"Uh... Teacher Cross... are you sure someone your size is good for recon?"

"Don't worry. My ability works great."

"Then, Teacher, what is your ability?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Huh?"

Lixin stared at Cross, who towered two heads above him and was twice as wide. He wondered silently if this guy’s power wasn’t something like giantification, super strength, or hardened muscles.

"Stop daydreaming. Put this on."

Elwin shoved an earpiece into Lixin’s ear. "Qin Fan and Cleyna can’t come. Be careful alone, and don’t cause trouble for the teacher."

"Why scold me too? Am I really that useless...?"

"Listen up—the situation is urgent. Elwin will guide you from here. Don’t worry about him. Your job is to scout below. Avoid fights if you can. Don’t start battles lightly. We’re weakened now. If it spreads upward or the enemy attacks full force, we’ll be wiped out. Clear?" The Principal’s final briefing targeted Lixin specifically.

Thanks to Cross’s unique ability, top-tier physique, combat skills, and crisis response, he’d always handled recon missions before. He had the academy’s most recon experience. Yet it clashed horribly with his appearance. Lixin felt like crying when he learned the truth.

Earlier, the Principal had offered Lixin a month’s vacation plus a partner for this job. Seeing it was recon, she’d happily agreed, expecting a nimble girl or female teacher. Instead, she got a cold-but-kind giant!

The "underwater" base sat on a sea trench wall, only 500 meters deep. Submarines wouldn’t work, but someone would transport them. Pressure wasn’t an issue.

"Sorry I’m late~"

A cute voice sounded behind Lixin. Frowning at her teammate’s looks, she spun around. Sure enough—a petite girl under 1.5 meters panted as she ran over.

"Oh, Principal! Who’s this little sister?"

Lixin saw a ray of hope.

"Mellie Bancroft. One of your teammates. Her Class A teleportation can take you down. But..."

"I’m not a little sister! I’m almost twenty—your senior!"

*Wow, this setup’s perfect!*

"Sorry, senior. I didn’t know." Lixin patted her head with an apologetic smile.

"Don’t touch my head! You flat-chested, last-place cross-dresser!"

The petite senior flared up.

"Tch..." Lixin felt awful.

Elwin corrected gently, "Um, senior, cross-dressers are naturally flat-chested. That’s redundant."

"............ *stare* —"

"Sorry, my bad."

*Whoosh—*

The military transport hovered on the sea, cabin open. The trio stood side by side at the edge.

"Final gear check."

"Earpiece signal’s good."

"Comms watch functions normal."

"I’m fine. Teleporting 500 meters is easy. Send coordinates fast."

"Done. Sent."

Coordinates flashed on Mellie’s comms watch. Honestly, bypassing jamming signals to find the base had cost Elwin, the computer genius, serious effort.

"Mission start!"

At the Principal’s order, Mellie grabbed both guys’ arms. "Might feel dizzy. It’ll pass."

Scenery blurred and twisted before Lixin’s eyes. Dizziness hit hard. After three seconds, vision cleared in a pitch-dark space. But as it normalized, nausea spiked. Something surged up her throat...

*Urgh..................*

"Gross..." Mellie muttered, eyes full of disgust.

"First teleports are like this. You’ll adjust." Cross’s voice stayed calm, face pale. The darkness hid his expression.

A minute later, Lixin felt better. She fought the urge to beg Mellie to send her back. Gear checked, she followed the two veterans already creeping forward.

*Never again...*

In the detention room, Cleyna fed Alena. Alena had lost her left hand; Lixin had nearly crippled her right. She could only eat if helped.

"Sister, has Lixin gone down yet?" Alena asked suddenly.

"Yes. She’s down." Cleyna didn’t hide it. Alena couldn’t report anything now—and she trusted her sister.

"Lapthesis in North America has probably started fighting Preyas’s army by now." Alena continued.

Cleyna wasn’t surprised. Lapthesis had declared war on Preyas. North America was their zone; fighting made sense. They might even reclaim it later.

"Mm. I know."

"So they’ve no time for here. The commander-in-chief is in North America."

This was key.

Cleyna pressed, "You mean they won’t attack, and Lixin’s team is low-risk?"

"No." Alena shook her head. "Exactly because of this, they can’t do pure recon. They’ll fight inside."

(If anyone else went, Alena would say they’d die. But Lixin was there.)

"Why?"

"The underwater base commander might delay attacking on orders. But he takes no prisoners. He plays with enemies until they die. Any intruder? After dealing with them, he’ll ignore commands and attack. His ability—and he himself—is a madman’s nightmare."

"What’s his ability?"

"I don’t know. But honestly, except for us temporary residents, his base has no living people—not even his own."

"!?" Cleyna froze in shock.

"That place is his world. The signal jammer I mentioned? A lie. If they located the base smoothly and entered..." Alena locked eyes with Cleyna.

"He let them in on purpose. They all jumped into that madman’s trap..."