35: Chapter 7 Silent Gunfire

The shaft was not deep, only four or five meters. Lei Kun climbed up first, his movements clean and efficient; even with a wounded left shoulder, his core strength and coordination still displayed the instincts of a veteran. He poked his head out, observed cautiously for a moment, and then gestured "Safe" downward.

Lin Feng followed closely behind, trying to ignore the sticky stench from being soaked through and the stinging pain of his wounds after being submerged in water. He climbed up to the wellhead and found himself in the center of a huge circular space. It looked like an abandoned central sedimentation tank control room, surrounded by circular walls covered in rusted valves, with incomplete glass observation windows high up, letting in the eternal, gloomy daylight from the edge of The Nest. The air was filled with an even heavier scent of rust and coolant, overpowering the filth on his body.

Ling Yue was sitting on a metal box in the corner of the room, biting on an emergency energy bar. Her intact left hand worked in coordination with her teeth, roughly dismantling the severely overloaded and damaged mechanical prosthetic arm on her right side. Precision tools were scattered all over the floor, beads of sweat on her forehead, her eyes focused and irritable, as if she were dealing with a sworn enemy. Hearing the commotion, her sharp gaze swept over instantly. She paused slightly when she saw Lei Kun, then her gaze fell on the disheveled Lin Feng, and a very faint cold snort escaped her nose.

"Not dead yet? You've got a tough life." Her voice was somewhat slurred because she was biting the energy bar, but the sarcasm remained undiminished.

After landing, Lei Kun immediately moved silently to the side of the only door in the control room, listening to the movement outside while quickly checking the structure of the door lock. "The situation outside is more complicated than expected." He said in a low voice, keeping it very quiet, "The tracking signal for 'Razor' has disappeared, but the official drone swarm is conducting a carpet thermal signal scan at low altitude, covering a large area. We're like rats trapped in a hole."

＞ ＞ Scanning External Environment ... Confirmed . Multiple UAV Signatures Detected . Thermal Sweep Pattern : Intensive Grid . Estimated Time to Cover This Sector : 15-20 Minutes .

＞ ＞ Internal Bio-Signatures : Ling Yue (High Stress , Fatigue , Focused) , Lei Kun (Elevated Alert , Minor Pain) , Self (Exhausted , Elevated Stress) .

The ability's scan verified Lei Kun's judgment. Lin Feng's heart sank. Thermal signal scan! The three of them had just undergone strenuous exercise, their body temperature signatures were obvious; in this cold, abandoned facility, they were like lighthouses in the night!

"Damn it!" Ling Yue cursed in a low voice, tossing the half-dismantled mechanical arm parts into the toolbox with a loud clatter. "It must have been triggered by that energy burst below! The official dogs have a keen sense of smell!" She scratched her hair irritably and looked at Lei Kun. "Where's 'Wrench'? Did he just send you to be a babysitter, without leaving any backup plan?"

"He is only responsible for providing information and intelligence. How to survive is our business." Lei Kun's answer remained steady, but his gaze swept sharply over the various old equipment in the control room. "Is there anything here that still works? Anything that can interfere with or fool those drones?"

"Interfere?" Ling Yue seemed to have been struck by an idea. She stood up abruptly and walked quickly to the main control console of the control room. The old machine had long been powered off, the screen pitch-black and covered in dust. But she didn't care at all, using her left hand to pry open the baffle on the side of the console, revealing the tangled old-fashioned cables and interfaces inside.

"Rookie! Come here!" She shouted without looking back. "Does your 'kind' of ability work on old-fashioned analog signal equipment?"

Lin Feng was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood her intention. He walked over quickly: "I'm not sure, but I can try."

＞ ＞ Analyzing Control Console : Obsolete Analog-Digital Hybrid System . Primary Power : Offline . Backup Cells : Depleted . Interface : Non-Standard .

＞ ＞ Adaptation Required . Attempting to Emulate Low-Level Maintenance Power Cycle ...

Lin Feng concentrated, pressing his hand onto the cold metal casing of the console. Blue characters flowed rapidly in his field of vision, attempting to understand and access the underlying logic of this ancient system. This time it was much more difficult than connecting to modern digital devices, as if trying to communicate with someone speaking an ancient dialect using a modern language.

"I need to... guide its backup power to start, even if only for a few seconds, give me an access port..." Fine sweat seeped from Lin Feng's forehead, and he felt as if his brain was being stretched.

Ling Yue understood immediately. She quickly found two probes from the toolbox, precisely inserted them into two specific interfaces inside the console, and then bit onto the insulation of a wire with her teeth and gave it a sharp tug!

"Now! Emulate a voltage pulse!" She shouted indistinctly.

＞ ＞ Command : Emulate Power Surge (Low Amplitude , Short Duration) .

＞ ＞ Executing ...

Hum...

A subtle sound of electricity came from inside the console, and a few long-dimmed indicator lights flickered extremely faintly, then went out again. But in that instant, Ling Yue's probes had already captured that fleeting signal!

"Enough!" She spat out the wire insulation from her mouth and began operating rapidly on the portable terminal she had brought with her. "The old thing has an independent, physically isolated environmental sensor network! Although most of it is broken, there are a few hidden heat source and acoustic sensors that still work! I can amplify their signals, fake a few moving heat sources, and lure the drones away!"

Her fingers moved so fast they appeared as a blur, code flowing like a waterfall on her small screen.

"Position! Give me the location coordinates where I need to fake the heat sources!" She asked Lei Kun, speaking at high speed.

Lei Kun did not hesitate at all and immediately reported several coordinate points located in the opposite direction of their area, precise to the meter. His understanding of the terrain and ability to deploy tactics were fully revealed.

Lin Feng, meanwhile, was doing his best to maintain that extremely weak, intermittent energy supply, and tried to use his own ability to assist Ling Yue in signal amplification and camouflage, ＞ ＞ Assisting Signal Amplification ... Noise Injection Pattern : Randomized . He felt his temples throbbing; the mental exhaustion was far greater than any previous data operation.

"Done!" A few dozen seconds later, Ling Yue slammed down the final key.

Almost simultaneously, ＞ ＞ UAV Movement Alteration Detected . 3 Units Diverting to New Coordinates . The ability's prompt appeared! Three drones had been successfully lured away!

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

But >> Warning: Primary UAV Swarm Maintains Course. ETA: 8 Minutes. The main UAV swarm is still heading toward their area! The pressure has only eased slightly.

"That's the best I can do." Ling Yue took a breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "As for the rest, we either tough it out or pray they fly faster."

"Not enough." Lei Kun shook his head, his gaze falling on several large, rusted oxygen and acetylene cylinders in the corner of the control room—likely left behind from previous maintenance work. "Can you create a local, brief energy barrier? Something to absorb or distort the thermal signals in this small area? It doesn't need to last long—just dozens of seconds to get through the densest wave of the scan."

"An energy barrier?" Ling Yue frowned. "What do you think this is, an interstellar warship? Wait..." Her gaze also turned toward the gas cylinders, then at her half-ruined mechanical arm. A wild idea flashed in her eyes.

"Rookie! With that 'Optimization' of yours, can you briefly overclock the remaining energy capacitors in this broken arm of mine? Don't worry about the consequences—as long as it can instantaneously release maximum energy in a specific direction to form an unstable energy turbulence!"

Lin Feng instantly understood what she wanted to do—use the energy release from the overclocked mechanical arm combined with the potentially detonated chemical cylinders to create a controlled energy turbulence sufficient to interfere with the UAV sensors! This was insane!

"We can try... but your arm..." Lin Feng looked at her mangled mechanical arm.

"If it's ruined, it's ruined! It's better than being dragged to a lab!" Ling Yue said sharply, her eyes fierce and determined. "Hurry! There's no time!"

>> UAV ETA: 5 Minutes.

>> Analyzing Target: Ling Yue's Mechanical Arm - Damaged Energy Capacitor. Overclocking Feasibility: Low. Success Probability: 38%. Catastrophic Failure Risk: High.

The success rate was less than forty percent, and it was highly likely to cause the mechanical arm to be completely scrapped or even explode!

Lin Feng looked at Lei Kun. The veteran looked back at him silently, his expression solemn, but he gave a slight nod. This was currently the only unconventional method that might work.

"Coordinates! Give me a precise release coordinate!" Lin Feng gritted his teeth and pressed his hand onto Ling Yue's mechanical arm, which was covered in exposed wiring and flickering with dangerous electrical arcs. Beneath the cold metal touch, he could almost feel the restlessness of the residual energy.

Ling Yue quickly called out a coordinate located diagonally above them.

Lin Feng closed his eyes, his entire consciousness sinking into that blue abyss of data. >> Overriding Safety Protocols. Forcing Energy Capacitor to 180% Rated Output. Focusing Release Vector... He guided the power of the 'Source,' like taming a beast on the verge of losing control, forcibly squeezing out the last bit of potential from the mechanical arm.

Ling Yue clenched her teeth, her body trembling slightly from the pain and the massive energy load. Her face was as pale as paper, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.

Lei Kun, meanwhile, moved quickly to the gas cylinders, skillfully knocking open several valves with his dagger. A pungent gas began to hiss out. He calculated the time and concentration like a precision war machine.

>> UAV ETA: [Seconds].

>> Energy Capacitor Status: Critical. Release Imminent.

"Now!" Lin Feng shouted suddenly!

Ling Yue let out a suppressed roar and slammed the mechanical arm, overclocked to its limit, toward the preset coordinates!

Vrrr—BOOM!!!

An extremely unstable, distorted blue-white energy beam erupted from the tip of the mechanical arm, hitting the target point! Almost simultaneously, the leaking chemical gas was instantly ignited, triggering a small-scale but extremely dazzling explosion!

A powerful energy shock and thermal disturbance instantly swept through the small area!

>> UAV Sensor Interference: Successful! Thermal and EM Scanners Scrambled!

>> Warning: Ling Yue's Mechanical Arm - Complete Systems Failure. Critical Damage.

>> External: Official Comms Channel Intercept - "Sensor Ghost in Sector 7-Alpha! Possible Secondary Collapse! Advise Caution!"

It worked! The UAV's sensors were successfully jammed! Confused and cautious commands came through the official channel!

Inside the control room, the aftershocks of the explosion shook down layers of dust. Ling Yue collapsed to the ground, her mechanical right arm completely dimmed and charred, looking like a piece of scrap metal. Faint smoke even rose from beneath the bionic skin at the joints. She coughed violently, but a wild, victorious smile played on her face.

Lin Feng also slumped to the ground in exhaustion, his brain feeling hollowed out and throbbing with pain.

Lei Kun quickly closed the remaining gas valves to prevent a secondary explosion. He strode to the door, once again focusing his attention to listen.

Outside, the roar of the UAV engines seemed to become hesitant, circling before gradually beginning to turn away.

The brief crisis seemed to have passed.

Only the heavy breathing of the three people remained in the room. A silence born of having survived a disaster spread.

Lei Kun walked to Ling Yue's side, knelt down, and checked her ruined mechanical arm and physical condition. He said in a low voice, "We need to replace the spare parts as soon as possible."

Ling Yue nodded weakly, but her gaze turned toward Lin Feng, her eyes filled with complexity. "Rookie... that move of yours just now... was something." This was her first near-explicit recognition of him.

Lin Feng managed a weak smile, but before he could say anything—

>> Alert: Faint Vibration Detected. Source: Subterranean. Pattern: Rhythmic, Heavy. Approaching.

>> Acoustic Analysis: Matches "Large Mechanical Entity" Movement Pattern from Previous Encounter.

The ability's warning rang out abruptly once again!

Lin Feng's smile froze on his face.

"It's... it's back..." he said, his voice dry.

The expressions of Lei Kun and Ling Yue also changed instantly.

The massive claw marks on the pipe walls... that terrifying mechanical monster that had torn apart the unknown creature... it hadn't been scared off by the previous explosion; instead... it had been attracted?

And from the sound of it, it was coming from underground... toward their location!

Nerves that had just relaxed were once again strained to the limit.

They had just escaped the UAVs' dragnet, only to face a more primitive and violent threat of death from below.

The struggle of the trapped beasts was far from over.

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