Bridgehead Fortifications.
If you wanted to leave the Nexus Sector for the Valley Corridor, there was only one way—this chokepoint that spanned a deep canyon cleft.
And it had been taken.
A swarm of Groundsplitters had occupied the fortifications, and not only were there many of them—they'd even set up a full camp. Worse, there was a hulking leader among them.
"P-please! Just give me one more—!"
A Bonegrind raider who'd made a mistake begged in blind panic, desperate for a chance to live.
He was answered by the executioner's heavy cleaving axe—one stroke, immediate death.
"A newborn clan has no need of cowards like this."
The leader stared down at the corpse in its spreading pool of blood, voice rough as he warned the others.
"The chief needs warriors. Discipline. Anyone who disobeys ends like him!"
He was establishing authority the only way he knew: by slaughter. By fear. By forcing obedience so no troublemakers would surface again.
No betrayal was too small to forgive.
No sacrifice was too great to explain.
The Bonegrind Clan… had become far more dangerous than it used to be.
At the same time, the crisis-response team reached the entrance to Bridgehead Fortifications. Before pushing onward to the Valley Fortress, they needed to rendezvous with a certain "Groundsplitter expert."
Which meant the four of them saw the blood-soaked intimidation scene with their own eyes.
"So many Groundsplitters… they even built a camp."
Perica frowned slightly. The place had changed drastically, and it looked messy.
Chen Qianyu's face soured as well.
"They're blocking the only route to Valley Fortress… I'd say they're trying to stop reinforcements!"
By "reinforcements," she clearly meant herself.
And, naturally, the Doctor beside her.
Hao Fan stared down at his in-game map for a long moment, then sighed as if accepting an unpleasant truth.
"Only one road. Fine… we fight."
He casually drew his Howling Guard, loaded with expensive etched rounds.
After the constant combat yesterday, he'd already adapted to danger. And after watching battle logs for half the night, he'd picked up more fighting technique.
He wasn't the weakling who got bullied by every random Groundsplitter anymore.
The Bonegrind executioner-leader also noticed them at the entrance.
"Enemies?"
His eyes flickered with surprise—then hardened into cruelty.
"Kill them. Prove the clan's strength!"
The Bonegrind raiders surged forward as one.
But what truly signaled the opening of the fight was the thunderous gunfire.
Bang! Bang!
Hao Fan swallowed raw ore on the spot, dual-wielded, and used his "I-think-so-it-happens" Originium Arts to fully trigger the Howling Guard's emergency overdrive.
The etched bullets roared with increased power, erupting blood from Groundsplitter bodies—some shots even punched through flesh and struck enemies behind.
"Mage?! Kill the hand-cannon guy first!"
They didn't want to die to "civilized bullets," so their vicious focus snapped onto the suspicious hooded man.
They couldn't get past Chen Qianyu's blade.
"Cut when you must!"
A clear, ringing sword-note—then a Groundsplitter cleaver snapped clean in half. Nothing they swung could stop the dragon-blooded girl's technique.
And then the Administrator followed up with wide-area suppression.
"Intercept!"
Originium Arts sequences manifested—crystal clusters speared up from the ground and blasted aside the now-disarmed Groundsplitters.
The camp entrance was forced open.
From the rear, Bonegrind ambush crossbowmen tried to snipe from cover—
But Perica spotted them first.
"Purge!"
Protocol-enhanced Originium Arts called down a spear of lightning. It struck with zero suspense, deleting the ambusher in an instant.
But the fight still wasn't over.
The leader—wielding a massive cleaving axe—charged in with violent intent, heavy footsteps making the ground tremble.
"Bonegrind Executioner?"
Hao Fan recognized the elite type. Same class as the Groundsplitters they'd met in Andre's underground lab—far beyond the rank-and-file.
He fired again without hesitation.
But the rapid-fire etched rounds didn't deliver a kill shot—his body was dense and tough like iron. The bullets bit… and then stuck.
"Holy—this guy even human?!"
Hao Fan jolted. It felt like he'd gone back to "scratching" damage again.
Fortunately, the Administrator's strength seemed to have recovered somewhat—and with Macro-Wish (that top-tier weapon) amplifying her output, her Originium Arts hit much harder.
"This farce ends now!"
She raised her hand and summoned an enormous Originium crystal mass, releasing a full bombardment sequence—a finisher-level strike, head-on.
The executioner's answer was to grip his heavy cleaving axe with both hands and swing with brute force capable of flipping an armored vehicle.
BOOM!
The collision rang through Bridgehead Fortifications.
The crystal mass the Administrator called forth was split apart—shattered by raw strength.
But the price was immediate: Originium crystallization began to cling to his body.
"Enemies of the chief… DIE!"
Even with both arms broken, the executioner refused to lose his will to fight. He strained against the crystallized sealing, trying to reach the black-haired girl who commanded Originium.
His loyalty was real. Fanatical. The kind that paid in life without blinking.
"You've got backbone… but you don't get a second chance."
The Administrator stepped in, pressed a hand to his chest, and the rapidly growing Originium crystals completely assimilated him.
With that, the Groundsplitters occupying the Bridgehead were wiped out.
"…What a monster."
Hao Fan was honestly shaken.
Not just the strength—but the morale. The fearless, death-indifferent, faith-like zeal.
What kind of "chief" inspired loyalty like that?
He couldn't imagine it—only felt wary.
Still, he bent down and picked up a shattered fragment of the broken axe-blade that had skittered near his feet.
A useless scrap, technically—but it carried the weight of that fanaticism. And old, dried blood that could testify to the past.
Then he looked at the map again.
"The battle isn't over."
After the earlier burrowing-beast ambush, Hao Fan had gotten into the habit of constantly watching the minimap. The enemies they'd cleared were only the ones in the open.
There were stronger threats in the shadows.
A throwing dart hissed from concealment—
Bang!
Hao Fan twisted aside, dodging, and fired back without even turning his head.
He didn't hit—but the shot warned the others: they were still in contact.
"This is endless… Perica, these aren't ordinary Groundsplitters!"
Chen Qianyu raised her guard and instinctively moved in front of Perica, protecting the teammate less suited to melee.
She'd already identified the threat:
Bonegrind Infiltrators.
Paired close-range weapons. Usually female. Highly agile.
They specialized in stick-and-move melee, evasive footwork, dart sneak-attacks, and fluid dual-wield combat.
They looked like masked beauties with dangerous curves and exposed waists—
—which was exactly why you had to treat them seriously.
"Only two red dots… wait—there's a green dot closing in fast."
Hao Fan noticed the minimap shift.
At the same time, the infiltrator who failed her dart ambush changed targets: the Administrator.
She moved with terrifying speed and concealed presence—despite the team's vigilance, she somehow slipped behind the Administrator.
As the short blade went for the kill—
A bullet punched straight through her heart.
Instant death.
Mantis stalks the cicada; the oriole waits behind.
That timing. That precision.
It wasn't Hao Fan.
A man appeared—a Lupo, black hair and red eyes, dual-wielding guns.
He moved like a blood-red ghost threading the battlefield, gunplay bordering on the uncanny as he snapped onto the second infiltrator.
Under that storm of fire, the infiltrator barely dodged a few rounds before a scorching shot-line from the hunter found her brow—
One clean headshot.
Only then did the fight truly end.
But the suddenly-arrived Lupo seemed to mistake the masked black-haired girl—the Administrator—for a Groundsplitter ally.
He raised his hand-cannon, aiming point-blank at her forehead—
And Hao Fan silently lifted his own hand-cannon, aiming at the man's temple.
The Lupo looked startled, then reflexively raised his other gun—aiming at the suspicious hooded man.
And then something even stranger happened.
The Administrator, with a gun at her brow, didn't show fear.
Instead, she lifted both hands—forming finger-guns—and pointed them at the two men.
Which made the Lupo—Hao Ren, apparently—raise his second gun and point right back at her, as if refusing to lose the momentum.
So the three of them ended up in an absurd triangle of mutual aim, like a skit titled "One of Us Is a Traitor."
"…What are we even doing?"
After a long silence, Hao Fan finally voiced the obvious.
The Administrator stuck her tongue out slightly—cute, like she'd just played a prank.
The Lupo man lowered his guns first, awkward.
"…That kind of nerve. So you really are the Administrator from the rumors."
He curved his lips in faint appreciation.
"Katerlo—Wolfguard—Lupino. Reporting to the Administrator."
"…You're the 'Groundsplitter expert'?"
The Administrator raised an eyebrow, evaluating him.
She could sense a Groundsplitter-like aura from him.
"Supervisor Perica tends to introduce me that way. It's the simplest explanation."
Wolfguard placed one hand over his chest in formal respect.
Perica added the proper introduction:
"Wolfguard is an operator from Endfield's Special Technical Department. He excels at stealth warfare and solo operations, and he's especially good at 'solving Groundsplitter problems.' His capabilities are reliable, but…"
Her brows tightened; her tone turned stern.
"Wolfguard. 'Never point your muzzle at your teammates.' We've emphasized this repeatedly."
"Understood, Supervisor Perica."
He admitted fault cleanly and apologized to the Administrator.
"The situation was urgent. I failed to confirm your identity—that was my oversight. Please forgive the offense."
"It's fine. I didn't feel hostility. But do you 'welcome' everyone like this?"
The Administrator tilted her head, penguin-cute, clearly teasing him.
"Of course not. The rumored Administrator was right in front of me—I slipped into habit."
He coughed twice, a little too deliberately.
Which made it obvious: he hadn't truly failed to recognize her at all—and he'd just been baited into admitting it.
Hao Fan wasn't surprised.
After all, on his minimap, the man had been a green friendly marker from the start.
The fact Hao Fan aimed at him was simply a matter of attitude.
Before the Administrator could continue, Chen Qianyu cut in, curiosity written all over her face.
"Wolfguard, can I ask something? Not sure if it's appropriate—"
"If you're not sure it's appropriate, don't ask."
His expression went flat—instantly colder than it had been with the Administrator.
Chen Qianyu, shameless as always, pressed anyway.
"I heard our 'Groundsplitter expert' used to come from a Groundsplitter clan… you?"
Was she genuinely curious, or still annoyed about the gun aimed at the Administrator? Hard to say.
"…My clan is called the Wolfpack. Not Bonegrind. My people have discipline. We know when violence should be used."
"So basically… they're bandits, and you guys are righteous heroes?"
"…"Wolfguard stopped talking.
Or more accurately, he decided he didn't want to deal with this overly familiar dragon girl.
But the Administrator was curious too. Bonegrind, Wolfpack, sand-raiders—she didn't know the differences.
Wolfguard, facing the Administrator's interest, was willing to explain.
"Groundsplitters all the same, but in Wolfpack eyes, Bonegrind are just sharp-tongued prey… though this batch in Valley Four is more bloodthirsty than usual."
"And what are other Groundsplitters like, besides Bonegrind?"
"Hard to summarize. They aren't simply 'road bandits,' like many people assume. Maybe… if we ever gain a reliable future, the word 'Groundsplitter' will only appear in textbooks."
"How do you identify which clan a Groundsplitter belongs to?"
"You don't need to. No matter the clan—if their attitude is friendly, negotiate. Otherwise, prepare to fight."
He answered the Administrator's questions patiently—nothing like the contempt he'd shown Chen Qianyu.
Perica cut in before the conversation got too cozy.
"Wolfguard, pause. Valley Four is under emergency status. The crisis-response team needs you to coordinate with us in the field."
"Gladly."
Wolfguard pointed to the raised bridge, jammed with a barricade of tires, and shared the reconnaissance he'd already gathered.
"Bonegrind sabotaged the bridge controls and cut the power line… too methodical. They used to only know how to loot. This isn't their style."
There was hesitation in his voice.
Whatever had changed in Bonegrind… was starting to exceed even his understanding.
Meanwhile, Hao Fan—busy looting bodies—found something odd.
"This is… a part?"
He blinked, unsure whether to throw away something that looked worthless.
Chen Qianyu, trying to lower the bridge, discovered the control console was missing a key component.
"Doctor, that should be a bridge console part. Give it to the Administrator—she can repair the console."
Realization clicked.
Hao Fan handed the part over. The Administrator stepped up, inspected the bridge control switch—
"Single-line switch. Minor damage only. A bit of material should restore it."
She reinstalled the part and repaired the console with Originium Arts.
But even then—
The raised bridge didn't move at all.
"…This switch won't press. No power."
Chen Qianyu blinked, helpless.
Nobody expected more from her.
"We need to feed it electricity—use power from the protocol core."
Perica pointed to a nearby terminal device at the end of the circuit.
It was a Nexus-manufactured power terminal. Restore it to the grid, and any connected equipment would function normally again.
Typically these terminals powered gates, switches, and similar devices.
If power was cut, you used relays to transport electricity and restore operation.
"So… like activating the protocol resonance tower earlier?"
Hao Fan tossed out an example.
He also remembered the Nexus Power Station area had similar terminals in blackout—but nobody had time for that right now.
Too many problems. Too little manpower.
"Yes. With the protocol core, the power issue can be solved quickly."
Perica nodded.
"Some of the Guild members are already restoring power to outdoor equipment. Andre prepared plenty of relays at the protocol core—we'll route power directly to the bridgehead."
She looked confident, like it was all under control.
But the Administrator's eyes went… oddly complicated.
"Let's hope so."
Half an hour later—near the entrance of Bridgehead Fortifications—
Hao Fan stared at the relays they'd deployed and couldn't help complaining.
"Administrator, the cable length isn't enough. If we want it to reach the bridgehead, we've got to lay down more relays."
He spread his hands, exasperated.
"Integrated Industry is so advanced, and nobody invented longer cables? Even pulling a power line has a distance limit—what is this, a joke?"
"Don't complain to me. I want to know too!"
The Administrator replied with the dead-eyed despair of someone who'd been fighting game rules all day.
One more note:
Each region has its own protocol container cap.
Placing devices outside the Integrated Core region consumes protocol capacity, and different devices consume different amounts.
When a region hits cap, you can't place new devices there—meant to reduce load on the protocol core.
So you couldn't pave the entire Valley Four with relays… though it wasn't something they needed to panic about yet.
In any case, after some extra work, they successfully routed electricity to the power terminal, bringing the bridge control online.
The raised bridge finally began to descend, slowly, sending faint tremors through the deep canyon as it reconnected the only route to the Valley Corridor.
Path clear.
"That opens the road to the Valley Corridor."
Perica exhaled, slightly relieved—also slightly embarrassed about the relay hassle.
Wolfguard spoke with sober seriousness.
"Before we move, I want the most complete possible picture of the Valley Corridor."
"…Fiona. Give us the latest situation assessment."
Perica called their liaison, Fiona, and got an immediate response.
"Hold on. I'll send the simulation model."
Fiona, aboard the Dijiang, was swamped with other work—but still prioritized them first.
Then Hao Fan's Contract Synchronizer displayed an unfamiliar visual feed—likely the Valley Corridor they hadn't reached yet—while Fiona's voice came through:
"Our objective is Valley Fortress, an old forward base built by Valley Four."
"There's a bridge at Valley Fortress that leads directly to the power-supply highlands. It's the primary route between the Nexus sector and the highlands."
"Historical records show civilian settlements near the fortress, but I can't confirm them right now."
"Smoke interference is blocking aerial visibility. You'll have to verify on-site."
Transmission ended.
Fiona's intel gave Hao Fan a basic grasp of what lay ahead.
Wolfguard, however, looked pensive.
"I just rescued some civilians nearby. Based on their descriptions, it seems Bonegrind's core members are active."
Then his tone hesitated again.
"There are also traces I can't identify. At night, strange firelight sometimes illuminates the sky… they're using a power I'm unfamiliar with."
"…Sounds like a big operation," Hao Fan said calmly, tugging at his hood. "Wouldn't be surprised if that 'chief' is at Valley Fortress."
"Let's go. Valley Corridor."
And with that, the crisis-response team moved out—toward the fortress, toward the smoke, toward whatever had reshaped Bonegrind into something far more organized than bandits with masks.
....
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