Doomsday Wonderland

Lin Sanjiu had mentioned before that she knew someone in the Shark Nexus who was extremely meticulous and sharp-minded. That was precisely why she refused to use Pete as a way to track them; she feared that person would use Pete to trace her instead.

Cyrus had no doubt about this.

If there was one thing he had learned from climbing the ranks of the Shadow Hall, it was that there is always someone smarter, and there is always another layer beyond what you can see. Even though he considered himself a capable person, he was not arrogant enough to believe that he could execute every plan flawlessly, without leaving a trace.

So, releasing Pete wasn't the issue. The real problem was: how could he track Pete in a way that ensured he would successfully locate the Shark Nexus's headquarters?

Tracking devices were out of the question. Cyrus ruled them out immediately.

During his years in the Shadow Hall, he had spent considerable time specializing in communication, tracking, timing, and various surveillance devices, making him something of an expert in the field. Because of this, he was all too aware of their weaknesses.

To an expert, tracking devices revealed everything—their construction, signal wavelengths, and material composition—all of which could be easily exploited.

And the Shark Nexus would definitely have experts of their own.

After all, the Shadow Hall had plenty of them too.

Cyrus already had a vague idea of what might have happened to the Shadow Hall. Every time the thought surfaced, it weighed heavily on him, forcing him to push it away. He refused to dwell on it.

He had always been meticulous and cautious. And yet, now he found himself repeating a phrase he never would have said in the past: "Stop thinking about it. What good will it do?"

As long as he moved quickly, there was still hope—a slim chance to save Shadow Hall... to save the only place he had ever known as home in the apocalyptic worlds.

How ridiculous.

Before realizing that the Shadow Hall was facing possible annihilation, he had never considered it home. Or perhaps home wasn't the right word? What should he call the place where he truly belonged?

Cyrus shook his head slightly, realizing he had lost focus.

If he wanted to track the Shark Nexus through Pete, he first needed to understand how Pete contacted them in the first place.

It didn't take much effort before Cyrus forced the answer out of him.

"I contact them through a Mailbox Man," Pete muttered, his face sullen. "You probably know what that is, right...?"

Cyrus frowned slightly.

He did indeed know what a Mailbox Man was, but hearing this answer genuinely surprised him.

"Mailbox Man? You're telling me that even though you've already started working for the Shark Nexus, you still don't know their location? Not even a single contact point, let alone their headquarters?"

Mailbox Men were a type of device that had only become popular in the Twelve Worlds Centrum in recent years. They were essentially tin-plated robots, about the size of an average woman, with cylindrical bodies stacked beneath cylindrical heads. Their faces had a single, long slot opening, much like an old-fashioned street mailbox.

And, just like mailboxes, they sat silently by the roadside. The difference, however, was that when and where a Mailbox Man would appear was known to only a select few.

"Y-yeah." Pete rubbed his hands together nervously, as if afraid Cyrus wouldn't believe him. "Their security is really tight. When someone gets approved and receives an investment, the Shark Nexus also purchases a set period of service from the Mailbox Man Company... Basically, however many months are left before your transfer period, that's how many months of service they buy."

Cyrus leaned back in his seat, scrutinizing Pete. "Then you must have a Mailbox Man receipt, right?"

The look on Pete's face made Cyrus instantly aware that he regretted telling the truth.

Purchasing a month's service from the Mailbox Man Company meant receiving a white slip valid for that duration, commonly referred to as a Mailbox Man receipt.

Receipts were issued in duplicate; one copy was given to the sender, and the other to the recipient who wished to maintain confidential contact. When a sender deposited a letter into a Mailbox Man, their receipt would light up with green text, displaying a location and a time—indicating when and where the Mailbox Man holding their letter would next appear.

Since Mailbox Men appeared at random, without a receipt, it was virtually impossible to track where and when a particular message would be delivered. Even following a Mailbox Man was useless. Not only were they self-propelled robots capable of flying and swimming, but letters also vanished the moment they were dropped inside.

Most likely, they used spatial transmission technology. Letters dropped into Mailbox Man A often had to be retrieved from Mailbox Man B, and even the sender had no way of knowing which one that would be. This made intercepting critical messages nearly impossible among the countless Mailbox Men scattered across the Twelve Worlds Centrum.

Over the years, many had tried to crack the Mailbox Man Company's encrypted communication system. Some had attempted to attach a tracker to a Mailbox Man, slip a tracking device inside the letters, use contagious letters that would spread a signal, and even outright kidnapping a Mailbox Man.

To date, if anyone had actually succeeded, Cyrus had never heard of it.

"They respond really fast," Pete said reluctantly. "As soon as I drop a message, my receipt lights up with green text within six hours. If a meeting is needed, they'll provide a time and place... just like during my pitch. And just like then, it's never anywhere near their headquarters."

Was this level of secrecy really necessary? Cyrus found himself growing suspicious.

For any organization, security measures had to be weighed against efficiency. No matter how he thought about it, the Shark Nexus had no obvious reason to go to such extreme lengths to conceal their location. It was a massive investment of effort and resources.

He had briefly considered disguising himself as Pete to infiltrate them. But if even Pete had never been allowed near the Shark Nexus itself, that plan was already a dead end.

"So that means..." Cyrus murmured, "you aren't high enough in rank to get me close to the Shark Nexus. If I want to find them, I need to replace you with someone closer to their core... like the person who arranged to meet with you."

Pete's face darkened, perhaps realizing that this could saddle him with a responsibility he could never shake off.

"You want to capture the person meeting me?"

Capturing them directly would be too risky.

Cyrus was strong, but if the Shark Nexus sent a high-level posthuman—or more than one—he could easily find himself in danger.

Fortunately, the Shadow Hall had always possessed a vast arsenal of spatial items, and as a high-ranking officer, Cyrus had stocked up on several before heading to Chimeric City. Among them was one called [One-Time Pocket Dimension].

Like most spatial items, it couldn't be moved once someone was inside. But Cyrus knew its rules inside and out—he understood the traps within, the conditions he could exploit, and most importantly, how to win inside it.

As long as he followed the target inside, he could use the pocket dimension to restrain them. And when it deactivated, the only ones falling out would be Cyrus and a Shark Nexus operative, still tethered by the leash.

Naturally cautious, he ran through his plan over and over, adjusting for possible scenarios. Once Pete received the meeting time and location through the Mailbox Man, Cyrus even scouted the site in advance.

Nothing in life was ever foolproof, but after making every possible preparation, he was confident his chances of capturing the target were high.

Following the plan, he set up the [One-Time Pocket Dimension] at the meeting spot and immediately led Pete down the mountain. He never told Pete a single word about his plan. Even if Pete suspected he had a backup move, he had no idea what to guard against.

As the meeting time approached, Cyrus felt his palms grow damp with sweat.

To avoid arousing suspicion, he would send Pete up the elevated plateau alone at the right time, while he himself waited at a safe distance. According to his calculations, the Shark Nexus operative should step into the pocket dimension before Pete even arrived...

Had he missed anything? Any gaps in the plan?

Cyrus closed his eyes tightly, going over the plan one more time in his head for what must have been the hundredth time.

When he opened them again, he saw someone walking down the artificial mountain path in the distance.

After so many years of absence, this person looked almost exactly the same as the last time they had met, so familiar that Cyrus felt momentarily dazed.

If not for the tremor in his muscles, he might have thought he was dreaming.

"Irezumi?"

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