Twenty-three minutes—neither long nor short.
To avoid detection, Aiolos chose to walk to the Hammer Down outpost. Covering one kilometer at a light jog took him less than five minutes.
For Luo Shu, those same five minutes were just enough time to space out. He remained preoccupied with understanding the true nature of "The Greatest Sound Has No Sound," completely unaware that danger was closing in.
During this time, his "Unobservable" ability, after running continuously for a full hour, finally expired and faded away.
At Achilles' Heel's temporary base, White-Eyes suddenly shouted excitedly, "I see him! I see him!"
Barbie immediately perked up. "See what?"
"I see Luo Shu in a pitch-black room—no windows, no doors, just something burning inside..."
Barbie rolled her eyes. "Are you dreaming?"
To her, Luo Shu had just been in his room moments ago. How could he suddenly be in such a strange place?
"I—I wasn't—" White-Eyes tried to argue but abruptly stopped.
"Weren't what?" Barbie pressed.
White-Eyes sighed in defeat. "Fine... maybe I was. Now I can't see anything again."
Clearly, Luo Shu had reactivated Unobservability to cover his return.
Meanwhile, Aiolos had arrived outside Luo Shu's dorm—only to encounter a problem: the door wouldn't open.
The curtains were drawn, blocking any view inside. As an intelligence operative for Achilles' Heel, Aiolos was highly skilled in infiltration—lockpicking was second nature to him.
Yet this door refused to budge.
The reason? Animated machinery.
To protect his secrets during his nightly excursions, Luo Shu couldn't risk anyone breaking in. Especially tonight, when he'd be gone for at least an hour, precautions were necessary. Before leaving, he had animated the lock, instructing it to reconfigure itself into an unopenable state.
Aiolos's lockpicking skills were useless here—they only worked on functional locks. Right now, Luo Shu's door was effectively a broken lock, impossible to bypass through conventional means. Only when Luo Shu returned and reactivated the lock would it become operable again.
Stuck outside, Aiolos had no choice but to wait.
From his professional perspective, this situation could only mean one thing: Luo Shu was still inside, having deadbolted the door.
Against such an obstacle, there was little he could do—short of breaking in by force.
But if brute force was needed, Barbie wouldn't have sent Aiolos in the first place.
When it came to sheer destructive capability, who in Achilles' Heel could compare to their leader?
Resigned, Aiolos stepped away and pressed the call button on his tactical comms. "Boss, we've got a problem here! Need backup—"
Meanwhile, Luo Shu checked the time—3:15 AM. The announcement for AO-058's 15-minute countdown began.
He stood up and stretched, then said to the still-destructive Dark Heart: "Take a break, brother. All this destruction is pointless—everything will reset when you sleep."
Dark Heart replied with its standard phrase: "I dream of concubines, sigh at wonders..."
Luo Shu sighed. This guy really is strange.
He knew that to get through to Dark Heart, he'd need to activate the haiku memetic ability first. But he hesitated—what if Dark Heart actually listened? If it stopped being stubborn and started strategizing, it could lead to a containment breach.
At the very least, if it delayed sleeping by just one minute, it would witness the staff opening the chamber.
Luo Shu wasn't sure why Dark Heart slept for 15 minutes every hour—was it a habit, or exhaustion from its rampages? If it was just a habit, it could be adjusted. If it was fatigue, then calming down would make it last longer.
Either way, Area-14's current containment procedures were full of holes. If Dark Heart broke its routine, a breach was inevitable.
Luo Shu didn't want to be responsible for endangering the lives of the hardworking staff outside. Sorry, brother. You'll have to stay in the dark for now.
The next 15 minutes passed quickly. Before he knew it, the final 60-second countdown began.
After 45 minutes of chaos, Dark Heart finally wore itself out. It retracted its limbs and tendrils, settling on the ground like a tired dog. Soon, it fell silent, its fiery glow dimming until the chamber was plunged into darkness.
Peace at last.
After enduring 45 minutes of noise, Luo Shu cherished this brief quiet. A sleeping Dark Heart is a good heart.
Outside, the timer reached zero:
"3!... 2!... 1!... Commence repairs!"
With a rumble, the chamber split open along twelve seams, flooding the room with light. Hydraulics and cranes pulled apart the walls and ceiling as D-class personnel swarmed in, hurriedly replacing the destroyed interior panels.
Luo Shu took one last look at Dark Heart before slipping away unnoticed.
Time to go back.
His scooter was parked in the unit's lot, blending in with the other staff vehicles. With the next shift change still hours away, no one would notice an extra bike.
AO-058's unit operated on four six-hour shifts, changing at 6 AM/PM and 12 AM/PM. At 3:30 AM, the lot was deserted.
Soon, Luo Shu was back at the Hammer Down outpost—only to find his dorm surrounded by Achilles' Heel operatives.
Barbie's high-pitched voice rang out: "Find Luo Shu for me right now!"