Chen Na lay in her room, eyes closed, pretending to take an afternoon nap.
She knew that using the [Communication Scroll] to communicate like this wouldn't be detected. Otherwise, even if the conversation was telepathic, her dazed, delayed reactions while talking to someone else would still be noticed. Pretending to sleep avoided this problem entirely.
Ever since hearing what Gu Fei said last time, she had been suspecting that Han Ling had lied to her. That the people who created those customized challenge projects for her weren't doing it voluntarily; they were being forced.
Then, over the past two days, she noticed that the base was bustling with activity every day, with many people returning from outside. She knew those people; they were all responsible for collecting supplies. Chen Na used her ability to pretend to casually get close and overheard several conversations, all of which mentioned the authorities.
It seemed the authorities had finally started to free up resources, deploying armed forces to sweep the wilderness, cracking down on various gangs of thugs and organizations that forced Ascendants to create challenges for others.
After hearing this, Chen Na understood. The organization she was part of was probably something similar.
She had been willing to listen to the organization and participate in missions only to repay them for the life-saving medicine they gave her mother. But if the nature of this organization was evil, aimed at exploiting others, then her actions were aiding and abetting evil.
Chen Na didn't want to become a bad child. She knew that would disappoint her mother. But she felt powerless to do anything. She even thought about death, but worried that after she died, her mother would face retaliation.
Feeling utterly helpless, she suddenly remembered she had a friend on her Personal Terminal. It was a sister two or three years older than her, whom she met while accompanying her mother to the hospital. Neither of them had added any friends on the terminal before, so they added each other just to try it out.
After her mother was diagnosed and they left the hospital, they hadn't contacted each other again, but the friend connection on the terminal remained undeleted. This made Chen Na immediately think of the [Communication Scroll] she had purchased from the Ascension Store. Using it would allow her to contact the outside world!
So she immediately contacted her friend, Sister Qing Jin, told her about her situation, and hoped she could spread the word so the authorities would discover this place and rescue all those oppressed "slaves" Gu Fei mentioned.
Qing Jin agreed and then went to the highly influential Ascendant Home website to make a post...
Chen Na waited silently for contact.
Just now, Qing Jin told her that the Administrator of Ascendant Home would personally help her and that she should just wait.
From Qing Jin's tone, Chen Na sensed that this Administrator was very impressive. However, since they weren't usually allowed inter access, she didn't know anything about the "Ascendant Home" website or who the Administrator was.
"Chen Na."
At that moment, an unfamiliar woman's voice suddenly sounded in Chen Na's mind, startling her as she lay there.
"I am the Administrator of Ascendant Home."
"Hello, Administrator Sister..."
Chen Na knew the Administrator was contacting her using the [Communication Scroll] and replied telepathically. She was also somewhat surprised; the Administrator's voice sounded like a young sister in her twenties.
"Chen Na, I've learned about your current situation from your friend Qing Jin," Guan Tong said. "I want to know the exact location of your base."
"I... I don't know the base's specific location... I only know it's inside a mountain. We always take a car when going out..."
Guan Tong thought for a moment after hearing this and said, "The location of the customized challenge project they gave you was in Nanlin Village. Even if you don't know the base's location, you should remember the direction from the base to that Nanlin Village, right?"
"I remember that! I remember that day when we went to complete the challenge, after leaving the base, the car drove east the whole time. It drove for about an hour and a half before reaching the challenge location."
"Very good."
Even without the base's exact coordinates, a rough, fuzzy location could be inferred based on the challenge location, the direction traveled, and the travel time.
Since it could be confirmed the base was inside a mountain, what Guan Tong needed to do was search for mountains within that fuzzy area. Then, he would have his intangible Shadow burrow into the mountains to probe for the base location.
"Chen Na, I will find the location of your base as soon as possible. Until then, don't act strangely in any way to avoid alerting anyone in the base. Understand?"
"Mm! I understand... Um, Administrator Sister, if you're going to rescue people, please be very careful, and you'll need a lot of people. There are many people in the base, and many of them have guns..."
They all have guns?
Guan Tong asked, "What kind of guns? Handguns?"
"All kinds. There are also very long guns. And there's a large garage. Last time we went out, we saw an armored vehicle driving out."
Long guns? Armored vehicles?
Guan Tong felt a jolt of alarm. Beixing Country was a nation with strict gun control.
Even in the era of the Doomsday Rules, with the chaotic situation leading to some lax weapon management and leakage, it shouldn't have resulted in the outflow of large quantities of automatic firearms, let alone armored vehicles.
What kind of organization was this...
Guan Tong frowned and said to Chen Na, "Okay, I'll be cautious. Is there anything else you know that you can tell me? For example, who is the leader of the base? Are there any powerful Ascendants among his subordinates?"
A single Communication Scroll allowed for a maximum of 15 minutes of conversation. Guan Tong wanted to gather as much information as possible within that time.
"The base leader... I don't know. I only know the manager is Sister Han Ling. As for powerful Ascendants, the ones I know are Gu Fei, Jiang Ming, and Chu Xiaoyuan from my team... Their abilities..."
After the 15 minutes ended, Guan Tong analyzed the information himself.
"This base has armed personnel, armored vehicles, even a base hollowed out of a mountain... Its background must be extraordinary, far beyond what any ordinary wilderness group or organization could compare to."
Before communicating with Chen Na, Guan Tong had considered whether to notify the authorities with the information and let them handle the rescue. But after the call, he dismissed that consideration.
He believed an organization with such power must have a remarkably capable mastermind behind it. Furthermore, he learned from Chen Na that the base she was in had suspended operations two days prior.
Combined with the authorities' large-scale wilderness sweep, it seemed this organization knew about the authorities' impending action before the sweep even began and preemptively initiated a strategic contraction.
This led Guan Tong to suspect that the mastermind behind this organization might have channels to obtain official intelligence in advance.
Therefore, he definitely could not pass the information to the authorities. If he did, while the authorities would know, the mastermind might also find out and could respond simultaneously or even preemptively.
After deep thought, Guan Tong made a decision. "This time, I will act alone."
He could neither allow such a massive, exploitative organizational system to continue operating, nor could he remain indifferent to Chen Na's safety. So, he decided to try to resolve this matter with his own power.
However, this was different from dealing with the Tian Ding Mountain camp or scoundrels like Gao Xinjian. This time, he was facing a large, fully armed, and well-staffed base. He absolutely could not afford to be careless.
"First, find the base location. Have the Shadow infiltrate for a comprehensive reconnaissance. Find a point of entry, then wait for the right opportunity to act."
After formulating the plan, Guan Tong immediately summoned his Shadow, transformed it into a shadow line, and sent it to Nanlin Village first. Then, based on what Chen Na said, he directed it westward from the challenge project location in Nanlin Village.
Guan Tong, controlling the Shadow's advance, felt a flicker of curiosity. Because he realized the base's location was highly likely to be within the "Yongzhou Mountain Range."
And this Yongzhou Mountain Range was only a little over a hundred kilometers away from the capital, Yong'an.
To hollow out a mountain for a base in an area so close to Yong'an without being discovered? Guan Tong found that hard to believe. Even if all the construction workers could turn invisible, the efficiency couldn't be that high.
He believed the base within this mountain range had existed long before, and was only repurposed by certain people after the arrival of the Doomsday Rules.
Once the Shadow entered the mountain range, it began traversing and perating.
Guan Tong knew such a base would certainly be located in a non-public area. So, he didn't need to investigate mountains already developed and opened as scenic spots. He focused only on perating the closed-off, deeper parts of the range.
This continued until evening, when Guan Tong finally found the mountain housing the base.
From the outside, this mountain looked utterly ordinary, but its interior had been almost completely hollowed out, transformed into a multi-story artificial structure.
Guan Tong manipulated the Shadow to drift along the seams where the mountain met the structure, taking care to avoid detection. Through the visual feed transmitted by the Shadow, he could already see the base was filled with high-definition surveillance cameras.
"Such strict management..."
Guan Tong's Shadow perated from the upper levels downward, observing each floor's situation. Offices, supply storage warehouses, weapon and equipment lockers, large garages, collective dormitories... everything was present.
And when the Shadow continued deeper, reaching the underground levels, a scene that sent chills down Guan Tong's spine was transmitted back.
In the underground level of the base was a large, prison-like facility. Countless Ascendants were imprisoned in densely packed cells, with fully armed guards patrolling outside.
Every Ascendant wore a uniform gray outfit. A tag hung on their chests, devoid of even a name, bearing only that Ascendant's Mind Power Upper Limit and a numerical code.
This meant these people had completely lost their human dignity here, treated purely as prisoners, even as objects.
The scene was so impactful that even Guan Tong, usually emotionally placid, felt a surge of intense, nameless fury rising within him.
He suppressed his anger and didn't rashly use the Shadow to act. Instead, he continued the investigation, determined to first understand the entire base's situation thoroughly.
Afterward, it took a full hour. Guan Tong used the infiltrating Shadow to probe every nook and cranny of the base, from top to bottom, inside and out, clarifying the complete personnel situation.
The situation was more complex than he had imagined.
The entire base was divided into three hierarchical zones: upper, middle, and lower.
The upper zone was the living, office, and leisure area for the management. Guan Tong spotted the manager suspected to be "Han Ling," and also found the dormitory area where Chen Na was, seeing her lying down.
To his surprise, he even saw some highly prominent, leading entrepreneurs who were famous before the Doomsday Rules. People like Wang Zixiang, Liu Yuqiang, and others. Why were these people serving as management in this base? It was undoubtedly strange.
The middle zone of the base mostly contained the residences of the armed personnel and supply storage areas. There were roughly two hundred armed personnel, mostly gathered together playing games, cards, or drinking.
The base's lower zone was the prison area that filled Guan Tong with rage. After tallying, he confirmed nearly two thousand Ascendants were imprisoned here, with about eighty guards on patrol.
After understanding the situation, Guan Tong's next course of action was naturally to completely eradicate these most despicable scum among humanity.
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