Bright Sword: Conquer the monk at the beginning and take down Zhou Weiguo

He had seen this kind of stubbornness countless times in others, this kind of determination to not turn back until he hits a wall. He knew that if he refused, Xiaohu would not accept it and would just sneak in on his own, which would cost him his life.

So, he finally nodded and made a decision that he still couldn't forgive himself for -

"Okay, I'll take you there. But you have to promise me not to touch anything I don't let you touch."

He didn't tell anyone, nor did he leave any backups. He knew that if anyone knew he had secretly brought people into the Gray Region, even Liu San, whom he trusted, might stop him or even report him.

"This isn't just your obsession." He said to Xiaohu that night, "I want to know the truth about your sister, too."

But he didn't expect that the box was not the key to the truth, but a precise lock that locked him and Xiaohu into a huge trap.

Xiaohu lost signal after entering the third node deep within the gray zone. That section of the passage should have been an empty transfer layer, but as soon as they approached, they triggered a hidden defense line. Signal blocking, dynamic frequency conversion, and even multi-frequency strobe interference, like a trap tailored specifically for them.

The last message Xiaohu left for him was just five words: "They pretend to be so similar..."

Like who?

He has not been able to solve the mystery to this day.

"Brother Qin, you are in a daze." Liu San whispered in his ear, interrupting his thoughts.

"It's okay." Qin Cang came back to his senses and his gaze fell on the half-open alloy door in front of him again.

The passage behind the door was where he and Xiaohu separated.

"We're almost there," he said, his voice low and firm. "This time, I'm going to get him out, no matter what the cost."

Liu San nodded without asking any more questions.

The two quickened their pace, passing through a dark, filtered doorway. A damp, musty air gusted toward them. The air was filled with the scorching stench of overloaded wiring, mingled with an indefinable scent of biological corrosion.

"Why has this place become like this?" Liu San frowned and raised his hand to cover his nose.

"This is not natural aging." Qin Cang frowned, "It's man-made."

"You mean, someone deliberately destroyed this place?" Liu San's voice was so low that it was almost inaudible.

Qin Cang didn't answer. He knew that some questions, instead of being reassuring, would actually make people more terrified.

They carefully skirted a pile of debris, the remnants of cables from a previous trap that had been triggered. The cables, which should have been conductors, lay twisted and tangled like charred sinew.

"Right here." Qin Cang pointed to a cracked connection in front of him. "His last coordinate signal was cut off from here."

He half-knelt down and stroked the edge of the metal that still retained some warmth, as if trying to sense the presence of the little tiger from the cold substance.

At that moment, his heart was almost torn apart.

He regretted it.

I regretted agreeing that night.

I regret bringing a young boy who hasn't had time to grow up into this abyss that is destined to swallow everything.

"But I have to keep going," he murmured to himself. "As long as there is any possibility, I can't stop."

He turned to look at Liu San, his eyes filled with an unprecedented earnestness: "Watch the retreat. I'm going into this section, and you're not allowed to follow me."

Liu San was startled: "You come again?"

"Not again." Qin Cang shook his head, "I owe Xiao Hu this."

Liu San was a seasoned veteran, shrouded in mystery. Legend had it that he had entered and exited the cable alley three times without a scratch, and had bravely navigated the high iron walls, forcibly carving a path through the net. His reputation spread through the dark passages, echoing in corners. No one knew who he worked for, and no one dared to question his origins. All that was known was that he was a master at finding routes—not just the routes of inanimate objects like wires and cables, but also the routes of people, routes of escape, routes of counterattack, routes that could penetrate layers of blockades.

Qin Cang needed him because he was now trapped in an invisible net.

Their first meeting took place in a dilapidated garage. Qin Cang was a fledgling lineman, a childish face, clutching a brand-new voltage detector. Liu San, wearing greasy overalls and holding a cigarette, leaned against a rusty pipe, grinning like a snake: "Do you know how the wires hide from view?"

Those words, like a thorn, had been lodged in Qin Cang's mind since that day and year, and had never been removed. He knew that Liu San and he were from two different worlds, but fate had caused their paths to intersect too many times.

Now, he asked Liu San to lead the way again - not to escape, but to attack.

The wind howled off the cliffs, as if roaring something. Qin Cang turned and pulled a piece of origami paper covered with a circuit diagram from his backpack. The dense lines on it crisscrossed like a spider web, like some secret map. His finger landed on one of the marked points, circled in red pen, and a blood-stain-like arrow pointed to the next node. His eyes were calm, and the corners of his lips curled slightly, as if he had seen through some complex puzzle.

"Liu San should show up soon." He whispered.

There was a faint sound of footsteps in the distance, the rhythm was very steady, like the steps of an old soldier walking through a minefield. Qin Cang didn't turn his head, he knew who was coming.

"You still like to stand in the limelight." Liu San's voice sounded behind him, with his usual laziness and sarcasm, but with a hint of imperceptible vigilance.

"The wind can blow away a dog's nose." Qin Cang replied, his words carrying his own sharpness.

There was a moment of silence between the two. The wind passed between them, as if spying, as if recording.

"The route you're looking for is a dead end," Liu San finally spoke. He reached out and took the folded map from Qin Cang's hand, his sharp eyes scanning the red lines and black dots. "Do you know what this means? You're heading for the core. That's not a path for humans, it's for ghosts."

Qin Cang stared at him: "You walked by."

Liu San smiled lightly, the cigarette ashes between his fingers scattered in the wind, "I have walked, but I have also died once."

He raised his head and his eyes met Qin Cang's. Those were a pair of eyes that had been baptized by fire and darkness, revealing the bottomless night.

"That line, from the second underground floor, passes through the old substation, then climbs over a blind spot in the surveillance area. It has to pass through two infrared cross-nets within thirty seconds, avoid heat sensors within seven seconds, and finally leap through that locked metal door." He spoke, each step reciting a line of poetry backward. "Are you sure your men can keep up? You're not going to find the line alone. This time, you have to lead them out."

"I know." Qin Cang nodded, a deeper determination in his voice. "That's why I came to you."