Atlas of Heaven and Man

Inside an old residential building in the east of the city, a man with a full beard was squatting on the roof, looking towards the city center with binoculars, occasionally muttering curses.

"These Greyhound bastards have stepped up their guard again, it's going to be tough."

From the rooftop entrance, a team member's head popped out, shouting at him: "Brother Tian, the captain's telegram is here, Brother…"

"What's with all the shouting? I heard you."

The bearded man stood up and walked back, took the crumpled and slightly sweaty telegram, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, no need to think of ways to plant bombs anymore. Tomorrow, load the remaining explosives into the car and transport them near the department store in front, and blow them up while there are a lot of people. Also, notify Little Li's side to start at the same time, let's give them some big fireworks."

"Brother, that place is still some distance from the city center, will it be effective?"

The bearded man glanced at him sideways and said, "I also want to bomb the city center, or do you want to go?" The team member immediately shrank back, "Then I'll pass."

The bearded man snorted, "Just do as you're told, why so much nonsense?"

The team member said, "I'm just worried about delaying the captain's arrangements for you, Brother."

"The captain is smarter than you, can't he think of what you can think of?"

The bearded man raised his wrist and looked at his watch, 3:25 AM. It would be dawn in about two hours. He said, "Go do your job, I want to hear the bang before six o'clock!"

"Brother, just you watch."

In the wilderness, Chen Chuan and the others had already arrived at the north side of Xie Mountain. There was no direct road through the wilderness to Xie Mountain, so they needed to stop at the foot of the mountain and then traverse through the mountain path that the Patrol Bureau had arranged for them in advance, and arrive at the side that could reach the railway section.

Most of this group were fighters, and a few also had several years of experience in executing commissions. They were full of energy, and even carrying heavy objects, they walked like flying in the mountain trails, and arrived at the designated location before dawn.

This location was specially selected by the Patrol Bureau, with the cover of trees, even if the sky was still very dark, they could still vaguely see the railway about half a mile away.

In front of them was a steep slope, about forty to fifty meters from the ground, but this was nothing to them. If there was a situation, they could immediately use tools to quickly reach the bottom.

Chen Chuan looked to the south. When the train came from there, it would need to pass through a tunnel that lasted more than twenty seconds. That was the section that was often attacked. However, there was now a哨点 (shào diǎn - sentry post) set up nearby, with railway security personnel patrolling every hour.

He looked at his watch.

4:12 AM.

The people from the resistance organization were likely hiding on a nearby hilltop at this moment, and he didn't know if the person behind the secret cult ritual had also arrived.

It was still unknown what kind of effect that ritual would have.

However, he was not worried. Not only had he already made preparations, but Director Lei had also told him during the teaching process that the larger the scale of the ritual, the more difficult the details were to master. If there were any oversights, even they might not be able to control it.

Therefore, the biggest concern with larger rituals was actually before they were discovered. But if they knew about it in advance, there were plenty of ways to target it.

And at this moment, just a few kilometers away from them, behind a hillside near the north, Bao Yuan had already brought his people here.

He also looked at his watch at this time.

If there were no delays, this train would pass by below around 6:05 AM. Because security and patrols had been strengthened along this railway line, it would be almost impossible to succeed in blowing it up again.

But fortunately, they weren't relying on that this time.

The Painter promised to do what he wanted to see.

Bao Yuan didn't know how the Painter would do this, but he trusted the Painter, because many of his things had succeeded with the help of the Painter, even though they had never met.

Moreover, he suspected that the Painter was also a member of the organization, and someone who shared his ideals, which could explain why this person repeatedly helped him.

And two kilometers away, Director Lei was hiding in a哨站 (shào zhàn - blockhouse) with several members of the Secret Cult Investigation Bureau.

This time, almost the entire Secret Cult Investigation Bureau was mobilized. More people were now waiting in the outer perimeter and various hidden locations, and they were carrying radios to ensure mutual contact. As soon as there was any movement, they could react quickly.

Because this operation might be the largest in the Secret Cult Investigation Bureau in the past ten years, some young team members were both excited and nervous, and they were constantly looking at their watches.

Time passed little by little. At 5:55 AM, when the train was about to approach on schedule, suddenly a team member pointed upwards and exclaimed, "Look!"

Everyone looked up and saw a hot air balloon hovering above the mountains.

When Director Lei saw this thing appearing here, his eyes fixed on the top. He didn't need to think too much to know that the person behind the secret ritual was hiding inside.

Using a hot air balloon was indeed a good way to both oversee the entire secret ritual and keep oneself out of it.

He said, "Get ready, the person should be up there."

When the team members heard him say this, they all reacted. One team member asked in confusion, "Director, he's up there, how will he start the secret ritual?"

Before a ritual can be activated, a crucial element must be embedded within it; an incomplete arrangement is useless. It's obvious that the person wouldn't activate it before the train arrives, but if the person is in the sky, how can they accurately control it?

Director Lei understood the person's plan as soon as he saw the hot air balloon. He said, "It doesn't need to. The train is it."

If it's on time, then the train is about to arrive.

At almost the same moment, Guan Yuming, who was in charge of commanding near the city center, suddenly heard two loud explosions coming from the east and west.

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He frowned. Although they had tried their best to investigate, they couldn't possibly seal off the entire city, especially the personnel hiding in some small alleys, which were impossible to take care of.

However, such actions were meaningless other than killing ordinary people and creating chaos, so it should just be to contain them, preventing them from diverting forces to other places.

He first arranged for two teams to go to the scene of the incident, then turned around and said to the telegraph operator, "Send a message with the content: 'Explosive attacks encountered on the outskirts of the city center. Remind the other party to be careful.'"

A moment later, Chen Chuan and Director Lei both received the telegram. Now that problems had occurred in the city and the train was about to arrive, the other party was likely to act soon.

At this moment, the Changshun train was traveling along the tracks towards Yangzhi City. This train had a total of seventeen carriages, and the facilities and interior decoration were top-notch.

In this train schedule, in addition to some ordinary passengers, the middle and rear carriages were occupied by representatives of foreign companies who came to Yangzhi City for a meeting. Each company occupied one or two carriages, and most of them were accompanied by armed security personnel. They were allowed to carry firearms, wore stab-proof vests, and a few wore protective suits.

Lindenberg, the representative of Bolun Company, was looking at the scenery outside the train window. His assistant said at this time, "Sir, the land outside Dashun Central City is always barren and monotonous. The people living in those cities are like livestock in a pen, barbaric and stupid. There's nothing worth seeing."

Lindenberg said, "The world outside the central cities is like this all over the world. Dashun is like this, and Norland is like this. However, Molan Company chose its retreat here, so this land must have something magical that we don't know about."

After giving his evaluation, he stopped looking outside and continued to browse the information about Yangzhi City. Originally, he was not the business representative for this trip, but that person was temporarily transferred away by the higher-ups due to a task, so he was arranged to come. Since he didn't know the situation here beforehand, all the homework had to be started from scratch.

"Hmm…" He suddenly raised his head, took off the tea-colored decorative glasses on his face, and his implanted eye pupils instantly enlarged. He saw a small black dot in the distance and said in surprise, "A hot air balloon?" He also saw a banner hanging below with the words "Welcome Guests from All Countries" written on it.

"Is it a welcome ceremony from the Yangzhi government? It seems they are very enthusiastic."

At this time, the train had reached the section of the mountain tunnel. The train driver was paying attention to the front, and he also knew that this section used to be attacked frequently. Fortunately, everything seemed normal now. As he was about to enter the tunnel, he also pulled the whistle in advance to remind the passengers in the back to pay attention.

When he entered, he glanced aside and suddenly felt a sense of horror. The folds and textures of the mountain and rocks seemed to form a strange smiling face, which seemed to be smiling at him at this moment, and the dark tunnel entrance below seemed to be a wide-open mouth.

"Woo…"

The train plunged into the tunnel, and more than twenty seconds later, the train successfully came out of it, but it slowly stopped, with only half of the car body exposed outside and most of it still in the tunnel.

The passengers were all sitting in their seats at the moment, but they didn't seem to feel anything about the train stopping. Each of them maintained their original activities.

In the Bolun Company carriage, the assistant's voice sounded, "Sir, the land outside Dashun Central City is always barren and monotonous. The people living in those cities are like livestock in a pen, barbaric and stupid. There's nothing worth seeing."

Lindenberg retracted his gaze and said, "The world outside the central cities is like this all over the world. Dashun is like this, and Norland is like this…"

He frowned, as if he felt something was wrong, but he continued to say, "However, Molan Company chose its retreat here, so this land must have something magical that we don't know about…"

He continued to browse the information. After a while, he seemed to have discovered something and raised his head to say, "Is that a hot air balloon?"

"Is it a welcome ceremony from the Yangzhi government? It seems they are very enthusiastic."

… …

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