Heijing. Top Floor, Small Conference Room.
The members of the Temporary Decision-Making Committee had also seen the complex tunnels inside the cavern.
"Agent W, has the aircraft arrived?" Marshal Veina asked, sharing the same judgment as Pei Ran. "There's no way this cave-in is the only entrance. Have you located any other access points?"
"One aircraft has reached the vicinity of the collapsed entrance," W replied. "Another pilot spotted a new entrance to the southwest. Unfortunately, with tunnels this low, manned aircraft can't fit. The pilot has left the craft and gone in on foot."
"What about drones?" General Eugene asked.
Drones were much smaller and more maneuverable—perfect for navigating narrow tunnels. They also moved far faster than people on foot and could at least help them keep up with the Thinker.
"I've already dispatched the drones," W said. "Two of them have reached the newly discovered entrance and are now entering the tunnel."
W brought up the drone footage on the main screen.
Two drones, lights blazing, zipped through the maze-like tunnels.
"My patrol bots have been trying to map the layout of the tunnels as best they can, but we've only passed a limited number of forks. We're relying on our location data to get the drones as close to our current position as possible."
For now, it still came down to Pei Ran—and the NG_y8 unit she carried with her.
W added, "Marshal Veina, we've located the final Thinker. I've already drafted a tactical plan for taking out the Thinker and launching a counterattack on the northern front. It needs your prior approval."
"Understood," Marshal Veina stood up. "Everyone, to the command center next door. Once the Thinker is destroyed, we launch the offensive immediately."
The battle on the northern front had been brutal. Soldiers were fighting with everything they had. Discovering the final Thinker was the best news they'd had in a full day and night.
Dozens of kilometers away.
Inside the tunnels.
Pei Ran had been chasing after the tunnel boring machine at full speed when she suddenly noticed it slowing down.
There was no tunnel ahead—it had started drilling a new path. During excavation, its speed dropped significantly.
A flicker of hope stirred in Pei Ran's chest.
The machine's rear end was open. The Thinker was hanging there, exposed. She could see the frame and conveyor mechanism.
If she could get close enough, toss NG_y8 onto the platform, then back away and press the detonator, the Thinker would be gone.
Suddenly, the machine stopped.
RUMMMMMBLE—
A roar even louder than before erupted.
Pei Ran had just started running faster when it hit her—something was wrong.
A massive torrent of red earth and debris shot from the conveyor belt at the back.
She only had time to shut her eyes and shield her head before the pressure slammed her flat onto the ground.
Her mouth was taped shut. Dirt kept pouring into her ears and nose.
It was like a mountain had fallen on top of her. The weight kept increasing. Her chest burned in pain—she couldn't breathe at all.
She was being buried alive.
The machine's roar became muffled by the dirt. Everything went eerily quiet, except for one sound, crystal clear in her ears:
"Pei Ran?"
"Pei Ran??"
Just like that night—
The voice trying to pull her out of a nightmare.
Southern Entrance to Heijing.
On the horizon, the hazy orange sun was slowly sinking behind the red cliffs, disappearing from view.
Fortunately, the gorge was sheltered from the wind and not too cold.
Jiang and Aisha sat on a large white rock, pulling small bread rolls from their packs. Jiang finished hers in a few bites and handed another one to Jin Hejun.
He was seated behind them, recognized the bread by touch, but shook his head—no appetite.
The others also took out food. Even without hunger, keeping up their strength was vital to survival.
Inaya stood off to the side, some distance from the group. She pulled out a small bag of birdseed from her pack, poured out a handful, and removed the tape from Sticky Rice Ball's beak.
The parrot, starving, quickly pecked through the pile of seeds and tilted its head toward its owner, asking for more.
Inaya gave it another small handful.
Two bags of birdseed left.
She did the math in her head—enough for a little longer. When it ran out, she could share her own food.
People from Heijing had told them to wait here.
There might still be a way in.
She was thinking about that—when her mind drifted.
Sticky Rice Ball finished the seeds and waited, impatient now.
It suddenly flapped its wings and raised its head.
Its beak opened—
A piercing song burst out, echoing through the twilight gorge:
"In the vast lands of Dongmanya—"
The moment the parrot sang, Inaya snapped back to awareness with a jolt.
A chill rushed through her chest—unexplainable.
It was as if she could see the departure platform of Night Sea No. 7.
See the student sliced in two by that blade-like transparent gate.
His ghost stood on the opposite cliff, staring at her with cold eyes.
I didn't mean to kill you.
She pleaded silently.
The city had been burning. There were no vehicles. The Night Sea No. 7 line was the only way out.
She had to test how to get past that strange gate.
She wanted to save herself, to save Sticky Rice Ball.
She hadn't meant to hurt him—there was no other choice.
But why, in that crowd, had she chosen him?
She'd never really thought about it.
But now the answer was painfully clear.
She'd come from hardship. Dropped out before finishing high school. Worked since she was young.
Income was fine, but whenever she saw those university students—
A subtle twist inside.
Why?
Why, at the same age, did some people get to study carefree, as long as they liked, with bright futures—
While others had to carry the weight of survival so early?
This world was unfair.
BOOM—
As the song rang out, Aisha and Jiang both turned.
Before the parrot finished the first line, both Inaya and Sticky Rice Ball were gone.
Jin Hejun had heard the song and the explosion.
He couldn't see—he tilted his head in panic, trying to listen. But he couldn't speak, couldn't ask what had happened.
People were dying, one after another.
Jiang didn't move. She stared at the burst of blood on the ground, dazed.
The parrot could speak once. Now it was gone too.
The Silence was escalating.
Nothing was safe anymore.
Gestures, sign language, morse code—all fragile now.
Any form of communication could turn explosive.
It was getting more dangerous outside the shielding layer.
Jiang thought for a moment, then stood up and stepped back from Aisha.
This was the child she had raised—her little summer flower, once a tiny baby, soft and round.
Now she had grown up.
Jiang was nearly seventy. Death was near, inevitable.
She just wanted Aisha to live.
If she died, Aisha would no longer have ties to hold her back. She could enter Heijing safely.
She looked at her with tenderness, pulled down her scarf, and spat out the small wooden stick from her mouth.
The moment Jiang stood up, Aisha knew.
When she saw her spit out the stick, her mind buzzed.
Grandma didn't want to be a burden—she was going to end it herself.
So Aisha stood up too.
Without hesitation, she tore off her own scarf and spat out her stick.
If her grandma gave up and spoke—
She would too.
Living wasn't always better. If one had to die, they would go together.
Jiang stared into her eyes—like a duelist, steady and unshakable.
Stubborn. Just like she had been forty years ago.
When she made up her mind, she never backed down.
This was the child she raised.
Just as headstrong.
The two of them stood there silently, looking at each other.
Then Jiang sighed, took the stick back into her mouth, walked over, hugged Aisha, and sat down again.
Red soil wastelands, dozens of kilometers away.
Underground tunnel.
Pei Ran was suffocating.
Buried under what felt like a mountain, she couldn't move at all—except for her right mechanical hand.
She tried to wiggle it.
But even the slightest shift brought down more soil—
It wasn't helping.
The suffocation was intense. Her vision, already black, began to turn white.
Her chest couldn't move at all.
She tried to summon the Green Light inside her.
Green Light One had finished its sunflower seeds and was sleeping soundly. No response.
She moved the mechanical hand toward her chest, trying to make space around her head and ribcage.
A little more room.
Then her hand touched something else—
Hard. Moving.
It wasn't a rock.
It was the metal claw on W's folding arm, working to loosen the soil beside her.
W's voice came through again, "Pei Ran, I saw when you went under. There's less dirt toward the front left of your head—let's try digging that way."
His voice sounded different. Faster than usual. Almost anxious.
Pei Ran could still communicate with him mentally, but the suffocation made her light-headed.
"Okay," she answered.
They were so close to Heijing.
She couldn't die here.
Pei Ran forced herself to focus, working her left mechanical hand to loosen the earth.
As its range of motion widened, she kept digging—
And kept summoning the Green Light.
But she no longer needed it—light suddenly appeared on her eyelids.
She opened her eyes and saw the bright white illumination of the metal sphere casting light on the tunnel wall.
The sphere was right beside her, half-buried in the soil.
It wasn't concerned about itself—it was furiously digging with a pair of folded mechanical arms, desperately trying to uncover her head.
Its speed far exceeded that of any human. Red soil and broken rocks flew to the sides as its metal claws moved so fast they left afterimages.
Her nose emerged next.
But it was packed with soil—she still couldn't breathe. Pei Ran's chest was under pressure, her lungs completely out of air. Even if she wanted to blow the dirt out, she couldn't.
Her own mechanical hand had also broken through the surface, working together with W's claws to clear the soil. Her mouth finally emerged. She forced it open and tore off the tape.
Air rushed into her chest.
But her ribcage was still tightly compressed by the surrounding earth, unable to expand.
Pei Ran regained a little composure. Her shoulders emerged next, and her mechanical arm regained mobility. She struggled to dig herself out.
Her upper body finally broke free.
Air filled her lungs again, and she was seized by a fit of coughing.
She could see now that she had been buried alive under a huge mound of soil. For some reason, the tunnel boring machine had suddenly decided to spew the excavated dirt back into the tunnel.
Its lights still shone brightly as it cheerfully chugged ahead, digging a new tunnel with great gusto.
Pei Ran pulled out her legs, grabbed the metal sphere, and staggered to her feet. She hadn't even steadied herself before she started stumbling forward again.
She was chasing the boring machine.
W: "…"
He reminded her, "Pei Ran, your ears are full of dirt."
But in the silence of the Sedation Zone, ears weren't of much use anyway.
W added, "There's a lot of dirt in your hair too."
Her tied-up hair was a complete mess, like a net scooping up red soil. Her coat, pants, and shoes were caked in dirt, which fell off in little clouds as she ran.
Pei Ran shook her head as she ran, trying to dislodge the dirt from her ears.
"It buried me alive," she told W in her mind. "I'm going to blow it into scrap."
She looked down at the metal sphere and gave it a shake.
Red soil poured out of the cracks in its shell—it felt much lighter now.
The boring machine continued forging ahead. Though its hybrid, frenzied excavating mode was far faster than that of a normal machine, its speed was still limited—she was gaining on it.
Pei Ran removed the scarf from her back and retrieved the black disc—NG_y8.
"You sure it won't explode if I just throw it?" she asked.
W answered calmly, "Toss it however you like. Even from two thousand meters up, it won't detonate. Only the remote trigger sets it off."
"Great," Pei Ran said. "Once I'm a bit closer, I'll toss it in."
W asked, "Before that—do you need me to relay anything to Heijing?"
After traveling with her for so long, he truly understood how she thought.
"Yes. I can help Heijing destroy the Smart Mobile Combat Hub. But I have one condition—they have to let everyone I brought with me into Heijing. That includes Jiang, Jin Hejun—every single one of them."
W replied almost instantly, "The Emergency Decision Committee unanimously agreed. Everyone you brought will be allowed entry. Marshal Veina said, for the safety of Heijing, please do whatever you can to destroy the Thinker."
Heijing was vast—it had no reason to go back on its word over a few more people.
Pei Ran agreed, "Good. If they keep their word, I'll keep mine."
She pushed herself to run faster, chasing the boring machine until she was finally within range.
Pei Ran gripped NG_y8 with her mechanical hand and aimed for the machine's exposed rear.
Just then, the machine jolted and unexpectedly sped up.
It had broken through the current tunnel and entered an older, existing one.
The distance between them rapidly widened again.
There might not be another opportunity—Pei Ran didn't hesitate. She spun the NG_y8 and hurled it forward with all her strength, aiming at the rear of the machine.
Like a skilled hunter from ten thousand years ago in the Stone Age, relying on instinct and precision, she swung a sling and flung a stone disc at her prey.
The black disc spun swiftly through the air, arcing neatly through space and landing squarely on the open conveyor belt at the machine's rear.
It stopped perfectly in place—just two or three meters from the Smart Mobile Combat Hub attached to the end.