Chapter 1 The Dilapidated City

Dilapidated high-rises were covered in vines, broken bridges were blanketed with green moss, and the deserted streets were cold and desolate. The storefront windows were shattered, and shelves lay overturned, clearly indicating they had been ransacked.

A yellowed newspaper, from who knew how long ago, moved along the ground with the swirling dust and breeze, filling the air with a desolate atmosphere.

Moonlight filtered through the floating dust, tinged with dimness, the city's only light source.

This was an abandoned city, once belonging to a great nation. Now that nation had vanished in the tide of the era, and its citizens had migrated from this dead city. Even wanderers were unwilling to live here.

Over the decades of reshuffling planetary societies, many cities had been discarded, returning to become part of the planet's ecological environment. From cold, steel forests, they gradually transformed into vibrant green fields, prompting one to ponder humanity's significance to the planet.

According to Han Xiao's information, three Germination Organization branch bases were hidden within the Star Dragon Nation. This dead city contained one of them, like a nail hammered into the flesh, causing the Star Dragon higher-ups to be both shocked and furious. Within twenty-four hours, they had mobilized troops from the nearest military base to attack this branch base, acting with impressive efficiency.

At this moment, the dead city was awakened by artillery fire. More than a dozen Star Dragon military armored vehicles stormed the branch base, the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams mixed with roars echoing incessantly.

However, the frontal battlefield was not the core of the operation.

Three members of the Secret Operations Department were quietly approaching the Germination branch base from the side. Their mission was to infiltrate and steal intelligence while the army engaged in battle.

The Secret Operations Department was responsible for infiltration, subversion, sabotage, theft, assassination, and similar tasks. Also known as the Secret Service, its members were the elite of the elite.

The Secret Service trio avoided the battlefield, approaching the base from another direction, reaching the side door. The team's hacker cracked the door access.

Li Yalin, a Secret Operations member and Level 4 Special Agent, was a bright and charming young woman. Dressed in a black, form-fitting bodysuit that emphasized her blood-boiling figure, she wore a loose yellow hoodie over it, exuding a sporty style. With fair skin, a beautiful face, and a lively, elfin-like aura, she sported silver hoop earrings, subtle eye shadow, and a high, defined nose.

Li Yalin stretched languidly, her graceful waistline displaying astonishing flexibility, incongruous with the tense atmosphere. Chewing bubble gum, she complained, "We finally get a vacation while the captain recovers from his injuries, but the department gives us an emergency mission. They don't treat us special agents like people at all!"

Lambert silently wiped his gleaming dagger, not uttering a word, as silent as a stone. He had once been a top soldier in a unit whose designation could not be disclosed. After being "retired," he joined the Thirteenth Bureau's Secret Operations Department. Wearing field combat fatigues, he had a belt around his waist holding a dozen daggers, and a folded, black, heavy sniper rifle slung across his back.

"T-This... this operation seems to be very important to the bureau."

Lin Yao stammered. He was a little over 1.7 meters tall and looked somewhat green and bashful. He was the team's hacker, carrying a small pack full of electronic equipment. He was currently hacking the side door of the branch base, connecting a bunch of electronic instruments to the door access and rapidly tapping on the keyboard, lines of code streaming down like a waterfall.

Before long, the program was cracked, and the metal door opened automatically.

The three exchanged glances and infiltrated the base.

Li Yalin led the way, Lin Yao in the middle, and Lambert brought up the rear. Every door along the way was opened by Lin Yao, who had hacked into the system. Their target was the main server room.

The Germination Organization valued secrecy. If a branch base was attacked and faced the threat of being overrun, the remaining guards would immediately format the base's system, destroying all content, and activate an EMP to cut off the network and power, burning out the electronic components of the main server, as decisive as a lizard shedding its tail. This was why the Germination Organization had remained mysterious, like a fog. The Thirteenth Bureau valued Han Xiao so much precisely because the source of intelligence was so rare.

They arrived safely on the second underground level. The main server room was close at hand. Suddenly, Lin Yao looked at the hacked surveillance footage and cried out in alarm, "There's an enemy squad around the corner ahead..."

Before he could finish speaking, a team of guards appeared in sight. An ambush had begun!

Li Yalin was the first to react, suddenly bursting out with phantom-like speed. Before the guards could open fire, she rushed in front of them, leaping into the air. Light as a swallow, her long, flexible legs performed a 180-degree split in mid-air, viciously kicking the heads of the two leading guards. The two guards who were struck spun and flew out, their cervical vertebrae broken.

Her physical fitness was extremely strong. Not only was her flexibility astonishing, but her power was equally terrifying. Her hands supported her on the ground as she stood upside down, spinning and withdrawing her legs. Wisps of bright yellow qi bloomed on her legs, like yellow propellers, sweeping across the crowd. Even if they used firearms to block, the firearms would shatter into pieces on the ground. Her leg strength could even bend metal!

"A Martial Artist!"

The last guard turned pale with fright. Just as he was about to call for reinforcements, Lambert, in the distance, ran his hands across the dagger pouch on his waist. A throwing knife trailed silver light, instantly piercing his throat.

An entire fully armed squad was quickly annihilated by Li Yalin and Lambert.

Just then, the corridor lights turned blood red, and ear-piercing alarms sounded everywhere.

Lin Yao cried out in alarm, "We've been discovered! A large number of guards are rushing towards us, and the base system has started formatting!"

Li Yalin also became anxious. "Hurry up and crack the access to the main server room!"

"I'm working on it! It'll take at least three minutes. The enemy will arrive in at most a minute. I... I really can't bypass the firewall and open the door in such a short time. I... I'm sorry..." Lin Yao was covered in sweat, frantically tapping on the tablet, his hand speed resembling someone who had been single for several lifetimes. Afterimages flew, crackling and popping, but the steel door of the main server room did not budge.

Soon, the sound of disordered footsteps echoed from both ends of the corridor. It was a straight corridor with nowhere to hide. They were confident they could fight their way out, but the mission would definitely fail.

"That's right, didn't the higher-ups give us new equipment before we set off this time?!" Li Yalin suddenly remembered something and hurriedly took a black, long, rectangular package out of Lin Yao's backpack.

Opening the zipper, a metallic robotic arm lay quietly inside.

Lightweight Powered Arm!

"How do you use this thing? Did any of you read the instructions?"

Lin Yao hurriedly said, "Put your left hand in, and hook your thumb on the hinge to start it. By the way, is this thing really not going to explode? You know what the idiots in the R&D department are like..."

A saying circulated in the Thirteenth Bureau: Anything produced by the R&D department is bound to be risky!

"There's no other choice. Let's try anything." Li Yalin steeled her heart and put on the mechanical arm, her face already showing that she was prepared to lose her arm, demonstrating just how unpopular the R&D department was.

The mechanical arm started successfully, humming.

"It didn't malfunction!"

Shocking!

Li Yalin gritted her teeth and suddenly punched the metal door of the main server room, actually creating a very obvious dent. Li Yalin was overjoyed and threw out punches like a storm, the mechanical iron fist slamming into the metal door at high speed, thumping and thumping. Under the combined power of the machine and her own strength, dents appeared on the metal door, and the door frame made a grinding, tearing sound.

Twenty seconds passed in the blink of an eye. The main force of the guards finally arrived at the corridor corner. Just then, the metal door of the main server room finally gave way and was blasted open.

Li Yalin and the other two hurriedly dodged inside, escaping by a hair's breadth.

"That was close."

Lin Yao immediately connected the instrument to the main server. System formatting had reached 57%. He had to hurry and back up the remaining content, and before the network and power were cut off, steal information from the Germination Organization's information database as much as possible.

With a room to use as cover, Li Yalin and Lambert suddenly erupted with astonishing combat power. Li Yalin pulled out a metal baton from her pocket. The guards who rushed into the main server room were knocked down by her swift and nimble movements. Right hand with the baton, left hand with the mechanical arm, burning with bright yellow flames, the power was terrifying, breaking the guards' bones and tendons through their bulletproof vests.

And Lambert's throwing knives directly ricocheted off the walls, striking the enemies outside the door, and the guards screamed incessantly.

With only two people, they caused huge casualties, leaving hundreds of guards helpless.

Before long, the base system completed its self-formatting, followed by a power outage and network disconnection. The entire base went dark in the blink of an eye.

"Charge out!" Li Yalin roared, punching, kicking, and swinging the baton, directly cutting a bloody path. Lambert dragged Lin Yao close behind.

Screams were everywhere, and it was chaotic in the dark.

After a fierce battle, the three finally rushed out of the base and breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Yao collapsed to the ground. The other two were used to it; after every mission, Lin Yao was scared half to death.

Li Yalin fiddled with the Lightweight Powered Arm, unable to put it down. Lin Yao glanced at it and exclaimed in surprise, "Who invented this mechanical arm? Could it be that Luo Xuan from the logistics department?"

"Who knows? I heard the higher-ups are considering letting him join the Secret Operations Department. It's not impossible." Li Yalin blinked her big eyes, her pupils filled with curiosity.