Chapter 1 The Broken Gate

"The gate is breached, A-009 has escaped."

"Repeat, the gate is breached, A-009 has escaped."

On this night of blaring alarms, some residents of Dateng City were destined to lose sleep.

Wei Shu stared at the dozens of flickering screens in the emergency conference room, his expression tense. The emergency report clenched in his hand was crumpled into layers of creases.

Veins bulged on his forehead, and his fists slammed heavily against the console. He couldn't understand. "How could the gate be breached? With so many guards in the prison, how did A-009 escape?"

"Dateng City only took custody of A-009 three days ago, and now there's an escape. The emergency report says the gate was breached due to a 'Deep Sea' network problem… but how could 'Deep Sea' have a problem?"

Wei Shu turned to look behind him. "Regardless, it has escaped. Ms. Nan Jin, you were the specialist responsible for escorting A-009, so you should be well aware of the danger this thing poses after escaping, right? We need to re-contain and imprison it as soon as possible!"

At the conference room door, a red-haired woman in a large black trench coat was twirling her hair behind her head.

She didn't respond to Wei Shu, but calmly stared at the flickering screens.

Dozens of staff members were each responsible for a screen, each screen divided into dozens of segments. All the surveillance footage from the gate to the containment city had been retrieved, but no one found anything abnormal. After the alarm of the breached gate, A-009 seemed to have vanished into thin air. This surveillance network could capture the trace of a mosquito flying by, but it couldn't catch a single hair of A-009.

Nan Jin slowly twisted her long hair.

Her gaze turned dark and blank. At the same time, the light from dozens of screens and hundreds of surveillance feeds suddenly slowed down in her eyes.

It wasn't that A-009 had really disappeared.

It didn't possess the ability to teleport. It was just too fast, so fast that… ordinary staff members couldn't even catch its movements without slowing down the playback speed.

Noticing the change in the light in Nan Jin's eyes, Wei Shu's expression turned solemn, and he raised his hand, gesturing for his subordinates to be quiet and not disturb Nan Jin's observation.

The entire conference room fell silent.

Finally, Nan Jin locked onto one screen. In a view slowed down by nearly twenty times, the shadow of A-009 appeared, like an oppressive darkness shrouded by a flock of crows. Even glancing at it made one feel a sense of depression.

The woman's gaze slowly followed, shifting from one screen to another, simultaneously mapping out a winding escape route in her mind.

During the gazing, two streams of clear tears slowly flowed from her blank pupils.

"It last appeared on… Light Rail Line 13. The final leg of the train journey is very long, so it can't get off." The trench coat woman glanced at the time and said softly, "If we take a shortcut, we can intercept it at the tunnel exit."

Wei Shu had already been waiting at the console. Upon hearing about Line 13, he immediately retrieved the surveillance footage of several main roads along the route and slowed down the playback speed. As expected, he saw that ghostly, phantom-like shadow… After breaking through the gate and escaping, the shadow fled towards the outskirts of Dateng City.

"You want to stop it, alone?" Wei Shu frowned. "Catching an A-level fugitive is no small matter. I suggest you ask Mr. Shu for help directly."

"It's too late. Teacher is busy… If you can guarantee backup, then I can handle this." Nan Jin looked at Wei Shu and asked coldly, "Besides, can you afford to wait? If we miss this opportunity, who knows when we'll be able to lock on again?"

This woman was very perceptive.

Wei Shu's expression was gloomy. She was right… This was a golden opportunity, one that couldn't be easily missed.

Moreover, it seemed that A-009 was determined to escape Dateng City. After tonight, trying to capture it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"Then… let's move! As long as you can stop A-009, I will guarantee sufficient backup!"

Wei Shu made his decision. At the same time, he felt a little relieved that it was Line 13… At this hour, this light rail heading towards the remote suburbs wouldn't have any passengers.

"Wait… what's that?"

"Zoom in."

"Zoom in again."

Wei Shu suddenly saw a speeding black dot in the final surveillance view.

At the same time, a string of black lines appeared above his head… After zooming in on the surveillance image, he could vaguely see a teenager, about seventeen or eighteen years old, sprinting all the way, boarding the last train, which was supposed to have already left, just before the doors closed.

Who was this unlucky fellow?

"…" Wei Shu looked at Nan Jin. "Is there any way to save him?"

The trench coat woman was silent.

"Line 13 will pass through a very long tunnel. He'll be stuck with A-009 for at least… 20 minutes." Nan Jin glanced at her watch and said with a straight face, making a dark joke, "By the time I arrive, he should still be warm."

Wei Shu's expression was complicated. As an insider who had read the files, he knew exactly what being in the same space as A-009 for 20 minutes meant.

It would be good if he was still warm.

He offered a silent eulogy for the teenager.

Then, he composed himself, took a deep breath, and banished these stray thoughts from his mind. The most important thing now was to direct the subsequent containment operation. He had chosen to gamble everything, and there was no turning back. He had to successfully contain A-009 tonight in order to minimize the losses…

"Connect to 'Deep Sea,' open permissions. I need assistance."

Wei Shu's voice echoed in the control room.

When he mentioned the words "Deep Sea," the person in charge couldn't help but look solemn. The emergency report submitted by the rear believed that the cause of A-009's escape was a malfunction in Deep Sea's operation.

Wei Shu couldn't completely believe this report.

Because "Deep Sea," the vast network covering and connecting the entire East Continent, had been operating closely and comprehensively for over 20 years. In the millions of event calculations in the past, it had perfectly completed all tasks without a single mistake… This time, he was willing to believe it was a false alarm from the staff. In fact, there were always false alarms every year, and they were always proven to be human error.

The large screen dimmed, displaying a waiting image of layers of waves sweeping and washing over the shore. The loading effect in the lower right corner was very retro. Upon closer inspection, one would find a blurry girl made of mosaics, running in place on the sand.

Wei Shu tapped his fingers, waiting patiently.

Finally, the room was filled with brilliance, and a clear, melodious, and gentle voice rang out in the control room.

"Deep Sea is connected… Serial number v349708069527, I am happy to serve you."

…

…

The lights were dim.

The train rattled.

This light rail was a long serpent crashing into the end of the broken night sky.

And Gu Shen was inside the belly of the serpent. He saw the tall woman's eyes, which were different from normal people's, as they emitted a red light from two snake-like vertical pupils, slender as swords.

The woman's voice echoed in the empty light rail car.

"Yes… obviously, you have touched it."

And Gu Shen's response followed closely. Cold sweat oozed from his forehead, and his voice trembled, but his consciousness was clearer than ever before.

One hand touched the ruler, and the other clenched the sharp knife.

The tall woman in the formal dress paused, seeming somewhat disappointed.

She stopped for a moment and continued to ask politely, "Then… why?"

Gu Shen stared intently at the old newspaper stained with blood on the woman's lap in the dim, blazing light. He tried to make out the contents of the newspaper, but the light was too dim to see clearly.

Gu Shen chuckled softly, "Madam… forgive me for being blunt, not everything can be perfectly represented in a tangible form, but when we touch a larger realm, we will possess more than we imagine. Infinity is already encompassed between 3 and 4."

The red light in the snake-like pupils of the tall woman in the formal dress flickered faintly.

Her lips moved, and she seemed to smile.

Seeing this smile, Gu Shen only felt a chill run down his spine. He maintained a relatively safe distance and slowly moved forward. The sense of oppression enveloping his heart had not dissipated.

He had no doubt that saying the wrong word, or even a single syllable… would trigger the woman in the formal dress to draw her knife.

So he could only remain silent, slowly approaching the woman in silent tranquility.

That newspaper was the only medium through which he could understand the other party's information. If he could see it, it might be helpful.

But the woman only lightly uttered two words: "Continue."

"… π is an infinitely non-repeating constant, which means it has endless precision, and on a ruler with limited precision, there is no point that can mark π."

Gu Shen spoke, trying to steady the other party, while slowly squatting down, looking up at the tall woman in the cramped space. These words seemed to enrage her. The smile on the woman's lips disappeared in an instant, and her eyes became as cold as a snake's.

She grasped the boning knife, and an icy wind swept through the entire light rail.

It was also at this moment that Gu Shen saw the newspaper trembling in the wind, as well as the scarlet blood writing… It was a series of numerical symbols and proof formulas.

They looked somewhat familiar.

Where had he seen them before?

His brain was working frantically.

Gu Shen recalled the scene when he first saw the woman. At that time, she was reading the newspaper… with a look of infatuation.

So, that's how it was.

"But even so, I still firmly believe that π can be touched between 3 and 4."

Gu Shen looked up, his voice a little hoarse.

"Madam… as for the reason, you and I both know it, don't we?"

"Alan Turing."

When Gu Shen uttered this name, the tall woman in the formal dress clearly shuddered.

She gazed at Gu Shen in surprise.

Yes, Gu Shen had found the "answer"… The woman was asking him to continue, not because she wanted to hear the proof process, but because she wanted to seek a common aspiration.

The densely packed mathematical symbols and proof formulas on the newspaper pointed to the same final destination, the object of worship and reverence in the eyes of the tall woman.

All she wanted to hear was this name.

Alan Turing.

The famous figure who created the Deep Sea network. Few people knew that he was also a mathematician, and in the realm of mathematics, π was easily accessible within the set of 3 and 4.

In the realm of physics, π was instead like a fictional number that didn't exist, untouchable and incapable of being represented by a scale.

After this name was spoken.

The cold wind in the light rail suddenly extinguished.

The flickering lights seemed to have gone out as well.

The woman's expression became gentle. She extended a hand, seemingly wanting to help Gu Shen up, but a ruler slipped out of her sleeve, the silver ruler she had gestured with earlier.

Gu Shen paused, subconsciously reaching out to take the ruler.

The next moment—

The two separated through the connection of the ruler.

The light rail exited the tunnel.

The howling wind poured down from above, and a sense of weightlessness suddenly struck. Gu Shen was thrown uncontrollably, clutching the ruler, and slammed heavily onto the ground.

"Thud!"

Gu Shen's expression changed as he heard a muffled thud, as if something heavy had slammed hard onto the light rail car. Above his head, a pair of visible footprints had been stamped—

Myriad sparks of light and electricity burst forth.

Accompanied by a piercing, ear-splitting roar, a long sword pierced through the metal skin of the car at an angle, piercing into the shoulder of the tall woman in the formal dress with unparalleled accuracy, like a nail, pinning the tall woman firmly to the side of the car.

Then, a second sword was inserted into the top of the car. The blade rotated, like cutting paper, and a large piece of sheet metal fell off the top of the car. A red-haired woman in a large trench coat crashed down, stepping on the sheet metal.

Nan Jin landed directly in front of Gu Shen.

She narrowed her eyes, glanced back at the teenager sitting on the floor, clutching his clothes, and reported with utmost calm.

"Wei Shu… the unlucky guy is still alive."

Unlucky guy, not a bad name, at least it's appropriate… Gu Shen grimaced, grabbing the iron railing to steady himself. That fall had hurt too much; his butt felt like it had been split into eight pieces.

Right now, all he felt was pain and dizziness.

He carefully tucked the ruler into his arms, hiding it inside his shirt. The ruler felt unexpectedly cool to the touch, making him exceptionally clear-headed.

The black-clad woman pinned to the side of the carriage, on the other hand, was in a state of extreme rage. She reached out a hand, grasping at the long sword that Nan Jin had nailed into her body, wanting to pull it out.

"Chi—"

The moment her five fingers touched the long sword, the blade erupted in flames, and the blazing silver light illuminated the entire car!

The woman screamed in pain and had to let go of her hand.

The silver blade burned with fierce flames, but the flames were also rapidly dimming—

Obviously, time was limited.

But at this time, Nan Jin did not act, but chose to wait.

She was waiting for Wei Shu's instructions.

Static crackled.

"Transfer the battle location, first rescue the boy named 'Gu Shen.'"

Wei Shu's voice sounded, word by word, without emotion:

"Do not fight A-009 on the train. This is the optimal solution given by Deep Sea."