In an old residential building in the city’s east end, a burly, bearded man crouched on the rooftop, staring at the city center through binoculars. He let out a curse or two every so often.

"Those damn gray dogs have tightened security again. This isn’t going to be easy."

A team member’s head popped out from the rooftop access, shouting, "Brother Tian, a telegram from the captain is here! Brother..."

"What’s all the shouting? I heard you."

The bearded man got up, walked over, and took the crumpled, sweat-stained telegram. He let out a sigh of relief as he read it.

"Alright, we don’t need to worry about planting more bombs. Tomorrow, load the rest of the explosives into a vehicle, drive it near that department store up ahead, and detonate it when the crowd is thickest. Also, tell Xiaoli’s side to make their move at the same time. Let’s give them a big fireworks show."

"Brother Tian, that’s still a ways from the city center. Will it even do anything?"

The bearded man shot him a sidelong glance. "I’d love to bomb the city center too. How about you go?" The man immediately shrank back. "Never mind."

The bearded man snorted. "Just do what I said. Stop with the damn chatter."

The team member said, "I’m just worried it’ll interfere with the task the captain gave you."

"The captain is smarter than you. You think he didn’t consider that?"

The bearded man glanced at his watch. It was 3:25 AM. Dawn was in about two hours. He said, "Get to it. I want to hear the boom before six!"

"You got it, Brother Tian."

In the wilderness, Chen Chuan and his team had already reached the north side of Xieshan. There was no direct road from the barren plains to the mountain, so they had to stop at its foot. From there, they would take a mountain path pre-arranged by the Patrol Bureau to reach the side with access to the railway.

Most of their party were Fighters, and the few who weren’t still had years of experience on assignments. They were all in peak physical condition, moving swiftly along the mountain trails despite their heavy packs. They reached the designated location before dawn.

The Patrol Bureau had specifically chosen this spot. It was concealed by woods, and even in the pre-dawn gloom, they could faintly make out the railway about three hundred yards away.

Before them was a steep slope dropping forty to fifty meters. This was nothing for them, however. If a situation arose, they could use their gear to descend rapidly.

Chen Chuan looked south. The train would approach from that direction, passing through a tunnel that took over twenty seconds to traverse. That section was a frequent target for attacks. Now, however, a guard post had been established nearby, with railway security patrolling every hour.

He checked his watch.

4:12 AM.

’The resistance members are probably hiding on a nearby mountain right now. I wonder if the one orchestrating the Esoteric Ritual has arrived as well.’ 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

’I still don’t know what effect the ritual is supposed to have.’

’But I’m not worried. We’ve already made preparations. Besides, Director Lei told me during my training that the larger the ritual, the harder it is to control the details. A single oversight could cause the caster to lose control completely.’

’So, the most dangerous part of a large-scale ritual is the period before it’s discovered. Once you know about it, there are plenty of ways to counter it.’

At that very moment, several kilometers away behind a northern hillside, Bao Yuan had already arrived with his men.

He also checked his watch.

’If the train’s on time, it’ll pass by around 6:05 AM. Security and patrols have been tightened along this stretch of track, so another bombing attempt would be nearly impossible.’

’Fortunately, that’s not what we’re relying on this time.’

’The Painter promised he would deliver the results I want.’

Bao Yuan didn’t know how the Painter would do it, but he trusted him. Many of his past operations had only succeeded thanks to the Painter’s help, even though they had never met face-to-face.

’I also suspect the Painter is a member of our organization—someone who shares my ideals. That’s the only thing that explains why he’s helped me so many times.’

Two kilometers away, Director Lei and several agents from the Esoteric Review Bureau were hidden inside a watchtower.

The Esoteric Review Bureau had mobilized nearly all its personnel for this operation. More agents were positioned on the perimeter and in other concealed locations, equipped with radios to maintain contact. They were ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

This was potentially the Esoteric Review Bureau’s biggest operation in over a decade, and some of the younger agents were a mix of excited and nervous, constantly checking their watches.

Time dripped by. At 5:55 AM, just as the train was due to approach, an agent suddenly pointed upward and exclaimed, "Look!"

Everyone looked up and saw a hot air balloon hovering above the mountain range.

When Director Lei saw the object, his gaze fixed upward. He didn’t need to think twice; he knew the person orchestrating the Secret Ceremony was hiding inside.

’Using a hot air balloon is a clever move. It lets them oversee the entire Secret Ceremony while remaining detached from the event itself.’

He said, "Get ready. Our target should be up there."

His words made it click for the agents. One asked, confused, "Director, if he’s up there, how can he activate the Secret Ceremony?"

A Secret Ceremony required a key component to be put in place before activation; an incomplete setup was useless. It went without saying that the caster wouldn’t activate it before the train arrived, but how could they get the timing right from up in the air?

Director Lei had already deciphered the plan the moment he saw the hot air balloon. He said, "He doesn’t have to. The train *is* the key."

The agents were startled. "The train?"

Director Lei said gravely, "If he has people on the train, or if the train itself has been tampered with, then he doesn’t need to personally control it. The moment the train arrives at the right spot, the entire Secret Ceremony will activate. And even if that’s not the plan, he can always descend from the balloon if he needs to."

He glanced at his wrist, at his watch.

6:02 AM.

’If it’s on time, the train should be here any second.’

At almost the same instant, Guan Yuming, who was commanding operations near Central City, heard two massive explosions—one from the east and one from the west.

He frowned. They had conducted sweeps as thoroughly as they could, but it was impossible to lock down the entire city, especially with personnel hiding in countless small alleys.

’An act like this is pointless beyond killing civilians and causing chaos. It must be a diversion to pin our forces down and prevent us from redeploying them elsewhere.’

He first dispatched two teams to the sites of the explosions. Then, he turned to the telegraph operator and said, "Send a message: ’Explosion attacks on the outskirts of Central City. Advise caution on your end.’"

A moment later, both Chen Chuan and Director Lei received the telegram. With trouble in the city and the train about to arrive, it was highly likely the enemy was about to act.

At that moment, the Changshun was traveling along the rails toward Yangzhi City. It was a seventeen-car train with first-class facilities and furnishings.

On this particular run, in addition to regular passengers, the middle and rear cars carried representatives of foreign corporations attending a conference in Yangzhi City. Each corporation occupied one or two cars, and most of the representatives were accompanied by armed security personnel. They were permitted to carry firearms and wore Anti-stabbing Suits; a few even had on full Protective Clothing.

Lindenberg, the representative from Porlon Company, was gazing at the scenery outside the window when his assistant spoke. "Sir, the lands outside Dashun Central City are always so barren and monotonous. The people in those lesser cities are like animals in a pen—savage and stupid. There’s nothing worth seeing."

Lindenberg replied, "The world outside the Central Cities is all the same, whether in Dashun or Nordland. And yet, Molan Company chose to establish its fallback position here. This land must hold some wonder we’re not aware of."

After that assessment, he turned away from the window and resumed flipping through a file on Yangzhi City. He hadn’t been the original representative for this trip; his predecessor had been suddenly reassigned by the higher-ups, so he was sent as a replacement. He knew nothing about the area beforehand and had to get up to speed from scratch.

"Hm..." He suddenly looked up, removing the pair of brown-tinted decorative glasses from his face. The pupils of his ocular Implants dilated instantly, locking onto a small black dot in the distance. "A hot air balloon?" he said, surprised. He could also see a banner hanging from it that read, "Welcome, International Guests."

"Is this some kind of welcome ceremony from the Yangzhi Government? They certainly seem enthusiastic."

The train was now on the stretch of track leading into the mountain tunnel. The driver kept his eyes fixed ahead; he knew this section was a common target for attacks, but thankfully, everything looked normal today. As the train neared the tunnel entrance, he gave the whistle a preemptive pull to alert the passengers.

But as he glanced to the side just before entering, a chill ran down his spine. The crags and fissures of the rock face seemed to form a grotesque, smiling face that was staring right at him. Below it, the black, gaping maw of the tunnel looked like a wide-open mouth.

WHOOO...

The train plunged into the tunnel. Over twenty seconds later, it emerged, only to slowly grind to a halt. Just the front few cars made it out; the rest of the train was still inside the tunnel.

The passengers all remained in their seats, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the train had stopped. They all continued their previous activities as if nothing had happened.

In the Porlon Company car, the assistant’s voice piped up, "Sir, the lands outside Dashun Central City are always so barren and monotonous. The people in those lesser cities are like animals in a pen—savage and stupid. There’s nothing worth seeing."

Lindenberg pulled his gaze from the window. "The world outside the Central Cities is all the same, whether in Dashun or Nordland..."

He frowned, a feeling of wrongness pricking at him, but continued, "...And yet, Molan Company chose to establish its fallback position here. This land must hold some wonder we’re not aware of..."

He continued to flip through his files. After a moment, he looked up as if noticing something for the first time. "Is that a hot air balloon?"

"Is this some kind of welcome ceremony from the Yangzhi Government? They certainly seem enthusiastic."

...

...