Chapter 68: The Underground Base

Chapter 68: The Underground Base

When Dongfang Shiguo made his move at that critical juncture, there was only one possible reason: Dongfang Zhiyi. Zhuo Nan knew very well in his heart that this time, he owed Dongfang Zhiyi an immense favor.

Sitting inside the car, Zhuo Nan wore a pair of silver bracelets on his wrists, while the two men flanking him kept their firearms aimed directly at his waist. Their expressions were stern and solemn, as if facing a formidable enemy. Zhuo Nan broke the silence, saying, "You two, relax. If a gun goes off accidentally, it won't be a laughing matter."

Just then, the cell phone of the man driving in the front rang. He reached out to answer it, his tone extremely respectful: "Report, the target has been picked up. There is not a single scratch on him, and his mental state is excellent. Yes, I understand." As he spoke, his eyes kept darting toward Zhuo Nan through the rearview mirror. "Understood, goodbye, Chief."

By this time, Zhuo Nan already knew who the person on the other end of the call was. Unexpectedly, it was not Dongfang Shiguo, but someone else entirely. This filled Zhuo Nan with profound confusion, as he never imagined that an ordinary, law-abiding citizen like himself would ever have the opportunity to meet such a figure.

He chuckled and said, "Three leaders, might I trouble you for a cigarette?"

The driver glanced at Zhuo Nan upon hearing this and nodded. At that moment, the man in the suit on Zhuo Nan's left pulled a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes from his pocket, flicked one out, and stuffed it into Zhuo Nan's mouth before lighting it for him. With the cigarette dangling from his lips, Zhuo Nan mumbled indistinctly, "You leaders don't make a very high salary, do you? Logically speaking, people in your line of work should be making at least ten thousand a month."

The three men exchanged glances upon hearing this. This punk still had the heart to joke around! The Chief had been extremely shocked upon receiving the report about him, immediately classifying him as a level-one dangerous individual and ordering him to be brought directly to the Ministry of State Security headquarters.

"Smoke your cigarette and save the chatter," the man who provided the smoke said, clearly displeased after being mocked by Zhuo Nan. Naturally, he stopped giving Zhuo Nan any friendly looks.

"Don't be like that, I'm smoking, I'm smoking," Zhuo Nan said, acting precisely like a common street hooligan. To the three men, it was somewhat bizarre that this young man could possess such terrifying capabilities.

The vehicle drove into a military airport, and subsequently, Zhuo Nan followed the three men onto a helicopter. Having lived two lives, this was Zhuo Nan's first time riding in a helicopter, and he felt particularly excited, thinking that if he successfully cleared this hurdle, he would buy one for himself to play with in the future.

About an hour later, the helicopter reached its destination. However, the moment he stepped off the aircraft, a blindfold was placed over Zhuo Nan's eyes, indicating that the destination was highly classified. Blindfolded once more, Zhuo Nan was pushed into a jeep. Once the vehicle started moving, it began making turns at regular intervals. Yet, none of these maneuvers were of any use against Zhuo Nan; the Super Brain had already infiltrated the driver's mind and mapped out the entire route.

After the car had traveled for roughly forty minutes, the Super Brain suddenly spoke up: "Zhuo Nan, within a five-kilometer radius here, there is an ultra-strong magnetic field, obviously used to block external signals."

"So what?" Zhuo Nan asked casually.

The Super Brain cursed, "Idiot! If there's an ultra-strong magnetic field, it means my brainwaves will also suffer interference, making it impossible for me to infiltrate anyone else's mind anymore."

A jolt went through Zhuo Nan's heart. "Damn it, so you're not the most invincible existence after all. There is actually a way to keep you in check."

"Nonsense, is there anything in this world that is truly invincible? You're on your own once we get inside. I'm going to sleep."

"Wait! If brainwaves get interfered with, can the two of us still communicate?" Zhuo Nan asked hastily.

"Are you an idiot? Do I use brainwaves to talk to you? Such a moron," the Super Brain retorted irritably.

Zhuo Nan felt depressed; his question had indeed been rather foolish. The car came to a halt, but no one got out. Then, a loud, heavy metallic sound echoed, and the vehicle slowly began to descend. Zhuo Nan knew they had entered an inner facility and were heading underground.

After a short while, the sensation of descent ceased, and Zhuo Nan knew they had arrived. Sure enough, the person beside him removed the blindfold and pushed him out of the car. Once on his feet, Zhuo Nan looked around. The place resembled a massive warehouse, spanning an area at least the size of two football fields, with a ceiling height of roughly fifty meters. The ceiling and walls were entirely lined with thickened steel plates, and even the ground was forged completely from steel.

Furthermore, surveillance cameras were installed densely across the walls and ceiling, while several large iron doors marked with Arabic numerals stood along the sides and at the far end, suggesting that each door led to a different sector with distinct functions.

Shortly after Zhuo Nan stepped out of the vehicle, the door on his left, marked with the number 3, swung open. A neat, orderly squad of fully armed soldiers trotted out. Zhuo Nan's immediate impression was that they were elites—elites among elites. The soldiers at the military prison already belonged to elite units, but these men possessed an unmistakable aura of having walked through life and death.

Zhuo Nan made a quick mental count: there were at least a hundred of them. They halted at ten-meter intervals, disengaged their safeties, raised their firearms, and locked their aim on Zhuo Nan. Zhuo Nan swallowed hard. "Damn it, isn't this scale a bit too grand?" Being targeted by over a hundred firearms was not a pleasant sensation.

Zhuo Nan was certain that this massive warehouse held far more than just these hundred-odd guns; hidden mechanisms or even more advanced weaponry were likely concealed within the surrounding walls and overhead to deal with him if necessary.

At that moment, a small jeep drove over, accommodating a maximum of three people. The middle-aged man who had escorted Zhuo Nan gave him a shove and said, "Get in..."

Once Zhuo Nan climbed into the small jeep, it drove toward the door marked with the number one at the far end. The soldiers on both sides kept their weapons trained on Zhuo Nan the entire time until he finally passed through the door, at which point the troops were ordered to fall back.

The small jeep entered the door marked "No. 1" and came to a stop. A man wearing the shoulder insignia of a Major General walked over. Upon seeing the Major General, the middle-aged escort snapped to attention, delivered a crisp military salute, and said, "General Chang, I have brought the person."

The man addressed as General Chang glanced at Zhuo Nan. True to form, Zhuo Nan maintained his insouciant posture, his face relaxed as if he were here on vacation.

General Chang nodded and instructed, "Remove his handcuffs..."

Hearing this, a look of apprehension crossed the middle-aged man's face. "General Chang, he is..."

General Chang waved a dismissive hand and said, "Once he is here, you can rest easy."

Reluctantly, the middle-aged man unlocked Zhuo Nan's handcuffs. Freed from their restraint, Zhuo Nan immediately flexed his wrists.

With a completely expressionless face, General Chang stated, "Follow me." With that, he turned on his heel and walked ahead.

Zhuo Nan shrugged and followed behind, while the middle-aged man who escorted him turned back to retrace his steps.

Walking in General Chang's wake, Zhuo Nan carefully observed his surroundings. The interior was packed with various types of weaponry—tanks, missile launchers, and even aircraft. Zhuo Nan's gaze settled on a particular fighter jet; it looked vaguely familiar. A thought struck him: it was a J-10, though slightly larger than the standard J-10, and featured twin engines at the tail.

Noticing Zhuo Nan's eyes lingering on the aircraft, General Chang spoke with a tone of pride, "This is our country's independently developed fourth-generation fighter jet. It is currently in the experimental stage, but I believe it will take to the skies for test flights twenty years from now."

*Twenty years just for test flights?* Zhuo Nan thought to himself. *How many years before it gets commissioned into active service? Twenty years from now, the U.S. will have already rolled out their fifth-generation fighters, and your cabbage will have long since wilted.*

He offered a dry chuckle and continued following General Chang forward until they stopped before a small iron door. General Chang punched a string of numbers into the keypad beside the door, followed by a retinal scan verification, before the small iron door finally clicked open.

Once opened, General Chang said to Zhuo Nan, "Go on inside..."

At this point, the Super Brain could no longer probe General Chang's mind, leaving Zhuo Nan clueless about what lay ahead. He asked, "You're not coming in?"

General Chang shook his head and gestured toward the entrance with his chin. Left with no choice, Zhuo Nan stepped inside, and General Chang promptly closed the heavy door behind him.

The room was pitch black, though this posed no difficulty for Zhuo Nan. Once inside, he sensed the presence of two figures standing within the space. Zhuo Nan sighed inwardly. *Damn it, another ambush set-up.*

The two figures were clad entirely in black, blending seamlessly with the dark room. Unable to make out their facial features, Zhuo Nan remained standing in place without making any rash movements, pretending not to have noticed them as he looked left and right.

At that moment, the two men in black exchanged a glance, pushed off the ground with explosive force, and launched themselves into the air, attacking Zhuo Nan from both left and right simultaneously. *"Damn it, lightweight martial arts..."*

Both figures executed flying kicks aimed directly at Zhuo Nan's head with ferocious momentum. Not daring to take them lightly, Zhuo Nan exerted all his strength, leaped into mid-air, and performed a split to intercept both attacks simultaneously.

Realizing their initial strike had missed, the black-clad figures showed a flicker of surprise as they flipped backward and landed steadily on their feet. Before Zhuo Nan could regain his footing, they launched a secondary assault—one focusing on his upper body while the other targeted his lower extremities.

The man in black on the left unleashed a horizontal palm strike straight toward the bridge of Zhuo Nan's nose. The momentum behind the blow was formidable, resembling a fierce tiger descending from a mountain; a direct hit would undoubtedly prove fatal. Meanwhile, the attacker on the right swept a low kick toward Zhuo Nan's shin joints, an impact that would instantly shatter an ankle.

Knowing he could not afford to be careless, Zhuo Nan realized their moves were not only ferocious and swift but executed with seamless coordination. Even Pei Zhenhai might not necessarily emerge victorious against these two.

This was a situation that called for brute force to meet force. Zhuo Nan raised his leg and put every ounce of his power into meeting the incoming kick. *You're ferocious? I'll be more ferocious than you! You're fast? I'll be faster than you!* Refusing to yield, he kicked out straight and hard. The two legs collided with a dull, heavy thud. A wave of agonizing, tearing pain shot through Zhuo Nan, though fortunately, the Super Brain immediately began repairing his neural pathways, and the pain vanished almost instantly.

The black-clad opponent was not so fortunate. Letting out a cry of pain, he instinctively doubled over. Clearly, he had not anticipated that the full-force kick he delivered would be met with an even more violent counter-collision from Zhuo Nan.

Waiting precisely for this opening, Zhuo Nan wasted no time, lashing out with a whip kick that moved like a striking venomous serpent, aiming straight for the man's waist. Two synchronized screams—*"Ah... Ah!"*—rang out as Zhuo Nan's kick struck true, sending the attacker flying backward with a shriek.

Because he had poured his all into dealing with the attacker on the right, Zhuo Nan had been unable to properly guard against the one on the left. However, a split-second defensive shift to the rear had allowed him to narrowly dodge the worst of that fatal strike, though his left shoulder was still heavily clipped by the incoming palm, eliciting a cry of pain from his own lips.

Zhuo Nan knew his left collarbone was undoubtedly fractured, but his opponent had not walked away unscathed; the man on the right, struck squarely in the waist, was completely incapacitated.

"Junior brother... Are you alright?" The black-clad man on the left called out anxiously upon seeing his martial brother collapse to the ground.

"Senior brother, my leg might be broken... This kid is too powerful, watch yourself," the injured man gasped from the ground, his face twisted in excruciating agony, yet managing to issue a warning.

"Brat, prepare to die..." With those words, the remaining attacker unleashed a furious palm strike straight toward Zhuo Nan's chest.

A jolt of alarm ran through Zhuo Nan as he scrambled backward, stepping away rapidly. What terrified him even more was the sudden, oppressive rush of wind preceding the strike—true palm wind!

The martial arts proficiency of this man was definitely no lower than Pei Zhenhai's. Summoning twelve-tenths of his concentration, Zhuo Nan leaped fiercely into the air and kicked toward the attacker's head. Switching from offense to defense, the black-clad man raised his left hand to guard his head, absorbing Zhuo Nan's kick head-on. Zhuo Nan felt as though he had struck an iron pillar, and a sharp throbbing radiated through his ankle.

The black-clad man fared no better inwardly. Had he not channeled his internal energy to protect his head, his arm likely would have snapped. Yet, in a battle between experts, there was no room for prolonged thought. While blocking Zhuo Nan's kick, he struck out with his right palm, driving it straight toward Zhuo Nan.

Having thrown two consecutive kicks with his right leg, Zhuo Nan's body was rapidly nearing exhaustion; but forcing himself to stay focused, he knew that continuing to drag out this engagement would yield zero advantage. Refusing to retreat once more, he formed his left hand into a palm and met the blow with all his might. With a sharp *clap*, the two palms collided, and Zhuo Nan was forcefully blown backward through the air. He slammed heavily onto the ground, a wave of searing, fiery agony erupting in his chest before he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

Zhuo Nan knew the fellow had utilized internal energy, and resentment flared in his chest. His own foundation in internal arts was far too weak; had the Super Brain not genetically optimized and enhanced his physique, he would have perished under that strike long ago.

The black-clad man was in a similarly wretched state. Although he had repelled Zhuo Nan with internal force, his left arm was completely devoid of sensation. The sheer kinetic power behind Zhuo Nan's counter-strike had been colossal—estimating it to be at least fifteen hundred pounds of force, delivered entirely through raw physical conditioning without a shred of internal energy. It left the seasoned fighter profoundly shocked. Had this young man possessed mastery over internal martial arts, the man knew he would already be a corpse.

Supporting his weight with one hand, Zhuo Nan lowered his head and spat out another mouthful of blood, cursing internally. *So knowing internal kung fu makes you great? Well, I can do it too!* Instantly, he channeled the internal circulation mental framework from his crash-course combat training alongside the energy-flowing methods from the Sunflower Manual (a momentary shudder passed through him). A wave of intense heat instantly gathered within his lower dantian. Sinking his vital energy to his core, he drove this surge of heat directly into his right hand, fixing his unblinking gaze on his opponent.

At that exact moment, the black-clad man felt an icy prickle ripple across his skin, as if he had been locked onto by a venomous snake. Every hair on his body stood on end. With a fierce roar, Zhuo Nan launched himself off the ground with every ounce of remaining strength, hurtling straight toward the black-clad man with a speed so blinding the opponent had no time to mount a defense.

*"Too fast..."* was the sole thought flashing through the black-clad man's mind.

Zhuo Nan drove his right fist—fully charged with internal warmth—straight toward the man's chest. Clearly failing to anticipate Zhuo Nan's explosive acceleration, the black-clad man could only instinctively marshal his internal energy to shield his chest, completely failing to execute a counter-maneuver in time.

Regret struck him almost immediately. Zhuo Nan's fist pressure felt edged like a razor-sharp blade, slicing open the skin of his cheek. By the time he attempted to raise his arms to block and parry, it was far too late.

With a dull, heavy *boom*, Zhuo Nan's fist connected solidly with the center of the man's chest. Fresh blood erupted instantly from the attacker's mouth, and his body flew backward like a severed kite, trailing a crimson mist in the air as bright red sprayed continuously from his lips.

The black-clad man crashed heavily onto the floor, tumbling several times before slamming to a halt against the far wall. Blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, he spoke in a voice no louder than a thread: "Formidable..."