Chapter 18 Infiltration

The more nervous you are when infiltrating, the easier it is to be exposed. Han Xiao had experience in infiltration, and he remained calm and composed at this time, walking with a brisk pace, and didn't attract attention.

He wandered around the base for a while, gradually figuring out its structure. The base was hidden in the mountainside and was quite large, five or six times bigger than the laboratory he had once stayed in. There were two exits, one was the main entrance he came in from, and the other was a side door directly connected to the outside world, used to facilitate personnel entering and exiting alone.

For some reason, Han Xiao always felt that something was abnormal about some places in the base, but he couldn't put his finger on what the problem was.

Most people had serious expressions, like an approaching storm, and were hurriedly moving important supplies.

"Did you hear? The higher-ups want us to evacuate. It seems the Hai Xia people have discovered us."

"The higher-ups said that the scout in Ravenwood Town lost contact. It seems a war is indeed about to break out."

After passing a corner, Han Xiao heard voices. Several armed guards were gathered together talking, their tone worried. Seeing Han Xiao, one of them called out, "Hey, Talamand, you guys went out to search just now, did you find anything?"

Talamand was H223's real name, a Caucasian. Han Xiao wrapped himself tightly in his uniform, so you couldn't see his true skin color.

These guards seemed to know Talamand. Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he said, "The sentries outside were all headshot by sniper rifles. We didn't find any enemies. I guess this is Hai Xia's operation."

The guards looked worried. They were armed personnel, and if the enemy attacked, they would have to go forward to intercept them.

"I really envy those administrative staff. They can evacuate first," one guard said angrily.

Han Xiao's eyes flickered. The evacuation of Dark Raven Valley base was expected. After all, they were facing Hai Xia's regular army. This was just a branch base, and it was impossible for everyone to stay and fight to the death. But evacuation wasn't an easy task either. So many people would leave traces in the jungle, and would be tracked by the Hai Xia army. Therefore, some armed personnel would be left behind to cover the retreat and entangle with the enemy, allowing officials, cadres, and administrative staff to leave with important supplies. Some confidential supplies were more important than people. The armed personnel who were left behind would only receive the order to evacuate after the cadres were out of danger.

The ultimate goal of the faction mission was to destroy Dark Raven Valley base, which also included the enemy's active forces. If he only occupied an empty base, the mission completion rate would definitely be very low.

Han Xiao suddenly realized a problem, "The base knows that Hai Xia is invading, so why didn't they evacuate earlier? Ye Fan invaded last night, and more than twenty-four hours have passed, which should be enough time for them to evacuate… Something's fishy."

At this moment, a burly man walked over and shouted, "What are you all doing, standing around idly? Don't you have work to do? Get moving and carry things!"

The guards hurriedly apologized in fear. Han Xiao's eyes lit up. This officer was the base's guard captain, Domon, a burly Shanu person.

If the base had any secrets, this key figure would definitely know.

Domon scolded them a few times and then turned to leave. Han Xiao followed from a distance. After walking past a few corners, he suddenly froze. Domon had disappeared, only two seconds after leaving his sight.

The corridor was empty, except for a storage room.

Han Xiao walked over and twisted the doorknob of the storage room. There was no access control.

He pushed the door open and walked in. There was no one inside, and it was filled with various杂物 (zawu) or miscellaneous items. It was about a hundred square meters, without the lights on, and light from the outside corridor poured in through the crack in the door.

Han Xiao suddenly frowned, noticing something abnormal.

The storage room was spotless, without a single footprint on the ground.

Logically speaking, few people should be active in the storage room. Even five-star hotels were too lazy to organize people to clean it every day, and these rough men from the Germination organization were even less likely to do so.

Han Xiao was sure that there must be a secret door here, otherwise Domon couldn't have disappeared into thin air, but he couldn't find the location of the secret door.

What was behind the secret door?

Han Xiao suddenly covered his mouth and coughed. Taking advantage of the bending over motion, he took out the only Spider Detector he had on him from his pocket, and quietly threw it into a corner of the storage room. Then he quickly left the storage room, found a blind spot without surveillance cameras, took out his tablet, and activated the Spider Detector, keeping a close eye on the storage room.

Two hours passed, far exceeding Han Xiao's time estimate. His mind was highly strained, and he felt a bit tired.

At this moment, a change finally occurred in the storage room.

A metal secret door cracked open in one of the walls, and two people walked out, not carrying guns, seemingly technical personnel.

"It really is a secret door."

The two hurriedly left the storage room. Han Xiao quietly followed them, his eyes darting around. He quickened his pace and bumped into the two from behind, causing all three of them to stumble.

"Sorry, sorry, my apologies," Han Xiao hurriedly apologized, steadying the two.

The two didn't say anything.

Han Xiao circled around and continued to tail the two. At this moment, he had a white card in his hand, which was the access card that one of them had in their upper pocket.

Having mastered pickpocketing, one can travel the world.

The card was exactly the same as an ordinary access card, but Han Xiao felt that the chip inside should be different, possessing the authority to pass through the secret door.

He followed the two all the way to the side door of the base. The two greeted the guard at the door and walked out.

Han Xiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and finally knew what was abnormal about this base.

The atmosphere!

Most people looked nervous, worried about the Hai Xia army launching a large-scale offensive, but a small number of people remained steadfast in their posts, without any worries, as if they had something to rely on, completely different from those who were nervous.

Unless you paid close attention, it was difficult to notice the small group of the latter.

The two people who had just walked out of the secret door had a look of certainty on their faces.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, making a guess, but he still needed to verify it. He arrived at the side door, and the guard stopped him.

"No unauthorized entry or exit from the base without a mission."

Han Xiao took out the access card he had just stolen and said, "I bumped into those two just now, and they dropped this access card. I'll go give it to them before they get too far."

The guard nodded and then let him pass.

Han Xiao walked out of the side door. Outside the base was a mountain forest valley. It was already early morning. Those two had walked out a few hundred meters, and only their tiny figures could be seen. He hurriedly chased after them.

The two heard the footsteps behind them and turned around, looking wary.

"You dropped your access card."

When Han Xiao got closer, the two realized that Han Xiao was a colleague they had seen in the base, and their expressions relaxed. The one who had dropped the access card felt around in his pocket and said in surprise, "When did I drop it? Thank you."

"No need to thank me. We are all revolutionary comrades jointly building Germination's spiritual civilization. This is what I should do."

Han Xiao smiled and walked closer.

"You're a funny guy."

One of them smiled and was about to reach out to take the access card when Han Xiao's expression suddenly turned stern. He suddenly attacked, delivering a heavy uppercut to the other's abdomen, the force penetrating the flesh and shocking the gallbladder, causing the other's eyes to bulge and vomit bile. Before the other person could even cry out in surprise, Han Xiao grabbed his neck with one hand, cutting off his trachea, and slammed his head into the ground, following up with two consecutive palm strikes, knocking out these two ordinary people.

Han Xiao took out his belt, tied the two of them together and dragged them behind him. He took a large detour to avoid any possible sentries. Estimating that they were far enough away from the base, he woke the two of them up with a series of ear slaps.

The two woke up, looking terrified. "You, you're not from the base!"

Han Xiao took out his folding combat knife, his fingers caressing the blade, his threatening intent was clear, and said coldly, "I know you have some information that ordinary members don't know. Please be honest and tell me."

The two swallowed, stuttering, "We low-level members don't know anything."

"Low-level members?" Han Xiao chuckled and suddenly stabbed down with the knife, aiming straight for one of them's lower body.

"Ah—"

The man was frightened out of his wits and screamed like a pig being slaughtered. Suddenly, he realized that it didn't hurt. He looked down and saw the bright blade piercing into the dirt next to his inner thigh, only three centimeters away from his little brother. The metallic chill was clearly transmitted to his crotch.

"I know there's a secret door in the storage room. Tell me everything you know, or I'll turn you into Germination's first eunuch," Han Xiao said, his tone filled with murderous intent.

Although the two didn't know what a eunuch was, Han Xiao's actions had already shown what he would do, and the two's faces changed drastically.

"You, how do you know about the secret door?!"

"I'm the one asking the questions." Han Xiao raised his knife, the blade lightly sliding against the other's lower triangle, as if he would use force to cut down at any moment, immediately scaring the other to pee… Damn, he really peed, my knife!!!

The two were dejected. Since the secret had already been discovered, there was no point in hiding it. They tremblingly revealed the confidential information.

Ten minutes later.

Han Xiao frowned.

"So that's how it is..."

[【Reconnaissance 2】Completed, you have gained 8000 experience.]