They wasted no time.
Led by Shi Lei, the two ducked into an inconspicuous maintenance tunnel inside the shelter. This path was deeper and older than any underground pipe network they had traversed before.
The air was thick with the smell of metal and dust, settled over decades. The walls were covered with dried moss and strange fungi. This was the foundation of the city, and also a forgotten tomb.
"This is it."
At the bottom of a huge, long-defunct underground pumping station, Shi Lei pointed to a wall completely blocked by collapsed rocks and solidified concrete, and said, out of breath.
According to the guidance of Ling Feng's "mental map," behind this seemingly impenetrable obstacle was the legendary "Track Zero."
"Feng..." Shi Lei looked at the astonishingly thick wall and swallowed. "This... this thing, I'm not sure even industrial-grade explosives could blast a hole through it."
"We're not using explosives."
Ling Feng's reply was calm and full of power.
He placed the crate of energy lattices he was carrying on the ground, took one out, and held it tightly in his hand. His other hand pressed against the jade pendant on his chest.
He closed his eyes.
The next second, a telekinetic force so immense that it distorted the surrounding air erupted from him!
This was no longer the focused, precise "bee sting" used for targeted strikes, but a brutal, battering-ram-like, pure force!
In front of him, the barrier wall of boulders and concrete began to hum and groan.
Countless tiny pebbles and dust particles began to float up from the wall, defying gravity.
"...Rise!"
Ling Feng squeezed the word through his teeth.
RUMBLE—!
A giant concrete block, weighing several tons, before Shi Lei's disbelieving eyes, was forcibly, inch by inch, pulled out of the wall by an invisible hand!
Ling Feng's face instantly turned deathly pale. Two streams of bright red blood flowed from his nostrils.
The military-grade energy lattice in his hand dimmed at a visible rate!
Clearly, to wield such immense power, his own spiritual energy was far from sufficient. He had to act like a machine, using the external "energy lattice" as fuel, and through the "supercharger" that was the jade pendant, could he unleash such terrifying power!
"Shi Lei! Clear the debris!" Ling Feng's voice was strained from the intense focus of his spiritual energy.
"Ah? Oh! Right!"
Shi Lei snapped out of his shock. He threw off his jacket, grabbed a giant crowbar, and rushed forward, pushing aside the boulders that Ling Feng had pulled out and were now suspended in mid-air, and worked furiously to clear a passable space.
One was the "mastermind," possessing the unbelievable, god-like power.
The other was the "sapper," full of strength and resilience, the most efficient of workers.
A miraculous, insane tunneling operation officially began, deep in the dark, isolated underground.
It was a tedious, arduous, and mentally draining job.
After pulling out each boulder, Ling Feng had to stop and meditate for a moment, absorbing the "Pneuma" from the energy lattice to recover his spiritual energy. In just three hours, they had used up nearly a third of the crate of lattices they had brought.
And during the excavation, they also saw many relics from the "pre-civilization era."
They saw a section of a long-crushed maglev train car, its silver metallic luster still visible. Its streamlined design and futuristic materials were far superior to the clunky, crude vehicles on the surface.
They even found, in a section of a collapsed tunnel wall, the remains of several soldiers, long reduced to skeletons, but still wearing powered exoskeletons covered in precision instruments.
These silent relics told them the story of a bygone, once-glorious era.
After an unknown amount of time, when Ling Feng, with his last ounce of strength, moved the final, massive block of reinforced concrete out of the way—
A completely different airflow, carrying the unique smell of an abandoned industrial zone, a mixture of ozone and chemicals, suddenly rushed in from the dark tunnel ahead!
They were through!
The entire Track Zero, which had been sealed for decades, had been forcibly opened by them!
Shi Lei let out a heaven-shaking cheer of excitement. He threw down his tool and rushed forward, giving Ling Feng a fierce bear hug!
"Feng! We did it! We damn well did it!"
A tired smile also appeared on Ling Feng's face.
However, just as his mind relaxed, a deep-seated intuition for danger suddenly made him shudder.
He ignored Shi Lei's cheers and immediately sat down, sending his remaining spiritual energy like a radar, back in the direction they had come, towards the surface.
The next second, the smile on his face froze completely.
In his mental map, around their small, hidden underground shelter, five extremely faint, yet snake-like cold energy signals had appeared at some point.
The fluctuation frequency of those signals was completely different from the chaotic mess of the Iron Fist Gang's thugs.
They were calm, professional, and patient, like five of the most experienced hunters, silently setting up a perfect, slowly tightening encirclement.
The "Cleaners"...
They had arrived.
And they had already found his old lair.
Ling Feng looked up at Shi Lei, who was still excited about breaking through the tunnel.
He knew that this lifeline they had just opened was not just for transporting supplies.
It was also their one and only, final escape route.