Chapter 50: First Fortress 2

An He gazed out the window again. From her position, she couldn’t actually see the Black Fog—only the Swamp, which resembled it. Without any grass to cover it, the deep black mud looked like a slumbering beast.

Further east, the Swamp vanished over the horizon. There might be a boundary on that side too, but it was hard to say. Perhaps this Swamp was just an extension of the Black Fog. An He had never been there, so she didn’t know what lay to the east.

Lola’s casual remark from earlier had truly startled An He. When she looked out the window again, her gaze had changed.

An He had never heard anyone mention that the Black Fog was moving.

“The detection data from the Ninth Fortress showed no sign of that,” An He said. “During my training, I went through their probe records. The Strong Radiation Zone hasn’t changed much in the past century.”

“You’re right. The Saint Lord’s idea has no data to back it up,” Lola said. “That’s why not only the residents inside the fortresses are skeptical, but most of the rank-and-file soldiers just take it as an ideal. We don’t contradict what the Saint Lord insists on.”

An He picked up on the nuance and vented along those lines: “I don’t understand why the Saint Lord is so insistent on it.”

“A way to control people? To establish faith? Who knows.” Lola paused for a moment.

Just as An He thought the topic was over, Lola suddenly spoke up with a soft sigh: “If that’s not the case, then weren’t all our sacrifices meaningless?”

An He froze: “What do you mean?”

Lola gave a faint smile: “The war? The class divide? The successive waves of pioneers charging forward? I don’t know.”

After saying that, she herself seemed startled. She turned her head to gaze out the window and fell silent.

An He glanced sideways at her, catching only a glimpse of Lola’s profile. She noticed that Lola seemed subtly different—more sentimental. Compared to an ordinary person, it was nothing, but on Lola, it stood out starkly. After all, the Lola from before had been a heartless spy.

An He didn’t know when this change had started to take root. Maybe the day the flames of war ignited, or the moment they left the Ninth Fortress, or perhaps their conversations over the past couple of days had prompted Lola to examine herself.

In any case, Lola had become more like a living, breathing person.

Starting to fear death, developing expectations, harboring doubts.

The First Fortress didn’t need soldiers like that.

But An He needed an ally like that.

The misty dawn sunlight filtered through the car window onto Lola. That’s when An He realized Lola wasn’t entirely featureless—strands of hair by her temple were still flecked with blood, probably smeared there when she’d brushed her hair back behind her ear. The exposed earlobe glowed faintly red in the light. An He noticed that Lola’s ears were a bit larger than average. They even resembled those of her Embedded Spirit Bush Cat.

In An He’s mind, people with big ears brought good fortune.

But considering Lola’s experiences, An He couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

This fortune? I wouldn’t dare take it.

The two of them chatted sporadically like that, pressing on nonstop toward the First Fortress.

They reached the Hamir Plains at the pre-dawn hours of the second day. An He handed the driving over to Lola and took the passenger seat. She fitted suppressors onto two small-caliber pistols, handing one to Lola and keeping the other for herself.

Next, An He divided the supply pack from Ide into two portions. She took most of the weapons and essential tools, leaving Lola with the medicines.

Both traveled light. Besides a long army knife and the Holy Sword wrapped in burlap, An He hadn’t brought eye-catching weapons like sniper rifles or the Longbow. Instead, she carried palm-sized gadgets: a collapsible monocular telescope, a night-vision monocle, a multi-tool knife, and three lockpicking wires.

She stashed these items in various spots on her body.

An He instructed Lola: “Once we enter the Lower City, Captain Tina will stay with you first. I’ll come pick her up in two days.”

“Where will you be these two days?” Lola asked.

“I’ll scout the Babel Tower first,” An He said casually, though in truth she was on high alert.

More precisely, she was going to scout the Research Institute. The ideal outcome: spend two days slipping in alone and getting out in one piece.

First, to find special clues about Tina.

Second, to map out the Research Institute’s escape routes. Even if she lost the bet with Gu Xianqing—if she was captured for study in front of the Saint Lord—she’d know how to escape the Research Institute ahead of time.

She couldn’t afford to lose the kiss and her life. That would be too big a loss.

Lola hesitated: “Is this what you meant before—paving a way out for us both?”

“Yes.”

Lola rifled through the medicines in her pack. An He had left her most of them. Lola sensed the difference between An He and Tina. Though both gave orders, An He fully considered her teammate’s safety. A faint warmth stirred in Lola’s chest. Awkwardly, she said: “If you need help, call on me anytime…”

“Good, good, good.” An He agreed immediately, nearly laughing. This was exactly what she’d been waiting for.

Hearing it from Lola’s own mouth was far more reassuring than if An He had asked.

To avoid drawing attention, they disguised themselves.

“Hold onto these clothes and armbands for now.”

An He handed Lola two outfits: one was Tina’s conspicuous combat jacket, the other the ensemble An He often wore in the Ninth Fortress. The metal plating on it clearly didn’t belong to the First Fortress—An He couldn’t wander crowds in it yet.

She herself had changed into the loose black short-sleeves she’d worn upon first arriving in the Wasteland. Luckily, her initial gear was baggy and mobility-friendly, posing no hindrance.

As for the armband, it was the one Gu Xianqing had picked up from the corpse pit. An He had gotten it back from Ide. Nameless, she dirtied and crumpled it for disguising as Heroic Spirit troops.

Even Lola, upon receiving it, thought it was An He’s own.

An He readjusted her multi-tool belt and bracers, then pulled three black blankets from the trunk to drape as cloaks, securing them with clips. Gu Xianqing had said poor folk in the Lower City without warm clothes dressed like this.

Preparations complete, Lola drove around the Hamir Plains, using the night to hunt for District 21’s entrance.

The last time An He had seen the First Fortress, she’d overlooked it from on high. Only now on the Plains did she grasp its vastness—they were like ants circling a mold.

An He donned the night-vision monocle. Towering buildings blocked much of her view. Though they’d kept a safe distance, she could still clearly spot the red signal light blinking atop the central Babel Tower.

At three a.m. in the First Fortress, select areas stayed lit: key checkpoints, suspended rails, some skyscrapers glowed through the night.

An He noted that the Babel Tower’s body featured powerful spotlights every few levels, sweeping glaring beams from inside out, top to bottom across the entire fortress.

The white light hit the Shell Membrane and got fully absorbed. Those crisscrossing “wire meshes” flowed with faint rainbow hues like laser material—dazzling and eerie.

Only one area escaped the spotlights.

District 21.

Lola slowed the car, circling at a distance. They saw District 21’s Shell Membrane in dull gray, like a dead semiconductor tube on an electronic screen.

The First Fortress’s border formed a perfect circle, divided into 31 districts clockwise. Districts 1 and 31 flanked the front entrance, prioritized for both defense and development.

District 21 sat unobtrusively at the right rear.

More precisely, the failed Shell Membrane was in District 21-8-7.

An He elbowed open the sunroof, poked her head out, and raised the telescope. Heidi’s custom monocle clipped to her left ear, lens flush against her left eye, making her look like a secret agent.

“Huh, weird.” An He tweaked the stacked lenses, zooming. “I see a wall here, covered in infrared sensors. I’m not too familiar with this area—was it like this before?”

“No.” Lola said firmly. She took the telescope for a quick look and seemed surprised too: “They demolished nearby buildings to build a defensive wall.”

More accurately, a wall of compressed mud bricks and metal hugged the failed Shell Membrane.

As An He said, it bristled with old infrared sensors. Ancient tech kept them running—any living thing approaching would trigger alarms.

These were relics from Ivyen City, originally office anti-theft detectors, now repurposed. It was common; many facilities in the city got dismantled and retooled for unexpected uses—though it felt like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“Looks like new threats cropped up while we were away,” Lola said, handing back the telescope. “But this is it—the weakest point in the First Fortress’s defenses.”

Other Shell Membranes still functioned—no humans or even mosquitoes could pass.

Luckily, it was quiet now; no guards in sight. They were probably on the wall’s other side.

“Let’s head to that woods ahead first, scout for blind spots in surveillance,” An He said, unconcerned. This wall wasn’t as smooth or sturdy as the Ninth Fortress’s Iron Wall, nor as tall—about fifteen meters. Compressed from mixtures, it had tiny protrusions and dips. Without tripping infrareds or guards, their skills would make flipping it easy.

The construction was ongoing. Not meant to stop people—what was it for?

An He soon found out.

As they neared the woods, Lola glanced at the rearview mirror with an odd expression: “Bone Eaters are prowling here—two of them. They’re following us.”

An He gripped the roll bar and twisted back.

Two small-bodied Tier Four Bone Eaters, crawling types—standard D-rank. Covered in yellow sand, gaps stuffed with dry twigs and leaves. They’d been lurking here a while, desperate to bulk up.

An He’s moving car had drawn their notice easily. They churned the sand furiously, wheeling around to tail them.

An He frowned. These little Bone Eaters weren’t a huge threat, but not negligible. If they stopped to fight, with three aboard—one injured, one deranged—An He would have to split focus protecting teammates. She might not gain the upper hand.

She eyed the Bone Eaters, then the distant infrareds. Inspiration struck.

Since they couldn’t dodge the sensors, why not trigger everything?

“Drive—head for the Shell Membrane edge.”

An He issued the order. She stowed her pistol, drew her army knife, and vaulted lithely into the back to secure Tina. “When we’re close, let us out first. Keep circling, drive the car farther. I’ll go in ahead, then loop back for you.”

Lola glanced over: “Your plan is to ditch me?”

“Of course not.” An He said earnestly. “Trust me.”

“Fine.” With their prior trust, Lola quickly complied. As the Bone Eaters closed in, she floored the accelerator.

The Bone Eaters sped up too. “Starved” for a while, they flanked the car’s tail relentlessly. Their front bone segments hooked the rear bumper—hard bone grinding rusty metal louder than the engine.

At that moment, the car’s three occupants were eerily calm—one lost in thought, two hyper-focused. No visible difference.

An He gauged distances patiently. The last time she’d run a mission like this was with Ide hunting Bone Eaters—she’d driven then, Ide commanded.

Now, she commanded, in new territory, with a new teammate.

She could face the impacts grazing her scalp with composure.

“We need to go faster.” An He cracked the right door. “Lure them into infrared range before guards hear. Best if they smash the wall.”

Infrared range looked to be ten meters outside the Shell Membrane—plenty for them.

Lola was an excellent executor. In the next second after An He gave the order, the entire vehicle suddenly accelerated, charging unstoppable toward the wall.

An He couldn’t help but grab hold of Tina.

At this moment, Lola looked like she was about to slam right into the wall herself—that wasn’t part of An He’s plan. She still didn’t want to go down together with it.

But An He had underestimated Lola’s ability to improvise. After shaking off the Bone Eaters by two meters and just about to enter the monitoring range, Lola slammed on the brakes.

An He, carrying Tina, seized the chance to roll out of the vehicle. The moment An He’s shoe soles left the body of the car, the whole vehicle roared back to life, scraping past An He’s body in an extreme sharp turn.

Just as the car’s tail swept by, An He whipped her head around to look behind her with extreme speed. Within her line of sight, the figures of the two Bone Eaters suddenly loomed larger—they had accelerated and were charging straight at her.

…

Thirty seconds earlier.

“Did I just hear a motor? Did you hear that?” The guard by the wall raised his gun.

“No way, are those two Bone Eaters acting up again?” The other teammate in a hat stepped out of the sentry post. “Listen, that bone-knocking sound—it’s definitely them.”

The hand the guard had pressed on the alarm hesitated for a moment. “Hold on, let me take a look.” The guard slowly approached the unfinished defensive wall.

The two of them had been on guard duty for six days and six nights. Those two Bone Eaters outside had been circling this area for several days, approaching the Shell Membrane every night, trying to climb over the High Wall into the fortress. Sometimes they’d slam their bodies against the wall, jangling the guards’ nerves from time to time. To be honest, everyone had grown a bit numb to it.

The good thing was, their body types weren’t suited for climbing, and they always triggered the alarms when they got close. The machine guns and ray fire cannons set up around the Shell Membrane would activate automatically, and not far off, there was an armored unit on standby as backup.

But these two Bone Eaters were extremely persistent. The moment the weapons fired, they’d tactically retreat.

To avoid more Bone Eaters ambushing from the woods when firepower was insufficient, the guards wouldn’t leave the Shell Membrane to chase them down. This led to a standoff that had dragged on for days without resolution.

It only took five or six days to go from “hoping they wouldn’t show up” to “wipe them out the moment they do” to “as long as they don’t breach the defenses, neither side can kill the other.”

The teammate in the hat sighed. “When’s command gonna send someone strong to just take them out quick?”

“No reinforcements for a while, I bet. We’ve lost a lot of people lately—gotta wait for the Saint Lord to free up some manpower.” As he spoke, the guard peered through the observation slit mounted on the wall to check the situation outside. “Hope they make a fuss today and leave like usual.”

Through the small hole, the guard saw a black shadow rapidly growing larger. Just as he thought his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness beyond the wall yet, the infrared alarms exploded all at once. Flashing warning lights immediately alerted the thirty nearest guards and one armored vehicle.

Something had entered the alert range!

Unlike usual, this time it wasn’t creeping up slowly. In the next second after the alarms blared, a massive impact followed right behind. It was like it had started its sprint from a hundred meters away, an unstoppable crash.

Too fast—the reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet, and the unfinished wall was already cracking. It started with a tiny gap at the observation slit, which widened bigger and bigger within two seconds. The entire High Wall shook unsteadily.

Boom—

Before they could catch their breath, another impact hit. The upper layer of unset earth collapsed in a roar, half of it crumbling away.

Choking dust billowed everywhere, numbing mouths and throats. Shouts and gunfire erupted all around simultaneously. No one knew who yelled, “Warning! Bone Eaters are attacking!”