"Is it okay?"
Seeing Elara and Cassian emerge safely from the pitch-black hole, Seraph, who had been waiting anxiously outside, immediately rushed over, gently tugging on Elara's arm and asking in a low voice.
"It's fine," Elara nodded, a look of confirmation on her face. "The path is safe, we can take it. And… something has definitely happened inside."
She quickly relayed what she had seen inside and the situation she and Cassian had briefly analyzed to the others.
After listening, everyone's expression grew even more solemn.
"In that case, we have to go in even more," Elara said after deep thought, finally deciding on the personnel for this infiltration mission.
"Me and Cassian, plus… Kane. The three of us will go in," she said, looking at Kane's face, which was filled with worry and anger. "Kane is familiar with the military's internal situation. With him, many things will be much easier to handle."
As for Zephyr… Elara glanced at him. Although she felt it was a bit of a pity, she reluctantly gave up on the idea.
There was no helping it. Zephyr's signature silver hair and silver eyes, along with his nearly two-meter-tall, mountain-like frame, were simply… too conspicuous. Taking him inside would be like turning on a multi-kilowatt searchlight in the dead of night, for fear that others wouldn't notice them.
Leaving Zephyr, Seraph, and the others outside to provide backup, and after tossing the remaining agreed-upon payment to the dark, thin man still guarding the entrance, the trio of Elara, Cassian, and Kane once again carefully infiltrated the heavily guarded, yet turbulent, temporary base.
Back inside the base, the three of them didn't rush to carry out any reconnaissance missions.
"We need to find a place to stay first," Elara said in a low voice to the other two, while vigilantly observing their surroundings. "The three of us, just wandering around the ordinary district like this, will definitely attract attention after a while. We need to find a foothold first, otherwise, we'll be too conspicuous."
"Mm, that makes sense," Cassian nodded in agreement. "And we also need a place to serve as a temporary base, to facilitate the exchange of information and… to store some things that are inconvenient to carry with us."
"Then… let's split up," Kane also said succinctly. "It'll be more efficient."
"Okay," Elara agreed with the proposal. "Then let's… regroup here in an hour."
The three of them assigned their tasks and then, like three drops of water merging into the sea, silently disappeared in different directions into the complex, unknown, crisscrossing streets and crowds inside the base.
With her two lifetimes of survival experience and keen observational skills, Elara quickly found an ideal foothold in this vast residential area for ordinary survivors.
It was a row of ordinary-looking temporary shelters converted from shipping containers. Its location was not far from the central area where people gathered, making it convenient for gathering information without being too noisy or chaotic due to excessive foot traffic. Most importantly, one of the shelters in this row happened to be empty; it seemed the previous resident had left for some reason.
For a new household to silently "appear" here wouldn't attract too much attention. It was perfect.
Meanwhile, Cassian, like an elegant hunter, was silently following a young man.
The usual gentleness and composure on his face were gone, replaced by a cold, emotionless indifference.
If Elara had been there, she might have… recognized the man Cassian was targeting as her long-unseen ex-fiancé—Leon!
But then again, maybe not.
Because the Leon of today was a world away from the handsome, dashing, and debonair wealthy young master from before the apocalypse. He had lost a significant amount of weight, his cheeks were hollow, his eye sockets sunken. The once-expensive clothes he wore were now dirty and old. The only thing that hadn't changed, perhaps, was his still-brilliant blond hair, and his blue eyes… which were now filled with gloom and ruthlessness.
As he walked, he cursed and roughly shoved a similarly sallow and thin woman who was following him.
"Useless thing! Can't even trade for a few crystal cores! What's the point of keeping you!"
Watching this scene, an undisguised, intense disgust flashed in Cassian's eyes.
He didn't hesitate.
With a slight movement of his fingertips, a faint, invisible electrical current, like a phantom, silently conducted along the damp ground.
Leon, who was shoving the woman, and the woman being shoved, both stiffened at the same instant. Then, their eyes rolled back, and they both fainted, collapsing to the ground.
Cassian slowly emerged from the shadows.
He glanced at the woman who had also fainted on the ground, his eyes showing no ripple of emotion. He took no action against her.
But when his gaze fell upon Leon's face, which even in unconsciousness still held a trace of ruthlessness and resentment, his deep blue eyes were instantly filled with a cold fury, like the sea before a storm!
He walked forward. Without using any abilities, he simply lifted his foot, clad in a hard-soled military boot, and viciously, mercilessly, kicked Leon in the face!
One kick!
Two kicks!
Three!
He only stopped when Leon's face was a bloody pulp, his nose broken.
But the anger in his heart still didn't seem to have subsided.
A cold stream of water surged from beneath his feet and, like a venomous snake, tightly coiled around Leon's neck. Even in his unconscious state, Leon's body began to instinctively and violently struggle and convulse from suffocation!
Watching Leon's agonized struggle, the cold fury in Cassian's eyes finally, slowly, began to dissipate.
In the end, he released his control over his powers, letting the man, who was now more dead than alive, collapse to the ground like a pile of mud.
He just gave him a cold glance, then turned and melted back into the shadows, as if nothing had happened.
...
In the evening, Elara, Cassian, and Kane regrouped at the shelter they had agreed upon earlier.
After an afternoon of separate actions, they had each gathered a considerable amount of scattered intelligence about the base.