Chapter 422: Sneaking In With Grand Flourish

Lao Bao leans on the rooftop railing with a jar of liquor; the Dome's booze just isn't good, weak and flavorless, like drinking water.

Hua Jian Lei stands beside him, leaning against the railing, a cigarette between her fingers, the red tip flickering in the night wind.

This wasteland does have cigarettes, but they're hard to get.

This time she escorted Mei Weisi on a run, and she kept her promise by telling Hua Jian Lei the route she knew.

Few people smoke in this world, fewer still roll their own, so buying one is already lucky.

"The Xi Ren Sheng side should be having a blast."

Lao Bao flicks the jar with his thumb, watching the Dome security vehicles gathering toward the fashion show, like a swarm of fire‑chasing insects.

"The Field Operations Department folks are almost sealing that side; how do they plan to get through?"

Hua Jian Lei pulls the cigarette from her mouth and flicks the ash onto the brick ledge.

"They say the Strategy Team has a way; we'll just wait."

Lao Bao hums and says nothing more, then pours another drink for himself.

Honestly, he knows the Strategy Team kid is as restless as Xi Ren Sheng, but when he actually sees him, he's still surprised by the kid's age.

Suddenly, both their ears twitch as if they caught a faint "zzzz" like electricity flowing through a wire.

Lao Bao turns his head and sees a green‑glowing Data Stream surge up from beneath the eaves, solidifying into a humanoid shape.

Ying Duo pulls down his hood, the green‑glowing strands of hair trembling slightly in the night wind.

Ying Duo glances at the liquor in Lao Bao's hand, "How did you end up drinking?"

His tone isn't reproachful, just plain curiosity.

"Since we're idle anyway and the wind's still strong tonight," Lao Bao tucks the jar away and takes another sip, "a little booze to warm the body won't delay the real business."

"Where's Xi Ren Sheng?" Hua Jian Lei recalls Ying Duo said he'd bring him too, "You're not really leaving him there alone, are you?"

Ying Duo's Aberrant Arts involve the Space Law, but Xi Ren Sheng can't teleport remotely or anything.

Ying Duo gives him a glance, and a playing card materializes in his hand, spinning on his fingertip.

"Surprise."

Ying Duo flicks the card into the air; it flips several times and turns into a puff of pink smoke.

"Surprise—!"

Xi Ren Sheng bursts from the smoke, wearing a black‑and‑white mask, and performs a close‑up face‑kill on Hua Jian Lei.

His face is less than ten centimeters from Hua Jian Lei, a mess of red synthetic hair.

Hua Jian Lei is briefly choked by the pink smoke, then expressionlessly picks up the cigarette and stamps it out on the brick ledge.

He pushes away the face Xi Ren Sheng thrust forward with disdain, his gaze shifting to Ying Duo.

"What do we do next?"

"Obviously, we go straight in."

Ying Duo says bluntly.

Xi Ren Sheng watches Hua Jian Lei's unruffled demeanor and feels displeased, "Aren't you curious how we did it? Don't you want to know how our hot‑blooded, hit‑and‑run bug‑stuck combo works?"

"Oh, how is that done?"

Hua Jian Lei replies offhandedly, while Ying Duo has already located the spot and marks it on the mini‑map for her.

"Of course it's thanks to our bond!"

Xi Ren Sheng's main shtick is nonsense literature.

In fact the principle isn't complex; it's just a bug in Ying Duo's Game Backpack.

First, Ying Duo's backpack can hold almost anything, except living beings.

Xi Ren Sheng's Aberrant Arts happen to involve the Chaos Law; its range is limited, but he can still scramble himself directly.

For example, he confuses himself into thinking he's a playing card, drifting among a deck.

Then the game system treats him as an inanimate item, stuffs him into the backpack, and he teleports over with Ying Duo.

This combo truly only works with Xi Ren Sheng's and Ying Duo's Aberrant Arts; they're professionals at bug‑sticking.

For instance, now they're about to exploit a bug in the Mutation Department.

It's known the Mutation Department is despised by the entire Dome, yet its security isn't lacking; Yang Yixie holds a deputy‑director‑level clearance, so they can simply lead people to a less‑guarded entrance and go straight in.

They only need Hua Jian Lei to tweak her memory of the entrance guards, and Ying Duo to replace the surveillance with energy.

Compared with the neighboring careful infiltration that pre‑arranged personnel to deal with the surveillance room security and, risking detection, used clearance to let their own slip through the backdoor, the official route is like heaven versus underground.

And, as luck would have it, only a handful possess Mutation Department clearance, so the official side must take a long detour to reach its territory, while they go straight.

Ying Duo even pre‑scouted this spot, knowing where the Undead that Fang Zhiyan uses as experimental material are located.

Xi Ren Sheng looks left and feels around as they go; just the sight of the Dome's interior feels more high‑tech than reality.

"This is the Dome Headquarters…."

The four saunter leisurely down the empty Mutation Department corridor; who could have guessed the wanted fugitives the Field Operations Department has mobilized are now roaming inside the Dome?

Actually, for entropy‑increasing people, infiltrating the Dome is really easy, since among them someone treats the Mutation Department as home; the biggest problem is how to rescue those Undead.

Given the premise of rescuing people, most of their abilities are limited.

For example, if they were to demolish the Dome Headquarters, Ying Duo could start setting up cannons now, though he might not match the firepower he had at Tianmian City; tearing this place down would take considerable time.

But aren't the officials also trying to infiltrate here? Then they'd be responsible for extracting people, handing them over to the authorities, and dealing with the remaining security staff.

The Dome's surveillance room is quiet; a player who awakened an invisibility Aberrant Art, using his position in the Dome's logistics department, has silently slipped in.

There are many guards in the security room; he can't handle them all alone, so he pre‑prepared some disorienting drugs.

Once the drugs take effect, he takes over the console here, swapping the surveillance feeds of several corridors so the central control can't see the real footage.

He didn't notice that the monitor occasionally flickers as if the signal drops, then quickly returns to normal.