Chapter Twenty-Two: Physical Infiltration

Xiao Ran pushed open the heavy iron door bearing a warning sign: "High Voltage Distribution Room."

Behind the door was not the clandestine meeting she had pictured, but instead a vast industrial labyrinth, a steel jungle. Towering, aged transformers loomed like silent giants; tangled high-voltage cables, resembling the veins of some monstrous creature, snaked across the ceiling and walls. The air was thick with a pungent blend of machine oil and ozone.

“Something’s wrong,” her voice echoed faintly in the cavernous chamber.

“Lin Feng, scan the layout here,” she commanded through her communicator.

But her earpiece responded only with an unsettling silence—just the hiss of static.

The signal was jammed.

The moment she realized this—

Bang!

A deafening crash erupted behind her. The heavy iron door she had just pushed open slammed shut, driven by an invisible force. The sound of the electromagnetic lock dropping was like a bolt from hell, sealing her escape completely.

Click!

All the lights in the room extinguished in an instant. Absolute darkness, so thick one could not see their own hand, swept over her like a tidal wave, swallowing her whole.

She was caged.

Then—

Zzz… zzzzt…

The room’s intercom system crackled to life. After a burst of electrical static, Anderson’s icy, elegant voice, as if reciting poetry, echoed slowly throughout the pitch-black space.

“Miss Xiao, welcome to my personal reception room.”

“I must apologize; today’s refreshments may be a little…”

“…stimula