Chapter 43 Escalation of the Incident

Master Wang thought he would have the chance to experience a free central elevator.

I never expected that;

We’ll use the fire escape again this time.

In the darkness, seven figures, maintaining various lighting equipment, moved downwards through the dark fire escape, forming a two-three-two formation.

Ling Tong and a fully armed, burly male officer led the way, followed by Wang Jixuan, Zhou Zhengde, and the female officer, while Zheng Shiduo and another burly man brought up the rear.

The seven men carried a large amount of ammunition and emergency medical supplies, while two burly officers carried ‘the best sniper rifles in the village’—two single-soldier multi-shot rocket launchers.

Zhou Zhengde was wearing a lightweight, trigger-activated protective suit. His joint movements were unaffected, and his skeletal muscles were covered by a thin layer of composite material, making him look two sizes larger.

Compared to Zhou Zhengde, Wang Jixuan and Zheng Shiduo were much more tired.

They each carried a huge black metal box on their backs, each box weighing sixty or seventy kilograms.

This is Ling Tong’s special equipment.

—Because the stairs in the fire escape were old and relatively narrow, the two all-terrain robot dogs could not enter the current passage, so this heavy-duty task could only be assigned to the two of them.

Wang Jixuan also carried an extra small-caliber sniper rifle and an automatic rifle.

C-level psychic Zheng Shiduo was not equipped with any weapons… He had enough confidence in Ling Tong’s strength.

At the very front of the line.

Ling Tong has miniature searchlights with moderate brightness on both shoulders.

The heavily armed male officer beside her, with a stun pistol in his left hand and an all-terrain radar in his right, meticulously observed every direction.

Zhou Zhengde muttered, “Mu Liang, when will we get down there?”

“At the current speed, it will take about two more hours.”

Wang Jixuan whispered a reminder:

“Rest when you’re tired, otherwise your legs will keep trembling and you might have to fight when you go down.”

“I’m not tired.”

Zhou Zhengde pointed to the’spare tires’ on his body:

“It feels like I’m a loaf of bread protected by nitrogen… I’m a proud retired soldier, and I’ve never stopped training.”

Zheng Shiduo clicked his tongue in disapproval from behind: “Hehe, no wonder Young Master Zhou has such a great physique.”

The burly man next to Zheng Shiduo’s mouth twitched. Remembering the object that the guy always carried, he deliberately kept his distance…

Zheng Shiduo contacted via radio channel:

“Ling Tong, could I ask to switch seats? I’d like to get closer to Team Leader Mu Liang.”

Wang Jixuan felt a little strange listening to the sounds coming from both his headphones and his ear at the same time.

Ling Tong instructed, “You two should try to keep your distance. The structure here is not very stable, and you two are carrying too much weight.”

“receive!”

The female officer who was protecting Zhou Zhengde stopped and waited. Zheng Shiduo, carrying the metal box, rushed forward a few steps.

Zheng Shiduo’s eyes had a light green gleam, clearly indicating that he could adapt to this environment.

Zheng Shiduo deliberately stepped past Zhou Zhengde and Mu Liang, walking in front of them and exposing his every move to their light shield and line of sight.

He was trying his best to show that he had no malicious intent.

“Team Leader Mu, can you communicate telepathically? That way they won’t hear how we plan to destroy the world.”

“It seems not.”

“Okay, then we’ll use a low volume.”

Ling Tong’s voice came through the earpiece: “You cannot remove the earpiece during the operation.”

“Okay, okay, okay!”

Zheng Shiduo rolled his eyes and then turned to look at Wang Jixuan, pointing at Ling Tong and making a fierce face.

Zhou Zhengde almost burst out laughing.

Wang Jixuan remained completely focused, ready to unleash his full power at any moment.

There was nothing he could do; the closer he got to Zheng Shiduo, the more his spiritual senses would throb.

Zheng Shiduo wanted to speak, but couldn’t seem to find a suitable topic, so he made a fuss:

“Captain Ling Tong, why can’t we take the elevator?”

A small circular hole opened behind Ling Tong’s shoulder, and a bee-shaped drone flew out.

The drone hovered upwards and flew in front of Zheng Shiduo and his two companions. Several rays shot out from its tail, intertwining to form a blurry display screen.

A cross-section of the fortress appeared on the screen, revealing forty-nine levels, including the complex underground caverns beneath them, with dozens of points of light flickering slightly above.

Ling Tong calmly explained:

“This is data synchronized from the monitoring system inside the fortress, and the data originates from the frontline command center.”

“Six hours ago, there were thirty-eight psionicists inside the fortress.”

“Half an hour ago, there were fifty-four psionicists inside the fortress. The identification codes of the newly added psionicists are unknown, and they are closely monitoring all the elevators.”

Wang Jixuan and Zhou Zhengde exchanged a glance, their expressions somewhat grave.

“Huh?” Zheng Shiduo frowned. “What’s going on? Is that piece of trash Kong Nu really going to make a big splash?”

Ling Tong simply stated, “Based on the current assessment, the psionic out-of-control level of Fortress 76 is Level 3, and the fortress’s special cleanup regulations have been applied. I will kill any psionicists who attempt to attack us, as well as any militants controlled by them.”

“A Level 3 incident? Wasn’t it just a Level 2 incident before? Wait! I need to contact Professor Zhuang!”

Zheng Shiduo hurriedly said:

“Every C-level psychic is a valuable asset; they’re not like D-level or E-level consumables! Ling Tong, you’ve always been ruthless! Let me contact Lao Zhuang!”

“You cannot contact any psychics or psychic organizations right now unless you want me to eliminate you immediately.”

Ling Tong’s voice was calm yet cold.

Zheng Shiduo suddenly developed more than a dozen red spots on his forehead, heart, and joints throughout his body.

Wang Jixuan’s eyes lit up.

Because he saw that more than a dozen miniature weapons appeared on Ling Tong’s arms.

Is this humanity’s high-end combat capability against the Blade Beasts? How was this achieved? There was clearly no energy within her.

Zheng Shiduo patted his forehead in frustration.

Zhou Zhengde asked, “Is Kong Nu really that capable?”

Ling Tong said, “Due to historical reasons, the multi-level management system of the Thirteen Institutes is very chaotic. Although he is just a station manager, he has the authority to contact the City of Spiritual Energy.”

“Well… I actually know about this. Professor Zhuang told me secretly before I came.”

Zheng Shiduo pondered for a few moments:

“According to our internal investigation, Kong Nu has been supplying materials to other strongholds for more than 20 years, forming cliques and seeking refuge with some important figures that I cannot name.”

“This is probably why Kong Nu dared to fight back against us today.”

Zhou Zhengde asked, “What exactly are the materials?”

“It’s about people, humanity itself.”

Zheng Shiduo shrugged and said simply:

“I can’t disclose the specifics because of confidentiality regulations… The Thirteen Institute is divided into three or four command systems. Kong Nu and I are not in the same command system. Professor Zhuang is in direct command on my side.”

“Kong Nu’s most brilliant move was that he didn’t send all the materials to the Psionic City.”

“He distributed the materials to the surrounding fortresses, cultivated connections, and continuously smoothed things over with his superiors. This guy has quite the ambition.”

“I think the sudden influx of psionicists into the fortress was borrowed from his partners.”

Zhou Zhengde frowned and asked, “Can you confirm which fortress it came from?”

“It’s probably Fortress 82. The senior researcher there is Kong Nu’s close comrade-in-arms.”

“To be honest, I really don’t understand why these researchers at the Thirteenth Institute are involved in politics. They’re a bunch of idiots who can’t even understand the principles of psionic energy.”

Zheng Shiduo smiled and suggested very seriously:

“We could really try to contact Professor Zhuang and work together to peacefully resolve Kong Nu. Every psionicist is built on the blood of countless lives; it would be such a waste to kill them because of infighting. It would be much better to send them to the front lines.”

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Wang Jixuan said softly, “Can’t we just arrest Kong Nu directly?”

“Some necessary procedures,” Ling Tong said, “we need to collect evidence, submit it to the command center, and obtain authorization from the command center before we can bypass the fortress and take action against Kong Nu.”

Hehehe.

Zheng Shiduo winked at Wang Jixuan:

“I’ve shared so much intelligence, Team Leader Mu, can you share some too? How did you get your intelligence?”

Several gazes fell on Wang Jixuan at the same time, and Zhou Zhengde spontaneously stepped forward.

…

“Cosmic? Rays? Irradiation? Mutation?”

Zheng Shiduo kept muttering to himself, without uttering a word for half an hour.

He was seriously considering the possibility of this happening.

The one who spoke up just now was Zhou Zhengde. The lie Zhou Zhengde made up was that an aurora borealis shone on Mu Liang, and he described it as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

While they rested on a steel structure platform, Zheng Shiduo slowly exhaled:

“Actually, you’re not a psionicist, but a mutated individual. Your body’s bio-energy level is probably around E-rank psionicist, which is indeed very low… So how did you kill Anxi and severely injure Wen Heisen?”

Wang Jixuan looked at Zhou Zhengde.

The latter immediately replied, “I prepared all kinds of weapons and equipment for him. When he entered the Black Fire Gang’s territory, he was actually there to collect evidence of Kong Nu’s crimes.”

Zheng Shiduo asked again, “That’s impossible. Don’t D-level psionicists have weapons and equipment?”

“A sneak attack,” Zhou Zhengde laughed. “Of course, we couldn’t just take it head-on. Besides, Anxi’s death was due to her own serious violations. Of course, we also violated some rules on our side by borrowing a large-caliber sniper rifle.”

“I just saw the photos of Ansie’s body. Well, it was so tragic… When she was young, I was just a simple bisexual open-minded person, and I even wanted to pursue her.”

Zheng Shiduo frowned as he looked at Zhou Zhengde and muttered to himself:

“However, Young Master Zhou, are you this guy’s spokesperson?”

“We’re best buddies, the kind who would entrust their backs to each other on the battlefield.”

Zhou Zhengde answered seriously:

“Mu Liang is rather… shy, socially awkward, and not good at communicating with people.”

Ling Tong, who was on guard not far away, turned his head to look into the darkness.

Wang Jixuan had been observing everyone’s actions and the surrounding environment, and clearly captured a moment when Ling Tong tried to suppress a laugh.

All right.

It was indeed a bit embarrassing to have mistaken my date with the wrong person before.

Zheng Shiduo chuckled, “It’s a good thing we’re on the battlefield. If we could put our backs on each other in the bathroom, then… hehehe.”

Wang Jixuan’s ears suddenly twitched, and he held a nut in his palm, flicking it lightly with his finger.

call out!

A sharp whooshing sound rang out, and a ‘cockroach’ lying in a dark corner was blasted away. Tiny arcs of electricity appeared on the cockroach’s body, and a little bit of white mist rose from it.

Ling Tong calmly said, “We have been exposed.”

Holy crap!

Zheng Shiduo dropped his playful grin, shone the flashlight on his head at the mechanical cockroach, and muttered curses under his breath:

“That idiot Kong Nu! What level of reinforcements did he call? How come he even has this kind of bionic detector? This thing is used to explore the Blade Beast’s cave, and now it’s probing us?”

“By the way… Team Leader Mu, how did you find it?”

Zheng Shiduo looked at Wang Jixuan.

Master Wang shrugged: “I dislike cockroaches, so I just killed them casually.”

Should we go back?

The female officer asked quickly:

“Although the purge troops are stationed on the 49th floor, they are only in certain areas. If the other side wants to ambush our investigation team, they can target us in a large area later.”

Zheng Shiduo suggested, “How about I go and calm Kong Nu down? We should resolve this matter using our own methods as psionicists.”

“Divide the troops into two groups.”

Ling Tong has already made battle arrangements:

“Captain Zheng and I will continue our journey downwards into the lower part of the fortress to conduct…investigation and evidence collection.”

“Everyone, please proceed to the thirty-second level of the fortress. Captain Zhou has proactively contacted trusted military personnel to provide support. Four of you will protect Captain Zhou’s safety.”

“Captain Zheng and Team Leader Mu exchanged supply boxes.”

Wang Jixuan wanted to offer to lead the way, but before he could speak, Zhou Zhengde pressed down on his arm.

The military can only obey orders.

“Yes, Major!” the men replied in unison.

Zheng Shiduo walked towards the box that Wang Jixuan had been carrying all the way, frowning and muttering:

“Something’s not right, you’re acting very strangely, Ling Tong.”

“The box I’m carrying isn’t even your core gear! My God, you don’t trust your old comrade-in-arms! Instead, you trust a handsome guy you just met!”

“Handsome guys are all jerks, don’t you know that…? I really hate being with you. I’m a high-level C-rank psionicist, and all I can do is be your logistics mechanic, carrying your loads…”

The psionic man was bending over, carrying a box on his back, when a pendant slipped out from his collar.

Ding, ding ding.

Wang Jixuan’s pupils suddenly contracted.