The vehicle bay was louder this time.
More people moved through it. Other teams. Other missions. Gates didn't wait for schedules.
Mu Chen stayed close to Lin Lan, as ordered.
Lin Lan checked her tablet again and again, like the numbers might change if she stared hard enough.
"Signal is still dirty," Lin Lan said.
Zhou Xiao adjusted his gloves. "Dirty means something is blocking it."
Ye Fan didn't answer. He climbed into the van and sat near the door, like he wanted to be the first out and the last in.
Mu Chen took the seat across from him again.
The door shut.
The van moved.
The city outside the windows was dark, but not asleep. Distant lights. Distant towers. Roads that looked empty but weren't, because the base had already cleared them.
Mu Chen watched Ye Fan for a moment.
Ye Fan didn't look back.
His eyes stayed on the window like he was counting seconds.
The camera inside the van blinked red.
Zhou Xiao leaned toward Mu Chen slightly, voice low. "If it's really B-grade…"
Mu Chen answered quietly. "We follow orders."
Zhou Xiao gave a humorless laugh. "That's what they always say."
Lin Lan cut in, flat and calm. "Less talk."
Zhou Xiao shut up.
Mu Chen didn't mind the silence.
Silence was safer than words.
The van stopped at the edge of the abandoned zone.
A tall fence cut the street in half. Old warning signs hung from it, faded and scratched. Beyond the fence, buildings stood empty. Streetlights were off. Windows were black.
The driver didn't open the door until Ye Fan signaled.
Ye Fan lifted his hand.
The door opened.
Cold air poured in.
Mu Chen stepped out and felt the difference at once.
The abandoned zone didn't just look empty. It felt empty.
Like sound got swallowed.
Like the air had been washed clean of people.
Lin Lan's tablet beeped. "Gate is one kilometer in."
Zhou Xiao glanced around. "No patrols."
Ye Fan's voice was low. "Because this place is off-limits."
Mu Chen stared into the dark street ahead.
He could sense it faintly now. The gate's presence. Like a pressure in the distance, pulling at the mind.
They moved.
No headlights. Only low lights on their gear.
Ye Fan led, fast and silent. Zhou Xiao stayed to his left. Lin Lan to his right, scanning and recording. Mu Chen stayed behind them.
Mu Chen kept his power locked down.
If he let it spread here, it would feel different. Gates responded to power. Monsters responded to power. The zone itself might respond.
He didn't know the rules yet.
They passed empty storefronts and cracked sidewalks. Old posters peeled off walls. A child's toy lay on the ground, half buried in dirt.
Mu Chen felt something tight in his chest.
Not sadness.
A memory.
He had seen places like this before, just smaller. Orphanage corners no one cleaned. Abandoned rooms. Forgotten things.
Zhou Xiao slowed. "Do you hear that?"
Mu Chen listened.
At first, nothing.
Then a faint sound. Like glass rubbing against glass.
Lin Lan whispered, "That's not wind."
Ye Fan lifted his hand again. Stop.
They froze.
The sound grew louder.
A thin, high scrape, moving across the street from somewhere ahead.
Mu Chen's skin prickled.
Ye Fan stepped forward one pace and scanned the dark.
His voice was calm. "Show yourself."
The scraping stopped.
Then something moved above them.
Mu Chen looked up.
A shape clung to the side of a building like a spider. Too thin. Too long. Its limbs bent wrong. Its head tilted, as if curious.
Gate monster.
Zhou Xiao raised his weapon slowly.
The thing dropped.
It hit the ground without a sound.
Then it rushed.
Fast.
Ye Fan moved first, like he had been waiting for it. He fired. Two shots. The monster twisted and dodged like it knew where the bullets would go.
Lin Lan threw a small flash device. The monster hissed, and the sound stabbed Mu Chen's mind like needles.
Mu Chen's vision blurred for half a second.
Zhou Xiao swore and fired again.
Ye Fan closed the distance and struck with a knife, quick and hard.
The monster's body split like wet paper.
Black liquid hit the ground.
It evaporated.
The street went quiet again.
Mu Chen realized his hands were clenched.
He forced them to relax.
Ye Fan turned his head slightly. His eyes flicked to Mu Chen.
Checking.
Mu Chen gave nothing away.
Lin Lan spoke, voice tight. "If there's one, there's more."
Ye Fan nodded once. "We keep moving."
They moved faster.
The air pressure grew stronger the closer they got. Mu Chen felt it in his teeth, in his skin, like static before lightning.
Then they saw it.
The gate.
It wasn't a door.
It was a tear.
A vertical split in the air between two dead buildings, glowing faintly like a wound that refused to close. The space around it warped, as if the world was bending away.
Lin Lan's tablet beeped like crazy. "Energy spike. Confirmed gate."
Zhou Xiao whispered, "B-grade?"
Lin Lan swallowed. "Maybe."
Ye Fan didn't answer.
He stared at the gate like he was staring at a living enemy.
Mu Chen watched Ye Fan's posture.
The closer they stood to the gate, the tighter Ye Fan's control became. Like his senses were being pulled open by force.
Mu Chen felt the urge again.
Help him.
Just a little.
Mu Chen didn't move.
Ye Fan stepped toward the gate.
He stopped at the edge, just outside the glow.
He looked back at the team. "Same rules. Stay close. Lin Lan records. Mu Chen stays behind me."
Mu Chen's chest tightened.
Behind me.
Not behind the team.
Behind Ye Fan.
Zhou Xiao looked confused, but didn't argue.
Mu Chen nodded. "Yes, Major."
Ye Fan faced the gate again.
He breathed in once, slow and deep.
Then he stepped through.
The world changed.
The abandoned street vanished like a dream, and the air turned heavy and wet.
Mu Chen stepped in after Ye Fan, and felt the gate swallow him whole.