Vines covered the dilapidated high-rises, green moss blanketed the broken bridges, and the deserted streets were cold and quiet. Storefront windows had been smashed, and shelves lay overturned on the floor, clear signs that the shops had been looted.
A yellowed newspaper of indeterminate age skittered along the ground in a breeze that stirred up dust. An air of desolation hung over everything.
Moonlight, dimmed by the dust floating in the air, was the city's only source of light.
This was an abandoned city that had once belonged to a great nation. That nation had since disappeared in the upheaval of a changing era, and its citizens had moved out of the dead city. Even wanderers were unwilling to live there.
Over the decades in which society across the planet had been reshaped, many cities had been abandoned and reclaimed by the planet's ecosystem. Cold forests of steel had gradually become vibrant green wilderness, making one wonder what humanity meant to the planet.
According to Han Xiao's intelligence, three of the Germinal Organization's branch bases were hidden within Stardragon's borders, and one of them was in this dead city. Like nails embedded in Stardragon's flesh, they had left its upper ranks both shocked and furious. Within twenty-four hours, troops had been dispatched from the nearest military base to attack this branch base, an efficient operation.
Now, artillery fire had awakened the dead city. More than a dozen Stardragon military armored assault vehicles charged the branch base as gunfire, cannon fire, and explosions thundered without pause, mingled with screams and roars.
Yet the frontal battle was not the heart of the operation.
Three members of the Secret Operations Department were quietly approaching the Germinal branch base from the side. Their mission was to infiltrate it and steal intelligence while the army fought.
The Secret Operations Department, also known as the Secret Service, handled infiltration, sabotage, theft, assassination, and similar matters. Its members were the elite of the elite.
The three agents avoided the battlefield and approached the branch base from another side. Once they reached the side entrance, the team's hacker began cracking the access controls.
Li Yalin, a member of Secret Operations and a level-four clearance agent, was a radiant, attractive young woman. She wore a black one-piece athletic bodysuit that outlined a sizzling figure, with a loose yellow hoodie over it, giving her a thoroughly sporty look. Fair-skinned and beautiful, she had the lively air of a sprite, with silver hoop earrings, a touch of eyeshadow, a high nose bridge, and well-defined features.
Li Yalin stretched lazily, her gracefully curved waist displaying astonishing flexibility. Completely at odds with the tense atmosphere around her, she chewed her bubble gum and complained, "We finally got some time off while the captain recovers, and the department gives us an emergency assignment. They really don't treat agents like people!"
Lambert silently polished a gleaming dagger without saying a word, as quiet as a stone. He had once been an ace soldier in a unit whose designation could not be disclosed. After being "retired," he joined the Thirteenth Bureau's Secret Operations Department. He wore field fatigues, a belt holding more than a dozen daggers around his waist, and a folded, jet-black heavy sniper rifle slung diagonally across his back.
"Th-this operation... the bureau seems to be taking it very seriously."
Lin Yao spoke hesitantly. He was a little over 1.7 meters tall and looked somewhat youthful and shy. The team's hacker, he carried a small bag packed with electronic equipment. He was currently working on the branch base's side entrance, connecting an array of electronic devices to the access controls. His fingers flew over the keyboard as code streamed down the screen like a waterfall.
Before long, the program was cracked, and the metal door opened automatically.
The three exchanged glances and slipped into the base.
Li Yalin led the way, Lin Yao stayed in the middle, and Lambert brought up the rear. Lin Yao hacked into the system and opened every access-controlled door along the way. Their target was the server room.
The Germinal Organization placed great importance on secrecy. Whenever a branch base came under attack and looked likely to fall, the guards left behind would immediately format its system and destroy everything on it. They would also activate an EMP to cut off the network and power and burn out the servers' electronic components. Their decisiveness was like a lizard shedding its tail, which was why the Germinal Organization had remained shrouded in mystery like a bank of fog. The Thirteenth Bureau valued Han Xiao so highly because intelligence sources were so hard to come by.
They made it to the second basement level without incident, though not without scares. The server room was right ahead when Lin Yao suddenly cried out at the surveillance feed he had hacked into. "There's a small enemy squad around the corner ahead..."
Before he could finish, a squad of guards appeared in sight. The encounter came without warning!
Li Yalin reacted first, suddenly bursting forward at a speed that made her look like a phantom. She reached the guards before they could open fire, leaping into the air as lightly as a swallow. Her long, supple legs spread in a horizontal split, and she kicked the two men in front hard in the head. The guards went spinning through the air, their necks broken.
Her physical abilities were exceptional. Not only was she astonishingly flexible, but her strength was equally frightening. She planted both hands on the ground, rose into a handstand, and whipped her legs around. Strands of bright yellow energy flared from them as they swept through the crowd like a yellow propeller. Even guns used to block her kicks exploded into pieces, and the force of her legs could bend metal!
"Martial artist!"
The last guard turned pale with terror and was about to call for reinforcements when Lambert, some distance away, swept his hands over the knife pouches at his waist. A throwing knife trailed a streak of silver light and buried itself in the guard's throat in an instant.
Li Yalin and Lambert quickly wiped out the fully armed squad.
Just then, the corridor lights turned blood-red, and piercing alarms rang out everywhere.
Lin Yao cried, "We've been discovered! A large number of guards are coming our way, and the base system has started formatting itself!"
Li Yalin grew anxious as well. "Hurry and crack the server room's access controls!"
"I'm working on it. It'll take at least three minutes, and the enemy will be here in one at most. I... I really can't bypass the firewall again and open the door that quickly. S-sorry..." Sweat poured down Lin Yao's face as he hammered frantically at his tablet. His fingers moved as fast as if he had been single for several lifetimes, leaving afterimages and clattering against the screen, but the steel door to the server room did not budge.
Soon, the sound of jumbled footsteps came from both ends of the corridor. It was a straight passage with nowhere to hide. They were confident they could fight their way out, but the mission would certainly fail.
"That's right! Didn't the higher-ups give us some new equipment before we set out?!" Li Yalin suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pulled a long, jet-black package from Lin Yao's backpack.
She unzipped it, revealing a mechanical arm with a distinctly metallic finish lying quietly inside.
The Light Power Arm!
"How do you use this thing? Did either of you read the instructions?"
Lin Yao hurriedly said, "Put your left hand inside and hook the hinge with your thumb to activate it. But is this thing really not going to explode? You know what those idiots in the Research and Development Department are like..."
There was a saying in the Thirteenth Bureau: If the Research and Development Department made it, there was bound to be a risk!
"We don't have a choice. We might as well give it a shot." Li Yalin steeled herself and put on the mechanical arm, looking as though she had already prepared herself to lose her arm. That showed just how unpopular the Research and Development Department was.
The mechanical arm activated successfully with a hum.
"It actually didn't malfunction!"
What a shock!
Li Yalin gritted her teeth and slammed a fist into the server room's metal door, leaving a conspicuous dent. Overjoyed, she unleashed a storm of punches, the mechanical iron fist striking the door at high speed with a series of thuds. Under the combined force of the machine and her own strength, dent after warped dent appeared in the metal door, and the frame gave a grating tear.
Twenty seconds passed in a flash, and the main force of guards finally reached the corridor's corner. Just then, the server room's metal door finally gave way beneath the pounding and flew inward with a crash.
Li Yalin and the others hurried inside, escaping by a hair's breadth.
"That was close."
Lin Yao immediately connected his equipment to the server. The system format was fifty-seven percent complete, and he had to hurry to back up what remained and hack into the Germinal Organization's database to steal as much intelligence as possible before the network and power were cut.
With the room as cover, Li Yalin and Lambert unleashed astonishing combat strength. Li Yalin pulled a metal telescopic baton from her pocket and used her swallow-swift moves to take down every guard who charged into the server room. Her baton in her right hand and mechanical arm on her left blazed with bright yellow energy, striking with astonishing power and breaking guards' bones and tendons through their bulletproof vests.
Meanwhile, Lambert's throwing knives ricocheted off the walls to strike enemies outside the door, drawing one scream after another from the guards.
The two of them alone inflicted heavy casualties, leaving over a hundred guards at a loss.
Before long, the base system finished formatting itself. The power and network were cut immediately afterward, and the entire base went dark in the blink of an eye.
"Fight our way out!" Li Yalin roared. Punching, kicking, and swinging her baton, she carved a bloody path through the guards. Lambert dragged Lin Yao along close behind her.
Screams rang out everywhere, and chaos reigned in the darkness.
After a fierce battle, the three finally fought their way out of the base and breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Yao even collapsed to the ground. The other two were used to it; he looked scared to death like this after every mission.
Li Yalin played with the Light Power Arm, unable to put it down. Lin Yao glanced at it and asked in surprise, "Who invented that mechanical arm? Could it be Luo Xuan from the Logistics Department?"
"Who knows? I heard the higher-ups intend to have him join the Secret Operations Department, so it's not impossible." Li Yalin's big eyes blinked, full of curiosity.