Sky-cracking Rider

Gum?

It was indeed gum!

Not only had Hanna Gagel smelled it, but the others also took turns sniffing and unanimously confirmed this judgement.

After all, chewing gum is a common snack, familiar to everyone.

Then, using a sliver of rock, they scraped off this nauseating gummy substance. It took washing their hands three times for Manager Hanna to feel significantly better. Her swollen red palms were once again treated with the Light Healing Technique from a small Band-Aid, which was excellent for reducing swelling and pain.

It was seriously an unlucky year, encountering such a disgusting thing so deep underground.

Captain Blake of the 13th Reconnaissance Squad made a swift decision to make a temporary stop on the spot for a thorough search while reporting the new discovery to the surface.

Nobody in the team chewed gum, let alone Hanna Gagel, who was walking in the second position.

At a depth of about five hundred meters below sea level, in a place where it takes over forty kilometers to reach the surface, they found a seemingly insignificant piece of chewing gum residue. Although they didn't know who the unscrupulous person was, it was enough to prove some important information.

Magical Beasts wouldn't be interested in chewing gum with no nutritional value. Therefore, there was only one most likely possibility.

Other humans had been here before and inadvertently left behind this chewed piece of gum.

"Do you know? Both Rhino Cockroach AA-01 and Mutant BC-2325 showed traces of genetic editing," Captain Blake of the 13th Reconnaissance Squad reminded.

"So, there's a high probability of human intervention. Besides rhinoceros cockroaches and mutants, there could be humans?"

No one in the team had low intelligence; the female electronic expert was the first to grasp this.

The rock walls began to thump again, sending vibration signals through the ground.

Chen Fei looked at the vibrators releasing powerful vibrations on the rock walls and speculated, "Vibration communication might be monitored."

"Er, that's possible, no, very possible. The vibrations alone could be enough to startle the snake by hitting the grass."

The female electronic expert Cecilia Danbers started to look serious.

All members fell silent, looking at one another.

Now that the enemy was hidden and they were exposed, the situation could become very unfavorable.

Captain Blake added, "Report to the surface immediately, suggest switching to encrypted communication, maintain as much silence as possible, reduce the frequency of communication, and avoid revealing our location."

Although vibration communication can penetrate thick earth layers to reach the surface, its disadvantage is also prominent: it almost can't maintain secrecy.

If there were other people beneath the surface, the probability of being overheard was high. And it didn't require any high-tech equipment—a mere stethoscope could do the job.

The vibration signals traveling through the strata could also expose the source of the signal. Careless reconnaissance squads venturing from various tunnel entrances into the depths could suffer a setback.

The report from the 13th Reconnaissance Squad quickly made its way back to the No. 2 Exploration Base Camp, causing quite a stir.

Human beings, adept at using tools, could easily control situations and maintain the upper hand when dealing with less intelligent mutants. But if there were humans among the opposition, the Blue Star Global United Defense Committee would have to treat the matter with caution.

Mutants assisted by human intelligence could have destructive power and threat levels beyond imagination.

Several hours later, the camp responded with a broadcast notification to all reconnaissance squads.

Reduce the frequency of communication, switch encoding methods, and use time-based encoding mechanisms, which involve using different codes at different times.

To decode communication codes, collecting enough samples beforehand is a basic requirement.

If there aren't enough samples, not even gods could help.

After the 13th Reconnaissance Squad's discovery, other squads became more vigilant and began to find unusual clues, such as unexplained bloodstains, insect exoskeleton fragments, fabric fragments, and even a drink can. More importantly, fingerprints were lifted from the surface of the can.

Vibration communication has limited capacity to convey information and couldn't transmit the fingerprint data. The Blue Star Global United Defense Committee immediately called upon a Space Series Ability User, who opened a small space portal,

and transported the can back to the surface.

The fingerprint information was compared against the population database and quickly identified the individual.

Shirley Lincoln, Doctor of Life Genetic Engineering from the University of North Carolina, employed at a bioproduct company, engaged in pharmaceutical research.

The Blue Star Global United Defense Committee's backing included several sovereignties, and its execution was beyond question.

Since this involved global matters of Blue Star, it meant that unless one fled beyond the atmosphere or took refuge in outer space or Cangqiong Star, no one on Blue Star could escape such a powerful collective pursuit.

The military police raided the biological company immediately, taking complete control of everyone from top to bottom.

The owner of the fingerprints on the soda can, Shirley Lincoln, had been seconded to another company for technical guidance. Following the trail, they naturally didn't find her, as the project team was on a business trip in the tropical rainforest. Continue reading stories on empire

They then pursued into the tropical rainforest. With the help of communication and location tracking, they finally found the project team; everyone was present except for Shirley Lincoln herself. When asked, the team said they were conducting normal scientific research and had heard of the name Shirley Lincoln, but no one knew that Dr.

Shirley had joined the project team, let alone come to the tropical rainforest with them. They had never seen her from start to finish.

Cover-ups one after another. Before they could delve deeper into their investigation, a middle manager from the company collaborating with the biological products company that Shirley Lincoln worked for, committed suicide. Subsequently, clues related to Shirley Lincoln pointed to him, but due to his suicide, the investigation had to be abruptly halted.

The consecutive unexpected events made the Blue Star Global Defense Committee feel quite uneasy. Whether it was the nested work relationships or the sudden suicide, the incidentally discovered lead on Shirley Lincoln became convoluted and mysterious, but it was clear that some unspeakable big secret was hidden behind it.

On the fifth day of venturing underground.

The pressure on the various reconnaissance squads increased. The enclosed and solitary nature of the caves, similar to a chamber environment, caused psychological and emotional strain on everyone involved.

At first, the reconnaissance squad members would relieve their emotions by chatting with each other. But as time passed, they ran out of things to talk about; no one likes incessantly repeating the same topics, and conversations would often die after a few sentences.

Then they tried playing music. At first, it was effective, but in the nearly closed and dark environment, coupled with the unpredictable dangers, any music not only drained the limited power reserves but also started to sound very eerie.

Some reconnaissance squads developed internal arguments and conflicts, making it difficult to continue advancing.

Some simply gave up and started heading back.

In one reconnaissance squad, two members took a liking to each other and began a romantic relationship, inadvertently slowing down the pace of the others.

Some reconnaissance squads mysteriously went missing, even failing to send out an alarm. After missing the deadline to check in with the reconnaissance camp multiple times, the spatial ability users and space mages of the Global Defense Committee, along with the backup reconnaissance squad, rushed to the last reported area of the missing squad, but found nothing.

Not even the numerical direction stickers remained; it was as if the missing squad had never been there.

However, as more of these accidents occurred, the well-prepared Blue Star Global United Defense Committee still had no plans to cancel the reconnaissance mission.

On the seventh day of the underground exploration, the scouting party leader Blake suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He said in a grave voice, "Stop advancing, nobody come forward, fall back! Cecilia, retrieve the drone."

"Got it!"

Although the electronics specialist Cecilia Danbers didn't understand the reason, she still followed the command, using the remote controller in her hand to send out a sharp high-frequency whistle and a longwave radio signal.

The quad-rotor drone "Cave Dragonfly," upon receiving either one of those, would immediately activate its return program ahead of time.

This method was only suitable for short-distance communication. If it went beyond the Cave Dragonfly's automatic scouting radius, it would fail.

"What's happening?"

Hanna Gagar, who was following behind, looked at Blake, who still maintained a walking posture but appeared somewhat stiff.

She and the others obediently stepped back a few paces as instructed.

"Landmine, I stepped on one, and now I can't move!"

Blake was grateful for his prior experience—in fact, it was not the first time he had stepped on a mine.

But like the previous times, it was a pressure-release landmine, meaning that it wouldn't explode just because someone stepped on it; it would explode when they lifted their foot off of it.

As he stepped down, he instantly triggered the safety mechanism. If he hadn't reacted in time, both he and Hanna Gagar behind him would have been in trouble.

The most malicious bounding anti-infantry mine wouldn't explode immediately after releasing the pressure; instead, it would spring up more than two feet high and perform a 360-degree shrapnel sweep, affecting not just the person who stepped on the mine but everyone in the vicinity.

"Rookie, you're up!"

When in doubt, send in the Rookie—Hanna Gagar had almost gotten used to commanding him and thought of him first.

Who would've thought that Chen Fei, the moment he joined the 911 Aircrew Base, was doomed to be a tool, plus, he treated stepping on mines like bungee jumping on dry land, so it was no problem for him.

The others exchanged glances. This female capitalist really had a heart of stone; she didn't give a damn about the lives of her subordinates.

"Wait, I'm coming!"

Chen Fei moved from the fourth position in the team to the front, approaching Blake's side and squatting down.

Blake cautiously warned, "Be careful!"

Yet, he didn't dare to move. Instead, he pressed down harder, fearing that any reduction in pressure would set off the explosion.

The presence of a landmine here, although surprising, was not shocking. It indicated that they were getting close to an underground base where someone or something was hiding. Whether it was people or mutants hiding, remained unknown.