Lin Mo did not feel that such a harsh environment was bad. It was nothing compared to the severe cold and turbulence at high altitudes.
Lin Mo estimated his position from where he landed, and it should be in the northwest of this country. Until now, he had not been able to remember all the constellations of this world. It was not dark yet, so there was no way to confirm his actual position through astronomy.
He leaned against the airdrop box and used it to block the cold wind coming from one side. Lin Mo bundled the parachute and waited quietly. Dark Night was a special secret force, and it participated in actual combat and definitely had many enemies. The security level of the base was certainly high, so there should be a special pick-up method for a newcomer like him. The only thing he could do now was to wait.
After he ate a few packs of military rations hidden in his pocket, the sky had turned completely dark, and only the beacons were flashing in the wilderness.
The high-grade imitation watch impersonated by Gold Coin was not accurate at all, so Lin Mo did not know how long he had waited.
At this moment, a slight roar came from the distance, and two snow-white beams of light swept over from in the distance.
As it approached, Lin Mo stood up. This should be his ride.
A very ordinary-looking blue Changhe cargo van stopped less than five meters away from Lin Mo, and the high beam lights switched to low beam lights.
The door opened, and out jumped a bearded man wearing a peaked cap and a tunic. He looked no different from a middle-aged truck driver.
The middle-aged driver looked at Lin Mo and said, “Second Lieutenant Lin Mo! My surname is Hu. Call me Old Hu. Come, I gotta check your fingerprints. Don’t mind. These are the rules.” He took out a PDA from his pocket.
Lin Mo felt it was probably some necessary safety regulations. This person could call out his name, so he should be the one who came to pick him up. The equipment was quite advanced. He nodded.
Old Hu grabbed Lin Mo’s index finger, rubbed it hard, and then slowly rolled it from side to side on the fingerprint scanner of the PDA. He heard a beep, and the scanned fingerprint enlarged on the PDA screen. The screen flashed, and Lin Mo’s information—his name, photo, and military rank—appeared.
Lin Mo’s wrist twitched, and Gold Coin’s eyes were looking at it greedily. What a small handheld computer.
Lin Mo did not pay it any attention. A fake fingerprint film would likely be exposed directly by Old Hu’s hard rub.
Old Hu waved his hand. “Hehe. Your identity is confirmed. Get in the car!” He looked at Lin Mo’s airdrop box and asked, “Do you need help?”
Lin Mo smiled slightly and shook his head. He turned around and picked up the airdrop box that was more than twice his volume.
Old Hu opened the cargo compartment door and watched Lin Mo put the airdrop box into it. He switched off the beacon, and the flashing lights at the four corners immediately went out.
This guy should join the Olympic weightlifting team, Old Hu thought. He inadvertently glanced at Lin Mo’s footprints in the snow when he lifted the airdrop box just now. It was obviously not light, but it seemed effortless to Lin Mo, as though it were a bag of cotton.
Lin Mo’s strength clearly shocked Old Hu.
It was so dark outside that they could not see their fingers, and the dim yellow headlights of the van barely illuminated about ten meters ahead. He might not be able to brake in time if there was an emergency. After all, it was an ordinary cargo van, not some magical vehicle that was specially disguised.
After about four to five hours, the van finally drove onto a road, and dim street lights appeared on the side of the road.
Lin Mo, who was sitting in the co-driver seat beside Old Hu, realized that it was no longer grassland outside but patches of farmland. Because it was not a hilly area, the field of vision was extremely wide, and there were faint lights in the distance, perhaps a city.
Old Hu turned into a small road again and went on an endless series of turns. Probably only this Dark Night driver could find the way through these confusing roads.
It was really unexpected that Dark Night’s lair was not in the wilderness but in the countryside close to a city.
The cargo van stopped at a small farmyard with its lights still on.
“We’re here!” Old Hu turned off the engine and jumped off the van without taking the key. “Let’s go have some food!”
“What about my luggage?!” Lin Mo was thinking about shifting his luggage after getting out of the van.
“Don’t worry. Someone will pick it for you, and it’ll be sent to where you’ll be staying!” Old Hu patted the van proudly. “This place is very safe. There are no ordinary folks living nearby, so you don’t have to worry about thieves.”
Old Hu led Lin Mo to a very ordinary three-story farmhouse in a yard.
This seemingly small farmhouse actually contained a huge secret within, and Lin Mo once again appreciated the saying in this world ‘The greatest hermit will retreat into the noisiest fair’.
There was a couple tidying up the yard, and they turned a blind eye to the van that drove straight into the yard. They simply nodded at Old Hu in greeting and continued with their work.
Lin Mo was about to follow Old Hu upstairs when he turned and pulled open the door of the utility room under the stairs. Lin Mo did not know where or what he pressed, but the floor tiles on the ground of the utility room sank, and a basement entrance appeared.
How mysterious!
Old Hu, who entered the tunnel first, did not turn around. “This is just one of the entrances. For the sake of secrecy, the entrances are always changing. After all, we can’t be directly exposed to the public. It could easily cause international disputes. In this regard, we’re no different from terrorists if you think about it.”
His words made Lin Mo show a knowing smile. Fighting darkness with darkness, competing against each other, the organizers of this force were not rigid about morality.
“You must remember one thing when you enter our base: ask less, do more. The less you know, the better for you. You will be less guilty. Of course, sometimes a quick death from a bullet is also a kind of bliss if you’re captured by the enemy.” After he entered the tunnel, Old Hu’s words had a trace of iron and blood indifference to life and death.
Lin Mo did not reply. After entering the tunnel, he seemed to have come to a whole new world. The entrance was so dark that he could not see his fingers. He could only fumble down the steps and only saw a dim light after dozens of steps. They walked through a long tunnel before reaching a typical steel door of an air-raid shelter. Old Hu did not touch anything, yet the door opened with a click and slid to the side through an unknown authentication method. Behind it was an isolation room a dozen square meters big. Old Hu said nothing as he signaled for Lin Mo to follow behind him.
After going through several passages, Lin Mo and Old Hu came to a very spacious room with snow-white walls nearly one hundred square meters big. There was a set of soft beige fabric sofas against the wall and an LCD TV on the other side. The decorations were exquisite, fresh air blew in from the air vents, and the lights in the room were soft and bright. There were also green plants. It seemed to be a lounge without windows. He wondered how deep underground this place was.
They did not meet a single soul when they entered, but Lin Mo could feel himself being monitored. There were surveillance probes in every corner, but he knew there was far more surveillance equipment than these.
“Have a seat. I’ll order a meal for you. Then I’ll report, and then we’ll register you. It’ll be done soon!” Old Hu opened the door and walked out.
There was a wall clock on top of the TV. Lin Mo finally saw the time—2:16 in the morning. He sat on the sofa and observed the room in boredom. His sharp eyes noticed a few cameras in inconspicuous corners of the room. He smiled and waved at them. It was good to greet whoever was monitoring him since they would be colleagues in the future.
He spent half an hour in this manner. The driver, Old Hu, seemed to have disappeared, and he did not return even though it was almost 2:45 a.m. He continued to wait calmly and decided to turn on the TV to watch some shows. It was too boring waiting like this.
Just as he touched the remote control, he heard someone’s laughter and footsteps approaching. It soon reached the door of the room.
“Hey! Someone’s here. Who is it?!” Someone seemed to see the light in the room and stuck his head in curiously.
“Who are you? Are you a newcomer?” A young man with a thick body and eyebrows looked at Lin Mo and walked in curiously. A few men and women in the same standard camouflage sweat vests followed.
Lin Mo stood up from the sofa and saluted. He said in a strong voice, “I’m Lin Mo, code name Gold Coin. I’m here to report.” Although he did not see the other person’s rank, he was new and should be polite.
“Heh. It’s really a newcomer!” The eyes of the young man with a thick body widened.
“Yo! He even has a code name! This newcomer is really something! Hahaha!” A dark-skinned man nearly two meters tall looked around and laughed loudly.
“This guy is pretty good-looking. Do you want him? I’ll take him if you don’t!”
“You nympho, you’re horny again!” The two female soldiers pushed each other around.
“Newcomer, do you know the rules here? Don’t rush with the code name. Come here. Let’s spar!” The tower-like man could not wait and suddenly punched toward Lin Mo’s head.
He was attacking him outright.
“Big Li, don’t be impulsive!” A short-haired female soldier hurriedly yelled, but it was already too late to stop.
Lin Mo was stunned as the huge fist rapidly enlarged in front of him.
Bang! A deafening sound resounded!
Lin Mo did not move his feet at all. The tall man named Big Li had his mouth open when he saw that his punch was stopped by his opponent’s palm, and his fist could not even move an inch.
Only the sound of sucking in cold air was left in the room! The eyes of the others widened in shock. Big Li was at least two heads taller than Lin Mo!