12: Chapter 2 Sound Wave Rescue and the Mechanical Heart

Stench, narrowness, utter darkness.

Lin Feng crawled desperately forward through the viscous, slippery sewage pipes like a frightened marmot. His arms and knees had long been scraped raw by the rough pipe walls, and every inch of progress was accompanied by stinging pain and the assault of nauseating odors. Deep in the pipe behind him, the subtle sounds of Razor changing equipment and the increasingly close, teeth-gritting metallic scraping noise beat against his already strained nerves like a death knell.

>> Vital Signs: Critical. Fatigue Levels Extreme. Adrenaline Depletion Imminent.

>> Warning: Unknown Biological Signature Approaching from Rear. Speed: Rapid. Classification: Hostile (High Probability).

The ability's warning was cold and desperate. His physical strength was about to be exhausted, and the unknown threat behind him was approaching at high speed!

Just as he was about to give up, ready to curl up in this foul-smelling pipe and resign himself to fate—

In the darkness ahead, a faint, stable blue light suddenly appeared.

It wasn't a point of light, but a thin, glowing indicator line, like some kind of emergency exit marker, hugging the bottom of the pipe wall and pointing deeper ahead.

A trap? Or...

>> Scanning Light Source: Low-Intensity LED. Pattern: Static. No Associated Energy Weapons or Traps Detected.

No energy signatures of weapons or traps detected!

This looks like a... signpost?

The instinct to survive overcame his doubts. Lin Feng gritted his teeth and crawled desperately toward the blue indicator line.

After advancing about another twenty meters, the narrow pipe finally came to an end. The exit was blocked by a rusted grate, but it seemed to have been sabotaged long ago; several iron bars were bent outward, forming a gap large enough for a person to squeeze through.

The blue indicator line ended right here.

Lin Feng didn't hesitate; he used his last bit of strength to squeeze out through the gap.

Thump!

He fell heavily onto the cold, hard ground, escaping the suffocating, foul-smelling pipe. He breathed greedily; although the air here still carried a heavy smell of mold and metal, it was heaven compared to the inside of the pipe.

He found himself in a larger underground space, like an abandoned subway maintenance tunnel or a passageway in a large underground facility. In the distance, faint emergency lights provided a minimal light source. And before him—

A tall, slender figure stood with her back to him, in front of an open toolbox. A matte-finished mechanical prosthetic limb was nimbly operating a device that looked like a high-power sonic emitter, quickly dismantling it and packing it into the case.

It was Ling Yue!

The sonic attack that had precisely disrupted Razor just now had come from her!

Ling Yue seemed to have heard the sound of him landing. Without turning her head, her voice remained cold and devoid of ripples, though her speech was rapid: "Eleven seconds slower than expected. A rookie is just a rookie."

She slammed the toolbox shut with a "clack" and turned abruptly. That embedded optical lens swept over Lin Feng's disheveled appearance in the dim light, and her brows furrowed even tighter.

"Suppress your damn biological signal! Razor was only temporarily spooked by the sonic pulse and the movements of that big guy; he'll recalibrate in three minutes at most! That little trick won't fool him for long!"

Big guy? Lin Feng immediately thought of those terrifying claw marks and the bone-chilling scraping sound.

"What... exactly is that thing behind us?" Lin Feng asked, panting, still shaken.

"One of The Cleaners down here, responsible for disposing of large trash and... intruders." Ling Yue was concise, seemingly unwilling to elaborate. "If Razor runs into it, he'll have his hands full, but it won't hold him for long."

As she spoke, her mechanical prosthetic hand had already reconnected to a hidden interface on the wall, operating it rapidly. A panel on the wall that had seemed seamless slid open silently, revealing a deeper, narrower passage behind it, filled with thick cables and old pipes.

"Follow me. If you don't want to become 'large trash,' shut your mouth, follow my footsteps, and don't touch anything!"

She commanded in an unquestionable tone and ducked into the passage first.

Lin Feng didn't dare to delay; he forced his nearly broken body to follow, stumbling inside.

The inside of the passage was even more complex, like a labyrinth, but Ling Yue seemed to know it like the back of her hand. Her mechanical prosthetic eye kept flickering with a faint light, seemingly analyzing the best path in real-time and avoiding certain hidden surveillance or alarms.

>> Following Subject "Ling Yue". Route Optimization: Superior. Activating Stealth Synchronization (Imitating Her Footsteps/Vibration Patterns)...

Lin Feng's ability automatically began to learn and synchronize with Ling Yue's movement patterns, minimizing the traces left by both of them as much as possible.

After twists and turns, Ling Yue stopped in front of a heavy metal door that looked like an old-fashioned blast door. There were no markings on the door, only a complex mechanical keyhole.

She didn't use The Key; instead, she extended the index finger of her mechanical prosthetic hand, the tip deforming and probing into the keyhole. After a few extremely faint sounds of springs turning, the heavy door opened inward.

The scene behind the door made Lin Feng pause.

This was a space that wasn't too large, but it was piled with various electronic devices and instruments. The walls were covered with screens; some displayed complex Data Stream and waveforms, while others showed surveillance footage from various parts of The Nest (some of which were flickering with static, marking areas affected by the EMP). The workbench was scattered with half-dismantled precision components, soldering tools, and circuit boards. The air was filled with the faint scent of ozone, rosin, and caffeine.

It looked like the lair of an extreme tech geek—chaotic, yet self-contained, carrying a sense of cold efficiency.

Ling Yue closed the door behind her, and the heavy bolt dropped with a reassuring thud. She seemed to finally relax, walking to the workbench, picking up a cup, and downing the cold liquid inside, which looked like a high-concentration energy fluid.

She put down the cup and turned around. Her amber eye and the glowing mechanical prosthetic eye simultaneously scrutinized Lin Feng. Her gaze was still sharp, but it lacked some of the previous murderous intent.

"Now, rookie." She used her mechanical prosthetic finger to point at the only relatively clean metal stool in the room. "Sit. Before we discuss your pathetic business and how you should repay me, I first need to ensure you don't die in my place."

She took a disposable syringe from a refrigerated cabinet; inside was a clear, light blue liquid.

"Broad-spectrum high-potency antibiotics, nano-scale trauma repair agents, high-concentration energy supplement fluid." She shook the syringe. "It'll let your broken body hold on for a while. Side effects might include a bit of fever and muscle tremors. Do you want it or not?"

Lin Feng looked at the syringe with almost no hesitation. His current state was extremely poor; anything that could restore even a little of his mobility was a lifeline.

"Do it."

Ling Yue didn't waste words, stepping forward and skillfully finding the vein in his neck, precisely injecting the liquid. A cold sensation instantly flowed through his veins throughout his body, followed by the powerful beating of his heart and a flush of warmth. The intense pain at his wounds seemed to have lessened significantly, replaced by a slight tingling sensation.

>> Vital Signs Stabilizing. Foreign Substances Detected: Advanced Medical Nanites (Benign). Energy Levels Rising.

The ability's feedback confirmed the effectiveness of the medicine.

"Alright, the debuff is cleared; now it's time to talk business." Ling Yue threw the empty syringe into the disposal chute, crossed her arms, and leaned against the workbench, her gaze becoming calm and scrutinizing again.

"First, what's your name?"

"Lin Feng."

"Hmm." Ling Yue nodded, seemingly uninterested in the name. "Lin Feng, listen well. I saved you for two reasons."

She extended her mechanical index finger: "First, I owe The Engineer a favor. It believes you have 'potential' and are worth investing in. But I am not its babysitter; my help has conditions and limits."

Then, she extended her middle finger: "Second, the way you handled the Data Stream earlier, while as stupid as a bull in a china shop, the result... was interesting. I'm interested in the 'optimization logic' that might be behind you—don't give me that nonsense about intuition under pressure; that line might work on laymen."

Her gaze became extremely oppressive: "I need more efficient and stealthy Data Stream processing capabilities for my own... projects. As the price for your survival, you need to work for me and provide technical support. Of course, it's not for free; I will pay you credits based on the results, enough for you to pay that medical bill you're worried about."

Her words were direct, cold, and carried the transactional feel typical of a technician, but strangely, they made Lin Feng feel a little more at ease. A clear transaction was better than vague goodwill or unfathomable conspiracies.

"What do you want me to do?" Lin Feng asked cautiously.

"Let's start with something simple." Ling Yue walked to the master console and quickly brought up several encrypted Data Stream. "I have some 'dirty work' data here that needs cleaning and anonymization; it cannot leave any traceable traces. Try it with your 'method' and let me see where your limits are, and... whether you are worth me continuing to invest resources in you."

She turned the interface toward Lin Feng, her eyes sharp.

"Remember, don't try anything funny. On my turf, any extra Data Stream operations you perform won't escape my eyes."

Lin Feng looked at the complex, encrypted, and obviously sensitive Data Stream on the screen, and then felt the gradually recovering strength in his body and the stable blue characters running in his field of vision.

He knew that he had found a temporary safe house, but a test regarding his true value had only just begun.

He took a deep breath, hovered his fingers over the keyboard, and focused his mind.

>> Task Received: Data_Obfuscation & Anonymization.

>> Target Data Complexity: High. Security Requirements: Extreme.

>> Accessing "Source" Core Functions... Adapting to New Data Patterns...

A new challenge had begun.