Chapter 527: Internal Control Established

The prisoner considered it before nodding. "I could program it to move gradually. It would appear as if the person carrying it was heading toward the western wall."

Lu Zhen understood what Assistant Yao had in mind. "Once the battle begins, Colonel Deng would have had a reason to head toward the western defense line. After that, he could slip out of the base and move toward the quarry."

Commander Han looked at the map. "That could work. The western gate has an emergency tunnel leading outside. Colonel Deng knew about it."

Leng Pan raised her eyebrows. "Did he have the authority to open it?"

"He did."

"Then you should change the access codes immediately," Lu Zhen advised. "We cannot assume that Colonel Deng is the only traitor. Someone else might try to open the tunnel when the zombies arrive."

Commander Han nodded and used his radio to give the order.

The prisoner began altering the marker’s movement. Instead of jumping directly to the quarry, the red point started creeping slowly toward the western side of the base.

Lu Tao watched it for a while before asking, "If we lure the transport vessel toward the quarry, what will we do with it? The explosives might destroy zombies, but could they destroy something carrying a gate?"

The alien prisoner answered before anyone else could. "Ordinary explosives might damage the vessel, but the gate anchor is protected by its own energy barrier."

"Then we would need to destroy it before they activate the barrier," Ouyang Jin said thoughtfully.

"Or steal it," ZaiZai suggested.

Everyone turned to look at him.

ZaiZai scratched his cheek under their stares. "What? We captured one aircraft already. Why could we not capture something more useful?"

Su Yan knocked him lightly on the back of his head. "You should first ask whether any of us knows how to use it."

"We have someone who knows," ZaiZai replied as he pointed at the prisoner.

The alien’s eyes widened. "I am only a technician. I have never operated a gate anchor."

"You are still more knowledgeable than us," ZaiZai said with a bright smile. "You might learn."

The prisoner did not seem comforted by that.

Leng Pan looked toward Lu Zhen. "Capturing it might be better than destroying it. If the anchor can open a passage to the aliens’ world, we might be able to use it against them."

Lu Zhen immediately understood what she was thinking. "You want to send them back through their own gate."

"Not now," Leng Pan replied. "But if we understand their technology, we could find a way to close the Passage in Tayi City permanently. We might even be able to stop them from opening another one."

Commander Han stared at the two of them. "You are discussing stealing an alien gate as if you were planning to collect an abandoned vehicle."

Leng Pan smiled. "We have collected stranger things."

Lu Zhen thought of the plow, microwaves, oil-pressing machine, and rolls of chain-link fencing filling his space. Unfortunately, he could not disagree with his wife.

Compared to the things his team had forced him to collect, an alien gate anchor might actually be useful.

"We will try to capture it," Lu Zhen decided. "However, protecting Qinghe Base should come first. If we cannot take it without risking the defense line, we will destroy it."

Commander Han accepted his decision without arguing. After seeing their strength and the captured aircraft, he knew that Lu Zhen’s group had a better understanding of the aliens than anyone in Qinghe Base.

A soldier rushed into the aircraft before they could discuss the plan further. His face was covered in sweat, and he was holding a tablet in one hand.

"Commander, we found something beneath the western communication tower," the soldier reported. "There are six metal containers hidden under the floor. They have alien symbols on them, so no one dared to touch them."

The alien prisoner’s face turned pale.

Leng Pan noticed and immediately asked, "What are those containers?"

"I would need to see them first," he replied, but his voice had already betrayed him.

Little Vine crawled from Leng Pan’s wrist and wrapped around his neck.

He quickly changed his answer. "They could be signal amplifiers."

"What do they amplify?" Lu Zhen asked.

"The command network," the prisoner admitted. "If there are six of them, they might cover the entire base."

Commander Han gripped his radio. "Evacuate everyone from the western tower and seal the surrounding area. No one should touch those containers until we arrive."

The group left the aircraft and headed toward the base.

The moment they entered through the western gate, Leng Pan felt something strange.

There was a faint energy spreading through the ground beneath their feet. It was weak enough to escape the notice of ordinary ability users, but it carried the same uncomfortable feeling as the parasite queen’s control threads.

Little Vine sensed it too.

Its leaves trembled before several thin roots stretched down Leng Pan’s arm and pointed toward the center of the base.

Leng Pan stopped walking.

Lu Zhen immediately noticed. "What is wrong?"

"The devices beneath the tower are not only communicating with the zombies," Leng Pan replied as she looked at the survivors moving toward the shelters. "They have already connected to something inside the base."

Commander Han followed her gaze.

Thousands of people were gathering in the streets. Some carried children while others supported the elderly. Soldiers were trying to maintain order, but fear had already begun to spread.

Everything seemed normal at first.

Then one of the survivors stopped walking.

A woman beside him asked him to move, but he did not respond.

Another survivor stopped a few meters away.

Then another.

Within seconds, dozens of people throughout the crowd had become completely still.

Their heads turned toward the western wall at the same time.

Commander Han’s face lost all color. "What is happening to them?"

The alien prisoner took a step back as terror appeared in his eyes. "The network has been activated."

A man in the crowd suddenly attacked the soldier beside him.

More survivors followed.

Screams filled the street as the calm evacuation collapsed into chaos.

Leng Pan spread her mist across the crowd while Lu Zhen raised a wall of fire to stop the affected survivors from reaching the western gate.

Little Vine tightened around the prisoner’s neck again.

Leng Pan looked at him coldly. "Tell me how to shut it down."

The prisoner struggled to breathe as he pointed toward the western communication tower. "Destroying the amplifiers will not be enough. The main controller must already be inside the base."

"Where?"

"I do not know."

Before Leng Pan could question him again, every light in Qinghe Base went out.

The alien communicator in her hand lit up in the darkness.

A new message appeared across its screen.

[INTERNAL CONTROL ESTABLISHED.]

[OPENING WESTERN ACCESS ROUTE.]

Behind them, the massive western gate began to move.