Southern entrance of Black Well.
Only the last trace of sunset light remained on the horizon. At the top of the slope on the cliffside, two human figures appeared.
It was Tang Dao and Sheng Mingxi.
The two had been waiting inside the tunnel of the mining area, but Pei Ran’s aircraft never arrived. They knew she must still be getting chased by those humanoid drones, or had encountered some other accident.
Waiting like this was not a solution. The two gestured at each other, trying their best to communicate.
Sheng Mingxi had learned a bit of Morse code from Tang Dao and Jin Hejun over the past two days. She used it clumsily, but thanks to her strong performance talent, they could surprisingly manage to understand each other fairly well.
Their thoughts were completely aligned.
Rather than waiting for someone to pick them up, they might as well go on their own.
There were only a few kilometers left ahead. Pei Ran had already shown everyone the features of the entrance to Black Well, so they likely wouldn’t miss it.
The only problem was the omnipresent and dangerous fusion entities.
Fortunately, the swarm of humanoid drones nearby had already been lured away by Pei Ran’s aircraft. The sky looked clean and empty.
The two immediately hit it off and decided to take the risk.
After leaving the tunnel of the mining area, there was little cover or hiding spots along the way. If they ran into humanoid drones again, it would be a big problem. They had to move quickly on this stretch.
Unlike the elderly, weak, sick, or disabled in the group, the two of them were young, strong, and loved sports. They basically ran the entire few kilometers.
They were lucky the whole way, not encountering any more fusion creatures. Following the map given by Pei Ran, they finally saw the Great Rift Valley.
Standing at the edge of the rift, they could clearly see the large white rocks below.
Sheng Mingxi bent over, caught her breath, then raised a hand. Tang Dao understood and reached out to high-five her.
The endpoint was just ahead. The two prepared to charge down into the rift together.
Suddenly, there was the sound of aircraft in the sky. The two were startled and turned their heads together.
There were two aircrafts, one in front and one behind, somewhat resembling the one Pei Ran piloted—also smooth and teardrop-shaped—but silver in color and noticeably larger in size.
They were normal aircrafts, with no signs of mutation.
The two aircrafts ignored them, gliding over their heads and descending steadily over the Great Rift Valley, finally landing next to the large white rocks.
The cabin door of the second aircraft opened, and a person in a suit stepped out, first pulling out several large black suitcases.
In a time like this, like the end of the world, everyone was battered and dusty, fleeing like refugees. Suddenly seeing such a beautiful aircraft and exquisite luggage gave rise to a strange sense of temporal dislocation.
Tang Dao curiously leaned forward to look down and first saw the logo on the suitcase—
A three-headed iris.
On a single flower stalk, three iris flower heads had grown. The middle one stood tallest, while the two on the sides curved symmetrically outward, forming a shape that looked like a trident.
Tang Dao recognized it. This was the royal emblem.
A long time ago, before the Federation had unified, there had once been a powerful empire on the East Manya continent. The rulers of the empire were a royal family that had lasted for generations.
Later, the monarchy was abolished, and the royal family didn’t even retain their titles. After a period of war, the Federation gradually unified and became what it is now.
So, in theory, members of the royal family are now just ordinary citizens of the Federation, no different from anyone else.
However, in reality, there are still differences.
The royal family, passed down through many generations, experienced a relatively peaceful transition during the abolition of the monarchy, and still held vast wealth in their hands.
Aside from assets, they also had deeply rooted and widespread connections throughout the Federation. The family’s status remained exalted and should not be underestimated.
There had always been many rumors circulating within the Federation about this mysterious royal family. The most sensational among them was that many members of this family had a strange form of pica—
They ate people.
It was said that as early as several hundred years ago, when their ancestors still sat on the throne, this tradition already existed. One monarch, in particular, was said to love eating human ears raw. The ears had to be cut from a living person and eaten while still fresh, to be tender and crisp.
But legends were, after all, just legends. Gossip was usually unreliable, and besides, no one had ever come forward to prove they’d truly been eaten by them.
Tang Dao thought to himself that it seemed Blackwell had sent a special aircraft to rescue members of the royal family right away.
Sure enough, on the rock wall beside the large white stone, a few armed soldiers immediately came out to greet them and took over the large suitcases.
One by one, more people came out of the aircraft. Their attire looked a bit strange.
Several of them were dressed in formal suits, neatly pressed and upright as if attending some important meeting. But others were in completely different styles—bizarre clothing. Among them was a young woman with hair red like burning fire, and a man whose right arm was gone. The sleeve on the right side of his clothes had been cut off, as if to show off an arm that no longer existed—just an empty space.
From the aircraft in front, the last person finally came down.
As soon as he stepped out of the cabin door, someone came forward immediately and draped a coat over his shoulders.
Tang Dao looked from afar and could only see the person’s back. Judging from his posture, it was undoubtedly a young man, with broad shoulders and long legs.
The person leading the way bowed to him, but he ignored them and walked straight into the entrance of Black Well.
Tang Dao and Sheng Mingxi exchanged a glance.
The entrance was open—this was a rare opportunity. The two scrambled, half crawling and half running, down the sloping edge of the rift. Unfortunately, before they reached the spot, those figures had already disappeared into the camouflaged layer of the rock wall, and the two aircrafts had taken off again, flying north.
The two of them dashed to the front of the large white stone, bending over and gasping for air.
There was no one around. Not only had that group from before left, but Pei Ran and the others who had arrived earlier were nowhere to be seen. It was unclear where they had gone.
The entrance to Black Well was right in front of them, but there wasn’t the slightest visible sign of an entry point.
Sheng Mingxi curiously stepped forward and carefully felt along the red rock wall.
Tang Dao also went over to touch it but couldn’t figure anything out, so he wandered around the area instead.
On the ground, there was a large splash of flesh and blood—someone had died here. Beside it was a discarded backpack, torn from the blast impact. The fabric was shredded, and the contents were partly blown apart, partly intact, rolling around in a mess, scattered all over the place.
Tang Dao immediately recognized it. It was the backpack of the girl with the parrot.
Beneath that pile of scattered junk, in a crack between the debris, something bright shone on the red earth—
a point of green light.
Tang Dao turned his head and glanced over at Sheng Mingxi.
Sheng Mingxi was still focused on studying the cliff wall.
Seeing that she wasn’t paying attention to this side, Tang Dao casually bent down, as if he were examining something on the ground.
One of his hands remained in his pocket, while the other reached out, his fingers brushing against the bird feed bag that had been blown to pieces on the ground.
Beneath the bird feed bag, that dot of green light silently and soundlessly disappeared into his palm.
- ••
In the sky, Pei Ran was still piloting the aircraft eastward.
W suddenly spoke: “Pei Ran, surveillance from the southern entrance of Black Well shows that Tang Dao and Sheng Mingxi have already arrived on their own. They’re right outside the entrance, someone will bring them inside.”
Pei Ran responded in her mind.
She was holding on, barely.
Now that she didn’t need to go pick up Sheng Mingxi and the others, all she had to do was head straight toward Black Well. In just a few more minutes, she too would reach the entrance.
But suddenly, something appeared in the sky—not far away, just behind a cliff—
a large swarm of bird-like things emerged out of nowhere—
It was that familiar humanoid drone swarm again.
These monsters were roaming all around near Yercha. Get rid of one wave, and another would come. Pei Ran sharply veered her aircraft northeast and began accelerating.
The humanoid drones couldn’t keep up in terms of speed. Just like last time, she quickly left them far behind.
However, this time, a few aircrafts suddenly broke away from the humanoid drone swarm, speeding up to chase after her.
They were five bizarre-looking new types.
Their size was much larger than the aircrafts mounted on the bellies of the humanoid drones. Their bodies also carried no humanoid parts—the aircrafts were fully intact—except for one thing: the nose of each aircraft was a human head.
Each of those heads strained to lift up, staring dead straight at Pei Ran.
W glanced at them and immediately said: “These are a new type of military drone produced by the military factory in the north. They’re called Explorers. Capable of performing many conventional search and attack missions.”
They had also been fused with humans—turned into fusion entities.
These were military-grade products, and their capabilities were entirely different from ordinary civilian aircrafts. Pei Ran’s mind instantly sharpened: “What’s their method of attack?”
W replied: “They’re still in the development phase. They shouldn’t be equipped with any weapons yet…”
Before he could finish speaking, whoosh—
a stream of colorless, transparent liquid shot out from afar like a bullet, hurtling straight in their direction.
Even W was baffled: “What is that?”
Pei Ran instantly understood why this aircraft had been corroded open like it had a skylight, and how Captain Xiao got those injuries on his body.
W figured it out too. “This is a new project from the military factory’s research department—some kind of highly corrosive chemical weapon. It must’ve been fused in as well.”
Pei Ran didn’t care whether it was a new project or an old one—she had already pushed the speed to its limit, fleeing for her life.
But the Explorer wasn’t like the humanoid drones—it was far faster, ghost-like, sticking to her tail. She couldn’t shake it off at all.
And this ghost could even spit.
The Explorers were rapidly closing in, saliva flying through the air. If she got hit squarely with a splash of corrosive liquid, she would no doubt end up as the second Captain Xiao.
Pei Ran kept her foot pressed against the pedal below and ordered W, “You use the folding arm to help me pilot the aircraft.”
Without a word, W took over immediately, gripping the handle with his metal claw.