311: Chapter 311 Don't look back, jump down.

Chapter 311: Don't Look Back, Jump Down. The sound of impact overhead ceased.

This silence was more jarring than the noise from before.

Dust fell through the cracks in the ceiling like a gray snow.

"They're planting explosives."

The green text flickered on his retina, the font a red so deep it looked black. "These regulars don't plan on knocking; they're going to blow the whole ceiling off. Ten-second countdown."

Chen Mo said nothing.

He walked to the workbench and lifted an acetylene tank nearly half as tall as a person with one hand.

That was the tool the Old Blind Man usually used to cut scrap iron.

Chen Mo twisted the valve to its maximum setting.

The pungent gas hissed, instantly filling the cramped basement.

"What... what are you doing?"

The Old Blind Man, laden with bags and clutching that heavy spectrum analyzer, turned pale with fright. "If this thing blows, we're both going to be roasted pigs!"

"If you don't want to be a roasted pig, then jump down."

Chen Mo pointed at the sewage manhole cover on the floor.

He had already pried a gap in it using a steel pipe.

A nauseating scent of decay wafted up.

It was the smell of Scrap Iron City's bowels.

Boom!

A muffled thud came from the ceiling.

A piercing white light sliced through the cracks.

It was a thermal cutting line from a directional charge.

"Five seconds."

The green text began the countdown.

Chen Mo kicked the acetylene tank.

The tank rolled across the floor with a dull metallic clatter, eventually stopping beneath the roller shutter door that had just been blown open.

That was the only entrance.

It was also where those "Cleaners" were about to rush in.

"Go."

Chen Mo grabbed the Old Blind Man by the collar and stuffed him directly into the gap of the manhole like he was lifting a small chick.

"Ouch—my back!"

The Old Blind Man's tragic cry echoed through the pipes.

Chen Mo followed immediately after.

The moment he jumped down, his right hand pulled the heavy cast-iron manhole cover shut behind him.

But he didn't close it completely.

He left a small gap.

Then he pulled out a high-explosive grenade he had scavenged from that one-handed lackey.

The pin popped out.

A crisp metallic click.

Chen Mo let go, and the grenade rolled through the gap, stopping right next to the venting acetylene tank.

"One."

The green text hit zero.

Chen Mo yanked the manhole cover shut and slid down the rusted ladder.

The world above collapsed.

First came a relatively small detonation.

Immediately followed by the deflagration of the acetylene meeting the fire.

BOOM—!!!

A massive shockwave poured down the shaft.

Chen Mo felt a wave of heat on his back, and the air pressure slammed him hard against the pipe wall covered in slick moss.

The basement above instantly turned into a purgatory.

Screams.

Curses.

And the thunderous sound of heavy objects collapsing.

The vanguard that had just rushed in were buried in a sea of fire and ruins before they could even see Chen Mo's shadow.

This was that "grave."

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The Old Blind Man lay in the sludge below, dazed and covered in black mud. "Madman... you're a total madman! That was my shop! All my belongings!"

Chen Mo let go of the ladder and jumped into the sludge.

The stagnant water here reached his shins.

Turbid and viscous.

Various unknown trash and animal carcasses floated on the surface.

"We're still alive."

Chen Mo activated the night vision mode of his prosthetic eye.

The pitch-black sewer was transformed into a ghostly green wireframe map in his vision.

"Your life is still here, but my shop is gone!"

The Old Blind Man was still wailing, slapping his thighs in distress. "All those precision instruments! Just that workbench alone was worth..."

"Shut up."

Chen Mo interrupted him.

He raised his new left arm and pointed overhead.

Although the explosion masked many sounds, some things couldn't be hidden.

Buzz—

Buzz—

It was the high-frequency noise of micro-Drone propellers.

Like a swarm of flies that had caught the scent of blood, they were descending through the blasted manhole.

"They're coming in."

Chen Mo turned around, looking into the depths of the gloomy pipes. "Standard Cleaner configuration: swarm reconnaissance, heavy assault."

The Old Blind Man immediately shut his mouth.

Though he was greedy, he valued his life more.

"Where do we run?"

The Old Blind Man scrambled up from the sludge, trembling as he readjusted the heavy spectrum analyzer on his back. "It's a maze down here, and it's full of toxic gas. We'll suffocate without a map."

"I have one."

Chen Mo pointed at his head.

Although the coordinates in that data drive were just a single point, the green text had already reverse-engineered the surrounding pipe network structure from the massive city database based on that point.

"Turn left ahead; there's an old-era rainwater diversion canal."

The green text marked a red line on his retina. "The space there is large, but the structure is unstable. And... there seems to be something else there."

"Something else?"

Chen Mo asked internally.

"Biological signals," the green text's voice sounded a bit strange. "Doesn't look like humans. Doesn't look like rats either."

Chen Mo did not pause.

"Keep close."

He strode forward through the turbid sewage.

Every step he took stirred up a cloud of foul-smelling bubbles.

The Old Blind Man followed unsteadily behind, forced to bite down on a flashlight.

Chen Mo didn't need light, but he did.

"Wait!"

After walking for about five minutes, the Old Blind Man suddenly stopped.

He took the spectrum analyzer off his back and pressed a few buttons on the grime-covered screen.

"Something's wrong."

The Old Blind Man's voice was trembling. "The magnetic field nearby is distorted. My instrument readings are jumping all over the place."

Chen Mo stopped walking.

He felt it too.

The servo motor in his newly installed left arm was slightly heating up, and his fingertips were twitching involuntarily.

It was as if he were being interfered with by some kind of high-frequency signal.

"This is why no one wants to come down here."

The Old Blind Man swallowed hard, his flashlight beam dancing wildly across the damp walls.

"Legend has it that beneath Scrap Iron City lies the testing grounds of an old-era 'Company.' Those failed cyborg monsters were thrown down here to fend for themselves."

Creak.

From the darkness overhead came the sound of metal scraping.

It was very light.

But in this dead silence, it was like a clap of thunder.

Chen Mo snapped his head up.

A red laser beam instantly pierced the darkness, locking onto the center of his forehead.

"Get down!"

Chen Mo shoved the Old Blind Man in the chest with his palm.

The Old Blind Man fell backward into the sewage.

Almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out.

Bang!

A large-caliber armor-piercing round hit the spot where Chen Mo had just been standing.

The splash was a meter high, mixed with pulverized concrete debris.

It was a sniper.

"Damn it, how are they so fast?"

The Old Blind Man thrashed in the water, scared out of his wits.

"They didn't come from behind."

Chen Mo rolled behind a thick support pillar, his gaze cold. "They were already lying in wait down here."

The green text's scan results came in.

One hundred meters ahead, on the elevated pipes.

Three red thermal imaging silhouettes.

Fully armed.

heavy exoskeletons, thermal imaging goggles, Gauss rifles.

They were the 'Company's' most elite cleanup squad.

They weren't here to chase Chen Mo.

They were waiting for him to fall into their trap.

Or rather, they were guarding the gate here.

This meant Chen Mo had found the right place.

Those coordinates were truly important.

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