Sky-cracking Rider

Beep beep beep... Beep!

Click!

Hanna Gagel's authority was still valid, successfully unlocking the secret passage entrance on the second floor. The lights inside began to turn on one after another, and the air was not the least bit stale, clearly indicating an air circulation system keeping the air fresh.

"Let's go!"

With only three minutes left on the actual countdown to the explosion, she took the lead and charged in, followed closely by Takano Yoshiko and Bai Nuo.

Chen Fei, still carrying a universal machine gun, and Little Bird were responsible for covering the rear and closing the door.

The thick walls slowly closed, leaving no indication that a door had ever been there.

The group walked about ten meters straight behind the door, then turned down more than fifty steps before walking another twenty meters. At a crossroads, they chose to turn left... Winding left and right in the maze-like secret underground passage for about two minutes, they were stopped by a heavy blast-proof door.

This blast-proof door...

Hanna Gagel hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to walk up to the door control panel, pressed her fingerprint, and entered the password.

Beep beep!

After a series of short electronic beeps, instead of unlocking successfully, the door control indicated a verification failure.

Beep!

The door control beeped again.

Then came the voice of Erik Anthony, Chairman of Apocalypse Defense Group.

"Hanna, I guessed you would take this passage."

WHAT?

Chen Fei and his companions were all stunned.

The secret passage was no longer a secret?

Indeed!

The sudden change validated Hanna Gagel's suspicion.

This heavy blast-proof door wasn't supposed to be here—it was obviously newly installed, and she knew nothing about it.

Chairman Anthony had once again meddled with the secret safety passage beneath the headquarters' administrative building, trapping Hanna and the others.

The cunning Chairman surprised everyone with his success!

However, Hanna Gagel didn't show the panic or alarm that the other party wanted to see, instead she said nonchalantly, "As expected from the old fox!"

"If you're willing to cancel the previous agreement, I'm willing to let you go," said Erik Anthony's voice again.

"Uncle Anthony, do you know what this secret passage is also called? Its other name is 'Hanna's Trail.' The Gagar Family helped found the Apocalypse Defense Company, naturally, they wouldn't allow their kin to be trapped to death in this escape route. Your little tricks are doomed..."

Hanna Gagel hadn't finished speaking when a muffled boom resounded, and the entire passage shook violently like a small boat caught in a tempest. Everyone was dizzied by the impact, and despite grabbing hold of the walls, they still swayed unsteadily.

The sudden vibrations and dull sounds continued for a few breaths, and the flickering lights ultimately all fell into darkness, as even the emergency lights failed to come on.

To bring a fifteen-story building to rubble on the spot showed how terrifying the power of the explosion was.

The ground must have been torn asunder in a grand spectacle.

"F*K! It's blown! Let's hope we're not beneath it."

In the complete darkness where seeing one's hand was impossible, Demolition Expert and Gunsmith Bai Nuo clasped his hands together with utmost sincerity, more serious than he'd ever been before.

Being buried by one's own planted bomb was quite the irony—digging one's own grave was not a small joke, his reputation was at stake, aaaah!!

"Jiu!"

A soft chirp from Little Bird followed.

A light orb, the size of a table tennis ball, released by the Illumination Technique, shone with a soft glow that dispelled the sudden darkness.

Thankfully, the section of the corridor they were in was only affected by the blast, still intact and not crushed by the debris of the collapsed building.

However, the direction they came from was definitely no longer an exit, having turned into a pile of ruins.

"Is anyone hurt?"

Hanna Gagel scanned each person, her gaze finally resting on Chen Fei.

Everyone patted themselves, feeling no pain or itch, all uninjured, and shook their heads one after another, but their communication with the outside world had to be temporarily suspended.

"It's okay if someone is hurt!"

Before Chen Fei had finished speaking, Xiao Jiu immediately pecked out several light orbs that entered each person's body.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A sense of warmth emerged out of nowhere, and everyone felt much more vigorous instantly, benefiting from the First Rank Light Healing Technique, which cured disease and strengthened those who were healthy.

Of course, too much of a good thing can be harmful; using it too often could lead to nutritional deficiencies.

A faint smell of dust came from the direction they arrived from, and one could even see large waves of dust rolling in. Tiny particles from every nook and cranny gathered, forming aerosol-like suspended mists, as if demons were frolicking and stirring up trouble in the dust.

"Rookie, can you handle it?"

Hanna Gagel looked towards the tightly sealed heavy steel door.

She no longer had any hopes for the door control that was supposed to run on its own battery.

Even if a technical hack was temporarily used, it would take too much time and could easily result in being caught red-handed.

However, the secret security passage was one of the highest security secrets of the Apocalypse Defense Group, and unless Chairman Anthony was willing to throw in the towel and completely abandon this headquarters, he wouldn't easily expose this place to the police and the public.

"Piece of cake!"

Chen Fei nodded, gave an OK sign, and then placed his hand on the metal door.

Several clicks were heard as the heavy stainless steel blast-proof door was slowly pulled open by him.

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The security gate was completely irrelevant; the "Metal Shaping" skill could easily bypass any verification and directly unlock the locking mechanism at its core.

"Is, is, is it open just like that?"

Takano Yoshiko cocked her head, looking at the thick, heavy door that had been pulled open in disbelief.

Then she looked towards Hanna Gagel, wondering if the door had always been open, then why had they bothered pressing all those buttons on the security gate just moments ago?

If they could just walk through like this...

"Damn it!"

The demolition expert and gunsmith Bai Nuo gritted his teeth.

He certainly understood how incredibly useful the ability to unlock doors in an instant was; no security gate could block their path, as if they were entering an uninhabited territory.

"Metal Ability!"

Hanna Gagel smiled and showed no surprise as she stepped through the door first.

The thing about supernatural powers was that they were wildly unreasonable, full of too many variables and randomness. Even within the same category of powers defined by the system, the abilities possessed could be extremely diverse and not necessarily identical.

Like the ability to pick locks, other Metal Ability Users might not necessarily have it.

The hallway behind the blast-proof door was also filled with dust, but it was much better than outside, thanks to the solid and heavy door that blocked most of the impact.

However, it would probably take a very long time for these suspended particles to slowly settle to the ground.

If Hanna Gagel's powers were still available, she could have easily whipped up a fierce wind that would have swept all the dust floating in the air clean away.

Xiao Jiu, with practiced ease, released a few more Illumination Orbs, floating them in front and behind the team, illuminating the way and replacing the now-defunct electrical lighting.

Chen Fei stayed in the rear, pulling the blast-proof door shut with force, causing another click as it locked anew.

Takano Yoshiko asked with confusion, "Hanna, that 'Hanna's Trail' you mentioned earlier, was it real?"

"Hehe!"

Hanna Gagel just smiled without speaking.

True and false, real and fake, deception is the essence of warfare - consider this a reading comprehension question for you to figure out on your own.

-

...

"Hanna's Trail?"

Apocalypse Defense Group chairman Erik Anthony furrowed his brows at his secure location.

Out of nowhere, it seemed a flash of light flickered and was gone; the ground trembled slightly, and even their bodies began to shake inexplicably.

"The, the building's blown up!"

"OMG! OMG!! OMG!!!"

"My God! The building collapsed, it really collapsed!"

The employees of Apocalypse Defense Company headquarters who had narrowly escaped death cried out in disbelief, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the dull thumping sounds.

The fifteen-story administrative office building sank slowly into the ground right before their eyes, disintegrating piece by piece, becoming increasingly fragmented, as yellow and black dust rose in plumes, reaching halfway to the sky.

Following this, like a sandstorm, it surged in all directions, even spreading to the nearby streets, conjuring a scene like the apocalypse.

On the high walls outside the Apocalypse Defense Company headquarters, the police cordon line inevitably felt the effects immediately. Choking sounds spread like contagion through the crowd enveloped in dust, and naturally, the effect of the cordon was greatly diminished.

Many people fled in distress, trying to break out or get away from the sudden dust cloud.

"Little Hana, you're really ruthless!"

After staring dumbfounded at the disappearing building, Chairman Erik Anthony shook his head involuntarily.

The vehicle carrying him started quickly, speeding away from the scene before the encroaching dust could cover it.

Cries and howls rose around him; even the onlookers who had come to enjoy the spectacle couldn't stay any longer and promptly ran off.

-

A few minutes later, the pervasive smoke and dust still hadn't cleared, and a sewer manhole cover lifted slightly.

Below the cover, a bird chirped.

"Chirp!"

Chen Fei looked at a palm-sized, faintly flickering screen in front of him, saying, "All clear!"

Although the visibility was poor and the distance they could see was limited, they could be sure there were no other people within a ten-meter radius above ground. Actually, it wouldn't matter much if there were people since everyone's visibility was equally impaired.

Once it was clear, Chen Fei pushed the manhole cover open forcefully, scrambling up to the ground first, with Little Bird quickly tucking into his shirt pocket, disliking the vast dust.

Then he turned back and helped Boss Hana, Takano Yoshiko, and Bai Nuo out one by one.

"Our location should be correct!"

Hanna Gagel identified the surroundings and immediately pointed in a direction.

"Hanna, have you all come out?"

Communication specialist Roland Michigan, who had lost the link for a short while, noticed the signal's return first thing.

He increased the patrol strength of the drone serving as the signal relay, to ensure the highest signal quality possible.

"Everything is going according to plan, everyone evacuate, let's meet at the secondary rendezvous point in half an hour."

Hanna Gagel pulled out a key, opened the door of a car, signaled Chen Fei to throw the machine gun into the trunk, and got in with the others.

This car had been parked here in advance, and like this one, she had prepared four vehicles in total. It seemed the other three wouldn't be needed.

Two kilometers away, a van started at the same time and sped away into the distance, appearing to be one of the many vehicles hastily leaving the vicinity of the Apocalypse Defense Company headquarters.

-

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