You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

The high beams were only half on, making the light dim and unclear!

"It got bitten?!"

Xing San's voice sounded like cold gravel grinding against the corner of the back seat, filled with extreme vigilance.

His body was tense, like a cheetah ready to pounce at any moment.

"That shouldn't be the case!"

Jiang He frowned.

“We drove around the city three times after leaving the hotel, and our counter-surveillance equipment was on three times the entire time! The route was also decided on the spot! Unless the other side knew our location in advance and tampered with our car!”

A faint golden-red light flickered in Chen Yang's eyes, a subtle sign that the "Blazing Fire Immortal Technique" was being activated to enhance his perception.

His "gaze" pierced through the cold metal walls of the carriage and the heavy darkness of the night, capturing the subtle scents and energy fluctuations inside the vehicle behind him.

His expression became somewhat surprised and uncertain.

"Inside the car... there doesn't seem to be any strong hostile energy fluctuation? The aura is chaotic... anxious? And a bit greedy? It doesn't seem like a cultivator... nor is it an alien."

"Not from the Heavenly Dao Alliance?"

The third question remains.

"Hard to say! It could be a disguise!"

A fierce glint flashed in Jiang He's eyes, and he quickly gave the order.

"Xiao Wang, slow down when you enter the open area ahead of the series of curves! Open all windows! Qiu Niu, be prepared to force a stop at any time! Xing San, Headmaster Chen, coordinate the operation! Whoever it is, we must take them down and find out the truth!"

"Roger that!"

The people inside the car responded in unison, their murderous aura instantly gathering!
The SUV suddenly slowed down, and the Jeep behind it was so startled by the sudden change that it also braked sharply.

In that very instant!
"Let's do it!"

Qiuniu roared!
He didn't even need to get out of the car! His enormous figure leaned almost entirely out of the passenger window!
A gigantic, iron-like hand suddenly gripped the roof rack! Another large, fan-like hand pressed down from over ten meters away!
boom!!

An incredibly heavy, invisible force suddenly descended from the sky! Like an invisible mountain crashing down!

Snap! Splash!
The windshield of the first jeep behind it was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks! The hood let out a tooth-grinding metallic groan and dented downwards at a visible speed! The wheels screeched under the immense air pressure! The entire front of the car was slammed into the ground and forced to a stop instantly!

The second jeep was caught off guard and was about to rear-end it! Qiuniu flicked his other hand! Several incredibly condensed, invisible bursts of energy, powerful enough to pierce metal, accurately struck its four tires!

Puff puff puff!

All four tires burst! The massive vehicle lurched violently like a drunkard! It skidded and crashed into the metal guardrail on the side of the road before finally coming to a stop!
"Don't move!"

"Open the car door! Get out!"

Xiao Wang and Xing San, like hawks swooping down, swiftly darted to the two jeeps that had been wrecked by brutal means. The dark muzzles of their guns pierced the shattered windows, pointing directly into the vehicles, as they roared angrily! The guns had undergone special weapon-forging modifications, with runes shimmering around them!

Chen Yang and Jiang He also quickly got out of the car, their faces cold.

From inside the jeep came terrified screams and wails! The door was kicked open, and several men dressed in cheap leather jackets or floral shirts, covered in cheap tobacco and smelling of sweat, at most street thugs, were dragged out.

Their faces and bodies were covered in shards of glass; some had broken their foreheads and were bleeding profusely. Their eyes were filled with terror and fear, and they were trembling as if they had malaria.

"Spare me! Sir! No... police officer!"

"A misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!"

"We just wanted to...we just thought your car was nice...we wanted to..."

A thug with dyed yellow hair and a pierced nose could barely speak properly, and his crotch was visibly wet, emitting a strong stench of urine.

The detectives acted swiftly, searching their pockets and vehicle crevices, finding only a few controlled knives, two baseball bats, several old-fashioned cell phones, and a pile of loose hundred-yuan bills.

His face was ashen, and he shook his head at the river.

"It's unusually clean."

They're just a bunch of local thugs trying to extort money through staged accidents! Their phones are full of Kuaishou livestreams and game recharge records!

He looked at the thugs on the ground, who were so frightened they were almost fainting, with disdain as if they were maggots.

Was the target discovered on a whim, or was it placed under orders?

"No, brother!"

The thug with the pierced nose wailed and kowtowed repeatedly.

“We brothers had a few drinks tonight, and seeing your car heading from the city into the mountains—and it was a nice car—we thought…we'd follow you and find a secluded spot to fake a minor collision and extort some money…we really didn’t have any other intentions! If we had known the people inside were all geniuses, we wouldn’t have dared to do it even if you killed us!”

His words resonated with the other thugs, who all burst into tears and swore that it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea to make a quick buck.

The air was thick with the stench of urine, the acrid smell of fearful sweat, and a sense of absurdity.

"Oh shit!"

Qiuniu couldn't help but swear, his fists clenching so tightly they cracked. After all that effort and vigilance, it turned out to be nothing but a disgusting puddle of mud!

Jiang He's expression was also quite grim, showing both displeasure at being delayed and deeper worry.

"A staged accident? Of all times? And in this location?"

“The possibility is too low…” Xing San walked to the deformed guardrail by the roadside with a gloomy face and carefully examined the skid marks from the blown tire.

"The route and timing were too coincidental."

"Maybe it's just pure bad luck."

Chen Yang withdrew his probing divine sense. The souls of these thugs were filthy and showed no signs of being mentally manipulated. He looked at the endless darkness ahead.

"It could also be some kind of revelation... reminding us that this path is really not peaceful."

"Never mind it!"

Jiang He waved his hand, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Xiao Wang, move the car! Lock these bastards, car and all, to the roadside guardrail! Give them enough bottled water to last three days and a basic mobile phone alarm! Notify the nearest traffic management office! Let the Special Administration Bureau handle this later! Everyone else, get in the car!"

"Yes!"

After some effort, they managed to lock and secure the few howling fodder characters.

The four of them silently climbed back into the SUV.

The car restarted and sped off along the even more rugged and narrow mountain road, leaving this disgusting and ridiculous farce far behind in the darkness.

……

The mountain slopes became increasingly steep, and the dense vegetation surged toward both sides of the road like dark, surging waves.

Desolate hilltops appeared as menacing silhouettes against the dark sky. Finally, deep within an extremely secluded intersection, where a massive rock wall obscured the three-way junction, Xiao Wang abruptly turned the steering wheel, and the SUV silently veered into a narrow, deliberately abandoned concrete road almost entirely covered by weeds.

After being jostled around in near-total darkness for several minutes, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A small basin, embraced by a ring of mountains, unfolds before you. The basin's edges are extremely steep, almost impossible to climb. Only a massive, man-made entrance, carved into the mountainside, gapes open like the throat of a colossal beast!

The heavy, cold, metallic iron gate was tightly closed, flanked by reinforced concrete defensive walls that stretched out naturally like mountain ridges. Above the entrance hung an inconspicuous, somewhat rusty, large metal sign: **"Jitong Express · Yunxia Mountain Environmental Protection Technology Warehousing and R&D Center · Construction Site - No Unauthorized Personnel Allowed"**.

The style of the entire base is completely different from Warehouse No. 7, with a strange mix of the ruggedness and wildness of the mountains and the coldness of extreme modern industry.

There were no skyscrapers, only a few gigantic warehouses and windowless structures that sprawled on the ground like low steel fortresses, connected by massive pipe corridors. The walls on either side of the entrance were covered with hidden, honeycomb-like firing ports and tiny prism-like points of light protruding from sensing instruments.

The massive searchlight beams, like cold swords, swept rhythmically across the huge, gravel-paved parking area in front of the base entrance, and the main road inside the entrance that stretched straight into the depths of the base, shrouded in absolute darkness.

The air was filled with the damp, cool scent of vegetation unique to the mountains, but there was also a faint smell of engine oil and... a static electricity smell similar to that of steel after it has been polished.

"Just as expected, it's like an iron tortoise shell..." Qiuniu muttered under his breath, his eyes unusually serious.

"All the core buildings are hidden deep inside the gaps in the mountain wall. The main structures were excavated downwards, and the exposed parts above ground are all camouflage layers. The real base is inside the hollowed-out mountain!"

The SUV had already been turned off and was parked in a very deep natural depression covered by tall ferns.

The four people got off the car quietly.

"The alert level is very high, and the electronic protection layer is exceptionally dense, covering the entire open area."

Looking at the densely packed, pulsating energy bands and infrared markers on the screen of the miniature detector in his hand, Xiao Wang lowered his voice and reported.

"There are moving heat sources reacting on the tops of the fortresses at the entrance and on both sides of the main road... these should be hidden sentries."

"Moreover..." Chen Yang's eyes were cold; his perception was far more acute than that of the instruments.

"The base's defenses... are aimed at us."

He pointed towards the entrance.

"Can you feel those spiderweb-like fluctuations spreading around the base entrance area? They're similar to the anomalous energy layer beneath the electronic fence inside Warehouse Seven, but much stronger!"

They are insensitive to ordinary heat and metals, yet extremely sensitive to scanning any 'abnormal life energy field'! Especially low-frequency vibrations like the fluctuations of a cultivator's Yuan Qi or the energy field of an extraordinary person! Like an 'electric grid' specifically prepared for people like us!

This means that conventional physical infiltration methods may be more effective here, and once energy is used, even the slightest spell, supernatural ability, or aura emitted from high-speed movement could instantly trigger an alarm!

"Damn target!"

Qiuniu also felt the invisible repulsive force field, and his face turned ugly.

"That's ruthless! The Special Administration Bureau does have specialized physical infiltration suits and silence equipment..." He looked at Xing San, this was clearly Xing San's home turf.

“Give me five minutes, and I can lead you around the cliff on the right side of the base.”

That area is a blind spot for surveillance cameras; the vegetation is unusually dense, and there's a seepage channel in the ground that interferes with electronic signals.

Xing San spoke at an extremely fast pace, his finger swiping across the map with precise location.

"The challenge lies in traversing the completely open area at the entrance and the vertical climb up the cliff face above it. You need to be fast, steady, and silent! I'll lead the way; you follow my landing points and movements!"

Jiang He immediately made the decision.

"That's settled! Xing San will go first! Lao Niu, you're in charge of keeping watch! Be ready to provide support and clear any unexpected obstacles! Sect Leader Chen, you're in charge of entering the core office area to investigate those windowless fortress buildings!"

They're much faster than me! I'm in charge of checking the warehouse area and pipe connections for any signs of their transfer! Remember, if you encounter anything inside, try not to use your energy! If you can't avoid it, use pure hand-to-hand combat skills! Finish them off quickly!

The plan was finalized instantly. Action!
Like a chameleon blending into the nightingale and moss, Xing San silently slid into the dense vegetation and shrubs at the foot of the cliff.

His movements, though seemingly slow, were exceptionally steady and precise. Each foothold he chose avoided pebbles and dead branches that might make noise, and his body posture minimized air disturbance. He even used the moment when the mountain wind passed by to shift his position.

He would occasionally flick out some extremely inconspicuous metal powder from his hand, interfering with possible infrared and microwave detection in the air.

Chen Yang, Qiu Niu, and Jiang He followed closely behind, like his three shadows.

Chen Yang completely concealed all his Yuan Power fluctuations and sealed them into the fire seed deep within his Dantian. He highly concentrated his mental will and used only his powerful physical strength and the faint spatial touch of the pre-fallen state of Li Rou to grasp any subtle changes and airflow disturbances within a ten-meter radius around him. His movements were even more seamless than those of Xing San, a top-level stealth expert!
Ten minutes later, the four of them, like geckos, silently clung to a groove in the cliff face nearly fifty meters above the entrance, with the cold, menacing top of the massive alloy gate right beneath their feet! The darkness inside the base below was like a deep well, with only a few pale white work indicator lights flickering faintly in the distance.

"Down!"

Xing San silently made a gesture, then took out a micro-alloy grappling hook with sharp barbs, aimed at a huge ventilation duct support in the darkness below, and launched it! *Swoosh!*

A soft sound, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

The other three grappling hooks were also launched at the same time!
The four of them, like four giant spiders, head down and feet up, clung silently to the almost vertical mountain wall covered with rough gravel and slippery vegetation, avoiding the energy warning net at the entrance! Hovering in mid-air, below them lay the shadowy side of the base's main road shrouded in darkness.

The hand gestures of the criminal three changed rapidly in succession.

Coordinates of target areas one, two, and three confirmed. Proceed separately!

Chen Yang fell silently to the ground like a leaf, his body rolling forward the instant his toes touched the ground, completely dissipating the impact and disappearing into an absolute dark corner formed by a huge cooling tower. Xing San, on the other hand, slid like a plume of black smoke along the huge supporting steel beams of the pipes towards the entrance of the pipe area in the distance, which was arranged like the ribs of a giant beast.

The river rushed towards the largest and heaviest fortress-like warehouse in the complex. Qiuniu, like a giant gargoyle, remained hidden in mid-air on the cliff face, its eyes slowly scanning the entire area below through night-vision goggles.

The core office area is located in a massive, windowless, three-story building with an inverted bowl-shaped dome, slightly to the west of the base's center. The exterior walls are made of a matte, dark gray special alloy, so smooth that even crawling insects would have difficulty climbing it.

The only entrance was a heavy metal vestibule, brightly lit by glaring white fluorescent lights 24/7. Inside, two guards, armed and equipped with helmet-mounted thermal imaging cameras, stood motionless like statues. A scanning probe above the door, like a cold, one-eyed specter, illuminated the small area in front of it with rings of red light. (End of Chapter)