88: Chapter 88: S-Rank Blueprints Found, Successful Escape!

Three minutes.

Chen Chen didn't run.

Stepping over mechanical wreckage, he walked toward the alloy wall behind the operating table and glanced at the remains of instruments shattered by the electromagnetic pulse.

Beneath a pile of sparking circuit boards, a data terminal semi-embedded in the wall was still stubbornly running; most of its screen was shattered, but the remaining display flickered with dense reactor parameters and file directories.

"What are you doing?!" Blood Rose's voice cracked. "Three minutes! Why aren't you running?!"

Chen Chen remained calm, his fingers sliding rapidly across the broken touchscreen, scrolling the file directory to the bottom.

Reactor blueprints, weapon design drafts, energy transmission pipeline schematics—they were all classified industrial files.

What he was looking for wasn't among these routine documents.

120 seconds.

His fingertip swiped across an encrypted folder.

The icon was labeled with the words "Core Replication Protocol," followed by an S-grade permission lock.

Chen Chen didn't have the password.

But the semi-biological leader did.

He turned, walked to the wreckage still leaking coolant, and ripped off the mechanical prosthetic from the leader's right hand.

Biometric chips were embedded in the tips of the five alloy fingers.

Chen Chen slammed the entire mechanical arm onto the terminal's scanning area.

"Beep—Verification passed."

The folder popped open. Inside, there was only one blueprint.

[S-Grade Industrial Blueprint: A-Grade High-Energy Nuclear Reactor (Mass-Producible Version)]

Chen Chen's pupils constricted.

This wasn't an ordinary reactor blueprint.

This was a mass-production plan simplified through reverse engineering.

With this, as long as the materials were in place, he could mass-produce A-grade nuclear reactors like manufacturing bullets.

The final puzzle piece for the Void Annihilation Matrix.

He immediately imported the blueprint data into the storage chip of his storage ring.

90 seconds.

The temperature of the metal floor beneath his feet was rising rapidly, and the rubber soles of his boots were already starting to soften.

A pungent, burnt smell of scorched metal permeated the air.

"Go!" Chen Chen grabbed Blood Rose's wrist and yanked her up from the corner.

"Go where?!" Blood Rose's voice was shrill and out of tune. "The elevator takes thirty seconds to reach the surface, and once we're out, the camp is surrounded by artillery and guards. Your car is parked dozens of kilometers away—"

Chen Chen's free left hand reached into the side pocket of his tactical pants and felt a card.

It was black, engraved with special energy circuits.

The Guide Card given by the Fox-eared Tavern Keeper.

"As long as you crush this Guide Card within the same region's channel, you can lock onto the coordinates of the tavern for my next teleportation."

Those were the exact words of that foxy woman.

The tavern was mobile.

It would teleport to the next safety node when the Black Mist approached.

Based on the speed and direction of the death black mist's advance, the tavern's new coordinates would be at least several hundred kilometers away from their current position.

Far enough.

60 seconds.

A dull explosion echoed from beneath the floor. A main pipeline was the first to fail under the high temperature, and hissing steam burst out from the floor seams.

Blood Rose's calf was scalded, making her gasp in pain.

Chen Chen's fingers tightened.

The Guide Card crumbled into powder in his palm.

A streak of dark gold light shot out from the debris, drawing a complex coordinate rune in the air before suddenly expanding—a teleportation array one and a half meters in diameter formed out of thin air on the two-square-meter metal floor beneath them.

The surface of the array flowed with the same alien characters found on the tavern's lintel, emitting a warm orange-yellow glow.

"Get in."

Blood Rose didn't say another word. She dove headfirst into the teleportation array.

30 seconds.

The entire underground space began to vibrate violently. Overhead pipelines burst, pouring down large amounts of coolant and unidentified liquids.

The alloy armor plates on the walls warped and deformed under the high-temperature expansion, making a tooth-gritting screech.

Chen Chen took one last look at the screen that was still counting down.

22... 21... 20...

He stepped into the teleportation array.

The orange-yellow light instantly swallowed him.

His vision exploded into a field of white.

---

At the same time.

Over the Gobi Desert, sixty-three kilometers away from the Wild Sand Camp, the Ghost Fortress hovered at a height of three meters, its eighteen-ton body tightly wrapped in the purple force field of the mental shielding device.

On the first floor of the vehicle.

Shen Wanbing propped her hands on the tactical command console; the blue light of her concentration ice heart necklace had dimmed almost to the point of extinguishing.

Her Radar talent was pushed to maximum power, her mental energy was exhausted, and two dried trails of blood hung beneath her nostrils.

Yet her eyes remained fixed on the dot of light representing Chen Chen on the holographic projection.

That dot was fifty meters beneath the camp.

Shen Wanxing crouched beside Shen Wanbing, her hands gripping her sister's cuffs so hard her knuckles turned white.

She didn't say a word, her eyes were red-rimmed, and she bit her lower lip to swallow her sobs.

Jiang Yanxue stood by the armored door, her Shadow Instant-Kill Blade already unsheathed, her whole body tensed like a drawn bow.

Su Xiaoqi stuffed the last piece of roasted meat into her mouth, chewed twice, and suddenly stopped.

She didn't quite understand what was happening, but everyone in the vehicle was acting strangely.

She hugged her knees and huddled in a corner, her large eyes darting back and forth.

Qin Hongye lay at the sniper window on the second floor, her gauss rifle mounted on a bipod, aiming through the scope toward the camp.

Suddenly.

At the end of the horizon, a sphere of white light shot into the sky.

The sphere of light expanded with incredible speed, its diameter reaching over a hundred meters within tenths of a second.

Then came the shockwave—visible ripples in the air surged outward in a fan shape, and the kicked-up yellow sand formed a wall that blotted out the sun.

Even sixty-three kilometers away, the Ghost Fortress was jolted two meters sideways.

A mushroom cloud.

The sympathetic detonation of the A-grade nuclear reactor blasted a vitrified crater two kilometers wide in the Flesh Wasteland.

"Chen Chen—!"

Shen Wanxing's composure completely collapsed.

She lunged at the holographic projection, her hands frantically slapping the light screen; the dot representing Chen Chen had vanished the instant the explosion occurred.

"Where is he?! Sister, where is he?!"

Jiang Yanxue's hand holding the blade was trembling.

She didn't shout, but she gritted her teeth, all color draining from her face.

Su Xiaoqi burst into tears with a "waa!", curling into a ball while clutching an empty tin can.

Shen Wanbing didn't move.

She propped herself on the command console, her back slightly arched and her shoulders trembling.

But the corners of her mouth—forced a very faint curve.

"Everyone, shut up."

Her voice was hoarse, yet steady.

"He used teleportation." Shen Wanbing stood up straight, opened a drawer, took out an adrenaline injector, and stabbed it into her upper arm through her sleeve.

As the drug entered her bloodstream, she quickly regained enough mental energy to maintain a low-power scan.

Radar restarted.

The scanning range was stretched to its limit.

Ten seconds later, Shen Wanbing found him.

To the northeast, 347 kilometers away in a straight line—a new vital sign signal appeared on the Radar.

The signal characteristics were a perfect match for Chen Chen.

There was a second signal beside it.

"Northeast, 347 kilometers." Shen Wanbing slapped the still-crying Shen Wanxing awake, her voice regaining the cold sternness of a billionaire CEO,

"He's alive. Jiang Yanxue, drive. Full speed."

Jiang Yanxue sheathed her blade, crossed to the driver's seat in three steps, and turned the key and stepped on the gas in one fluid motion.

The A-grade maglev engine erupted with a low roar that vibrated through one's internal organs.

The Ghost Fortress trailed a purplish-blue electric arc tail flame as it plunged into the vast night.

Shen Wanxing slumped in the passenger seat and wiped away her tears.

Her nose was as red as a rabbit's.

"Sis, how did you know he used teleportation?"

Shen Wanbing leaned against the command console, her eyes closed.

"Because that man never does anything he isn't sure of."