Chapter 22
The days slip by in a delicate and fragile balance.
Lin Yao was like an orchid clinging to a glacier, quietly existing in Qin Feng's cold and hard world.
He followed Qin Feng to participate in the city defense patrol, but his activities were limited to the periphery of the core area - the buffer zone near the energy tower, conventional defense nodes, and non-confidential archives.
Qin Lan's permission comes with clear boundaries, and gaining trust requires bargaining chips.
Lin Yao is well aware of this.
He perfectly played the role of the fragile person who was heartbroken but tried hard not to completely collapse.
In front of Qin Feng, he often stared out the window in a daze, his eyes blank and filled with lingering sadness, as if a part of his soul was left forever in City D, or more precisely, on the cold stage of the Bone Erosion Nest.
He ate very little and slept very lightly. Occasionally he would wake up in the middle of the night, curled up in the corner of the bed and cry silently.
This suppressed, silent pain is more heartbreaking than crying loudly.
Qin Feng was not good at speaking, so he could only express his concern in more clumsy ways - silently heating a cup of milk and placing it on the bedside, or tucking the thin blanket covering him more tightly.
In his eyes, Lin Yao was a strong man who was trying hard to maintain the last bit of decency after suffering a huge trauma.
…
Opportunity came quietly during patrol.
During a routine patrol near the edge of the old city, Lin Yao's spiritual perception suddenly captured an extremely hidden and malicious spiritual fluctuation, like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue.
The target was a seemingly ordinary homeless man on the street corner.
The man's eyes were numb and empty, but his spiritual core was unusually active, spreading extremely tiny spiritual spores into the air.
Once inhaled, the spores can induce extreme irritability and aggression, enough to cause large-scale riots in crowded areas.
"Master Qin Feng," Lin Yao's voice trembled slightly as he pointed at the homeless man. "That person... seems very bad... filled with... a desire to destroy... seems like he's... spreading something..."
Qin Feng's eyes flashed, and his spatial perception instantly swept across the area. He didn't directly discover the mental spores, but he absolutely trusted the early warning value of Lin Yao's emotional perception ability.
He decisively ordered the block quarantined, and the psychiatric team conducted targeted scans, and indeed, they discovered a clue! A potential mental pollution incident that could have affected hundreds of people was nipped in the bud.
Subsequent investigation revealed that this person was suspected to be under the mind control of the Purifier Organization and was used as a tool for spreading pollution.
Another time, while inspecting a temporary warehouse converted from an abandoned factory, Qin Feng's team encountered a preset trap - a space distortion trap.
Once you step into a specific area, you will be randomly teleported to a dangerous corner of the factory.
A few seconds before the trap was triggered, Lin Yao keenly sensed the remaining mental imprint of the trap setter, which was full of cunning and complacency. He issued a timely warning, avoiding casualties among the team members, and followed the clues to catch the lurking traitor.
Time and again, accurate warnings averted danger. Lin Yao's emotional perception proved incredibly valuable in actual combat, not only avoiding risks but also repeatedly thwarting suspected Purifier infiltration attempts.
He was like a human danger radar, silently guarding Qin Feng's team.
The strategic value assessment level of the report on Lin Yao on Qin Lan's desk was raised again and again.
Trust is accumulated through silent achievements.
Finally, Lin Yao's name appeared on the temporary pass list for entering the outer security zone of the Dome Energy Tower.
Although it is still impossible to enter the core tower, we can now look up at the city's life pillar from a closer distance.
The appearance of the Energy Tower is more magnificent and more austere than that of City D.
It is like a giant sword made of dark silver unknown alloy, inserted upside down in the ground. The tower is covered with complex energy-conducting runes, shining with a cold luster in the sunlight.
The tower base covers a vast area and is surrounded by several layers of energy fields and physical isolation zones, guarded by the most elite city defense forces.
The spire pierces the dome's energy membrane, continuously transmitting tremendous energy to the shield covering the entire city.
Standing at the edge of the cordon, one could feel the heart-pounding energy fluctuations emanating from the tower.
On this day, Qin Feng took Lin Yao on a routine inspection outside the tower base.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounded through the sky.
A monitoring point somewhere on the tower showed that a node connecting to an external energy pipeline had a severe energy leak. The violent energy flow was impacting the tower structure like an out-of-control python.
What's more troublesome is that signals of high-concentration pollution beasts gathering were detected near the leak point, as if they were attracted by abnormal energy.
If it is not dealt with quickly, once the contaminated beasts attack the node or the leak worsens, the consequences will be unimaginable!
"Group A, Group B, follow me to the leak point! Group C, stay put and protect Lin Yao!"
Qin Feng gave the order instantly, his tone firm and resolute.
But when he looked at Lin Yao, obvious struggle appeared in his icy eyes for the first time.
The situation at the leak point is unclear, and contaminated animals are gathering, which is extremely dangerous.
Bring Lin Yao with him? He couldn't guarantee he could protect him. Stay here? The restricted area was relatively safe, but if a contaminated beast slipped through the net...
Lin Yao keenly caught Qin Feng's hesitation.
He immediately stepped forward, his face filled with understanding and support, his voice soft but clear, "Master Qin Feng, please go quickly! This is urgent! I'll be waiting here for you and won't run around."
He pointed to the armed guards at the tower's entrance not far away. "And there are so many guards here, it's very safe. If anything really happens, they will protect me."
He acted so sensibly, putting his own safety completely above the mission.
Qin Feng looked into Lin Yao's clear and determined blue eyes, and the struggle in his heart was suppressed by responsibility.
He nodded vigorously, saying "wait for me", and his figure turned into a shadow, rushing towards the leak point with his elite team members.
The opportunity has come!
The moment Qin Feng disappeared, Lin Yao's spiritual threads, like an invisible spider web, instantly covered the perception surfaces of the two guards closest to him and the members of Group C.
A memory fragment of "Lin Yao standing quietly by the cordon, looking in the direction Qin Feng left, without any unusual movement" was accurately implanted, covering the real perception of the next few minutes.
The next second, Lin Yao's figure vanished silently like a ghost merging into the light. He didn't rush to the tower's base entrance. Instead, he used his precise perception of the tower's energy flow and his instantaneous calculations of the building's structure to locate a hidden maintenance tunnel entrance used for emergency energy dissipation.
The entrance is doubly blocked by a powerful energy barrier and physical lock, and the alarm system is dense.
The defense of City B is ten times tighter than that of City D.
The frequency changes of the energy barrier are irregular, the alloy composition of the physical lock can block most mental detections, and the sensors spread throughout the area have no blind spots.
Lin Yao's mental strength was pushed to its limit! He danced like a knife's edge, his mental threads weaving the most sophisticated deceptive signals to interfere with the barrier's frequency scans. Simultaneously, he simulated the biometric fluctuations of the maintenance personnel to deceive the physical lock's recognition system. For the sensors with no blind spots, he utilized his powerful spatial perception, teleporting short distances in the gaps between sensor wave scans at speeds beyond visual detection.
Every step is fraught with danger, and the depletion of mental energy is like releasing a floodgate.
The infiltration distance of just a few dozen meters was far more dangerous than even the most perilous assassination mission. Sweat drenched his forehead, but his eyes remained cold and focused, his fighting instincts and will to survive, a leader in the Old World, fully aroused.
Finally, he reached the outer observation corridor of the core energy room. Through the thick, special glass that blocked energy radiation, he saw the energy core suspended in the center, emitting a soft yet majestic white light.
It's time to verify!
Lin Yao's mental power was like the most sophisticated probe, carefully penetrating the isolation layer and touching the core energy flow.
boom--!
The familiar waves hit his perception like a tsunami.
Caron's violent fire, Alison's strange spirit, and more, more mixed, the desperate aura of annihilation belonging to the losers of the old world.
Exactly the same as the core of D City!
The dome of the new world was indeed built on the corpses of the old world's superpowers. He, the top of the old world, was a walking, top-level energy vein in the eyes of the new world's core.
The huge sense of crisis was like ice water poured over his head, making him feel cold all over.
Strength! We must regain stronger strength as soon as possible!
At this moment of great shock, his fingertips unconsciously brushed against an extremely hidden tiny protrusion on the wall of the observation corridor, which was almost integrated with the wall.
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
A sharp, piercing intrusion alarm instantly resounded throughout the energy tower. Red warning lights flashed frantically!
Lin Yao's pupils suddenly constricted. Damn it! This was a source-encoding sensor used only within the Old World's Supernatural Association, marking top-secret areas. How could it be here?! Could it be... that the builders of the New World were directly connected to the Old World's Association's top brass?!
The Purifiers... the Association's top brass... behind all this...
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning, but there was no time to think about them at the moment. The shrill alarm was like a death warrant.
Inside the energy tower, heavy footsteps and the sounds of energy weapons charging came from all directions like a tide.
Farther away, a familiar, cold and furious spatial fluctuation was tearing through space at a terrifying speed, rushing towards them - it was Qin Feng.
He gave up dealing with the leak and rushed back directly via space jump.
Lin Yao burst into unprecedented speed, unleashing his full power of mental control to disrupt the vision and sensors of the guards along the way.
The body retreated like a ghost along the way it came, racing against time and brushing against death with every step.
He could hear the buzzing of the energy weapon behind him locking onto its target, and could sense the approach of Qin Feng's space-tearing blade.
Just as Qin Feng appeared at the entrance of the energy tower with a raging rage and a space-tearing explosion—
Lin Yao's figure was like a phantom blown away by the wind, and it gathered again at the cordon where he had stood before.
His face was as pale as paper, his forehead was covered with fine beads of cold sweat, his body was trembling slightly, and his blue eyes were full of shock and confusion, as if he was frightened by the sudden alarm.
He even maintained the same attitude as before, looking at the direction Qin Feng had left, but now there was only pure fear in his eyes.
"Yaoyao!" Qin Feng appeared in front of him in an instant and grabbed his shoulders with such force that Lin Yao frowned slightly.
Qin Feng looked him up and down carefully, his cold eyes revealing undisguised fear and nervousness. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"
"No...it's okay..." Lin Yao's voice was filled with tears, and his body was still shaking. "The alarm...suddenly went off...I...I don't know what happened...it's so scary..."
Like a frightened deer, he subconsciously wanted to hide behind Qin Feng.
At this moment, the deputy captain and the guards also rushed over. "Report! Unknown intruders spotted! Highest alert activated! But...but the target has vanished without a trace."
The deputy captain glanced at Lin Yao sharply, with a hint of professional suspicion: "Mr. Lin Yao, you have been here the whole time? Did you see anyone suspicious or anything?"
"I...I've been here the whole time..." Lin Yao shrank back, his eyes filled with both innocence and fear. "I was just looking in the direction Young Master Qin Feng left...and then the alarm went off...I don't know anything..."
His tears welled up in his eyes just right.
The deputy captain looked at the guard who was responsible for guarding Lin Yao.
The guard immediately stood at attention and replied, "Report! I have personally witnessed that Mr. Lin Yao has been standing quietly in the same spot since Captain Qin Feng left. He hasn't moved a single step! He hasn't behaved in any suspicious manner!"
The memory of Lin Yao standing quietly was extremely clear in his mind.
The deputy captain's frown relaxed slightly, but his doubts were not completely eliminated.
Qin Feng's tense nerves relaxed slightly due to the guard's testimony and seeing Lin Yao's safety with his own eyes, but looking at Lin Yao's pale and terrified face, a strong desire to protect him overwhelmed everything.
"Intensify the search! Activate the highest defense plan!" Qin Feng ordered coldly, then lowered his head and softened his voice, "Don't be afraid, it's okay. I'm here."
He hesitated for a moment, then clumsily wiped away the tears that were about to fall from Lin Yao's eyes with the back of his hand.
The guards immediately dispersed and conducted a dragnet search, but naturally found nothing. The intruder had vanished into thin air.
The crisis was temporarily resolved, but Lin Yao's heart sank.
The investigation just now confirmed the worst guess and accidentally exposed the existence of the old world source code. The clues point to a deeper mystery - what is the connection between the Purifier Organization, the top leaders of the Old World Association, and the builders of the new world?
Although he managed to temporarily overcome the mistake of triggering the alarm with his strong strength and sophisticated disguise, it inevitably aroused Qin Feng and Qin Lan's deeper vigilance.
More importantly, the recovery of strength has reached a bottleneck.
After absorbing the source crystal stolen from Qin Mu, his strength recovered to around level 30, but the subsequent recovery speed slowed down significantly.
The energy contained in the source crystal is like a drop in the bucket compared to the peak realm he once reached, which far exceeded his cognition of the new world.
He needed a stronger, purer source of energy—more advanced copy breakthrough materials.
The road to becoming stronger has become more difficult and more urgent.
He must find a new energy source as quickly as possible, and at the same time, his plan to penetrate the core of the Purifier organization must be put on the agenda. His cold-faced brother, Qin Feng, whose protectiveness grew increasingly strong, might be his only springboard to the more advanced dungeon resources in City B.
Lin Yao leaned against Qin Feng's side, feeling the cold breath and clumsy comfort coming from him. Deep in his blue eyes, there was bottomless calculation and cold fire.
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