31: Ventilation ducts! Deadly stealth!

"Captain Wang, I'm ready on my end."

Wu Qiong's characteristically steady voice came through the team's voice channel.

Dressed in his stealth combat suit,

he looked like a gecko clinging to the shadows; one wouldn't even notice him without looking closely.

"Zi Han and I have reached the drainage system entrance in the back alley of City Hall. We can infiltrate at any time."

"Good."

Wang Yi's voice was as cold as ice.

"Use the Invisibility Potion now. Remember, we only have five minutes of absolute safety. You must enter the ventilation ducts before the effect wears off."

"Understood!"

On the screen, Wu Qiong and Zhao Zihan were seen taking out two small bottles from their backpacks, unscrewing the caps, and drinking them in one gulp.

The next second, a magical scene unfolded.

The figures of the two people were like ink drops in water, rapidly fading and distorting,

until they completely vanished into thin air, with not even a silhouette remaining.

"Holy crap! This stuff is way too amazing!"

In the command center, Major General Li Guodong couldn't help but blurt out a curse.

The young staff officers beside him

stared with eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

This had completely exceeded their understanding of modern technology.

This wasn't a potion; it was practically magic!

"Silence!"

General Lin Zhan barked in a low voice,

but his eyes similarly flickered with uncontrollable shock and sheer joy.

He knew all too well the military value of this item.

If it could be mass-produced... no, even if there was only one,

used in a critical decapitation strike,

it would be enough to change the course of a war!

Su Yuan had no time to pay attention to the generals' shock.

All of his focus

was on the infiltration footage of Wu Qiong and Zhao Zihan.

Although Wu Qiong's figure was invisible,

the slight air currents he created while moving

could still be captured by the high-definition cameras.

He arrived in front of a massive iron grate,

which was the entrance to the underground drainage system.

He pulled out a set of universal lock-picking tools from his vest without making any unnecessary sound.

Several thin metal wires danced between his fingers,

and in less than ten seconds, with a soft 'click', the heavy iron lock sprang open.

The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, causing the special operations experts in the command center to nod in silent approval.

"This kid is a real talent!"

Lin Zhan couldn't help but praise him.

Wu Qiong pushed the grate open, and with Zhao Zihan following behind,

they silently slipped into the dark, damp underground pipes.

"Zhao Zihan, stay close and watch your step."

Wu Qiong's voice sounded in the channel, kept extremely low.

"Copy that."

Zhao Zihan's voice was equally faint, but without a hint of trembling.

This archery girl, barely twenty years old,

had honed her mental fortitude far beyond that of an ordinary person after experiencing her initial fear.

The two moved quickly through the maze-like underground pipes.

The intelligence Su Yuan provided was very detailed, and they had long since memorized the route map by heart.

Soon,

they found the vent leading to the City Hall basement.

It was an opening about half a meter square, sealed with iron mesh.

Wu Qiong took out his tools again and snipped through the mesh in a few strokes.

He poked his head in to check,

then gestured to Zhao Zihan,

crawling in first.

The ventilation duct was narrower than imagined,

filled with the smell of dust and rust, and pitch black.

Wu Qiong turned on his tactical flashlight; the beam swept through the darkness, only illuminating a few meters ahead.

"Careful, there's something ahead."

Wu Qiong suddenly stopped and said in a hushed voice.

Zhao Zihan immediately gripped the compound bow on her back.

Under the flashlight's beam, they saw a corner in the pipe not far ahead,

where a shriveled zombie lay prone; it looked like it had been dead there for a long time.

Wu Qiong breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously crawled past the zombie corpse.

"Two minutes left on the potion. We need to hurry."

Wu Qiong glanced at his tactical watch and urged.

The two picked up their pace, constantly climbing upward through the complex ductwork.

Finally, in the last thirty seconds before the Invisibility Potion wore off,

they reached their destination—the ventilation duct directly above the Mayor's office.

Wu Qiong carefully pushed aside the vent cover beneath his feet and looked down.

Below was the brightly lit Mayor's office.

But just as he was about to descend, a strange sound drifted out from the office.

It was a... sharp, piercing sound, like fingernails scratching against glass.

Wu Qiong's heart leapt into his throat.

Is there... someone in the office?!

He immediately issued an alert through the voice channel in the lowest possible whisper.

"Captain Wang, the situation has changed! There's movement in the target office!"

On the other end of the channel, Wang Yi and Chen Hu were at the main entrance of City Hall,

locked in a fierce battle with a tide of zombies pouring out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The desert eagle in Wang Yi's hand never stopped,

each shot precisely blowing apart a zombie's head.

Chen Hu was even more ferocious; wearing his heavy riot gear and leading from the front, he swung his high-frequency battle blade like a windmill.

Any zombie that rushed him was killed or maimed instantly; none could withstand a single blow.

Hearing Wu Qiong's alert, Wang Yi's brow furrowed immediately.

"What kind of movement? Is it a zombie?"

"Not sure," Wu Qiong's voice held a trace of tension. "It's a very sharp sound, like... someone scratching glass with their fingernails."

This description sent a chill down the spines of everyone listening.

In the operations center, Su Yuan's heart also tightened.

He immediately locked the camera feed onto the Mayor's office.

Through the perspective of the vent above Wu Qiong's head, everything in the office was clearly visible.

It was a massive, luxuriously decorated office with thick red carpeting on the floor and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves along the walls,

filled with various hardcover books.

A large mahogany desk sat in the center of the room, its surface neat and spotless,

even featuring a vase with fresh roses.

How did this look like an office abandoned during the apocalypse?

It looked exactly as if the owner had just stepped out and could return at any moment!

And that piercing sound was coming from behind the desk.

A figure in a well-tailored suit was seen with his back to the vent, reaching out a hand with excessively long, pitch-black fingernails,

constantly scratching at a large floor-to-ceiling window, making a series of cringeworthy noises.

It was him!

The Intelligent Infected, the Mayor!

He wasn't on the roof; he was in his own office!

This discovery caught everyone by surprise.

"Captain Wang, the target is in the office! His back is to us, and he seems to be... scratching the glass?"

Wu Qiong reported.

"Has he noticed you?" Wang Yi pressed.

"Probably not, our Invisibility Potion effect hasn't worn off yet."

"Good, don't move. Stay where you are and wait for him to leave!" Wang Yi ordered immediately.

If they forced their way down now and were discovered, Wu Qiong and Zhao Zihan

facing an Intelligent Infected would certainly be in grave danger.

But the development of events exceeded everyone's expectations.

After scratching the glass for a while, the Mayor suddenly stopped.

He slowly turned around.

When everyone in the command center saw his face clearly through the high-definition footage, they couldn't help but gasp.

It was a face so pale it lacked a single drop of blood,

the skin bloated like soaked dough.

His eyes were two eyeballs completely filled with the color of blood, flickering with a cruel and cunning light.

He didn't roar like an ordinary zombie;

instead, he pulled back his lips, revealing an extremely eerie smile.

Then, he tilted his head up, and those blood-red eyes

looked with unerring precision at the vent where Wu Qiong and Zhao Zihan were hiding!

He had found them!