This was clearly no scam.
After a careful check, Arthur spotted the barely noticeable passage near the cave mouth.
On the side of the cramped chamber, a narrow, shadowy fissure stretched into the dark.
"Follow me..."
He didn't jump right away. Instead, he lifted his head, narrowing his eyes at the factory looming across the barren wasteland.
It wasn't far. The only reason the drive had taken so long was the brutal, uneven terrain.
"I'll take care of the car."
His longest-running partner understood instantly.
In this crew, Arthur almost always led the charge—his reflexes were the sharpest.
Jackie usually covered the rear, his raw strength making him the best at dealing with anyone chasing them.
"Let's move.
And... here's hoping David can hold out until then."
Without looking back, Arthur gave a wave and dropped into the dark.
The blackness swallowed them whole, but they were ready. Powerful beams cut through the dark, casting long tunnels of light ahead.
They'd avoided night-vision gear—too much risk of hidden traps.
Sure, low-light concealment had its uses, but blurred vision meant missing critical details.
And this tunnel? Their only intel came from a Fixer. With David's fate hanging in the balance, they couldn't afford mistakes.
The cavern was natural, sprawling like a spider's trap spun for prey.
Branching tunnels twisted in all directions, some so well hidden in the shadows they'd vanish completely without the lights.
Fortunately, the Fixer's intel had been detailed—even down to a map of the fissure system.
"Man... this creepy hole really gets us inside?
Kinda gives me the chills."
Jackie hunched his shoulders, muttering as the damp chill worked its way through his clothes, the suffocating dark pressing close from every side.
The surrounding rock was a dull brown-yellow—until the beam slid across a pale gray streak.
All lights locked on it instantly.
"That's... concrete? The foundation!"
Jackie leaned in, voice uncertain—talking was his way of fending off unease.
"Maybe. Either way, we're close."
The intel had said the factory's underground infrastructure was abandoned—no guards posted.
The data and power lines both ran deep beneath the facility. That was why they'd chosen this route.
This wasn't about breaking through the foundations.
A little farther on, they found what the intel had promised:
massive metal pipes, nearly two meters wide, sunk deep into the rock above and below. Time had stripped their outer coating, leaving raw metal exposed in the cracks.
"This is the way in?"
Jackie walked a slow circle around one of the pipes, fighting the urge to knock on it.
At this size, every sound would carry clean to the other end. Alert anyone inside, and all their preparation would go up in smoke.
"So... how do we get in?"
Jackie circled again, but saw no weak points.
Arthur gave his answer in action.
He unhooked Achilles and pulled the trigger.
The twin electromagnetic rails locked at the barrel, the rifle shuddering with its sharp hum.
When he released, a flash of blue-white cut across the metal, leaving a smoking red hole.
The sound was barely more than a whisper.
"Guess it works... but carving a doorway out one hole at a time's gonna take all day."
Jackie scratched his chin, eyeing Arthur with doubt.
Arthur only shook his head, shifted the barrel nearly parallel to the pipe, and fired again.
This time Achilles didn't punch a hole—it left a clean, finger-long crack.
The edges glowed red-hot. Cutting-edge Militech engineering at work.
"That's one way to do it..." Jackie muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
Arthur kept working, quickly chiseling out a jagged opening. He crouched low, careful not to brush the scorched rim, and peered upward.
A shaft of light spilled through the gap, and in the distance he saw rows of ventilation grilles.
"Not too far up."
He pointed to the dangling cables overhead.
"We'll climb using those.
Jackie—where's the gear?"
At the cue, Jackie dropped the heavy case he'd been carrying.
"Right here."
He flipped it open, revealing four coils of rope.
Each of them took one. Arthur rigged his first, as always leading the way.
After about fifteen meters of climbing, his hands hit the floor—iron beams laid crosswise in rows.
Using the same trick, Achilles burned another hole, and Arthur squeezed through first.
Darkness pressed in, fitting for an abandoned underground facility.
"Somebody give me a hand here."
Arthur's light swept the room as Jackie's voice rose from below.
The opening was too small for someone Jackie's size, and the edges still burned hot. He was wedged in place.
Arthur bent low, straining until he hauled the big man through.
At last, the team was inside.
"We need to move faster. Where are the data cables?"
Lucy's patience finally cracked. Her light darted over the shadows, her voice tight with urgency.
With Neural Link, checking the time was easy.
And now, noon was closing in.