9: Chapter 9 Hunters and Nests

The icy sensation spread from the tightly clutched metal fragment to his palm, yet it could not calm the drumbeat-like pounding in Lin Feng's chest.

>> Unidentified Network Probe Source: Tracking...Inconclusive. Pattern Archive Cross-Reference: No Match. >> ETA: 01H 04M 18S...

An unknown probe. An unknown threat. Plus the ever-tightening net of the official Agent 734.

Lin Feng felt like he had fallen into a spiderweb woven from crises; every struggle only entangled him further in more strands, tightening the bind. The noise and chaos of The Nest were no longer cover, but had instead become a breeding ground for unknown dangers. Every gaze cast from the shadows seemed to carry a scrutinizing intent.

He couldn't just wait for death!

He abruptly stood up, the stabbing pain in his side making him suck in a sharp breath, but the instinct for survival overrode everything. He pulled his hood lower, stuffed the remaining water and medkit into his pockets, and like a startled beast, plunged back into The Nest's intricate, narrow channels flowing with filthy water.

He had no clear destination, only moving instinctively deeper, towards darker, more crowded places, trying to use the labyrinthine terrain here to shake off any potential pursuit.

>> Activate: Biometric_Scrambler (Low Power Mode). He issued the command to his newly acquired ability, hoping to further disrupt any remote tracking based on biometrics.

>> Executing. Emission: Minimal. Effectivity vs Advanced Sensors: Low.

The effect was limited, but better than nothing.

He passed through narrow courtyards hung with laundry, squeezed through gaps in rusted ventilation pipes, stepped over stagnant puddles gurgling with bubbles. Various smells—cheap spices, rotting food, inferior alcohol, metal rust, and human sweat—blended into a dizzyingly potent miasma that was almost suffocating.

The people around him seemed to ignore his panic, either already accustomed to the chaos here, or too preoccupied with their own survival to care. Occasionally, a few with clouded eyes cast furtive glances his way, mostly assessing whether he was profitable or posed a threat.

>> ETA: 48M 52S...

Time was ticking away, second by second.

>> Alert: Unidentified Probe Signal Strength Fluctuating. Source Moving. Approximating Trajectory... >> Projected Path: Converging on Your General Area.

The blue warning characters popped up again, making Lin Feng's heart sink!

That unknown tracker hadn't given up, and was moving, closing in on his general area! Its tracking method didn't seem to rely entirely on biometrics; it was more like it was tracking some kind of... digital trace? Was it a tail left from his earlier small transaction using the anonymous network? Or was there something wrong with the masking kit The Engineer gave him?

Panic seized him again. Wolves ahead, tigers behind, and he was trapped in this massive concrete maze!

Just as he rushed past a fork piled with discarded monitors, a sudden change occurred!

*WUMMMM—!*

An ear-piercing, high-frequency noise that threatened to tear his eardrums erupted without warning, instantly engulfing the entire area!

It wasn't sound transmitted through air, but a powerful electromagnetic pulse that acted directly on electronic devices, even interfering with nerves!

>> Warning! High-Intensity EMP Burst Detected! >> StealthNet Protocol Link Disrupted! >> Biometric_Scrambler Offline! >> Identity_Mask Offline! >> Local Area Network: Jammed!

Lin Feng grunted, feeling as if his brain had been violently stirred with a red-hot poker. His vision and hearing instantly distorted, the world spinning. He nearly collapsed, barely managing to brace himself against the cold wall beside him with sheer willpower, his stomach churning.

All the blue characters in his vision flickered wildly a few times, then vanished completely!

His ability was jammed! Not completely disabled, but the connection to the outside world and the active stealth functions were forcibly severed!

Almost simultaneously, all the lights in this area of The Nest—whether the illegally strung neon tubes or the few sporadic municipal streetlights—abruptly went out! Plunging everything into utter darkness!

Instantly, the crowd erupted into chaos. Panicked curses, cries, collisions, and the sound of running erupted in the darkness, the confusion reaching its peak.

This was definitely not Agent 734's style! Official personnel wouldn't use such indiscriminate, mass-confusion-causing methods!

It was that unknown tracker! It actually used such a violent method to strip him of his stealth, to force him out into the open!

>> ETA: 47M 10S... The countdown struggled to reappear amidst the interference, the signal extremely unstable.

Lin Feng's heart pounded at its limit. With his ability temporarily suppressed and surrounded by darkness and chaos, he instead felt an unprecedented clarity—the hunter had bared its fangs, no longer content with long-distance observation.

He had to leave this main thoroughfare immediately!

Relying on the vague layout he'd glimpsed earlier, he gritted his teeth, forced himself to adapt to the darkness and the ringing in his head, and stumbled into a narrower, unlit alley beside him.

Less than three seconds after he dashed into the alley!

*Thud! Thud!*

Two muffled, suppressed gunshots precisely struck the wall next to where he had just been standing, spraying a shower of blinding sparks and concrete fragments!

They were shooting! Even in such chaos, they could roughly lock onto his position!

Lin Feng's scalp went numb. Survival instinct summoned his last reserves of strength, and he ran desperately deeper into the alley. His foot slipped on something slimy, nearly sending him sprawling again.

*Whoosh!*

A searing beam of light grazed the back of his neck, melting a large hole in a discarded plastic barrel ahead of him, releasing a foul, burnt smell.

Energy weapon! The opponent was well-equipped and an excellent shot!

>> Partial System Reboot...Attempting to Reinitialize Core Functions... >> Warning: Persistent EMP Dampening Field Detected. Recovery Slowed.

His ability was recovering extremely slowly; the EMP interference was still ongoing!

Despair washed over Lin Feng. Without the aid of his ability, in these completely unfamiliar, dark alleys, he had no chance of shaking off a precise hunter equipped with night vision and energy weapons!

Just as he was about to be driven into a corner—

A nearby metal fire door, seemingly completely rusted shut, suddenly slid inward without a sound, opening a gap just wide enough for one person!

A pale, slender hand shot out from the darkness behind the door and grabbed Lin Feng's arm!

Lin Feng almost cried out in fright, but the hand's grip was astonishingly strong, offering no chance for resistance, yanking him forcefully inside!

*Thud!*

The fire door closed swiftly and silently behind him, completely cutting off the external darkness, chaos, and lethal pursuit.

Lin Feng crashed heavily onto the cold floor, gasping for breath, his nerves still on edge. Inside was absolute, pitch-black darkness. The air carried a faint smell of machine oil and electronic coolant.

"If you don't want to die, stay quiet."

A voice, pressed very low and coolly detached, sounded by his ear, carrying a tone of indisputable command.

Immediately after, a faint, specially filtered cold light illuminated a small area around them.

Using the light, Lin Feng saw he seemed to be in an abandoned underground pipe maintenance room or the interior of some large equipment base. Cold metal walls and thick pipes surrounded him.

Standing before him was a tall, slender young woman. She wore dark, grease-stained work pants and a black sleeveless shirt, revealing toned arms. Her face bore a complex, embedded optical lens covering one eye, faint data streams flowing across its surface. Her other exposed eye, under the cold light, revealed a sharp, weary amber color.

Most striking was her right hand—not flesh and blood, but a mechanical prosthetic of matte metallic finish and intricate structure. It was this hand that had pulled him in with astonishing strength.

The woman wasn't looking at Lin Feng; her attention was fully on the mechanical prosthetic. Its fingertips were connected to a bare data port on the wall; she seemed to be operating something rapidly.

"Was the EMP burst your doing?" Lin Feng gasped, asking instinctively, his heart still racing.

The woman didn't look up, her voice still cool. "Our emergency protocol. To cover your idiot signal and create chaos. The cost was two-thirds of the illegal nodes in this area frying."

Her tone carried clear impatience and disdain.

"Cover my signal?" Lin Feng was taken aback.

"Your crude anonymous transfer was like holding up a torch in the dark and shouting 'I'm here.'" The woman finally glanced at him. The mechanical hand detached from the port, a faint arc of electricity flashing at its fingertips. "The basic kit The Engineer gave you wasn't meant to be used like that. Rookie."

She knew The Engineer? Did she come because of the metal fragment? Or...

>> System Recovery: 45%. Basic Sensory Functions Online. >> Scanning Local Environment... >> Detecting: High-Grade Signal Blocker Active. Advanced Heat/Acoustic Dampening. >> Detecting: Multiple Covert Surveillance Feeds (Status: Inactive/Offline).

His ability was gradually recovering. The scan results made Lin Feng inwardly alarmed. This small refuge had a far higher level of tech than its exterior suggested.

Just then, a component on the woman's mechanical prosthetic emitted a faint overload whine, a wisp of pale smoke curling from a joint.

"Tch." The woman frowned tightly, slapping the prosthetic a few times until the whine gradually subsided. "Forced overload to run signal jamming. The cost isn't small."

She looked up, her amber eye fixing on Lin Feng again, sharp as a blade.

"Listen, rookie. I owe The Engineer a favor. He/She marked you, told me to fish you out before you got whacked." She spoke rapidly. "But that doesn't mean I like trouble. Especially the kind of big trouble you are—officially marked by Sky Curtain and attracting The Cleaners."

The Cleaners? Lin Feng remembered the term; it was the code name for the enforcers Supervisor Wang sent to capture him. But coming from this woman's mouth, it seemed to carry a more dangerous meaning.

"You mean... the one shooting outside wasn't Agent 734?"

"Agent 734?" The woman snorted with derision. "That's the official lapdog. Follows the rules. Annoying but at least predictable. The one outside... is 'Razor' from The Cleaners. A third-party contractor for dirty work. All about efficiency, no questions about methods. You actually managed to get them to deploy that kind of resource. You've got some nerve."

Her words sent Lin Feng's heart sinking to the depths. The situation was even worse than he imagined!

"Why?" Lin Feng asked with difficulty. "I just..."

"I'm not interested in your story." The woman coldly cut him off. "I'm giving you two choices. First, I open this door now, you go out and take your chances. See if Razor cuts you to pieces first, or Agent 734 takes you away. Second..."

She paused, the fingers of her mechanical hand silently splaying and clenching.

"Tell me the core logic behind that dynamic optimization algorithm you used when processing those sensor logs earlier. In exchange, I might consider... letting you live a little longer."

Her single eye locked onto Lin Feng, the gaze seeming to pierce his skull, trying to see the secrets operating deep within his brain.

Inside the cold refuge, the atmosphere instantly froze.

A third-rate code porter who just escaped the gun's mouth, now facing a highly skilled, motive-unknown mechanical prosthetic expert.

The real crisis seemed to have only just begun.