"Half a mile," Snow Empress repeated, as if calculating the time in her mind. "A mile round trip, plus finding the cellar and digging, it should take forty minutes if we're fast. Two hours left, that should be enough."
"That's assuming the cellar hasn't collapsed and the key is still there." The Vein Guardian poured cold water on the idea, "It was buried last year, but with all the rain this year, half the brick house has collapsed, so the cellar entrance might not be easy to find."
A Yao had already emptied the canvas bag onto the ground and inventoried its contents: three short crowbars, a roll of black duct tape, two rusty pairs of pliers, a box of matches, half a pack of compressed biscuits, and the leather-bound notebook. She tucked the notebook into her coat pocket, leaving the metal parts and cables untouched. "Never mind those for now. The key is more important."
Snow Empress walked to the corner and squatted down in front of the three prisoners. The one with the crowbar had been hit hard by the back of the knife; his shoulders slumped, but his eyes still held a fierce look. Snow Empress used the tip of the knife to lift his chin. "Where's Old Dao?"
The man spat and didn't say anything.
Snow Empress didn't waste time with him, turning to look at the other two. One was tall and thin, the other short and stout, both huddled in a corner, the tall, thin man's lips trembling. Snow Empress held the knife horizontally in front of the stout man. "You speak."
The short, stout man swallowed hard. "We... we were hired. Old Dao paid us to open the node. We really don't know where he is. He just said, 'The stuff is in the warehouse in the north. Just dig it up and bring it down to activate it.'"
"He showed you what the key looked like."
"I saw it. Three pieces, this big," the short, stout man gestured, indicating a shape about the size of his palm. "They're metal, with patterns on them, similar to the pattern on the side of this control panel. He said the three pieces were buried together in an iron box, covered with a cement slab."
"Cement slabs." Snow Empress stood up and looked at the Vein Guardian. "Did you hear that? There are cement slabs. We'll need a crowbar."
The Vein Guardian snorted, "Cement slabs are good; they won't rot. It's better than burying them directly in the ground."
A Yao had already retied her bamboo cane and walked to the entrance of the passage to glance outside. The blue light at the bottom of the well was shining steadily, and the iron ladder was still there. She turned back. "Are we going or not? Two hours left, don't dawdle."
Snow Empress nodded, then squatted down and said to the three prisoners, "You stay here. If the self-destruct program really activates, the entire base of this tower will collapse. If you want to live, stay put and wait for us to come back. If you dare to run," she brandished her knife in front of the short, fat man, "There are sensors in the corridor outside. They didn't trigger when you came because Old Dao turned them off for you, but we've turned them back on. Running outside will trigger them, and if they do, I won't come looking for you."
This was only half true, but the short, fat man believed it and nodded vigorously. The tall, thin man opened his mouth as if to say something, but was glared at by Snow Empress.
The three men retraced their steps. They climbed the iron ladder, crossed the corridor, and emerged from the drainage ditch. It was already dark outside. Dew from the grass soaked their trouser legs, and the wind blowing in from the north of the radar station carried a smell of rust and damp earth.
"North." The Vein Guardian pointed in that direction. "Follow me. I know this area well; I used to work in the equipment depot when I was younger."
The Vein Guardian walked ahead, his steps unusually fast. He wasn't tall, and his back was a little hunched, but his legs moved like an old badger, deliberately stepping on sparse grass and avoiding the soft-looking mounds of earth. A Yao followed behind, leaning on her bamboo cane, while Snow Empress brought up the rear, glancing back every ten steps or so in the direction of the radar station ahead.
After walking for about ten minutes, the grassy slope began to slope down, and a half-collapsed brick house appeared ahead. Half of the roof was indeed gone, with the remaining half of the tile leaning crookedly on the beam. A large gap had collapsed in the brick wall, revealing a dark space inside. Several precast concrete slabs and broken bricks were scattered around, and half of a rusty iron frame could be seen in the grass.
"The equipment room." The Vein Guardian stopped and looked around. "The cellar entrance should be on the west side of the house; there used to be a sloping passage down there. Let me see..."
He parted a thick clump of foxtail grass, revealing a concrete floor underneath. The floor was cracked, but one section in the middle was clearly a later patch; the cement was newer than the surrounding area, and there were traces of a crowbar scraping along the edges.
"This is it." The Vein Guardian crouched down and felt around. "The cement slab didn't completely cover it; there were gaps around the edges. These guys are rough."
Snow Empress and A Yao walked over. The cement slab was about three feet square and two inches thick, with one corner already broken. Snow Empress inserted a crowbar into the crack and tried it; the slab moved slightly.
" A Yao, you're not strong enough, stand aside and watch. Vein Guardian, let's pry it open together."
The Vein Guardian tucked his machete behind his waist and gripped the crowbar with both hands. Together they pulled, and the cement slab creaked and flipped to the side, revealing a dark entrance underneath. A damp, musty-smelling blast of cold air escaped from the hole, making A Yao sneeze.
Snow Empress held up a flashlight; she carried an old-fashioned flashlight, about the size of a palm, with a dented metal casing, in her waist bag. She turned it on and shone it into the cave. The sloping passage was about seven or eight feet long, leading to a small cellar with an old brick floor. In the corner of the cellar were several Rotten Wooden Box, and in the center of the ground was a patch of freshly turned soil, with half a brick on top.
"Go down." Snow Empress squeezed into the cave entrance and slowly slid down the slope. The cellar wasn't high; she could stand up straight even when bent over. A Yao followed her down, while the Vein Guardian stayed up to keep watch.
Snow Empress squatted down in front of the newly turned soil and ruffled it a couple of times with her hands. The soil was loose, and a corner of sheet metal was exposed underneath. She quickened her pace and soon dug away the loose soil, revealing a rectangular iron box, slightly larger than a shoebox. The lid was bound with two loops of wire, which were twisted into a spiral knot.
"Found it." She unscrewed the wire and lifted the lid of the box. Shining a flashlight inside, she saw three palm-sized metal pieces neatly stacked at the bottom of the box. Each piece had intricate patterns, exactly the same as the system patterns on the side of the control panel inside the radar tower. The metal pieces gleamed with a dark golden luster, and the edges were smoothly chamfered, clearly not something that could be made by hand.
" Spirit Vein Key." A Yao leaned closer to look. "Three of them. They match the console notification."
Snow Empress closed the lid and tucked the entire metal box into her coat. "Let's go upstairs."
As the two climbed out of the cellar, the Vein Guardian was squatting by the gap in the brick house, staring in the direction of the radar station to the south. Hearing the noise, he turned his head and said, "There was a noise just now. On the grassy slope to the south, a flashlight beam flickered and then went out. I don't know if it was a person or an animal."
Snow Empress immediately crouched down and handed the iron box to A Yao. "Someone is following us. It might be a backup plan left by Old Dao."
"If he sees that we have the key,"
"He definitely saw it," Snow Empress interrupted A Yao, "But he didn't make a move, which means either he has fewer people or he's waiting for us to go down. Either way, we need to find another way back."
The Vein Guardian stood up and dusted off his knees. "I Dao Yi route. Go east from here, there's an old drainage ditch that leads to the east side of the radar station's back wall. It's a bit longer than the original route, but the grass is tall, good for hiding people."