537: Chapter 537 The Cage of Victory

"Director, we have completed the objective ahead of schedule."

Hearing the voice in the team channel, Inspector Ge couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"I told you, use field titles when we're out on a mission. You should call me Captain now."

"Understood, Director. Awaiting your next instructions."

Listening to his subordinates' words, Inspector Ge felt a bit of a headache.

"Forget it. Go and assist Yelena's side."

"Look who's talking. We're on a mission; please call me Captain Ye." A woman's voice suddenly came through the communication channel, making Inspector Ge's hand tremble as he held the communicator.

"Wait, why are you in our team channel?"

"I finished on my end long ago. I came to ask if you need more people. If not, I'm leaving."

Yelena quickly left the channel.

"Director, what should we do now?"

Hearing the voice again, Inspector Ge scratched his head and said with a look of helplessness.

"Then let's retreat toward the exit first. See if there's anything valuable and grab some on the way; we can't come all this way for nothing."

Inspector Ge and Yelena were a few of the acquaintances Mo Ran met when he first arrived in Grace.

They also participated in the subsequent resistance actions and accumulated quite a few merits.

During the post-war reconstruction, Inspector Ge served as a temporary judge, helping to resolve the issue of Reincarnation congestion. Yelena served as a guide for the main city's players, helping them build the city, conquer dungeons, and produce resources to give back to Taiyi City.

After the reconstruction, Inspector Ge was promoted to Director of the Taiyi City Inspection Bureau and Vice Commander of the Taiyi Knights.

He also accepted a mission from Mo Ran to lead an elite squad to Taiyi City to support Kong Xuan, an important figure of the Taiyi Sect.

However, he hadn't expected the mission to be so simple; these guys weren't even as tough as the monsters encountered in dungeons.

With a bang, the door to Inspector Ge's right was instantly kicked to pieces, causing a large portion of the wall to crumble and reveal a massive hole.

"Hiss... hah."

A breathing sound came from the dust and smoke, and a skeletal old man walked out of the pitch-black hole.

His eyes glowed with red light, and cold air continuously drifted from his mouth.

"Hello there, kid."

"Could you tell me which way the exit is?"

At this moment, in Inspector Ge's eyes, the information of the opponent was displayed on the player template handcrafted by Zhou Yan.

[Realm: Early Nascent Soul Stage]

[Vitality: 470k/800k]

[Mana: 1.1m/1.5m]

The opponent's hostile aura and powerful strength made Inspector Ge instantly alert.

Similar situations were occurring in various squads; even those several Truth Cult powerhouses were being blocked.

"What happened? Why the panic?" Zhou Su grabbed a researcher and asked.

"Young Sect Master, the linqin leaf has been decrypted."

"It's just..." The researcher was shaking like a leaf, his words becoming slurred.

"Speak up, now!" Zhou Su frowned, having an ominous premonition.

"Yes, yes!" The researcher calmed himself down, but his voice still trembled as he spoke.

"67% of this leaf's function is for information storage, 23% is a sharing code for some kind of authorization, and in the remaining 10%, a signature and an extremely malicious contract are stored."

"The content of the contract is roughly that once the user reveals the core information, they will suffer a backlash and die on the spot. As long as the plan hasn't ended, even if they are resurrected, they cannot escape the constraints of this contract."

"As for that signature, it says 'Adam'."

Hearing that name, Zhou Su subconsciously let go, and the researcher fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

"How could it be him?"

The researcher rubbed his backside, paused, and then continued.

"Part of the intelligence is restricted by that contract, which we find difficult to resolve. But based on the information analyzed so far, the Dream City may have been sealed off by something called the 'Cage of Victory'!"

Zhou Su quickly took out a jade talisman from her Storage Ring. After crushing it and finding it had no effect, she finally sighed.

"Notify the city to execute Plan B."

"Withdraw our people outside as soon as possible and share some intelligence with other factions."

After arranging everything, Zhou Su contacted her teacher again.

At this moment, the people still in the base had not yet discovered the changes in the Dream City.

"Junior Sister Shi, is it over?"

Seeing Shi Suiyan with cold sweat on her forehead and slightly dilated pupils, Xie Bian felt a bit unsure.

Following the route provided by Zhou Yan, they arrived at a charred laboratory.

Because time was limited, Shi Suiyan immediately performed her Divine Ability. With Zhou Yan's help, she had mastered the method of observing the river of time before coming.

With Xie Bian, a Soul Transformation cultivator, present, and the Law of Time previously left by Zhou Yan to protect her from being eroded by the river of time.

Everything went exceptionally smoothly. Aside from some weak lackeys occasionally coming to harass them, nothing happened.

But until shortly before, a group of strange guys began arriving at the laboratory that no one had noticed before.

Each of them used bizarre Spells and Divine Abilities, and their cultivation levels did not match their actual strength.

After dealing with three incoming enemies in succession, Xie Bian also sustained some injuries.

Just as he intended to follow Zhou Yan's instructions—to take Shi Suiyan and run if time ran out—

Shi Suiyan suddenly had a reaction, kneeling on the ground and gasping for air.

After coughing violently a few times, Shi Suiyan spoke weakly to Xie Bian.

"Take me away first. I've already obtained something very important."

Xie Bian nodded, using his mana to condense a chain that bound Shi Suiyan's waist and lifted her up.

Then, he exerted force with his feet and ran toward the preset escape route at maximum speed.

"Shi Suiyan is already in position. So, have you come as well, Zhou Yan?"

From the originally charred laboratory, Ma Hao walked out. He looked in the direction the two had left, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

On the other side of the base, Zhou Yan was rushing toward where Yuan Chenling was being held.

There was no one on this path; it was clear that Li Heng really wanted to dispose of the trouble that was Yuan Chenling.

However, this path was also very long. Hearing the news of objectives being achieved one by one in the communication channel, Zhou Yan also grew urgent.

"Damn it, who designed this? Putting the cells so far inside."

Just as Zhou Yan was complaining, the passage around the corner ahead was instantly filled with flames.

The firelight reflected in Zhou Yan's pupils and quickly enveloped him.

Boom.

An explosion rang out, making the entire passage shake. The originally soaring flames vanished completely, leaving only a large amount of steam pervading the area.

Suddenly, a hurricane swirled up and dispersed the steam. Winter, who had previously looked decadent, appeared within it, his face filled with nothing but rage.

"Who on earth are you! Li Heng's people..."

Before Winter could finish his sentence, he felt unable to speak, and his dao body became difficult to control.

Before he lost consciousness, he only saw the man in front of him change from a benevolent-looking Middle-aged Man into a youth in green clothes with a single ponytail.

Accompanied by the last words he heard: "Excuse me."

Winter's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

Zhou Yan was in a hurry and didn't have time to care who had come. After instantly switching to the Feng Xu template, he disabled the other's mobility.

Even halfway through the switch, Zhou Yan realized the person was actually Winter. Pulling back urgently, he only ended up cutting him into Winter-shards rather than Winter-mincemeat.

It couldn't be helped; the situation seemed a bit messy now. If Winter went offline this early, there was no telling what Li Heng would do.

Since he had already switched to the Feng Xu template, Zhou Yan didn't plan to change back, directly using Feng Xu's Spells to travel quickly.

Feng Xu's strength was indeed incredible. Even though the new era was far stronger than the old, Feng Xu was still in a league of his own in the modern age.

After casually dealing with Winter just now, Zhou Yan had realized this.

This was the first time he had used the complete version of Feng Xu, and he couldn't help but marvel at how much Power of Law the complete Feng Xu consumed.

Even though his Law of the Heart had been developed to near Perfection, it could only withstand such consumption with the admixture of other Laws.

Fortunately, the distance wasn't far. Zhou Yan soon discovered the room where Yuan Chenling was being held. Without a word, he activated Unstained Dust and crashed into it.

After smashing a large hole in the wall, Zhou Yan didn't stop and crashed into the window in front of him, shattering the door and special glass enclosing it.

Zhou Yan landed directly in front of Yuan Chenling.

He wouldn't make the mistake of walking through the door and getting locked in a special room; even if Li Heng wouldn't do that, he had to take precautions.