Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 46 The Cunning Rabbit
Zhongdu, inner city, the governor's office.

There are no luxurious decorations, no valuable artworks, and not even a trace of superfluous color here.

The floor is made of a single piece of obsidian, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the simple lighting on the ceiling.

In the center of the office was a desk made of iron and wood, with nothing on it except a communication terminal and a neat stack of documents.

The only thing that could be called "decoration" was the huge floor-to-ceiling window that occupied the entire wall.

Outside the window is a panoramic view of the entire inner city of Zhongdu.

Towering buildings, constantly moving floating vehicles, and further away, the magnificent city wall that separates the inner city from the outer city.

Nan Canghong sat in front of this window.

He was wearing a well-tailored gray uniform, without epaulets or medals, just the most basic style.

The administrative secretary stood to the side, calmly giving a report.

"...This concludes the full investigation report on Ms. Nan Yiwei's attack in Linhai City."

Nan Canghong pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke:
"Thoroughly investigate all of the Apocalypse Cult's strongholds in Linhai City, as well as the sources of their funding."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, this is a necessary lesson."

Nan Canghong's tone was devoid of any emotion. "The wasteland is not a storybook. I hope that after this, she will understand this."

The secretary, not daring to comment on the consul's family affairs, brought up another matter instead.

"Sir, the Wirtgen family has put pressure on Linhai City through the council, demanding the arrest of the defector commander."

"The law applies to everyone."

Nan Canghong remained completely unfazed. "We will handle this according to military law. We need not pay attention to political pressure. Linhai City is the last annex city of Zhongdu. It is not a place that anyone can manipulate at will."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, what is the Nuclear Group doing in Linhai City?"

"Sir, they are pursuing an S-level wanted criminal and have been screening the border area for months, causing considerable chaos."

“Absurd! Inform them immediately to stop this massive, indiscriminate search.”

Nan Canghong's tone became stern, "Internal strife within the group must not affect the public order of Linhai City."

"Yes, sir."

At the same time, outside Linhai City.

Zhuang Fan placed a box of protein bars in the corner and then checked the remaining battery life of the fog lights.

"Remember, stay within the light's coverage area, don't go anywhere, and don't worry about anything."

He shoved an automatic rifle into Hua Xin's hand.

"If you really encounter danger, run away and go find Mao Shanwang, understand?"

Hua Xin gripped the gun tightly and nodded forcefully.

"understood."

Those eyes were bright in the dim light; she already knew that Zhuang Fan had gone to rescue Watson this time.

Zhuang Fan took one last look around the hideout, making sure no trace had been missed, before turning and leaving.

He needs a way to infiltrate Linhai City.

Directly purchasing third-class citizenship is tantamount to walking into a trap.

Through his previous observations, he discovered that the main black market trading points outside the city were all covered with informants from the Nuclear Group.

Those soldiers disguised as scavengers or merchants might be able to fool ordinary refugees, but they couldn't fool his keen sense of the eerie mist.

Soldiers of the nuclear group, or elite units like them, always have a trace of very pure eerie mist remaining on their bodies, which is very different from the mixed eerie mist in the bodies of the surrounding refugees.

This is because they have long lived within the range of fog lights, while the refugees do not have such luxury.

It's like having a wealthy person dressed in fine clothes and eating a life of luxury play the role of a lowly merchant; their demeanor would easily give them away.

After making a preliminary assessment, Zhuang Fan did not act rashly.

Through Mao Shanwang's connections, he managed to acquire a dilapidated hovercar with all its information erased.

The vehicle's exterior was riddled with dents, clearly indicating that it had undergone several unsuccessful emergency landings.

He also found a single-person motorcycle powered by an electric motor, with an exposed frame, wide tires, and a raw, cobbled-together feel.

Mao Shan Wang didn't ask him what he was going to do; he simply waved his fat paws after counting the gold coins. Zhuang Fan secured the single-person motorcycle and the nano-skin suitcase to the rear cabin of the hovercar.

He drove the hovercar alone into the wilderness.

As night fell, a thick, eerie fog swallowed the horizon.

The hovercraft was not equipped with a fog-repelling device, and as it moved at high speed, a layer of fog quickly formed on the surface of the vehicle.

Zhuang Fan controlled the steering wheel with one hand and pressed the other hand against the bulkhead.

The stagnant mist was drawn away and dissipated by an invisible force, thus ensuring the integrity of the main structure of the airship and maintaining its high-speed movement.

After flying for nearly two hours, he stopped in a secluded valley.

He unloaded the motorcycle and suitcase and hid them in a huge crevice in the rocks.

Then, he immediately removed the nano-skin from his body and returned to his original appearance as "Zhang Dafan".

He covered most of his face with a rag, but deliberately retained his original gait and body language.

Following Xu Renyi's memory, Zhuang Fan drove the hovercar to a nearby hidden refuge.

He got out of the car and went to the gate entrance.

The identification system scanned his biometrics and verified his identity after he gave the password.

But he didn't go in.

Zhuang Fan could sense that the eerie fog inside the shelter was not pure, indicating that the Nuclear Group had already been there.

This confirmed his suspicion that the old man's trump card for a comeback had been completely exposed and rendered useless by the Nuclear Corporation.

A perfectly timed look of panic crossed his face. He immediately returned to the hovercar, turned around, and sped south at full speed.

Almost at the same time he started, a group of soldiers lying in ambush on a nearby ridge also turned on their searchlights.

"Target confirmed, it's Zhang Dafan!"

"Chase!"

Five armored vehicles silently slid down the ridge, followed closely by three hovercraft that broke through the clouds and mist, relentlessly pursuing their target.

The fog was thick and inky at night, forcing the pursuers to turn on their high-powered fog lights to clear a narrow path in front of the car.

This severely limited their speed.

The leading officer looked at the frantically fleeing dot of light on the holographic screen, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"Team One, flanking from the left flank."

"Second team, push forward on the right flank."

The officer issued instructions methodically.

"Then order the nearby reinforcements to build a fire network at the mouth of the canyon ahead and completely block this rat."

An invisible fishing net tightens rapidly in the darkness.

A soldier immediately reported this.

"Sir, the target's speed has reached Mach 0.2 and is still increasing!"

"He's seeking death."

The officer's voice was icy: "At this speed, his beat-up car will fall apart in mid-air in less than half an hour."

He revealed a terrifying, eerie rule.

The two main reasons affecting flight speed are that the density of the fog obstructs visibility and also corrodes the fuselage;

Another point is that the faster an object flies in the fog, the more likely it is to create "cracks" through friction.

These cracks range in size from a few micrometers to several centimeters, and last for less than a second, yet they are enough to cut and disintegrate any object.

Rockets, passenger planes, airships, missiles, bullets, and lasers were all affected.

Based on a wealth of painful data, the patterns of fissures that humanity has currently discovered are:
In light fog, there is a chance of triggering at speeds greater than Mach 1 (340 m/s), and it will definitely trigger at speeds greater than Mach 2;

In dark fog, a speed of 30 meters per second will definitely trigger it;

Under the black fog, it will be triggered at a speed of 10 meters per second.

According to the officer's assessment, the fog density in the field at this time was between "light fog" and "dark fog," and the safe flight speed should not exceed Mach 0.2.

The officer was both worried that Zhang Dafan would escape and afraid that he would die in the air, so he was very agitated.

(End of this chapter)