Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 416: Go, Little White

After exiting the hatch, Cillin and the other two flew toward the planet under stealth. The thrusters on their protective suits weren’t fast, but they kept them hidden and secure.

Pride followed closely behind with three others, but they wouldn’t be setting foot on the planet. Instead, they would remain hidden nearby, ready to provide cover for Cillin’s group if an emergency arose.

The planet’s surface was nothing special, looking much like any other Class D Habitability Planet. However, once Cillin set up the scanner, the subterranean imaging confirmed that a base did indeed exist here.

It was unclear what kind of shielding the base used to block external probes; the scan only revealed a rough outline. They couldn’t obtain an internal structural layout at all. The scanner Cillin had deployed was a recently developed device from Ci Jincheng. Without it, they might not have even detected the Underground Base’s silhouette.

“At any rate, we’ve confirmed there really is a base here,” Ci Jincheng said, looking quite thrilled as he stared at the scan on the screen. “Hidden to this extent, you can imagine how important it must be to Miracle.”

Confirming the base was one thing, but figuring out how to get inside was another problem entirely. According to the scan’s markers, the facility had nearly ten surface entrances of varying sizes, and all of them were currently sealed shut.

“Sealed up this tightly, wouldn’t the people inside suffocate?” Lung asked, looking at the planet displayed on the screen.

“As long as the internal stability is properly regulated and they have an excellent life-support system, building an underground world is entirely possible,” Ci Jincheng said. “However, constructing one requires a massive expenditure of manpower and wealth.”

“With Miracle’s past capabilities, that wouldn’t have been difficult.” Lung was well aware of Miracle Co. Ltd’s financial power. Back in the day, the company’s backers were incredibly powerful and its supporters numerous. Its underground research was highly lucrative, and Miracle had bought up vast quantities of rare minerals and materials.

Down on the planet, Cillin extended a finger, tapping a few spots on the scan to mark the various entrances. “It looks like they’re on high alert, and they’re taking no chances this time. These passages are completely locked down. Even the slightest disturbance will trigger the alarms. If we tried to go in, a whole crowd of people would probably be waiting for us with their guns drawn before we even reached the base below.”

Ci Jincheng and the others understood this just as well. Knight was growing increasingly irritable. He had seen the current death toll and mortality rates caused by the Dream Tapir; now that they had finally located a suspicious base, they had no way to tackle it. The people from Miracle were far too cunning. They clearly didn’t intend to surface anytime soon—they were eating, drinking, and living entirely underground. With all the access tunnels sealed completely shut, forcing their way in wasn’t a viable option.

“What do we do?” The people in the flying vessel were temporarily at a loss. If it were a matter of fighting and killing, they would be fine, but they were truly helpless against this sort of obstacle. If even Ci Jincheng’s advanced equipment couldn’t solve the problem, their own brawn certainly wouldn’t be of any use.

Cillin stared at the passages on the scan in silence. Even if Wheeze intervened this time, it wouldn’t help; those passages absolutely could not be touched. Unless they could somehow gather information from inside the Underground Base, there was no good solution.

“Let’s try infiltrating their internal network first,” Cillin suggested.

“That won’t work. You might be fine where you are, but we’re too far away, and the surrounding magnetic fields are causing too much interference. Moreover, the next particle storm is coming soon. Even though the upcoming storm isn’t a high-level one, it will be more than enough to completely block communications.” Ci Jincheng was helpless on this front. He was certain that Miracle had taken this into account when building the base here; the frequent particle storms forced anyone traveling to this area to keep their distance. Absolutely no one wanted to linger here, which was exactly how the planet had managed to remain hidden for so long.

Cillin frowned. “When does the next particle storm hit?”

“It’s estimated to begin in about half an hour—thirty-four minutes and seventeen to nineteen seconds, to be exact,” Ci Jincheng relayed his calculations to Cillin. “I strongly suggest you come back first. We can figure things out after this wave passes.”

In truth, everyone knew that even if they waited out this particle storm, there was no telling when the next one would strike. What if another wave began forming right after this one passed? Would they just keep waiting?

“I’ll go,” a voice rang out through Cillin’s communicator.

It wasn’t the voice of anyone in the Tapir Extermination squad. However, Cillin was very familiar with its owner. The moment the voice spoke, Cillin realized exactly where this person had been hiding all along.

“White Ghost?”

White Ghost had been hiding within Czedow all along. As long as she didn’t want to show herself, and Czedow deliberately helped conceal her, she was nearly impossible to detect. Since hiding inside Czedow, White Ghost had remained completely silent, merely using him as a medium to perceive and learn about the outside world.

Cillin knew that Czedow frequently brought White Ghost along, but he hadn’t expected her to tag along on this mission. But why hadn’t Moon or the others mentioned this during their communications? Did they know she had snuck out with Czedow?

“It was my own decision. I asked Czedow to help keep me hidden,” White Ghost explained. “Furthermore, I’ll keep the secrets. I haven’t told Moon or the others about those things.” She merely wanted to see the outside world. Even though she had been created by the same generation of the Xi Family as Moon’s group, her relationship with them wasn’t particularly close—it certainly couldn’t compare to the bond shared by the five original brothers. Within the 11th Team, the only person she could really talk to and felt close with was Czedow.

“How confident are you that you can get inside?”

“If I dive straight into the network of the Underground Base from here, doing it completely ‘silently’ is impossible,” White Ghost said. “However, like you just mentioned, the next particle storm is arriving shortly. If we use this particle storm to our advantage, it should work perfectly.”

Although White Ghost had joined the 11th Team, she rarely interacted with the other members. She felt that Moon and the other three were distant from her as well. However, she was incredibly grateful that Czedow was in the 11th Team. Czedow had taught her a great deal, helping her better understand the world. Every time she came into contact with a new facet of it, she felt like more than just a “living” program, allowing her to gain a closer understanding of human emotions.

She was stepping up now not for the 11th Team, nor for this Tapir Extermination squad, but purely for Czedow.

Aside from Czedow, no one else could hear White Ghost and Cillin’s conversation. Knight paced around in a circle for a moment. Seeing Cillin standing completely motionless for a long time, he finally asked, “Cillin, do you have any other ideas?”

Cillin nodded. “I do.”

“Huh?” This time it was Knight’s turn to freeze. He had only been asking casually, fully intending to head back to the flying vessel and ride out the incoming particle storm before making their next move. He hadn’t expected Cillin to actually have an answer.

“You head back to the vessel with the others. Czedow and I will stay here.”

“Why? Are you thinking of hacking into the underground network from out here? That won’t work! Once the particle storm hits, you’re going to suffer massive interference, even if you’re standing right on top of it. Every communication network will glitch out. How can you hack a system when the connection is barely holding together? And besides,” Knight pointed at Cillin’s protective suit, “that thing won’t protect you completely. Even if this next storm isn’t high-level, this suit won’t necessarily be enough to keep you safe when it peaks. Are you trying to get yourself killed? Come on, let’s get back to the ship first.”

Knight yanked on Cillin’s arm, but he didn’t budge.

“It’s fine. I know what I’m doing,” Cillin said.

“The hell you do! Hurry up and get back!” Knight yelled anxiously. They only had eighteen minutes left. If they kept dawdling, they wouldn’t make it; it took quite some time to travel from here back to the ship.

“What’s going on?” Ci Jincheng asked from the flying vessel after seeing the two of them.

Knight quickly explained the situation to him.

“Cillin, what do you have to say?” Ci Jincheng asked.

“Don’t worry. Czedow and I are going to break into their network. This is a good opportunity.”

After considering it for two seconds, Ci Jincheng said, “Knight, fall back for now.”

“No way! I have to drag this kid back with me. Staying out here is way too dangerous—“

Before Knight could finish his sentence, a layer of Armor flowed over Cillin and Czedow’s bodies. The Armor then faded, returning them to a state of invisibility.

Seeing this, Knight hesitated for a moment. “Fine! How the hell did I forget you still had a life-saving trump card up your sleeve!”

With a double layer of protection, and considering the level of the incoming particle storm, Knight figured they actually stood a solid chance of surviving.

“Just don’t push yourselves too hard. If you can’t handle it, deploy your energy shields. It doesn’t matter if they spot you; staying alive is what counts.”

“Got it. Now hurry back,” Cillin said, giving Knight a light kick.

Once Knight left the planet’s surface and retreated toward the vessel, Cillin and Czedow approached one of the tightly sealed passages. At first glance, there was no way to tell that an entrance was hidden here; it blended in perfectly with the surroundings, making it incredibly difficult to spot.

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” Czedow said. He felt deeply guilty for bringing White Ghost out without telling Cillin about it.

“It’s nothing. You all have your own freedom,” Cillin said, patting Czedow. “Since you were willing to bring her along, that means you trust her. Having confidence in her is a good thing. Besides, we really do need her help this time.”

By the time Knight reunited with Pride and the rest of the crew on the flying vessel, the particle storm was gradually forming and sweeping in their direction.

“Are Cillin and Czedow really going to be alright?”

Inside the vessel, everyone stared at the two signal blips on the screen. They simply couldn’t fathom why they would choose to make a move right as a particle storm hit. How were they even going to operate? Was it really that hard to hack the external network? Furthermore, under such an intense bombardment of high-energy particle streams and radiation, would those two truly be fine? Czedow was one thing—everyone had grown numb to his special nature—but why did Cillin stay out there too?

“If he says he has a way, then he has a way. Just watch.”

Everyone continued to stare intently at the screen. Mengqialuo was standing behind them, watching everything unfold on the monitor as well. Wheeze poked his head out from the collar of his “cloak,” no longer sleeping.

“Twelve seconds left. After that, we’ll lose contact with you for a while. Be careful,” Cillin said to White Ghost.

“Mm, I know. I’ve been through plenty of situations like this before.” White Ghost understood particle storms well, and she was confident.

“Get ready,” Cillin signaled Czedow.

Czedow crouched down and placed his hand against the sealed passage entrance, aiming as close to the center as possible.

“Go, White!”

Just a moment before the particle storm reached the planet, White Ghost slipped into the sealed passage. Plunging straight into its internal network, she breached the base’s interior in the blink of an eye. The moment she infiltrated the passage’s network, the Underground Base’s alarms went off, though they weren’t particularly intense.

The guards paid little attention to the mild alarms. After all, the sealed passage remained firmly shut. They simply attributed the disturbance to the incoming particle storm. Due to the storm’s interference, their internal communications were heavily disrupted, the underground lighting system began to flicker, and numerous pieces of equipment stopped working entirely.

However, the personnel inside the base seemed accustomed to these issues. They went about their business as usual, paying no mind to the flickering screens and lighting system. It never crossed their minds that someone could be hacking into their network under such conditions, so they remained completely relaxed.

Standing inside the flying vessel, Ci Jincheng and the others were also facing severe interference. They couldn’t even contact Cillin. The video feed on the screen was unclear and flickering. They could only vaguely make out the passage entrance, and the signal receiver only showed two blurry signals representing Cillin and Czedow.

“Is it just me, or did a white light just flash where Cillin and Czedow are standing?” Lung muttered.

“I think I saw it too,” Knight replied.

The others had witnessed the exact same thing. Although it had only been a fleeting instant, everyone’s attention had been highly focused at the time, and the monitor hadn’t been affected by the interference yet.

‘Could they be projecting their souls out of their bodies?’ several of them wondered.

The high-energy particle streams and radiation interference caused the communications and scanning systems to malfunction, and the internal power supply also experienced brief disruptions. Fortunately, the particle storm didn’t last long—it came fast and left just as quickly.

Five minutes later, everything returned to normal.

“Cillin, how are things on your end? Are you alright?” Ci Jincheng asked urgently once everything recovered.

“Everything went smoothly.” Along with Cillin’s reply, a welcome sight appeared on the screen in front of Ci Jincheng and the others.

“Is this... this planet’s Underground Base?”

“That’s right.” Cillin and Czedow were still standing guard there. They could also see this scene through the displays on their visors; this was exactly what White Ghost was seeing from her visual perspective.

Everything inside the Underground Base had returned to normal and was very peaceful. They had absolutely no idea that a “person” had already come in.