Chapter 45

He woke up the next day in a rush because Horne realized he had gotten up very late. The voice of the culprit still rang at his bedside, and he reached out to turn it off.

Perhaps it could not be called the culprit, because ever since he had stepped into the snowfield yesterday, many scenes had flashed back in his mind—about his past, about those unmentioned histories.

In his dreams, those experiences were like an overwhelming flood and ferocious beasts, gradually eroding him—half clear, half murky.

When he stepped out of the room, the outside was a mess.

The corridor was piled with various luggage and clutter. The doors of the adjacent rooms were all open, with people constantly coming and going. They looked hurried as they carried things out and went back in to fetch more.

The red light of the emergency exit glowed, still displaying those two words: Evacuate.

Hels was not there. Every elevator in the corridor was packed with people. Horne quickly took the stairs down to the negative first floor.

The situation on the negative first floor was much better—almost the same as yesterday. There was none of the panic and packing from the negative third floor; work continued methodically.

Horne stopped someone passing by and asked about the situation on the negative third floor. The other person told him it was just a base relocation—nothing had happened to the base itself, so there was no need to worry.

When Horne found Wang Wudao, he was talking to a young man, but it was not exactly a peaceful conversation.

“So she hasn’t been brought out yet?” Wang Wudao’s voice carried some irritation. “Jia Lan, I’m starting to doubt your capabilities now.”

The voice of the figure called Jia Lan had obvious pauses: “Ais is our leader. We need sufficient reason.”

It was a humanoid alien.

Horne stood by the door, leaning against the wall with his head lowered and arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were like a frozen lake.

“Today is the last day.” Wang Wudao covered his face and rubbed it hard, turning it red. “We need to report to the chief commander.”

The conversation between the two stopped. Jia Lan came out of the room and glanced casually at Horne as it passed. Seeing those emotionless ice-blue eyes, it quickened its pace and left.

Horne walked in and asked about the situation. Wang Wudao sat in the swivel chair and waved his hand, his roguish tone returning: “Colonel, you arrived just in time. There was too much going on yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

Horne nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.

“To completely destroy the Fate Community, we still have several hurdles ahead. The first one we’re facing now is locating it. Although we don’t know the exact position of the Fate Community yet, we have a plan: crack the master brain code of the Tower’s recon drones and read the surveillance data. The recon drones are used by the Tower to monitor humans, and they also cover every corner of Loch City. The more important the place, the more surveillance there is—for example, the Fate Community.”

In other words, turn their own surveillance against them: use it to find their Achilles’ heel, infiltrate the location of the Fate Community, and annihilate all their energy sources with high-energy particles. This would cut off the possibility of more aliens descending and destroy those still existing on Earth.

“Where’s the problem?” Horne asked. Since there was a plan but it hadn’t been implemented, some key link must be missing.

The swivel chair creaked under Wang Wudao’s rocking, the sound stretching endlessly amid the hurried footsteps and clamor outside the door.

“Colonel, do you know about DOL Company?”

“I’ve heard of it.”

Loch City’s largest tech company, responsible for running most of the city’s smart systems—including traffic, smart homes, and so on. The most recent one he had encountered was the holographic game in the Red Light District.

“The recon drones the Tower uses now were originally developed by DOL Company as AI to make people’s lives convenient—managing daily routines and simplifying life. Later, the Tower requisitioned the recon drones and injected them with xenomorph particles, turning this AI into sentinels that surveil humans instead.” At this point, he let out a mocking laugh and sighed. “Humans are always so resilient at hoisting themselves by their own petard, even turning that spirit into the noble virtue of ‘never giving up.’”

Horne made no comment.

“So that’s where the problem lies.” Wang Wudao got back to the point. “DOL Company has completely lost control over the recon drones; the master brain code doesn’t respond. But God’s dice don’t always roll a one. There was one person—a girl—who briefly bypassed the Tower and awakened the recon drones’ master brain. DOL Company immediately detected this operation.”

“Mm.” Horne gave a curt reply. “But?”

“But that girl has been captured by the Tower and is locked up in the Tower District.” Wang Wudao pointed at the half-open door. “Jia Lan—that idiot who just left—can provide us with information, but it can’t get her out.”

Horne pondered for a moment, quickly piecing together all the information. He couldn’t think of any other possibilities and asked, “Oh, so the girl you’re talking about is Ains?”

Wang Wudao shrugged. “The current situation is that although she’s not having a good time, she’s not about to lose her life immediately. Anyway, it’s not that optimistic, but not that bad either.”

Just as he finished speaking, a familiar voice rang out from the doorway.

“What do you mean by ‘not having a good time’? We need to rescue her as soon as possible! She’s important!” Han Ya rushed over to Wang Wudao in two strides, then turned his head and noticed Horne was there too.

Horne frowned, his gaze shifting between the two as he unraveled the information. He asked, “You two know each other?”

How did Han Ya seem unrelated to everyone, yet actually know everyone? Even acquainted with Ains?

Han Ya froze for a moment, coughed awkwardly twice, and unconsciously pulled out the keychain from his pocket to fiddle with it. He said unnaturally, “Well, it’s a long story.”

“Long story short.” Horne’s voice was flat.

Han Ya told him that he and Wen Yu had awakened from their cryogenic hibernation pods not long ago and had encountered the little girl in the Red Light District. It was similar to Horne’s experience: Ains had been stealing something and they had saved her just in time. They learned about Ains’s situation, but at that time, they themselves knew nothing about the world a century later and were living in panic and fear. They couldn’t provide her with extra help and could only protect her from the shadows.

Thinking of this made Han Ya angry. If not for their fear of the unknown world a century later, he and Wen Yu wouldn’t have been so easily threatened by Hels into staying away from Horne.

“Actually, that day, if you hadn’t gone to save her, I would have.” Han Ya said.

After supporting each other for a while in that unfamiliar world, they discovered that Ains’s main source of income wasn’t petty theft but hacking into the holographic game system. Each time, she only took a tiny portion to avoid suspicion from too many code changes.

The holographic game’s tech support came from humanity’s largest and most advanced company, and Ains hacked it effortlessly. So they tried tampering with the game code. The holographic game had strong randomness; sometimes modules might already be altered, but it could easily be chalked up to random outcomes.

They had tried it once: having her infiltrate and control a Tower recon drone. She succeeded. After removing her mask, the nearby recon drone didn’t notice a thing, but a distant one reacted.

Horne sat on the sofa, thinking about all the things he had encountered in the holographic game back then, and chuckled to himself.

“Hels wouldn’t let you contact me, so you had Ains alter the game code to lure me into the game and tell me to leave the city gates?” Horne asked.

Mentioning this, Han Ya felt not only anger but also shame at actually being threatened by Hels. He slammed his palm on the table, realized his reaction was too big, then straightened up with a cold laugh: “I’m done. Look at the fine protégé you’ve raised.”

Horne fell silent.

“I didn’t teach him that.” After a moment, Horne said.

He recalled part of it, including Hels, but he was certain he wouldn’t have taught Hels that way.

Mentioning Hels reminded Horne of the shot he thought had killed Han Ya. He found it odd: “Hels didn’t kill you, but I saw the bullet hit you…”

Han Ya snapped to attention on the spot and immediately cut off Horne’s unfinished words: “Ah, that’s also a long story. It just veered off; I didn’t die.” He touched his nose, looked up at the ceiling, and numbly changed the subject. “That bastard Hels is just like you when you were a kid.”

Realizing his words were off, he quickly explained: “I don’t mean you were a bastard as a kid. I mean the two of you are equally infuriating.”

“Oh.” Horne’s icy eyes swept over Han Ya, and he replied faintly without pressing further. He thought more about the current situation and smoothly shifted the topic: “So, if the Tower won’t release her, we might need to proactively enter the Tower and rescue Ains.”

“Yes—rescue her, crack the master brain, locate the Fate Community.” Wang Wudao added, “Of course, this is just the first step for now. Our tech team has set up 440 Hz resonance points across Loch City; we still need to wait for the Hermit to respond actively.”

Hermit? Horne frowned. He had heard that name somewhere.

Before Wang Wudao could finish, an alarm bell rang outside. The piercing sound rose and fell like waves, echoing through the long corridors. Horne looked out; the red safety passage markers in the corridor were flashing.

“Don’t worry. This is just a time reminder.” Wang Wudao said to Horne. “We’re relocating to the emergency shelter.”

Horne recalled the people he had seen hurriedly packing luggage at his door when he woke up.

“Why relocate?”

Wang Wudao shrugged. “Because the survival environment has changed. This underground base has existed for a century; many places have hazards. It’s not just safety—recently, a wall collapsed and smashed an air purification system. Sigh, don’t you think the air here is a bit stuffy?”

Actually, more than one— the collapsed wall had destroyed three algal photosynthesis units. Fortunately, they had been running too long and were aging anyway, so no need for repairs.

That was what he said, but Horne was silent for a good while before asking, “Is it because of me?”

He was heading back to Loch City today. According to the plan, this place would be exposed. Protecting it would also put Ains in danger.

Wang Wudao quirked one corner of his mouth and patted Horne’s shoulder. “No need for self-blame. Although that is part of it, it’s not your fault. We were surprised you actually found the Slum entrance, but ultimately, Hels was the one who brought you here.” He thought for a moment and continued, “There are other reasons too, but I can’t tell you for now. Just follow your plan, okay?”

In short, they would complete the relocation by tonight or tomorrow morning.

Horne prepared to return to Loch City. Han Ya accompanied him to the hall connecting the underground base to the snowfield. Han Ya explained to him that they had awakened in the holographic game room in the Red Light District, and among that pile of game pods, a few were actually their cryogenic hibernation pods.

“Why were your cryogenic hibernation pods with Hels?” Horne asked.

Han Ya shrugged. “Who knows? I didn’t bother asking Hels. I only know those hibernation pods were left by You Wangwang back then. After we got to the new base and saw the message left by Bai Yin, we climbed in.”

As for why Horne’s hibernation pod was in the Tower, none of them could explain.

A row of guns and firefighting gear hung neatly on the hall walls, along with orderly packed luggage. The evacuation lights stayed on, and some people had already begun moving.

Horne had just sent a message to Hels saying he was about to leave when Hels arrived in the hall.

Enemies meeting filled them with extra animosity. Han Ya rolled his eyes repeatedly, while Hels didn’t even glance at him.

Hels’s eyes were only on Horne: “Horne, I’ll go back with you.”

Han Ya snarked from the side: “Heh, grown up in body but not in brains. Can you even call him Horne? You can only call him Colonel, got it?”

Hels sneered, took a step closer to Horne, and said offhandedly, “Some people don’t know how wide their reach is, but damn if they don’t try to meddle everywhere.”

Han Ya: “???”

Horne pressed his lips together, barely suppressing the slight upturn of his mouth. His gaze swept sequentially over Hels and Han Ya, and he said flatly, “Alright, I’ll ask about your issues when I get back. I’m leaving first.”

These two often clashed, but now they could stand here together peacefully—something unknown must have happened in between. It just wasn’t the time to get to the bottom of it.

As Horne turned to leave, a boisterous voice rapidly approached.

“Hey, Colonel! Colonel, wait!” Yan Yue rounded the corner from the hall. She held an ice cream cone and trotted over to hand it to Horne. “Here, here! Mr. Hels had me freeze it yesterday for when you came out, but I—I only just remembered! Cheese ice cream! Mr. Hels made it himself!”

Horne paused for a moment and took it. “Thanks.”

Yan Yue was panting for breath. She looked like she had run some distance to get here. She scratched her head, a bit embarrassed. Seeing that Hels showed no sign of blaming her, she finally relaxed. She curiously examined the ice cream in Horne’s hand and asked, “Do you really think cheese tastes good? I tried it once and never wanted to eat it again. Mr. Hels said cheese is your favorite, so I specially marked it as one hundred percent concentration.”

One hundred percent might be a bit too rich.

Horne held the ice cream, unsure whether to eat it or not.

“Give it a try.” Hels said with a smile.

Yan Yue nodded, her eyes shining. “Exactly. Although Mr. Hels made it personally, this is my special blend, complete with my exclusive recipe.” As she spoke, she really pulled out a sheet of paper and stuffed it into Horne’s hand. She grinned and said, “Considering you might like it, I wrote down the recipe for you. That way, even if I’m not around, you can make it yourself, or have Mr. Hels do it for you…”

Her words cut off in her throat as a deafening explosion rang out above them. A terrifying shockwave tore through the air, and the corridor they were in shook violently twice.

The warm lights in the hall flickered rapidly a few times with a series of “pop pop” sounds before extinguishing all at once. Only the glaring red “Evacuate” warning light above the door remained lit, casting everyone’s faces in a dark crimson glow.

An illusory stillness fell, like the silence of a tomb. Everyone froze in place, holding their breath as they looked around, unsure of what had happened.

Horne’s first reaction was to look up toward Hels. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Boom——!!”

Immediately, a second massive explosion erupted. The hall shook violently as a deep rumble swept in from the depths of the earth.