108: Chapter 108 Transaction

Wu Ran smiled slightly. He leaned the iron rod wrapped in rags against the edge of the reservoir, his movements unhurried, then gave a slight nod to Captain Li.

"Captain Li, The Coalition has withdrawn. There aren't many smart people left in the Safe Zone. Both you and I know that the Exorcism Array Eye won't last much longer."

Captain Li didn't respond. He fished the unlit cigarette out of his pocket and slowly twirled it between his fingers. The cigarette paper was slightly crumpled by his grip, but he didn't light it.

"You must have thought about things outside your duty." Wu Ran leaned against the edge of the reservoir, his tone unhurried. "I have an outpost deep in the restricted area. With Sequencers maintaining the security perimeter, having been in the Safe Zone for so long, you should know what a Sequencer is."

Captain Li clamped the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and struck a match. The flame briefly illuminated the fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, his tightly pursed lips, and his eyes, which remained steady as always. He took a slow drag, tossed the matchstick to the ground, and exhaled a faint wisp of white smoke.

"What's the name of this outpost you're talking about?"

"Yuanteng Base."

"Yuanteng." Captain Li repeated the two words, as if chewing on an unfamiliar term. "The source vine sap from the Safe Zone black market earlier?"

"That's right. The source vine itself is a mutated plant. It can secrete sap to strengthen Sequencers, its root system can purify soil contaminated by strange fog, and its leaves can filter out eerie energy from the air. Sequencers use it as a center to push the perimeter outward, and it's more stable than any containment object."

Captain Li was silent for a moment. He held the cigarette between his fingers, looking at the dry bottom of the reservoir. The skeletons of a few feral cats lay in the corner, casting long shadows in the residual light of the searchlight.

"You're spilling the details of your outpost so freely; aren't you afraid I'll turn around and sell you out to the Intelligence Department? The bounty on your head has gone up again."

"You won't." Wu Ran's tone remained calm. "You know the high walls of the Safe Zone won't last much longer. After The Coalition withdrew, you didn't leave because duty bound you. But beyond duty, you have to leave something for yourself."

Captain Li tossed the cigarette butt to the ground and slowly crushed it with his sole. "You didn't come running back here alone just to play savior for me. It seems you've got your eye on those things in the Core Zone. You want to get in, and you need me to point the way."

He looked up at Wu Ran, a new layer of meaning in his eyes.

"You mentioned a deal, so what are the terms? I give you information, you give me a way out. But the value of information on the Core Zone varies; patrol loopholes are one thing, but the security measures at the Array Eye entrance are another. What you can get from me depends on what you want."

"I want detailed intelligence on the interior of the Core Zone. The specific location of the Exorcism Array Eye, the type of security door at the entrance, who is currently responsible for maintenance, and whether there are any windows of opportunity to infiltrate. I want everything you know."

Captain Li pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. It was a hand-drawn floor plan of the Core Zone, marking the entrance to the Array Eye, backup passages, guard post locations, and the positions of containment object detection devices. He spread the drawing on the edge of the reservoir and pointed his finger to the very center of the diagram, but his tone remained unhurried.

"A way out alone isn't enough." He said. "Is that outpost you mentioned really as stable as you say? Just listening to you, it certainly sounds more reliable than the Safe Zone's Exorcism Array Eye. But coordinates alone aren't enough; I need a more concrete plan."

"Head southeast from the Safe Zone, following the Provincial Road. Along the Provincial Road, there are several safety nodes pre-purified by source vine sap that can serve as stopovers for your evacuation route. The Exorcism perimeter has already extended to the outskirts of the Provincial Road; once you and your people get there, someone will naturally meet you."

"Safety nodes." Captain Li committed the term to memory and tapped his fingertips lightly on the drawing. "What if a strange fog tide cuts off the Provincial Road? No matter how stable your safety nodes are, they can't withstand a large-scale strange fog tide."

"The backup route goes through the old mining road toward the Quarry. The roadbed is intact and can be made passable with a little clearing. There are also several emergency evacuation routes; someone will tell you the specifics once you reach the base."

Captain Li was silent for a while. He pressed the drawing down against the edge of the reservoir and pointed his fingertip at the location of the Array Eye entrance, finally beginning the formal exchange of intelligence.

"There are two defensive lines on the perimeter of the Core Zone. The first is a fixed guard post, with a shift change every four hours. In the latter half of the night, there's a three-to-five-minute gap during the shift change, and the side door is only guarded by two people. The second line is a containment object detection device installed above the main and side doors, capable of capturing energy fluctuations from Sequencers and abnormal signals from containment objects. However, the detection device performs a routine self-check every night in the latter half, lasting two to three minutes, during which time the detection function is temporarily disabled. The backup power for the side door will light up a green light during the self-check; when you see the green light, that's your window."

"Two to three minutes." Wu Ran memorized this time. "Enough to get through the side door, but not enough to run back and forth in the underground works."

"Correct. That's why you need more precise intelligence. The Array Eye is in the very center of the Core Zone, on the deepest level of the underground works. The entrance is a dual-key security door that requires two keys to be turned simultaneously to open. One is in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief, Qi Yan—you won't be able to get that one. The other is in the hands of a person named Dr. Guan."

"Dr. Guan?"

"A senior engineer specifically transferred by the military from the Central Safe Zone. He designed the Exorcism Array Eye; at the very least, the core energy conversion module was built by his own hands. In the entire Safe Zone, no one understands the operating principles of that machine better than he does. He has arthritis and has trouble walking, so he goes alone to inspect the underground works once every morning before dawn, carrying a spare key with him, and he doesn't take guards when he uses the side door. The guard battalion has tried to persuade him against this habit many times, but he never listens."

Wu Ran's gaze lingered on the drawing for quite a while. The person who designed the Exorcism Array Eye, the person who built the energy conversion module, the only person in the entire Safe Zone who understood the operating principles of that machine. If he could bring this person back to Yuanteng Base, the base's technical shortcomings could be patched with the most critical piece.

"This Dr. Guan, does he have any weaknesses?"

"He doesn't respond to threats. Even Qi Yan respects him; you could point a gun at him and he still wouldn't go with you. But he has an almost paranoid obsession with his own research. The Exorcism Array Eye is the crystallization of his life's work, which is now decaying irreversibly, and the higher-ups in the Core Zone won't let him do anything except maintain the data."

Wu Ran committed every word to memory, then straightened his body and reached out to Captain Li.

"The deal is set. When the Safe Zone can no longer hold out, take your people and head southeast. Someone will meet you at the safety nodes on the Provincial Road, and once you get there, someone will naturally tell you what to do next. The outpost is called Yuanteng Base; once you arrive, look for Chu Shuang and tell her I sent you."

Captain Li gripped his hand, a rough and firm handshake.

"Aren't you afraid I'll take the information and go back on my word? You've already given me a way out; I could just go back now and continue being a captain in the Transition Zone, pretending I never saw you tonight."

"You won't." Wu Ran released his hand and tightened the rag-wrapped iron rod on his shoulder. "What you've always wanted was never the high walls, but a place where your men could survive. That place used to be the Beishan Safe Zone, and in the future, it will be Yuanteng Base. You're a smart man; you know which path leads to survival."

He turned and walked into the alley deep within the Refugee District. Captain Li leaned against the reservoir, fished the last crumpled cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. In the distance, the searchlights of the Core Zone were still rotating. The green light at the side door hadn't lit up yet, but it would be soon.