Chapter 1 Tundra Zone

The tundra zone.

This is the northernmost region of East Continent, with a climate comparable to that of the fortresses of North Continent, perpetually frozen and bitterly cold all year round.

Here, there is only boundless wind and snow!

Yinta is the name of a small town, a place that does not exist on "ordinary maps." The climate of the tundra zone is so harsh that almost no one ventures into such remote areas. Along the essential routes leading to Yinta, the East Continent government has erected a long iron fence to warn curious "northbound travelers" to stop here and not continue.

Otherwise...

The immense wind and snow will engulf them.

Only superhumans venture this far, and only superhumans can safely reach this place.

The outskirts of the small town of Yinta are built with a layer of "protective shields," somewhat similar to the "Sky Curtain" of North Continent fortresses. Countless floating source-energy hoverboards form a giant honeycomb, but the cost of these "source-energy boards" cannot compare to those of North Continent because their function is merely to resist blizzards. Meanwhile, the East Continent Federation has built a tall tower in the center of Yinta.

Twenty-four hours of blizzard have reduced visibility here to an extreme.

Superhumans need to release their mental power to ensure their most basic "vision."

And that tall tower, in the deep of night, will release a brilliant glow through "source energy," a radiant light sufficient to illuminate dozens of miles around. A large amount of energy is burned in Yinta, and the tower's glow can pierce the thick snow, ensuring the "work" of the small town at night is smooth and normal.

There are actually many small towns like this in the northern tundra.

But very few have built such tall towers.

Throughout Jiangbei, only the five great families have enough strong financial support and are willing to pay generously to maintain the operation of districts in such remote areas.

Yinta is the city of the Bai family.

Several hours ago, Yinta received instructions to stop all normal operations, recall all staff, and release authority to the Deep Sea, quickly closing every "warehouse." After completing this operation, the source-energy boards floating on the exterior of the small town no longer closed, tilting slowly like fish scales… This meant that wind and snow would pour into Yinta without obstruction. In a few hours, the accumulated snow in the city would be enough to bury people.

"This is number Bszg9873, reporting that the outer city gate is open… Release completed, will close again in three seconds, lockdown countdown, 3, 2, 1. Lockdown completed."

"This is number Bszg5782, reporting that the second gate is open… Release completed, will close again in three seconds…"

Several hours later.

A convoy of vehicles arrived at the city gate in the night.

A clear report came from the Bai family's central communicator. The four city gates used for entering and exiting Yinta opened briefly and closed again after releasing the vehicles. Looking down from the air at this time, it was like a fortress built of iron sheets.

Or rather… a prison.

The armored tires of the convoy crunched over the thick snow, like ants on a snowfield, moving slowly and crookedly.

Eventually, the convoy reached the location of the tower, which was the headquarters set up by the Bai family in the district.

Bai Zesheng looked serious. He personally departed from Nagano, escorting the "prisoner" of this trip… He opened the back door of the car, and a dying man was lying in the back seat, his life almost extinguished, only a breath left. He was practically dragged out of the car.

According to Bai Xiu's request, this "sinner" should be executed tonight.

The Bai Clan Hall handed this matter over to the Second Elder for full handling.

So Bai Zesheng set off overnight, bringing the mastermind of the entire murder case to Yinta… After experiencing the mental power search on the road, this man had barely any breath left. Even if a deity came, they would not be able to save him.

It could be said that he was already a dead man.

However, he still had value to exploit.

...

...

"You placed him in warehouse B12 in the tundra… but during the search just now, there was no one in the warehouse. I don't believe you don't know his whereabouts."

Bai Zesheng sat calmly opposite the "sinner."

A camera was placed above the dark room, recording this final interrogation… He had to ensure that this case came to a stable conclusion, giving everyone a satisfactory ending, and this ending was not just as simple as executing the mastermind of the Elders Association.

He had to catch the murderer!

Through mental scavenging and torture… the Bai family had now confirmed that this assassin was still in the small town, so before setting off, the entire Yinta was immediately locked down, and the source-energy boards were opened.

The fierce wind and snow almost submerged the entire small town.

However, the assassin who struck in the frozen tundra was truly like a shadow, disappearing into the heavy snow of the small town out of thin air.

He could endure the bitter cold under the frozen tundra ice lake.

Of course, he could also endure the blizzard of Yinta… but now he was completely different from when he was lurking in the frozen tundra. He was injured and could not get treatment in such a harsh environment. How long could he last?

The "sinner's" eyes were close to scattering.

His willpower was not strong. Under the forced mental interrogation and torture, he had reached the edge of "collapse."

So Bai Zesheng's attitude was not harsh, he just opened his mouth gently: "Judging from the medicines found in the warehouse… his injuries are not light now. In a sense, he, like you, is a dying man. Even if I do nothing, I only need to open the source-energy boards, and within a week, he will be frozen to death in Yinta."

"So… your current pity and compassion are meaningless."

"You can't help a dead man, but you can help yourself."

Bai Buzheng's throat rattled.

He could no longer speak normally. No matter how hard he tried, he could only squeeze out such a hoarse sound.

"Alright… what needs to be said has been said. The following content is very important, I will only say it once."

Bai Zesheng said calmly: "If you want to die quickly and with dignity… I will give you an injection of 'good stuff.' You will have one minute of free call time. Contact him, and you can get a decent rest."

And not contacting him… would result in another kind of "rest."

He slowly got up.

He took a syringe from his sleeve.

Even superhumans who have awakened their abilities are just ordinary mortals. "Medicines" that can save lives can take effect, and "medicines" that stimulate the spirit can also… but the effects vary from person to person.

The "good stuff" in the syringe was injected into the artery.

This was a technology derived from the "Lion Awakening" project, used to stimulate the spirit, and it had powerful side effects.

But it had not been fully developed and released into the market yet.

In just two or three seconds, Bai Buzheng's pupils changed from scattered to condensed… unprecedentedly condensed, gradually shrinking into a small dot, and his thinking became clearer than ever before.

However… he was still weak.

After injecting the medicine, Bai Zesheng placed one hand calmly on his artery… ready to destroy him at any time.

A huge rationality filled his mind.

It was as if he had abandoned the "seven emotions and six desires" of a person, leaving only rational judgment and weighing.

After a brief hesitation, Bai Buzheng dialed a number…

The moment the number was dialed, Deep Sea had already begun working… This was a long-abandoned number. There were still many such "dead numbers" in the vast database. According to the constitutional agenda of the Five Continents Federation, dead numbers should be cleared.

However, ironically, all five continents retained such "dead numbers."

It was very simple… people all hoped that the other party had no secrets, while they themselves kept secrets.

This put the "data thorough investigation" work in a dilemma many times. Deep Sea could not further track down the identity of the owner of the dead number.

But there was still one chance, that was when the communication was connected, Deep Sea could lock the information address, but it would take some time.

"Beep—"

"Beep—"

The waiting process was actually very short, and the call was connected in only two seconds.

However, these two seconds passed very slowly in Bai Buzheng's world. He slowly raised his head, enjoying the mental power running rampant in his brain. It was an unprecedented feeling of comfort…

The communication was successfully connected!

Deep Sea's retrieval system immediately began searching for the geographical location of the other end of the communicator, and waited for the sound of the communicator ringing, to carry out identity recognition in the database.

"..."

Silence.

Bai Buzheng's voice did not sound the slightest bit hoarse or painful, but rather with a smile, he said easily: "It's me."

"Things are still under control… in an hour, I will extinguish Yinta's energy, and meet at the safe house. I will send you out of Yinta."

"..."

Throughout the whole process, the other party did not reply.

Bai Buzheng smiled and asked: "By the way, how is the situation on your side?"

Safe house?

Several staff members in the monitoring room narrowed their eyes. They had never heard of any safe house in Yinta.

The other side of the communicator did not give any response.

Just hung up coldly.

Unfortunately, the entire communication only lasted for about five seconds.

Deep Sea's retrieval system was forced to stop as soon as it started running. Such a short retrieval time did not provide much value for narrowing down the geographical range.

The communicator was indeed in Yinta.

And in the northern part of the closed area… but before the source-energy boards were opened, the entire city had already been scanned once. If the location could not be accurately determined, then the broad geographical location would not be of reference value.

"What is a safe house?"

Bai Zesheng opened his mouth expressionlessly, "Your time is running out… If necessary, I will give you another injection."

"The safe house is in warehouse C29 in Yinta."

Bai Buzheng smiled.

His attitude was surprisingly cooperative. Indeed… at this juncture, he had no need to lie.

After saying the last few words.

At this moment, all the pain disappeared.

From the camera system, it looked like all the bones in the "sinner's" body had softened, only his head was raised high. This man with a face full of blood had a silly smile, and his pupils had condensed into a small black dot… this black dot was still collapsing inward.

After the "safe house" was confirmed… this interrogation came to an end.

The sinner's last bit of value had also been completely squeezed out.

Bai Zesheng silently stared at the man with his head raised, watching his pupils shrink and shrink again, and finally disappear completely, leaving only a white space in his eye sockets.

He reached out to close Bai Buzheng's eyes, and then left the interrogation room.

...

...

The long night in Yinta was the darkest it had ever been.

The light of the tower was extinguished.

The blizzard poured into this small town. After losing its "light," the whole world seemed to fall into chaos. Except for the security personnel maintaining the safety of the tower, all other workers were given "rest." They settled down in the warehouses. The Deep Sea connection was no longer stable due to the fierce wind and snow. All supplies were mainly provided to the "tower" to ensure the "capture operation" could proceed smoothly tonight.

Twenty elite warriors from Nagano formed a cordon far away.

They controlled the entire C area, waiting for dispatch at any time, waiting for sudden changes… In order to ensure the mission was successful and not to startle the snake, the warriors maintained a very long distance.

No one knew where this "assassin" had hidden.

Because of the heavy snow, it became very difficult to move forward.

Bai Zesheng took out a sealed artifact treasured by the Bai Clan Hall, which was a thin human skin mask. Covering it on his face, the entire person's appearance underwent subtle changes.

He put on a wide black robe… and advanced alone towards warehouse C29.

The first half of the capture mission was the meeting.

If you want to catch a wisp of shadow, the best way is to first pull out this wisp of shadow.

The "energy destruction" of Yinta was just an illusion.

There was not a single bit of feedback from the entire communication. No one knew if that cunning shadow would really go to the safe house…

They could only gamble.

In fact, whether the other party believed it or not was not important.

If the meeting failed and they could not catch this wisp of shadow.

Then… they would drown the other party with the blizzard.

The worst case was that the entire Yinta would fall into a complete lockdown. With the source-energy boards closed, they would let the blizzard fall… one week, two weeks, one month, no matter how well the shadow hid, it would just be a corpse by then.

However, the Bai family would also have to pay the price.

This "warehouse" located in the far north undertook a considerable part of the trade mission.

If they chose to lock down the city just to kill a fly… while achieving their goal, it would also cause heavy losses.

So Bai Zesheng chose to gamble. He hoped that this case could be "solved" before dawn… Taking a step back, he hoped to achieve results as soon as possible and end all the troubles.

The closer he got to warehouse C29, the louder the sound of the wind and snow.

The signal in the central communicator was also getting worse and worse.

Perhaps it was because the source-energy boards were fully opened… the entire Yinta seemed to have become a bellows.

Everyone could only hear the hissing sound of "whoosh whoosh whoosh" in their ears.

Finally… the lone man walked towards the safe house.

The fragile connection was broken at the extreme distance.

Everyone became deaf and blind. They could only hold their breath and wait silently. Without orders, no one dared to act rashly… No matter how hard they tried to look, in the direction where warehouse C29 was located, all they could see was endless blizzard and the dark night.

...

...

(This is a very important transitional chapter, there will be another big chapter later, please vote for the monthly ticket~)