What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Climbing the Tower

At a ruin roughly six hundred meters from the signal tower base station, tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the ground, a rebar grate camouflaged with turf was pushed open from below, revealing a large square hole.

Two mechas climbed out one after the other, and the entrance was immediately resealed.

The moment Shu Qiong stepped onto solid ground, she began scanning her surroundings. This area was near the back of the cafeteria, now a scene of total devastation. The air held a sharp scent of char, likely from a gas explosion. Mingled with the smoke was an earthy, musky smell much stronger than in other areas; Shu Qiong judged that they were very close to the Hive Mother, the source of the swarm.

The two quickly determined their orientation and headed purposefully toward the signal tower. Rounding the half-collapsed cafeteria that blocked their line of sight, Shu Qiong finally saw the current state of the tower.

It had essentially become a Zerg stronghold. Swarms of Zerg individuals flowed in and out of the ground-floor exits. they had their own methods of communication and were busy remodeling the occupied territory according to their specific roles. The tower featured several floors with small, protruding observation decks that offered excellent vantage points; however, they were no longer manned by human soldiers, but by grotesque Zerg sentries.

These sentries would occasionally take flight from the decks, circling the tower a few times on patrol. It was late at night, and the temperature on Base Star had dropped significantly. Under the chill night wind, the patrol frequency of the high-level Zerg was relatively low—roughly once every fifteen minutes. The sentries on the lower decks, however, flew out every five minutes. The rustling vibration of their wing membranes broke the silence of the night with a noise like crinkling plastic.

Crouched behind a nearby collapsed building, Shu Qiong and Yan Xiangyu found the scene troublesome.

“Too many bugs. We can’t enter through the first-floor entrance,” Yan Xiangyu said, ruling out the first option.

Shu Qiong hummed in agreement. “Two choices: break a window or take the observation decks?”

Yan Xiangyu didn’t hesitate: “The observation decks.”

The windows were too small; a mecha would struggle to squeeze through. Unless they spent extra effort smashing the masonry to widen the frames, it would be a waste of time and likely alert the main Zerg force.

Shu Qiong replied as expected: “Five minutes. We need to climb to the third floor and kill the sentries on that deck. We only have five minutes; it has to be fast.”

Yan Xiangyu had no objections. Shu Qiong continued, “The lowest deck is on the third floor. Based on my observations, there are at least five Zerg there.”

As she spoke, Shu Qiong activated the countdown on her timer. Watching for the right moment, she whispered, “Go!”

Moving in perfect synchronization, the two mechas were nearly a blur. In just a few breaths, they reached the back wall of the signal tower. Suction-cup attachments for climbing deployed from their palms, and they began to scale the building. For safety, they didn’t use their anti-gravity thrusters to fly, fearing the engine noise or abnormal air currents would give them away.

The tower’s power had long been cut. The entire building was devoid of light, looking like a dead monument. The third-floor deck gaped like a dark, open maw; no one knew what kind of monsters lurked within.

Yan Xiangyu’s mecha, Standby, reached the edge of the third-floor exterior first. One hand gripped the deck, and with a burst of power from her arm, she vaulted inside as silently and swiftly as a ghost. Unfortunately, she collided head-on with a Zerg scout preparing to fly out.

Yan Xiangyu didn’t hesitate or even break her stride. Using her momentum, she slammed her elbow forward with brutal force. Shu Qiong, just popping her head over the ledge, heard a dull thud from inside. Her heart skipped a beat, and she scrambled to pull her entire mecha into the room.

The sound of skittering drew closer; several more Zerg on the third floor had heard the noise and were heading for the deck. Shu Qiong raised her arm and silently sniped a mantis-like Zerg that peeked around the corner. Yan Xiangyu followed up instantly, her steel whip coiling around the twitching Zerg that Shu Qiong had hit. With a twist of her body and a powerful snap of her wrist, she swung the dying creature like a flail, smashing it into the three other soldiers following behind it.

One Zerg’s mandibles twitched as its antennae vibrated wildly, seemingly about to let out a warning shriek. But in the next instant, a bullet tore through its open mouth, turning its head into a foul-smelling mist of blood. Yan Xiangyu took the opportunity to decapitate the others with clean, efficient strikes.

Without exchanging a word, the two moved deeper into the third floor with seamless coordination. Suddenly, Shu Qiong caught a faint friction sound—like plastic film rustling in the wind. She immediately held her breath in alertness. Yan Xiangyu heard it too; she half-turned and pressed a hand down in a “stay low” gesture, melting into the shadows of the corner.

Within two seconds, the rustling grew loud. A patrolling Zerg had smelled the blood of its kind and flown in to investigate. Shu Qiong couldn’t help but glance at her timer. They had been efficient—only four minutes had passed since they started moving, which was ahead of the usual patrol schedule for the other floors.

Surprises always came fast.

Hiding in the dark, Shu Qiong could visualize the Zerg flying in and inspecting the corpses on the floor based on the sounds alone. After a light landing sound, the vibration of the wing membranes stopped. Just as Shu Qiong was about to react, a dark shadow lunged past her toward the scout.

Yan Xiangyu moved faster than the eye could follow. Cloaked in darkness, only the blade in her hand reflected a tiny glint of cold light. Upon impact, the sharp blade—driven by immense momentum—carved a deep, fatal wound into the scout, pinning it to the wall.

However, she was half a beat too late. The scout managed to emit a sharp, grating alarm shriek before its mandibles snapped shut for the last time.

“Leave, now,” Shu Qiong urged from behind her.

Yan Xiangyu grunted in response and followed Shu Qiong to the floor’s elevator lobby.

“Not the stairs?” Yan Xiangyu hesitated for a second.

“We’ve alerted them. If we take the stairs, we’ll be surrounded quickly,” Shu Qiong said grimly. “We’re climbing the elevator shaft.”

She seemed to have prepared for this. Stepping forward, she pulled a high-strength pry bar from a compartment and forced open the unpowered elevator doors. “Good thing the mecha thrusters are powerful,” Shu Qiong sighed, gesturing for Yan Xiangyu to go first.

Yan Xiangyu nodded and, aided by her night-vision display, slipped into the empty shaft. Shu Qiong had long since noticed that the elevators in military base buildings were exceptionally large, far exceeding standard civilian capacities. They were designed to transport mechas, so climbing through the shaft didn’t feel cramped at all.

High-strength retractable grappling hooks had been installed on the arms of both Xinghai and Standby. These were versatile tools Shu Qiong had found in the shelter supplies and immediately distributed to the team. You’d be a fool not to use available materials.

And look at that—they were already coming in handy.

Shu Qiong pulled the cable with satisfaction, and the hook retracted, pulling Xinghai’s heavy body up a significant distance. Meanwhile, a chaotic commotion erupted outside the elevator doors; a large number of Zerg were swarming the third floor, trying to find the intruders.

Inside the shaft, Shu Qiong and Yan Xiangyu repeated the rhythm of climbing, sliding, and hanging, racing against time to reach the top. Fortunately, they were in mechas and could use their thrusters; otherwise, their arms would have dislocated and their strength would have failed long ago.

Shu Qiong joked to keep her spirits up: “Is this a practical bonus task for the training? I wonder if the instructors give extra credit for this.”

Yan Xiangyu replied calmly, “Ask them once the signal is back.”

Shu Qiong paused. “And then threaten them? Tell them if they don’t give us credit, I’ll pull the plug on the signal?”

Yan Xiangyu naturally abetted her: “Sure. I’ll help you ask.”

Shu Qiong’s movements faltered slightly. She gave Yan Xiangyu—who was gliding up the cable ahead of her—a long look. The girl had a dry sense of humor, yet everything she said carried an air of serious conviction. I could never pull that off, Shu Qiong thought.

After an unknown amount of time, just as the monotonous darkness of the shaft began to warp Shu Qiong’s sense of time and space, she finally saw a glimmer of hope.

“The top floor is right above,” Yan Xiangyu stopped, clinging to the side, and looked back to warn Shu Qiong.

Shu Qiong couldn’t help but look down. Seeing nothing but a bottomless abyss, she reflexively pulled her head back. “Okay. I’ll pry the door.”

Violently prying an elevator door wasn’t hard for a mecha pilot; it just required a bit of technique. As she adjusted her position and took out her tools, Shu Qiong muttered, “Why am I becoming so professional at breaking and entering? I feel like a thief.”

“Not a thief,” Yan Xiangyu corrected seriously. “It’s a justified break-in.”

“…Fine. A justified break-in.”

Shu Qiong didn’t dawdle. Within moments, she had pried a gap in the top-floor doors. The sound of sliding metal was unavoidable. Shu Qiong applied a burst of strength to widen the gap and moved her body to the side.

Almost simultaneously, Yan Xiangyu kicked off the wall, swinging her hanging body back and up before using the downward momentum to fly forward out of the elevator doors.

Thud! Clang!

The sound of two heavy objects hitting the floor rang out immediately. Shu Qiong stepped out of the shaft half a beat later to see two dead Zerg bodies at Yan Xiangyu’s feet, their chests crushed inward with terrifying force. Shu Qiong clicked her tongue in admiration and gave a thumbs up.

The top floor had no observation deck, only a server room. The detectors picked up no signs of living things. Shu Qiong quickly reached the server room door and turned the handle. It didn’t budge.

“Prying another door, then.” Shu Qiong tried to calm her growing agitation. “This door is a bit tricky. I need time to study it.”

“Okay,” Yan Xiangyu nodded, stepping aside to hold a defensive stance.

The server room door was made of a specialized anti-explosion material, making it very difficult to force open. Normally, if staff didn’t have a key, they could use the building’s voice-activated AI or authorized digital access. But with the power and network cut, the smart lock had become a stubborn hunk of iron.

Shu Qiong forced herself to stay steady. The absolute silence and oppressive darkness were nerve-wracking. She told herself that she had come too far to fail now as she attempted a third method of lock-picking. Finally, using a high-magnification scanner, she found a tiny crevice nearly invisible to the naked eye. She prepared to use it as a fulcrum, only to find it was just a long, decorative groove.

At that moment, noise erupted from the stairwell—crawling sounds, clicking mandibles, and the rustle of wings. A large Zerg force was swarming up. Shu Qiong couldn’t help but look toward the noise, seeing only Yan Xiangyu’s back and the pitch-black hallway beyond.

“Don’t worry,” Yan Xiangyu said softly in the channel. “Do your work. I’ll handle the rest.”

Shu Qiong took a deep breath and suddenly spoke: “I think we’re looking in the wrong place.”

Yan Xiangyu was no longer worried about noise. Her whip cracked through the air, slamming the three leading Zerg to the ground. Without looking back, she asked, “What do you mean?”

Shu Qiong stopped her attempt at the lock. “Under normal circumstances, there would be guards stationed outside the server room and on the observation decks every day. They would definitely have the keys on them.” She paused, then added, “We should look for the body of the guard who was originally on the top floor.”