W was silent for a long time before finally compromising. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Pei Ran asked, “So where are we going to find your energy block?”
“My backup energy block should theoretically be on the third basement level of the Central Tower, a place where important reserve supplies are stored, not far from my machine room. There’s a maintenance box there. Inside, there’s not only the energy block, but also the tools needed to repair and replace it.”
Pei Ran: “Theoretically?”
W calmly replied, “I don’t know if they took it after I left.”
In any case, they had to go there first.
Time was tight. As she ran toward the exit of the mine tunnel, Pei Ran checked the green light inside her body.
Green Light No. 1 still showed no signs of activity.
Last time, at the estate on the isolated island, it had already managed to operate twice in a short period.
But just now, after opening two vault doors in one go, it seemed to have completely exhausted its strength and showed no sign of waking up.
W’s remaining time was limited; they couldn’t take the risk of waiting for it to wake up.
Green Light No. 2, on the other hand, was always on standby.
The problem was, Green Light No. 2 had always had a very high requirement for rationality. Its capabilities were limited—it couldn’t create something out of nothing. How exactly should she draw in order to restore a broken energy block to its original, intact state?
In any case, they would first make plans to return to Black Well.
As she ran, passing through the mine tunnel, Pei Ran asked W in her mind: “What exactly is going on with Black Well?”
W replied, “Tonight, around 10:30 p.m., Lieutenant General Delsa suddenly led soldiers from the original Northwest Military District of Manya and broke into the Command Center.”
Pei Ran thought to herself, Around 10:30 tonight—that was exactly when Little Kai took her to the underground vault.
W gave a general account of what had happened.
Lieutenant General Delsa was the person in charge of the Northwest Military District of the Eastern Manya Continent. The first batch of troops and equipment to enter Black Well had been brought in by him.
Recently, due to refusing to obey Marshal Vina’s orders, Lieutenant General Delsa had been completely marginalized. The original Northwest Military District troops were divided into two parts.
One part was merged with the original Southeast Military District and placed under the command of Lieutenant General Song Wan, responsible for Black Well’s defense. The other part was in the hands of another general from the original Northwest Military District—Major General Luis, who was also a trusted aide of Marshal Vina.
W said, “The problem lies with the part under Major General Luis. Tonight, Lieutenant General Delsa detained Major General Luis and surrounded the Central Tower with a group of people.”
Pei Ran found it strange. “Even a cornered rabbit will bite. Didn’t Marshal Vina take precautions against that Del-something?”
“Delsa. Of course he did,” W said. “In fact, all of Lieutenant General Delsa’s various permissions in Black Well had already been restricted. The problem is, the issue in the military isn’t only him. There’s another person—General Eugene, who has always been highly valued and trusted by Marshal Vina.”
W said, “General Eugene has seniority in the Federation. He’s a core member of Black Well’s Temporary Decision-Making Committee and has always had a good personal relationship with Marshal Vina. This time, he suddenly turned against us.”
“With his help, Delsa’s people were able to move forward unimpeded.”
“Marshal Vina and the others were at the Command Center at the time. Caught off guard, the two sides opened fire. During the crossfire, Lieutenant General Song Wan was seriously injured. Marshal Vina and several other high-ranking officers were all imprisoned.”
W said, “At that moment, I immediately followed the emergency response plan Marshal Vina had previously set up and locked down all administrative permissions in Black Well. Amid the chaos and weak defenses, I discovered a document outlining the plan for this coup.”
“There were seven signatures on it. Besides Delsa and Eugene, Basserway and his people were also among them.”
“My machine room is actually very difficult to access. Inside Black Well, aside from maintenance system personnel like Qiao Sai, only members of the Temporary Decision-Making Committee have permission to enter. I had already suggested to Marshal Vina to restrict the access rights of Basserway’s group and Lieutenant General Delsa.
“After seeing that list of seven names, I immediately revoked General Eugene’s access permissions—but I was a step too late.”
“General Eugene had already authorized the door to be opened. They broke into the machine room, intending to completely destroy my core processor. I mobilized my patrol robots to cover me and finally escaped from Black Well.”
That’s why he was so badly injured.
W said, “In their files, I found a list—people to be given ‘priority processing.’ I saw your name on it. At that time, my long-distance communication system had already been damaged, so while fleeing, I used other equipment in Black Well to set up a timed warning message for you.”
They had launched their operation both inside and outside Black Well simultaneously. Pei Ran had already been taken to the underground vault by then and didn’t receive his warning in time.
Now she understood who wanted her dead.
Basserway. Delsa. Eugene. She silently recited the names in her heart.
And it wasn’t just them. The ones who signed that document, who intended to “prioritize the handling” of her, were seven people in total.
Pei Ran asked, “That person in charge of Zalan—Colonel Kurma—whose man is he? Lieutenant General Delsa’s, or General Eugene’s?”
“Colonel Kurma is also one of General Eugene’s subordinates.”
No wonder they were able to mobilize Colonel Kurma’s orderlies to set up a trap for her.
And they almost succeeded.
If they had, she would have already become a silent, dissolved lump of rotten flesh in the underground vault—just like Little Kai.
They exited the mine tunnel. It was still deep in the night. A dim crescent moon gave off little light, and the wasteland was dark and silent.
Pei Ran, with her backpack on, ran down the rift valley and boarded the aircraft.
She turned on the small cockpit light, first taking out W’s core processor and placing it in her line of sight. Then she took out the paper and pen from her pocket.
W’s core processor was too complex in structure—completely impossible to draw in a short time. But the energy block was simple in shape; she could make a close-up sketch of that.
Pei Ran quickly sketched the image of a fully intact energy block, giving her pen a little twirl.
The energy block looked pitiful; the damage from the earlier gunfire was still there, unrepaired.
Pei Ran asked W, “Can you run a scan? Has the energy block changed at all?”
“No changes detected,” W replied. “You’re drawing, aren’t you?”
He could guess easily enough.
Green Light No. 2 still couldn’t rationally repair the energy block. Pei Ran thought to herself, I can’t just feed Green Light No. 1. I need to feed this one more too when I get the chance—let it upgrade faster.
Pei Ran gave a soft “Mm,” then put his core processor back into the backpack.
The processor’s blue light was faint, but still glowing.
Pei Ran had a strange feeling—as if what she was carrying in the backpack was his head.
Time was short; there was no room for delay. She immediately started up the aircraft. It rose into the air and shot off toward Black Well like an arrow released from the string.
W asked her, “What’s your plan for getting into Black Well?”
Pei Ran: “I’m going to force my way in.”
W: “…”
W: “Force your way in?”
“Yeah,” Pei Ran said. “Take a look at what the gate looks like, draw a picture, open the isolation door, and break in.”
This time going back to Black Well, she didn’t need to worry about anything. No more suppression wristbands.
Green Light No. 2 couldn’t repair energy blocks, but it could open doors. It could open vault doors—maybe it could open the isolation gate at Black Well too.
At this point, Pei Ran was at least an expert in drawing doors.
With everything that had happened tonight, Black Well would definitely be on high alert. Forcing her way in wouldn’t be easy—but she had to try.
She still remembered the first time she came to Black Well, covered in chaotic green light, chased by a whole swarm of drone units. Back then, Pei Ran had indeed considered barging into Black Well.
She hadn’t expected that day to really come.
“If you just casually open the isolation door like that, the system will trigger an alert,” W said. “Actually, it’s not necessary. If you really want to get in, I have a way.”
He sounded like he let out a cold laugh.
“As long as we get close enough, I can still control all of Black Well’s administrative and control systems. Even if they think they’ve cut off my access and signals from the system—it won’t work.”
He said, “Of course I left a backdoor for myself in the system.”
Pei Ran was curious: “Was that part of Marshal Vina’s emergency response plan too?”
“Yes. It was a proposal I made a while ago,” W said coldly. “It was actually my contingency plan for dealing with human betrayal.”
Pei Ran didn’t speak. He had already foreseen the day when he would be forced to flee from Black Well—this place he had built with his own hands—battered and broken, and had left himself a way out in advance.
W said, “This kind of thing was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time. There was just one thing that didn’t match my expectations—this happened much sooner than I thought.”
The aircraft moved at high speed, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived in the airspace above Black Well.
The air defense system had been shut down by W. It was silent here.
Basserway and the others had only just seized control—it hadn’t even been a few hours. They were likely busy behind closed doors, dealing with the chaos inside Black Well.
Pei Ran piloted the aircraft into the Great Rift Valley, avoiding surveillance at the southern entrance, and landed a short distance away from the gate.
She jumped out of the aircraft, grabbed her backpack, and ran toward the large white rock near the entrance.
In her mind, she asked, “How much time do you have left?”
W replied, “About fifty minutes.”
The wave of emotion from earlier had passed. His voice was calmer than ever.
“Pei Ran, see that protruding rock wall ahead? Once you go around it, you’ll enter the surveillance zone for the southern entrance. I’ll disable the surveillance the moment you step in. When you reach the entrance, I’ll open the isolation gate and cut the lights in the entire tunnel at the same time.”
There were a total of three isolation gates at Black Well. The entrance had one. Continuing forward through the tunnel, there were two more in succession. Only after passing all three would she truly be inside Black Well.
Once W shut down the surveillance, they had to rush in before anyone noticed the anomaly, break through the first gate, and then move through the tunnel in darkness.
Pei Ran agreed, “Understood. I’ll move fast.”
She had another concern. “Doing all this—invading the control system—will drain your energy. It’ll shorten your remaining time, won’t it?”
“Yes,” W answered truthfully. “That’s why we have to be economical and precise.”
When Pei Ran sprinted to the protruding rock wall, W’s voice came through: “Southern entrance surveillance disabled.”
Pei Ran accelerated toward the large white rock.
W said, “I checked the internal surveillance. There’s a group of the original gate guards inside, and a squad of soldiers Delsa sent in reinforcement. They’re all stationed near the entrance registration point, close to the left side of the tunnel. Once you arrive, I’ll start the countdown, then open the gate and kill the lights.”
Pei Ran had already reached it. She reached out and felt along the disguised layer of the rock wall.
The door was still shut—solid to the touch.
W spoke in her ear: “Three… two… one.”
Pei Ran’s hand suddenly slipped through empty air.
The isolation gate opened, and Pei Ran swiftly slipped inside.
In that very instant, all the tunnel lights went out.
Both sides of the tunnel were sealed with isolation gates, and outside those gates was another layer of camouflage. Neither moonlight from the night sky could get in, nor were there any ceiling lights. The darkness inside was truly pitch-black—so dark she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.
It was like Pei Ran had gone blind—everything in front of her turned to total black.
It was quiet around her.
They were still outside the shielding layer, so speaking wasn’t possible. The sudden blackout of the tunnel lights had stunned all the guarding soldiers.
The surveillance cameras had night vision, and W guided Pei Ran in her ear: “A bit to the right—yes, run forward.”
The soldiers were thrown into confusion.
This was a race against time. She sprinted through the darkness along the tunnel.
W kept reminding her: “You’re too far to the right, you need to—”
Before he could finish, Pei Ran’s right shoulder slammed hard into the wall. She corrected her course and kept going.
Far behind her, someone lit up their wristband. But in the pitch-black tunnel, that small light didn’t illuminate far. In just that short moment, Pei Ran had already pulled far ahead.
After a long sprint, the tunnel curved.
W said, “You can turn on your wristband now.”
Pei Ran lit her own wristband, using only the lowest brightness—just enough to give herself a bit of light. It was much faster than running blind.
She dashed forward through the long tunnel and finally reached the second isolation gate.
The second and third gates were right next to each other.
Pei Ran turned off her wristband. Darkness enveloped her again.
She placed her palm on the door. After sprinting so far, her heart was pounding wildly, and she was still catching her breath. Pei Ran said, “Let’s do it again. You count down.”
“Alright,” W replied.
All of Black Well’s indestructible isolation gates were like toys in his hands.
Back when he wanted to let her into Black Well, he had used some strategy—avoiding direct confrontation with the human leadership, navigating around all sorts of obstacles.
But now he didn’t care about any of that. If he said the door would open, it opened.
Pei Ran felt like… something about him had quietly changed.
W counted gently: “Three. Two. One.”
Pei Ran’s palm stayed pressed to the door—she could feel it sliding aside.
The door opened.
The area ahead was also dark. Completely black.
Pei Ran passed through the two isolation gates in quick succession and could hear the noise of the gate guards.
They were now inside the shielding layer—sound could be transmitted. People were talking.
“What’s going on? The power suddenly went out?!”
“How could the power go out? It’s been this long, Black Well has never had a blackout.”
Black Well was destined not to be peaceful tonight. The guard soldiers didn’t know what had happened among the higher-ups. They only knew they had suddenly been reassigned here, and there were reports of another firefight at the western exit. The atmosphere was already tense, and now the lights had inexplicably gone out.
Someone lit up their wristband and fumbled through a workbench to find the emergency light.
The emergency light was much brighter than the wristband and swept across the area.
The isolation gate remained firmly shut. Within the reach of the tunnel’s light, there wasn’t a single human shadow.
The soldiers relaxed a little. Just a moment later, the overhead tunnel lights flickered twice, then came back on.
“Nothing serious—probably just a wiring issue.”
Soon after, the lights farther away also turned back on. Everything seemed to return to normal.
Pei Ran had already torn off the tape from her mouth and made her way through the dark tunnel to the exit.
The southern entrance opened directly into the Blue Zone. On Seventh Avenue, half-built factory construction sites stood everywhere. It was nighttime now—most of the lights under the dome were off, and only the streetlights were still glowing.
Pei Ran asked W, “How much time do you have left?”
W replied, “Forty-six minutes.”
They were still quite far from the Central Tower. She had to think of a way to get there quickly.
Pei Ran said to W, “I was thinking—if we’re heading to the Central Tower, maybe we should go the same way as last time, through the underground route beneath the vertical farm.”
They had used that route before to transport a body. It was well hidden and allowed for a completely silent infiltration straight into the third basement level of the Central Tower.
“I thought the same,” W said. “There’s an entrance to the vertical farm here in the Blue Zone as well. Just keep going along Seventh Avenue and you’ll see it. Once inside, you can ride the conveyor belts to the vicinity of the Central Tower, then tunnel up from underground.”
It was midnight now—there were no vehicles on the road at all. Pei Ran opened her wristband, glanced at the map, and began sprinting forward.
She was incredibly fast.
But with only her legs, just getting to the farm within forty-some minutes was already difficult—let alone saving enough time to reach the Central Tower after that.
She needed another way. Pei Ran was starting to feel anxious.
W suddenly laughed.
“Pei Ran, I originally thought the last hour of my life would be spent with you in the mining zone—sitting together in a tunnel paved with red soil, chatting. You would hold me and watch as my core processor went dark for the last time. I didn’t expect it to turn into this desperate sprint for survival.”
He was the one who was dying, yet his voice was light and breezy, as if nothing was wrong.
“But this is nice too. I’d be very willing to die in your backpack.”
Pei Ran said, “You can’t see, you’re no help, so quit jinxing it and let me find a ride.”
W said lazily, “I can see. I just took over the surveillance system in this part of Black Well too. I can see you running forward. The backpack on your back is bouncing up and down.”
“And,” he added, “I can see—there’s a military vehicle coming this way.”
A military vehicle?
Pei Ran’s eyes lit up, and she immediately dashed into the middle of the road.
W: “…”
The road at night was completely empty. She ran straight to the center, jumping and waving wildly.
The entire section of dome lights overhead quietly turned on—probably because W didn’t want her to get run over.