Chapter 473: Bad Omen
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was already late at night, but the city was still glowing with life. Crysound City was only an average mid-sized city in Gray Valley that did not stand out in any way. However, due to its location near the edge of Gray Valley, close to the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, it became a resupply station for people before entering the asteroid region. Mech squads and individual mech pilots would frequently enter Gray Valley through this city, and it was this influx of outsiders that drove the local economy.
Nonetheless, the recent appearance of the red-tailed beasts had ignited an all out war. Since Plant Henna was close to the front line, people began to move inwards to the inner parts of Gray Valley. The local economy was severely affected. Even so, Ye Chong still got to see the city illuminated in all its glory.
Centuria University was not far from where Ye Chong was. It was about 30 kilometers way, in fact. He chose to get there on foot to avoid being noticed. Before setting out, he also changed his clothes as Shang advised. For this, he had even made a trip to the nearby store.
Currently, Shang behaved in an honest and helpful manner, perhaps contemplative of his earlier mistake. The clothing that he chose was very common looking, but its black and gray colors made it well suited or blended in the dark at night.
30 kilometers was not too long of a distance for Ye Chong. After about 40 minutes, he arrived at the perimeter fencing of Centuria University. Ye Chong found out from the virtual world that Centuria University had stopped all classes due to the war. The spacious university grounds were now empty, and all of its buildings were closed down.
Ye Chong headed towards the mech experiment laboratory, following the route he had memorized beforehand.
The university was pitch black. Ye Chong moved quietly like a fox, slipping past the university buildings.
"Mech Experiment Laboratory" - the gold embossing stood out in the night, and Ye Chong breathed a sigh of relief as he saw them. However, his troubles were not yet over, such as the current issue of entering the lab. If it was before, he would have just withdrew Han Jia and force his way through the door. Now, however, he would not.
Since Henna was close to the front line, local security would be on high alert. It was only reasonable for a huge university's mech experiment laboratory to be guarded by security. If he triggered the alarm, the local military force, nervous from the war at hand, would definitely finish him off without hesitation. More importantly, the microphoton repair device was too large to move. The best option he had was to repair Han Jia right there without attracting any attention.
The problem now was, how could he enter the lab without triggering the alarm?
Ye Chong asked, "Shang, got any ideas?"
"Hacking in is impossible. The calculations used here are completely different from what I know of. Besides, once I enter the virtual world, I'll be discovered. Hmm, if that's the case, let me think …" Shang was also vexed by their predicament.
Ye Chong waited quietly for Shang's answer. Mu was the expert in this field, and Shang was not so bad himself; Ye Chong himself, however, was absolutely clueless about it.
"Hmm, perhaps we can cut off its energy supply, shut down the entire security system, then we can force our way in." Shang provided his opinion after a long moment of consideration.
"Alright! Let's do that," Ye Chong said decisively.
"Ye, just 500 meters opposite, beneath the seventh streetlamp, there's a underground photon node. Let's check it out," Shang provided more concrete instructions.
With Shang's directions, Ye Chong went to the seventh streetlamp. Just beside the base of the streetlamp was a light green colored manhole cover, measuring about 5 meters across. The cover was made of some kind of compound material.
The cover was firmly in place, but since there were no alarms set for it, Ye Chong forced it open. Beneath the cover was a dark hole. A flight of stairs ran down along one side of the inner wall, going downwards. Ye Chong went down the hole without delay, and put the cover back in its place on his way down.
He switched on the comms device on his arm. The holographic projection that came from it helped light his way in here.
"Hmm, this must be the photon node for the surrounding buildings," Shang offered unsure. He was no longer as powerful as he wished to be without access to the virtual world. Now, he could rely on the knowledge in his memory archive to assess his surroundings.
Six three-meter all metal cabinets were arranged side to side to form a hexagon, and Ye Chong was now in the middle of them all. All six cabinets were locked.
"Ye, try and open the one in front of you," Shang suggested after some thought.
The strong alloy lock was broken easily. Ye Chong threw it to the floor and opened the cabinet, and he was instantly baffled by what was inside. "What next?"
Right before his eyes were numerous small lights blinking irregularly like the stars in the night sky. They looked complicated and intricate, and grandly stretched out like the sea.
Ye Chong did not expect to see such a complicated structure in the inconspicuous cabinet. Since he was rarely involved in this area of expertise, he did not know what to do with them.
Shang replied swiftly, "That's the one. Let me look at its internal structure." He added in a mutter, "This kind of technical work should be done by that stiff guy, Mu. Now I'm the one who's gonna lower myself to this level, what a waste of talent! Such is life …" He seemed to be struck by the oddities of life.
Despite his complaining, Shang made short work of the photon node.
"Ye, find the 316th row, the 705th light pin from the left. Break that light pin and you're ready to go," Shang said confidently.
The 316th row, 705th light pin from the left. Ye Chong could feel his eyes going blind. The light pins were so tiny and numerous, and they were all blinking to their own rhythm. However, since Shang had came up with a solution, Ye Chong could only start counting.
"Ye, Ye, you missed one."
"Ye, that's the wrong row."
"Err, Ye, are you so degenerated inside that you can't even do simple algebra?"
Shang's incessant and annoying blabberings bombarded Ye Chong. This was a difficult task, and those blinking lights made his head hurt. WIth Shang's constant interruption, even Ye Chong's legendary patience was challenged.
"Shang, please stop talking to me. I need silence, silence!" Ye Chong could not help but emphasized the word "silence".
"Alright alright! I'll be quiet." Shang saw that he was in no good mood, and quickly turned obedient.
WIthout Shang's interruption, Ye Chong quickly located the light pin. Unlike finding the pin, destroying was a piece of cake. It was only then that Ye Chong realized, he should have just destroyed all the light pins. That would have been way faster and easier. "Looks like I'm still not calm enough," Ye Chong noted to himself.
No matter. Now that they were finished with this, they were already halfway there. The only thing he needed to do now was to force his way into the lab and find the microphoton repair device.
Ye Chong was about to lift the manhole cover when Shang whispered in warning, "Ye, don't go out, something's happening!"
Ye Chong's heart sank. He quickly stopped moving. Shang was usually a joker, but he would also be serious in the face of danger. Right now, he recognized the seriousness in his voice.
"There are 12 mechs and five red-tailed beasts. There are red-tailed beasts here? Strange!" Shang muttered to himself.
Red-tailed beasts. Ye Chong was shocked. How could there be red-tailed beasts here? When Ye Chong made his inquiry about the microphoton repair device, he also did some research on Gray Valley's current affairs. There were a lot of information on this in the virtual world, and it was also the hottest topic. After spending some time digesting those information, Ye Chong finally had a better grasp of the situation in Gray Valley.
The front line and the rear - these were two keywords that kept popping up. War in the front line was going on strongly, but the rear was very stable. Every source of information seemed to collaborate on this fact.
Planet Henna was at the rear, why would there be any red-tailed beasts here? Could it be … Ye Chong quickly sensed the implications. Either the front line was breached, or the red-tailed beasts were beginning to attack from the rear. Whichever the case, the red-tailed beasts were here now, and this meant that the situation in the rear was about to change drastically. Perhaps, the rear would no longer be safe anymore.
Ye Chong frowned in thought. He was not concerned about the overall situation, but if the rear was getting dangerous, then he would also be in trouble. Without anyone else with him, his power was limited, and barely enough to tip the scales of battle in this war. More importantly, once the peace was disturbed, people would begin to grow nervous, and public safety would be compromised. If the red-tailed beasts started appearing in large numbers at the rear, the situation would be even more grim. Perhaps the entire Gray Valley would descend into chaos.
"Hmm, they've started fighting each other," Shang reported excitedly. "Hmmm, good skills there, sigh, too bad that move was not chosen well. Ye, these guys are not as good as you. Huh, strange, this red-tailed beast looks strong," Shang commented sporadically as he enjoyed the show.
Ye Chong did not have Mu/Shang's holographic scanning system, and could not see what was happening outside. However, he could hear faint sounds of fighting through the cover above him. Soon, the battle grew more heated, and the faint sounds grew clearer and more frequent.
Ye Chong quietly climbed to the manhole cover and lifted it a little. The battle outside unfolded before his eyes.