The shortest distance between two points is a straight line
The grey light of dawn appeared on the horizon.
The car stopped at the edge of the salt pit. Sing Sing pushed open the door, jumped out, and turned around to pull a canvas bag out of the back of the car.
The Dust Angel got off the bus, confused. "Weren't you telling me to go back and start my new job?"
"Please wait until after you start working."
Sing Sing dumped the bag on the ground, and a folding entrenching tool rolled out with a clatter.
There was also a semi-cylindrical iron shovel with a threaded steel pipe attached.
Christina blinked and stared at it for a long time. "And what's this grooved iron pipe?"
"You're too naive, young man! This is called Luoyang Shovel!"
Sing Sing skillfully joined the two steel pipes together and tightened the screws. "Since it's called Deep Well, it must be a tunnel built hundreds of meters underground!"
"If we don't dig a test hole beforehand to check the situation, who will be responsible if we accidentally break through the septic tank?"
After finishing his work, Old Zhou picked up the Luoyang Shovel and started poking downwards.
Before he could even dig the soil out, a strange tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet.
Click!
The salt flats cracked open, and then, with a tremor, the ground within a radius of tens of meters slid apart to both sides.
A thick, dark shadow rose up in front of the two of them, stretching as far as the eye could see.
As the smoke and dust cleared, a colossal cylindrical tower piercing the clouds stood before us.
"Oh my god..."
Sing Sing pulled his hat down and looked up. "What the hell? Is this illegal structure Deep Well?"
"That Prism kid gave a false report!"
As I pondered, a sound came from somewhere hidden within the tower.
"Welcome to Number Seven Containment Tower, Stephen Chow!"
Sing Sing Chow slapped his forehead, stuck the Luoyang Shovel into the sand, and took out his phone to start snapping photos.
Panoramic view, tower base, cracks...
Even the painted lettering "D-7" on the tower was shown in close-up.
Beside her, Christina asked curiously, "Why are you taking pictures of it at a time like this?"
"Of course, it's for gathering evidence."
After taking the close-up shot, Sing Sing put his phone back in his pocket.
He didn't move immediately. After rummaging through the mini Dimension Box, he pulled out a roll of yellow tape.
The tape was clearly printed with red characters. "For the Seal of Illegal Buildings in China - Unauthorized Removal Strictly Prohibited."
Sing Sing tore off a piece of tape, pulled it apart with both hands, and quickly stepped forward to stick it in the center of the gate at the bottom of the tower.
He even meticulously smoothed out the bubbles, stepped back two paces, and looked Old Zhou over with great satisfaction.
"What... what's the point of you sticking this on?"
The Dust Angel tentatively suggested, "Should we retreat back to town and call for backup from the National Guard or local police?"
"When the Morlocks incident happened, everyone's first thought was to contact the authorities..."
"Relying on these local police officers?"
Sing Sing took out his cigarette case, shook out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth.
"The sheriffs are faster at collecting protection money than convenience store cashiers. By the time they finally show up, our ashes will be enough to fertilize a flowerpot with fertilizer."
He turned his head and glanced at the girl through his brown-tinted sunglasses.
"Relying on a foreign monk is less reliable than relying on my Pig Butchering Knife."
As soon as the two finished speaking, the explosion-proof gate opened automatically.
Alright, the note Old Zhou posted is now invalid.
Sing Sing did not hesitate and swaggered across the threshold.
Christina hesitated for a few seconds, then quickly followed.
As soon as the two stepped onto the first floor, the door behind them closed automatically, locking their escape route.
A series of mechanical clicking sounds rang out around them.
The metal floor beneath my feet and the rising steel partitions slid out of place in all directions.
A synthesized voice suddenly rang out:
"Stephen Chow, I have to admire your arrogance."
"What you're standing on is the first layer of the Ouroboros Dynamic Containment Maze, developed by Silver Peak at great expense!"
"The entire system has over three million spatial logic variations and a built-in 40,000-volt high-voltage activation pulse."
"Even Alpha-Level Mutants with extraordinary senses will only meet their end by dehydrating and dying in despair if they come in!"
"Struggle all you want, you yellow-skinned monkey! Your brain will become the best nourishment for the next generation of control centers."
The surrounding metal walls slid faster and faster, cutting the space into fragments.
Dark veins quickly appeared on Christina's cheeks. "Get out of my way! Let me see if I can find a way out!"
Her muscles were tense, and the wound on her left shoulder, which had been simply treated by Old Zhou, burst open again due to the surge of adrenaline.
A hand casually rested on her shoulder.
"What berserk mode? They're always bursting their blood vessels. These young people these days just eat too much and get easily stressed."
Old Zhou shook his head, opened the Mini Dimensional Box, took out a hard lump and stuffed it into her hand.
"Here you go, this is all-natural compressed dry rations, with the flavor of stir-fried mutton with scallions from old Beijing. Chew it thoroughly and swallow it, and it will keep your blood sugar from dropping for twelve hours, so you won't hold back later."
The Dust Angel stared blankly at the cube in her hand.
With a formidable enemy at hand and their lives hanging in the balance, this lunatic is actually sharing rations with her?
Old Zhou stood in the center of the shifting metal maze, his right hand naturally reaching towards his lower back, where the Pig Butchering Knife fell into his palm.
His spirit soared to the heavens, his will followed the blade!
In an instant, a three-foot-long blazing white light rose from the blade, accompanied by a low, violent dragon's roar and thunderous sound!
"You like playing with mazes, huh? Three million variations, right?"
Sing Sing stepped forward with his right foot, twisted his waist violently, and slashed down cleanly and decisively against the thick wall in front of him!
Sizzle!
The blade's edge descended with immense force.
To Christina's horrified gaze, the wall with its embedded lead plates was effortlessly ripped open on the spot!
Sparks flew wildly from the broken edge, leaving a smooth gap in the entire wall!
The blade's edge extended forward along the rift, slicing through the layers of labyrinthine partitions behind it.
Inside the monitoring room at the top of the tower.
The commander, who was leisurely sipping his special coffee, vanished without a trace of his smugness.
"My God! What the hell is this?!"
"What's that he's holding? A small shipborne plasma cutting blade?"
"Why is there no energy source reading? Why was this alloy wall cut open by a melee weapon?"
The chief technician next to him frantically typed on the keyboard, turning the screen a bright red.
"Sir! Walls six, seven, and eight of the maze have physically fractured! He... he's demolishing the buildings!"
Below.
Sing Sing, holding the Pig Butchering Knife in one hand, didn't even glance at the smooth blade before turning and waving to Christina behind him.
"Stay close, young man. What are you standing there for? When you're out working, the most important thing is to be efficient."
As Sing Sing spoke, he walked forward on his own, casually imparting his philosophy of life:
Didn't your middle school geometry teacher teach you that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?
"Those who are just bored and have nothing better to do than follow capitalist rules and act recklessly are all good-for-nothings who don't know how to save their company's travel time."
"As long as we don't give up, there are always more solutions than problems. Let them build their mazes, I'll forge my own straight paths. That's what it means to solve problems in development through reform, understand?"
Christina nodded blankly, then subconsciously put the food in her mouth and chewed.
As the two men passed through the second gap, the camouflage panels on the side flipped over.
Three heavy Gauss machine guns emerged from the hidden compartment.
But they didn't even have time to fire the first bullet.
Sing Sing flicked his right hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three guns emitted black smoke and were completely destroyed.
Christina rubbed her eyes and pinched her thigh hard.
It hurts a lot.
It's not a hallucination.
The man, with a cigarette almost burned down to the filter, strolled leisurely, forcefully carving out an unobstructed highway through the area.
The alloy gate, high-voltage electric grid, and hydraulic traps blocking the way were all shattered into scrap metal by that ordinary Pig Butchering Knife.
Less than three minutes later.
The last heavy barrier door collapsed, revealing a spacious and flat hall to the two of them.
The deepest part of the maze is also the only end.
An elevator stood there quietly, with clear indicator lights beside it:
Directly to the Core Zone on the second floor
The maze, which originally required ingenious deciphering and heavy casualties to pass through, was forcibly broken through by Old Zhou in a brutal and brute force manner, creating a straight corridor.
Sing Sing sheathed his sword, stood at the elevator door, and pressed the green up button.
Ding-dong!
Sing Sing adjusted his hat, dusted off the metallic bits from his clothes, and turned to look at the girl:
"See? We're almost here! The elevator's all ready for us."
Christina stared blankly at the ruined avenue behind her, muttering to herself:
"What... what kind of monster are you...?"
"Let me correct that."
Sing Sing adjusted his sunglasses, looking quite serious.
"He is an outstanding public servant with a formal government position, enjoying the travel benefits of Division-Level official."