The Tower's defenses were built to be highly secure. The main gate was made of stone, and even the lock was a digital code lock.

For lockpicking magic, this kind of lock was ahead of its time.

However, Chen Yihang was already prepared.

"Sixteen-digit dynamic password, RWE programming method. It'll take about three minutes," Chen Yihang informed, taking a few wires from his backpack and connecting them to the lock.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, typing in commands as lines of code scrolled rapidly.

After three minutes, the door remained still, and Chen Yihang's baby face grew serious.

Just when Ruan Xing was beginning to suspect something had gone wrong, the lock made a faint sound.

Chen Yihang wiped away some sweat. "They added a super firewall and anti-tracking system inside the lock. If I didn't disconnect it immediately after cracking, my computer wouldn't have survived."

Once the smart lock opened, Su Xiaona placed her hands on the stone door. Her arms tensed, combat suit pulled taut, and with a thunderous rumble, the several-ton gate was forced open.

The men present all gave her a thumbs-up.

It seemed that the Tower didn't understand the concept of saving electricity. As soon as the door opened, blinding light shone in their eyes, illuminating every detail of the surroundings.

What lay before them was a long staircase. On the right side of the wall was a curved archway, very much like a spiral staircase in a castle. But it was narrow, hardly resembling the architecture of a large research facility.

"Wait, there's a camera," Chen Yihang said.

From his pocket, he pulled out a green notebook. From it, something similar to a flashlight came out. He shone it at the camera, which began to emit smoke, though it didn't stop functioning.

"It should be possible to replace the feed with a safe loop," he said, putting away the flashlight.

Fu Zhi and Ruan Xing walked in front of them.

Chen Yihang and Su Xiaona took the middle, while Bai Xu and Pei Ye brought up the rear.

Fu Gui flew high above, alertly reporting to Ruan Xing.

[This place has changed quite a bit since I left.]

Glancing at the walls, Fu Gui added, [The corridors used to be wider. Now it's like this thing has gotten fatter.]

Ruan Xing also looked around. The corridors here were so narrow that two grown men could barely walk side by side. For the Tower's supposed capacity of eight hundred people, normal movement through here would be a stretch.

Ever since entering the Tower, Fu Zhi's brows had been furrowed.

Ruan Xing asked what was wrong.

Fu Zhi replied, "I have a bad feeling."

Under normal circumstances, even if they had snuck in quietly, they should have already encountered the first wave of people, whether researchers or security personnel. But there was no one, and they couldn't hear any sound other than their own footsteps.

"It's three in the morning, everyone's asleep, so it's normal that no one is here, right?" Bai Xu whispered.

"The Tower always has people on duty. I used to see them all the time," Fu Zhi said.

Fu Gui confirmed his words.

After all, a research institution famous even before the apocalypse couldn't possibly have no security measures.

Unless… someone had deliberately withdrawn it.

Thinking of this sent a chill down Bai Xu's spine. "No way. Do they already know that we are coming tonight?"

"It's possible," Chen Yihang said. "The Tower has been deeply entrenched here for years. They should know the base's movements very well."

"Damn, so our sneak attack turned into a frontal assault?" Bai Xu said.

"Not necessarily," Pei Ye said. "Otherwise, they would have acted first instead of waiting for us. Wouldn't they strike before we do?"

Everyone's reasoning had merit, but Fu Zhi and Fu Gui still looked grim.

Ruan Xing quietly asked, [So, has Will found out or not?]

[Most likely he already knows,] Fu Gui replied. [That guy's control over the Tower is far stronger than you think.]

Fu Zhi, knowing Will as well, warned the group, "Be careful. We are about to reach the Support Center."

The Tower was generally divided into three parts: the Support Center, the Research Center, and the Leadership Division.

The Support Center was at the very bottom of the Tower and had the most contact with the Enforcement Division and the public, with service counters facing directly outward.

The door they used wasn't the main entrance but a small side door, so they had to take a detour to get there.

Ruan Xing perked up. Before him was a large platform. The circular office area was filled with computers, all pure white, blending in with the surroundings.

It was similar to his desk area at the Investigation Corps—full of documents, with the only bits of color coming from file folders and jackets draped over chairs.

And there was no one here.

After Chen Yihang dealt with the cameras, they went in.

"The employee dorms are accessed from here," Fu Gui said, pointing at a nearby elevator. The gray elevator glinted with a cold light. Ruan Xing noted it only had a button to go down, none for going up.

"This is the staff-only elevator," Fu Gui explained. "Remember where we are?"

They had walked around the Tower's outer edge and were now on the first platform. Below this platform, directly under the Support Center, were the staff dorms.

Everyone there should be resting now.

Bai Xu pulled over a few chairs, and with a wave of his fingers, the metal parts dissolved, crawling like slime into the gap between the door, sealing the elevator shut.

"Even if they wake up, they can't get here now," Bai Xu said, patting his hands.

The rest was just copying data.

Chen Yihang opened a small black case, took out a mini-computer, and connected it to one of the main terminals. His fingers flew over the keys, then he handed the computer to Bai Xu. "The program is set. The security measures and firewalls here should be easy to break. Wait here for our signal."

Compared to the Support Center, the Research Department had much stricter security. That was An Mao's real target.

Bai Xu, though not as skilled as Chen Yihang, could keep the program running.

"Got it. I'll go up and find you later," Bai Xu said.

Just then, the green light of the camera began flashing violently.

Chen Yihang's face changed. He pulled the flashlight from his pocket. "Crap, why is the laser not working?"

Then, from a speaker near the camera, a sharp buzzing noise came.

For a moment, everyone's ears rang. The sound was muffled, as though a thin veil separated them from the world.

It passed quickly, and when they came to, the sound was gone.

Fu Zhi asked if anyone felt anything. They all shook their heads, indicating that there were no injuries.

But soon, Chen Yihang, Bai Xu, Su Xiaona, and Pei Ye all looked alarmed.

"What the hell?!" Bai Xu cursed.

"What happened?" Fu Zhi asked.

Pei Ye's face was grim.

It was Su Xiaona who explained. "Captain, our abilities are gone."

"Gone?" Fu Zhi was surprised.

"I don't know what they did, but my power is gone!" Bai Xu said, before swearing at the air.

How could abilities just vanish?

They were not cellphones that could be stolen.

Ruan Xing didn't understand since he had no abilities. From Fu Zhi's look, he seemed unaffected as well, but the others looked terrible.

"Gone isn't exactly right," Pei Ye said. "They have been suppressed to a very low level. What we can use now is less than a tenth of our original strength."

Before even engaging the enemy, their strongest assets had been crippled. No wonder Bai Xu was venting.

No one had expected the Tower to have a way to suppress human abilities.

What did this mean?

It meant they had fully understood the mechanics of abilities and could produce countermeasures.

And abilities had only appeared in humans after the Great Pollution. Did this mean the Tower had also thoroughly studied pollution?

Ruan Xing had once pondered a question: What exactly was pollution?

Before the apocalypse, his Mage Tower had already fallen into this world. After the apocalypse, the Tower was established, producing anti-pollution medicine immediately and taking in countless humans.

And when Ruan Xing had become a furball, his wrist device had identified him as an S-class pollutant.

The timing of pollution's appearance and his own experience were far too coincidental.

Everything pointed to one answer.

Pollution and magic were deeply connected.

Could it be that by introducing a power that shouldn't exist in this world, he had caused this devastation?

This suspicion had long weighed heavily on him.

And now, perhaps he could find the answer here.

"It's fine. Only the powers are gone. Our physical abilities remain," Su Xiaona said, dropping a weighted training sandbag to the ground with a heavy thud before lightly hopping in place. She was still nimble.

"Sis! Xiaona-jie, can you stay with me? This decryption will take a while. Let's wait together," Bai Xu said immediately.

She agreed.

The staff elevator was sealed, and even if there were stray guards, Su Xiaona could handle them alone.

"Then we will go up first."

Time was tight, and they had to split up as planned.

Leaving the Support Center, the four of them continued upward.

The Tower's elevator setup was unusual. Besides the staff dorm elevators for each department, the remaining external elevators all led to only one place: the Tower's top floor, Will's floor.

In other words, without special reasons, departments couldn't directly interact with each other. The only one they could meet face-to-face was the boss at the top.

"That's twisted," Chen Yihang muttered. "Don't they care about communication at all?"

Interdepartmental communication is essential for any organization to ensure the timely and accurate exchange of information. Many companies even placed departments together for this reason.

But Will's approach essentially isolated each department, severely weakening the flow of information.

"Exactly." Fu Gui sighed.

Their footsteps echoed through the corridor. To Ruan Xing's surprise, the hallway here was growing wider.

Yet the Tower's design was supposed to be smaller at the top and wider at the bottom.

"Perhaps the Research Center corridors were built wider for more traffic," Fu Gui explained.

Ruan Xing walked almost side by side with Fu Zhi until suddenly he stopped.

Fu Zhi, walking ahead alone, also stopped and looked back at him.

Pei Ye almost bumped into him, puzzled.

Ruan Xing's expression was grim.

Because he had just discovered that the tracking red dot he had left on that little boy was now appearing exactly where they were about to arrive.