“Cough, cough… Tell me… Do you think we can make it out of here alive?”
“Shut up. Of course we can.”
“Speaking of which, are the benefits in the Provincial Capital really that good? I heard you guys get six insurances and two funds.”
“They even give out houses, cars, and wives. Want to transfer?”
“Now that sounds great!”
“Quiet. You can have anything you want in your dreams.”
In the pitch-black darkness where one could not see their own hand, the whispered conversation came to an abrupt halt.
Du Qiang, bound by iron chains, frowned slightly and shifted his body.
After being in the Dead Realm for several days, he still could not quite adapt to this body.
The reason was simple.
This body belonged to a woman.
The name was unknown, the age was unclear, but she was… unusually well-endowed.
However, having a female identity in the Dead Realm was not actually the most serious problem.
What was more serious was that as soon as he regained consciousness, he was captured by several soldiers armed with live ammunition.
Then, without another word, they threw him in here — a place that was, for the time being, a prison cell.
Locked up with her was a middle-aged man.
After a brief exchange and the necessary testing, Du Qiang’s heart sank even further.
Because the middle-aged man locked up with her was the 103rd Division Political Commissar, Lu Sanshan.
Furthermore, the consciousness currently dominating Lu Sanshan’s body was actually Gao Yuan, who had been sent from the Provincial Capital to provide support as the captain of the Second Search and Rescue Team.
How were they supposed to play this hand?!
If everything went as expected, the Lu Sanshan identity card should have been the most valuable one among everyone who entered.
But this Ace card had been banned right at the start.
“Wait, Captain Gao, you were caught a day later than me. What is the situation outside?”
Du Qiang asked in a low voice.
The iron chains emitted a faint clink-clank with the slight movement of his body.
Hearing this, Gao Yuan remained silent for a moment, as if organizing his words or perhaps simply feeling frustrated.
Then, a nearly inaudible sigh, heavy with exhaustion and helplessness, rang out in the darkness.
“I originally intended to go directly to Su Xiji to gather information face-to-face.”
His voice came through Lu Sanshan’s middle-aged throat, carrying a steadiness that did not originally belong to this body.
“As it turns out, as soon as I approached the command area, I was stopped by guards. They said I had no authorization and was not allowed to enter.”
Gao Yuan’s voice paused, seemingly still lingering on the bewilderment and frustration of that moment.
“I was confused. I thought to myself, ‘With my current identity as the 103rd Division Political Commissar, even if I’m not the chief military officer, where in this core division area can’t I go? Why would I need extra authorization?’ I felt something was wrong and tried to force my way in to see what Su Xiji was up to. But then…”
He gave a bitter smile, though no one could see it in the dark.
“But then, those guards at the entrance were terrifyingly agile. They coordinated perfectly and pinned me down without a word.”
“I didn’t even see Su Xiji’s face. In less than ten minutes, the entire camp suddenly sounded the highest-level alarm. I was brought along to this underground fortification. No matter how I questioned those guards, they wouldn’t speak. They just locked me in here.”
“That… is the gist of it.”
Gao Yuan’s tone was full of powerlessness.
“So, as for the specific situation outside or how far the battlefield has deteriorated, to be honest, I don’t know much more than you do.”
“But judging by the haste of the emergency evacuation, things are definitely looking grim.”
“This is going to be difficult…”
Du Qiang’s voice came from the other side, carrying the clear tone characteristic of a female voice, but his tone was exceptionally heavy and filled with worry.
“We’ve figured out some of the Dead Realm’s rules. Since it’s constructed based on Su Xiji’s core memories and obsessions, the identities assigned to those who enter are likely closely related to him, or at least people who left a deep impression on him.”
“According to this logic, it’s absolutely impossible that we are the only two people replaced in this frontline headquarters.”
At this point, Du Qiang paused and voiced the doubt in his heart.
“But why is it that up until now, besides the two of us… brothers in misery? Or sisters in misery? Whatever… Besides us, why hasn’t anyone else made a move? There have been no attempts to contact us, nor any signs of action. This is illogical, unless…”
Hearing this, Gao Yuan also fell into a deeper silence.
In the darkness, there was only the sound of their suppressed breathing and the occasional light scraping of iron chains against the floor.
After a long while, Gao Yuan finally spoke, his voice sounding a bit strange.
“Old Du…”
“Hmm?”
“Can you… put some strength into your voice? Don’t be like this…”
Gao Yuan’s tone carried a hint of indescribable awkwardness.
Hearing this, Du Qiang raised an eyebrow on the other side and asked in confusion, “Like what? What do you mean?”
Gao Yuan seemed to hesitate for a moment before whispering awkwardly, “Your voice right now… it’s a far cry from your old raspy voice. Now it’s… soft, and it sounds a bit like… well, like you’re flirting, and it’s making my skin crawl.”
Du Qiang’s expression instantly froze.
This was followed by an impatient, forceful rattling of iron chains and an irritated response.
“Gao Yuan, Captain Gao? Do you have anything productive to say?!”
“I know, I know…” Gao Yuan hurriedly pleaded for mercy, his voice tinged with a smile before turning somber again.
“Cough, let’s get back to business.”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, too. Something isn’t right.”
“Old Du, do you think… there’s a possibility that very few of our people from the outside actually made it in?”
Du Qiang fell quiet, signaling for him to continue.
Gao Yuan’s voice sounded exceptionally clear in the enclosed space.
“I’m saying that the conditions for entering the Dead Realm might be even more stringent than we initially anticipated.”
“Maybe… only a tiny handful of people met the criteria to enter the Dead Realm, and the two of us just happened to fit those conditions.”
He concluded, “Most of the other brothers… might have been shut out. They’re probably outside worrying or trying other methods. That’s why there hasn’t been any movement in the headquarters yet. What do you think?”
Hearing this, Du Qiang considered it for a moment.
After a while, the faint sound of fabric rubbing against fabric came from the darkness as he nodded.
“Hmm, that makes sense.”
“That would explain why we haven’t heard from our other teammates yet. If this hypothesis holds…”
At this point, Du Qiang’s tone suddenly shifted, becoming urgent and practical.
“If it really is just the two of us who made it in, then the situation is even more critical!”
“Being locked up here does nothing; it’s no different from waiting for death. We must find a way to escape as soon as possible, then find and ideally control Su Xiji to figure out the core issue of this Dead Realm!”
“Mm.”
Gao Yuan responded, then lowered his voice with a sense of grim determination.
“Actually… ever since I was locked in, I’ve been observing. I have an unrefined idea…”
“Let’s hear it.”
Du Qiang immediately chimed in, very interested in his unrefined idea.
Gao Yuan appeared steady, but for someone to reach the position of an action team captain in the Provincial Capital, he definitely had more tricks up his sleeve than Du Qiang did during critical moments.
In the darkness, the iron chains once again made a crisp clinking sound as one of them adjusted their posture, moving closer to the bars of the cage.
Immediately following that, the two voices — one male and one female, both kept extremely low — began a true whisper concerning life, death, and the mission.
The speed of their speech varied, occasionally interspersed with brief questions and even lower-pitched explanations.
In the valley.
Lin Mo, exploring in the dark, had roughly arrived at the location where the light had appeared earlier.
The weeds here were twisted and bent in every direction.
At first glance, it looked like they had been blown over by the wind, but if one observed closely enough, they could see that the direction in which these weeds had fallen was actually quite wrong.
Furthermore, the slight bruising on the stems indicated that this was clearly caused by human activity — these twisted weeds had been trampled.
It was just that this person was overly cautious and must have undergone rigorous reconnaissance training, which allowed these traces to be so well hidden.
If not for Lin Mo’s peripheral vision catching that fleeting light, even if he had stumbled here by mistake, he probably wouldn’t have observed these weeds too closely.
Now that he had found traces of human activity, the next course of action was simple and clear — track them down and find out the other party’s identity and purpose.
Lin Mo crouched low, pressing his body almost against the ground, his sharp gaze sweeping over the unnaturally flattened weeds.
Although the path was hidden, under deliberate observation, he could still discern a broken trail pointing deeper into the valley.
He took a deep breath and suppressed his aura to the limit.