"It has to be hidden!"
A group of panicked Riftbreakers were scrambling around, searching everywhere for something—terrified they'd fail their assignment.
"The boss wants that box—search again!"
Three Bonegrind Raiders, accompanied by a keen-nosed Bonegrind Ripperhound, began a carpet-search of the area. Off to the side stood a Bonegrind Ambush Shooter.
"You keep looking. I'll check somewhere else… huh?"
He suddenly heard footsteps and turned on instinct—
Only to see a dragon-girl charging straight at him, holding two ridiculously dumb-looking swords.
"Enemy atta—AAH!"
The warning turned into a scream.
The other Riftbreakers finally realized someone had entered.
But before they could mount a counterattack, a gunshot rang out and struck their beloved Wangcai.
"AWOOOO—!"
Before the fight even properly started, the shooter was down, and the beast had dropped.
The remaining Riftbreakers immediately fell into a hopeless disadvantage.
One of them, having lost Wangcai—his partner in life—looked utterly devastated, like he was about to awaken and go berserk on the spot.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the protagonist—so no dramatic power-up was forthcoming.
And the one who'd fired the sneaky opening shot was, of course, the despicable outsider.
"Shoot the dog first, before the bastard comes biting me again."
Hao Fan, true to habit, kept himself tucked in a corner. He wasn't going to try playing hero in close combat and become dead weight.
At this stage, the best way for him to contribute was to support from range with his handcannon—basically filling the role of a Sniper operator.
The skirmish ended quickly.
The gap in combat power between the two sides was basically unbridgeable; there was no way it would become a drawn-out fight.
But the Riftbreakers who'd broken into the Originium Byproduct Center weren't just these few trash mobs—others were scattered around searching.
So the same kind of fight repeated several times, until they finally reached the deepest section of the facility.
"I… I think it's… quiet now?"
"Shh… stay hidden. Don't make a sound."
Union workers in hiding sensed the shift—but still didn't dare come out.
They weren't combat personnel. They couldn't resist vicious Riftbreakers, so they had to stay cautious.
That was one way the weak survived.
Perlica stopped as well when she saw there was no road ahead.
"The footprints disappear in this direction."
After surveying the surroundings, she judged they could still push forward.
"We need a way up to that platform above. Look for something we can use as stepping stones—boxes, maybe."
"Boxes? I'm very familiar with those!" Hao Fan said immediately, spotting a floating crate nearby.
Back at the central control tower, when he'd helped direct Security Department staff to hold off the Angels, they'd used these same crates. He remembered them well.
To him, these things were purpose-built tools for climbing to higher ground.
"Are we going to be found?"
"There's nowhere higher left to hide…"
A Zalak woman and a Lupo man were huddled anxiously on a high platform, praying the Riftbreakers wouldn't find them.
The woman was Dahlia, an employee of the Originium Byproduct Center.
The man was Vannikov, a Union technician.
Beside them sat a metal box. It seemed to contain something important—important enough that even while fleeing, they hadn't abandoned it.
Just then, a suspicious hooded man climbed onto the platform using the floating crates as footholds, startling them both.
Someone who hid their face like that—Riftbreaker or not—was definitely not a "good guy"!
Seriously, what kind of decent person dressed like that?
So Dahlia and Vannikov tensed up, already bracing to fight for their lives.
Thankfully, Perlica—climbing up right behind—explained in time.
"Don't panic. We're Endfield's Crisis Response Team. You're safe now."
Her gentle tone soothed them.
Chen Qianyu, who also climbed up, echoed her.
"The Riftbreakers have been driven off. You don't need to worry anymore!"
"T-that's… thank you so much. We're finally saved!" Vannikov said.
The strain in his face finally broke, replaced by the dazed relief of someone who'd survived disaster.
He must have been under tremendous pressure this whole time—terrified the Riftbreakers would find them, or that the Ripperhound would catch their scent.
Fortunately, it had all been a false alarm in the end.
Compared to him, Dahlia was clearly more composed. She reported the situation immediately.
"We saw Riftbreakers heading this way on the monitors, so we dropped what we were doing and moved this equipment—and the documents beside it—out first."
Hearing that, Hao Fan remembered how, earlier in the lab, they hadn't found the prototype parts or related materials. He'd assumed the Riftbreakers had already taken them.
Now it was clear: these two dependable Union members had protected them.
"We don't know what it's for," Vannikov said uncertainly, looking at the metal box, "but the packaging lists it as very high priority—and it has the Endfield mark."
"You came for it, right? So… we did something good!"
"…Yes. These are the prototype parts Mr. Andre mentioned," Perlica confirmed after a careful check.
"Thanks to your quick response. Endfield will take custody of this equipment. I'll report your actions to the base lead."
In other words: yes, they'd earned credit.
Vannikov lit up—then suddenly remembered something and pointed to a nearby storage crate.
"Oh—right. We also found a few other things… These combat records might be useful to you. Please take them."
"Combat records? We just found some earlier…" Hao Fan opened the crate casually.
He hadn't cared much—until he saw what was inside.
Advanced Combat Records.
Storage devices containing combat footage that helped new operators grasp combat fundamentals—and additionally included historical battle simulations, allowing viewers to witness the most brutal war scenes of Tower Guard II.
No doubt about it—Hao Fan could absolutely use these.
And they'd be useful to the amnesiac Administrator, too.
So the two of them decided they'd watch them together tonight.
"With the Riftbreakers defeated, we can handle emergency repairs," Dahlia said, laying things out clearly and offering sincere thanks. "Then we'll wait for the base to send more personnel and materials…"
"We're fine here now. You should continue your mission. Thank you… truly. Thank you."
After saying goodbye to the two Union members, the Crisis Response Team prepared to take the prototype parts straight back to Andre—so he wouldn't worry.
But just then—
The remaining Riftbreakers inside the center, having discovered their companions were down, all converged in this direction.
"Don't let them leave! Leave the stuff behind!"
Their voices were frantic.
Clearly, that mysterious leader held immense authority over them—or used terrifyingly iron-fisted methods. Either way, failure wasn't an option.
Otherwise… they'd likely lose their lives.
"The box—take the box back!"
Two Bonegrind Raiders and two Bonegrind Ambush Shooters—those four were probably the last of them.
Their numbers matched the Crisis Response Team.
But the outcome wasn't in doubt.
So the fight ended quickly.
"Haa… they just keep coming," Chen Qianyu sighed, sheathing her swords in exasperation.
She'd lost count of how many Riftbreakers she'd cut down today. She only remembered this: even facing a guaranteed loss, not a single one had tried to flee.
Was that… "backbone"?
She wasn't sure.
Then she noticed the Liberi girl beside her was thinking again.
"What is it, Perlica? What are you thinking about?"
"The Riftbreakers… you heard it too. Their leader is searching for these parts and documents."
"Yeah, but… to them, aren't these things basically an unreadable heavenly book?"
"Exactly. And Mr. Andre said these Originium-modified parts were ordered with his own money—so how would Riftbreakers even know about them?"
Perlica looked deeply unsettled. The contradictions piled up.
Hao Fan pulled out the letter they'd found earlier and glanced at the section about the prototype, asking in confusion:
"By the way… what does that prototype actually do? I only know it's important—I don't really understand it at all."
"Mr. Andre knows the details better. Endfield and the Union have worked together a long time—they often share engineering tasks."
Perlica didn't answer directly. Clearly, the prototype's confidentiality level was high.
Instead, she said meaningfully:
"The Union has long been researching the Trans-Domain Rift in Valley No. 4. There's a Trans-Domain test site built by the Union at the Power-Highland."
"It sounds unbelievable, but Riftbreakers really do seem to be searching for our technological products… We'll investigate later."
"In any case, we've secured the byproduct center and recovered the parts and documents."
"For now—let's go back to Mr. Andre."
Perlica chose not to continue the topic.
Hao Fan didn't press further either, deciding he'd chat with Andre when there was time.
Next—
Although they planned to head straight to the Integrated Core Area, they didn't intend to walk, or even take the ziplines again. They used an even more convenient method—
"The Protocol Core can also serve as a target landing point for protocol teleportation."
Perlica plainly didn't want to walk anymore.
"Time is limited. We can teleport back directly."
…
Integrated Core Area.
Andre hadn't returned to the underground lab. For now, he remained here testing the Integrated Industrial System, while waiting to receive his prototype parts.
The wait was anxious—but thankfully, no bad news arrived.
"Mr. Andre, we recovered what you needed," Perlica said, handing over the intact prototype parts and explaining the situation at the Originium Byproduct Center.
"There are also surviving workers there. They're preparing repair work according to the emergency plan."
"Excellent! Administrator—Perlica, oversee it!" Andre said, delighted.
"I'll compile the situation for Supervisor Qin later… but besides these prototype parts, I still need some crystal casings for repairs."
When the anchor fell, it had slammed into the underground lab—so the prototype had suffered some damage.
And beyond that, many devices across the Hub Zone were damaged. Most required crystal casings for emergency fixes.
It was obvious: crystal casings were a widely used industrial "universal fix."
"Crystal casings? Wait… don't tell me you want us mining again?" Hao Fan's expression went flat.
Sure, Chen Qianyu would willingly take on that kind of labor—but repeating it endlessly wasn't sustainable.
After all, Chen Qianyu was just dumb—not an actual beast of burden.
"Of course not," Andre waved his hands quickly. "I know that's a hassle, so while you were out, I already prepared automatic mining equipment."
The device he meant was one of Endfield Industrial's main export products—
The Portable Originium Mining Unit.
A machine for harvesting Originium ore. It could run on the Originium energy it collected—operating continuously without needing a power grid connection.
However, it could only be deployed on concentrated ore nodes. It couldn't collect scattered Originium crystal clusters.
And when the harvested ore reached the unit's storage limit, it would stop working until an operator manually retrieved it—so it wasn't truly fully automatic.
Side note: Different mining units could harvest different mineral types. Low-grade units couldn't harvest high-grade minerals.
So this portable unit could only mine Originium ore.
But even that was enough.
"Nice," Hao Fan said, watching it run autonomously for a while and produce a huge amount of ore. "No dedicated power supply and it can operate independently—this is great for field operations."
Its mining speed was even faster than Chen Qianyu's "human windmill" labor.
And since the unit automatically converted part of its output into energy, it needed no external electricity at all—basically zero cost.
"Big Bird, can you give me one of these?" Hao Fan asked. "Feels like it'll come in handy later."
"Whatever. Take one if you want," Andre said, waving it off.
Then, staring at the mountain of gathered ore, he looked thrilled.
"Yes—this is the number! With the materials complete, leave the prototype repairs to me."
With his expertise, as long as he had the materials, repairs were nothing.
But one more thing mattered.
"Administrator—once I've fixed the prototype, you have to come witness the moment it 'awakens'!"
Andre sounded almost excited.
"Deal! You promised!" Chen Qianyu chimed in.
"…Mm. I will," the Administrator replied, not refusing—accepting readily.
Then she naturally brought up the concern.
"This prototype has been targeted by Riftbreakers… They tried to seize these parts."
"Riftbreakers?" Andre froze, thinking hard. "Why would they target this stuff?"
"To say nothing of anything else—these T11 Originium prisms and fine-sintered core crystallites… in a normal person's hands, they could be ruined with a single touch."
"And the prototype is experimental tech for trans-domain development. To Riftbreakers, this should be no different than scrap metal."
Andre felt it might just be coincidence.
But the Administrator didn't agree. If something was abnormal, something was wrong.
"…Yeah, it's odd," Andre conceded, "but it could just be that the Riftbreakers think it's valuable and plan to fence it on the black market."
He didn't dwell on it, instead steering back to priorities.
"Since we recovered everything, focus on what's in front of us. If we find any leads, we contact each other immediately."
As he spoke, he forwarded the situation at the Originium Byproduct Center to Supervisor Qin Jiangchi, asking them to dispatch a reinforcement squad there.
After that, Andre prepared to return to the underground lab to start repairing the prototype immediately.
Seeing this, Hao Fan casually handed him the letter they'd found earlier.
Then, watching the sunset-darkening evening, Hao Fan couldn't help but sigh:
"This day… is finally over."
....
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