50: Symphony of the Power Outage

Midnight.

Above Mining Area No. 7, two crescent moons looked down upon the deathly silent land like the cold pupils of a beast.

"Captain, everything's been checked. The insulation on this line is indeed aging," reported one of Reno's trusted Guards. "Should we mark it now?"

"No need. We'll report it for maintenance all at once tomorrow," Reno's voice carried no emotion in the cold night wind. "Leave the toolbox there so we don't have to make another trip. Let's move to the next point."

"Yes, sir!"

The Guard naturally placed a heavy, unremarkable, specially-made toolbox into the shadows next to a maintenance hatch on the outer wall of D-7 Substation.

Afterward, the patrol team left without looking back, their footsteps quickly vanishing into the darkness.

Everything was seamless.

Elsewhere, at Chen Feng's hiding spot.

"Brother Feng, Captain Reno and his men have left," Ma Liu's voice was suppressed with excitement.

"I know."

Chen Feng was watching the silent area through a miniature camera disguised as a stone.

He took a deep breath, extended his finger, and pressed the red virtual button on his simple terminal.

This was an irreversible decision.

He didn't know how much of Xing Zhan's wrath this would draw, but he had no choice. This was their only way to break the deadlock.

Inside D-7 Substation, in an unremarkable corner.

The miniature heater inside the toolbox activated silently. The ghostly blue, highly conductive nano-gel woke up like a venomous snake and began to melt.

Following the gaps Lao Mo had meticulously calculated, it seeped noiselessly into the high-voltage busbar wrapped in thick insulation below.

Sizzle—

A faint sound, barely audible.

A few seconds later, under the erosion of the nano-gel, the solid insulation was completely pierced through.

A dazzling blue electric arc instantly exploded like a waking lightning dragon, igniting the metal dust that had accumulated in the air for years!

"What was that sound?"

“Shit, it looks like the busbar..."

In the guardroom, two drowsy Scavenger members were jolted awake. One of them had just started to curse when he was swallowed by a blinding light outside the window that was bright enough to cause blindness.

Boom—!!!

A dull, heavy explosion rang out, as if the heart of the earth had been struck by a massive fist.

A massive fireball completely engulfed the entire D-7 Substation.

The power of the explosion far exceeded Chen Feng's expectations; a chain reaction occurred!

The terrifying overloaded current, like an unbridled beast, surged back along the war preparation power grid.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Throughout the mining area, the energy cores of the sentry turrets that usually flaunted their might could not withstand this destructive impact. They exploded one after another, blooming into clusters of gorgeous yet lethal fireworks in the pitch-black night sky.

Half of the mining area instantly plunged into a darkness where one could not see their own hand in front of their face.

The war preparation power grid was completely paralyzed!

"Wooo—! Wooo—! Wooo—!"

The shrill alarms, continuous explosions, and the terrified screams of people merged into a chaotic mess.

Panic, like the most terrible plague, spread wildly in the darkness.

The entire Mining Area No. 7 instantly transformed from a tightly sealed pressure cooker into a completely boiling kettle.

Inside the slaughterer command center.

"Report! D-7 Substation has been destroyed!"

"Report! The war preparation power grid is completely paralyzed! Eighty percent of the sentry cannons are offline!"

"Report! Large-scale riots are occurring in Sector C, Sector D, and Sector F!"

Xing Zhan watched the red dots and static flickering out on the monitor screens, his facial muscles contorted with rage.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

He kicked over the console beside him, the screech of metal echoing throughout the bridge.

He finally realized that this wasn't a simple accident, but a deliberate, audacious provocation! It was the most blatant trampling of his authority!

"All Scavenger members! Deploy immediately!" he roared into the communicator, his voice sounding like a wounded beast. "Lock down all sectors! Give me indiscriminate inspections! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find that goddamn rat for me!"

On the chaotic streets of the mining area, Chen Feng's other team was moving quietly.

"Have you heard? The vengeful spirits from Sector B have fought their way out!"

"I saw a white shadow with my own eyes... Xing Zhan has killed too many people, karma is catching up to him!"

Ma Liu led his men, taking the opportunity to spread carefully woven rumors among the panicked Mine Slaves.

These rumors acted like a catalyst, not only intensifying the panic of the Mine Slaves but also cleverly cloaking this technical sabotage in a layer of superstitious, untraceable mystery, completely leading Xing Zhan's investigation astray.

While everyone's attention was firmly held by the explosions and panic, a dark figure was moving rapidly through the shadows of the buildings, using the darkness and chaos as cover.

The entrance to Pump Station No. 3.

Chen Feng had arrived.

Almost at the same time, another equally agile figure arrived silently from another direction.

It was Reno.

Amidst the flickering firelight in the distance and the constant sound of explosions, their eyes met under the blinking emergency lights.

No redundant words were needed.

Reno looked at the man before him who was unnervingly calm and spoke in a raspy voice, asking the first question:

"These 'fireworks'... were they your doing?"