32: Chapter 32: The Red Fog Pollution Zone - Just a Paid Leave

Lin Yuan curled his lip.

"A knife in a cesspit, what kind of lousy metaphor is that?"

However, complaints aside, Lin Yuan knew very well that for regular Holy Light or Elemental legions, this Red Mist Contaminated Zone was a certain death trap.

But for his own Wasteland Divine Domain, it was perfectly suited to his specialty.

It was just a paid vacation.

Lin Yuan composed himself and looked at Commander Xiao Lie in front of the holographic sandbox, leaning back to find a more comfortable sitting position.

"Commander Xiao Lie, since it is an extremely dangerous area and requires infiltration as the tip of the spear," Lin Yuan said in a calm tone, though his eyes revealed the shrewdness of a businessman, "the risks are immense. What does the Commander intend to offer as compensation?"

He had to act like a greedy and daring genius from the common folk.

If he were too aloof, the military wouldn't dare use him.

If he were too weak, the military wouldn't look his way.

Only by putting benefits clearly on the table could their cooperation remain stable.

Commander Xiao Lie looked at Lin Yuan, a trace of a smile appearing on his stern face.

He hated those scions of noble families who were full of grand talk about the nation's righteousness, but were actually filled with debauchery.

Someone like Lin Yuan, a grassroots commoner who clearly stated his price, was actually more to his liking.

"Straightforward."

Commander Xiao Lie waved his hand, and two holographic documents landed steadily in front of Lin Yuan.

"First, the military will directly allocate two hundred million faith points as your exclusive armament fund. This money does not need to be repaid, and you can spend it however you like."

Lin Yuan's eyes flashed.

Two hundred million.

Thunder Military Industry offered an annual salary of two hundred million, but that required selling himself for fifty years.

Yet what Commander Xiao Lie offered was a deposit to buy out a single mission.

The military's financial power was indeed incomparable to those local conglomerates in Jiangcheng.

"That's not enough." Lin Yuan didn't agree immediately, his gaze fixed on Commander Xiao Lie.

"I knew it."

Commander Xiao Lie braced his hands on the edge of the sandbox and lowered his voice: "Second, I know you have always wanted to heal your foster father's shattered divine core."

Lin Yuan's pupils constricted, his heart trembling violently.

Commander Xiao Lie continued: "As long as you complete three S-rank infiltration missions in the Red Mist Contaminated Zone, that [Life Origin Divine Crystal] in the military treasury will be granted directly to you."

The command center fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Yuan's breathing finally became somewhat rapid.

Life Origin Divine Crystal.

This was not something that could be measured by faith points.

This was a strategic-level divine object controlled by the Federation, only produced when top-tier powerhouses who had touched the stellar realm fell.

Or by conquering an Abyss Throne-level plane, might one possibly produce a piece the size of a fingernail.

It contained the purest divine laws; never mind healing a divine core.

Even if a Divine Domain completely collapsed, as long as the person still had a breath left, this thing could forcefully reshape the divine foundation.

This was a priceless treasure that he absolutely could not buy at his current stage, no matter how much money he spent, or even if he joined a Star Sea conglomerate.

Three S-rank infiltration missions in exchange for letting Old Lin return to the realm of a True God.

This deal was too worth it.

Lin Yuan lowered his eyes and quickly scanned the [S-Rank Special Approval: Shadow Blade Contract] floating in front of him.

The terms were extremely simple: no restrictions on personal freedom, no mandatory daily assessments, and all actions were guided by the final mission.

The military would provide identity cover and resource support, while Lin Yuan would provide intelligence and special items from the Red Mist Zone.

After confirming there were no text traps, Lin Yuan raised his hand, squeezed a drop of dark red divine power from his fingertip, and pressed it onto the end of the contract.

Mental imprint, complete.

The contract turned into a stream of light, split into two, and merged into the foreheads of Lin Yuan and Commander Xiao Lie respectively.

With this, Lin Yuan completely obtained the military's highest level of resource allocation, while maintaining absolute freedom for himself and his team.

Commander Xiao Lie straightened up, a flash of admiration in his eyes: "Decisive enough. I didn't misjudge you."

He walked up to Lin Yuan and patted his shoulder.

"To prove the military's sincerity, in addition to that two hundred million armament fund, you can immediately take a trip to the Abyss Storage Vault beneath Jiangcheng."

Commander Xiao Lie held up three fingers.

"Choose three items for free as a starting benefit for accepting the mission. What you can take depends entirely on your own judgment."

Abyss Storage Vault.

Lin Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

The military had been fighting the Abyss for years, and all sorts of strange, unanalyzable, and even highly cursed Abyss specialties captured were all sealed there.

To outsiders, it was a poison vault where one could drop dead at any moment.

But to Lin Yuan, who possessed [Creation Extraction], it was an undeveloped super gold mine.

"When do we depart?" Lin Yuan stood up and asked straightforwardly.

"Now."

...

Logging out of the virtual Star Net.

Lin Yuan took off his helmet and sat up from the bed.

Outside the window, the night sky of Jiangcheng's lower city district was still shrouded in thick industrial smog.

"Boom—"

An extremely faint but high-frequency sound of air vibrating rang out overhead.

Lin Yuan pushed open the window and looked up.

In the night sky, a military stealth transport plane, entirely pitch black and without any markings.

Like an iron owl, it hovered silently above the Slums.

Below the fuselage, a tractor beam projected onto Lin Yuan's bedroom windowsill.

Lin Yuan did not hesitate; he flipped and leaped into the beam.

A feeling of weightlessness washed over him.

The next second, he was standing inside a special alloy cabin within the transport plane.

The cabin door closed, and two fully armed military elites wearing tactical masks saluted him. Without saying a word, they immediately started the engines.

The transport plane did not ascend; instead, it suddenly dipped its nose and dived toward an abandoned mining area on the outskirts of Jiangcheng.

Ten minutes later.

The transport plane plunged into a massive underground rift, and dense automated defensive fire control matrices began to appear on the surrounding rock walls.

Descending.

Continuously descending.

The numbers on the depth gauge inside the cabin were jumping frantically.

Negative five hundred meters.

Negative one thousand meters.

Negative five thousand meters...

Only after breaking through the crustal rock layer did the transport plane slowly decelerate.

"Clang."

A dull metallic clanging sound rang out, and the transport plane stopped descending.

"Sir, we have arrived." The guard soldier on the left pressed the cabin door switch.

Lin Yuan walked out of the cabin.

What met his eyes was an underground fortress.

The surrounding walls were all cast from a super-alloy mixed with divine blood.

There was no natural light source here.

On the dome and walls, tens of thousands of sealing arrays were densely engraved.

The array patterns flowed with the divine radiance of intertwined dark red and dark blue, illuminating the entire fortress.

Directly ahead was a giant bronze gate fifty meters high.

The surface of the gate was covered in marks from blades and axes, and twelve enchanted chains, each over three meters in diameter, tightly secured the gate to the alloy wall.

Lin Yuan stepped onto the metal walkway.

"Welcome to the Jiangcheng War Zone Abyss Storage Vault."

A cold mechanical voice rang out.

"Your clearance: S-Rank Special Approval."

"Available selection count: 3/3."

"Warning: Items within the vault carry high-intensity unknown contamination and curse laws. Do not easily break the isolation force fields. The military will not be held responsible if your Divine Domain collapses due to personal reasons."

"Timer started. You have four hours of selection time."