I write obituaries for the gods

"Communication check." Lin Chen pressed the earpiece.

no respond.

"The encryption is pretty good," Lin Chen muttered.

They actually encrypted the entire underground area, which is much stricter than a typical encrypted room.

Lin Chen walked down a long way before he saw an ancient wooden door in front of him.

Lin Chen leaned against the wooden door, took out a spy camera, and stuffed it into the gap at the bottom of the door.

"..."

"That's right, you heard me correctly, Ms. J, Ms. J from the Public Opinion Execution Department, she actually found the coordinates of my hiding place! You should understand what this means, right?"

In a basement decorated like that of a medieval nobleman, Mr. K paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, holding a strangely shaped telephone with the speakerphone on.

"This means the Foundation is suspicious of you. Otherwise, why would they have launched an investigation into me? I even think they've already internally appointed the next head of their espionage and intelligence department and are preparing to get rid of me."

“Don’t panic, K,” said Mr. Iron Face. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

"It doesn't prove anything! My hideout is classified as top secret; even the intelligence agencies don't have any records of it. This means they're searching directly from a near-Earth orbit perspective!" Mr. K was very anxious. "They're using Black Star VI to search my residence, which means they've already alerted my elder brother! And even my father!"

"Calm down. Even so, they won't dare to completely break ties with us."

Mr. Iron Face still sounded very calm, even with a hint of leisure that Lin Chen found repulsive.

“The Pinnacle Group is now powerful enough to rule the entire Rain City. Ms. J knows this, and Mr. Z knows this too,” he said. “Right now, their influence in the Pearl Beach area depends entirely on our protection to survive. At this critical moment, how could they let me disappear?”

"You underestimate the Foundation!" Mr. K gritted his teeth. "You underestimate that madman, Mr. Z! That guy is the eldest brother's loyal dog! A complete stalker! He'll stop at nothing to get rid of us!"

"So what do you want me to do?" Mr. Iron Face was getting impatient. "To be honest, I told you to stay on Rain City Star from the beginning. Not only are you a weakness outside, but you're also not good for your own safety. Now that you've been found, are you panicking?"

"Stop beating around the bush, K, tell me what you want."

After Mr. Iron Face finished speaking, Mr. K sighed.

“I want some reassurance,” Mr. K said. “You’ve been letting AI act as your vice president, and I think their decisions are no better than mine.”

"Oh~"

Mr. Iron Face exclaimed in surprise, "I see!"

"You want to switch jobs to Peak Group, is that right?"

“The foundation’s plan is too absurd and will be uprooted sooner or later. I’m fed up with being their dog!” Mr. K gritted his teeth. “I only have one request: I hope you will be more conservative. After the external forces take over Yudu, you can sell Yudu at a good price and we can run away.”

“It sounds like you’re already giving me advice,” Mr. Iron Face sighed, “but honestly, K, you don’t understand me, you don’t understand me enough…”

"I don't understand you...?"

“I don’t need to sell all the rain at a ‘good price’. I’m not short of money. Money is just a boring number.”

"You want to become my vice president, you just want to cut the leash off your own neck, want to become a person 'second only to me, above all others,' and incidentally make some money from this war."

"Then you should understand me, right? You want to cut your dog leash, but I don't?"

Mr. Iron Mask's voice gradually took on a chilling tone:

"All these years running the Pinnacle Group, I've been a dog for the foundation, a dog for Mr. Z, a dog for my elder brother. I'm second only to one person, above everyone else. Doesn't that sound ideal? No... this feeling is absolutely terrible. I did all the dirty work, and they enjoyed all the benefits..."

"What I want isn't money, it's power—absolute power over Yudu..."

"To put it bluntly, it's about pulling down the person riding on my head."

After Mr. Iron Face finished speaking, Mr. K froze on the spot.

"So, you really intend to launch a war against the Foundation?" Mr. K asked softly.

“Take down the United Concrete, seize the strategic depth of Rain City, and use the space those stupid Easterners have dug underground to build more android production bases,” Mr. Ironface said lazily. “Then, through their underground mobility system, I can grind away every corner of Rain City little by little. At that time, Mr. Z will know that space-based weapons cannot destroy the evil spirits underground.”

“You’ve gone mad! Those demigods will kill you!” Mr. K growled.

“You underestimate me and overestimate yourself,” Mr. Ironface sighed. “To be honest, you’re a good dog, K, a really good dog. You’re good at flattery and have multiple burrows. You’re good at building your assets and know how to manage your network.”

"Your mistake was that you treated me as an asset and a connection."

"you..."

"I kept you around because you were a useful helper, but now that the Foundation has its eye on you, how about you do me a favor?"

Before Mr. K could even react, a bullet was fired from a corner of the room—

"Oh!"

Mr. K was shot in the abdomen; he groaned and collapsed in front of the fireplace, howling in agony.

"Aaaaah! Iron Face...you beast..."

“Disappear, K, you’re no longer of any use,” Mr. Ironface sighed. “No… you still have one last use. The underground passage, the contract with United Concrete… all those acts of betrayal, how about pinning the blame on you? After all, you were the one who handled these things.”

"At least, you can buy me a little more time..."

Mr. Iron Face chuckled a few times in a low voice, and the communication ended.

For a moment, only Mr. K's groans as he clutched his stomach filled the room.

"Guards! Guards! Ugh..." Mr. K shouted.

However, the encrypted room was too deep; no sound could escape.

Just as Mr. K was falling into despair, suddenly, the door was kicked open—

"Oh!"

Lin Chen slowly walked into the room, raised his night vision goggles, and looked down at the disheveled Mr. K.

"Bad luck, Mr. K," Lin Chen said with a smile.

“Lin Chen…” Mr. K recognized him at a glance. “Have we met before?”

"Of course I've seen it."

Lin Chen squatted down in front of Mr. K.

"I'm from that organization... oh, I still don't know which organization I'm from..."

Upon hearing this, Mr. K's eyes twitched slightly.

"You are... Thomas Lin?"

"I'm glad we can get to know each other again," Lin Chen chuckled.

"Awkward...damn..."

Mr. K cursed and struggled to move his body slightly.

“It seems you won’t need to kill me,” Mr. K said coldly. “I’ve become their pawn and will die soon.”

His gaze fell on the air conditioner in the corner of the room—there was a gun hidden inside that thing.

"A spy his whole life, only to be outmaneuvered by espionage tactics..." Mr. K murmured, "How ironic..."

"Do you want revenge on them?" Lin Chen asked. "Maybe I can help you."

"Why should I help you?" Mr. K narrowed his eyes. "Ghosts, they might be a menace, but you... you are a disaster..."

“You’re going to die anyway, so how can the disaster affect you?” Lin Chen said.

"Indeed, after I die, who cares about the deluge..."

Mr. K coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, and then he suddenly laughed, a laugh so morbid and so insane.

"Hehehe, hahahaha, Iron Face, you may have been a terrifying symbol when you were hiding behind the scenes, but ghosts have even visited you in person, and you were completely unaware...!"

"I...am waiting for you in hell, hehehehehehe!"

Lin Chen stared at the dying man before him and laughed maniacally for a long time.

As he laughed, Mr. K seemed to lose all his strength and collapsed.

"What do you want to know?" he asked wearily.

"How do we shut down the air defense arrays near Rain City Star?" Lin Chen asked.

"It seems United Concrete isn't going to let this go..." Mr. K chuckled. "Do you have a map?"

Lin Chen took out the map he was carrying and handed it to Mr. K.

Mr. K dipped his hand in his own blood and marked more than a dozen points on the map.

“All the locations are here,” Mr. K said. “To facilitate patrols, the underground system built by Iron Face and Concrete Union provides direct access to almost all the marker points.”

"He doesn't trust humans, so he has a large number of androids guarding the points in his place..."

As he said this, Mr. K shakily reached out and took out a black card from the inside of his suit jacket, handing it to Lin Chen.

“This access card leads to the top floor of Rain City Star, where Iron Face has locked himself up,” Mr. K said softly. “Kill him, and plunge Rain City into flames, okay?”

“I will kill him,” Lin Chen said softly, “but Yu will not be caught in the fire.”

"Heh heh... You don't understand. Ghosts, chaos is the inevitable course of everything, and anything any of you do only accelerates that process..."

Mr. K let out a breath, his expression growing increasingly pained.

Lin Chen stood up and looked down at the dying spy chief.

"Oh, right, there's another personal grudge I need to settle with you," he said coldly.

"what?"

“The spy you planted next to Mr. Shen killed him,” Lin Chen said softly. “Iron Face did it, that’s true, but you gave him the opportunity.”

Then, without giving Mr. K any chance to refute...

Lin Chen raised his shotgun and blasted his skull apart with a single shot—

"Oh!"

"..."

After staring at Mr. K's body for a while, Lin Chen picked up his phone and dialed a frequency:

"This is A-1. Mr. K has been killed. Now broadcasting the coordinates of the air defense array."

"Repeat, Mr. K has been killed. Now broadcasting the coordinates of the air defense array..."

"..."

In the underground passage, by the dim light of her headlamp, Shen Xuanyi drew the coordinates sent by Lin Chen on the map.

“Coordinates received,” Shen Xuanyi said. “Brothers, let’s get to work.”

She turned around and saw hundreds of workers crammed into the underpass, fully armed.

"Tonight, we storm Rain City Star to avenge my father! We fight to defend our homeland!"

Shen Xuanyi raised her QBZ-191 assault rifle, and the workers responded immediately!

"Fight for Shenyang University! Fight to defend our homeland!"

.......

Chapter Sixteen: Operation Falling Star (6000 words)

On the high ground, Li Zhanyi spotted Lin Chen and his group approaching through his sniper scope.

She stood up, slung the sniper rifle over her back, and began to clean up the traces around her.

Soon, Lin Chen led the guerrillas to the high ground.

"Is everyone alright?" Li Zhanyi looked around at the guerrilla fighters, then turned to Lin Chen. "Lin Chen?"

"It's alright. The charging socket of the embroidery needle was shot a few times, but we're all fine," Wildflower said.

"You charged too aggressively, boss," Tie Dan said.

"I don't want to lose any more of you idiots," Embroidery Needle said, then looked at Lin Chen, "Senior, shall we retreat?"

"withdraw."

Lin Chen walked to the edge of the cliff, looked out at the dark sea, and pressed the button on his headset:

"A-1 calling the captain, prepare for evacuation."

"Roger that, see you at the target location!" The old captain sounded drunk.

Lin Chen made a "retreat" gesture, then immediately put on his diving helmet and leaped from the edge of the cliff into the sea—