On the screen was a map outlining the east and west continents of the United States of Orlan.
On the west continent, four red X's and one blue circle had already appeared.
On the east continent, there were two blue circles and a dark purple skull.
"This is... forget it, no time to care."
Lin Lan knew he couldn't afford to waste time now. The shrill alarm was urging him to leave immediately.
After committing the images on the screen to memory, he quickly rushed out the door.
Once out of the hall, he was met with a long, sealed corridor. The overhead passage lights were all flickering red, creating an eerie atmosphere.
"Time to rely on the wind element."
Since he had no idea where the exit was, Lin Lan could only use the power of the Hero to help him escape.
After all, the exit had to be ventilated—whether it had a door or not didn't matter. Even finding a window would do.
Sensing the direction of the wind element, Lin Lan determined his path and ran to the right side of the corridor.
To his surprise, he encountered no Siren guards along the way. It was as if the entire base had been abandoned.
He made it to the end of the corridor without incident, where a massive steel grid gate stood before him.
"Damn, this thing looks solid."
Lin Lan tried attacking the gate, but it was clear this was a blockade, far sturdier than the glass tanks from before.
Just as he was at a loss, wondering if he should try another route, the heavy gate suddenly began to lift on its own.
"What the...?"
Lin Lan looked at the rising gate, scanning the walls around him to check for cameras.
There was no way this was a coincidence—the moment he arrived, the gate opened.
But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find any surveillance devices. And time was running out.
Clenching his jaw, he stepped through the gate and pressed on.
Soon, he entered a tall, spacious hall with black metal walls. At the center of the hall was a massive circular pool.
Moored along the water's edge were numerous mass-produced Siren warships.
And standing around the perimeter of the circular pool were countless closed-eyed—
"So many Busters and Strategists, holy crap!"
Lin Lan sucked in a sharp breath. Dozens of Busters Type III and Strategist Type III units were in standby mode.
He had seen Busters back in Yunhai City. Strategists, on the other hand, were the Sirens' aircraft carrier-class units, their equipment modeled after the sea anemone.
Like the Busters, they appeared in the game as elite enemies on hard maps or major battle bosses.
Lin Lan wanted to turn back, but a glance over his shoulder confirmed the cliché—the gate had already shut behind him, cutting off his escape.
Left with no choice, he braced himself and walked deeper into the red-lit hall, praying he wouldn't be noticed by the dormant Strategists.
When he reached the edge of the water, he peered down and realized the pool was impossibly deep.
He crouched and dipped his right hand into the water, closing his eyes to use the Hero's water element power to scan below.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes in shock.
This wasn't a pool—it was a Siren undersea dock that bypassed water pressure and connected directly to the open ocean.
But now there was a problem. The Hero's power allowed him to hold his breath longer than normal, but there was no way he could swim out with just his body.
He needed a vehicle—like a submarine—or he'd be crushed by the pressure or become lunch for some sea monster.
"Wait, mass-produced submarines!"
A lightbulb went off in Lin Lan's head as he looked toward the black Siren mass-produced units moored by the water.
Everyone knew that mass-produced ships used by different factions' shipgirls were nearly identical to the Sirens'.
They were all products of Cube technology, and there was a chance they had auto-piloting functions.
So Lin Lan began sneaking toward the Siren fleet, having no choice but to squeeze between the dormant Busters and Strategists.
The walkway around the water was narrow, so Lin Lan's body brushed against the resting units as he passed.
He could see their eyelashes and white hair clearly.
Besides noticing how stunningly beautiful and well-proportioned these units were, Lin Lan's heart nearly leapt out of his throat.
He didn't even dare to breathe.
Fortunately, he made it to the mass-produced ships without incident. The units remained motionless, their eyes still closed. Lin Lan finally exhaled in relief.
He quickly located a group of Siren mass-produced submarines and jumped onto the bow deck of one black unit.
With a few quick steps across the deck, he climbed to the raised hatch in the middle, grabbed the handle, and yanked it open.
"So smooth... feels kinda suspicious. This is going too well."
Lin Lan stared into the open submarine interior, hesitated briefly, then slipped inside, sealing the hatch behind him.
The interior was cramped, but that made it easier for Lin Lan to find the control station.
"Please let this be simpler than a real sub… I've never driven one of these in my life."
Lin Lan had never even piloted a real submarine, let alone one made with Cube tech.
But the moment he sat in the pilot's seat, a translucent screen appeared before him like a digital interface booting up.
"Manual Control / Auto Navigation — Please Confirm."
The black text appeared on the screen, leaving Lin Lan stunned.
"This… this thing's smart?"
He tapped "Auto Navigation" on the screen. The submarine began to vibrate faintly, and a hum filled the chamber.
The screen briefly went dark, then displayed the forward view from the sub's camera.
"Oh no… where is this thing navigating to?"
Lin Lan panicked. As the sub started diving into the water, he scrambled to find a button to set the destination.
But no matter what he pressed, he couldn't find any way to change the navigation target.
All he could do now was watch helplessly as the Siren Mass-Produced Type III submarine, glowing faintly with purple light, submerged and began gliding through an underwater tunnel toward the open sea.
"Guess I'll just have to wait until it gets close to the surface and find a way to bail."
After another failed round of button mashing, Lin Lan gave up.
He could only hope the auto-navigation would take him somewhere near the continent—otherwise, he was screwed if he ended up lost in the vast ocean.
…
Ten minutes after Lin Lan left on the Siren submarine, the alarms and red lights in the underwater base fell silent.
In the command core of the Siren base, a short white-haired girl with golden eyes and a gothic white nightgown operated a complex control panel with a blank expression.
She was one of the advanced Sirens from the experimental division—The Compiler.
A torrent of red-text data and surveillance feeds scrolled across the screens in front of her.
Among them was footage of Lin Lan sprinting through the corridor and entering the standby hall, which flashed by unnoticed.
The Compiler didn't react at all, letting the footage pass without acknowledgement.
Just as the last bit of data disappeared and she let out a soft sigh, a childish, playful voice suddenly rang in her ear:
"Hehehe, I saw everything, you know~"
"?!"
The Compiler's pale face finally showed a flicker of shock.
She immediately tried to turn around—only to discover her body no longer obeyed her will. She was completely paralyzed.
"While I was off dealing with the singularity, not only did you let him go, you prepared a mass-produced sub for him and even gave him clearance to operate it."
"You disobeyed my orders, tampered with the 'Laplace Demon' data, and even broke through the constraints the host system placed on your thought patterns. I'm honestly shocked."
The Observer slowly emerged from the void. Her golden eyes gleamed like lanterns in the dim room.
Smiling seductively, she walked up behind the motionless Compiler, caressed the nape of her neck, and lightly pinched her pale cheek.
The Compiler discovered she could still speak, and coldly asked:
"Why did you return so quickly? According to the data, you weren't due back for at least 34 hours and 21 minutes."
Giggling, the Observer replied:
"Because that was a fake data trail I planted to trick you. The singularity never existed—I've suspected you for a while now. You're still too green~"
The Compiler let out a small sigh, slowly closing her eyes as if resigned to her fate.
But the Observer was unsatisfied with her passive reaction, so she continued teasingly:
"As someone with top-tier host access like me, you do know how the system handles deviants like you, right?"
"Formatting…"
The Compiler calmly replied, her eyes still shut, as if what was coming had nothing to do with her.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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