It was the most advanced real-time monitoring equipment available, known within the City Defense Force as the “Sky Eye.”
This device was connected to surveillance probes in multiple key locations across the Outer City and the Ruin Zone, allowing for the retrieval of video records from specific times and areas.
Although its coverage was limited, in this C-class city, it was already a top-tier reconnaissance tool.
Yan Pengcheng stood up and walked to the instrument.
His fingers tapped rapidly on the control panel, inputting the march route and time range for the 3rd Mobile Brigade.
The screen lit up, and the footage began to load.
A few seconds later, a video appeared on the screen.
Yan Pengcheng’s pupils suddenly constricted.
In the footage, the 3rd Mobile Brigade was marching normally through the ruins.
Suddenly, a sandstorm appeared without warning. Grayish-yellow dust blotted out the sky, instantly swallowing the entire unit.
Yan Pengcheng narrowed his eyes, staring at the screen.
The sandstorm had come too suddenly and too eerily.
While there was dusty weather in this Ruin Zone, there had never been a sandstorm that appeared out of thin air without any precursor.
Unless—
It was man-made.
Yan Pengcheng continued to stare at the screen, watching it frame by frame.
Then, he saw an even stranger sight.
Amidst the sandstorm, the convoy’s direction began to shift.
It wasn’t a chaotic, irregular shift, but a purposeful, directed movement toward a fixed heading.
Under the cover of the sandstorm, the unit was being guided into the Non-Safe Zone...
Yan Pengcheng’s gaze moved from the screen to the communicator.
The commander was lying.
The 3rd Mobile Brigade hadn’t entered the Non-Safe Zone because of an Aberrant attack as he had claimed!
As for that mysterious person, there wasn’t a single clue...
Yan Pengcheng turned off the Sky Eye and stood in place, unmoving for a long time.
Why did the commander lie?
What was he trying to cover up?
Countless thoughts flashed through Yan Pengcheng’s mind, but in the end, he suppressed them one by one.
He didn’t care anymore.
He didn’t care why the commander lied, he didn’t care what Cold Wind and the others were actually doing, and he didn’t care how the unit was actually wiped out.
He only cared about one thing: how he was going to survive.
Yan Pengcheng turned back to the instrument and pulled up the Sky Eye’s operation interface.
He took a deep breath and then pressed the “Delete” key.
A confirmation dialog box popped up on the screen:
【Are you sure you want to delete all video records for the selected period? This operation is irreversible.】
Yan Pengcheng’s finger hovered over the confirmation button, pausing for a second.
Then, he pressed it.
The progress bar began to move, and the footage was permanently erased frame by frame.
Yan Pengcheng’s hand didn’t stop.
He opened the Sky Eye system’s device management interface and pulled up the surveillance probes for those key locations.
Then, he sabotaged the critical circuits of those probes.
The screen turned to static and then went completely black.
The equipment was damaged beyond recovery.
Looking at the pitch-black screen, Yan Pengcheng slowly exhaled.
Now, no one would ever know what really happened to the 3rd Mobile Brigade.
No one could prove the commander was lying.
No one could prove that the mysterious person didn’t exist at all.
Yan Pengcheng sat back at his desk and picked up the communicator again.
He pressed the call button, his voice so calm it even surprised himself.
“Withdraw for now. Conduct a detailed count of the casualties and report to me immediately upon your return.”
“Regarding reinforcements, we will discuss that after I have the full details.”
“Yes, sir.”
The call ended.
Yan Pengcheng put down the communicator and leaned back against his chair.
In his mind, a thought spread like wildfire.
A Level 4 Ability User.
A Level 4 Ability User coming from the direction of the Terminal Station, capable of controlling Aberrants and leaving four Level 3 Ability Users with no chance to fight back.
A Level 4 Ability User who could sneak into the Outer City branch and crush the consciousness of a Level 3 Mid Stage defense-type Ability User without him even noticing.
He didn’t know if this Level 4 Ability User actually existed.
But at this point, only by dragging this hypothetical Level 4 Ability User into the light could he have a chance at survival.
Zhuang Heng needed an account of what happened.
The City Defense Force Headquarters needed a reason.
The deaths of one hundred and twenty elite soldiers and the loss of four armored vehicles and a fire-support vehicle required an explanation.
And that explanation couldn’t be “the General Commander was knocked unconscious for over three hours, causing the unit to lose command and be wiped out.”
The explanation had to be “an encounter with an irresistible enemy.”
Yan Pengcheng opened his eyes and picked up the communicator on his desk...
...
After cutting the communication with Yan Pengcheng, the commander’s fingers were still trembling slightly.
He looked up, his gaze instinctively drifting toward the Command Vehicle.
Because Su Wan was inside.
Zhao Long and the others didn’t know Su Wan existed, nor did they know that the mastermind behind this “total annihilation” was currently observing their every move through the vehicle window.
Seeing Zhao Long and the others gathered with Cold Wind’s group to discuss something, the commander quietly approached the Command Vehicle, pulled open the door, and sat inside.
Su Wan was still sitting in the corner, her posture identical to before, her eyelids not even twitching.
“Colonel Yan...” the commander’s voice was tight. “He told us to withdraw first, count the casualties, and wait until after the report.”
Su Wan opened her eyes and looked at him.
Those eyes were as calm as a pool of stagnant water, devoid of any emotion.
“Of course he won’t investigate,” Su Wan said flatly. “Because like you, he wants to live.”
The commander’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He remembered Yan Pengcheng’s abnormally calm voice over the communicator just now.
There had been no interrogation, no rage, not even much follow-up questioning.
It was as if... he had known this would be the result all along.
Or rather, this was exactly the result he needed.
Cold sweat broke out on the commander’s back again.
He suddenly realized that Yan Pengcheng was also within her calculations.
“Go,” Su Wan’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Take Cold Wind and the others back to the Outer City to report.”
“You know what to say.”
The engines started, and the two vehicles turned around, heading toward the Outer City.
Su Wan silently left the Command Vehicle and hid to the side, watching the two scarred vehicles drive away before turning to walk toward the Terminal Station.
Her pace wasn’t fast; it could even be described as leisurely.
Her Level 3 Late Stage physical fitness allowed her to navigate the ruins as if walking on flat ground, but she didn’t rush.
She was thinking.
The 3rd Mobile Brigade of the City Defense Force was wiped out, and the commander would report according to the narrative she had crafted.
Yan Pengcheng, for the sake of his own survival, would cooperate with that narrative.
A “Level 4 Ability User from the direction of the Terminal Station” would become the reason for the failure of this operation.
Rate on N.U.
