A dozen minutes earlier...
A ghostly figure slipped past the layers of patrolling guards, deftly bypassing the range of monitoring and alarm arrays, and quickly entered a room where the lights had already been extinguished.
“During the day, Mordred always avoided this area, and a large number of guards were stationed here.” A small flame appeared at Lane’s fingertip, illuminating the surrounding area.
So many... documents...
The Heat Energy Distribution Summary Report. Wasn't this exactly the same as the one from this morning?
Lane paused, flipping through the report he seemed to have already seen by the dim light of the flame. Although many aspects looked similar—such as the heating for public facilities in the surrounding areas—a huge portion was missing regarding residential heating.
In the extra spaces, most of the heat was being used to power a machine in Florodis, followed by a dense list of serial numbers. It appeared to be some kind of special equipment.
In the darkness, he felt a cold wind strike from behind. Acting on instinct, he twisted his body, dodging a slash from a bright blade. The desk behind him was sliced through, revealing a perfectly smooth cut.
Almost at the same instant, the flame at his fingertip went out. He closed his eyes, relying on intuition to dodge the next few slashes. He didn't have the terrifying night vision that Li Yue possessed, so all he could do was quickly adapt to the darkness.
He drew his gunblade and blocked a heavy strike. Sparks flew in the air, and a sharp clang rang out like a bell being struck—crisp, but far from pleasant.
Lane felt the force behind the blow. He couldn't sense even a trace of magic from the person before him, yet their strength was exceptionally great, not at all like a human's.
Through a thick mask, Lane could faintly hear heavy, labored breathing.
What is this thing? Lane counterattacked. More dark figures approached him in the gloom, but he didn't seem panicked; instead, he maintained a certain composure.
Compared to Li Yue’s decisive lethality, Lane appeared much more cautious. His swinging gunblade sliced across the opponent’s chest but did not inflict a fatal wound.
The clanging of clashing blades echoed in the darkness. Lane estimated there were about six of them.
The sensation of the blade slicing through the chest was very strange, as if it were passing through an extremely dense sponge, compressing against his gunblade as it cut.
This muscle density was far beyond the human range. Lane’s brow furrowed.
He swung his sword, easily flicking off one person’s mask to reveal a mangled, bloody face beneath. There was almost no skin, no eyeballs, and the teeth were exposed to the air.
This appearance reminded Lane of a creature he hadn't encountered in a long time—a blood demon. However, there were slight differences; a normal blood demon’s muscles would bulge outward, whereas the one before him seemed to be forcibly restrained.
He no longer hesitated. A deep blue flame ignited on the tip of his blade, easily cutting through a blood demon that was preparing to ambush him. He opened a Sacred Book, and numerous pages began to swirl around him.
He focused on the sensation of the strike he had just landed. It wasn't just the feeling of cutting through flesh; there was also the sensation of slicing through metal components.
Metal devices had been forcibly stuffed into these blood demons' bodies. It seemed that what drove them was not blood crystals, but the machinery in their chests.
Whose handiwork is this? Lane didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to lead the answer toward that person, but he couldn't help himself.
Combining machinery with flesh... was this your mad idea... Rein?
“Who’s there?!”
A voice caused Lane’s movements to falter slightly. He instinctively felt something was wrong. A figure walked over, and the blood demons around Lane were instantly drawn to the newcomer. The blood demon whose mask Lane had flicked away lunged toward the intruder.
The guard’s lantern was very bright. He raised it to look, only for a bloody face without features to appear in the darkness.
He let out a scream and instinctively backed away. He leaned back but hit something like a railing. Realizing his mistake, he nonetheless tumbled over the second-floor balcony.
Crack. His body seemed to fall into a pile of coal, and the lantern in his hand shattered, instantly igniting the coal heap.
The dark figures around Lane jumped down after him, leaping into the roaring flames. The backup resources for this heating stove seemed to have been forcibly activated. Now, the only thing to do was to quickly turn the furnace’s power to its maximum; otherwise, there was a risk of it exploding at any moment.
Lane hurriedly leapt down from the second floor, rushing toward the control console. People were already starting to arrive there. Lane could faintly hear their shouting.
“How did the backup heat source get activated?!”
“Shut it down, quickly! Stop the heating!”
“Wait, it looks like it was ignited forcibly from the outside!”
“I told you to shut it down!” The forceful staff member shut down the device. The massive amount of heat energy in the furnace could not be converted; the inner walls of the giant iron furnace grew redder and redder, beginning to slowly expand.
Lane sensed disaster. He opened the Sacred Book in his hand. Immediately after, a violent explosion rang out. Shattered metal fragments, heated to a glowing red, whistled through the air with a massive boom. Then, roaring flames and the blast enveloped him. Faintly, cooked limbs could be seen flying through the air.
The staff at the two control consoles didn't even have time to scream before they were swallowed by the fire and explosion, reduced to heaps of charred remains.
Burning coal chunks and numerous metal fragments were scattered everywhere. Lane stepped out from the flames. The pages surrounding him were burning with a pale blue light, but he himself was unharmed, though his expression was grim.
He leapt quickly through the corridors, putting on a mask as he moved through the panicked crowd.
Li Yue leapt down from the third floor, performing a graceful backflip in the air before landing steadily in front of Lane.
She tilted her head slightly, appearing quite puzzled. Lane, however, was in a great hurry. He grabbed Li Yue’s hand, wanting to pull her away from the scene.
“What happened?”
“The situation is complicated. We need to evacuate now.”
“Did you find what we were looking for?”
“I have it.”
“Good.”
Li Yue nodded and nimbly pulled her hand back. Several guards appeared behind them. Just as they were about to shout, they were sliced into countless pieces in an instant, and the wall behind them was completely shattered.
Li Yue’s face was hidden behind her veil. She followed Lane, searching for an exit through the factory as fire broke out everywhere. The patrolling teams all seemed to be involved in the firefighting efforts, leaving most areas unguarded.
“Let’s go. If we don’t leave now, the magic users from the Inner Ring will arrive.”
Li Yue nodded, but she could already feel several rapid auras approaching. She couldn't help but tsk as a bloody glow began to rise in her eyes.
Rate on N.U.
