The drone's field of view was linked to the monitoring center of Base 13.
Anyone exposed to the drones, regardless of whether the system flagged them as illegal intruders, would be locked onto by the monitoring center.
Xiu Zhong jerked the steering wheel and slipped into the roots of the giant vines on the right.
On the other side, hearing Azi's warning, Wen Mo ducked under the vines on the left, weaving through the gaps between the arching roots while weighing the pros and cons of tonight's operation.
Getting mixed up with the military always meant trouble, and it was obvious that whatever Xiu Zhong was planning went far beyond mere trouble.
It was still not too late to turn back.
Yet leaving now meant many questions might remain unanswered forever.
With a sidelong glance at the tracking display, Wen Mo lowered the car window, aimed his gun at the owl perched atop the vines to observe the path of the approaching drone, and suddenly pulled the trigger.
The silencer-muffled gunshot was completely swallowed by the surrounding clamor.
Startled, the owl with the injured leg shrieked, spread its wings, and bolted straight into the drone passing right in front of it.
A loud crash echoed.
The owl, with a wingspan of over three meters, and the drone plummeted together.
Boom!
The explosion's fiery glare lit up everything around them.
Inside the Base 13 monitoring center.
The system suddenly blared a warning, giving Zhang Cheng such a start that his whole piece of grilled meat dropped to the floor.
"They're here?!"
Zhang Cheng lunged over to the console in a few strides, ordering the monitor operator to pull up the feeds for all drones in the alert zone.
The monitor operator hurriedly tapped at the keyboard: "One of our drones patrolling sector M91 has crashed."
Zhang Cheng: "What about the camera feed?!"
With a flurry of keystrokes, the operator brought up the footage.
"The last frames show it was ambushed by a mutated owl, which snapped one of its wings."
Staring at the footage, Zhang Cheng replayed it over a dozen times. "Why did this one suddenly veer off course? Pull up the system logs!"
Monitor operator: "Pulling them up now."
Seeing the 90-second countdown ticking down on the virtual screen, Zhang Cheng paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, anxiety written all over his face.
If they had the nerve to show up again tonight, he would give them a proper welcoming gift!
In Sector 5, hearing the explosion, Xiu Zhong glanced in the rearview mirror, tracked the movements of the remaining drones, wedged his muzzle through the crack in the window, and casually took out a few more beehives.
On the other side, Wen Mo locked his targets onto the various birds.
The two of them worked in tacit coordination without exchanging a single word throughout.
One focused on finding cover, the other on eliminating the drones. In just a few minutes, all fifteen drones hovering overhead had crashed.
Amidst the fiery glow of the explosions, Xiu Zhong lowered his window and glanced to his left. Wen Mo's car was cutting through the dense network of tree roots, and the other man happened to look over as well.
Through the gaps between the intertwined giant vines and swarming insects, the two locked eyes across the distance.
Xiu Zhong offered a nonchalant smile.
"Not bad shooting, kid."
Wen Mo expressionlessly let out a light hum.
"Flattery won't get you anywhere."
Xiu Zhong: "Too bad your driving leaves a bit to be desired."
Wen Mo felt a sudden prick of intuition that something was wrong.
The next moment, Xiu Zhong waved cheerfully at him, and his battered off-road vehicle bolted into the jungle on the right.
Wen Mo wanted to pursue him, but at least ten meters of thick vines blocked the way, and the swarm of bees he had provoked earlier was running amok, obstructing both his line of sight and his path.
A realization suddenly dawned on him.
By luring all those flying insects, Xiu Zhong hadn't just been trying to evade the drones' line of sight—he had also been trying to block him.
Staring in the direction Xiu Zhong had vanished, Wen Mo felt his anger spike straight up.
Inside the Base 13 monitoring center.
Zhang Cheng was furious.
"Where are the logs?! You still haven't analyzed them?! What are you all good for?!"
In the brief window of time it took to pull the data, all the drones had been wiped out!
A row of monitor operators broke out in cold sweat. Driven by the terrifying prospect of losing their jobs at any second, they operated at 200% professional capacity, pulling the system logs for all the drones ten minutes ahead of their usual time.
Glaring at the dense rows of data, Zhang Cheng slapped the nearest monitor operator across the head.
"Explain this to me!"
Scrambling to his feet, the monitor operator stammered, "Sector M91 is close to the core zone, and the density of mutated flying insects there is extremely high. The vibrations from the drones' flight probably made the insects mistake them for enemies, so they attacked—"
"What are you getting at?"
Furrowed brow twisted in anger, Zhang Cheng cursed wildly, "A few measly bugs took down every single drone?!"
Trembling all over from nerves, the junior squad leader hurried to explain in hopes of averting another outburst from his superior, "The RN88 model has a relatively low cruising altitude because it can't monitor ground conditions clearly if it flies too high. At that altitude, it's indeed very vulnerable to insect attacks. We—we've explained this to you before..."
Having lost fifteen drones for no good reason, Zhang Cheng slammed his fist on the table: "Review all the footage and data ten more times, carefully!"
Everyone lowered their heads: "Yes."
Bracing himself, the squad leader stepped closer. "Summer flying insects are active. Should we alter the patrol routes for the drones in the sectors adjacent to M91?"
The hint was already heavily implied.
Zhang Cheng: "No! Until we catch those people, nobody is to change the current plan!"
Squad leader: "……Yes."
After shaking off Wen Mo, Xiu Zhong pulled a button-sized signal jammer from his pocket, activated it, and slapped it casually onto the car body.
He had bought it yesterday at the black market and modified it slightly. It was enough to deal with the base's current surveillance methods, though it wouldn't last long—fifteen minutes at most.
Three kilometers away from the base, the density of nearby monitoring and patrol equipment spiked sharply.
Before the jammer failed, he drove the car into a patch of brush where wild grass over two meters tall completely concealed it.
Base 13 had five exits, and the garbage transport gate was the least defended.
Medical waste was packed into containers and transferred via the system's automated transport line to this exit, where transport planes hauled it away.
Arriving near the exit, Xiu Zhong checked the time. It was less than ten minutes to five o'clock, and dawn was just breaking.
At precisely five o'clock, a patch of turf a few meters away slowly rose, revealing an inclined metal chute sloping downward.
Through infrared goggles, the interior of the chute was crisscrossed with dense, interlocking laser beams.
The system deactivated the lasers for only ten seconds—the window between when a container was pushed out and when the gate closed.
There was only one chance.
Crouching by a tree, Xiu Zhong heard a rumble echo from within the chute as a conveyor belt pushed a container through the gate.
Timing it precisely, he slipped inside, slapped a jammer onto the metal wall, and sprinted inward at top speed.
The chute was at least four hundred meters long; running all the way to the bottom in ten seconds was utterly impossible.
The bottom served as a garbage receiving area with thirty pipes connecting to various sectors. Unless someone possessed the art of bone-shrinking, ordinary people couldn't crawl into them.
That was why this area was left unguarded.
Counting mentally, Xiu Zhong leaped upward at the very last second and grabbed the overhead ventilation duct.
By the time he secured his grip, the lasers below had already reactivated, the closest beam missing his heels by less than five centimeters.
The end of the chute opened into a deep pit stacked with large containers that collected the garbage sliding down from all the pipes, ready to be sealed and pushed out at the scheduled time tomorrow.
Suspended at least a hundred meters off the ground, he would either be smashed to pieces or rot to death if he fell.
Crawling to a specific spot, Xiu Zhong jumped onto a pipe three meters away and quickly located a vent cover, pulling the military combat knife from his lower back to pry off the grate.
The ventilation ducts across all sectors were interconnected. Their exits led to the surface, but large air purifiers blocked them, preventing anyone from squeezing in.
Recalling the base's layout, Xiu Zhong followed the ducting toward the medical zone.
Above ground, when Wen Mo finally tracked down Xiu Zhong's car, dawn was nearly breaking.
The interior was empty, and the white robe had been tossed casually onto the passenger seat.
Azi: "Surveillance equipment is dense in the vicinity. Please exercise caution."
Observing the surroundings, Wen Mo spoke in a low voice: "Did you find anything else?"
Azi: "An abnormal subterranean magnetic field has been detected, indicating a large artificial space."
A rotating spatial model appeared on the virtual screen mounted on the dashboard.
With this much military surveillance equipment around, it didn't take a genius to figure out what kind of place this was.
Yet wasn't Xiu Zhong an operative? Why would he sneak into a military base like a thief? What was hidden here?
Base control center.
Upon reading his subordinate's report, Zhang Cheng still refused to believe it.
"It really was just flying insects?"
Squad leader: "Yes, we've double-checked. All the drones crashed because they accidentally collided with birds. The first drone's alert was also triggered when a massive swarm of flying insects suddenly approached, tripping the collision-avoidance mechanism. It veered off course and then hit the owl, which led to..."
With a dark face, Zhang Cheng ordered his adjutant: "Send another fifteen drones to M91."
Adjutant: "Yes."
While the attention of every monitoring operator was glued to Sector 5's M91, none of them noticed the surveillance feed for the medical zone flicker.
Having placed his signal jammer, Xiu Zhong dropped down through the restroom ventilation grate.
This was the hour when base defenses were at their weakest; most guards and patrol troops were resting, leaving only two squads on patrol, and it was still well before the doctors' shift began.
Opening a door a crack and confirming the hallway was empty, Xiu Zhong slipped swiftly into the medical zone.
The blood bank and the pharmacy were right next to each other, but entry required an access pass.
He had Yeyun's wristband, but it probably wouldn't work here anymore.
Opting for a secondary plan, Xiu Zhong detoured into a doctor's office, slipped on a pair of medical gloves he grabbed at random, and opened the medicine cabinet.
Stabilizers, painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics...
These were medications commonly used by enhanced humans, distinct from those used by ordinary people. Yeyun had once mentioned they were specifically developed for enhanced individuals.
Xiu Zhong pocketed a small quantity of each.
Reaching the last office at the end of the hallway, he found no medicine cabinets here—only large medical equipment connected to a small, adjoining archive room.
Xiu Zhong pulled out a folder and opened it.
The blank forms featured several lines of handwritten text, even scrawled worse than his own. Only strings of serial numbers were vaguely legible, followed by checkmarks or crosses.
What did that mean?
Footsteps suddenly echoed in the hallway outside. Dropping the folder, Xiu Zhong slipped silently behind the door.
Judging by the sound, there were two people.
"Did you take a sample from 7885?"
"No, didn't you say you were saving that one for yourself?"
Two youthful voices drifted in from the outer room. Xiu Zhong didn't know them, but their voices suggested they weren't much older than Yeyun.
"Tch, I was just being polite, and you actually took it seriously."
"7885 is way too terrifying. I wouldn't dare take a sample from him."
"You're telling me? Last time I almost got killed by him—talk about having the worst luck in eight lifetimes."
"It's been this many days; he's long out of energy. Are you heading to C7 today?"
C7?
Recalling the base's zone-numbering rules, C7 happened to be that corridor he hadn't managed to enter yet.
"Later. After I eat lunch, or else I'll be sick to my stomach all day."
"Hey, tell me, why even clone them if they're already having relapses?"
Clone?
At that word, Xiu Zhong's heart skipped a beat.
This probably wasn't the first time he had heard that word, but where had he heard it last?
The two outside seemed to have only come in to grab something, and they left shortly afterward.
When silence returned, Xiu Zhong pulled down another folder. Unsurprisingly, it too was filled with serial numbers, followed by simple checkmarks and crosses.
If he guessed correctly, these must be enhanced human serial numbers, and the marks behind them indicated whether they had been cloned or not.
Flipping rapidly through the whole row, the earliest record dated back twenty years.
Turning to one of the pages, Xiu Zhong paused to look closely at a particular line.
N-Z017885, marked with a checkmark, with a record dating back nineteen years.
Was this 7885 the same 7885 those two guys had been talking about?
"Who are you?!"
A young doctor suddenly walked into the archive room.
Their eyes met, and the doctor recognized Xiu Zhong almost instantly.
"You—you're the one who escaped—!"
Dropping the file in his hand, Xiu Zhong yanked the man back and knocked him out as he tried to flee.
Hiding the doctor in the corner of the archive room and removing his wristband, Xiu Zhong walked with a grim face toward C7.
*[Why even clone them if they're already having relapses?]*
Along the way, that sentence echoed repeatedly in Xiu Zhong's head.
The Federation had explicit laws banning all human cloning experiments. Why would military medics be tossing around the word cloning?
Aside from enhanced humans, what on earth was the military secretly researching here?
Knowing the patrol schedules and rules, combined with the signal jammer, made moving around a breeze for Xiu Zhong.
That was, unless someone decided to meddle.
Halfway down the hall, he heard footsteps and instantly slipped behind a wall.
As they closed in, the two of them lashed out almost simultaneously, only to freeze mid-strike the moment they saw each other.
Glancing back to check their rear, Xiu Zhong grabbed the person and pulled them through a nearby door.
Once inside, Xiu Zhong pinned the person against the back of the door.
"Young master, should I call you smart or stupid? You dare break into any place you fancy?"
Lifting his eyelids, Wen Mo looked at that face, suppressing anger yet still breathtakingly gorgeous.
"Are you the only one allowed to come?"
Listening intently for any movement outside, Xiu Zhong lowered his voice. "I don't have time to play games with you right now. Get back out the way you came in."
Pushing him aside, Wen Mo cracked the door open and prepared to leave.
"Whether I go back is my business."
Xiu Zhong pinned the door shut. "If you get caught, it will interfere with me."
Glancing sideways at him, Wen Mo asked, "Interfere with what?"
When Xiu Zhong didn't answer, Wen Mo swatted his hand away and reached for the door handle again.
Xiu Zhong pinned it shut once more.
"Go back obediently, and I'll answer one question for you afterwards."
With an expressionless face, Wen Mo said, "I'm lost."
Xiu Zhong: "......"
Negotiations having failed, Xiu Zhong had no choice but to drag this little tail along as he resumed his advance toward C7.
When they reached the entrance of the C7 corridor, he prepared to deploy another signal jammer.
"Don't bother."
Strolling in swaggeringly, Wen Mo said, "I've already had Azi hijack the surveillance network here. As long as you don't start shouting at the top of your lungs, nobody will find us."
Xiu Zhong: "How long can he jam it?"
Wen Mo: "Half an hour."
Xiu Zhong: "How long has he been jamming it?"
Wen Mo: "Twenty minutes."
Xiu Zhong: "......"
The pitch-black corridor sloped slightly downward. The draft blowing through it carried a chilling dampness along with a faint, elusive stench.
Wen Mo's expression remained calm, but his mental focus was razor-sharp.
This was his first time infiltrating a military base.
"I don't like this place."
Looking at the heavy metal door not far ahead, Xiu Zhong said quietly, "Neither do I."
Shift change time was fast approaching, and Azi's jamming had only ten minutes left. Xiu Zhong picked up the pace.
Wen Mo intended to use his cracker to force the lock, but Xiu Zhong stopped him, pulling out the doctor's wristband and swiping it across the sensor.
Brute-forcing it would leave traces, and the doctor's wristband would also log the access. Since they'd be discovered either way, why bother wasting the effort?
Making sure the corridor behind them was clear, the two drew their pistols and slipped through the door one after the other.
Inside, the thick stench of blood and decay was so overpowering that even Xiu Zhong felt dizzy. On top of that came various sounds of impacts and non-human roars.
Frowning, Wen Mo muttered a low curse, "Is this really a military base?"
Past the entrance was a flight of stairs leading downward, flanked by multi-tiered levels, each containing two rows of iron cages.
Although the lights were on, for a moment Xiu Zhong didn't dare verify whether the creatures locked inside the cages were human or some kind of mutated beast.
"Ahhhhh—!"
Inside an iron cage to the right, a blood-drenched monster suddenly jammed its head between the bars, twisted at an angle, and violently yanked inward while screaming maniacally.
After a few attempts, with a sharp snap, its contorted face froze in that exact moment.
The screaming ceased, and the monster slowly slid down to its knees on the floor.
Looking past it into the cage, Xiu Zhong spotted a tattered military jacket lying in the corner, pinned with a colonel's medal of honor.
In countless similar iron cages, the occupants either lay sprawled on the ground soaked in blood or engaged in frantic self-mutilation, while others had twisted their own legs off and clutched them to their chests to gnaw on.
With every step downward, images from his past life—seeing Old Jin and the others' remains—flashed repeatedly before Xiu Zhong's eyes.
Was this the answer to why they had ended up decapitated and dismembered?
Even having spent a few years knocking about Sector 45, Wen Mo had never witnessed such a bloody scene.
He looked over at Xiu Zhong and saw that the man's hanging hands were clenched tight, his face gripped by a chill he had never seen before.
Reaching one of the levels, Wen Mo caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye and pulled Xiu Zhong to a stop.
"That person."
Xiu Zhong followed his pointing finger.
In the third iron cage on the left, a relatively presentable person was locked away.
Presentable was relative; his entire body was covered in bloody lacerations as he continuously slammed his head against the wall, though his face still retained a vaguely human appearance.
"......Xiu Lin?"
Xiu Zhong hadn't even realized his voice was trembling.
Just days ago, Xiu Zhong had heard Xue Lin's name from Old Jin.
The man had just been awarded the title of Strongest by the Federation and was rumored to have left the Enhanced Human Corps to take up a post at military headquarters.
So the so-called transfer had been this kind of arrangement.
No wonder Old Jin and the others had all met with disaster shortly after their transfers.
Xiu Zhong's vision blurred, and he only managed to stay upright by grabbing the railing as a flood of images abruptly surged into his mind.
Mechanical beeps rang in his ears, mixed with a chaotic, buzzing noise that made it hard to distinguish words.
*[Subject N-X589625, cloning failure #117...]*
*[Subject's seventh chromosome D-8 genome mutation prevents cloning execution...]*
*[Ahhhhh—! Help—! ...This is Lockdown Cell #1, the subject has broken containment, requesting whm—! ...Open the door quickly! The controller was smashed by him, the door won't open from the inside! Calling main control—help me ahhhhh—!]*
*[Subject has forcefully breached perimeter security, seal all corridors immediately! ...Subject has entered the power core, stop him immediately! ...Power core destroyed, base will detonate in ten seconds, all personnel evacuate immediately via the emergency exit! ...Boom!]*
*[Xiu Zhong... Xiu Zhong!]*
Hearing Wen Mo's voice, Xiu Zhong snapped back to reality.
With a head full of questions, Wen Mo saw Xiu Zhong looking at him and looked back.
"What's wrong? Your face is so pale."
Cold sweat trickled down Xiu Zhong's face to his chin. He stared at Wen Mo: "Did you just call me?"
Utterly bewildered, Wen Mo replied, "I didn't call you."
Xiu Zhong frowned.
Whose voice was that just now?