225: Chapter 225 Global Hunt: Craig's End

The final fireworks of the "avengers" fleet slowly dissipated above the North American Rocky Mountains. The twisted metal wreckage fell onto the snowfields of the no-man's-land, emitting wisps of smoke, like the final tombstone of the old era's madness.

Inside the command hall of the "Ark" city, the brief cheers gradually subsided. People watched as the light spots representing the "avengers" on the screen all extinguished, then looked at the fourth "Scavenger" still quietly floating at the edge of the star map like a ghost, their emotions complex to the extreme. After a pyrrhic victory came an even more bewildered wait.

Lin Mo did not let this bewilderment last too long. He withdrew his gaze from the star map and landed it on a tracking report just generated by "Fuxi" marked "Emergency." The report title had only one line of text:

【James Craig — Life Signal Retrospective Analysis and Latest Positioning】

"He is still alive." Lin Mo's voice was not loud, but it was like dropping a pebble into a calm lake, causing ripples to spread.

Everyone was stunned. Elder Chen turned around abruptly: "What? Craig? Wasn't he in the escape pod explosion..."

"That explosion was fake." Lin Mo pulled up the analysis report from "fuxi," the dense data and waveforms on it dazzling. "'fuxi" conducted a retrospective analysis of the energy characteristics before and after the explosion, the debris trajectory, and Craig's life signals at the final moment. It discovered a detail: 0.7 seconds before the escape pod entered the atmosphere and triggered the space collapse bomb, an extremely tiny object, with a mass only one-tenth of the single-person escape pod, ejected and separated from the bottom of the pod with extremely high acceleration. Its trajectory was completely covered by the intense light and spatial distortion of the explosion. But 'system'—through reverse deduction of the debris dispersion direction after the explosion—discovered this 'anomaly point'."

He played a simulation animation: a tiny point of light popped out from the bottom of the falling escape pod, following a trajectory completely different from the main pod, almost perpendicular to the ground, falling at high speed in another direction. The main pod continued on its original trajectory, eventually triggering the explosion.

"His destination?" Elder Chen asked.

"The North American East Coast, about seven hundred kilometers from the explosion point, a ruin of an 'Deep Space Surveillance Outpost' left over from the old era that has not yet been fully integrated by the GDA." Lin Mo pulled up a map, on which a red dot was blinking, "There is an underground tunnel network left over from the old era's military that can lead to at least three different directions. He had long prepared a final retreat for himself."

Inside the command hall, the atmosphere tightened again. That persistent name, the mastermind behind everything from "the Underworld" to "Freedom Day" to the "pluto project," the culprit who almost single-handedly orchestrated all the internal rebellions and madness, was actually not dead yet!

"He won't escape." Lin Mo's voice was resolute, "'fuxi', activate the 'Global Quantum Sensing Network' highest precision tracking mode. Lock the search range to the North American East Coast, centered on the explosion point, with a radius of one thousand kilometers. Focus on scanning for underground abnormal heat sources, energy fluctuations, and any unauthorized communication signals. He cannot flee alone; he needs supplies, needs to make contact, needs to... expose himself."

"Command received. Global Quantum Sensing Network activated. Estimated coverage time: thirty seconds. Preliminary screening completion time: one hundred and twenty seconds." 'system's response remained calm.

Thirty seconds later, a huge real-time heat map covering the North American East Coast appeared on the main screen. Countless light spots flickered; those were cities, factories, traffic lines, and the life trajectories of countless ordinary people. But in the face of "Fuxi"'s terrifying data processing capability, every anomaly point had nowhere to hide.

One hundred and twenty seconds, as long as a century.

"Target locked." 'system's voice rang out, and a light spot marked by a red circle slowly enlarged on the heat map, "Coordinates: North Latitude XX.XXX, West Longitude XX.XXX. Located six hundred and twenty-three kilometers southeast of the explosion point, on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, near the entrance of an abandoned underground command post from the old era's 'Cold War'. Heat source characteristics: one human, accompanied by weak electronic device signals. Movement direction: advancing deep into the underground tunnel."

"That's him!" the monitor shouted excitedly.

Lin Mo did not hesitate at all and immediately connected to the communication of "Night Owl," who was handling the aftermath at the Texas base: "Night Owl, Craig is still alive and is fleeing inside the underground tunnel of the abandoned command post on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. Coordinates synchronized. Take your team, board the fastest ground assault vehicle, and set off. I want him alive."

"Understood! Guarantee completion of the mission!" Night Owl's voice carried irrepressible killing intent. The culprit who caused countless people to sacrifice and almost caused human civilization to collapse from within was finally going to fall into his hands.

Four hours later, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, fifty meters underground.

In the abandoned "Cold War" command post, the air was filled with the smell of old mold and metallic rust. The emergency lights had long since failed, and only the tactical flashlights on Night Owl's team's helmets cut beams of light through the darkness.

Craig ran staggeringly, each step accompanied by violent coughing. Although his escape pod had allowed him to survive the explosion, the momentary overload and the aftermath of the spatial distortion had caused him irreversible damage. His skin was a sickly gray-white, his breathing rapid and chaotic, the pupil of one eye had already dilated, and everything he saw was double.

But he was still running. The instinct to survive and that twisted obsession with not wanting to fail supported his broken body as he fled frantically through this maze-like underground tunnel.

"Almost there... almost there..." he muttered to himself, his voice as hoarse as an old bellows, "Ahead there is an old era armory... there are weapons... there is communication equipment... as long as I can contact those forces in South America that haven't been fully integrated yet... as long as..."

He stopped abruptly.

In front, at the end of the tunnel, was the heavy alloy door of the armory. But in front of the door, five pitch-black figures stood at this moment, the light of the tactical flashlights outlining their silhouettes like judges who had walked out of hell.

Night Owl, and his "Broken Blade" team.

"Mr. Craig," Night Owl's voice came from under his helmet, cold, without a trace of emotion, "The game is over."

Craig's body trembled violently. He turned around abruptly, wanting to run back, only to find that the tunnel he had come from was also blocked by other figures.

No way to escape.

He slumped against the cold wall. On his pale face, that one remaining eye stared fixedly at the slowly approaching Night Owl. In that gaze, there was madness, fear, unwillingness, and a trace of... relief?

"You... you cannot kill me..." his voice was intermittent, "I know... I know many secrets... 'Watchers'... 'gardener'... and... and the fourth 'Scavenger'... what is it waiting for... I can tell you..."

"Save these words for Consultant Lin." Night Owl walked up to him, looking down at this once arrogant CIA director, now curled up in the corner like a pile of mud, "Provided that you can see him alive."

He signaled for his team members to step forward. Two team members unceremoniously dragged Craig up from the ground, putting on him a special energy suppression bracelet capable of inhibiting any possible implantable explosive devices, as well as an electronic neck ring that shielded all neural signals.

Craig did not resist; he no longer had the strength to resist. He was just dragged, step by step, toward the exit of the tunnel, toward the long-lost ground, toward... his final judgment.

Five hours later, "Ark" city, special detention room.

Behind the one-way transparent alloy glass, Craig was fixed to a special medical chair, connected to various monitoring devices. His vital signs were extremely weak, but those eyes were still burning with an unsettling light.

Lin Mo stood on the other side of the glass, watching him quietly for a long time. Su Xiaowan and Elder Chen stood behind him, saying nothing.

"He wants to see you." The officer in charge of detention reported, "He said only if he sees you will he confess everything he knows."

Lin Mo was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly: "Let him speak."

He walked into the detention room alone. The alloy door closed silently behind him.

Craig saw Lin Mo walk in, and that one eye that could still move turned abruptly, staring fixedly at him. His lips moved, emitting a hoarse laugh like tearing rags.

"Lin Mo... Lin Mo... finally... saw you..." he struggled to spit out every word, "Do you know... I have countless times... in my dreams... torn you to pieces..."

Lin Mo walked up to him, stopped, and looked down at him. There was no anger in that gaze, no hatred, only a calmness that was almost pitying.

"Craig," his voice was very light, yet like a sharp knife piercing into the other's heart, "You lost."

Craig's body shook violently. That word "lost" was like the final straw that broke the camel's back, causing that final flame of madness in his eyes to flicker violently.

"I lost?" he muttered repeatedly, then suddenly burst into an even more intense, nearly hysterical laugh, "Hahaha... I lost? No... it's not me who lost... it's humanity that lost! It's you who lost! You think you won just by defeating the 'Scavenger'? You think what that fourth guy is waiting for? It is waiting for the 'gardener''s response! But 'gardener'... haha... 'gardener' died long ago! Died in an era older than the 'Watchers'! You... you fools... are still waiting for a savior who will never come!"

He struggled to sit up, but was held down tightly by the restraint straps. He could only use that one remaining eye to glare fixedly at Lin Mo, as if he wanted to inject all his curses and malice into the other's soul through that gaze:

"Lin Mo, who do you think you are? A civilization navigator? A savior? No, you are nothing! You are just a puppet chosen by that alien system! Your so-called 'unity', 'civilization', 'symbiosis', in that cold universe, are nothing! Waiting for you is only endless 'purification' and... and..."

His voice grew weaker and weaker, his breathing more and more rapid. The alarms on the monitoring equipment began to ring frantically.

Lin Mo still stood quietly, watching him, without saying a word.

In Craig's eyes, the last bit of light began to dissipate. He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something more, but only emitted a garbled whimper. His hand hung down powerlessly, and his head slowly tilted to one side.

The alarm sound turned into a harsh, continuous wail.

James Craig, the last and greatest cancer of the old era, after finishing his final curse, with his twisted obsession and unwillingness, completely stopped breathing.

Lin Mo turned around and walked out of the detention room. The alloy door closed silently behind him again.

Su Xiaowan came up to meet him, looking at him, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Lin Mo shook his head gently: "He is dead. He didn't confess anything. Just... said some crazy things."

He looked up at the boundless starry sky outside the viewing window. The dark core of the fourth "Scavenger" was still quietly floating there, like an eternal, silent question mark.

Is the "gardener" really dead? Will the response that the fourth "Scavenger" is waiting for never come?

He did not know.

But he knew that regardless of what awaited them—whether it was redemption or a deeper hell—human civilization could only rely on itself to move forward.

"Prepare for his funeral arrangements." Lin Mo said finally, "Record it in the books in the name of a traitor to humanity. His madness must be remembered. Not for hatred, but for warning."

The end of Craig, thus came to a full stop.