The Debtor System: Starting with a debt of 1 billion

Chapter 43 Silent Undercurrents

The sound of the porcelain plate shattering was particularly jarring in the cramped kitchen.

The grouper that had just been caught was thrashing its tail painfully on the ground, its silvery-white scales reflecting a cold light through the gaps in the deck.

But Suya couldn't hear any of this.

In her world, only that suffocating scream remained.

A single drop of water dripping from the stainless steel faucet in the cleaning pool was amplified infinitely in her ears, distorted into the hissing sound of high-pressure steam jets; the cries of seagulls in the distance were stretched and transformed into cold, synthesized electronic sounds; even her own rapid heartbeat overlapped with the despairing, rhythmic countdown in the laboratory—"drip, drip, drip."

"Warning... Sequence activation... Instruction overload..."

The sounds didn't come from the outside world; they exploded directly deep within her auditory nerves, like a red-hot steel needle precisely piercing the back door of her cerebral cortex that had been implanted with "Phoenix".

Her pupils suddenly contracted, and her originally clear brown eyes were instantly covered with a deathly gray-white.

"Simple and elegant?"

Lin Mo's voice seemed to come from another time and space, blurry and distant. She saw his mouth move, saw him drop his tools and rush towards her, but those actions were like slow motion.

Her body reacted before her consciousness could.

That was the instinct of the "perfect weapon" etched into her very bones. Suya suddenly took a step back, her right foot precisely kicking the fish knife that had rolled to the ground. The blade flashed through the air, landing steadily in her left hand, and then, without hesitation, she stabbed towards Lin Mo's throat—it was the 137th close-combat technique in the "Phoenix" training manual.

Lin Mo's pupils contracted, and his body instinctively turned to the side to avoid the blade, while his left hand gripped Su Ya's wrist like an iron clamp.

"It's me! Lin Mo!"

His voice was low and rapid, tinged with a hint of surprise and anger.

Suya's wrist was gripped tightly, the tip of the knife only millimeters from his carotid artery. Her eyes darted about in that instant, a violent struggle, as if two souls were tearing at her body. On one side was the killing program awakened by infrasound, on the other, the fragile humanity that had just been established.

"Brother..." she managed a broken gasp, biting her lip so hard it bled, "Kill me...quickly..."

The voice was no longer a clear, girlish voice, but a hoarse one mixed with static.

Lin Mo didn't let go; instead, he pulled her even closer. He could feel Su Ya's muscles trembling—an extreme, suppressed violence seeking an outlet. He knew that if he let go now, she would completely lose control; if he killed her now, he would have lost.

"Listen," Lin Mo pressed his forehead against hers, forcing her to look into his eyes, "that's not an alarm, that's the sound of dripping water. That's the sound of waves. That's our home."

He released her wrists, but instead of stepping back, he opened his arms and hugged her tightly.

Suya's hand was still holding the knife, the tip of which hovered in mid-air, trembling incessantly.

"I'm here." Lin Mo's deep voice echoed in her ear, like a barrier that blocked out all infrasound interference from the outside world. "I'm here. This isn't a lab. This is the base. I'm Lin Mo. You're Su Ya."

The countdown, "beep, beep, beep," spun wildly in her mind, trying to drown out Lin Mo's heartbeat.

But Lin Mo held her so tightly that she could hardly breathe, so tightly that she could clearly feel the beating of his heart in his chest.

"Thump, thump, thump."

That was a real heartbeat.

Unlike the cold, mechanical beats in a laboratory, it was a chaotic, warm, human frequency.

Suya's trembling fingers slowly loosened.

With a clang, the fishing knife fell onto the deck.

She seemed to have all her strength drained away, collapsing into Lin Mo's arms, her tears finally bursting forth and soaking his shirt.

"I heard it... they're still watching me..." she choked, her voice trembling like a withered leaf in the wind.

Lin Mo picked up the fish knife from the ground and casually tossed it into the sea. He stared at the eerily calm surface of the sea in the distance, his eyes instantly becoming as sharp as a blade.

"They are still watching."

He picked up the limp Suya, strode into the cabin, and slammed the blast door shut.

"Acha!" Lin Mo growled into the communicator, his voice suppressing an impending storm. "Full-band scan! Find that signal source!"

Acha's voice quickly followed, tinged with fear: "Lin Mo, what are you talking about? I didn't detect anything..."

"It's not on the testing equipment." Lin Mo looked at Su Ya, who was lying on the sofa with her eyes still somewhat unfocused. "It's in her mind."

He looked down at Suya and gently wiped away the tears on her face.

The phoenix did not die completely.

They planted a seed deep within Suya's genes, in the depths of her auditory nerves. The seemingly accidental sounds of wind, water, and shattering plates were actually a meticulously calculated infrasound code.

It was a call from the deep sea, and an ultimatum from hell.

"Brother..." Suya grabbed his hand, her eyes filled with fear, "I'm scared... I'm scared I won't be able to control myself next time..."

There won't be a next time.

Lin Mo gripped her hand tightly, his gaze fixed on the dark, deep sea outside the window.

"Since they want to play Deep Sea Echoes," a cruel sneer curled at the corner of his lips, "then we'll turn this sea into their graveyard."

Beneath this silent undercurrent, the war has only just begun.