123: Chapter 123 The Silent Cut

The sound of explosions and the soaring flames in the south of the city were like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake.

The temporary headquarters of the Sixth Division, this demon's lair that had originally pulsed as steadily as a heart, experienced chaotic noise for the first time.

Sharp alarms pierced the night sky.

The roar of engines approached from the distance and then faded away.

Chen Xi lay in the shadows of the Bell Tower, watching as a Type 94 armored vehicle and two trucks full of Soldiers, like irritated wasps, rushed out of the lair and sped toward the south of the city.

On the retinal map, several of the largest red dots representing mobile defense forces were rapidly moving away.

"Golden window of opportunity, open."

In the "Great Wall" Command Center, Old Long's cold voice pressed the start button for this thrilling infiltration mission.

Chen Xi did not hesitate for a moment.

His figure leapt down from the Bell Tower, landing silently like a ghost merging into the darkness.

optical camouflage activated.

At a constant, effortless speed, he hugged the shadows of the ruins, approaching the building that remained brightly lit but whose outer defenses now had a massive gap.

Beneath the walls of the headquarters.

He stopped in his tracks.

Even with the mobile units redeployed, the fixed sentries and intersecting searchlights still made the place look impregnable.

Chen Xi took two items from the system space.

A pair of seemingly ordinary black climbing gloves.

[Gecko Gloves].

He put on the gloves and pressed them lightly against the cold wall.

A strange, non-adhesive suction was felt; his palms were firmly fixed to the vertical wall as if held by magnets.

(Much better than the suction cups I used at Dragon Fang.)

A thought flashed through his mind.

Immediately, exerting force with his arms, he began to climb up the wall as silently as a gecko.

His movements were light and agile, without making a sound.

Under the God's-eye view of the Livestream room, the audience could only see a blurry human silhouette moving at high speed up the vertical wall in a way that defied the laws of physics.

[Holy crap... Spider-Man?]

[The person above, this is Gecko-Man! Master Xi, the eternal God!]

[If the Japanese Army sentries saw this, wouldn't they be scared shitless on the spot? They'd scream that there's a ghost!]

[Quiet down in front! Don't interfere with Master Xi's operation!]

Soon, he climbed onto the three-story roof.

This was exactly the weakest point found by the "Great Wall" expert group.

He crawled forward, avoiding the beams of the searchlights, and reached the old, rust-covered exhaust fan.

This was the end of the entire ventilation system and the only entrance.

He didn't use brute force.

Instead, he used the weeding sickle's high-frequency vibration mode to lightly slice along the fan's mounting bolts.

"Zzz—"

After a barely audible sound, several rusted bolts were silently severed like a hot knife through butter.

He removed the fan, revealing a dark, narrow entrance just large enough for one person to pass through.

A stale smell of rust and aged dust wafted out.

Chen Xi crawled in without hesitation.

Inside the ventilation duct, it was pitch black.

The space was so narrow he could only crawl forward; with every movement, his knees and elbows rubbed against the rough metal pipe.

"Shasha..."

The slight sound was amplified countless times within the deathly silent duct.

On Chen Xi's retina, the 3D map constructed by the [Deep Sea Fishing Sonar] emitted a faint blue light.

The structure of the ducts was as clearly visible as meridians.

And on the floors below, red dots representing Japanese Soldiers were moving slowly.

He was like a ghost moving through a giant's blood vessels, carefully avoiding those "red blood cells" that represented danger.

When he crawled to a vertical corner, the conversation of two Japanese officers came from a vent not far below.

"The fire in the south is too big; His Excellency the Division Commander is furious."

"A bunch of useless trash, they couldn't even guard a granary. But it's fine, at least we can relax for a bit."

Chen Xi immediately stopped all movement.

He was like a hibernating snake, pressing his body tightly against the top of the duct, even temporarily stopping his breathing.

On the map, two red dots crossed directly beneath him and then slowly separated, heading in different directions.

Until the sound completely disappeared, Chen Xi slowly continued forward.

Five minutes later.

He finally reached the target—directly above the Division Commander's adjutant's office.

He looked down from the vent.

The room was empty.

There was a large desk, several rows of filing cabinets, and in the center of the room, the massive German-made safe he had seen in the records countless times.

He took a special rope from his backpack, fixed it to a structural beam inside the duct, and slid down to the floor as silently as a civet cat.

The entire process was silent.

He walked straight to the man-sized safe.

(German-made, indeed sturdy.)

He tapped the heavy steel door with his knuckles, producing a dull sound.

(Unfortunately, no matter how strong the lock, it can't stop a can opener.)

From the system space, he took out the laser cutter disguised as a large water gun.

He didn't use the high-power mode like he did to melt the tank.

Instead, he precisely adjusted the power to the lowest setting—"Cutting Wire" mode.

"Vroom—"

At the nozzle of the cutter, a needle-sized point of red light lit up.

Chen Xi raised the "Water Gun," aiming not at the keyhole or the door seam.

But at the two large, heavy cylindrical door hinges on the side of the door.

He pressed the switch.

There was no earth-shattering noise and no scene of flying sparks.

A hair-thin, almost invisible red beam shot from the nozzle and landed precisely on the upper door hinge.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Under the breathless gaze of hundreds of millions of viewers in the Livestream room, a miraculous scene occurred.

That thin red line, like a living paintbrush, began to trace a perfect circle slowly and steadily along the edge of the hinge.

The solid special steel was as fragile as tofu before it.

No melting, no deformation, just a clean separation.

The air was filled with a faint smell of ozone from the high-temperature burning of metal.

[...]

[...Holy crap?]

[It's... cut open? Without a single sound?]

[This isn't a Water Gun! This is freaking God's scalpel!]

[I finally understand why Master Xi dared to come... This isn't even a battle on the same dimension!]

[Newton's coffin lid can't be held down anymore; he's chosen to come out and cheer for Master Xi!]

Three minutes later.

The upper door hinge was completely cut off.

Chen Xi followed suit and cut off the lower hinge in the same manner.

Having finished this, he put away the "Water Gun" and put on the [Gecko Gloves].

He walked to the safe and grabbed the steel door that weighed hundreds of kilograms with both hands.

Then, under everyone's incredulous gaze, he lifted it gently.

The entire door was forcefully lifted off the cabinet by him.

He carefully leaned the door against the nearby wall, his movements as gentle as if he were placing down a sleeping baby.

Everything inside the safe was completely exposed before him.

No gold bars, no cash.

Only rows of neatly stacked black film canisters.

Several thick envelopes wrapped in kraft paper.

And at the very back, two small wooden boxes made of high-quality tung wood, locked and stamped with "Military Top Secret."

(Bingo.)

Chen Xi didn't waste any time.

He swept everything into his system space in one go.

In just over ten seconds, the entire safe was looted.

Then, he lifted the heavy door again and "reinstalled" it with near-perfect precision.

The two circular hinges that had been cut off were also stuffed back into place seamlessly.

From the outside, the entire safe looked intact, with no sign of having been tampered with.

(Returned intact to its owner.)

Chen Xi looked at his masterpiece, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

He turned around, preparing to return the way he came through the ventilation duct.

However, at that very moment.

Outside the door, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps and a furious, all-too-familiar voice.