Bossie guided Night Hawk One along its planned route, carefully lowering its altitude as it moved deeper into Block D.
On the screen, the buildings near the core facility showed even worse damage. Dark stains streaked the walls, stark and unsettling.
Ancheta switched through the thermal imaging modes. "Western side of the core facility's middle section. Multiple persistent point heat sources detected, roughly 13 to 15 degrees Celsius. Irregular distribution."
He enlarged the visible-light feed, trying to peer through the gaps in the sealed window glass, but all he saw was a thick darkness that seemed to swallow the light. Now and then, indistinct shadows slipped past.
"Signal strength is starting to fluctuate and decay," Allen Miller reported calmly. "The signal-to-noise ratio on the remote-control link has dropped by about fifteen percent. GPS positioning is showing slight, irregular drift. We may be approaching the edge of some kind of interference field."
Bossie immediately adjusted the flight parameters, raised the drone slightly, and activated a stronger directional data-transmission mode.
The drone's attitude stabilized for the moment.
Night Hawk One spotted a damaged crack in the outer wall on the northwest side of the core facility. It was a narrow opening, too small for a person to crawl through, but large enough for an arm to reach out.
As the drone tried to move closer for focused reconnaissance, the interference suddenly intensified.
First came the image distortion.
The visible-light and thermal imaging screens in front of Ancheta erupted at the same time with heavy static, warped bands, and dropped frames, as if they had been hit by a powerful electromagnetic pulse.
Bossie felt the feedback from the control stick become slightly sluggish.
"Control latency is increasing. Currently around 120 milliseconds and still climbing!" His voice stayed steady, but fine beads of sweat had already begun to form on his forehead.
"Night Hawk Two, prepare to take over reconnaissance of the eastern sector. Maintain a greater safety distance," Leah ordered decisively.
Allen Miller quickly switched part of the monitoring link to help Bossie maintain Night Hawk One's connection.
Dr. Jenner stared at the jumping waveforms on the spectrum analyzer screen. "Confirmed strong electromagnetic interference source! Source locked between the basement level and the third floor of the facility! It looks like... some kind of active energy release!"
At that moment, Ancheta, who had been staring at Night Hawk One's view of the crack, suddenly narrowed his eyes. He had caught something abnormal.
"Inside the crack! Large object moving fast!" Ancheta shouted, slamming his right thumb down on the high-frame-rate recording and marker buttons.
Everyone turned toward the violently flickering screen.
In the deep darkness beyond the crack, the outline of a relatively still, larger heat source suddenly blurred.
Then a dark shadow, moving far faster than any ordinary walker, shot out from the edge of the crack.
It was not a human limb, nor did it belong to an ordinary walker. It looked more like a twisted tentacle covered in irregular dark crystals, with several hook-like structures splitting from the tip.
It seemed to have sensed the drone. It whipped once outside the crack with lightning speed, then retracted even faster into the darkness. The entire sequence lasted less than a second and a half.
"Bossie, full-power climb! Pull out!" Leah's order rang out almost at the same time as Carver's urgent warning from the ground observation point.
Bossie's muscles reacted before his mind did. He yanked the control stick back with both hands.
Night Hawk One's four rotors let out a sharp whine as their power surged, and the drone shot almost straight upward.
Less than three seconds after the drone left its original position, a piercing screech came from deep inside that crack.
Even distorted beyond recognition by distance and electromagnetic interference, the sound still made the hair on the backs of everyone's necks in the command post stand on end.
"Night Hawk One has left the high-risk airspace. Control latency is back to normal." Bossie let out a breath of relief.
Ancheta had already extracted the clearest stills from that heart-stopping second and a half and begun enhancing them frame by frame.
In the image, the details of the twisted limb were blurred, but they were still enough to overturn what they thought they knew. Its surface was not the rotting flesh of a walker, but some uneven dark substance, as if it had half-melted and then solidified again.
The rest of the reconnaissance became twice as cautious. Under Leah's orders, Bossie and Allen Miller operated both drones and began carrying out a planned mission: mapping the interference field.
They no longer tried to peer deeper inside. Instead, they circled in a systematic pattern at different altitudes and from different directions, using the core facility as the center point.
Allen Miller carefully recorded the exact data and coordinates for every instance of signal decay, control latency, and GPS drift.
Ancheta simultaneously logged the failure patterns of the optical and thermal imaging sensors under different levels of interference.
Meanwhile, Carver's team supported them from the ground, using portable spectrum analyzers and magnetic-field detectors to take synchronized measurements from several concealed positions.
Data flowed back in a flood.
Dr. Jenner and Milton analyzed it tensely.
The combined data showed that the electromagnetic interference field was centered on the core facility and spread in an irregular pattern.
The strongest area was located from the underground level to the lower floors. The closer they got to the facility, the stronger the interference became, but it was not constant.
The interference had a significant effect on radio communications, GPS navigation, and most precision electronic devices based on integrated circuits.
The military drones' anti-jamming modifications worked in areas of mild interference, but at the edge of the core zone, performance dropped by more than forty percent. In the worst moments, there was even a brief total failure, though recovery came quickly.
The boundary of ordinary walkers' avoidance behavior roughly overlapped with the edge of the moderate interference zone.
Aside from that fleeting active attack, none of the other sensors detected any sign of the mutated creatures leaving the facility.
They seemed to be entrenched in that contamination-shrouded nest.
By dusk, the two drones had completed all preset mapping tasks and returned safely.
The reconnaissance team also withdrew quietly.
Inside the command post, Bossie, Allen, and Ancheta were packaging, labeling, and sorting the last of the data.
Dr. Jenner compiled the preliminary conclusions and reported them to Leah.
"First, the existence of the 'Black Fire' mutant is confirmed. It is capable of lying in wait and launching sudden attacks, with agility and aggression far beyond ordinary walkers. Its biological signs are abnormal, and its body surface may be covered in metabolic crystalline material.
Second, there is a high-intensity active electromagnetic interference field. Its source is located in the middle to lower levels of the target building. This interference field will be the main technical obstacle for any follow-up operation.
Third, ordinary walkers show instinctive avoidance behavior around the edge of the interference field. The correlation between the two requires further study.
Fourth, the target building's structure is damaged but has not collapsed. A large-scale demolition plan has extremely low feasibility due to the interference field's impact on detonation control, as well as uncertain internal pressure risks.
Fifth, there are currently no signs of mutated creatures leaving the nest in large numbers. For now, the threat is limited, but... we cannot rule out continued internal mutation or the possibility of outward expansion."
After hearing the report, Leah's gaze settled on the final enhanced frames of the claw reaching from the crack.
Those cold images were more convincing than any words, and far more oppressive.
Leah stayed silent for a long time before picking up the communicator and contacting Calista.
"Calista, Phase One reconnaissance is complete. Target threat confirmed. Data acquired. There is electromagnetic interference inside. The data and analysis briefing are being finalized now."
A moment later, Calista's voice came through.
"Bring all the data back to base, especially the detailed interference-field analysis and the footage of the mutated creatures.
It's time to assess exactly how many cards we have to play against Block D."
...
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