“What?!”

“Where’s Lu Shiyan?! How are his men?!” Lei Laohu grabbed the communicator’s collar.

The communicator was choked, barely able to breathe, his teeth chattering as he stammered, “I… I don’t know… The explosion was too fierce, our men… couldn’t even get close enough to observe…”

“The scene is a sea of fire, thick smoke billowing, I’m afraid… I’m afraid…”

“Afraid of what?! Speak!” Lei Laohu’s veins bulged on the back of his hand, almost lifting the communicator off the ground.

“I’m afraid… it’s a bad omen…” The communicator closed his eyes and yelled as if giving up.

Lei Laohu released his grip, and the communicator collapsed to the ground.

Scorpion was finished, and those foreign aids who came out of nowhere were also finished! But was his fast blade also broken along with them?!

“Get the car ready!” Lei Laohu slammed his hand on the table, the veins on his forehead throbbing, his eyes revealing a fierce glint, “I’ll go see it myself! Gather all available personnel and seal off the B-zone exit! Even if we have to dig three feet deep, find Lu Shiyan for me!”

If he’s alive, I want to see him; if he’s dead, I want to see his corpse! He absolutely refused to believe Lu Shiyan would die so easily!

As A-zone descended into chaos due to the violent explosion in B-zone, a dark figure silently infiltrated the heavily guarded core area of the base.

His movements were swift and precise, each step perfectly avoiding the patrol teams’ sight and the hidden sentries’ surveillance, as if he knew the layout like the back of his hand.

His target: Lei Laohu’s private data vault.

It was Lu Shiyan.

He moved through the shadows of the buildings, his figure almost merging with the darkness. The visible and hidden guards surrounding the data vault seemed non-existent in his eyes.

An almost imperceptible electric current flickered at his fingertips, and the screens of several key surveillance cameras instantly turned to static, emitting only a faint buzzing sound before returning to normal, but those few seconds of recording were now blank.

He arrived in front of a heavy alloy door, his Wood-Type Ability preparing to silently probe the complex lock cylinder structure.

“Who’s there?!”

A sharp shout accompanied by hurried footsteps came from around the corner.

Two burly figures rushed out with guns, their blinding flashlight beams shining directly on his face.

One of the experienced guards squinted, trying to make out the newcomer’s face: “Wait, this figure… Damn! Vice-Officer Lu?” His voice held a hint of uncertainty and surprise.

The other, younger and more hot-tempered, instantly narrowed his pupils upon seeing Lu Shiyan, then erupted in fury, pointing his gun directly at Lu Shiyan.

“Lu Shiyan! How are you here?! This is Master Lei’s forbidden area! Aren’t you supposed to be leading the team to deal with the explosion in A-zone, damn it?!”

Lu Shiyan was expressionless, his eyes cold.

The old soldier, Old Wang, who recognized him, instantly turned pale, fumbling to grab the flare gun at his waist, while simultaneously shouting in a feigned tough voice: “You… you want to rebel? Betray Master Lei? Master Lei treated you well! You ungrateful dog!”

He roared, about to pull the trigger of the flare gun.

Lu Shiyan’s figure merely flickered slightly, leaving an afterimage in his original spot.

Old Wang felt a blur before his eyes, and his wrist, which was about to pull the trigger, was clamped tightly by an iron-vice-like hand.

“Crack!”

A crisp sound of bone breaking was particularly jarring in the silent corridor, making one’s scalp tingle.

Old Wang’s scream was barely out of his throat when Lu Shiyan’s other hand clamped tightly over his mouth, simultaneously choking his throat with such force that his eyeballs bulged.

The fingers tightened continuously.

Old Wang’s legs kicked violently a few times, his eyeballs bulging due to suffocation and excruciating pain, his pupils rapidly dilating. Soon, he went silent, his entire body slumping down limply, and the flare gun clattered to the ground.

The other young guard was terrified, his gun shaking uncontrollably in his hand, his fingers trembling badly.

After extreme fear, a surge of anger, fueled by betrayal and the tragic death of his companion, clouded his mind.

“You… you traitor! I’ll fight you to the death!”

He tremblingly raised the old-fashioned pistol in his hand, the muzzle shaking wildly due to nervousness, and frantically pulled the trigger at Lu Shiyan.

“Bang! Bang!”

Bullets grazed Lu Shiyan’s clothes and hit the wall, sparking a few times.

“Noisy.”

Before his words faded, a faint whooshing sound echoed in the air.

The young guard felt a searing pain in his ankle. A dark, tough vine, which had silently emerged from the shadows beneath Lu Shiyan’s feet at some unknown point, wrapped around his ankle like a lurking venomous snake, and then tightened and twisted sharply under his horrified gaze.

“Ah—!”

He screamed and fell forward, losing his balance.

“Clatter!”

The pistol flew out of his hand, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Lu Shiyan stepped forward, his movements clean and precise, not even sparing a glance at the guard twitching on the ground.

Silence returned to the corridor, leaving only two gradually cooling corpses and the strong smell of blood.

He straightened up, his clothes not even slightly disheveled, and coldly glanced at the corpses on the ground.

He turned and faced the heavy alloy door once more.

His Wood-Type Ability silently extended, deftly penetrating the complex alloy lock cylinder, which was a hundred times more intricate than an ordinary door lock. Tiny gears, springs, and tumblers slowly twisted, deformed, and shifted under his precise control.

“Click… Clack…” After a series of subtle mechanical sounds, the heavy alloy door silently swung inward.

Inside the data vault, a mix of cold metallic scent and the musty smell of old paper wafted out.

Lu Shiyan paid no attention to the stacks of paper documents and scattered hard drives on the shelves on both sides.

His target had been clear from the start—the energy stone.

The interior of the data vault was larger and more complex than he had anticipated, with hidden compartments, false walls, and safes disguised as ordinary walls everywhere, a testament to Lei Laohu’s cunning and suspicion.

“Found it.”

Lu Shiyan’s gaze finally settled on an inconspicuous metal cabinet in the corner.

The cabinet looked utterly ordinary, even somewhat old and rusty, standing out awkwardly from the other brand-new, gleaming metal security devices that clearly cost a fortune.

It was precisely this deliberately created “ordinariness” that revealed its extraordinary nature.

He chose not to force it open, as that would create too much noise. He once again activated his Wood-Type Ability, forming an invisible hand that carefully probed into the equally inconspicuous keyhole of the metal cabinet.

A series of even finer, softer mechanical clicks sounded in succession, and the cabinet door swung open.

Almost at the instant the cabinet door opened, a soft yet vast and boundless energy fluctuation emanated from within, instantly filling the entire secret room. The air seemed to become slightly thicker because of it.

On the velvet cushion in the center of the cabinet, a fist-sized, perfectly transparent crystal stone floated quietly, emitting a dreamlike, iridescent glow.

“It really is it.”

The energy stone!

Lu Shiyan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Even though he had anticipated it, seeing it with his own eyes still stirred a ripple in his heart.

He reached out and carefully held the energy stone, which emitted a warm glow, in his palm.

A warm and powerful current instantly surged from his palm, rapidly flowing through his limbs and bones. His fatigue lessened, and his mind became clearer.

Everything was going according to plan, precisely as intended.

Lei Laohu, at this moment, must be in a frantic rage over the grand “fireworks” in B-zone, right?

He quickly left the data vault and returned the way he came. According to the original plan, he was supposed to rendezvous with Xiao Han and the others at an abandoned repair station on the edge of A-zone, and then proceed together to the final evacuation point agreed upon with Su Wan and A Mo.

However, the anticipated figures did not appear.

A premonition of ill omen arose in Lu Shiyan’s heart.

“It seems… something has happened.”

Lu Shiyan’s eyes darkened, and a rare trace of ruthlessness quietly gathered in their depths.