Chapter 372: Chapter 372: A Better Choice
...
"Ji!"
"Understood, importing the map for the western district ring!"
As Ji quickly operated on the back of his hand, a three-dimensional map of the Jiang City boundary appeared above the panoramic projector. Compared to the 21st century, there were many more overpasses outside the third ring road, some of which were even covered with fully enclosed glass domes, seemingly meant for vacuum maglev trains.
However, most of them are now abandoned. Rusting rails, power pylons, and broken wires are minor issues; some overpasses have even collapsed, with debris from derailed trains scattered on the ground.
"This is the real-time scene we scanned when we last approached the perimeter." Lin Qing said, "Do you see those drones? They are the eyes of the Celestial Patrol, monitoring every inch of the boundary."
Chen Xuan could see very clearly; their types were myriad: quadcopters, flapping wings, fixed wings, and even bionic models. These drones clearly did not resemble civilian products but rather weapons built for war.
Except he didn’t understand why an array of drones could blockade an entire city.
The width of the boundary zone was estimated to be only about ten kilometers; step on the accelerator and it could be crossed in a few minutes. Even if there were attack drones among them, the outpost should have considerable countermeasures.
"How do you think the Celestial Patrol appeared?" Lin Qing discerned his confusion. "Did it march over in broad strides? No, we’ve never captured it moving from the east side of the city to the west. Every time it appears, it materializes suddenly, like a ghost emerging from a sandstorm."
"It can teleport?" Chen Xuan was astonished.
"Right, almost indistinguishable from teleportation. So once you’re discovered by a drone, the Celestial Patrol descends the next second."
No wonder they only heard two or three heavy impacts last time, and the Celestial Patrol abruptly appeared in front of the apartment building, he thought. A nano-living body of such enormous size, comparable to the city’s landmark buildings, and yet the outpost survivors didn’t have real-time monitoring of its position. This was quite strange, but now he understood the reason.
"This doesn’t make any sense." Honglian scoffed.
"Who knows, nano-living bodies are a brand new life form... maybe the world they see is completely different from ours." Lin Qing shrugged, "But we can confirm it, although it can quickly travel between different locations, it cannot appear in multiple places simultaneously. It needs to complete movement of its four legs sequentially, requiring a total of 48 seconds."
"If we create disturbances in the east, south, and north directions, making the Celestial Patrol pass through those areas one by one, we’ll have 144 seconds." She declared emphatically, "Meanwhile, we’ll approach the western district ring with a vehicle equipped with a jammer, launch an EMP missile into the sky to clear drones near the crash site, and utilize this two-and-a-half minutes to rush into the spacecraft, basically ensuring safety!"
This requires at least three teams to penetrate into various boundary areas of the city, establish electromagnetic communication spanning the entire city, and execute operations with second-level precision.
And the Fireline Band is the most suitable team to carry out this plan.
They have been traversing the wilderness for years, establishing many signal relay stations, which can last from a few days to several months before being destroyed by nano-living bodies. With proper protection, it’s entirely possible to connect the eastern, southern, western, and northern boundary zones.
Moreover, the band has no shortage of people; as Jiang City’s most independent search team, they can freely mobilize each member without being constrained by the Survivor Mutual Aid Association.
As for the EMP...
"We’ve got our ways to get it, don’t worry about it." Ji patted his chest, saying, "While other search teams are after food and clothing, we’ve set our sights further from the very start."
"And then?" Chen Xuan’s gaze fell on the crash site, "How do you plan to return? Lure the Celestial Patrol again in the same manner?"
"We won’t come back for now." Lin Qing’s response took him by surprise, "Never treat the nano-living bodies as machines. Deceiving it twice in a short period could have the opposite effect. Ji and I will load the found important materials onto drones and bring them out. If all goes well, the Fireline Band can send someone to board the ghost subway, guiding it to Sha River, at which point the Celestial Patrol should also appear, and we can naturally slip away—"
"Wait, you?" He interrupted.
"Yes, if not me, who will crack the firewall of the mechanism systems?" Ji said matter-of-factly, "As for Sister Yuyan, she devised this search plan; there’s no way she could choose to stay out of it."
"Then what do the band’s Ability Users need to do?"
"To set up signal devices that attract the Celestial Patrol." Lin Qing explained systematically, "Because approaching the city boundary could potentially encounter medium and small-sized nano-living bodies and Evangelicals, Ability Users are more adept at handling such matters."
"What if the Destiny Wedge isn’t found in the spacecraft wreckage?" Honglian asked in a deep voice, "Do you plan to stay there forever?"
"Of course not!" Ji waved his hand, "We have an alternative escape plan, letting another large nano-living body invade the Celestial Patrol’s territory, which could also buy us more than ten minutes of escape time."
"Or rather, this alternative was actually the primary plan from the start." Lin Qing smiled faintly, "If worse comes to worst, the band can still seek help from the Survivor Mutual Aid Association, considering our years of charting maps, they wouldn’t have the heart to refuse us."
So that’s how it is... Chen Xuan understood; the Destiny Wedge was just another reason to explore the boundary. Even before this, the Fireline Band had set their sights on this unexplored area.
Lin Qing’s plan wasn’t newly devised; they clearly had been preparing for a long time to achieve their goal.
...
After leaving the tent, Chen Xuan returned to the subway station’s branch.
He gathered everyone around and recounted in detail what happened during the day.
"They can’t do this." He said concisely, "Though it sounds like everything is interconnected, there are too many unknowns, and every step could go wrong."
If one group fails to successfully attract the Celestial Patrol, allowing it to return to the western district ring ahead of time, the result would be them not having time to escape. Or if the two fail to enter the spacecraft in time, or the EMP misses some drones... it could all lead to the complete failure of the plan.
If Lin Qing were to die in such a place, wouldn’t all the previous efforts be in vain?
"Tonight, I’ll need everyone to work overtime." Chen Xuan concluded, "We’re going to take care of this tonight."
At 20:05, Chen Xuan, Honglian, and Xu Xuanling left the outpost area, stepping into the dark, tranquil abandoned city.
At 06, the three of them soared into the air, sprinting westward with all their strength!
Chen Xuan and Xu Xuanling each pinched a Wind Riding Talisman, simultaneously extending a hand to hold onto Honglian, forming a stable triangular formation. Unlike before, this time the two of them also donned custom wingsuits, allowing the flight speed to reach a new realm and increasing the Wind Riding Talisman’s efficiency several-fold.
"These suits... are amazing!" Xu Xuanling exclaimed in admiration, "It’s just like a bird; just lifting a hand, you can sprint several hundred meters away!"
Chen Xuan wasn’t at all surprised; he’d wanted to try this for a long time. If a Wind Riding Talisman could forcefully lift a person into the sky, what would happen when paired with a more suitable wingsuit? The results showed that the two were simply a match made in heaven.
However, Xu Xuanling’s ease in handling the wingsuit on her first try was even more astonishing to him... but realizing that this was also his first real battle, he was relieved... It seems that the Cultivators’ bodies have evolved in all aspects, their physical abilities far exceeding those of ordinary people by more than just a little.
By 20:22, the three of them could already see the crisscrossing overpasses of the boundary area.
As for the drones scattered across the sky, Chen Xuan didn’t pay them any mind at all.
Because they weren’t wearing protective suits.
If the nano-living bodies had eyes, they would be the brightest stars in the night sky at this moment.
Soon, the familiar muffled roar echoed from the sandstorm!
The next second, the magnificent figure of the Celestial Patrol had already appeared behind the snow-like sands!
Comments