137: Chapter 137 Technological Overwhelm: The Eyes of Drones
The Ghost's palpitations were no illusion.
At the exact moment he stuffed the intelligence packet into the truck's hidden compartment and watched the vehicle drive deep into the logistics park—about to merge into the outbound city traffic—a "Night Owl" over a hundred meters above his head seemed to pause briefly.
It was an ordinary tawny owl, a nocturnal bird common to the area. However, the Ghost's eyes, honed through brutal training, caught a hint of incongruity against the backdrop of thin light pollution at the city's edge. The bird's circling trajectory was too regular; its wing-beat frequency underwent a subtle, non-biological adjustment at a certain moment. Moreover, its "gaze" seemed to... lock onto the position where he was hiding.
Without the slightest hesitation, the Ghost dove deep into the shadows of a nearby pile of shipping containers like a startled rabbit. The very second after his body left its original spot—
"Swoosh!"
A pale blue, low-energy laser beam, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, struck the ground where he had just been standing with precision, burning a needle-point-sized scorch mark. There was no sound, no smoke—only a faint scent of ozone in the air.
It wasn't a lethal attack; it was more like... a tag.
"I'm locked on! How is that possible?!" With his back against the cold iron of the container, the Ghost's heart pounded wildly—not out of fear, but due to extreme confusion and a rare touch of horror. He was certain he hadn't triggered any conventional sensors, exposed any heat source, emitted any signals, or even breathed more than the bare minimum. How did the opponent find him? That bird? A drone? Or some entirely new detection technology he couldn't comprehend at all?
He quietly turned his head, using the smallest possible angle to peer out through a gap between the containers. The "Night Owl" had vanished, and the night sky was silent. But he had already been "seen" by something.
He couldn't stay here any longer!
The Ghost moved like a gecko against the shadows of the containers, moving extremely fast while precisely utilizing environmental cover for every step. He slunk toward the deeper parts of the logistics park, an area piled high with large vehicles and cargo. The terrain there was more complex, providing more cover.
Before he had moved even twenty meters, atop another pile of cargo not far ahead, an originally motionless "rat" (a common brown rat found in cities) suddenly turned its head. Those eyes, which should have reflected a faint red light in the dark, flashed with an almost invisible blue stream of data as they stared straight at the direction he was moving.
"Damn it!" the Ghost cursed internally, forcing a change in direction and rushing into a narrow passage between two rows of containers. There were lights at the end of the passage—the logistics park's loading area. There would be workers and vehicles there; a place with a mix of people might interfere with the tracking.
Just as he rushed into the passage—
"Hum..."
A specific frequency of sound waves, extremely faint but enough to make his eardrums uncomfortable, emanated from the gaps between the containers on both sides. While it wasn't enough to make him dizzy like back at the kindergarten, it acted like an invisible broom, clearly "outlining" the acoustic reflection signals of his body's silhouette.
He felt as if he were running through transparent gel, with every step being watched by invisible eyes.
The loading area was just ahead; lights and the sound of voices drifted over. If he could just blend in...
Suddenly, at the edge of a large floodlight's cover above the loading area, an inconspicuous black dot disguised as a rust stain slightly adjusted its angle. Following that, on the Ghost's wrist, the fine patterns on the dial of his watch—which had a simple spectrum analysis function (non-electronic, based on crystal resonance for high anti-interference)—actually began to show abnormal interference fringes, the indicator swinging wildly in confusion. That light was releasing a powerful, full-band suppressive directional electromagnetic interference! The range perfectly covered the entrance to the loading area!
That wasn't an ordinary light! Once he stepped into that area, any electronic devices on him (even the most basic ones) would reveal anomalies or might even be fried!
An electromagnetic trap ahead, and an unknown pursuer behind.
The Ghost slammed to a halt, cold sweat truly soaking his undershirt for the first time. He realized he had fallen into a completely foreign battlefield. The opponent wasn't using any tracking technology he was familiar with—it wasn't thermal imaging, motion sensors, acoustic detection, or laser rangefinding... it was an integration of all those technologies, reaching a terrifying level of miniaturization, intelligence, and coordination!
Those birds, those rats, those lights... they were all the opponent's eyes! It was an all-pervasive intelligent sensing net covering the entire area!
This wasn't a human agent's counter-tracking; this was a dimensional strike!
Leaning against a container, he panted heavily, his brain working at an unprecedented speed. Forcing his way through wouldn't work, disguises seemed ineffective, and electronic silence might still be exposed under the opponent's level of electromagnetic control. For the first time, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness, as if he were standing naked before an X-ray machine with nowhere to hide.
Inside fortress-1, on the circular screen in front of Lin Mo, the "hunting" scene in the logistics park was being displayed in real-time from multiple perspectives and modes.
The main screen was a dynamic 3D map generated by the system after fusing data sent back from all hummingbird drones (including bionic models). On the map, the red dot representing the Ghost was clearly marked. Every tiny movement, every pause, and even the rise and fall of his chest from slightly accelerated breathing due to tension were captured, fused, and presented by sensors from different angles.
The left split-screen showed the Ghost's real-time infrared image, the right showed a low-light enhanced picture, and below were acoustic imaging silhouettes and electromagnetic radiation anomaly analysis.
"Target has entered preset lockdown area C7," the system's synthesized voice reported calmly. "All external passages have been logically blocked by the Weaving Net in coordination with civilian surveillance systems (manifesting as temporary traffic control, equipment 'malfunctions', etc.). Internally, the collaborative sensing network of twelve hummingbird-3 models has reached 91.7% coverage. The target attempted to move to the loading area and was stopped by the directional electromagnetic interference barrier. The target is currently in the container passage, in a state of hesitation."
Watching the target on the screen, who was being stared at by various "eyes" like a trapped beast, Shan Xiao couldn't help but swallow hard. This god-like absolute surveillance gave even a battle-hardened veteran like him a chill. This wasn't a confrontation at all; it was a one-sided demonstration and a game of cat and mouse.
"He should already understand what he's facing," Lin Mo watched the red dot with a cold gaze. "A technological generation gap cannot be bridged by experience and willpower alone. The more he struggles, the more information he exposes."
He tapped lightly on the virtual keyboard, issuing new commands to all hummingbird drones: "Maintain suppression and tracking, gradually shrink the activity space. Release 'induced pheromones'—simulate the dialogue and footsteps of logistics park night security guards, slowly closing in on him from the east and north. Apply pressure, but do not make direct contact."
"Executing command," the system responded.
Soon, inside the logistics park, the Ghost's ears caught the faint sound of human voices and the swaying of flashlight beams, flanking the passage he was in from two directions. The sounds and lights were very realistic, matching the standard equipment and common dialogue of park security.
"Eyes" ahead, "pursuers" behind.
The Ghost knew these "guards" were likely fake as well—pawns used by the opponent to force him to move. But he had no choice. Staying in place would only lead to being surrounded. He had to move; he had to find the only possible flaw in this inescapable net while in motion.
He chose the west side of the passage, where some giant mechanical parts covered in tarps were stacked. The shadows were thickest there, perhaps providing brief visual concealment.
He slipped into those shadows soundlessly, like a true ghost. The moment his body vanished into the darkness, several dirty-looking plastic clips used to secure the tarps on the mechanical parts suddenly flickered with extremely faint blue light points in synchronization.
Immediately after, next to the red dot representing the Ghost on the screen in front of Lin Mo, a series of new analytical data popped up:
[Contact Point Material Analysis: Tarp is polyester fiber, containing trace residues of warehouse pesticide.]
[Target's Palm Contact Pressure Distribution Map Generated.]
[Target's Shoe Sole Pattern Match with fragments extracted from mud stains in Alley G7: 99.3%.]
[Target's Shoulder/Back Clothing Fibers share seven trace elements with dust components from a specific shelf in a slum second-hand shop.]
[...]
The system was using those miniature contact sensors disguised as plastic clips to frantically collect physical information left by the Ghost's body, performing high-speed comparisons and correlations with environmental evidence extracted from all previous suspicious locations!
This was no longer just tracking; this was "scene reconstruction" and "evidence chain welding" performed with technology!
The Ghost was completely unaware of this. Leaning against the cold machinery, he took a brief breath and thought about his next move. He vaguely felt as if he had fallen into an increasingly viscous swamp; every contact with the environment seemed to leave more "nails" pinning him down.
He looked up through a gap in the tarp toward the deep night sky. The starlight was dim, and city lights flickered in the distance. In a daze, he seemed to see countless cold, inhuman "eyes" in that boundless dark canopy, looking down at him quietly and emotionlessly, taking in his every move.
An unprecedented chill, originating from a cognitive level, climbed up his spine.
He wasn't facing a genius hidden in a safe house, nor an elite protection force.
He was facing an entire "intelligent environment" armed and interconnected by cutting-edge technology, seemingly possessing its own consciousness. In this environment, he was transparent, with nowhere to hide.
The technical crushing was demonstrated vividly at this moment. The hunter's self-important stealth and maneuverability appeared so clumsy and laughable before a higher-dimensional sensing network.
Lin Mo looked at the red dot on the screen that seemed to have fallen into a brief stasis, knowing the opponent's psychological defenses were under massive assault. But he did not relax.
"It's time," he said softly to Shan Xiao. "Inform Director Long that the 'eyes' have seen enough. It's time to prepare the 'hands'. When he comes out of those shadows with nowhere left to go... close the net."