I manage female characters in all the heavens.

She said this in a low voice, her tone carrying a sense of joy at seeing a promising talent.

Faced with everyone's praise, "Mai Duo" was very modest, saying that she was still far behind Boss Bai and would continue to work hard in the future. She then jumped to the other side and did the same thing.

The same process—stand still, adjust your breathing, lock onto the target area, and fire a shot!

boom--!!!

Another loud bang, and the entire mall shook violently again!

A second large hole appeared, facing the first hole across the ground floor of the shopping mall, forming a straight passageway.

Dark red erythrocytes surged out from both holes simultaneously, forming two spreading clouds of blood-red mist on either side.

From above, the dilapidated shopping mall, half-buried underground, looked as if someone had opened windows on both sides, exhaling stale, accumulated air for who knows how long.

"Maido," carrying the gun, leaped more than ten meters high back onto the roof, folded the gun back up and put it away, dusted off her hands, and grinned: "Done, Xia Dou, it's your turn to perform."

Xia Dou snapped out of her daze, swallowed hard, and nodded emphatically: "Leave it to me!"

She began assembling the small drones at lightning speed.

The drones are small, each about the size of a palm, with a silver-white metal shell and a miniature camera and a retractable robotic arm on the bottom for carrying and placing small bombs.

She carefully secured the bombs to the drone's mounting bracket. The size and yield of each bomb were precisely calculated; even a gram difference could cause problems.

After working for about twenty minutes, all the explosives and drones were finally ready.

Xia Dou pulled up a control interface on the terminal and quickly swiped his finger across the touchscreen to set the flight path and bombing sequence.

Three drones took off one after another, emitting a soft motor sound, and flew into the mall through the first large opening.

The terminal screen was displaying live feeds from the drone's camera.

The interior space was more oppressive than I had imagined.

Dark red mist permeated every corner. Although it had been diluted to some extent due to the two holes, the concentration was still very high. Where the drone flew, the lens was covered with a faint red filter.

Shelves collapsed, goods were scattered all over the ground, and in some places, the remains of old-world humans could still be seen—long since turned to dust.

Xia Dou carefully maneuvered the drone through the collapsed beams and obstacles, placing the bombs in specific locations according to the pre-planned route.

After the first drone reached its designated location and successfully dropped the bomb, it was about to return when the image suddenly shook violently, and then the signal was lost.

"...The first one's core circuitry has been corroded by a high concentration of scarlet pigment." Xia Dou sniffed, but didn't stop what she was doing. She started up the second drone again.

The second drone completed its mission—successfully dropping a bomb at the designated location on the other side—before also losing signal on its return journey.

The third drone planted the last bomb closer to the center of the area, and then its signal also became unstable.

Xia Dou bit her lip and frantically tried to pull it back, but the signal grew weaker and weaker, and the picture started to stutter and crack.

Just a dozen meters from the cave entrance, the screen went completely black, and the last thing that came back was a piercing electrical noise.

"All three are ruined." Xia Dou put down the terminal, feeling somewhat disappointed. She had assembled those drones herself with the materials she bought; each one represented her hard work and sweat, and now they were all gone.

"Fortunately, all the bombs were in place."

She pulled a palm-sized detonator from the box and gently placed her thumb on the red button.

"Here it comes!" She looked up, glanced around at her companions, and shouted, "Everyone, stand back, find cover, cover your ears, open your mouths, three, two, one—"

Without hesitation, she pressed the detonation button!

boom--!!!

A muffled explosion, less loud than the previous shot at the wall, rang out from inside the mall.

The stairs beneath my feet trembled slightly before returning to calm.

But then—

Two extremely thick, almost liquid-like, scarlet mists gushed out from the two openings on the left and right, like water jets from a high-pressure water gun!

The sight was spectacular—the dark red mist transformed into two thick torrents, which were forcibly squeezed out of the building by the huge pressure difference and sprayed out for hundreds of meters.

Then it spread out in the high sky, forming two huge scarlet fan-shaped areas, like a pair of huge red wings unfolding on both sides of the building!

As the wind blew, the blood mist spread even further, presenting an eerie and chilling beauty under the sunlight.

Xia Dou squatted behind someone, watching the scene, and couldn't help but let out a loud "Perfect effect!"

Scarlet pigment is rapidly oozing from the building, and the rate at which its concentration is decreasing is visible to the naked eye.

At this rate, in at most another minute, the internal scarlet concentration will drop below the safety line, at which point they will be able to enter freely.

"Prepare our equipment. Once the concentration drops to a safe level, we'll go in and destroy the Mana Flower," Bai Yuekui gave the concise order.

But at this very moment—

Sui Xing, who had been standing guard from a high place, suddenly frowned.

Her gaze passed over the two spreading crimson wisps of mist and looked toward the distant horizon, her pupils contracting slightly.

"Boss." Her voice wasn't loud, but it rang out clearly over the communication channel, "Look over there."

Everyone looked in the direction of her gaze.

In the distance, a small dot in the sky was gradually growing larger.

The small dot was inconspicuous against the backdrop of grayish-white clouds, but it was moving very fast and was flying straight toward this direction.

As the distance gradually decreased, the outline of the small dot began to become clearer—

It was a huge building that was suspended in the air.

Its top is a huge, inverted bowl-shaped structure, like a large pot lid, reflecting a cold metallic luster in the sunlight.

The building is extremely large, with an estimated diameter of at least several hundred meters. As it moves through the sky, it casts a large, moving shadow on the ground, stretching for hundreds of meters and completely shrouding the area it passes below in darkness.

It is the Lighthouse, the largest survivor faction in the world today, the place where Mark, the protagonist of Ling Cage, is now, and the place that "Maido" longs to usurp the throne and become the superior person.

Xia Dou looked up at the approaching behemoth, stunned for a long while, then her lips twitched: "...No way, at this time?"

Shandong scratched his head and said helplessly, "It's the pot lid. Why did it come at this time?"

The crimson pigment gushing from the building covered an area hundreds of meters high and several hundred meters long. Its scarlet color was extremely conspicuous on the empty post-apocalyptic wasteland, clearly attracting the attention of the Beacon, which was accelerating towards this location.

Bai Yuekui's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

The relationship between Bai Yuekui and the Lighthouse is delicate. Although the higher-ups on both sides are aware of each other's existence, they have always maintained a tacit understanding—not to interfere with each other, not to contact each other, and to struggle for survival in their own territories.

The existence of Dragonbone Village is completely unknown to the Lighthouse, and she has no intention of exposing Dragonbone Village to the Lighthouse now.

"Everyone, keep low to the ground, cease all large-scale activities, retrieve equipment, and hide vehicles."

Her tone was calm and unhurried, but every word carried an unquestionable authority.

"Don't let the lighthouse's detection equipment detect our presence; at the very least, don't let them discover that there is a well-equipped and highly trained combat team here."

She paused, then added, "If the Lighthouse sends people down, we will observe from the shadows, without making contact or launching a preemptive attack."

Everyone immediately took action.

"Maido," carrying a large gun on her shoulder, was the last to jump down from the roof and land next to Bai Yuekui.

She clicked her tongue and muttered under her breath, "Tsk, it's true what they say, timing is everything..."

Bai Yuekui turned his head and glanced at her: "What did you say?"

"It's nothing, Boss Bai." She smiled innocently. "I just think this big guy came at a really bad time."

Bai Yuekui stared at her for two seconds, but didn't delve into it. He then looked away and whispered, "Hide them all well. Don't let them find out."

Chapter 243 Unreasonable Behavior

Everyone lowered their bodies, using the ruins and protruding structures on the mall rooftop to conceal themselves, while simultaneously entering a state of return to their origin.

The Returning to Origin state not only conceals the aura of life essence, making it invisible to Devouring Beasts, but also shields most technological energy signal detection capabilities.

Maido lay behind a sloping concrete slab, releasing a tea lid into the air to observe the lighthouse. These small objects were difficult for lighthouses to detect using ordinary methods, so they could be used with confidence.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, watching the approaching aerial behemoth, and a tiny smile involuntarily appeared on her lips.

lighthouse.

It contains the world's most complete ecosystem recycling system, a technological archive left over from the Hela Empire, the highest technology of the old world, and tens of thousands of survivors living in the sky.

The lighthouse is the best springboard for her to realize her plan of "lighting up the entire technology tree" in this world.

Although Longgu Village has a solid foundation, it is ultimately just a small settlement of a few hundred people with limited resources and limited technological inheritance. It mainly inherits the biological technology of the ancient Heluo civilization, and its research results include source potential and ancient martial arts.

The Lighthouse inherited the legacy of the Hela Empire, which was the best in the Old World in terms of pure science and technology, and had almost achieved a nationwide mechanization revolution.

Today, the Lighthouse possesses the world's largest Old World heritage site, with a complete industrial production chain and a large population base that can be converted into scientific research human resources.

There are so many things she needs.

If Bai Yuekui weren't so powerful, she would have flown to the lighthouse right now and taken over.

But she can't.

Not at least not now.

Firstly, her identity is still registered in Longgu Village, and she is still living under Bai Yuekui's nose as an "outstanding junior".

If she suddenly defectes, given Boss Bai's strength and methods, he can catch her in no time and torture her to extract the truth.

Although she might not necessarily be unable to defeat Bai Yuekui now, it would be too unfilial to fight with her great-grandmother. It would be better to resolve things peacefully if possible.

Secondly, she had not yet memorized all the technical materials in the Longgu Village Library.

That's the most important thing.

Knowledge, only knowledge that you can truly acquire and take with you, is true power.

So she can't run away yet. She needs to lie low in Dragonbone Village for a while longer, learn everything she can, and memorize everything she can before considering going to the Lighthouse to usurp the throne and become a superior person.

As for whether Boss Bai will discover her little scheme?

She believed in her acting skills.

In her original state, her life essence fluctuations were perfectly disguised, and her words and actions perfectly matched the image of a thirteen-year-old girl who was "genius but rebellious, capable but lazy, and loved her family but never forgiving with her words."

At most, his skills are indeed a bit too impressive, but they haven't exceeded the limit.

Although Bai Yuekui is experienced and insightful, she still has a deep trust in Maiduo, whom she has watched grow up.