229: Chapter 229 Lingering Gas and Post-mortem

Cold, damp, and carrying the heavy scent of earth and rotting wood.

The darkness felt like tangible cotton, stuffing his nose and mouth, pressing against his chest.

Every breath tugged at the sharp pain in his ribs and back, as well as the searing, burning sensation from the wound on his lower leg—grazed by a bullet and then sliced open by asbestos tile debris.

His left arm also seemed to have been twisted during his recent swinging jump and fall; it hurt excruciatingly whenever he moved it.

Ling Ye curled up in the corner of a half-collapsed basement.

This place might have originally been a storage room, but now it was piled high with collapsed soil, shattered bricks, and rotten wooden beams.

He had slid in through a slanted opening in the ruins that was half-hidden by debris, then used the largest concrete slab he could find to barely block the entrance.

While it could not stop anyone from entering, it at least provided a bit of psychological cover and early warning.

He did not know how far he had run, how many broken walls and ruins he had passed through, or how many dog-hole-like gaps he had crawled through.

He only knew he had to get far away from that five-story building, far away from the area that was being rapidly sealed off and searched by The Plainclothes Organization.

Finally, the dizziness brought on by physical exhaustion, pain, and blood loss forced him to stop and find any place to hide.

This basement was a desperate choice in a hopeless situation.

But at least it temporarily provided darkness, quiet, and a sliver of possibility to escape the pursuers' line of sight.

Although, it could also be a dead end.

He leaned his back against the cold, slippery mud wall, gasping violently, every inhalation carrying the smell of blood and rust.

Sweat, mud, and bloodstains mixed together, soaking his only remaining tattered shirt, which clung to his body and brought a bone-chilling cold.

But he dared not light a fire, or even move too much.

He forced himself to calm down and began to check his injuries.

The pain in his ribs was likely a muscle strain or a minor fracture, especially noticeable when breathing, but it did not seem to have injured his internal organs.

The old wound on his back seemed to have split open slightly under the intense movement, but it was not serious.

The most troublesome injury was on the outside of his left lower leg—a deep abrasion where the flesh was visible and rolled back, still slowly oozing blood; it needed immediate treatment.

The sprain in his left arm made it almost impossible to use any strength in it.

He gritted his teeth and used his still-functional right hand to fumble through his tattered satchel (thankfully, he had not lost it) to find the roll of gauze that had very little left and a small half-bottle of iodine.

The process of treating the wound on his lower leg was like torture.

The excruciating pain from the iodine stinging the wound made his vision go black, and he nearly fainted.

He used his teeth in coordination with his right hand, clumsily but resolutely bandaging the wound, and then used a relatively cleaner strip of cloth he had found to sling his left arm across his chest, minimizing movement as much as possible.

After finishing this, he was so exhausted he could barely sit up, only able to lean against the wall, eyes closed, gasping for air.

The pain in his body surged like a tide, wave after wave.

But even more suffocating than the physical pain was the feeling of powerlessness—of being driven into a dead end, having played all his cards, yet still struggling in the net.

This mission was a total failure.

Not only did he fail to safely acquire more intelligence, but he had also completely exposed himself, triggered an even more ferocious pursuit from the opposition, sustained heavier injuries, lost a relatively safe observation point, and nearly exhausted all his stamina.

The price was heavy.

But... was there truly no gain?

Ling Ye slowly opened his eyes.

In the absolute darkness, his pupils seemed to lose focus, but the cold flame deep within them had not been extinguished.

He closed his eyes and began to review every detail of the "Touch" operation in his mind, as if playing back a video, especially the part regarding that sensor.

Appearance: Matte black square, matchbox-sized, no markings.

Easy to conceal; the material might possess anti-electromagnetic interference or certain camouflage properties.

Indicator light: Dark red LED, flashing regularly once per second.

A typical "standby/operating" indicator; the frequency is stable, indicating its operating state is steady and power consumption is likely low.

Energy characteristics: His passive perception captured an extremely weak, stable, modulated electromagnetic wave in a specific frequency band.

This was likely its data transmission or beacon signal.

The signal was "clean," indicating its modulation method was professional and its anti-interference capability might be strong.

However, it could also mean that if its frequency band and modulation laws were mastered, perhaps... there existed a theoretical possibility of interference or deception (though for him right now, that was a fantasy).

Detection capability: Possesses a passive environmental sensing field (micro-motion/infrared?), with a range of a few meters, sensitive enough to detect a person's approach (triggering an alarm).

This explained why he was discovered.

But it also meant that as long as he did not enter this sensing field, the sensor could not directly "see" him.

Response mechanism: After the alarm was triggered, the reaction speed was extremely fast.

From the trigger to the arrival of the first responding vehicle, the time was extremely short.

This meant either vehicles were patrolling nearby, or there was efficient command dispatch and a quick-response team on standby.

The network coverage and response capability were very strong.

Pursuers' equipment and tactics: Equipped with silenced weapons, life/thermal imaging scanning equipment, and communication gear; high tactical proficiency, tacit cooperation, and decisive action (opening fire directly).

This was a highly professional, militarized operational team.

These pieces of information, like shattered mirror shards, each reflected the tip of the iceberg of The Plainclothes Organization's massive monitoring and response System.

Cold, efficient, and lethal.

But within those shards, was there also a reflection of some "glimmer"?

Possible weaknesses or patterns?

Ling Ye concentrated and pondered.

First, regarding the sensor network itself:

Since there were fixed nodes, it meant there was a network topology.

How were the nodes connected?

Data transmission paths?

Were there key nodes or relay points?

If a certain node failed or data was abnormal, how would it affect the network?

The deployment locations of the nodes, while concealed, were not untraceable.

They chose Municipal Government facilities like power distribution boxes for easy power access and camouflage.

Therefore, could there be nodes in other similar locations that were easy to connect to the Municipal Government System or had independent power supplies, and were relatively concealed?

This might help him roughly judge the network's potential coverage and key monitoring areas, thereby allowing him to consciously avoid these "high-risk points" in future operations.

The detection range of the nodes was limited (a few meters).

This meant the network had blind spots.

Deep inside buildings, underground, or places blocked by large amounts of metal structures or special Materials might weaken or even shield their detection.

He needed to find and utilize these blind spots.

Secondly, regarding the response mechanism:

Rapid response indicated that their resources were not infinite.

This time, at least two vehicles and one team were dispatched.

If alarms were triggered in multiple, especially more remote, areas simultaneously, would their response speed and power projection decrease?

This might mean their main forces were concentrated in the Dark Nest core area and near important nodes.

The more marginal ruin area where he was currently located might not be their top priority for patrol and response—provided he did not trigger any more alarms and quickly moved away from the incident area.

The pursuers carried life/thermal imaging scanning equipment.

This meant traditional visual camouflage had limited effect.

He needed to find environments that could shield or interfere with thermal signals (such as being near large heat sources, in areas with drastic temperature changes, or using certain Materials to insulate body heat), or, when necessary, try to use Star Visualization to converge his life aura and heat emission as much as possible—though this was extremely difficult and might trigger energy fluctuations in the xuanyuan ring, which was a higher risk.

Finally, and most crucially, regarding himself:

He had triggered the alarm earlier because he was too close to the sensor.

This showed that as long as he could always maintain a safe distance from potential sensor nodes (far greater than their detection range), he could largely avoid monitoring.

This required him to maintain higher vigilance regarding the surrounding environment and keep his distance from any suspicious "Municipal Government facilities" or isolated objects.

He was able to escape this time largely relying on complex terrain, an unexpected route (swinging jump), and a bit of luck.

But this level of risk-taking could not be repeated.

He had to find a safer, more sustainable way to hide.

Injuries and supplies were his biggest weaknesses.

He had to find a place as soon as possible where he could safely recover for a longer period and obtain basic food and medicine.

The current ruin basement could only serve as a temporary breathing point, definitely not a place to stay for long.

The review ended, and Ling Ye's mind was, on the contrary, even clearer.

Failure was a cruel lesson, but the information extracted from the lesson was the guide for the next step.

His current top priority was no longer active reconnaissance, but survival and recovery.

Before recovering basic mobility, finding a new safe stronghold, and obtaining necessary supplies, any further investigative action would be suicide.

He needed a new, more cautious short-term plan:

Deep concealment: Stay hidden in this basement for at least 24 hours, and unless there was an immediate danger of being discovered, never go out.

Use this time to focus entirely on regulating his breath and healing, even if he could only recover a little bit.

Relocation: After 24 hours, regardless of how his injuries had recovered, he must leave.

This place was too close to the incident site and was not safe.

He needed to head northwest, deeper into the junction area between the shantytown and the urban-rural fringe, or even consider moving to more peripheral areas covered by natural terrain (such as hills or old riverbeds).

He needed to find a more remote abandoned building, cave, or underground facility (such as a sewer branch or air-raid shelter) that was difficult to discover from the air or by regular patrols to serve as a new long-term stronghold.

Supply acquisition: After stabilizing in the new stronghold, he must find a way to obtain food, Water Source, and medicine.

This might mean risking approaching the bottom-tier, chaotic black markets or exchange points on the edge of the shantytown, using things he scavenged that might have value (such as metal parts or intact tools) to trade for survival supplies.

Alternatively, he could look for edible wild plants and Water Source (extremely dangerous, requires identifying contamination).

Medicine was the hardest to obtain; he might need to search for abandoned clinics or pharmacies.

Observation and adaptation: At the new stronghold, stay still to control the situation.

Through extremely limited external observation (such as looking at the sky from gaps or listening to distant sounds), understand whether the intensity and scope of The Plainclothes Organization's search were weakening or shifting.

At the same time, further adapt to this state of "surviving on the edge of the monitoring network," turning the avoidance of sensors, reduction of energy emission, and perfection of camouflage into an instinct.

As for the key and the core intelligence on The Plainclothes Organization... they could only be shelved for now.

Staying alive and recovering his strength were the prerequisites for continuing to pursue that "glimmer."

Ling Ye leaned against the cold mud wall, slowly closed his eyes, and entered Star Visualization again.

This time, it was not for rapid healing (conditions did not allow it), but to calm his violently fluctuating emotions, gather his scattered spirit, and let his body enter the deepest state of rest and slow self-healing.

The xuanyuan ring transmitted a constant trace of coldness, as if reminding him of the danger he was in and his own abnormality.

The Ancient Ring mark, like a distant star, emitted a faint yet firm light deep in his Soul, supporting him so he would not completely sink into pain, exhaustion, and despair.

In the dark basement, there was only his breathing, which was so faint it was almost inaudible, and the slow, itching sensation of his wounds clotting.