The ashen gray faded, replaced by a touch of healthy color. His breathing became steady, and his soul power fluctuations stabilized. Zhang Wan's condition was even better; she opened her eyes shortly after taking the medicinal liquid. Though still very weak, she was already out of life-threatening danger.
"Strategist..." Li Yang's voice was very faint, but much stronger than before. "Thank you..."
"Don't thank me." Su Chen leaned against the ice wall, his eyes closed. "If you want to thank someone, thank Lord Qian Renxue, Commander Zhao Feng, and Lord Lin Mo. They were the ones who taught me what it means to protect."
Li Yang's eyes grew moist. He struggled to raise his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and pressed it against his chest: "The heroic spirits are immortal; our guardianship will never cease."
"The heroic spirits are immortal; our guardianship will never cease." All the students spoke these words in unison. Their voices echoed within the ice cave, piercing through the ice walls, through the blizzard, and drifting far into the distance.
...
The next day, just as the sky brightened, Su Chen led the team to set off once again.
After a night's rest, coupled with the nourishment of the Snow Ginseng, Li Yang and Zhang Wan's injuries had stabilized. Though they still couldn't fight, they were able to walk on their own. The other students had also recovered most of their stamina; their spirits were high, and their fighting spirit was soaring.
After trekking for another two hours or so, Su Chen's perception caught a massive energy source.
"We're here." Su Chen stopped and pointed ahead. "The Void Cult's base is inside that iceberg up ahead."
The students looked in the direction Su Chen was pointing and saw a colossal iceberg, towering into the clouds, entirely ice-blue and gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight. The iceberg's shape was highly regular, conical, resembling a massive pyramid. If Su Chen hadn't told them it was the Void Cult's base, the students would have thought it was just an ordinary iceberg.
"So huge..." Chen Hao murmured.
"The volume of this iceberg is more than ten times that of an ordinary one," Su Chen said. "The Void Cult spent at least ten years hollowing out its interior, constructing a massive underground base. According to intelligence, the base extends at least five hundred meters underground, with a total area exceeding one hundred thousand square meters. Inside, there are laboratories, training grounds, armories, living quarters, and a core area dedicated specifically to researching the power of the Void."
"How do we get in?" Ares asked.
Su Chen retrieved a map from his robes; it was a structural blueprint of the base drawn by the Heaven Dou Empire's intelligence department based on reconnaissance. He spread the map out on the snow, and the students gathered around to look.
"The base only has one entrance, on the north side. But it's heavily guarded by at least a hundred black-robed cultists, and no fewer than five Soul Douluo-level powerhouses." Su Chen pointed to a red dot on the map. "If we force our way through, our thirty-three people won't be nearly enough."
"Then what do we do?" a student asked.
Su Chen's finger moved across the map, stopping on the southeast side of the iceberg. "There's a ventilation duct here that connects to the second underground level of the base. The duct is very narrow, allowing only one person to crawl through at a time. If we can infiltrate the base through this duct, we'll have a chance to enter the core area directly, sabotage their research, and then open the main gates from the inside to let the others in."
"I'll go," Chen Hao said immediately.
Su Chen glanced at him but didn't answer right away. Chen Hao's talent was indeed exceptional, but his personality was too impulsive; he was prone to acting on emotion. This kind of infiltration mission required calmness and patience, not hot-blooded courage.
"I'll go too," Ares said.
Su Chen shook his head: "Your build is too large; you won't fit in the ventilation duct."
Ares looked at his own burly frame and shrugged helplessly.
"I'll go." A female student stood up. Her voice was soft but very firm. Her name was Lin Xue, the only student in the third batch of the Heroic Spirits Academy who possessed an invisibility Martial Soul. Her Martial Soul was the Shadow Cat, which allowed her to merge with shadows and completely conceal her presence, making her the perfect candidate for an infiltration mission.
Su Chen looked at Lin Xue and nodded: "Alright, you and Chen Hao go together. Chen Hao will handle combat, and you'll handle stealth. Remember, your mission is to sabotage the core research, not to wipe out the enemy. Once you succeed, immediately send up a signal, and we will assault from the front."
"Understood," Chen Hao and Lin Xue said in unison.
The two changed into black clothing, smeared themselves with an aura-concealing ointment, and quietly made their way toward the southeast side of the iceberg. Su Chen led the others to lie in ambush behind a snowdrift on the north side of the iceberg, waiting for the signal.
...
The ventilation duct was extremely narrow, less than half a meter in diameter. Chen Hao crawled in front, with Lin Xue following behind. The two advanced slowly, one after the other. The inner walls of the duct were covered in ice, making it slippery and strenuous to move even an inch forward. Furthermore, the duct was filled with a pungent stench, like a mixture of rotting flesh and chemical agents, making one want to gag.
"This smell... is disgusting," Chen Hao whispered.
"Shut up and focus on crawling," Lin Xue's voice came from behind. "Your voice will echo in the duct, making it easy for us to be discovered."
Chen Hao spoke no more, focusing entirely on crawling. He estimated the distance; from the entrance to the interior of the base was about two hundred meters. At their current pace, it would take at least twenty minutes to crawl there.
The duct twisted and turned, going up and down, with some sections nearly vertical. Chen Hao found the crawl exhausting, but his physical fitness was excellent, and with the augmentation of his soul power, he could barely manage it.
After crawling for about ten minutes, Chen Hao suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Lin Xue asked.
"There's... something ahead," Chen Hao said.
He summoned his Sword of Light, and the golden glow from the blade illuminated the duct ahead. Five meters in front of them, a circular object blocked the entire passage. Chen Hao looked closely and saw that it was a soul tool, with complex runes flashing across its surface.
"It's a sensor," Lin Xue's voice carried a hint of tension. "If we get any closer, it will trigger the alarm."
"Can we go around it?"
"No, it completely blocks the duct."
Chen Hao thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "I have an idea."
"What idea?"
"Use the power of light to shield us from its sensors," Chen Hao said. "The power of light can dispel all evil and falsehood, including the sensor's detection waves. As long as I envelop us both in the power of light, the sensor won't be able to detect us."
"Are you sure?"
"Not sure, but it's worth a try." As Chen Hao spoke, the Sword of Light released a faint golden glow, enveloping both him and Lin Xue. Then, he slowly crept toward the sensor.
One meter, half a meter, twenty centimeters, ten centimeters...
The runes on the sensor flashed a few times, then went out. Chen Hao gently pushed the sensor aside, squeezed past it, and Lin Xue followed closely behind.
"We did it," Chen Hao whispered, a hint of smugness in his tone.
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