Vines crawl over crumbling skyscrapers, broken bridges are covered in green moss, and deserted streets lie cold and quiet. Shop windows along the road are shattered, shelves overturned on the ground—clearly, a looting had taken place.
A yellowed newspaper, who knows how long ago, drifts across the ground with the dust-stirring breeze. A desolate atmosphere permeates everywhere.
Moonlight filtered through the dust, tinged with gloom, serving as the city's sole source of light.
This was an abandoned city, once part of a great nation now vanished in the tide of transformative change. Its citizens had migrated from this dead city, and even wanderers shunned its desolate existence.
Over decades of planetary upheaval, countless cities were abandoned, reintegrating into the planet's ecosystems. From cold steel jungles, they gradually transformed into vibrant green fields, prompting reflection on humanity's purpose in this world.
According to Xiao's intelligence, three branch bases of the Sprout were concealed within the Star Dragon. This dead city housed one of them—a thorn in the side that infuriated Star Dragon's high command. Within 24 hours, troops were dispatched from the nearest military base to assault the branch base, an operation executed with remarkable efficiency.
Now, the dead city was roused by artillery fire. Over a dozen Star Dragon military armored assault vehicles charged the sub-base, their gunfire, explosions, and roars mingling with screams and howls.
Yet the main battlefield wasn't the focus of the operation.
Three members of the Secret Operations Department were quietly approaching the Sprout sub-base from the flank. Their mission was to infiltrate and steal intelligence while the military forces were engaged.
The Secret Operations Department handled infiltration, sabotage, theft, assassination, and similar tasks, also known as the Secret Service. Its members were the elite of the elite.
The Secret Service trio avoided the firefight, circling around to the sub-base's side entrance. The team's hacker breached the access control system.
Li Yalin, a Level 4 Agent of the Secret Operations Division, was a radiant young woman. She wore a black bodysuit that hugged her breathtakingly curvaceous figure, topped with a loose-fitting yellow hoodie that gave her a distinctly athletic vibe. Fair-skinned and beautiful, she possessed an elfin, lively charm. Silver hoop earrings adorned her ears, subtle eyeshadow graced her lids, and her high, straight nose framed striking, well-defined features.
Yalin stretched lazily, her gracefully curved waist displaying astonishing flexibility—a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere around her. Chewing bubblegum, she grumbled, "Just when the captain's injury gave us a rare break, the bureau slaps us with an emergency mission. They don't treat us agents like human beings!"
Lambert silently polished his gleaming dagger, his silence as solid as stone. Once an ace soldier in an unnamed elite unit, he had joined the Bureau's Secret Operations Division after being "retired." Dressed in field fatigues, his belt held over a dozen daggers, and a folding, jet-black heavy sniper rifle slung diagonally across his back.
"This... this operation seems to be a high priority for the Bureau."
Lin Yao stammered, his slightly over-five-foot frame exuding a touch of youthful shyness. As the team's hacker, he carried a small backpack filled with electronic gear. Currently, he was cracking the side entrance of the sub-base, pulling out a stack of devices to connect to the access control system. His fingers danced across the keyboard as code cascaded like a waterfall.
Before long, the program cracked, and the metal door swung open automatically.
The trio exchanged glances and slipped into the base.
Yalin led the way, Lin Yao followed in the middle, and Lambert brought up the rear. Lin Yao hacked through every access point along the route as they made their way toward the main server room.
The Sprout placed immense importance on secrecy. Should a satellite base face imminent compromise during an attack, the remaining guards would immediately format the base's systems, erasing all data, and activate an EMP to sever networks, cut power, and incinerate the host's electronic components—as decisive as a lizard severing its tail. This ruthless protocol allowed the Sprout to remain shrouded in mystery, like a dense fog. Bureau 13's high regard for Xiao stemmed precisely from the rarity of such intelligence sources.
After navigating the journey to the second basement level without incident, the server room lay within sight. Suddenly, Lin Yao stared at the hacked surveillance feed and cried out, "A small enemy unit is around the corner ahead..."
Before he could finish, a squad of guards appeared in their line of sight. The encounter battle erupted unexpectedly!
Li Yalin reacted first, bursting forward with phantom-like speed. Before the guards could fire, she was upon them. Leaping into the air with the agility of a swallow, she executed a 180-degree split kick with her long, supple legs, striking the heads of the two lead guards. The impact sent them spiraling backward, their necks snapped.
Her physical prowess was extraordinary—not only was her flexibility astonishing, but her strength was equally terrifying. Planting her hands on the ground, she flipped into a handstand, spinning as she swung her legs out. A trail of bright yellow energy flares erupted from her legs, like yellow propellers, sweeping through the crowd. Even if blocked by firearms, the weapons would shatter into scattered parts. The force of her kicks could bend metal!
"Martial Artist!"
The last guard paled in terror, about to call for backup, when Lambert's hands swept across his waist sheath. A throwing knife, trailing silver light, instantly pierced the guard's throat.
A fully armed squad was swiftly eliminated by Li Yalin and Lambert.
Just then, the corridor lights turned blood-red, and shrill alarms blared everywhere.
Lin Yao screamed, "We've been discovered! Numerous guards are rushing our way, and the base system is initiating a full reset!"
Li Yalin grew frantic. "Break through the main server room's access control immediately!"
"I'm working on it! At least three minutes! The enemy will be here in under a minute! I... I just can't bypass the firewall and unlock the access in such a short time. I'm... I'm sorry..." Lin Yao was drenched in sweat, frantically tapping the tablet with lightning-fast fingers—the kind honed by decades of solitary practice. Blurs flew across the screen, keys clattered, yet the steel door to the main server room remained utterly unresponsive.
Soon, chaotic footsteps echoed from both ends of the corridor. This straight hallway offered no hiding spots. They were confident they could fight their way out, but doing so would guarantee mission failure.
"Wait! Didn't headquarters issue us new gear before we left?!" Li Yalin suddenly remembered something, hurriedly pulling a jet-black, oblong package from Lin Yao's backpack.
Unzipping it, they found a mechanical arm with a metallic sheen lying quietly inside.
Lightweight Power Arm!
"How do we use this? Did anyone read the manual?"
Lin Yao hurriedly explained, "Slide your left hand in and activate it by hooking your thumb over the hinge. Seriously, is this thing really not going to explode? You know how those idiots in R&D are..."
A saying circulated within Bureau 13: Anything from R&D comes with risks!
"No other choice. Desperate times call for desperate measures." Li Yalin steeled herself, strapped on the arm, and wore an expression ready to lose a limb—proof of how deeply unpopular R&D was.
The mechanical arm activated with a buzzing hum.
"It actually worked!"
Shocking!
Gritting her teeth, Li Yalin slammed her fist into the metal door of the main server room. A distinct dent instantly formed. Overjoyed, she unleashed a torrent of punches. The mechanical fist collided with the metal door at high speed, thudding repeatedly. Bolstered by both the machine's strength and her own, the door developed a series of deformed dents, the frame emitting a bone-chilling tearing sound.
Twenty seconds passed in an instant. The main contingent of guards finally reached the corridor corner. At that very moment, the metal door of the main server room, unable to withstand the relentless assault, crashed open with a thunderous bang.
Yalin and her two companions scrambled inside just in the nick of time.
"That was close."
Lin Yao immediately connected his equipment to the mainframe. The system format had reached 57%. He needed to back up the remaining data quickly and, before the network and power cut off, hack into the Sprout's database to steal intelligence.
With the room as cover, Li Yalin and Lambert unleashed astonishing combat prowess. Li Yalin drew a metal baton from her pocket, swiftly taking down the guards who had charged into the server room with lightning-fast moves. Her right hand wielded the baton while her left mechanical arm blazed with bright yellow flames, delivering devastating blows that shattered bones and severed tendons through bulletproof vests.
Meanwhile, Lambert's throwing knives ricocheted off walls, striking enemies outside the doors. The guards screamed in agony.
Just the two of them inflicted massive casualties, leaving over a hundred guards paralysed.
Soon after, the base systems completed self-formatting, followed by a complete power and network shutdown. The entire facility plunged into darkness in an instant.
"Break through!" Li Yalin roared, punching, kicking, and swinging her baton to carve a bloody path. Lambert dragged Lin Yao close behind.
Screams echoed everywhere, chaos reigning in the darkness.
After a fierce battle, the trio finally broke out of the base and breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Yao collapsed onto the ground, utterly spent. The other two were unfazed—every mission ended with Lin Yao looking like she'd been scared out of her wits.
Li Yalin fiddled with the lightweight power arm, unable to put it down. Lin Yao glanced at it and exclaimed in surprise, "Who invented this mechanical arm? Could it be that Luo Xuan from Logistics?"
"Who knows? I heard the higher-ups are considering bringing him into the Special Operations Division. It's not impossible," Li Yalin replied, her large eyes blinking rapidly, filled with curiosity.