The entire structure of the base was intricate, clearly indicating the tremendous effort the Keton family had invested in its construction. Sometimes, Zhong Yun felt profoundly curious how the Ketons had managed to locate the spaceship buried twenty thousand meters beneath the earth back then. If it was sheer luck, then their fortune was impossibly staggering.

The corridor housed automated equipment. Medical personnel moved swiftly, escorting the severely wounded middle-aged man along. After walking about two hundred meters, they reached the end of the passage.

The terminus was blocked by a heavy, sealed door, before which they halted. A medical attendant stepped forward, placing a tiny card against the scanner, then inputting a passcode. With a soft beep, a female voice announced, “Initiating verification…”

A shaft of blue light descended from above, enveloping everyone. Even Zhong Yun, standing slightly farther back, was bathed in its glow.

Zhong Yun gasped, momentarily convinced he was exposed. He gripped the hilt of his Ion Shaker Blade with one hand and clutched his compact ion pistol with the other, entering a state of extreme readiness. Should anything feel amiss, he was prepared to unleash utter carnage instantly.

Two seconds later, the blue light vanished. The system’s female voice sounded again: “Verification complete. Conditions met. Welcome to Sector Two.”

Zhong Yun visibly relaxed, relieved. He surmised that his stealth cloak must have been effective, preventing the blue light from registering his presence. Equipment from Jialan truly was top-tier; the cloak didn't just offer visual invisibility, but also spectral dampening.

This was far superior to a mere scrambler. While a scrambler could block detector signals, it was easily detectable itself.

He immediately registered the mention of "Sector Two," realizing this base was likely partitioned into several areas, each requiring different levels of clearance for access.

The massive door slowly slid open, and the medical staff wheeled the middle-aged man inside. Zhong Yun quickly followed, smoothly affixing a decoder near the threshold as he passed.

Inside was a vast elevator chamber. Once everyone was through, the door slid shut again. The elevator began its downward descent.

As Zhong Yun cautiously surveyed his surroundings, he sensed a subtle ripple of Yuan energy. Turning his head, he saw a man in his mid-thirties resting both hands gently against the wounded man’s chest. Wisps of white light emanated from his palms, shining onto the injury. The gravely wounded man’s vitality was rapidly ebbing away; in this short time, he had reached the very brink of death.

Yet, the white light was furiously replenishing his life force, pouring back more than was being lost, literally pulling the man back from the edge of the grave.

The middle-aged man’s paper-white face bloomed with color. Were it not for the gruesome wound marring his chest, no one would have guessed he was critically injured.

In stark contrast, the young man’s complexion drained rapidly, turning sickly pale, as if recovering from a severe illness. He swayed weakly, requiring someone nearby to support him.

Zhong Yun stared, dumbfounded. Such an ability existed? The power to transfer one’s own life force to another being. Judging by the younger man’s expression and pallor, the price paid was far more than mere Yuan expenditure.

Still, such a self-sacrificing ability, one that benefited others at the user’s direct expense, was utterly incredible. The middle-aged man, practically gone moments ago, had been miraculously restored to robust health in mere seconds. Based on his steady, deep breaths and ruddy complexion, he looked virtually unscathed.

Even Shui Lian Yue, who specialized in healing abilities, couldn’t revive someone so close to death. Healing techniques weren't omnipotent; when injuries reached a critical threshold, they lost efficacy. Minor burns or superficial wounds were manageable. For severe trauma, he was helpless.

A true asset. A masterpiece of talent. Zhong Yun fixed his gaze on the weakened youth being supported by others, his look resembling that of a lascivious man eyeing a desirable maiden. Having such an individual nearby was akin to possessing a resurrection spell.

The elevator traveled downward for about twenty minutes before stopping. Checking his locator, Zhong Yun estimated they were nearly eight thousand meters underground—still a considerable distance from the spaceship's location.

The medical team wheeled the middle-aged man out. After another ten minutes of walking and passing through a checkpoint, they entered the transit elevator leading to Sector Three. Upon reaching Sector Three, they finally ceased descending and pushed the still-unconscious man into a room.

Consulting the locator again, they were at a depth of twelve thousand meters. Zhong Yun hesitated. Without these escorts, reaching the lower levels would consume a significant amount of time.

Although his decoders had successfully cracked the access protocols for Sectors One and Two, the base’s control systems were segmented, with each subsequent sector being more advanced than the last. Cracking Sector Three’s controls had already taken over half an hour. Gaining entry to Sector Four would likely require at least another hour. Information relayed from the decoder connecting to the system indicated that the insurgent forces were already storming Sector One. He needed to move quickly.

With a flash of murderous intent, he followed them into the room. Inside, besides the five medical personnel who entered with the injured man, there were three others, making a total of eight.

Zhong Yun silently crept up behind the person positioned furthest outside, placing his hand on their back and gently releasing a pulse of Yuan energy, which ruptured their heart. The person collapsed silently, making no sound.

Everyone’s attention remained fixed on the middle-aged man, so no one noticed the incident.

Zhong Yun repeated the process, silently dispatching seven of the eight individuals. He spared only the one who appeared to hold the highest rank. Seizing this man by the neck, a burst of purple light shot from Zhong Yun’s eyes, piercing directly into the captive’s pupils.

The man convulsed as if struck by lightning, struggling briefly. Soon, the struggle faded, replaced by a vacant, stupefied expression.

“Tell me the passcode for Sector Four.”

“C3…” the man uttered a string of numbers slowly and with great effort.

Zhong Yun retrieved an electronic card from the man’s person, then released his grip, letting him slump to the floor. Zhong Yun hadn't killed him, but the consequences would be worse than death.

By forcefully invading his mind with powerful psychic energy and inducing deep hypnosis, Zhong Yun inflicted irreversible trauma. Even if he survived, the man was condemned to a life of idiocy.

He then pushed the unconscious middle-aged man out of the room and locked the door behind them. Looking around, the entire corridor was eerily silent, devoid of people, unlike the bustling activity on the upper levels.

Zhong Yun propelled the comatose patient all the way to the far end of the passage, where, as expected, another door stood. Following the exact procedure used by the base personnel earlier, he inserted the electronic card and keyed in the passcode. A chime sounded.

The same blue light descended, enveloping both the patient and Zhong Yun. After two seconds, the voice declared, “Verification successful. Identity confirmed. Mr. Lipoketong, welcome to Sector Four.”

Zhong Yun breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he suspected, this middle-aged man held an exceptionally important status to warrant access to Sector Four.

The heavy door opened, and Zhong Yun wheeled the patient inside. The elevator took half an hour to finally stop.

“Please present identification.”

As the door parted, two heavily armed guards, faces rigid with alertness, stood braced, staring into the elevator car.

“Huh…”

Seeing the scene inside the elevator, both guards started in surprise. There was an automatic medical cot inside, upon which a person lay.

One guard stepped forward, and upon recognizing the face of the person on the cot, his expression shifted dramatically. “It’s the Deputy Captain.” He immediately activated his communicator to notify his superior.

Meanwhile, Zhong Yun had already slipped out of the elevator and into the corridor beyond.

Unlike Sector Three, this area was heavily guarded. Two fully equipped personnel stood motionless every hundred meters or so.

However, clad in his stealth cloak, Zhong Yun moved past these sentries without eliciting the slightest reaction.

Zhong Yun found this increasingly strange. Why concentrate such heavy defensive forces here instead of sending them to reinforce Sector One? Didn't they realize how precarious their situation would become if the exits were sealed off?

Back in Sector One, the insurgents were already nearing the main door leading into Sector Two. The Keton family forces were effectively trapped.

Unable to puzzle it out, Zhong Yun stopped dwelling on it. The fate of the Ketons was none of his concern. As long as he could take the spaceship, nothing else mattered to him.

At that moment, the data transmission from the Sector Four entrance installed onto his device successfully uploaded. A wave of joy washed over him. While he hadn't fully compromised Sector Four’s operational systems, possessing the structural schematics was invaluable.

After reviewing the layout of Sector Four, he fixed his target on the deepest end of the base.

Zhong Yun navigated through the dense guard posts until he reached the far terminus of Sector Four, where yet another large door stood. This entrance bore some resemblance to the main ingress point of the base; one had to traverse a long, nearly thirty-meter transparent corridor before reaching the actual door.

Zhong Yun moved closer, intending to examine the door closely. However, the moment he stepped to the edge of the corridor, an alarm blared, startling him badly.

The sudden alarm triggered an immediate surge; guards poured in from all directions, tightly surrounding the door.

“What is it?” A short, middle-aged man in his forties approached, inquiring, “Any enemy contact reported?”

“Reporting, Squad Leader,” a guard stepped forward, saluted the short man, and replied, “The alarm suddenly sounded here moments ago. We rushed to investigate but found nothing suspicious.”

The middle-aged man frowned. This alarm system was state-of-the-art, reputed to be the most sensitive available—capable of triggering an alert if even an insect the diameter of a human hair flew too close. Yet, the base maintained perfect hermetic seals, and all incoming supplies underwent multiple sterilization processes. How could an insect possibly be present?

P: One more chapter to come. (To be continued. For the rest of the story, please visit [URL], more chapters available.)