At the main gates to the warehouse of the secret base, the two Federation hackers who had been impersonating guards by the gates were now slumped on the ground, unmoving, lying in a dark corner not too far from the gates. Meanwhile, Hollow Ground 1 , who had been protecting the gates while merged with the darkness, could no longer conceal his figure at this time. He fell over to sit within a dark corner. Under his blurred features, only he knew how tortured his expression was — he had already been holding on for almost two whole hours ...

Right then, about 20 to 30 metres away from Hollow Ground, two black-robed figures suddenly emerged from the darkness. Their appearance resembled Hollow Ground"s, features blurred out while their entire bodies were swathed in their black robes.

The moment Hollow Ground saw these two appear, he knew that they must be the two spectres he had been battling for close to two hours. Who knew which faction they were from, and why they had infiltrated the Swift Dragon base.

"So this is a top-cla.s.s spectre from Huaxia ..." One of the black-robed figures stared down at Hollow Ground before them and finally said. The other"s voice sounded mechanical, harsh and unpleasant. This odd sound was of course due to modification by the other side and was not the other"s real voice. For self-protection, spectres would apply comprehensive flawless disguises to themselves.

Hollow Ground did not answer. Right then, his teeth were gritted as he fought back valiantly against the spectre power attacks of the two figures. If this had been a solo operation, upon finding out that he was up against two spectres of equal power as himself, he would definitely have chosen to escape. However, he could not do so now. Not only were there two hackers here, there was still a team of his comrades investigating the secrets of the warehouse behind him. He could not abandon his comrades just for his own survival ...

"You still refuse to give up even now. Struggling so hard ... you"re probably doing this for the men behind you, right?" said one of the black-robed men with a soft sigh, "I can tell you in advance that, just like you, they won"t be able to live ... there is no so-called secret inside at all. This is just a trap specially set up for you all."

Hollow Ground jerked his head up at these words, glaring angrily at the two smug spectres with clenched teeth. Frankly, when he had been attacked by the two spectres at the start, he had already had the faint inkling that this was likely a trap meant for them. However, he had still held hope that there might truly be a secret here which necessitated the presence of two guardian spectres.

"You"ve also reached the end of your rope. Your tenacious spirit is worthy of our respect, which is why we"ve come out to meet with you now." The tone of the spectre who first spoke was tinged with admiration. "It was our honour to be able to fight against a spectre of your calibre."

The battles between spectres were very brutal. It meant the death of one side or the other, or perhaps even the death of both sides involved. Still, this did not affect their respect and admiration for their opponent. Logically, with Hollow Ground"s level of spectre power, he could have at most withstood one hour of their continuous attacks. However, Hollow Ground had obstinately held out for almost double that time. This sort of tenacity and indomitable spirit had earned the admiration of these two spectres.

Frankly, their Caesar Empire had never been able to figure out how some Huaxia Federation soldiers who were obviously not that strong would suddenly break out with combat power multiple times their personal baseline during critical moments. Such as this spectre before them who had managed to hold out for twice the amount of time.

When Hollow Ground heard this, realisation flashed across his eyes. No wonder his opponents had chosen to appear so suddenly before him. His emotions were complicated; in the end, he could only sigh and say, "In the end, I"ve still lost."

He was well aware that he was at the end of his rope and would not be able to hold out for much longer. In contrast, the other side were still pretty spry as the two men had worked together to attack, each taking some time to rest and recuperate. Hence, their spectre powers were still abundant — the final outcome was clear.

The other black-robed spectre commented with some pity, "From the moment you stepped into the Swift Dragon base, we were destined to fight to the death. If possible, could you tell us your code name?"

"I can"t have my name end up as your trophy. I cannot let my country lose face this way." Hollow Ground grinned wryly as he responded. Without showing any outward signs, he compressed all of his remaining spectre power and then unleashed it in one blast towards one of the men. Even if he died, he would pull one of them down with him ...

Hollow Ground"s spectre power and one of the opponent spectres" power suddenly clashed violently. Although there was nothing visible in the virtual world, one of the black-robed spectres heard a loud explosion right by his ear. The forceful collision of power caused his entire consciousness to shudder, feeling as if it would be sent scattering.

Seeing this, the other black-robed spectre"s face paled drastically. He reacted quickly and acted decisively to send his spectre power over to help his companion intercept part of the attack. The two of them had always been partners, so they understood and were well familiar with each other"s spectre power. At this most critical moment, he swiftly merged his own spectre power with his companion"s, and parried that most intense blow.

The black-robed person who had been caught unprepared by Hollow Ground"s spiritual power attack was sent stumbling back three paces to fall over. Seated on the ground, he could not help but throw up a mouthful of blood. Meanwhile, the other black-robed figure was left trembling, his face flushing red and white. However, he soon recovered and seemed to have not taken any damage.

Hollow Ground had made his final attack. Seeing it successfully intercepted by the opponents, he could only glance longingly with regret at this virtual world. His entire body was slowly turning into countless white spots, beginning to drift and scatter apart ... perhaps when he had first accepted the mission, he had never expected that he would lose his wings 2 here. The only pity was that he actually did not know who was responsible for his death and so could not notify his companions to help take revenge on his behalf.

The two black-robed spectres saw Hollow Ground"s figure vanishing completely to become one with the virtual world. Only then did they sigh softly and relax. The injured black-robed person chuckled wryly and said, "Reiter, who knew his death blow would be so powerful? If you hadn"t helped me block in time, I would have been injured terribly even if I didn"t die."

"Witt, you must have been distracted during our lessons," Reiter could not help but scold when he caught his breath.

"Huh?" Witt turned to look back at his friend in confusion.

"The instructor mentioned very clearly in cla.s.s that the spectres of other countries all have their own unique characteristics in battle. For the spectres of the Huaxia Federation, we must be especially careful of their final attack right before death. When they have failed, the Federation soldiers are particularly fond of mutual destruction tactics." Reiter recited what the instructor had said back then.

After listening to what Reiter had to say, Witt stuck his tongue out in delayed fear. He had indeed lost focus for a bit during their cla.s.ses, but he had not expected to miss such an important piece of information 3 . This had almost caused him to drink the fruits of regret right here — luckily his partner was on point and had saved his life.

While Reiter had been speaking, he had also used his spectre power to erase the two hackers lying on the ground. Without Hollow Ground"s protection, these two unconscious hackers could no longer be saved. Just like Hollow Ground, they turned into white spots which vanished into the air.

In the headquarters of the National Security Agency of the Huaxia Federation, blaring alarms rang out abruptly from within one of the rooms. Complexion draining of colour, the staff member monitoring to one side quickly leapt towards three virtual pods which were flashing with red lights ...

********

"We"ve finally finished off this spectre. It actually took us close to two hours. How shameful. Witt, quickly rush over to the heart of the secret base now and help Carter"s group deal with the spectre there." Reiter had received D1"s notification a long while back and knew that the spectre at Carter"s side was even stronger than the one here. The two of them were fighting neck-and-neck with the enemy spectre, both sides unable to do anything about the other, locked in a stalemate. Thus, Carter had specially requested Witt"s help. If not for the fact that the battle here was also at a critical juncture, Reiter would have long sent Witt over to help.

"D1 has not received any more messages from D2. Carter"s side has probably already gotten things under control over there. There"s not much point for me to go over there. I might as well follow you and go handle that team of small fries below." Witt was rather reluctant. He was afraid that he would rush over only to find that Carter and his team had already handled the enemy. Not only would he have travelled all that way for nothing, he would not even obtain any of the battle merits on this end.

Reiter glared at him in exasperation and scolded, "a.s.shole, go if I tell you to go. What are you blathering on about?" Seeing the obvious reluctance on Witt"s face, Reiter"s heart abruptly softened and he said, "Don"t worry, if there"s nothing for you to do there, I"ll share half of the merits I earn here with you."

Reiter naturally knew what Witt was worried about, so he shared his plans directly to a.s.sure the other. The team below had no spectres protecting them, so no matter how good they were at fighting, there were still like defenceless babes in his eyes. They were like lambs for the slaughter, not posing any difficulty at all for him as a spectre — he did not mind sharing this kind of effortless battle merits with his partner.

"Reiter, you"re the one who said it. Don"t you dare go back on your word later! I"ll go immediately," said Witt happily. Without waiting for Reiter to respond, he disappeared into the darkness of the night, zooming towards the heart of the secret base. Although they could move through the skies and the earth in the virtual world like G.o.ds, moving much more rapidly than normal people, it was instinctive for them to move in the cover of shadows.

Reiter saw Witt rushing off impatiently and could only shake his head helplessly. Witt"s personality was still a touch too impetuous, but he was still young. With a few more years of instruction, all of this would no longer be a problem. Subsequently, he entered the gates, tracking the path taken by the investigation team of the Huaxia Federation ...

He needed to finish off these people before Carter"s side wiped out those invaders on their end, otherwise he would become the b.u.t.t of their jokes. Having designed such a perfect trap and still needing so much time to finish off these people — if word got out about this, he wouldn"t be able to show his face 4 ...

********

Ling Lan had not walked very far with the rest of the team when Li Lanfeng caught up to rejoin them. Ling Lan swept a glance over Li Lanfeng — although his complexion was a little pale, his expression was composed and steady. Ling Lan knew that the leopard would be able to overcome this hurdle with his own strength. She felt extremely relieved inside and no longer worried over the matter.

When Ling Lan"s team had entered the secret base, due to the continuous battles they had to fight, it took about one and a half hours for them to reach their destination. On their way out, even though there were still quite a lot of soldiers in their way, because the soldiers" combat power was considerably worse than Ling Lan"s team"s, the return journey did not take them as long. They were back at the mouth to the tunnel in less than 20 minutes.