Back to the cabin

He thought Ella Zero was no longer so resistant to him, but it turns out they still couldn't open up to each other.

Gu Yan didn't press for an answer and silently watched her take care of everything.

"I'll send a message to Yang Guang."

She stood at the corner, leaving half of her body outside, leaning against the rock wall, waiting for Yang Guang's reply.

Gu Yan tried to lift his right shoulder, but the wound still caused a tearing pain.

"I told you not to move around." Hearing the noise, Ella Zero immediately turned around to support him, thinking he wanted to drink water. She let him lean against her neck and hooked the water pouch over.

"Aren't you going to drink?" Seeing that Gu Yan didn't move, and instead stared intently at her, Ella Zero brought the spout of the pot even closer.

Gu Yan's soul finally returned to its place, and he slowly leaned closer, following Ella Zero's movements to look up and drink water.

"Yang Guang will come directly to pick you up via Yingdu. I'll take you to the network interface access point."

"Don't worry about me, you go about your business."

The breath of a third party disrupted the tranquil atmosphere.

Gu Yan looked impatiently toward the source. The Arabian wolf lay silently at the entrance, coldly scrutinizing him as if he were the one who shouldn't be there.

"Isn't that the one in the poplar forest?"

Gu Yan rummaged through his memories to recall this passage, and couldn't help but take a few more glances to confirm it.

Ella Zero did not deny it; instead, she stepped forward and rubbed the wolf's head.

"Good boy, I'm ready."

Meeting Gu Yan's puzzled look, he briefly explained:

“He went with me.”

When the communicator was handed to him, he was still connected to Yang Guang. Obviously, the other side had also heard the commotion. After waiting for a while without receiving a response, Yang Guang coughed awkwardly and said, "Just wait. I know where you are."

Gu Yan hesitated for a long time before finally speaking: "She'd rather go with a dog than let me come along?"

"...Brother, let's be reasonable. That's a wolf."

——————

Ella Zero didn't start her operation until the lights were turned off.

She checked Gu Yan's forehead one last time; it wasn't a big problem, not even a low-grade fever. The first-aid kit from the supply station came in very handy.

The drug was too strong, and after taking it, he lay there in a daze, the figure of Ella Zero flickering before his eyes, blurry and indistinct.

Are you leaving?

Ella Zero's voice sounded distant: "Yangguang is almost here. You can go back after a nap."

"I'm not going back with him..."

No one responded to him.

Are you leaving?

"..."

All I could hear was the sound of the wind blowing through the sand and gravel.

Ella Zero had only one more thing on her: a compass she found at the supply station.

And now, that Arabian wolf has joined them.

But to be honest, they were more like strangers traveling together.

The Arabian wolf silently lagged behind her by half a step, walking diagonally behind.

Gu Yan's choice of location was indeed quite clever. He originally thought it would lengthen the distance to his destination, but in fact, it wouldn't take long to see the poplar forest in the distance after crossing the ridge.

Her fingernails dug deep into the backpack strap, and a hint of desolation flashed in her otherwise calm eyes.

...

It must have been quite a struggle for Yang Guang to find this place. Of course he knew the location, but he had always disliked how difficult it was to climb since he was a child. Every time Gu Yan came, he would run away halfway through.

"What? You guys chose this place for a date? And you ended up getting injured?"

He was habitually sarcastic, but after seeing Gu Yan's sharp glare, he decided to shut up.

"Alright, your first priority now is to go back to my place and lie down and rest."

He examined the injury: "That guy did a pretty professional job."

This time it was a gunshot wound, so a hasty approach like before wouldn't do. She carefully placed the removed bullet in a paper cup in case Yang Guang wanted to investigate.

Yang Guang recognized the origin of the bullet at a glance, and his face darkened.

"You're being followed?"

Gu Yan shook his head absentmindedly.

Seeing that he wasn't in the mood to reply, Yang Guang simply shut up.

Which way did he go? Did you see him?

Gu Yan suddenly said this out of the blue, and struggled to sit up.

What are you doing?

Yang Guang hurriedly tried to stop him, but found that this guy was incredibly strong.

"Something has come up."

"Now is not the time for something to happen. What if your injury doesn't heal?"

Gu Yan pressed hard on the wound to check its recovery progress.

"What's the rush you're going through? Are you chasing after her?"

Ignoring all reason, Yang Guang simply crossed his arms and leaned against the side in a rather unseemly manner.

Gu Yan staggered to his feet, using all his strength to regain his balance.

"Something must be wrong, there's a problem..." he muttered as he walked outside.

Log house, log house...

He kept pondering the word; there must be something very important in it.

A fleeting inspiration flashed through my mind, but it vanished in an instant.

"etc."

Yang Guang stopped him with a cold face.

"What's wrong with you? At least bring a few more band-aids."

He handed over the first aid kit he had on hand.

Thanks.

Gu Yan knew that these words didn't actually need to be spoken between the two of them, but those two short words contained so much. They understood each other implicitly.

Ella Zero made no attempt to conceal her presence; in fact, she even left marks in places where there were many detours to help her find her way.

Gu Yan gently touched the mark she had carved, silently calculating the distance to the wooden house.

She's very clever, Gu Yan has always known that. With a little analysis, he can determine the shortest route. Catching up with her before she reaches the cabin won't be easy.

There were a few corpses scattered along the way, and judging from their attire, they belonged to members of the Federal Guard.

If Gu Yan hadn't been secretly observing carefully, an ordinary person would have been completely unable to identify it from among the weeds.

In small-scale battles, she seems to have the upper hand.

"Indeed, it's hard for anyone to get an advantage from someone of her size."

He continued to follow the trail left by Ella Zero.

Yang Guang packed his things dejectedly and returned empty-handed, but the smell of blood at the exit caught his attention.

Drops of blood, like the footsteps of a ghost, stretched far into the distance.

"Are you kidding me?" he muttered under his breath.

This person is just asking for trouble.

Ella Zero finally arrived at her destination after the lights were turned off.

I glanced down at the time; theoretically...

A violent shaking struck.

"Tsk, looks like it's too late."

She pushed off with her feet and shot into the wooden house like an arrow released from a bow.

The wooden house, forced to house the intruders, swayed violently and groaned.

Gu Yan, who had just sneaked into the poplar forest, also felt the violent shaking.

He held onto the tree trunk, staring intently at the black soil beneath his feet.

Something dangerous was lurking in the shadows, screeching as it tried to break through the soil.

His ominous premonition grew stronger. Had something happened at the cabin? Ella Zero had encountered enemies along the way; was there an ambush at the cabin as well?

With each additional point of speculation, his heart sank a little lower.

The distance they walked seemed to stretch endlessly, just as the two of them were separated by an unbridgeable distance.

She wasn't a professional, so Sivers could only repair it to a barely usable state. She kept the power off in case he suddenly went berserk.

Ella Zero let out a long sigh of relief and turned on the switch.

"Wake up, it's work time."

Siphus sounded like an old man who had been asleep for a long time and had just been awakened. His voice had also become hoarse.

It's rusted; the parts need to be replaced.

Ella Zero made a quick judgment.

"Work, work. Long live work!"

Having not assembled the prototype for a long time, Siphus's joints were somewhat stiff. He adjusted himself for a while before raising his arms and shouting.

Ella Zero observed his posture and then felt relieved, replying calmly, "Yes, hooray."

By the time Gu Yan burst into the wooden house, the earthquake had stopped. Yang Guang brought news that the resistance had attacked the underground base of the central tower.

Gu Yan looked at the silent room and it took him a long time to respond to Yang Guang's message.

Where is Aunt Jiang?

“She’s fine; she was the one I just spoke to. But Shura…”

"I see."

This is not a place for mourning. Gu Yan cut off the communication and looked around at his surroundings.

There were signs of trespassing; Ella Zero must have been here. But the surrounding furnishings were covered in dust, showing no signs of having been moved.

No matter how powerful she is, she couldn't just disappear into thin air. So where did she go?

The dim light flickered, its last bit of life coming to an end, and then it went out with a snap.

The dilapidated wooden house was pitch black, and it seemed as if Gu Yan, who was inside, was about to disappear from this world.

However, it is precisely in complete darkness that one can notice subtle glimmers of light. For example, at this very moment, a sliver of light is filtering through from beneath the linen carpet in a corner of the room.

Gu Yan calmly lifted the covering, revealing a well-hidden secret door. Was the answer he was looking for lying under this secret door?

Beneath the simple wooden ladder lay a long passageway, and the unknown at the end of the passageway deeply attracted him.

This place is increasingly resembling a secret experimental base, yet it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what secrets it holds.

Fortunately, the communicator's signal strength was sufficient to prevent losing contact with Yangguang.

"You've arrived?"

"Let's investigate whether there's any special story behind this wooden house?"

"Is it the one we found before? What could it be?"

Even so, Yang Guang still tried his best to gather intelligence.

“Ella Lowry.” Gu Yan thought of a name. “Let’s find out who Ella Lowry really is.”

He had taken it for granted that this was Ella Zero's other identity, but now? Ella Zero seems to have shown no flaws whatsoever regarding this other identity.

"My initial guess was that she might be another disguise the doctor used to divide the assets, but..."

"All the information that can be collected using that name is from fifty years ago."

"What is the last piece of information?"

"Admission notice."

Gu Yan frowned: "Admission notice? Where is it from?"

Imperial College London Journalism

Imperial College London publishes its new student list annually through official channels. Because of this, his application process for admission to the research center went exceptionally smoothly.

Countless tiny details strung together to form a vast web. This web eventually enveloped Ella Zero layer by layer, as if to drown her in these secrets.

"At Imperial College London..."

"What?"

“Imperial College London must have her information. If the last publicly available information is the admission list, it means she neither graduated nor dropped out. Because both of these lists are made public, but the leave of absence list is not. Try to find out the leave of absence applications of the students who enrolled in that year.”

Gu Yan gritted his teeth and pulled open the protective door in front of him.