Safe and sound

At the very instant they returned to that dark, damp sewage pipe.

"Bzz... signal lost." Benjamin's warning cut off abruptly in their earpieces. Clearly, the powerful jamming equipment carried by the technical team had severed wireless communications nearby.

He looked up overhead.

A dull hydraulic hiss came from above, followed by a stark white, high-lumen beam that pierced the darkness of the underground cavity like a sword. It was a search beacon cast by a drone.

Through the thick concrete and sludge, he saw several dazzling red clusters of light circling overhead-the drones conducting the search. Farther away, an icy blue energy field was rapidly approaching.

That energy field was precise and cold, like a vast net, relentlessly combing every inch of the area.

It was the high-precision scanner in Evelyn Reed's hands.

"She's here." Old Dog looked grim, not only because something unexpected had happened, but also because the lead bag in his arms was growing faintly hot with the high-energy core inside.

"Don't panic. Listen to me." Zhao Fan grabbed Old Dog, his gaze still calm in the darkness.

"Not yet," Zhao Fan reassured him. "But we really are in big trouble. That woman's scanner is sweeping this area."

"Then... then this bag..." Old Dog stared in terror at the lead bag in his arms.

"Don't panic. Listen to me." Zhao Fan grabbed Old Dog.

In Zhao Fan's vision, even through the layer of lead, the energy core was still like a mischievous child, occasionally puffing out wisps of ghostly blue energy mist.

Under Evelyn's high-precision scan, it was a torch in the night.

"Give it to me." Zhao Fan snatched the lead bag away.

"Give me the bag." Zhao Fan snatched the lead bag from Old Dog's hands.

"What are you doing? There's no time to run!"

"We can't escape. Her scanner can penetrate concrete. Running through an open pipe would make us sitting ducks." Zhao Fan quickly stuffed the lead bag into the deepest sludge pit at the bottom of the pipe, then frantically dug up the thick, cold sludge around it with both hands and packed it firmly over the bag.

"Lead can block most radiation, but this thing has too much energy. Some will still leak out," Zhao Fan growled under his breath. "This sludge contains large amounts of Chitauri biological residue and metal powder. It's a strong radiation source itself.

"Lie down! Bury yourself!"

"What?!" Old Dog stared at the pile of vomit-like sludge, his face deathly pale.

"Move, unless you want to die in prison!"

Without giving him a chance to argue, Zhao Fan shoved Old Dog into the sludge and lay down right beside him. He scooped up handfuls of sludge and smeared it over their protective suits, helmets, and even their face shields, until they almost blended into the filthy surroundings.

Three seconds later, footsteps sounded.

Not one person, but a squad. The sound of exoskeleton armor treading across the ground echoed through the cavity, heavy and oppressive.

"The anomalous readings came from somewhere nearby." Evelyn Reed's cold voice carried over, amplified by the pipe until it seemed to explode directly above their heads. "There was a momentary energy spike just now, then it disappeared."

A blue laser scanning grid swept across the pipe entrance.

Zhao Fan held his breath, his heart pounding, but forced his muscles to relax. He was gambling that, shrewd as Evelyn was, she relied too heavily on data.

"Doctor, the scan shows radiation levels inside the pipe are severely above limits," a special operations team member reported. "Mostly class C contamination, mixed with large quantities of biodegraded matter and metal debris. This environment will cause severe signal scattering."

The beam lingered over Zhao Fan and Old Dog for a full two seconds.

In that moment, Zhao Fan felt as if two centuries had passed. The thick sludge concealed the lead bag's shape and masked their bodies' infrared signatures. The trace radiation leaking from the lead bag blended perfectly into the already excessive "environmental radiation" around them.

This was what it meant to hide a tree in a forest.

Evelyn stood at the breach, staring at the mess strewn across the ground and that disgusting pipe, her brow tightly furrowed. Although the precision instrument in her hand was sounding frantic alarms, all it displayed was chaotic "environmental interference." Yet she still felt something was wrong...

"Damned rats, or some kind of mutated creature, disturbed an unstable energy field." Evelyn covered her nose and mouth in disgust. Even her filtering mask could not keep out the smell here. "The structure is too unstable to go farther in. Deploy three vibration-sensing mines and seal off this breach."

"Yes."

Several faint clinks of metal hitting the ground followed.

"Move out. Next node."

The footsteps gradually receded, and the beam vanished.

The footsteps slowly faded into the distance.

Zhao Fan lay in the sludge, feeling that suffocating pressure gradually dissipate. Beneath the layer of filth, a smile slowly curved his lips.

He had won his gamble.

More importantly, he felt the newborn power within him slowly establishing some mysterious connection with this world of ruins and treasures, breath by breath.

Darkness enveloped the pipe once more.

A full five minutes passed before the mound of sludge stirred. Zhao Fan abruptly sat up, gasping for air. The nauseating stench of blood and rot seeped into his nostrils even through his face shield. But he had no time to feel sick. He quickly scraped aside the sludge beneath him and hauled out the still-warm lead bag.

"This is... this is why this line of work needs hazard pay..." Old Dog crawled out of the muck, looking like a monster that had just emerged from a swamp. But the way he looked at Zhao Fan had changed. It was the awed fear one held for a madman.

"It's not over yet." Zhao Fan wiped the mud from his goggles. "The hardest part is up above.

The D3 security checkpoint.

The main crowd returning from lunch was lining up to pass through, the atmosphere irritable and oppressive.

Zhao Fan and Old Dog blended into the line, pushing a bulky, dent-covered yellow cylindrical machine-a "heavy-duty industrial waste vacuum."

It was equipment commonly used by the cleanup crews, specifically for vacuuming up fine radioactive dust.

The machine was now giving off a muffled roar, sounding somewhat overburdened.

"Is the stuff safe inside?" Zhao Fan lowered his voice, his palms slick with sweat as he gripped the cart handle tightly.

"This machine's dust canister is made from double-layered lead-steel alloy, designed for radiation shielding." Old Dog kept his eyes forward, his voice extremely low. "I wedged that broken gun into a gap in the motor's cooling vent, then stuffed the collection bag with high-density metal slag we just brought up from underground, with radiation readings off the charts."

"What good does that do? Once we go through the scanner gate and the alarm sounds, we're finished!"

"The scanner gate can't think. People can," Old Dog said quietly. "Remember how I told you to remove half the filter cartridge from the exhaust?"

"I remember, but..."

"That's enough."

They pushed the machine up to the checkpoint. Two fully armed special operations guards were watching a screen, with a sophisticated-looking see-through scanner beside them.

"Stop." A guard blocked their way and pointed at the roaring vacuum. "That thing's too big for the conveyor belt. Push it over to the side. We need to do a thorough inspection with a handheld scanner."

Old Dog's knees felt a little weak, but he glanced at Zhao Fan, who gave a slight nod.

"Yes, sir, but this lousy machine's been overheating today, and..." As Old Dog muttered, rather than switching it off, he secretly turned the power knob to maximum-"heavy-duty cleaning mode."

The guard approached with the handheld scanner. "Turn the machine off! Open the lid!"

At that very instant.

With the power overloaded and the filter cartridge removed, the high-pressure airflow accumulated inside the vacuum instantly went out of control.

Pfft-boom!!!

With a muffled bang, a thick, grayish-white plume erupted from the vacuum's rear exhaust! It was no ordinary smoke, but the highly concentrated concrete dust and metal debris from underground that Zhao Fan had deliberately loaded inside earlier!

Without warning, this "dust storm" blasted straight into the surrounding area, instantly engulfing the entire security passage.

"Cough, cough!! Damn it! Cough!"

"What's happening? Did it explode?!"

The guards instantly fell into disarray, coughing violently and retreating with their noses and mouths covered. The workers lined up nearby scattered in alarm as well, afraid of inhaling the toxic dust.

A piercing alarm sounded. "Warning! Local airborne particulate levels above limits! Radioactive dust dispersal detected!"

The scanner screen instantly dissolved into red static-the dense metal dust filling the air completely disrupted the penetration of its rays. The readings now showed radiation sources everywhere.

"Turn it off! Turn it off now!" the guard captain roared through the dust cloud, waving his hands to disperse it.

Old Dog now delivered an award-winning performance. Pretending to cough, he fumbled frantically at the machine, shouting, "I told you this damn thing was broken! The foreman insisted we push it out for repairs! This isn't my fault! This isn't my fault!"

Zhao Fan rushed forward as though to help, but secretly kicked the power supply, finally bringing the machine to a stop. By then, however, the checkpoint was a complete mess, and everyone was covered in dust.

"Sir, the machine's malfunctioned! All the waste inside sprayed out!" Zhao Fan shouted with a look of "panic." "We need to push it out to the washdown area right away, or the radiation readings here will keep triggering alarms, and the whole line will have to shut down!"

The guard captain looked at the machine, still trailing wisps of smoke, then at the security line completely blocked by this farce, and the precision instruments repeatedly reporting errors under their coating of dust. His immediate priority was restoring order, not inspecting a lousy machine that was clearly already "broken" and had sprayed dust everywhere.

In this system, nobody wanted trouble.

"Get this heap of scrap out of here!" The captain angrily pointed toward the washdown area by the exit. "Now! Right now! Don't let me see this machine blocking the way again! Cough, cough..."

"Yes! Yes! We'll take care of it right away!"

As though granted a pardon, Zhao Fan and Old Dog pushed the heavy vacuum, its belly hiding priceless treasures, straight past the red security line without undergoing a thorough scan. Under the guards' disgusted, furious stares, they rushed toward the outer washdown area.

The sunlight was blinding as they burst through the gates.

Zhao Fan glanced back at the chaotic checkpoint behind them. Benjamin's voice came over his earpiece just then, carrying the drained exhaustion of a narrow escape. "Nicely done... I've replaced the surveillance footage. Nobody's going to review this 'equipment malfunction.'"

Zhao Fan's hands still gripped the cart handle tightly.

"Let's go," Old Dog told Zhao Fan quietly. "To the Wreckage bar. Tonight, we're getting the payment that belongs to us."