"Commander, I'm just a Primary Knight. Phantom Trail is a level 5 skill, but that doesn't mean it can help me dodge every danger." Victor didn't want things to get tense with Kane, so he explained calmly.
"I know. I admit I'm taking a gamble." Kane lowered his head, thought for a long moment, and said, "Don't worry. I'll be nearby to back you up myself and make sure you're safe."
"That's what you should do." Victor wasn't cowed and said it bluntly.
"Man, you're a sharp one, aren't you." Kane shook his head, his expression somewhere between annoyance and appreciation.
"How about this. I know the Awakened exam is what you care about most right now. To make it up to you, I'll tell you a secret about that exam. How about it?" Kane gritted his teeth; this time he was paying a heavy price.
"Really?" Victor's eyes lit up, a little excited.
The Awakened exam was a contest with hundreds of millions of candidates across the whole Federation.
If he could get some inside info early, he might pull far ahead in the exam.
"Of course it's real. Want to hear it?" Kane asked in a low voice, a small smile at his lips.
"Go ahead and say it. I can go take care of the Jackson matter," Victor said.
If Kane could really give him news about the Awakened exam, taking the risk himself was fine.
"Alright. I got this news by chance, but it's too important—I'll tell you when you get back," Kane said in a deep voice.
"Why?" Victor was a bit puzzled.
"If you get captured by the Red Rebels, who knows if you'll use it as a bargaining chip to stay alive," Kane said bluntly.
Every year, the Awakened exam was the Federation's most important tool for selecting talent.
If the Red Rebels learned certain details about the exam, they could plant their own people to take it and get into top academies.
That was too big a threat to the Federation, and Kane wouldn't take the risk.
"Alright. No time to waste—let's get moving," Victor nodded, understanding Kane's concern.
"Come on, I'll take you to the dedicated Sky Ladder," Kane said with a smile.
The two of them crossed the Holy Knights' Order training ground together and came to a rather plain little house.
"This is the Sky Ladder?" Victor looked puzzled.
The Sky Ladder connected the surface and the underground, but this house didn't look like it connected to the surface at all.
"We call it Sky Ladder just so it's easy for you to get. In fact, it should be called a Trans-Dimensional Teleporter." A proud smile showed on Kane's face.
He paused, then said seriously, "You should know, this is the only teleporter in the whole underground city— even City Lord Chris doesn't have one."
"What does the teleporter do? We already have the Sky Ladder." Victor asked in doubt.
"This Trans-Dimensional Teleporter sends you straight into the ruins on the surface. It won't pass through the protected or safe zones." Kane explained.
Hearing that, Victor naturally understood what he meant.
If a huge Sky Ladder was set in the ruins, it would surely become a place many beasts coveted.
But a Trans-Dimensional Teleporter could avoid that perfectly.
"Alright, let's go." Kane led Victor into the house.
The house was pitch-dark, with only a round base glowing blue, and a computer set beside it.
Kane walked to the computer, typed in a string of coordinates, and clicked the start button.
"Okay, stand on it. The teleporter will send you to the surface automatically." Kane pointed at the blue base and spoke to Victor.
"Got it!" Victor nodded and stepped onto the round base.
"The teleporter can only start once every half hour, so I can only come after thirty minutes." Kane looked at Victor and said solemnly, "No matter what, survive for half an hour."
As Kane spoke, lines of laser light spread over Victor's body.
When the light faded, Victor's figure was already gone from the base.
Up on the surface, Victor cautiously looked around.
Right now he had been sent into an abandoned high-rise.
Though Victor had never been to a surface building, he knew from history records this was a mall.
But the mall had been abandoned for over a hundred years, and the inside had long become home to countless beasts.
Even where Victor stood now, he could hear many beasts snarling or walking.
By the coordinates Kane gave him, the Red Rebels' base was inside a prison.
In the past, that prison was used to hold serious criminals, so it was built very strong.
For that reason, Jackson brought his men to live there, to cut down the beasts' harassment.
At the moment, Victor was less than five hundred meters from that prison.
Victor pressed himself to the room's window and gazed at the prison from afar.
His Eye of Retrospection now could also boost his vision, so he saw everything clearly.
He could clearly see a dozen or so rebels with red bandanas patrolling the high wall of the prison.
Based on what Victor had read online, he knew these people should be a squad.
Its makeup should be a captain around level 15, with ten subordinates at level 10.
Although Victor was now level 13, going head-to-head with them would not end well.
And the Red Rebels weren't just these few—if he alerted stronger ones, Victor would be in trouble.
This wasn't a protected zone; the ruins were full of all kinds of beasts.
Even though he had Holy Light Dragonbane Slash, its fatal flaw—usable only once every 24h—kept him from using it lightly.
"Time to use the crossbow." Victor lightly brushed the bolts at his waist and murmured.
Next, he activated Phantom Trail, leaped down from above, and slipped into the abandoned street.
The street was crawling with low-level beasts, and they couldn't detect Victor while he was using Phantom Trail.
So Victor moved along the street with ease and soon reached the area near the prison.
Near the prison, he observed for a while and found a good sniping spot.
He climbed the abandoned chimney tower, took out his crossbow, and started looking for a rebel who was alone.
Soon, he spotted a slacking rebel in a corner.
Maybe because the spot was remote, only one rebel was on guard there.
After Victor sniped him, he immediately jumped down from the chimney and used a hook to climb up.
Since the only patrolling rebel in that area had been taken out by Victor, he got onto the high wall smoothly without alerting anyone.
Victor walked to the rebel's corpse, stripped off his clothes, and put them on himself.
Thanks to the Red Rebels' habit of smearing paint on their faces, Victor could easily hide his looks.
He took out a mirror for a check and was sure that as long as no one looked from up close, it would be hard for anyone to recognize him.
He tossed the body off the high wall, then started patrolling, putting on an act.
It looked like routine, but in truth Victor was secretly studying the prison's layout, looking for good places to lie low.
Focused on watching while faking his patrol, Victor bumped into someone without even noticing.
They crashed hard into each other, and Victor tensed at once, covering his face and pretending to be in great pain.
He was afraid the other person would see his face and realize he was an impostor.
The other person also fell and covered their face, and neither of them tried to stand.
After a dozen seconds, worried about drawing attention, Victor whispered, "Buddy, let's get up."
The other side was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Mm."
Victor let out a breath, slowly stood up, and took the chance to glance at the other person—then froze.
Even with thick paint on their face, they still looked very much like someone Victor knew.
The other person seemed to notice something off about Victor too, standing there and sneaking glances at him now and then.
After more than ten seconds, Victor stammered, "E..."
"Victor!" the other person cried in surprise.
"Elena? How is it you?" Victor exhaled in relief and looked at Elena, puzzled.
"I should be asking you—why are you here?" Elena stepped closer and said under her breath, "Hurry and go. This isn't something you can get mixed up in."
Victor didn't answer directly and instead asked, "Why are you here?"
Elena hesitated for a moment and answered, "To save someone. And you?"