Chapter 73
Fifty Yards
Four shadows stood inside one of the abandoned apartments surrounding a square where a rousing entrance to the Tunnel shimmered relentlessly. Ethan, Ronald, Elijah, and Delilah all stood patiently, their gazes drawn to the rows of men and women going in… though none coming out.
Their entrance to China was rather… uneventful, contrary to the expectations of everyone except Ethan. They'd flown over to Gunsan in South Korea–more specifically, U.S. Kunsan Air Force Base where they boarded a new-age stealth jet that dropped them some thirty miles from Shanghai during the night. Though parachuting wasn't exactly in their skillset, it was either that or gruelling weeks spent trying to infiltrate through other channels.
They managed to land well enough, with Ethan taking care of Delilah, and eventually, they made their way to Shanghai, arriving just a day after the Tunnel had appeared. Its appearance, really, helped them a great deal as the focus of most of the city was on it and the surrounding areas. They'd managed to find an abandoned nest just a few hundred yards away from the Tunnel, though had to hide rather frequently as an army of drones patrolled the area.
"It'll be hard," Ronald said.
"Try impossible," Ethan sighed. "Beyond just the army of guards, there's around 40 snipers positioned surrounding the square. And those are just the ones that I can see. There are several spots that would make for perfect sniping positions but I can't discern a person there… which means that the best of 'em are there. Probably people with stealth Classes."
"... what do we do, then?" Ronald asked.
"We can't do much yet, anyway," Ethan said. "We'll retreat to the underground bunker we dug out while Delilah finishes connecting the portals."
"I–I can do it in two days!" the girl exclaimed confidently.
"There's no need to rush," Ethan said. "They won't be able to clear that place even if they're given months."
"Why?" Elijah asked. "Is it… hard?"
"Hard? Hmm. In a way, I suppose?" Ethan mumbled, stroking his chin. "Oh, wait. I guess… you'll have to work hard, Delilah, to finish it in less than three days."
"Eh? Of–of course! I promise I'll do it!"
"Why? What'd you remember?"
"If I'm not mistaken," Ethan said. "There'll be a Relic Hunt Event happening in the southern part of the city, some tenish miles from here. Its entry was rather bombastic which is probably why I remember it. At the same time, we'll have to cause another set of distractions."
"Like the mart?" Ronald quizzed.
"Like the mart," Ethan nodded. "I've brought a couple of grenades and two C4 bombs, but that's still pretty bare."
"Ah, yes. Towels, socks, boxers, grenades and bombs, just as my mom used to tell me what to pack for vacation." Ronald rolled his eyes as Delilah and Elijah chuckled lightly.
"I am a man of many talents," Ethan said, stroking his beard yet again. "I can dance, I can sing, I can nap, and I can use explosive ordinances to gain advantage!"
"..."
"..."
"Screw you guys. That was funny."
"Sure."
"Let's leave," Ethan said. "There's a lot to do."
Ethan didn't want to be discovered–though he was a being of chaos, there truly was a thing called 'too much chaos'. If he was identified in any way, shape, or form as an American, it would be a perfect casus belli for war. And if America and China went to war, in the midst of everything else, the world truly might not even stand a chance for the future.
It was imperative that their identities were never discovered, but that was easier said than done.
No, wait, aren't I a moron? His eyes shifted over to Delilah as they descended the apartment building's stairs. The exit portal doesn't have to be in Shanghai… right?
"Change of plans," he said immediately.
"What?" everyone came to a halt.
"Delilah, you won't have to build a portal here. You'll build it inside the Tunnel."
"... she can do that?" Ronald asked with a frown.
"Yeah."
"..."
"..."
"Seriously, I'm way more embarrassed than you are angry," Ethan chuckled. "I forgot, for a moment."
"..."
Sneaking into the Tunnel wasn't necessarily difficult, especially if they abused the fanfare of the Relic Hunt Event and a couple of explosions. They were quick enough to skate through and simply using the smoke from the explosions as well as covering their faces was likely enough to shield their identities.
The difficult part, always, was leaving the Tunnel after clearing it and not being discovered and captured. However, if they simply never had to leave a Tunnel through its own exit… wouldn't that be a perfect solution?
Ethan spent the next three days finding two abandoned locations to plant the bombs. They were about two hundred feet apart, barely in range of the remote detonator if he stood between them. Though he had no clue the precise hour of the Relic Event happening, he'd detonate the bombs as soon as it did. Ronald, then, would toss the grenades at the square as a further distraction, and they'd rush in, all else be damned, directly through the vortex.
Even if snipers managed to shoot them, as long as the bullet didn't pierce their heads or hearts, Ronald and Ethan would be fine which was why the two would be shielding the kids with their bodies.
Ethan didn't like it–he didn't like any of it. However, the alternative was the impossible bureaucracy of the U.S. government, if even so inclined, reaching out to the Chinese government and asking for effectively a favour that would never be granted. And any prolonged planning was virtually impossible as there were four places that they had to reach and clear within just two months.
If there were another option, another choice, Ethan would have taken it–but if the Tunnel truly let loose that human-hating monster, it would all be over. That thing wouldn't reign as a king if others bowed–no, it would quite literally kill every single human being on the planet and do so with unprecedented glee.
Thus, this was the only way.
If nothing else, the 'screen' never lied about anything–all the information it deliberately provided was always accurate. How much information it provided was always up for debate, but what it did provide, it was trustworthy for it. As such, if it said that collecting those four items and using them in some way would revert the type of Tunnel, that's precisely what would happen.
Three days passed by in a flash–Ethan would occasionally come to one of the apartment buildings and glance out at the square as well as the surrounding buildings. The number of people going into the Tunnel had diminished considerably–at the start, there were anywhere between forty to eighty people going in daily, and it had dropped to barely ten to twenty in the last two days.
It didn't matter, however–even if thousands went in, it would be impossible to clear. For now. However, there was also a reason why Ethan chose to tackle this particular Tunnel first–while part of it was that sneaking into Shanghai would only get more bothersome in the future, part of it was that this was also the likeliest Tunnel to be cleared within the next two months.
"It's time," Ethan called out to others. Elijah went with Ronald, and Delilah went with Ethan. The two groups would converge at the square and rush into the Tunnel together. "Remember–speed above all else. Even if you get shot, just run. Elijah, cast the shield on yourself, not Ronald. Understood?"
"Y-yes."
"Alright. Let's go."
It was precisely 2:33 PM when it went off.
It was preceded by a tiny quake that even Ethan barely felt–but only a moment later, a deafening sound of a crumbling stone exploded throughout the entire Shanghai as a pillar of crimson light shot up toward the sky, breaking apart the rainy clouds and dyeing the azure sky red.
Right then, Ethan pressed the button and activated the two bombs–they weren't particularly powerful, just barely strong and loud enough to crumble a floor or two within an apartment building, but it was enough. Just as soon as he pressed the button, he rushed out onto the square.
Paved sidewalks stretched thick, covered in trees and street lamps. Just then, he heard two grenades go off about fifty feet from him and saw Ronald rush out through the smoke and onto the main street.
Ethan didn't lag behind, tightly nestling Delilah into his chest and covering her up with a blanket, sprinting out toward the Tunnel. There was about fifty yards of distance between him and the Tunnel and about seventy between Ronald and the Tunnel. The two figures became blurry shadows as they used their maximum speed to cross the distance. Ethan could have used Blood Shuffle to easily appear near the Tunnel, but Level 1 Blood Shuffle would only transport him and leave Delilah behind.
The first shot rang out when he was about thirty yards away; the bullet missed by about ten feet to his left, piercing into the ground behind him. He slowed down a tad, waiting for Ronald to catch up as he was slower when the second shot rang out. He felt the radiating pulse of pain blister out of his right thigh, but he ignored it. It was nothing.
The distressed shouts were erupting from everywhere and the city sirens finally began to blare when the third shot rang out.
They were both within twenty yards when Ethan saw Ronald flinch as blood sprayed out from his left foot. The boy ignored it, sprinting forward once again.
The world slowed down–everything, in Ethan's eyes, seemed to be moving sluggishly. The smoke, the fire, the waving arms of the soldiers in the distance, the couple of sensible ones that started reaching for their guns…
It was then that the fourth shot rang out, prompting Ethan to abruptly move his head to the left; the bullet scraped his right cheek, drawing blood. He'd immediately recognised that the shot came from one of the places where he couldn't find anyone. The person was patient… but he'd still missed.
The fifth and last shot rang out late–by then, Ronald was already inside the Tunnel and Ethan had just jumped in. Even so, it managed to pierce through his right shoulder, blowing open a massive wound. Pain assailed him for a moment as he felt the world around him turn and spin, the shifting of dimensions carrying him froth to the Lonely Eden, a Tunnel both extremely easy and immensely difficult at the same time.