Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 126 Barren Valley
Just as Qiu Shan was about to speak, a new communication request suddenly popped up; it was from the captured deputy.

He gestured for Soren to wait a moment, then connected to his deputy's communication, where an extremely disheveled face appeared on the screen.

The deputy looked like he had been imprisoned for a long time; his face was haggard, his eyes were sunken, and the communications background was pitch black.

"team leader……"

"They're willing to release them now?"

"Yes, Grey Goose kept her promise; she didn't harm us." The second-in-command's voice carried a hint of relief and weariness.

"What's the situation with the Grey Goose's team?" Soren's voice came from the side as he took over the interrogation.

The second-in-command recognized Soren's voice, his body tensing almost imperceptibly, but he simply shook his head:
"I'm sorry, I was locked in a dark cellar the whole time and couldn't see anything."

He tried to recall: "But... I heard some noises. Their team was a mixed bunch. I'm pretty sure there were cat people's voices, and... rat people too."

"Cat people? Rat people? Is that all the information you have?"

Qiu Shan's anger surged, "You're utterly useless!"

A flash of anger suddenly appeared in the deputy's previously dull eyes.

"Me, a piece of trash?"

He suddenly looked up, no longer concealing his emotions, and almost roared back:
"Captain Qiu, aren't you useless? The enemy raided our headquarters, and how long did it take you to find out?! I managed to save over thirty brothers! And what about you?!"

"At least I was on TV..." Qiu Shan's face flushed red, and he pointed at him and yelled, "You dare talk back!"

The second-in-command seemed to have gone all out, his gaze passing over the hills and looking directly at Soren on the other side of the light screen.

"Director Soren! Qiu Shan is no longer suitable to be captain! He will only bring us failure after failure! I can be captain too, I am more suitable than him!"

Qiu Shan trembled with rage at this blatant betrayal, pointing at his deputy's face: "You fucking dare to do that!"

He hurriedly defended himself: "Director, don't listen to his nonsense! Our power armor has been stolen, dozens of units in total! How dare he say he has preserved our manpower?"

"That was a mistake on your part. As a deputy, that's all the authority I have!" The deputy refused to back down.

"You...you are truly despicable and shameless!"

"Hey, I think you've gone crazy from eating too much roast chicken!"

"Soren, say something!"

Soren looked at his two red-faced subordinates with nothing but annoyance in his eyes, and unilaterally cut off the signal.

Qiu Shan looked at the dark light screen, and the rage on his face quickly faded, replaced by his usual gloomy expression.

"Alright, he's hung up."

On the other side of the screen, the deputy's expression also changed instantly, from indignation to respect.

"Captain, we're almost back to camp. What's the next step? Should we try to infiltrate the enemy team?"

Qiu Shan paced around the room a few steps, then stopped.

"She put on that ridiculous interview tonight just to remove the bad apples from the team, didn't she? All that fuss will free up at least a few dozen spots."

The deputy's expression was serious: "Grey Goose is quick-witted and not easy to deal with."

"Here's what we'll do: tomorrow you go to the black market and find a few clever mercenaries, then figure out a way to sneak in."

Qiu Shan spoke slowly: "She has only just taken over, and her foundation is not yet stable. This is the perfect opportunity for us to place our own people in the position. Can a woman really turn the world upside down?"

"Captain, I understand."

The deputy replied in a deep voice, "I will pick a few absolutely reliable strangers to ensure she can't find out anything about them."

"Well, let's do this for now."

After hanging up the call, Qiu Shan sat alone on the sofa in the living room, his mind filled with thoughts of how to teach the "Edge Radio" program team a lesson.

3:00 AM, Second Team Camp.

The last mercenary to be "interviewed" yawned as he walked out of the office, and the heavy door closed silently behind him.

Zhuang Fan pushed a newly compiled table in front of Chu Ningyan, his eyes revealing obvious fatigue.

"The results are in, and they're not very optimistic."

Chu Ningyan picked up the data board and quickly scanned it. The data for the two hundred people in the team was clearly listed:

The Soren faction has twenty members, the Habenson faction has fifteen, and there are six neutral members whose stance is wavering.

There are also five who are pure veteran hooligans with extremely poor training evaluations, and they must be dismissed.

Chu Ningyan silently compared her lie detector assessment with her own; she could only identify twenty members correctly, and she had even misunderstood two of them.

"Zhuang Fan, your lie detection skills are too cheating."

She sighed softly, a hint of envy in her eyes.

Zhuang Fan shook his head: "You're already very impressive to be able to identify twenty people based on pure observation."

His gaze lingered on the last line: "The most difficult thing right now is dealing with the team leader."

"Yes, I didn't expect that four out of the ten team leaders were informants for both sides." Chu Ningyan's voice deepened.

Zhuang Fanmo did a quick calculation, "Adding them all up, there are fifty people in total."

Chu Ningyan rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

Zhuang Fan looked at her, his tone grave: "A quarter of them are informants and spies; they must be eliminated."

"Replace everything?" Chu Ningyan looked up; this was more radical than she had anticipated.

"Yes, and it's not just them."

Zhuang Fan added, "The current team leader should also be removed and replaced with a subordinate you trust, so that you can truly control all team members."

Chu Ningyan hesitated for a moment, then her voice softened:

"The staffing and personnel were determined by the board of directors. If we handle it this way, there will likely be a lot of internal backlash, especially since some of them are relatives of the board members..."

"If it's really impossible to clear them out, it's also very simple."

Zhuang Fan had a plan: "Then promote them. Chief toilet cleaner, power armor duster, gate greeter, etc. In short, we can't let them stay in the combat sequence."

Chu Ningyan covered her mouth and chuckled softly, and Zhuang Fan couldn't help but glance at her again.

"Anyway, there's only one condition for joining your team: you must obey orders without question."

"Yes."

Zhuang Fan leaned back in his chair, his gaze seemingly penetrating the wall as he looked at the sparse mercenaries outside.

"Furthermore, after observing for a whole day, I've discovered that it's not just Team Two, but the entire Fengmang team is filled with too many blustering but cowardly old thugs. Many of them have incorrigible bad habits and are undisciplined, which is a common problem in the mercenary system."

"In terms of loyalty and discipline, they are naturally inferior to the regular soldiers in the border area. You are only a captain now. If you really become a regimental commander in the future, the most difficult thing will be to completely control these old hands."

"So what do you mean?" Chu Ningyan stopped taking notes and looked up at him.

"Quality over quantity is the key to success."

Zhuang Fan's answer was direct: "Those old hooligans will only erode the team if they are kept around. The more hooligans there are in the team, the worse the cohesion will be, and the lower the command efficiency will be."

Chu Ningyan agreed with this view.

She would rather lead a force of fifty elite soldiers than have five hundred old hooligans who only know how to shout.

The reason why the Sharp Edge Mercenary Group has such serious factional conflicts is because it has expanded too much and its members are of varying quality.

"Short-term solutions are not difficult either."

Zhuang Fan had already come up with a solution: "Just do as you said before, take them out to take on high-risk missions every day, maximize the training intensity, and be clear about rewards and punishments."

Chu Ningyan picked up her pen and wrote the four characters "clear distinction between reward and punishment".

Zhuang Fan further explained, "Let those who actively cooperate receive real rewards and resources, and let those who are lazy and shirk their responsibilities be punished, or even not receive any compensation. Over time, people's hearts will be at peace."

Chu Ningyan nodded: "That's what I think too."

Zhuang Fan changed the subject, asking a crucial question that had been lingering for a while: "What exactly happened to your old commander? Is he ever going to wake up?"

Chu Ningyan was silent for a few seconds, then said, "It's difficult."

She pulled up an encrypted file, and the old commander's medical report was displayed on the screen.

"His injuries were so severe that his cerebral cortex was badly damaged, almost equivalent to brain death. He is now kept alive by life support systems."

"What about brain transplants? Cloning or something?"

She shook her head: "Even with the most advanced neural regeneration technology available, or with the huge risk of transplantation, the probability of regaining consciousness is less than one percent."

"If you could wake him up one day, would he support you?"

"That's impossible. He's no longer the powerful figure he was when he was in power. The organization is completely divided."

Chu Ningyan explained softly, "Soren and Habenson have each cultivated many followers. The elders that the old commander relied on have either died, disappeared, or defected to other directors."

She closed the file: "The new commander can only be chosen from between Soren and Harbenson."

Chu Ningyan didn't say anything more.

Their plan was clear: first, concentrate their efforts on overthrowing Sauron, who had a deeper foundation.

Just when Habenson thought he had the victory in his grasp and was ready to seize the opportunity, they delivered the fatal blow.

"how about you?"

Chu Ningyan changed the subject back to, "What should the Spark team do next?"

"We will continue to recruit, but only core members."

Zhuang Fan replied, "Then find a safe haven that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, lie low for a while, and accumulate strength."

He paused for a moment, his tone becoming serious.

“I have a bad feeling that a great disaster may befall Linhai City. We must prepare for the worst. You only have one month to reorganize, so time is of the essence. Be prepared for the worst.”

“Only one month left…” Chu Ningyan repeated, suddenly feeling a sense of urgency.

After their conversation ended, Zhuang Fan got up to leave, but paused slightly as he reached the door.

Outside in the corridor, six mercenaries were waiting. Judging from their sharp posture and respectful demeanor towards Chu Ningyan, they were clearly her old subordinates.

"Are they all your subordinates?" he asked, turning his head to the side.

“Yes, someone who’s been with me for quite a while.” Chu Ningyan walked over.

Zhuang Fan's mind stirred slightly: "Let's talk to them."

Chu Ningyan paused for a moment, then understood what he meant, and hesitated slightly: "They should be fine, they're all old buddies."

Zhuang Fan noticed a hint of hesitation in her words, but didn't say anything, just looked at her calmly.

Chu Ningyan remained silent for a moment, and the atmosphere in the office became somewhat heavy.

In the end, she nodded and said, "Okay."

She opened the door and let her subordinates in one by one.

She didn't make any special arrangements; she just chatted about daily life as usual, asked them for their opinions on the new base, and mentioned that the team leader's position would be changed.

Zhuang Fan stood in the corner, observing quietly like an outsider.

The last one to come in was her second-in-command, an old mercenary who had been with her for three years.

Chu Ningyan clearly relied on him more.

After finishing their business, Chu Ningyan suddenly stared at him and asked, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Many people outside want to see me fall from grace. Do you think... you would betray me?"

The deputy immediately retorted, "Captain, you're joking! You saved my life, how could that be!"

Zhuang Fan's gaze sharpened.

After his subordinates left, the office fell into a deathly silence.

“That deputy,” Zhuang Fan said in a low voice, “lied when answering your last question.”

After hearing this, Chu Ningyan took a slow breath. That deputy was one of the people she trusted most.

“…I understand.” She didn’t ask any further questions or raise any doubts.

"Okay, I'll be going now." Seeing this, Zhuang Fan didn't say anything more.

"Stay connected."

"it is good."

Zhuang Fan left Feng Mang's stronghold, traversed several intricate streets, and then followed the underground pipe network all the way back to Mao Shan Wang's safe house.

As he approached, a slight noise came from the roof.

Xiong Er squatted on the edge of the rooftop as a lookout. When he saw Zhuang Fan, he nodded slightly, took out a can of "Demon Bull" from the side, and threw it down with precision.

"You're back so late, you need to perk yourself up first."

"...Drink this stuff before bed?"

That's more powerful.

Zhuang Fan reached out and caught it, pulled the tab and took a sip. He found it to be sweet, astringent, and slightly bitter, and his chest felt hot.

He pushed open the door and went inside, finding that Cole was also awake, watching the latest match at the Colosseum.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the last to enter is our ever-victorious general, the Werewolf Swordsman! No opponent can withstand a single blow from him. Will Tiger Vanguard be able to stop him tonight? Now, there are thirty seconds left to place your bets!"

"Oh my god! Tiger Vanguard's head has been chopped off! The swordsman is so fast! Let's slow down the footage and watch the highlight again!"

The werewolf swordsman in the light screen was quite dashing, wearing a black bamboo hat, a night outfit with a belt and leggings, and carrying a two-meter-long long broadsword, looking very imposing.

Zhuang Fan was stunned. This werewolf had a rather ancient Chinese style. He wondered which old movie it was inspired by.

"Boss, you're back." Cole then noticed Zhuang Fan standing behind him.

"Still not sleeping yet?"

"Hey, Xiong Er must have done it on purpose. I just finished a bottle of Demon Bull and I'm still holding on..."

Zhuang Fan looked at the demonic bull in his hand and fell silent.

Pipi was wearing goggles and looking down to carefully observe the three rat guards lying on the medical bed.

Hearing the noise, Pipi turned around and glanced at him, teasingly asking, "Oh, back from your date?"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Zhuang Fan couldn't bear to throw away the Demon Bull can. He hesitated for a moment, then finished the last sip before throwing away the empty can.

He walked to the bedside. "How is the patient?"

"She's out of danger."

Pipi pointed to the curve on the screen, "The nanobots are working very well; the wounds are healing very quickly."

"Can mutants use nanobots?"

Zhuang Fan remembered that the nanomedical kit was only compatible with humans. Mutants have different body densities and metabolisms, so nanobots could easily misdiagnose them and even worsen their condition.

"Yes, the recently launched products have been improved, and there are nano medical insects specifically for rat people, but they are quite expensive."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

"Yeah, you should lie down too."

Zhuang Fan nodded, then went into the inner room and opened a cot.

Next to him, Mao Shanwang was lying sprawled out on his cot, snoring loudly, the sound as loud as a bellows.

Zhuang Fan closed his eyes, feeling irritable and restless, unsure whether it was due to the demonic ox or the snoring of the Maoshan King.

He kicked Mao Shanwang hard.

"Holy crap, who is it?!"

Mao Shanwang sprang up abruptly, almost reflexively, and pulled a shotgun with a sawed-off barrel from the bedside table, pointing the muzzle directly at Zhuang Fan's head.

"Are you crazy? You even have a gun by your bedside." Zhuang Fan was also shocked and quickly dodged the gun.

Mao Shanwang breathed a sigh of relief, his heart pounding. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "I was having a nightmare. You really scared me. Is something urgent?"

Zhuang Fan had originally wanted to remind him that his snoring was too loud, but he swallowed the words back. "Have you settled everything regarding the power armor?"

"It's all set, I expedited the process, and everything is now fully debugged."

Mao Shanwang yawned, still sleepy-eyed, "I'll arrange for someone to transport it to the Firewood Base first thing tomorrow morning."

"it is good……"

The continuous running around and intense planning left Zhuang Fan feeling weary.

He went to another room and fell asleep immediately.

……

The next day, in the desolate valley, on the ground, the city's defensive line.

The airship landed smoothly on the helipad.

Edward and the others came down, their fatigue showing from the continuous activity.

He opened the data panel, looked at the last dozen or so names on the list, and sighed, "The remaining targets are all at headquarters. We just need to finish this round."

Edward and the others then entered an elevator.

As the elevator began to descend, their gazes turned to the thick, bulletproof glass windows outside.

Just like the name "Barren Valley," the surface world is actually dull and tasteless.

As far as the eye can see, there is only yellow sand and Gobi desert and steel walls, behind which are vast isolation zones and defensive fortifications.

The true prosperity of the desolate valley does not lie on the ground.

As the elevator descended at high speed, after passing through thick layers of rock, the view outside the window suddenly opened up.

An exceptionally vast underground city unfolded before them. Countless lights shone brightly, illuminating this underground space as if it were daytime.

A series of maglev trains silently shuttle past beneath the enormous hollow dome.

Below the tracks lie residential areas, industrial zones, and a bustling city center; even at its deepest point lies a secluded, affluent neighborhood…

All areas are clearly laid out, connected by countless caves and secret passages.

The city is built on an extremely well-developed underground water system and a group of natural karst caves.

The nuclear group spent nearly a century opening up and expanding these caves, transforming them into their current form.

If all the interconnected caves, shelters, and karst structures were connected, the total area would exceed 800 square kilometers, accommodating more than 5 million permanent residents.

Edward and the others transferred to the group's private train and headed towards the headquarters of the Nuclear Corporation.

The nuclear headquarters is completely embedded deep underground in the rock strata, with only a huge mechanical gear-shaped facade visible.

This gear-shaped gate alone is already a rather magnificent structure.

The entrance platform of the headquarters was bustling with people.

The air-lift vehicles move in and out of the dedicated take-off and landing lanes, with a constant flow of people.

Edward saw many tourists wearing audio guides around their necks, holding up their terminals to record everything.

"This underground city is so modern, much better than those monotonous bungalows in Zhongdu."

Visitors exclaimed, "The design of the nuclear headquarters is also very ingenious; it's actually a giant gear!"

"My friend, you don't understand."

A man next to him, who seemed to be a tour guide, corrected him with a hint of local pride: "This is the highest level of 'Pass style,' you know? Retro industrial design!"

Edward listened to their serious discussion, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, as if he wanted to laugh.

Because only he and a few high-ranking officials knew that it wasn't "Paz style" at all, but rather "fear of death style".

This nickname stems from the founder Xu Renyi's almost pathological fear of death; he was always worried that someone would drop a nuclear bomb on the desolate valley.

People said this in secret, and when it got out, it spread like wildfire and became a trend.

If the entire wasteland is a huge underground city, then the Nuclear Headquarters is a "city within a city" within that underground city.

As long as that huge gear door closes, no matter how much nuclear bombs explode outside, it will not have the slightest impact on headquarters.

Some tourists unconsciously lowered their voices when they saw the imposing armored soldiers behind Edward.

Seeing this, Edward pondered for a moment and said, "Let the armored soldiers and regular soldiers stay outside and wait for orders."

"Minister, what if those people..."

Edward shook his head and turned to the armed men accompanying him: "If you really storm into headquarters to arrest people, the impact will only be worse, and it will be difficult to explain to the board of directors."

"Just come in with the investigators. Remember to be polite. We're 'asking' them to assist with the investigation. We'll start questioning them slowly once we're in the interrogation room."

"understood."

The nuclear headquarters is divided into several regions, with the intelligence department and the review department operating independently from headquarters.

Edward straightened his impeccably tailored collar and, with his entourage, walked into the "gear door."

The vertical elevator continued to descend, penetrating hundreds of meters into the rock strata.

The true core area of ​​the headquarters consists of hundreds of huge spherical chambers isolated by thick layers of lead.

The building's interior walls are covered with a dense array of surveillance screens, the corridors are illuminated only by cool-toned fluorescent lighting, and the air is filled with the gentle breeze emitted by the temperature control system.

Everything was quiet and efficient, yet also oppressive.

Edward suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for the days he spent working in Linhai City.

Although the city was dilapidated, shrouded in fog all day long, and rarely saw the sun, it was still far better than the underground office environment of the headquarters, which was perpetually shrouded in darkness.

At least, the air there is "alive".

He gathered his thoughts and led the review team through several verification gates to the testing area marked "C-13".

Their target was the testing director, an elderly man with gray hair and a serious expression.

"Good morning, Director Eng."

"Minister Edward."

When the old director saw him, he nodded politely and said, "Please wait a moment."

He didn't even invite Edward to sit down, but immediately turned around and stared back at the rows of screens in front of the control panel.

"A bunch of trash!"

The old director pointed to the gently fluctuating curve on the screen and immediately reprimanded several of his subordinates:
"So many days have passed, why are all the 'emotional fluctuation' test results failing? Not a single one has passed!"
"I told you, I want peak performance! I want a dramatic response! Not this kind of half-dead data!"

Edward didn't urge him, but stood quietly to the side.

He knew that what was happening here was one of the most secretive projects within the group.

The project was secretly initiated by the board of directors, and no files were left on the intranet. The project was not even allowed to access the group's main computer or use a supercomputing network for assistance.

The entire massive experimental plan was meticulously broken down into hundreds of small modules, with each team responsible for only a small part of what was in front of them, and the data isolated from each other.

Each testing area is closed year-round and heavily guarded, all to prevent the leakage of experimental data.

Even Edward, the powerful Minister of Intelligence, had no right to inquire about the final blueprint of this experiment.

It was hidden too well.

　I released a free bonus chapter today, which contains some hidden information for later events. Be sure to check it out, and by the way, could you please vote for me at the beginning of the month?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)