The next morning, as the sunlight pierced through the thick toxic mist of the mutated forest, Thuong Sinh awakened. He looked to his side; Lam Thanh Moc was still leaning against the treehouse wall, fast asleep, her hair carrying a faint scent of grass. The treehouse she had created was actually quite small; having three people in this cramped space was impossible, especially since the distance between him and her was too close, making Thuong Sinh feel slightly unnatural.
He stepped outside gently and saw Tieu Viem curled up beneath a large tree, the night dew soaking the teenager's shoulders. He drew the Marsh-Blood Sword. The deep black blade under the early morning sun radiated a chilling aura of frost.
Rip! Rip!
Thuong Sinh glided between the ancient trees that had died and dried around the clearing. The sword-light flashed; every strike was extremely precise and neat. Trees as thick as a man's embrace were brought down in an instant, excess branches cleared away, leaving only straight timber.
Tieu Viem startled awake from the noise, rubbing his eyes as he ran over: "Big Brother, what are you doing?"
"Building more rooms," Thuong Sinh replied neutrally, his hands never resting. "That treehouse will be for you to stay in. Lam Thanh Moc and I need a private place."
Lam Thanh Moc also stepped out of the treehouse at this moment; she looked in surprise at Thuong Sinh carrying the large logs. She hadn't expected someone who looked as "heartless" as him to notice such small details.
"Let me lend you a hand." Lam Thanh Moc smiled softly, placing her hand on the ground. Green vines immediately reached up from the earth, coiling tightly around the logs Thuong Sinh had framed, connecting them into a sturdy small stilt house right next to the old treehouse.
The combination of Thuong Sinh's muscular strength and her ability made the work proceed strangely fast. By midday, a small camp had taken shape in the heart of the old forest. Thuong Sinh looked at his handiwork, then at Tieu Viem, who was staring in open-mouthed admiration.
"From now on, you go stay in that treehouse," Thuong Sinh pointed toward the old house. "It has natural wood-energy, which is very good for your circulation of the "Primordial Breath-Taking Manual". As for this wooden house..."
He turned his head to look at the newly built stilt house; though simple, it was much more spacious and airy. His gaze swept across Lam Thanh Moc, then quickly moved away as if to hide his somewhat "intentional" arrangement.
Lam Thanh Moc walked to his side, her hands still holding a bit of green light from her ability. She looked at the new house, then back at Thuong Sinh, the smile on her lips becoming even more meaningful: "This house is much sturdier. You've worked hard."
Only then did Tieu Viem fully sober up; he scratched his head and chuckled: "Big Brother is truly thoughtful; I thought Big Brother would make me sleep under the tree forever." The boy excitedly gathered his few belongings and dashed into the treehouse, not forgetting to leave the private space for the two.
Thuong Sinh said nothing; he stepped into the new wooden house, using his sword to shave down a few rough edges on the floor. Lam Thanh Moc naturally followed him inside. She sat on the edge of the wooden floor, which still smelled of tree resin, looking out at the misty mutated forest outside.
"Thuong Sinh," she called softly. "Building this house... was it because you didn't want us to stay too close in that small house?"
Thuong Sinh stopped his work, remaining silent for a long time before replying deeply: "My state still has poison that hasn't completely been retracted. Being too close will affect your ability. Furthermore..." He turned around to look at her. "I am not used to having someone near me while I am cultivating."
Lam Thanh Moc did not expose that clumsy excuse; she only nodded slightly: "I understand. Regardless, having a real 'home' in the middle of this forest makes me feel more at ease."
"Rest for the remainder of today." Thuong Sinh closed his eyes, beginning to enter the state of stabilizing his cultivation.
Time passed quickly; nearly a week of rare peace in the mutated forest helped everything settle into a rhythm. Under Thuong Sinh's guidance, Tieu Viem had completely consolidated the Early Stage of Body Refining. Lam Thanh Moc also used her ability to cover the camp in a layer of thin mist, making it merge completely with nature.
That morning, the fog was thicker than usual. Thuong Sinh stood before the wooden stilt house; he turned to look at Lam Thanh Moc.
"You two will stay here," Thuong Sinh said lowly.
Lam Thanh Moc stepped forward, looking into his eyes, seemingly having anticipated this: "You plan to infiltrate the enemy's lair alone?"
"Yes, that's why I need to go alone. If a complication arises, it will be easier for me to escape by myself." He gave Lam Thanh Moc a small purple jade stone containing a strand of his toxic internal force. "If this jade breaks, it means the camp has been discovered; take Tieu Viem and leave immediately. Do not wait for me."
Lam Thanh Moc took the jade, feeling the bone-chilling cold transmitting into her palm. She knew Thuong Sinh's character; once he had decided, no one could dissuade him.
"Alright, I will watch over Tieu Viem and protect this place." She sighed softly, her eyes worried. "You... must return."
"Mm."
After speaking, Thuong Sinh launched himself into the air. The Marsh-Blood Sword unsheathed from his hip, flying beneath his feet. A faint black aura enveloped both his person and the sword, making him almost vanish into the grey toxic mist.
Whoosh—!
A tiny wind-tearing sound rang out; Thuong Sinh's figure became a blurred black streak, lunging straight toward the sheer cliffs of Iron City.
Wind roared in his ears as Thuong Sinh stood on the sword tip. With a Late Stage Energy Refining cultivation, the sensation of Sword Kinesis Flight was no longer a burden on his meridians. He didn't choose to enter through the gates crowded with mercenaries and automated robots. Thuong Sinh's eyes looked coldly at the sheer cliffs beneath the Top Floor, where a massive discharge system was still spewing plumes of pitch-black smoke.
He lowered his altitude, controlling the Marsh-Blood Sword to weave through the artificial lightning arcs surrounding the cliffs. Upon approaching the discharge pipe mouth, Thuong Sinh retracted the sword to his hip, his feet lightly touching the searing metal wall. He held his breath, black aura enveloping his entire body to neutralize the terrifying heat, then, as fast as a ghost, he slipped into the gaps of the ventilation system.
Thuong Sinh pressed his body against the tangled pipes on the ceiling. He closed his eyes, concentrating to listen to every smallest vibration within a ten-meter radius in his mind. The Top Floor was not like the dilapidated forge or the polluted waste area. The space here was clean to the point of coldness. Thuong Sinh sensed dense electromagnetic waves sweeping across the ventilation pipe walls—the advanced motion sensor system.
"Biological scanning system. If I reveal even a slight heartbeat, the alarm will sound."
He circulated the "Marsh Blood Corrupting Heart Manual", suppressing his heartbeat to an extremely low level; his body was as cold as a corpse. Beneath a gap in the ventilation grille, Thuong Sinh saw a group of technical staff in white uniforms pushing carts filled with test tubes glowing with an unusual green light.
"Hurry up! This batch of materials must be delivered to the Laboratory before the Speaker arrives for inspection," a security platoon commander barked.
"Sir, how is the situation at the detention area for 'the brains'? I heard some students from North Heaven University just caused another commotion," a technician asked softly while pushing a cart.
The commander snorted coldly, his voice sounding cruel through his gas mask: "Commotion? The leader of that 'North Heaven' group has already been taken to the Special Interrogation Room. After three days and nights of high-voltage electricity and neural stimulants, he no longer has the capacity to cause a commotion. Currently, he is likely just a soulless corpse waiting for brain extraction."
The technician shuddered, not daring to ask further, hurriedly bowing his head and pushing the cart faster.
Thuong Sinh hid behind the grille, his gaze remaining cold and still like a bottomless lake. To him, those North Heaven University students were merely strangers caught in the brutal gears of Iron City. The only things he cared about right now were the Laboratory and the Special Interrogation Room. If the leader of the rebellion group was detained there, it was highly likely there were documents or important information regarding his brother.
He waited for the squad of soldiers to disappear, then slid out of the ventilation duct. The internal force in his body circulated gently, maintaining the "Phantom Steps" state at the lowest consumption level. He followed the wheel tracks of the technician group. On the shiny alloy floor, there was still a trace of glowing green chemical powder from the test tubes. To an ordinary person, this powder trail was nearly invisible, but under the vision of a cultivator, it was as bright as a guide.
At the end of the hallway, Thuong Sinh encountered a thick steel door with the biological area symbol S-1. Two automated laser devices mounted on the ceiling swept back and forth continuously, emitting red beams as thin as thread. He ducked into a dark niche beside an electrical cabinet. Instead of breaking the door, Thuong Sinh took out a small metal rod—a lockpicking tool he had scavenged from the forge ruins. He didn't use the tool to turn the lock but transmitted a tiny strand of "Blade Wind" into the door gap.
The sharp blade-force, carrying corrosive toxicity, silently severed the internal control circuit without short-circuiting the alarm system. The door shuddered slightly then opened a small crack just wide enough for a figure to slip through.
Thuong Sinh slipped inside. A pungent smell of chemicals hit his nose. Before him was a row of glass chambers, filled with brains being nourished in a deep blue solution, wires connected densely to massive servers. He stood before a central monitor, his eyes narrowing as he saw a running list: Ancient Knowledge Extraction Project, North Heaven Group, Subject No. 09: Processed.
He slid his fingers across the virtual control panel, searching for the name Thuong Vu. However, the screen immediately displayed a red warning: [ACCESS DENIED - SPEAKER'S CONFIRMATION CODE REQUIRED].
"Dammit, the security here is higher than I thought," Thuong Sinh frowned.
Just then, the rhythmic footsteps of a motorized patrol squad sounded from the end of the laboratory. Thuong Sinh looked around then suddenly jumped, clinging tightly to the back of a large solution tank.
The sound of military boots rang out. The container tank stopped before a large vaulted gate with a symbol. A dark shadow fell from behind the tank. Before the technician could realize the presence of a second person, a hand as cold as ice muffled his mouth, while a surge of toxic internal force like a needle-stab pierced the back of his neck, completely paralyzing the man's limbs.
Thuong Sinh dragged him into the narrow gap between two generators, pushing him hard against the wall. The Marsh-Blood Sword was not drawn from its scabbard, but the coarse fabric-wrapped hilt was pressed hard against the opponent's throat.
"If you want to keep your life, then answer correctly." Thuong Sinh's voice was muffled, carrying an invisible pressure that made the technician tremble to the point of being unable to stand.
Thuong Sinh loosened the hand at the man's mouth slightly, but his deep purple gaze remained locked on the opponent's pupils, which were dilated with fear.
"The name Thuong Vu. Where is he?"
The technician stammered, his teeth chattering: "Thuong... Thuong Vu? I don't know the specific names; the 'subjects' here only have numbers..."
Thuong Sinh said not a word; his finger lightly pressed on an acupoint on the shoulder. A faint toxic gas penetrated in, making the man feel as if thousands of ants were gnawing into his bone marrow.
"Ah... hng..." He was in pain but couldn't scream loudly as his larynx was constricted by internal force.
"The North Heaven student group. The leader who was just taken to the Special Interrogation Room. What is his name? What is his number?" Thuong Sinh continued coldly.
"Num... number 001!" the technician cried, tears and snot flowing. "He... he is the most stubborn one, the leader of those students. I truly don't know what his real name is; we were only ordered to call him Specimen 001!"
Thuong Sinh narrowed his eyes, his cold killing intent making the technician shake all over. "Where is he currently?"
"Interrogation... Special Interrogation Room No. 1, Level B4," he managed to say, eyes glazed with exhaustion.
Thuong Sinh withdrew his hand, and the technician collapsed onto the floor like a pile of mud, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. Then, he knocked the man unconscious.
He didn't need to rush; to Thuong Sinh, the detained man was a potential clue. If that person was the leader of the North Heaven student group, he certainly held a personnel schematic or knew the list of people brought here for experimentation.
"Level B4, Red Security Zone."
He stepped out from the shadows, gliding across the floor without leaving any sound. Instead of taking the main elevator where there were dense retinal scanning and biometric identification systems, Thuong Sinh aimed straight for the emergency staircase used by sanitation workers.
On the way, he encountered patrol squads. Thuong Sinh did not strike; he simply leaped up, clinging to rusted rafters high above, letting the clicking robots pass directly beneath his feet.
The deeper he went, the more the air became thick with the smell of sulfur and the groaning of heavy machinery. Upon approaching the boundary of level B4, Thuong Sinh saw a row of glowing red signal lights, rotating continuously. Two Biomechanical Robots—beings with burly muscles but faces replaced by optical sensors—stood towering before the only entrance.
Thuong Sinh hid behind a dark corner, observing the movement of the protective lasers. His gaze was cold, silently evaluating. He reached into his coat pocket, took out a small metal scrap found earlier, and flicked it toward the opposite corner of the hallway.
Clink—!
The small sound rang out in the silent space. One of the Biomechanical Robots immediately turned its head, its glowing red light sensor scanning in that direction. Thuong Sinh didn't waste even a second as the first robot's sensor diverted.
"Phantom Steps"
Thuong Sinh's figure blurred, turning into a faint purple-black smoke gliding across the floor. His speed at this moment had far exceeded the processing limits of ordinary security cameras. The remaining robot only managed to identify a minute air pressure change in front of it. But before its electronic brain could issue a command, Thuong Sinh appeared right within its defensive gap.
Slash—!
The sword tip carrying a dense black aura accurately pierced into the narrow gap between the chest armor and the neck joint of the robot. That was the concentration point for biological nerve bundles and hydraulic fluid pipes.
Hiss... hiss...
Extreme poison from the blade immediately erupted. The purple-black fluid penetrated inside, causing the internal mutated muscle tissue to rot in the blink of an eye. The robot's optical sensor flashed red continuously then went dark. Thuong Sinh spun, one hand catching the massive body of the collapsing robot to prevent a sound, while the other hand flicked lightly.
Whoosh—!
A sharp "Blade Wind" from his fingertip launched out, piercing the biological brain of the first robot which was facing away in the distance. The mechanical beast collapsed immediately.
Thuong Sinh re-wrapped the bandages on his sword. He stepped past the two corpses emitting black smoke; before him was the steel door to Special Interrogation Room No. 1.