Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Upon receiving Sebastian's orders, Falcon immediately convened the squad leaders in the temporary operations conference room of the control center. On the holographic projection screen, a 3D model of the "Sky Dome" space station slowly rotated. The occupied Port 3 and its surrounding area were marked in dark blue, while the remaining areas were in a gray, unexplored state. Falcon lightly tapped the model, and a faint fluorescence appeared at the edge of the dark blue area. "Follow-up support is in place. As per your instructions, sir, we will expand outwards in stages, using Port 3 as the core. The core principle remains unchanged—complete concealment throughout, no alarms to be triggered, and the elimination of any personnel encountered along the way must be silent and leave no trace."

The support force that arrived consisted of two hundred personnel, all equipped with the latest "Shadow" powered armor. Compared to the equipment of the previous squads, the armor's stealth system has tripled its endurance, the mechanical noise during movement is reduced to below the human hearing threshold, and it has added environmental mimicry capabilities, allowing the armor's surface color to adjust to the surrounding environment, blending perfectly with walls and equipment. The weapons carried by the support force are primarily silent equipment, including high-frequency concussion daggers, specially designed sniper weapon systems (firing silent bullets with a highly toxic internal coating), and electromagnetic pulse grenades. Each item has been specially modified to ensure that it will not generate energy fluctuations or sounds sufficient to trigger an alarm during use.

"Attention all squads, prioritize occupying the logistics areas with dense ventilation ducts and low personnel movement." Falcon pointed to an area near Port No. 3 on the 3D model. "This area is the space station's supply storage area and logistics maintenance corridor. Most personnel are on duty in shifts, and the monitoring equipment is relatively old, making it the best direction for breakthrough. Squads 1 and 2 will act as the vanguard, responsible for clearing out the personnel on duty along the way; Squads 3 and 4 will be responsible for taking over the equipment in the occupied area, shutting down local monitoring and falsifying operation records; the technical team will follow the main force, ready to crack any encryption locks and access control systems encountered."

After deployment, the squads set off one after another. The members of the vanguard squad activated the cloaking mode of their power armor, their figures instantly blending into the dimly lit corridor. The emergency lights on both sides of the corridor emitted a faint, cold light, illuminating the neatly arranged pipes on the walls. Only the subtle sound of the ventilation system echoed in the space. An Infinite Corporation employee on duty in the logistics area was checking the supplies list, his communicator occasionally buzzing with electrical activity. He was completely unaware that a dark figure had silently appeared behind him.

A slender combat syringe popped out from the armor on the team member's wrist and precisely pierced the back of the employee's neck. This modified toxin took effect extremely quickly; the employee didn't even have time to groan before his body went limp and collapsed. The team member quickly caught him and dragged him to a maintenance cubicle at the end of the corridor. Simultaneously, he used a signal jammer he carried to cover the cubicle area, preventing the employee's waist-mounted communicator from sending a distress signal. Then, the team member took out a button-shaped mimicry signal transmitter from his backpack and affixed it to the wall outside the cubicle. This transmitter could simulate the employee's normal communication frequency, ensuring that the monitoring center would not detect anything amiss.

Such scenes were playing out simultaneously in every corner of the logistics area. The vanguard team members, using the scanning system of their power armor, pre-positioned each guard, employing a strategy of eliminating them one by one to avoid encountering multiple individuals at once. For unattended access control systems, the technical team simply connected the armor's interface to the system, cracking the encryption within three seconds and simultaneously altering the access records to disguise them as legitimate staff passage records.

The advance lasted two hours, and the troops had successfully occupied one-third of the logistics reserve area without triggering any alarms or arousing any suspicion from the space station command center. Just as the troops were preparing to advance deeper into the reserve area, Falcon suddenly issued a halt order. "The area ahead has a complex structure, including multiple main ventilation ducts and equipment control rooms, and the personnel density has increased significantly. Blindly advancing could easily expose us," Falcon told the teams via encrypted channel. "Immediately dispatch 'Spider-Eye' robots to conduct a comprehensive scan of the area ahead and create a detailed topographical map and facility distribution map."

The "Spider-Eye" robot is a reconnaissance device specially designed by the Ferdinand family. Resembling an adult spider in appearance, it is only ten centimeters long and its eight legs are covered with miniature sensors, allowing it to easily climb walls, pass through narrow gaps, and even move along the inner walls of ventilation ducts. Its outer shell is made of matte black alloy, providing strong anti-interference capabilities and stealth. It operates almost silently and can scan an area with a radius of fifty meters, accurately identifying terrain structures, ventilation duct routes, monitoring equipment locations, personnel distribution, and energy sources.

Ten "Spider-Eye" robots were released from the team members' backpacks and, like real spiders, quickly crawled along the walls, dispersing rapidly in different directions. The robots' real-time footage was transmitted via encrypted signals to the Falcon's helmet display; the image was clear and stable, even showing the fine details of screws inside the ventilation ducts. Meanwhile, the technical team received the data from the robots and used specialized software to quickly create a 3D terrain map, marking key facilities such as ventilation ducts, cable lines, and equipment control rooms, while also tracking the real-time location and movement trajectory of each personnel.

The "Spider-Eye" robots' scanning operation lasted for forty minutes. During this time, two robots encountered patrolling security personnel, but thanks to their extremely small size and rapid reaction capabilities, they quickly slipped into the gaps in the ventilation ducts, successfully avoiding the patrol personnel's line of sight. Forty minutes later, all ten robots returned to the team, bringing back complete terrain data and facility distribution maps. On the 3D map, the location of every passage, every ventilation duct, and every piece of equipment in the area ahead was clearly identifiable; even the hidden cables inside the walls were precisely marked, and the movement routes of the on-duty personnel and patrol team were clearly mapped.

After carefully reviewing the map, Falcon readjusted the deployment: "Based on the scan results, the area ahead is divided into three parts: the equipment control area, the supply storage area, and the logistics personnel rest area. We will divide into five teams and adopt a multi-point simultaneous action strategy to clear and occupy all three areas at the same time. The first team will be responsible for the equipment control area. After eliminating the personnel on duty, we will immediately take over all equipment, shut down the independent monitoring system in the area, and falsify the equipment operation data; the second and third teams will be responsible for the supply storage area. We will quickly clear out the personnel and control all supplies, and establish temporary defensive strongholds; the fourth and fifth teams will be responsible for the logistics personnel rest area. Due to the large number of personnel, we will use a combination of anesthetic/toxic gas to eliminate them one by one, ensuring that no one escapes."

Each squad quickly took their positions as deployed, with their equipment adjusted accordingly. The first squad, responsible for the equipment control area, carried additional equipment jammers to cut off the energy supply in the area in an emergency, preventing personnel from triggering alarms. The fourth and fifth squads, responsible for the rest area, were equipped with portable anesthetic gas generators. These generators could release colorless and odorless anesthetic gas and could also use toxic agents from the weapon sequences on the power armor as fillers. Within three minutes in a confined space, all personnel could lose consciousness or die. However, once the biological agent lost its activity, the toxin would quickly merge with the air and lose its toxicity, thus avoiding issues related to investigating the cause of death due to personnel deaths.

The signal for action was given by Falcon, and five teams simultaneously launched their operation. The first team arrived at the entrance to the equipment control area first. The technical team members quickly cracked the access control, and the team members filed in. There were eight personnel on duty inside the control area, each working at a different control console. Guided by the map, the team members accurately located each person's position, while simultaneously activating the silent mode of their power armor, moving nimbly between the control consoles. A high-frequency vibrating dagger sliced ​​through the air, silently severing the communication lines of two personnel near the entrance, followed by precise tranquilizer/poison needles to the back of their necks. The remaining team members divided the tasks, some controlling the personnel at the control consoles, while others quickly checked each piece of equipment to ensure there were no hidden alarm triggers.

In just five minutes, the first team completed the clearing of the equipment control area. The technical team immediately took over the control console, switching the monitoring screens in the area to a preset static display. Simultaneously, they altered the equipment operation logs, disguising the abnormal time period as normal equipment inspection time. "First team reporting: Equipment control area captured, equipment operating normally, no alarms triggered," the team leader reported via an encrypted channel.

Meanwhile, the second and third squads were operating in the supply storage area. The storage area was vast, divided into multiple compartments, each piled high with space station supplies, including food, water, repair parts, and energy modules. Patrols inspected the storage area every fifteen minutes. The team members used the supplies in the compartments as cover, patiently waiting for the patrols to pass. When a patrol entered the next compartment, the team members acted swiftly, subduing or eliminating the personnel guarding the current compartment, then quickly moving to concealed corners. For the patrols, the team members employed a flanking maneuver, suddenly appearing from behind the supply piles on either side as the patrol entered narrow passages. Using tranquilizer darts and high-frequency vibrating daggers in combination, they instantly subdued all five members of the patrol. The entire process took less than a minute, without making a sound that could be detected by outsiders.

The fourth and fifth teams proceeded with greater caution in the logistics personnel's rest room. The rest room consisted of several rooms, each housing four staff members. The team members first placed anesthetic gas generators at the ventilation openings of each room, then activated them. The colorless and odorless anesthetic gas flowed into the rooms through the ventilation ducts. Three minutes later, after confirming through real-time monitoring by the "Spider-Eye" robot that all personnel in the rooms were unconscious, the team members opened the doors and entered. They checked the condition of each person individually. Based on the personnel list issued by headquarters, those deemed useful were controlled with anesthetic drugs. All personnel were then moved to the rest room's storage room, which was covered with a signal jammer to prevent any potential distress signals. Personnel were assigned to guard the storage room. Those deemed useless were eliminated, and their bodies moved to unoccupied, non-critical equipment rooms or other uninhabited areas for later disposal.

The operations in the three areas were completed simultaneously, taking a total of twenty minutes. A total of forty-five personnel, including guards and patrol teams, were eliminated; none escaped, and no alarms were triggered. Falcon then arrived at the equipment control area, checked the equipment's operation after taking over, and confirmed that all data had been altered and the monitoring screens were functioning normally. "Each team, rest for ten minutes, clean up any traces of the operation, and then continue advancing towards the surrounding areas, using the equipment control area as the new core," Falcon ordered.

For the next six hours, the troops advanced steadily using the same pattern. Every so often, they deployed "Spider-Eye" robots to scan and create detailed maps before splitting into smaller teams to simultaneously eliminate personnel, take over equipment, and falsify records. The entire operation was fluid and seamless, maintaining a high degree of stealth throughout. During this time, they successively occupied several areas of the space station, including the wastewater treatment area, the energy storage substation, and the maintenance workshop. The resistance they encountered gradually decreased—these areas generally had low personnel density and weak security; most personnel were focused on their work and completely unaware of the unusual surroundings.

During the capture of the energy reserve station, the technical team discovered that the station was connected to the space station's main power line. By adjusting the station's energy distribution parameters, they could temporarily cut off part of the energy supply to the surrounding uncaptured areas, facilitating the subsequent capture operation. Falcon immediately decided that a dedicated member of the technical team would be responsible for operating the energy reserve station, gradually adjusting the energy distribution according to the progress of the operation. This would avoid arousing suspicion from the command center while disrupting the normal operation of the uncaptured areas, creating favorable conditions for the troops' covert advance.

As the occupied area expanded, the defensive pressure on the troops gradually increased. Falcon adjusted its deployment accordingly, drawing fifty personnel from support units to form a temporary defense team. This team deployed defensive forces at various key points, high points, and near critical equipment within the occupied area, activating anti-aircraft turrets and automatic defense weapons. Team members were also assigned to take turns on duty to ensure the security of the occupied area. The power armor of the defense team members maintained a constant state of stealth mode and scanning system operation, ready to immediately issue an alarm and launch a counterattack upon detecting any anomalies.

Time passed quietly. When the indicator lights on the exterior of the space station switched from cool white to light blue—signifying the start of the night shift—the troops' occupied area had steadily expanded to one-fifth of the space station's total area. At this point, they had successfully captured two smaller ports besides Port 3—Port 5 and Port 7. These two ports were small supply transport ports, primarily responsible for transferring supplies within the space station; their personnel and security forces were relatively weak, making the capture process very smooth.

The capture of ports five and seven provided the troops with more strategic footholds. Falcon immediately arranged for his team to modify the two ports, shutting down public communication channels, activating encrypted communication systems, and simultaneously activating the ports' defensive shields to coordinate with the defense system of port three. In addition, the team also adjusted the docking equipment at the ports to make it compatible with the Ferdinand family's ship docking standards, preparing for the subsequent docking of support ships.

More importantly, during their advance, the troops successfully captured the western control node of the space station. This node is the core control center for the western wing area, responsible for managing the energy supply, communication transmission, monitoring systems, and equipment operation of all areas within the western wing—essentially the "brain" of the western wing. Capturing this node gave the technical team partial control over the western wing area, providing crucial support for subsequently sending false messages and interfering with the command center's decision-making.

Inside the West Wing's central control node, dozens of control consoles were neatly arranged, with holographic screens displaying real-time operational data from various areas of the West Wing. The technical team quickly connected to the node's core system, cracked the highest-level password, and firmly grasped control of the node. "Captain, the West Wing's central control node has been completely taken over. We can send any forged operational data and communication information to the command center through this node without being detected," the technical team leader reported.

Falcon's eyes lit up, and he immediately made a decision: "In the name of the West Wing control node, send a maintenance request to the command center, stating that some equipment in the West Wing area has malfunctioned and needs to undergo a fixed maintenance period of twelve hours. During this period, some monitoring systems and communication lines in the West Wing need to be shut down. At the same time, request the allocation of multiple transport ships to transport maintenance equipment and materials to ports five and seven."

The technical team immediately began editing the communication, strictly adhering to the company's internal document format. They also simulated the signature and communication frequency of the person in charge of the West Wing control node to ensure the message's authenticity. Less than ten minutes after the communication was sent, the command center responded: "The West Wing area's scheduled maintenance request has been approved. During the maintenance period, monitoring and communication lines in designated areas can be shut down. Three transport ships have been arranged to deliver maintenance equipment and supplies, expected to arrive at Port 5 in two hours. More transport ships will be deployed as needed."