this?" she said, tapping a screen that showed a heavily sedated girl—eyes hollow, body hooked to tubes.

Lin Chen's breath caught.

It was the β-type mutant girl he had saved two missions ago. They had recaptured her?

"She's an anomaly," Nyx said. "Self-adaptive genome. Non-replicable. But it's odd… she keeps whispering a name. 'Chen.' You wouldn't know why, would you?"

He clenched his jaw. "No."

Nyx looked at him longer than necessary. "You'll be on the next transport to Deep Tier-2. We're running a new trial. Something called... the Convergence Nexus."

[WARNING: High-risk event detected — full neural lockdown advised]

[SYSTEM]: This is the opportunity. Central data spine resides beneath Deep Tier-2. Prepare extraction node.

That night, Lin Chen accessed the outer system through an unused terminal using his own embedded code. He didn't dare try full system override — not here — but he was able to skim the high-level architecture.

A few pieces clicked into place:

Erebus was attempting to link all host minds into a shared collective consciousness.

The fusion plan was meant to transcend individuality and force evolution at the cost of identity.

And Li Chu… she was one half of the equation.

Lin Chen exhaled slowly. The danger wasn't just biological or technological — it was existential. They weren't trying to control power.

They were trying to erase humanity itself.

On the fourth night, he received a message. Not digital. Not systemic.

A note, slipped under the steel door of his quarters. Written in ink.

"I know who you are. You shouldn't be here. But if you're here, meet me in Cold Cell Block 7 at 3:00."

It was unsigned.

And it reeked of a trap.

But he had to go.

He found the cellblock empty except for one dim chamber, the door left slightly ajar. Inside, a figure stood in the shadows — half in a lab coat, half in shredded armor.

The man turned.

Lin Chen froze.

It was his former mentor. The one who had "died" in a facility explosion years ago. The man who had first introduced him to genetic theory. The man who had once called him "the brightest variable."

"I wondered if it would be you," the man said. "They told me I was mad for choosing you as a test subject. But you proved them wrong. Now you're here. On your own."

"You're part of this?" Lin Chen demanded. "You built Erebus?"

The man smiled.

"Not built. Forged. You're the fire we tempered the sword in, Lin Chen."

[SYSTEM ALERT: Identity match. Subject Alpha-01: Dr. Mu Feng — Systems Architect, Genetic Core Division][Mainline Quest Updated: Confront the Creator — Mu Feng Identified]

The next phase had just begun.

And Lin Chen had walked into the lion's den wearing the lion's skin.