They had 09 and 07 pry open the hidden door, revealing a concealed archive room. Conditions here were slightly better than outside, but all the paper records had been burned to carbon and crumbled at the slightest touch. Song Jin had 07 scan them first.

Returning to the chamber with the stone pillar, Li Xiao took one last look at the corpses on the pillar before turning to leave. The spaces behind the other doors were severely burned, leaving behind little more than metal racks; there was nothing left. Opening the final door, they found a long, narrow tunnel ahead. 07 and 09 transformed into glowing orbs to lead the way. The compartments here resembled living quarters and dormitories, but they were in no better condition than the previous rooms.

After a full circle yielded nothing, they returned to the intersection and tried the other direction. Sensing a subtle airflow, Li Xiao looked to the left and signaled the others to follow. The path here was an upward slope. After walking for more than ten minutes, they encountered a section where the ceiling had severely buckled, and the broken metal wall nearly blocked the entire passage. Li Xiao approached and saw an opening about five meters long, with rocks blocking the top. The airflow he had sensed was the wind blowing through the gaps in the rocks.

“Is that the surface above?” Qian Can stood on tiptoe, shining his flashlight to look. “This wind has such a strong, bloody smell.” Those who frequented deep mountains and forests were very familiar with that scent.

This gap didn’t look like it was part of the original design. Song Jin wanted to go up and take a look, so he signaled 07 to push the rocks aside. 07 extended its form, bracing against the ground with one end and the boulder with the other, only retracting once the gap was wide enough for an adult to crawl out.

As soon as the opening appeared, buzzing and the sound of flapping wings drifted in. The sky outside had already darkened, and through the gap, they could see black shadows flying everywhere, though they remained a certain distance from the ground. Song Jin immediately thought of the insect-repelling sound waves. They had searched for so long without finding an anti-detection device; if they hadn’t missed it, then the device must be installed in the interstitial layers of the structure.

Just as Song Jin was about to step onto the metal wall to climb out, Li Xiao grabbed him. Li Xiao took off his hat and tossed it out.

Swish-swish-swish!

Bullets coming from every direction pierced the hat, shredding it to pieces.

Jiang Hao’s expression changed: “An ambush?!”

“What’s going on?!” Qian Can retreated vigilantly, lowering his voice. “Who could have predicted we would exit from here?”

Li Xiao shook his head, using his thoughts to command 09 to block the gap first.

“Let them in.” Song Jin scanned the gap, his tone chillingly cold. “I want to see who dares to come here seeking their own death.”

Outside, a group of heavily armed men in black had waited for a long time without seeing anyone. Seeing the light in the gap gradually dim, they charged into the opening upon receiving the order to attack.

The tunnel below was pitch black. The left side was obscured by the buckled metal wall, and five meters away on the right stood the four of them. The men in black suddenly raised their guns: “Don’t move!”

Li Xiao: “Are you the garrison?”

Several men in black cautiously moved in from both sides: “Who are you?! Why are you here?!”

“That’s a question we should be asking,” Song Jin said in a disguised voice. “Why are you guarding this place? Do you know what this is?”

The leader of the men in black suddenly waved his hand: “They are all reactionaries! Execute them on the spot!”

Dense gunfire erupted. A metal wall appeared in front of Li Xiao and his companions, blocking all the bullets.

“Captain, they’ve vanished!”

“What’s going on?!” A man in black walked up to the wall and knocked on it with his fingers, producing a crisp, metallic echo.

Behind the “wall,” 09 projected a synced view with 07, allowing Li Xiao and the others to see the situation outside clearly. These people looked equipped like regular soldiers, but their conduct didn’t follow military regulations at all—they had opened fire recklessly without even confirming the identities of their targets.

Song Jin fished a small metal ball from his pocket and tossed it out. Let’s blow them up first. The ball passed through the wall and hit the ground with a crisp sound.

“Alert!” The dozen or so men in black shifted their guns instantly, unleashing a flurry of fire.

BOOM!

A micro-armor-piercing shell detonated. At the moment of the explosion, Song Jin reached up to cover Li Xiao’s ears. Li Xiao’s eyes flickered. The little lion was always unexpectedly thoughtful in these moments.

Noticing Li Xiao’s gaze, Song Jin’s mouth moved silently: If you get stunned by the blast, I’ll be the one stuck with the trouble.

Li Xiao: “…”

07 had absorbed most of the noise; the remaining sound wasn’t enough to be ear-splitting. The men in black who were furthest away were only wounded by the blast. As they retreated, they yelled into the public frequency: “They’re still here! Requesting reinforcements!”

09: [Over a hundred people are approaching!]

If the opposition was regular military, they would face a war of attrition, and they couldn’t afford that. Li Xiao summoned 09 and said to Song Jin, “Keep them behind me.”

Jiang Hao: “That’s too dangerous! I’ll be the bait.”

“No need.” Li Xiao reached out and placed his hand against the wall. “Stay with them.”

The wall behaved like liquid, allowing Li Xiao to pass right through. The tunnel was filled with a thick, nauseating smell of blood and gunpowder; blood was everywhere, and wounded men in black lay scattered about.

With a sudden tightening around his ankle, Li Xiao reached out into the air, and 09 transformed into a military knife that fell into his palm. He slashed expressionlessly. The man in black, who had been grabbing Li Xiao’s leg and trying to raise his gun, had his throat slit and dropped instantly.

Five meters away, two more men in black noticed the movement and whipped their guns around to fire. In the glow of the weapon lights, they saw only a phantom. The next moment, they heard a sound rapidly approaching. They looked up just in time to lock eyes with Li Xiao, who was flipping in mid-air.

The brief moment of eye contact felt like slow motion. The men in black watched the knife blade sweep toward them, but their bodies felt like they were filled with lead; they couldn’t react in time. Li Xiao avoided the spraying blood, landed in a roll, and the two men collapsed.

Hearing chaotic footsteps coming from above, Li Xiao stepped onto the buckled metal wall and jumped up.

09: [Initiating battle armor mode—activating exterior cloaking—]

In a flash, the military knife turned into wisps of silk that wrapped around Li Xiao’s wrists. With a series of metallic clacks, the metal shell unfolded and encased his entire body.

Behind the “wall,” Jiang Hao watched Li Xiao vanish, unable to process it. How did he do that?!

Qian Can was shocked yet again by Li Xiao’s display. Is that speed and reflex rate for real? Moving with ease under the fire of two machine guns—is he even human?!

Song Jin’s eyes glowed with a smile and a sense of possessiveness he hadn’t even noticed himself. Li Xiao was the type whose score went from 80 at first meeting to even higher as he learned more about him; he always had a way to firmly capture his attention. This attraction was far stronger than the instinctive repulsion between Alphas.

“07, transform,” Song Jin commanded coldly.

07: [Order received—]

This was Li Xiao’s first time using the armor, and it felt very different from piloting a mecha. Mechas usually relied on joysticks, buttons, or neural sensing, and no matter how agile they were, one was still piloting a machine. But the armor felt like using his own body.

Li Xiao pressed his palm against the boulder and activated the air cannon. The next moment, the boulder was blown to smithereens. A group of men in black approached with guns from all sides, but seeing the explosion, they retreated sharply.

Li Xiao tapped his toes, activated the thrusters under his feet, and charged into the crowd, sweeping the long blade in his hand horizontally.

“Ugh!”

“Something’s here! Something’s coming!”

“It’s at three o’clock!”

Hearing this, Li Xiao turned his head to look at the speaker. Indeed, the man was staring right at him while retreating, his machine gun precisely trained on him. This guy’s rank can’t be too high. If even these small fries are modified humans, how badly has the military been infiltrated?

The roar of an engine echoed in his ears as a hovercar flew out from the gap. Li Xiao took care of this wave of men with two strokes and followed.

This was a mountainous area in the north of Sector 3, very close to the urban center. From the air, one could clearly see that the insect swarm had eroded most of Sector 3, and the garrison’s vanguard was intensifying its pest-control efforts.

“Heading back to the hospital?”

Song Jin’s inquiry reached his ears, and Li Xiao gave a faint assent. The source of those two boxes of blood hadn’t been found yet, and the R&D center at the Third Hospital was highly suspicious.

They hadn’t flown far when 09’s warning sounded.

“There’s a fighter jet approaching! Tracking missiles detected!”

A radar window popped up in front of Li Xiao, showing the target’s position.

“They even deployed fighter jets.” Song Jin gripped the steering wheel, looking at the radar display on the windshield. “This place isn’t much better than the ‘three-don’t-care’ zones on the border.”

“You take them and go first.” Li Xiao pushed the thrusters, veered away from the hovercar’s path, and charged toward the fighter jet. The launched missile was led back toward the fighter, and the pilot scrambled to launch another missile for interception. But the distance was too close, and the fighter was shaken off-balance by the shockwave of the explosion.

Seeing that Li Xiao could handle it, Song Jin flew toward Sector 3 with the two in the back seat, but before long, they were intercepted by two incoming fighter jets. Song Jin tried to evade twice, but the jets were relentless. In the jet, the pilot thought a simple large-caliber round would take care of the hovercar, but he didn’t expect it to be so tricky, so he launched a tracking missile directly.

“Big Brother, behind us!” Qian Can shouted.

“I gave you guys a chance.” With an irritable, sharp turn, Song Jin floored the speed. “Hold on tight.”

In the back, Jiang Hao and Qian Can grabbed the handles, their hearts racing with excitement. Watching the big shots fight while in the front seat—this is too stimulating!

The hovercar was moving too fast, and the pilot of the other jet was searching for his target. Suddenly, the radar issued a warning, indicating that the target’s position overlapped with the jet. The pilot snapped to, switching to the overhead monitor. Amidst the dense swarm of insects, the hovercar was diving down at an incredible speed. At that speed, it could smash a massive crater into the jet; if they’re unlucky, they’ll crash.

What kind of death-defying playstyle is this?!

After dealing with the first jet, Li Xiao chased after them, just in time to see Song Jin’s car dive at a 90-degree angle.

“Song Jin!”

At the moment before impact, the hovercar suddenly pitched up, flying just past the top of the fighter jet. The missile chasing the hovercar slammed directly into the fighter jet.

BOOM!

A massive fireball exploded in the air. Metal shards and roasted insects splattered everywhere, and smoke filled the sky. Seeing the hovercar fly out of the explosion’s range, Li Xiao’s heart settled back into place.

09: [Master, your heart rate is spiking. Please remain calm.]

09 and 07 were linked; just as 09 gave the warning, Song Jin saw it on the other end and laughed lazily: “Don’t be so nervous. Do you think I’d go and get myself killed?”

Li Xiao: ” Seeing that scene and remaining indifferent—aren’t you overestimating me?”

Song Jin: “You care about me that much?”

Li Xiao nonchalantly shredded a bug diving toward him: “I don’t want to be a widower while I’m still in my teens.”

After he finished, a low chuckle came through his ear, followed by Song Jin’s melodic voice: “Aren’t you a sixty-something-year-old grandfather?”

Li Xiao: “…”

Flying back to the city, they originally planned to land in a deserted area, but 07 and 09’s warnings sounded simultaneously.

[You are wanted!]

Jiang Hao and Qian Can leaned toward the front seat, watching the local news playing on the virtual screen. A photo of the four of them in the tunnel was plastered across it.

AI Anchor: [Extreme reactionaries have been discovered in Sector 3, carrying heavy weapons. So far, they have slaughtered 126 garrison soldiers. Citizens who spot these four are urged to report them to the military immediately!]

“Holy crap!” Qian Can cursed. “How did I become a wanted criminal?!”

Song Jin clicked his tongue in frustration: “This is troublesome.”

Jiang Hao: “Is changing clothes useful?”

“No!” Qian Can said decisively. “Look at these two—even in burlap sacks, they’re walking spotlights. I guarantee we’ll be spotted the moment we step inside!”

Jiang Hao: “…” Can’t argue with that.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of being discovered, but once a gunfight broke out in a place like that, it was inevitable that bystanders would be injured.

Song Jin said languidly: “It won’t be long before ‘Grandpa Li’ is recognized. What do we do, hide for a bit?”

Li Xiao was only wearing a mask and goggles; anyone with the intent to analyze it could easily identify him. Li Xiao checked the map: “Let’s go to Sector 4 first.”

They had just flown into an area with fewer insects when they saw a fighter jet squadron flying toward them from afar, launching tracking missiles at them.

“Tell me, did they recognize us, or not?” Song Jin’s voice was smiling, but his tone was icy.

Li Xiao: “We’ll know after we test it.”

Since the photos had been made public, there was no need for him to continue hiding his identity. It might be better to move from passive to active and test those old guys.

Song Jin: “Bet?”

Li Xiao: “What are we betting?”

Song Jin: “If you win, I’ll call you ‘Grandpa.’ If I win, you lie back and let me deal with you however I like.”

Li Xiao: “…”

No matter if he wins or loses, the punishment is on him.

The two easily evaded the fighter squadron and arrived at Sector 4, which had not been affected by the insect swarm. Li Xiao landed at the foot of a remote mountain, and the metal shell on his body peeled away layer by layer. He opened his terminal and contacted the garrison headquarters: “I am Li Xiao. What is the meaning of marking me as a wanted criminal?”

…

Tianjiang Seat, Military Headquarters.

Zheng Kang’an received the intelligence sent by station Z152 and slammed his hand on the table as he stood up: “It’s really Li Xiao?! So many fighter jets didn’t blow him to death? And they gave him the chance to expose his own identity?!”

Subordinate: “Should we report this?”

“Report my ass! Kill him!” Zheng Kang’an paced back and forth a few times, then hastily called out before the subordinate left: “No, we have to report it.”

The news had already been released. If it reached the Majesty’s ears, and if he were held accountable, he would be the first one blamed. Zheng Kang’an opened his terminal and sent a video call to Meng Jian.

…

Danse Royal Palace.

Li Ji received an emergency contact from Meng Jian and signaled for Old Liu to answer. Meng Jian’s holographic projection appeared.

“What is it now?” Li Ji picked up his teacup and slowly scraped the froth.

Meng Jian’s face was grim: “Your Majesty, the Second Prince attacked the garrison the moment he left the palace, causing over a hundred casualties. He has been wanted by the local garrison!”

Li Ji’s tea-sipping motion paused abruptly.

“What happened?”

Meng Jian projected the news from Z152: “This person in the black sportswear is the Second Prince. I don’t know where he picked up those riff-raff friends next to him.”

Besides the news, there were many photos of the killed garrison soldiers. Li Ji flipped through them, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

“He actually dared to attack the garrison while the insect swarm is active!”

Meng Jian said in a low voice, “After the incident, he contacted the garrison headquarters to expose his identity, trying to shirk responsibility.”

Li Ji scanned Meng Jian with cold eyes: “How could his group of people kill over a hundred garrison soldiers?”

“It’s all been confirmed.”

Meng Jian played the recording of the communication between the garrison and Li Xiao: “They were carrying heavy weapons, and the Second Prince is quite skilled. The garrison didn’t guard against them. I think we should bring him back for discipline. A person like this is a ticking time bomb—it’s too dangerous to let him roam!”

Li Ji looked at the bloody images on the screen and was silent for a moment.

“First, have the local garrison cancel the warrant. I’ll find someone to bring him back.”

Meng Jian: “Yes.”

…

Li Xiao sat in the passenger seat and didn’t wait long before receiving a communication from the military. The other party claimed to be under orders from the royal family to come pick him up. After reporting his location, a military transport ship flew over from the horizon, hovering in mid-air. A hovercar descended from the hangar bay and landed not far away.

Li Xiao told Song Jin and the others not to follow and got out of the car alone to meet them. The one who got out of the other car was a Beta in a Major’s uniform. Seeing Li Xiao approach, he saluted respectfully: “Second Prince.”

Li Xiao’s gaze swept over the car’s external monitoring and he asked nonchalantly: “Where did my brother tell you to take me?”

The Beta raised his head: “Your Majesty was furious to hear that you attacked the garrison and ordered me to take your remains back to report.”

Just after speaking, the Beta quickly drew his sidearm and aimed it at Li Xiao: “My apologies, Second Prince.”

Bang!

The bullet embedded into the metal. The Beta’s eyes widened, and he tried to fire two more shots, but they were intercepted by the mysterious metal again. Li Xiao snatched the gun, the muzzle pressed against the Beta’s forehead.

“Why don’t I take your remains back instead?”

Seeing a missile being dropped from the military transport ship out of the corner of his eye, Li Xiao tapped his toes, his battle armor encased his body, and he flew out of the blast zone.

The sky was pitch black. Song Jin landed the car on a hillside and looked at Li Xiao in the passenger seat.

“Can you find out the truth this way? Even if he really sent people to kill you, he won’t admit it.”

Li Xiao edited a message and sent it out.

“As long as he says it wasn’t him, I will believe him.”

In his previous life, he left the palace precisely because he didn’t believe it. This time, he would try a different choice and see if there would be a different result. Besides, he wasn’t just testing his brother’s attitude.

Song Jin looked at him deeply: “What if he’s lying?”

Li Xiao: “You said it yourself—when you can’t see someone clearly, don’t worry about what they say. Isn’t it enough to see what they do next?”

…

Tianjiang Seat, Danse Royal Palace.

Li Ji was restless; he couldn’t focus on work all afternoon. Chaotic footsteps came from the doorway, and Old Liu rushed in to report: “Your Majesty, they encountered an unknown attack while trying to pick him up. The Second Prince, he, he might have…”

Li Ji stood up abruptly: “Might have what?!”

Old Liu’s face turned pale: “A large-scale explosion occurred there. It is almost impossible for the Second Prince to have survived in that location…”

A buzzing sound filled Li Ji’s ears; his brain went blank. Darkness fell, and Li Ji sat motionless in the dim office for two hours.

Suddenly, a familiar yet strange notification sound came from the drawer. Li Ji snapped back to reality and hurriedly took out his terminal to swipe it open.

[Those people want to kill me. Was this your intent?]