Chapter 198: Installing the Bomb

The "White Shadows" incident triggered by the "Lingxiao" platform test was like a depth charge dropped into the calm atmosphere of research. Panic was forcibly suppressed, but an invisible tension and eerie feeling permeated the core research zone of the "New Era."

The "Anomalous Phenomena Research" subgroup, established on Qin Feng's orders, immediately went to work, attempting to analyze the briefly appearing abnormal energy field and the bizarre Spirit fluctuations. However, the data was like a moon reflected in water—difficult to capture any stable characteristics—and progress was slow.

At the same time, a comprehensive safety inspection of the "Lingxiao" platform itself was launched in parallel. In such a complex system, any tiny hidden danger could prove fatal in future high-altitude or even deep-space environments.

Amid this tension, pressed from within and without, an even more lethal, more tangible threat slithered silently into the core zone of the "New Era," like a venomous snake.

Late that night, a Phase Three member of "Zhulong" responsible for perimeter security around the "Lingxiao" platform's final assembly plant, codename "Nighthawk," was conducting a routine patrol.

Phase Three members were fresh blood absorbed after "Zhulong" expanded its ranks. Though they had undergone equally harsh training, they still lagged behind the veterans of Phase One and Phase Two in experience and intuition.

When "Nighthawk" patrolled near a pipe interface on the side of the plant used to discharge cooling wastewater, he keenly caught an extremely faint, unusual sound, different from the usual flow of water.

He immediately grew alert, slowed his pace, and carefully approached with the help of his night-vision goggles and the life-detection function of his battle armor.

In the shadows of a blind spot beneath the pipe, he saw a figure wearing the "Wind Rising" Engineering Department uniform, but with a somewhat unfamiliar build, half-crouched on the ground, seemingly… installing something at the pipe interface!

"Who goes there?! Hands up!" "Nighthawk" immediately raised his gun and growled in a low voice, simultaneously sending an alert to the Command Center through his battle armor communicator.

The figure gave a violent start, seemingly startled, but did not comply with the order to raise his hands. Instead, he forcefully pressed a palm-sized metal object with a flashing red indicator light into the gap of the pipe interface, then turned and tried to run!

"Halt!" "Nighthawk" fired without hesitation! The Gauss pistol emitted barely audible pfft-pfft sounds as two electromagnetic pellets shot precisely toward the man's legs!

However, the man's movements were shockingly fast! A desperate roll allowed him to narrowly dodge the bullets, while at the same time he tossed out a smoke grenade!

Bang! Dense white smoke instantly billowed out, obscuring vision!

"Nighthawk" immediately activated his battle armor's thermal imaging and life-tracking mode, locked onto the heat source moving at high speed through the smoke, and pursued relentlessly! At the same time, he kept reporting the situation to the Command Center:

"Intruder spotted! In the B7 zone cooling pipe! The target attempted to install an unidentified object! In pursuit!"

The Command Center's alarms instantly blared! Gao Yuan's voice cut into the channel at once: "All nearby units! Reinforce B7 zone! Lock down all exits! I want them alive!"

The entire security force of the "New Era" was mobilized in an instant!

The intruder was clearly extremely familiar with the plant's layout, weaving nimbly through the complex pipes and equipment in an attempt to shake off the pursuit. But "Nighthawk" clung to him like a maggot in the bone, and more and more "Zhulong" team members closed in from all directions!

Seeing escape was hopeless, a flash of despair and madness crossed the intruder's eyes. He abruptly stopped, turned to face his pursuers, and tore open his coat!

There, strapped to his chest, was a dense ring of C4 explosives, like bars of soap! In his hand he clutched a detonator!

"Nobody come any closer! One more step and I'll blow it!" he howled hysterically, his eyes filled with the frenzy of a desperate man.

The pursuing "Zhulong" team members instantly halted, fanning out to surround him, their gun barrels locked firmly on target, but hesitant to fire. Such a quantity of explosives, once detonated, would be enough to blast half the plant skyward, and might even affect the "Lingxiao" platform right next to it!

"Drop the detonator! You can't escape!" Gao Yuan arrived at the scene and shouted sternly.

"Can't escape? Hahahaha!" the intruder laughed wildly. "I never planned to escape! Dragging you monsters and this broken ship down with me—it's worth it!"

The muscles on his face contorted; he had clearly prepared himself to perish together with his enemies.

The tension reached its absolute peak!

At this hair-trigger moment—

A figure, ghost-like, appeared without warning behind the intruder.

It was Qin Feng!

He wasn't even wearing battle armor, just ordinary casual clothes, but his speed was pushed to the extreme—almost no one present could see how he had appeared!

The intruder seemed to sense something amiss behind him, and in horror tried to turn his head, his thumb about to press down hard on the detonator!

Yet his movements, before Qin Feng, were as slow as a snail.

Qin Feng merely raised his hand in a seemingly casual motion, his fingertip lightly brushing a certain spot on the back of the intruder's neck.

The intruder's body stiffened violently; the madness and spark in his eyes instantly froze and then scattered. The arm holding the detonator aloft dropped limply, and his whole body, as if its bones had been pulled out, collapsed softly to the ground, losing all consciousness.

The entire sequence happened in the blink of an eye!

Even as the intruder fell, the detonator in his hand had never been pressed.

The surrounding "Zhulong" team members, who had been poised for action, were all stunned, and then burst into cheers of having narrowly escaped death, mixed with awe at Qin Feng's godlike skill!

"Leader!"

Gao Yuan strode forward, checked the unconscious intruder, and after confirming he posed no threat, immediately had him placed under tight control. Then he carefully removed the explosives from the man's chest, as well as the metal object the man had installed at the pipe interface.

"Leader, it's a high-performance remote-detonated bomb," Gao Yuan said, handing the metal object with its flashing red light to Qin Feng, his face ashen. "Installed on the cooling pipe—once detonated, it would instantly destroy the platform's cooling system, causing the power core to overheat or even explode… the consequences would be unthinkable!"

Qin Feng took the ice-cold bomb, looked at the chilling red indicator light, his gaze as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

Planting a bomb… the target was the "Lingxiao" platform… and they chose the cooling system, a critical and relatively vulnerable point…

This was absolutely not something ordinary terrorists or commercial spies could pull off! The other side knew the "Lingxiao" platform's structure intimately, and their objective was clear: to destroy it completely!

Who was it?

Was it those unresigned remnant forces within the country? International competitors? Or… those "Observers" hidden in the depths of the starry sky, who harbored wariness toward him and the "New Era," sent over?

"Investigate!" Qin Feng spat out a single word, yet his voice carried a killing intent like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. "Pry his mouth open! Use every means necessary—I want to know who is behind this! Leave none of those involved alive!"

"Yes!" Gao Yuan responded solemnly, immediately arranging for personnel to escort the unconscious intruder to the Base interrogation room.

Qin Feng stood in place, looking at the bomb in his hand with its fuse already removed, then at the "Lingxiao" platform not far away—a vessel that had weathered countless storms and nearly been destroyed.

Once, the eerie "White Shadows"; once, a sinister bomb attack.

This Sea City-State, this foundation he had placed such high hopes in, had been accompanied since its birth by countless open spears, hidden arrows, and unknown risks.

But he, Qin Feng, was he someone so easily brought down?

He clenched the bomb in his hand; under his tremendous finger strength, the metal casing let out a teeth-grinding sound of warping.

"Want to play with bombs?"

A flash of cruel, cold light passed through Qin Feng's eyes.

"Then I'll play… a bigger game with you."