Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Anna's predicament had already spread throughout the group, and a rescue plan had been in the works from the very beginning. In this dream, Anna gave a more detailed account of her situation.

"Based on my observations of the ventilation system, the air circulation at our base is highly dependent on the ventilation ducts, and there is no indication of windows. The personnel rotation frequency is very low. Occasionally, I have observed them carrying large quantities of convenience food and staying there for extended periods."

I suspect I'm being held either in a remote, desolate area or underground within a city—in short, a place where access isn't very convenient. However, knowing only this much makes finding me quite difficult. I think communicating online would have a much better chance of locating me.

In this world, Lanno, named Li De, chimed in, "We can actually try to position ourselves through the logistics industry. I'm the owner of a small logistics company, one of the better off among us. In today's information age, all products are interconnected and basically connected to the internet for after-sales processing."

This means that merchants or logistics companies could track the flow of every batch of their goods if they wanted to, even from your secret base, which is highly isolated from the outside internet. Theoretically, once the goods arrive there, there's a high probability of internet outages. However, if the goods pass through my hands, I can record the transportation and destination of every single item.

In this way, by searching for the subsequently missing goods and comparing them with the surrounding environment, we can roughly pinpoint the location of our target.

"This is a good method. Theoretically, if we use this method, they won't even realize that someone is targeting them. They won't even realize that someone is tracking the location of their secret base. Because we've done almost nothing unnecessary. The goods we send out haven't been tampered with. It's perfectly normal for logistics companies and manufacturers to investigate the movement of goods and collect market data. This means you need to pay close attention to what brands of goods the people around you are using. It's best to find those who have been purchasing these goods for a long time, but which are relatively niche products. This will reduce our workload a lot. Whether they buy goods through retail or wholesale, it will ultimately be reflected in our investigation data."

Anna nodded, trying hard to recall. The people at the secret base, while keeping a close watch on them, didn't treat them like the Foundation guards its contained objects, actually locking them in a small room without giving them any chance at all.

Such management would not only cause mental breakdowns, but even if these genius programmers could withstand the psychological pressure, the management cost would be too high. Unless there is a specific reason, no one would care if they saw some everyday product brands.

“I’ve seen the brand of bottled water in the secret base, and the shape of their plastic bottles. My knowledge of the outside world is limited. Take a look at this image I’ve constructed.” In their dreams, they are in a mental world, so they project their memories. It’s not an overly exaggerated operation.

An ordinary-looking bottle of drinking water is projected onto the screen. The label is quite clear, and even the production date is visible.

The people living in the myriad worlds looked at it for a moment and then shook their heads.

"The manufacturer of this bottled water is a monopolistic enterprise. The vast majority of bottled water on the market is produced by this company. Although I have a logistics company, I can only collect data on the goods delivered by our company. The probability of me being able to find the bottled water purchased by you is very low. Let's choose another one. You don't know which products are best-selling or which products are unique. Why don't you show us all the branded items you've seen?"

Soon, projections appeared one after another, showing convenience foods, pots and pans, and even everyday items like toilet paper. After these items were displayed, the group began to compare them, then sighed helplessly. Most of these items couldn't serve as benchmarks; commerce in this world was too heavily monopolized by capital, to the point that most companies were essentially monopolies. This meant that similar products on the market were basically produced by a single company. Even the sales volume of a particular category was so large that a small logistics company couldn't possibly track it.

Most goods are like that, so there's no way to determine the location of the secret base based on their distribution. But perseverance pays off. After Anna painstakingly recalled almost everything she'd ever seen with a brand name, they finally found a product from a niche brand.

Those were sanitary napkins distributed to the female programmers imprisoned in the base; most of the time, Blue City wouldn't see the packaging. But occasionally, he could find intact packaging in the trash. And these things seemed to be produced by a small factory. Moreover, according to his memory search, the brand of these daily necessities hadn't changed for at least several months.

"If that's the case, the problem is much easier to solve. I'll check on this manufacturer in a bit. Offering them a discounted logistics price probably won't be enough to secure a partnership. Small factories like this face considerable challenges surviving under pressure from large manufacturers. Although my company is small, if we're willing to take the initiative to discuss cooperation, it would be a windfall for such a small factory."

With a solution in mind, everything else became much easier. After waking from the dream, the capable members of the cluster began their investigation. In this age of advanced internet technology, finding out the production output of a small factory wasn't difficult. This small factory's total monthly sales were less than a million; it wouldn't be a big problem for a logistics company to take over the logistics of all their goods. If the deal went well, they could even make a profit.

Li De found the owner of the small factory that very day. Both were relatively unknown small businesses, so cooperation was perfectly normal. The owner didn't suspect anything. Li De offered a very reasonable price—lower than the market price, but only slightly lower. Although the profit margin wasn't large, it would save a significant amount of money over time. Therefore, the cooperation negotiations went very smoothly.

BlueCity's cluster successfully obtained the logistics addresses of all goods. Next, they only needed to observe where the goods were shipped out. The connection to the outside internet was then severed.

This kind of authority can be obtained directly from the cooperating manufacturers. It involves tracking the goods' logistics through the internet connection to prevent lost packages. This is a basic operation for logistics companies, and such authority can generally be obtained by simply asking the manufacturers, without raising suspicion.

In just two days, the suspect was identified. It's impossible for a normal person to search for a secret base in this way. Because it's impossible for a normal person to do so, the target was completely unprepared.

So much so that within two days, this originally heavily guarded secret base was exposed. After multiple reconnaissance and comparisons, it can be basically confirmed that the secret base is located in the western suburbs of Night City. Because so far, it appears that only that one location has experienced the interruption of communication between goods and the internet.

Furthermore, Anna confirmed from the production date on the packaging of the goods she was using that the base had just purchased a batch of sanitary napkins, exactly the same batch that had disappeared from the logistics monitoring. This even revealed the detailed logistics address. The rest of the problem was much easier to solve. It could be roughly determined that the secret base was most likely located underground, with the exit hidden in an old residential area. The entire residential area was presumably inhabited by personnel involved in the experimental project. Therefore, it would be almost impossible for outsiders to discover what was happening here. Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans have flaws; who would have thought that their intelligence had leaked from the most heavily guarded young experimental subject?

Logically speaking, these people shouldn't even know what the outside world is like, let alone leak information.

After discovering the base's location, the entire group sprang into action. Peso, whose living conditions weren't particularly good, basically eked out a living delivering food, with virtually no savings. But now, his profession allowed him to openly enter and exit the surface of the secret base.

The base, disguised as an old residential area, serves as a rest area for rotating staff. The amenities there are questionable, though not exceptionally comprehensive. Consequently, rotating staff order takeout quite frequently.

Peso picks up orders in this area. He doesn't need to actively seek out orders here; he's given many deliveries to older residential areas. This gives him the opportunity to observe closely and search for hidden entrances that might exist within these old neighborhoods.

This wasn't a particularly difficult task. As former members of the underground base, they were well-versed in the characteristics of entrances to the underground and how to conceal them. Just by looking at the surrounding terrain and the footprints on the ground in the old town, they could make a fairly accurate assessment.

The entrance is located in what appears to be an abandoned underground parking garage. The entrance to the underground parking garage, which should be covered in dust, looks like it is frequently used, which is bound to arouse suspicion.

Meanwhile, BlueCity in other industries also took action.

Sena is a plumber whose main job is to unclog sewers and fix leaks—a rather niche job these days. Intelligent drainage systems rarely experience leaks, and the need for plumbers to troubleshoot is extremely rare.

To facilitate his upcoming infiltration mission, he applied directly to the company for a transfer to the old town area where the secret base was located, to be in charge of operations there.

To allow him to successfully infiltrate underground and gather sufficient intelligence, it would be necessary to create a large-scale, difficult-to-repair pipeline leak or blockage underground using intelligent mechanical equipment.

With the prior preparations, things became much easier. Since the target company's location could be detected through logistics, it was also possible to switch the goods they purchased. Adding a small amount of substance or making a very subtle mark to one of the items would be extremely difficult to detect.

Anna easily found the two marked packets among the household items. Individually, neither packet seemed to pose a significant problem, and there would be no safety risks even if they were used directly. However, if they were mixed together and thrown down the drain, the contents would expand rapidly like an inflating balloon, eventually filling an entire row of drains and becoming as hard as rock.

Without professionals, it would be very difficult to clean up these things. This might arouse some suspicion, but Night City's intricate drainage system has malfunctioned more than once. While the possibility of a conspiracy exists, it's not high; at least, the danger is far less than simply fleeing.

Shortly after Anna threw two sanitary napkins into the toilet, the entire secret base began experiencing frequent drainage problems. Sewage began overflowing from various drains, soaking many of the wiring buried in the floor. Domestic and cooling water cannot be easily stopped from flowing out. The engineers inside the secret base were not professionals, and after inspecting several drains, they determined that the sewers were old and in disrepair, with large areas blocked. It would take them a long time to fix it, and during that time, the domestic sewage and cooling water would likely have nowhere to go.

Helpless, they had to hire professionals. Before bringing people in, they covered the sophisticated equipment in the underground base with waterproof tarpaulins and concealed everything that looked strange, making it appear to the outside world as just a large underground warehouse.

This level of disguise is more than enough to fool ordinary maintenance workers. In addition, they are not particularly worried about being exposed. As long as they are not discovered, human experimentation and other explorations beyond the black wall are legal. If they are exposed, they will even be praised by the public.

Sena thus infiltrated the secret base by following the local construction team. There were so many blocked pipes that most areas were open to him. In many places, the concrete on the ground had to be dug up to expose the pipes before repairs could be made. Even the professional team took four or five days to repair them. During this time, he had enough time to thoroughly explore the open areas of the secret base.

In the dead of night, Sena projected the 3D map of the secret base he had seen onto Anna.

"This is the secret base we're going to take over next. You can use this map and the terrain of the restricted area that you're familiar with to complete it and then plan your escape route. I've left a backdoor during the repair process, which can remotely cut off their power supply for a short time, or create a fake alarm to attract attention to your escape. Now it's time to devise an escape plan."

[To be continued]

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