Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

Chapter 66 Who else would you rather me?
After receiving the urgent notification, the two were given different tasks and quickly got up from the sofa.

In this situation, they naturally couldn't care less about late-night snacks; they had to get to the branch office as quickly as possible.

An urgent notification in the middle of the night must mean that some kind of dangerous situation has occurred in the giant city.

The personnel must arrive as soon as possible to prevent even greater casualties in the megacity.

Li Yelai simply put on his coat.

Then, turning back, he said, "We'll jump from the balcony."

But then I saw the doll about to roll up its white T-shirt.

The T-shirt, which already couldn't cover her thighs, was pulled up even further, revealing more of her fair skin.

I guess this girl has been living alone for a long time, and in her panic, she didn't realize there was someone else around.

Li Yelai quickly averted his gaze and immediately reminded, "Go back to your room and change!"

"Okay, wait... wait for me!" the doll whispered, then quickly turned and ran towards the bedroom.

Li Yelai took a deep breath to suppress his agitated heartbeat.

And I told myself not to overthink it and to try to forget what I had just seen.

That was something I shouldn't have seen in the first place; to recall it now would be degrading.

Soon, the doll, dressed in a frog costume, ran out of the bedroom. The original cool outfit had been transformed into a thick doll costume, making everything seem like a dream.

I wonder if her face is still red when she's wearing a hood?
"My mission is to guard the Black Prison. I don't know what your mission is, but I reckon it won't be easy." The doll handed a small cloth bag to Li Yelai and whispered, "You must be very careful!"

Her mission was to assist the second team in guarding the Black Prison, to prevent any forbidden entities from taking advantage of the chaos to break through containment and cause a tragedy like the last one.

Li Yelai took the cloth bag and quickly replied, "You too! Be careful in everything!"

He knew what was in the bag. The doll, worried that he might encounter danger in his next move, cut off a piece of its own hair and gave it to him as a trump card.

The remaining curse might help him get through the danger.

Li Yelai was very grateful for this.

The two then flipped and jumped off the apartment balcony, using aerial stepping to land safely.

For psionicists, this is much faster than an elevator.

The doll's residence was located within the branch office. Therefore, Li Yelai and the doll were among the first handlers to arrive, aside from the staff on duty.

After arriving at the branch, the doll parted ways with Li Yelai. After reuniting with several elite members of the Night Fiends, they headed together to the Black Prison Elevator.

The staff members looked at Li Yelai with the doll with strange expressions.

But the situation was urgent, and they couldn't afford to gossip.

He waved his hand as a greeting to Li Yelai.

Upon entering the branch, one can immediately sense the solemn atmosphere of an impending major battle.

The convoys of the equipment department and logistics team rushed out of the underground parking garage and merged into the traffic flow from different exits.

They were transporting psionic weapons and other combat equipment stored by handlers in various locations within their branches.

Li Yelai even saw the legendary plasma cannon and thermal cannon in the convoy.

That's a deadly weapon installed high on the wall!

Inside the office area, hundreds of liaison officers are busy at work.

Li Yelai could hear them coordinating with the security department to seal off certain streets and areas.

I also heard that they were mobilizing the city's defense forces and requesting support from the Iron Guard Legion.

Border Guards? Legion?
This made Li Yelai's heart skip a beat. Such a large-scale mobilization of the Jucheng military forces clearly indicated that something big was about to happen!
Could it be that the forbidden zone of calamity is under siege?
Afterwards, Li Yelai spotted Captains Yin Huo and Yue Ying from a distance, but did not approach them to inquire about their identities.

Because they are issuing orders to team members who are still in various locations via communicator.

Those who live near the branch should immediately come to the branch to assemble and be assigned to groups.

Those who were farther away formed action teams nearby and went to certain locations to stand by.

Li Yelai was the former. If he hadn't happened to be at the doll's house, he would probably be heading somewhere with the processing staff in the family apartment.

At this moment, Li Yelai could only take his psionic weaponry and change into the special operations uniform provided by the authorities. He waited at the branch for his captain's assignment.

And ask your friends in the group chat on the communicator if they know anything about the operation.
Team leader Yang Chen was very busy and did not reply to me.

However, Starfire, Shadow Stream, and the Detective had no idea what had happened.

They hadn't even received a notification to gather. They were all still at home.

The heavy cavalry in the group chat responded: [This operation is estimated to be quite dangerous. The branch did not summon any Awakened Psychic, and most Awakened Psychic are also not within the summons range. Unless it is a strong Awakened Psychic, they will receive a summons.]
After all, some unlucky second-awakening psychic abilities aren't suited for combat. If an operation requires fighting, they're not the first choice.

Most of the personnel involved in this operation were at the third level of awakening or higher.

[Hey, Heavy Cavalry, have you received the summons?] Li Yelai typed to ask. The Heavy Cavalry were also second-stage awakened psychics.

"Of course," the heavy cavalryman replied. "Both of my abilities are combat abilities! We're almost at the branch office; maybe we'll even be teammates."
Cheese seemed to know a little more: "[It should be the Church of the Embers. The branch appears to have located multiple strongholds of the Church of the Embers. Therefore, they plan to launch a city-wide operation to simultaneously eliminate all the strongholds!]"
The Church of Embers? Li Yelai frowned. This kind of anti-human church could not be an exaggeration to call it a cult.

Many strange events originated from the Church of the Ashes.

For example, the human trafficking gang that Li Ye encountered before attempted to resurrect a long-dead infant through an evil ritual performed by the Church of Ember. The result was a creature from the Void Realm.
The Ember Church has committed countless evil deeds!

Then Li Yelai can understand this operation.

If the Ember Church forces within Border City No. 3 can be completely eradicated in one fell swoop, then the safety of the people will be guaranteed.

Cheese then continued to remind him: "[Be careful on this mission. I won't be there to support you. You need to coordinate carefully with your teammates and avoid being reckless! They might not be able to keep up with your movements.]"
[Okay, I know, be careful too!] Li Yelai replied.

A few minutes later, Li Yelai received instructions from the branch.

He went to the underground parking garage to meet up with his assigned teammates and headed to the mission location. When Li Ye arrived at the underground parking garage, he saw three processors and seven combat personnel standing beside three armored vehicles.

Two of the processors were acquaintances.

One of them was Benlei, the team leader I had worked with before. He should be the leader of this team.

The other one was a heavy cavalryman I had just chatted with.

Well, she was right, we really were in the same group as her.

The last one was a female processor whose face was somewhat unfamiliar; her code name was Fuhu, and she carried a sword on her back.

Li Yelai, carrying a large black umbrella, quickly approached and said, "A squad of Night Generals, reporting for duty!"

"Very good, get in the vehicle!" Benlei, whose eyes were faintly red, nodded and let everyone board the armored vehicle.

The armored vehicle quickly drove out of the underground garage and sped off towards the northeast of the giant city.

In the car, Benlei introduced the operation.

"Several years ago, one of our team's moles successfully infiltrated the Church of the Ashes."

'A hidden spy?' Li Yelai was startled.

Becoming a mole is naturally an extremely dangerous act.

Although Li Yelai himself was also an official mole planted in the Ark.

But in the end, it's only for a few hours on the 15th of each month when you enter the Ark.

The most dangerous time is only those few hours; normally, you don't need to worry about your identity being exposed or being attacked.

This is a unique mechanism of the Ark. Most Ark members do not know each other, greatly reducing the risk of exposure.

However, becoming a mole within these cults, such as the Church of the Ashes, is extremely dangerous.

If discovered, given the methods of the Ember Church, the consequences would be unimaginable!

"It took him three years to rise from an ordinary member to a member of the management team. And finally, he entered a branch of the Ember Church!"

"A branch headquarters? Not a base?" the female processor codenamed Fuhu asked, frowning.

"The so-called strongholds are just gathering places for those followers." Benlei sneered: "The Church of Embers has been developing quietly in the giant city and has received covert support from some people."

Those people weren't psionicists, yet they yearned to become so, to shed their so-called mortal status. Thus, they became the most loyal vassals of the Church of the Embers, providing cover for those members who had become psionicists.

However, within the Church of the Embers, anyone who wasn't a psychic was treated worse than a dog; the members would indiscriminately kill those who weren't psychics. And yet, the church members were expected to diligently conceal their actions from the Great City's authorities.

Do you yearn to become a psychic?
The processors shook their heads repeatedly.

Those people probably don't know.

What do psionicists face when they gain power?

"That informant, with the covert assistance of the authorities and the resources of the Ember Church, successfully advanced to a third-level psychic. He jumped to a mid-level management position, thus gaining access to the hidden underground branch!"

"Underground?" Li Yelai was somewhat taken aback; it sounded like this branch was quite large.

How can it be hidden underground?

Or, how did those followers manage to dig such a large space underground without being discovered?

Could it be that there are traitors among the top officials of the giant city?
Seemingly sensing Li Yelai's confusion and shock, Benlei explained, "When the giant city was first established, humanity's situation was very poor. The leaders of the giant city at that time made the worst-case scenario plan."

"The worst-case scenario?" Li Yelai and the others looked puzzled. Clearly, neither the Heavy Cavalry nor the Tiger-Taming Cavalry knew about that period of history.

"That is the fall of the high walls, and the invasion of the great city by calamity!"
Then humanity will have to fight in the city streets against the extraordinary monsters of calamity!

If we are outmatched in urban warfare, then all of humanity should retreat to the underground city!
Simultaneously, detonate all nuclear bombs within the megacity! Destroy all surface facilities!
Humanity, meanwhile, defends its easily defensible underground cities, fighting the calamity to the very last moment!

Li Yelai was shocked.

It's hard to imagine the predicament the leaders of the giant city faced at that time.
This is indeed the worst possible outcome, but also the most courageous plan of resistance!

High walls, street fighting, nuclear explosions, underground defense! Fight to the death!

The Forbidden Zone of Calamity, attempting to conquer the giant city, will only result in ruins. Moreover, it will come at a tremendous cost!

"Later, as you all know, the Great City withstood the pressure from the Calamity Forbidden Zone, and the situation for humanity gradually improved. Moreover, the construction cost of the underground city was extremely high. So the Great City stopped the construction of the underground city," Benlei said. "The Black Prisons of each branch were actually the prototypes of the underground city."

The Black Prison? Yes, that huge area located dozens of meters underground was actually the prototype space of the underground city left behind back then.

Li Yelai pondered for a moment: "However, the rudimentary underground city sealed off by the giant city was partially discovered by the Church of the Embers, and developed into their branch!"

“Indeed, humanity’s sealed-off facilities against calamities have been desecrated by these madmen. It’s blasphemous!” Benlei said coldly. “They’ve modified the underground space and used some kind of forbidden material to dig even deeper. It’s said that the deepest point is more than 300 meters underground.”

Benlei continued, "That spy successfully infiltrated the church's branch under these circumstances and began gathering intelligence. Once we controlled all the exits, these beasts would have nowhere to escape! However... until he discovered the evil ritual deep within the branch—a ritual that seemed capable of sacrificing all the dead on a vast scale! To gather information, he risked approaching, but failed and was hunted down."

At this moment, Benlei's eyes began to redden, and tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. The others also looked sorrowful.

What happens when someone discovers your identity as a mole deep underground?
"He successfully escaped the underground city and returned to the surface through an exit, but was ambushed and killed at the last step! He was cut in half at the waist! When we found him, the entire factory was burned to the ground!" Benlei cried, tears streaming down his face. "Just one step away, just one step away!"

"But he still managed to deliver the intelligence. Before he died, he used the language of the beasts in the virtual realm to control a snake to swallow the intelligence and deliver it to me."

"This intelligence was delivered at the cost of his life! We must not let his sacrifice go to waste!"

"Tonight, we will wipe out all the strongholds of the Ember Church, storm their branches, and annihilate them all! Leave no one alive!"

“Night General!” Ben Lei’s eyes were red as he looked at Li Yelai: “You can resent me! Because I forced you to join the operation. I wanted to use your curse of inevitable powerful enemies to completely eliminate these bastards! I asked you to enter this dangerous mission.”

Li Ye realized that if he were present, those powerful enemies would be delivered to him by fate once they entered a certain area. This would make the encirclement and suppression much safer.

He immediately shook his head and replied, "Even without your request, I would have joined the operation."

"When it comes to attracting the supernatural, who else but me!"

(End of this chapter)