Chapter 114: Clean Trace Operation

The first breath of air upon returning to the ground carried the chill of early spring. The setting sun dyed the Pure Land valley orange‑red, and in the distance Qiming City's lights had just come on, like stars on the earth. But in Su Yu's True Knowledge Vision, there was something else in the sky—a shadowy filament so thin it was invisible to the naked eye, spreading like a gray spiderweb, slowly descending from high above.

"Detected seventeen primary descent points," Kaiwen said, holding up the upgraded energy scanner, the red dots flashing on the map. "They're concentrated in… the ruins of the old city, several abandoned Ark outposts, and also…"

He paused, looked at Su Yu: "Near the original launch site of the Voyager."

Han Qing took the data pad: "The densest points are to the southeast, about eighty kilometers from here. The ruins of the old‑era chemical park—radiation residues are already high, making energy anomalies easy to mask."

"The cleaning tool analysis is complete," Aili emerged from the temporary tent, holding a palm‑sized silver disc. "Stardust technology, the principle is simple—generate an order resonance field at a specific frequency, like washing oil off with soapy water. But each disc can only purify a radius of five hundred meters, and…" she scratched her head, "it takes eight hours to charge."

Makusi counted the discs in his pack: "Twelve. With seven of us, if we move quickly, we can hit all the points in three days."

"Split into two squads," Su Yu said instinctively—Chen Mo's habit, always dividing into two teams for dispersed targets, supporting each other. After speaking she froze for a moment, her fingers curling.

Zhang Yang pretended not to notice her pause, shouting, "I'll team with Hu Zi, Makusi. Han Bingkuai takes Kaiwen and Aili. Su Yu, you…"

"I'll be mobile," Su Yu replied, "True Knowledge Vision can track imprint changes; wherever support is needed, I'll go there."

The squads were quickly set. Before departure, Wang Hu silently performed a final check of everyone's gear. When he reached Su Yu, he lingered a few seconds longer, tightening the safety catch on her waist‑mounted energy gun—something Chen Mo used to do.

"Be careful," Wang Hu said, only two words.

The first stop was the nearest descent point, a abandoned radio tower five kilometers away. When night fell completely, the two squads split at the tower's base.

Su Yu chose to follow Han Qing's squad southeast—where the densest points lay, and also near… the old city district where Chen Mo grew up.

The night march was quiet. The upgraded exoskeleton was almost silent, only a faint rustle when stepping on gravel. Kaiwen and Aili led with the scanner, Han Qing covered the rear, Su Yu was in the middle, her True Knowledge Vision scanning the surroundings like radar.

"Come to think of it," Kaiwen suddenly broke the silence, his voice light in the night wind, "the boss once said he used to scavenge scrap metal in this old city district for food. He mentioned an underground garage that housed a fully intact vintage motorcycle; it took him three months to gather the parts and fix it."

Su Yu's steps slowed a beat: "He never told me that."

"He only said it once," Han Qing spoke from the rear of the team, "when we first formed the Ghost squad and passed here during night training. He said, 'The first thing you learn in this place is that the most battered thing may hide the best parts.'"

Aili asked curiously, "Did he ever ride that motorcycle?"

"Once," Kaiwen recalled, "he said the night he finished the repair, he snuck out and rode a lap through the ruins. Then he dismantled the bike, giving the parts to those who needed them more." The scientist adjusted his glasses, "He said, 'It's enough to have had it; you don't need to keep it.'"

Su Yu listened in silence. These fragments pieced together a Chen Mo she didn't know—younger, more reckless, more… human. The Chen Mo she knew was always steady and reliable, like a mountain. She realized even a mountain grows slowly from stone.

The first descent point arrived—a half‑collapsed shopping mall. In True Knowledge Vision, the building's outline was warped, its surface coated with a viscous shadow substance.

"Here," Su Yu indicated.

Kaiwen took out the silver disc and operated according to the Stardust technology blueprint. The disc hovered, emitting a soft hum, its surface lighting up with intricate geometric light patterns. The patterns spread, forming a pale‑golden spherical force field that slowly enveloped the building.

The moment the force field touched the shadow substance, a faint "hiss" sounded, like ice meeting hot water. The shadow began to fade and dissipate, revealing the building's originally dilapidated but "clean" appearance.

"Purification rate ninety‑seven percent," Aili said, watching the readout, "the remainder will naturally dissipate within a few hours. Success!"

Simple, clean, efficient. The tools left by the Stardust Civilization are as precise as scalpels.

Han Qing frowned, "That's too smooth."

Dangerous suspense: the "clean" that shouldn't appear.

The second point, the third point… In one night they cleared five descent points. Each time the same procedure, the same efficiency.

At dawn, the two squads met at the scheduled rendezvous. Zhang Yang's squad had also completed four points.

"It went so smoothly it's almost uncanny," Zhang Yang gulped, "I didn't even draw my gun."

Makusi examined the disc in his hand: "That's the eighth, and it still has more than half the energy left. This thing is more durable than the manual claims."

Su Yu's True Knowledge Vision swept the surroundings— the purified areas were indeed "clean", the shadow imprints completely gone. Yet she still felt something was off.

She crouched, her fingers brushing the ground. In the area purified last night, the soil held a strange… "blankness." It wasn't clean; it was as if scrubbed too hard, erasing even what should have been there.

"Kaiwen," she said, standing, "run a test on the microbes and radiation baseline in the purified zone."

"Working… hold on," Kaiwen said, watching the data, his complexion changing, "microbial activity dropped forty percent. They're not dead, just… 'dormant.' Even the background radiation readings are below normal."

Han Qing understood immediately: "The purification field erased the 'abnormal imprint' along with a portion of the normal environmental energy."

"It's like using disinfectant on a wound," Aili whispered, "killing both bacteria and healthy cells."

The tent fell quiet. The disc still emitted a faint glow in Kaiwen's hand, now the light looking somewhat harsh.

Su Yu recalled a note in Chen Mo's notebook—'Some things, once shattered, can never be pieced back together.'

The Stardust Civilization gave them soapy water, but didn't tell them the soap can also hurt the hand.

At that moment, the pendant around Su Yu's neck suddenly heated up— not warm, but scorching. She jerked her head up, and True Knowledge Vision flared to full power.

To the southeast, above the ruins of the largest chemical park, she 'saw' something different.

The other shadow imprints were 'stains,' like ink droplets on paper. That one… was 'permeation.' The ink and paper fibers had merged.

More crucially, at the center of that permeated zone, something was glowing—not the dim light of shadow, but a warm, familiar…

Blue light.

The blue light of Order Power.

Faint, intermittent, like embers about to die out.

But it was indeed Chen Mo's power.

Su Yu's fingers tightened, the metal pendant digging into her palm.

"Plan adjustment," she said, her voice steady, but something in her eyes ignited, "Ignore the other points for now. Everyone, head to the chemical park."

"What's there?" Zhang Yang asked.

Su Yu looked toward the southeastern sky, the sunrise climbing behind the ruin's silhouette.

"I don't know," she said, "but Chen Mo left something there."

"Or…" she paused, "he left a part of himself."

The team turned, marching toward the chemical park in the morning light.

The real cleanup is only just beginning.

And the pendant's scorching sensation grew stronger, like a heartbeat.