Under the pale glare of xenon lights, smoke coiled in the air.
Su Xiji stood with his back to the door in front of a massive battlefield sand table.
His long shadow stretched across the floor, making him look solitary and cold.
His fingers, holding a cigarette, tapped rhythmically against the edge of the table, producing a monotonous tap, tap sound.
“They rescued him?”
Su Xiji asked, puffing on his cigarette.
He didn’t seem concerned about Lu Sanshan’s escape.
His gaze remained fixed on the march route of the approaching Shi Bian Ti army.
Beside him, the young lieutenant from before nodded.
“Yes, Commander,” the young lieutenant replied, standing at attention.
His voice held a hint of frustration and confusion over the failed mission.
“The intruder was extremely skilled and acted decisively, using ventilation ducts and smoke grenades to escape. Our men are tracking the ducts, but the system is complex. It will take time.”
Su Xiji slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, his eyes still lingering on the dense, dark-red markers on the sand table.
“What about his identity? Is he a mole Lu Sanshan planted in headquarters, or… did he come from the outside?”
He paused briefly on the word “outside.”
Lieutenant Lei hesitated for a moment.
“The soldiers on the scene reported that the intruder wore tattered 103rd Division fatigues, but his face was unfamiliar. His fighting style… didn’t look like any of our standard training routines.”
Su Xiji remained silent for several seconds before waving his hand as if brushing away a speck of dust.
“Forget it. Increase the manpower and strengthen patrols and surveillance of all main corridors, vents, and warehouse areas. As for everything else, I have my own arrangements.”
His tone carried an air of absolute control.
It seemed that Lu Sanshan’s escape and the appearance of a mysterious rescuer had not disrupted his primary plans.
“Yes, sir!”
Lieutenant Lei took the order and then reported another, more urgent matter.
“Commander, the current movement of the tide is following our predicted simulation model. The vanguard’s scout clusters have already penetrated the designated coordinate zones. It is estimated that… they will all be in position by around 2:00 AM tomorrow.”
Upon hearing this, Su Xiji’s tapping finger stopped.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the miniature model of Binhai City on the sand table—the final large-scale gathering point for humanity.
A flicker of complex, unreadable light flashed in his eyes before settling back into a pool of deep, stagnant calm.
“I see…” his voice was low.
“Prepare according to the plan. Notify everyone. At 10:00 PM tonight, all officers at the company level and above are to report to Briefing Room 1 for the final phase of the tactical simulation. Improve the rations; make sure everyone eats well and is full.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lieutenant Lei snapped his spine even straighter, saluted, and turned to walk away quickly.
Silence returned to the command room, broken only by the low hum of the ventilation system and the faint crackle of the burning cigarette between Su Xiji’s fingers.
He stood alone before the sand table like a solitary chess player, staring at the impending endgame on the board.
Deep inside the ventilation ducts.
It was dark, narrow, and filled with the smell of metal and dust.
Lin Mo led the way, with Gao Yuan in the middle and Du Qiang bringing up the rear.
The three of them crawled with difficulty through the intricate network of pipes.
The ducts were not always level; there were steep inclines, sharp turns, and low-clearance maintenance sections where they had to crawl through spaces barely half a person high.
The faint sound of air circulation was the only continuous background noise.
Occasionally, they could hear muffled voices and footsteps from the cave tunnels far below, reminding them that the pursuit had not stopped.
After crawling for about thirty minutes, they reached a relatively wide junction of pipes.
Lin Mo signaled for them to stop.
He listened intently for a moment and then pointed toward a grate below.
“There’s a space down there. It should be empty—likely a warehouse or equipment room. Let’s go down to rest and regroup.”
Gao Yuan and Du Qiang nodded in agreement.
Even with their iron wills, the continuous high-intensity tension and the escape had left them exhausted.
Lin Mo carefully pried open the seemingly secure grate and peeked down.
Below was a medium-sized chamber filled with dusty wooden crates, metal spare-part racks, and discarded mechanical equipment.
A few emergency lights glowed in the corners, providing dim illumination.
After confirming it was safe, the three of them slid down silently one by one, landing on the stacked crates without making a sound.
The chamber was dry and warm, and the air circulation was good.
The mechanical hum came from several large air filtration units in the corner.
This was clearly an auxiliary chamber used as a storage warehouse.
Its remote location made it temporarily safe.
Leaning against the relatively clean crates, the three finally had a chance to catch their breath and look at one another.
Lin Mo looked at Lu Sanshan’s stern, middle-aged face and Wang Yun’s sharp, frowning female face.
A sense of absurdity and heaviness washed over him.
“I didn’t expect us to regroup like this,” Lin Mo said, keeping his voice very low.
“Captain Gao, Old Du.”
He nodded to each of them as a formal acknowledgment.
Gao Yuan gave a bitter smile and rubbed his temples.
The gesture looked out of place on Lu Sanshan’s face.
‘I didn’t expect it either… to become a prisoner immediately upon entering, and with such a high-profile identity at that. But, cough, Du has it worse.’
He glanced at Du Qiang.
Du Qiang snorted in annoyance.
He instinctively reached for a cigarette but found nothing.
He then remembered his current body’s pockets only held feminine products and documents, making his expression even sourer.
“Don’t talk about it. Let’s focus on the mission. Lin Mo, how did you find us? What’s the situation outside? And what exactly is going on with Su Xiji?”
Lin Mo briefly recounted his experiences since entering the Dead Realm: occupying Zhu Yanqing’s body, being ambushed during a reconnaissance mission, witnessing his comrades’ sacrifice, tracking clues to the vicinity of Defense Line 03, discovering the black devices, encountering a high-level Abnormal Being squad, tracking their trail to the waterfall, and sneaking into the subterranean city.
Finally, he explained how he discovered the search operation, deduced it might be his teammates, and took the risk to follow and rescue them.
Gao Yuan and Du Qiang’s expressions grew solemn as they listened.
When Lin Mo described the high-level Abnormal Being squad with their human-like behavior and leader, both looked shocked and deeply uneasy.
“It seems the situation in the Dead Realm is even more complex and dangerous than we anticipated,” Gao Yuan said in a heavy voice.
“This isn’t just a reenactment of a historical scene. The characters and monsters… they all seem to be undergoing some kind of mutation we don’t understand.”
“The current issue,” Lin Mo said, his eyes scanning the two of them, “is Su Xiji.
I can’t see through him… What is he trying to do?
Has he truly betrayed Huafu, or even… humanity?
Or is there some other hidden story we don’t know about?”
Gao Yuan’s expression became exceptionally serious.
“It is indeed very suspicious. The fact that he could so easily sideline Lu Sanshan shows that Su Xiji has incredible control over the 103rd Division. He is definitely no fool. But the situation on the battlefield has rotted away, and it’s rotted in a way that is bizarre and almost inconceivable.”
Du Qiang nodded in agreement and added, “After Captain Gao and I were locked up together, we overheard some snippets of conversation between the guards. They mentioned words like ‘tide’ and ‘purification.'”
Lin Mo’s brow furrowed.
He remembered the disciplined Abnormal Being squad from earlier, and a more terrifying thought emerged: ‘Could it be… he not only controls some soldiers but can even… influence or command the Abnormal Beings?’
“The more critical point is—” Gao Yuan, crossing his arms, suddenly voiced the question he had been harboring for days, “where are the people from the Second Synthetic Brigade? Lin Mo, did you see them outside?”
Lin Mo shook his head, his voice heavy.
“I haven’t seen them…”
“Could it be…” Du Qiang bit his lip, his expression growing grimmer, “that they have already… perished?”
The speculation sent a chill through all three of them.
“It’s too early to say. We need to find out exactly what Su Xiji is hiding.”
Lin Mo carefully took the black device from his waterproof inner pocket and placed it on a crate.
“Take a look at this first…”
A faint green light pulsed rhythmically in the dim chamber.
“I found these in different locations outside. They look like some kind of signaling device. I suspect they are related to Su Xiji’s true objective.”
Gao Yuan picked one up, examined it closely, and shook his head.
“I’ve never seen this. There’s no record of this type of equipment at headquarters.”
Du Qiang leaned in to look.
His brow had been furrowed since he saw the device.
He reached out and touched the cold, smooth surface of the instrument.
His eyes seemed to drift as if he were trying to recall something.
“This thing…” Du Qiang muttered, his voice uncertain.
“I think… I’ve seen it somewhere before? Not here, but… outside. But it’s blurry. I can’t remember the specific occasion or what it was for…”
Lin Mo’s spirit rose.
“Think carefully! Any detail could be critical!”
Du Qiang closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against his temples.
The delicate face of Wang Yun showed the strain of deep thought.
“Black… light… no markings… low-power green light flashing… a signal… it seems like… some kind of… environmental monitoring? Or… biological signal marking? No… it also seems like… a communication relay?”
His memories were fragmented, unable to form a complete picture.
“Forget it, don’t force it,” Gao Yuan said, patting Du Qiang’s shoulder.
“Since this thing has appeared multiple times, it’s definitely a key item. As long as we keep going deeper, we’ll eventually figure it out.”
Lin Mo sighed and carefully put the device away.
“I originally thought that if I found Commissar Lu, I could get high-level intelligence and get closer to the truth. I didn’t expect…”
He looked at Gao Yuan and Du Qiang, his meaning obvious.
The real Lu Sanshan’s consciousness was likely suppressed by the Dead Realm.
Now, the person occupying that identity was a teammate who was just as confused as he was.
“However, regrouping is always a good thing,” Lin Mo said, quickly adjusting his mindset.
“Our strength is concentrated now. The next step is to find Su Xiche… He is the core of everything.”
“How do we find him? This subterranean city is like a maze, and we don’t know the layout,” Du Qiang asked.
Lin Mo pointed at the ventilation ducts above their heads.
“We keep moving through the ceiling. I don’t know Su Xiji’s exact location, but where the guards are the tightest and where officers enter and exit most frequently is where the most important clues will be. It might even be his command center.”
A look of determination flashed in his eyes.
“We’ll follow the main ventilation ducts and watch the activity below.”
Gao Yuan and Du Qiang had no objections.
After resting for a few minutes and rehydrating with some bottled water found in the corner of the warehouse, the three of them regained their strength.
“Let’s go!” Lin Mo was the first to grab the edge of the duct and nimbly pull himself up.
Gao Yuan gave Du Qiang a boost, and the three of them vanished once more into the dark network of pipes, moving like tiny blood cells through steel veins toward the heart of the city.