The maintenance hatch slammed shut behind Lin Wei, cutting off the light, the noise, the warmth of the world outside.
Everything narrowed into a single place:the hollow concrete artery beneath the Jincheng Overpass.
Pitch-black.Damp.Echoing with an unnatural pulse.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The mechanical heartbeat of the sabotage device.
Lin Wei clicked on his helmet light.
The beam illuminated the confined cylindrical space—barely wide enough for him to crawl, knees scraping concrete, toolkit strapped to his waist.
Metal rebar jutted like skeletal ribs.Condensation dripped from the upper slab.Dust and fine cracks ran like veins all around him.
This was the death zone.
The place where the bridge would decide whether it lived…or fell.
The Team Outside
His earpiece crackled.
Liu Fang:"We're still getting your signal. Tell me what you see."
Lin Wei:"Narrow space. Minor crack propagation on all sides. The device is ahead—ten meters."
Master Yu came on next.
Master Yu:"Move carefully. Any strong impact could shift the stress distribution."
Lin Wei swallowed hard.
"I know."
Director Li's voice cut in, tense and clipped.
Director Li:"Lin Wei… for what it's worth… I'm proud of you."
Lin Wei smiled faintly despite himself.
"Thank you."
Then he crawled deeper.
The Sabotage Device Reveals Itself
At five meters, the hum grew stronger.
At eight meters, his helmet light flickered.
At ten—
He saw it.
A compact, impossibly sophisticated device wedged into the pillar's reinforced core.
Black casing.Hydraulic dampening rods.Electromagnetic pulse emitters.Tuned vibrational coils.
A machine built not to explode—but to persuade a structure to collapse.
And it was beautiful.
Terrifyingly beautiful.
Liu Fang's voice came softly:
"Lin Wei…?"
He realized he'd gone silent.
"…I'm here," he whispered."I found it."
Silence on the other end.
Then:
Liu Fang:"Be careful."
System Analysis
As he approached, the system activated:
[SABOTAGE DEVICE DETECTED][Designation: Magneto-hydraulic Dual Resonance Destabilizer (Custom)][Creator: Unknown (Skill Level: Legendary)]
[Primary Frequency: 57.8 Hz][Secondary Frequency: 119.6 Hz]
[Weakness: Counter-harmonic dampening][Constraint: Requires manual tuning from inside structural cavity]
[Risk of premature collapse if handled incorrectly: 91%]
Lin Wei breathed sharply through his teeth.
"This guy… he's insane."
Master Yu's voice was low with awe and dread.
"Whoever built that… is beyond anything we've trained for."
Lin Wei nodded.
"And he expects me to beat it."
The Counter-Harmonic Rig Arrives
Outside, metal clanged. Welding sparks flew. Engines roared.
Old Zhang's voice burst through the earpiece:
"Kid! We finished the primary dampener coil!"
Liu Fang added quickly:
"And the dual-phase stabilizer is ready for manual tuning. It attaches magnetically—try to place it beneath the device's central output node!"
Lin Wei braced a hand against the pillar wall.
"I'll install it now."
He unlatched the toolkit.Hands trembling slightly.Sweat dripping despite the cold.
He retrieved the coil—small, compact, dense, still warm from the forge.
The Installation
Every movement had to be precise.
He reached the device.
His glove brushed the casing—
The entire pillar shivered.
Lin Wei froze.
Master Yu:"STOP! That's a load-bearing stress reaction—don't touch the casing directly!"
Lin Wei swallowed.
"Understood."
He positioned the primary coil beneath the vibration node—aligning the magnetic clamps.Measuring the distance by instinct.
Then—
CLICK.
The coil locked into place.
The mechanical heartbeat changed pitch.
From thump-thump…
To brrrm… brrrm… brrrm.
Lin Wei's pulse jumped.
"It's working. Primary resonance is shifting."
Old Zhang cackled in triumph.
"Of course it's working! I built it!"
Liu Fang's voice cracked with relief.
"Okay—now attach the stabilizer."
Right.
The stabilizer.
He reached for the second component—
A smaller, more delicate device with dual frequency rings.
He raised it.
Aligned it.
And just as he was about to lock it—
The sabotage device suddenly changed frequency.
The hum spike.The pillar vibrated violently.Dust rained from the ceiling.
Lin Wei's breath froze.
"What—?!"
The Saboteur Sends a Message
A tiny speaker on the sabotage device crackled.
Then—
A voice.
Smooth. Calm.The man in the long coat.
"Lin Wei."
Lin Wei's blood turned cold.
"You should know," the voice murmured,"that I never expected anyone to get this far."
Liu Fang gasped in the earpiece.
"No, no, no—he's live-monitoring us—!"
The voice continued:
"I designed this device as a puzzle.And you… you've solved the first half."
Lin Wei clenched his teeth.
"Stop talking and let me work."
The voice chuckled.
"I admire your courage. Truly.So I'll give you a hint for the second half."
Static buzzed—and a chilling phrase followed:
"The secondary frequency… reacts to fear."
The device pulsed.
The pillar shook violently.
Lin Wei nearly lost his grip.
Liu Fang screamed over comms:
"LIN WEI!"
He slammed a hand against the concrete to steady himself.
His breath ragged.Heart hammering.
But—
Suddenly he understood.
A Revelation
The second frequency was unstable not because of engineering—
But because of psychology.
The saboteur built a machine that responded to panic.
To heartbeat variability.To breathing patterns.To micro-shakes in the hands.
It detected fear.Amplified fear.Fed on fear.
And Lin Wei was scared.
Terrified.
Which meant—
He was empowering the collapse.
Lin Wei inhaled slowly.
Deeply.
He pressed his back against the cold concrete.
Centered his breath.
His heartbeat.
His mind.
Calm.
Like steel.Like architecture standing firm against storms.
Liu Fang whispered:
"…Lin Wei? Are you okay?"
He smiled softly.
"I'm fine."
And for once—
He truly was.
The Final Installation
He lifted the stabilizer again.
Hands steady.
Breath even.
Heart rate controlled.
The device's vibrations shifted—calmer.Weaker.
The sabotage machine's second frequency faltered, confused.
Lin Wei aligned the stabilizer.
Clamped it tight.
And locked it in with a decisive—
CLACK.
The entire pillar vibrated—
Once.
Twice.
Then—
Fell still.
Silence.
Then the system chimed:
[COUNTER-HARMONIC SYSTEM ONLINE][Sabotage Device Neutralized: 78%][Collapse Threat Reduced: MAJOR][Next Step: Remove destabilizer core]
[Manual Extraction Required][Difficulty: EXTREME][Risk: VERY HIGH]
Lin Wei exhaled, sweat dripping down his chin.
"One more step," he whispered."Just one more."
And then—
He reached toward the machine's core.
The most dangerous part.
The part that could kill him instantly if mishandled.