Rescue and Fall

Pale-blue arcs of light vented from the wing engines, lifting the massive Orca transport slowly into the sky. Beneath the envious gazes of the gathered players, the transport transitioned into horizontal flight mode and tore off toward the north. "Damn it. Once I'm rich, I'm buying one of those too." Outlaw cast an envious glance at the receding streak of light, then wheeled his tricycle around to assemble with the others. A thousand-man unit under the First Corps took charge of Camp 330 to guard the surrendered prisoners of war. As the Alliance's main striking force, they would soon accompany the Honey Badger Kingdom Restoration Army to press deeper into the heart of Oasis No. 3. *** Meanwhile, atop Hill 330. Wu Kai'an, a reporter from the *Zhiyuan Post*, walked across the littered battlefield escorted by an Alliance resident named Bai Gei Dai Ju. Although the battlefield had been given a cursory cleanup—corpses and severed limbs thrown into trenches and buried under soil—vast quantities of wreckage that no one had found time to clear still remained scattered everywhere. Among them were sandbags soaked in dark blood and soil caked together with gore... Under the sweltering heat and scorching sun, the air hung thick with an inescapable stench of iron and rot. Every now and then, one could still step on an uncovered dead arm or leg. Wu Kai'an swallowed hard. He had accompanied Enterprise assault squads deep into mutant encampments before, witnessing more than his share of gruesome, bizarre spectacles, but even those seemed somewhat pale compared to this. This was an authentic battlefield... "This is..." Bai Gei Dai Ju chuckled and explained, "Hill 330. A thousand-man unit from the Legion was stationed here before, plus a hundred-man antiaircraft squad. The fighting was fierce as hell back then. Gunfire raged the entire night before three thousand brothers from the Death Corps finally took this place before dawn." Catching an undercurrent of gravity beneath that flippant tone, Wu Kai'an nodded silently. Over three thousand troops against more than a thousand, fighting all night just to secure the hill—and those three thousand appeared to be one of the Alliance's frontline corps. It seemed the Legion was even tougher to deal with than anticipated... "Speaking of which, didn't the Council support you with a batch of high-tech gear? Those ornithopters, the Seagull drones, the Cerberus unmanned vehicles... why didn't you deploy them?" "Too few in number, and way too expensive," Bai Gei Dai Ju said with a helpless shrug. "The aid from the Council only adds up to two billion Cr." "*Only* two billion?! Isn't two billion enough?" Wu Kai'an looked at the soldier in astonishment. His monthly salary was barely over ten thousand. And that was including his hazard pay and expense reimbursements. "How could it be enough? It's not like just one person is spending it," Bai Gei Dai Ju said, shaking his head. "Let me do the math for you. Building one kilometer of paved road costs roughly a hundred thousand Cr. A single tactical missile costs about the same. That means firing off one missile is like blowing up a whole kilometer of road." Wu Kai'an stared blankly. "That... doesn't sound that high, though." Bai Gei Dai Ju continued, "Ammunition consumption is just one part of it. War isn't just about buying ammo. Setting aside the tractor assembly line upgrades—which are a bottomless pit in themselves—there's feeding and supplying the frontline troops, fuel, energy consumption... Those are all direct expenses." Wu Kai'an swallowed. "Are there indirect ones too?" "Of course there are!" Bai Gei Dai Ju said as if it were blindingly obvious. "The Alliance only has a hundred-odd thousand people in total. A tenth of the population has been mobilized to the front lines. It's almost impossible to find immediate replacements for all those vacant jobs back home, right? If we can't produce goods ourselves, our only choice is to import them. *Sigh*... our Administrator is too proud to admit it, too embarrassed to complain to you guys. In reality, we're so broke we can barely afford to feed ourselves, yet we still have to provide rations for all these prisoners. It's a massive headache." As he kept talking, the young player began believing his own words, shaking his head repeatedly. Wu Kai'an felt his scalp tingle, and he nodded in response. "...Er, I'll make sure to report your situation in my interview." It was indeed a question worthy of serious consideration. Then again... How did an ordinary soldier know so much about macroeconomics? He couldn't shake the creeping suspicion that he was being played. "Yeah, thanks a lot." Glancing at the [Quest Complete] notification pop up on his VM, Bai Gei Dai Ju broke into a bright grin, bringing the "somber" topic to a timely close. Thank goodness awakening had granted him a few extra points in Intelligence. Memorizing all those lines had exhausted him. First quest down. Only one last task from the Administrator remained. On the way to the detention shed where Soft was being held, Bai Gei Dai Ju intentionally took a slight detour, leading the reporter from Ideal City past a hollow in the mountains. Seeing the dense, jostling sea of heads down in the hollow, Wu Kai'an's face betrayed his surprise. Just as he was about to ask who they were, Bai Gei Dai Ju, playing the role of tour guide, spoke up. "Those are all clones... The Legion churned them out using cloning technology. They age at eight times the rate of normal humans." Wu Kai'an turned to look at him. "How do you plan to handle them?" Bai Gei Dai Ju answered with practiced fluency, "Normally, when survivor settlements catch them, they just bury them on the spot. They can't do skilled labor and love getting into fights; feeding them is a pure waste of rations. But our Administrator said they're just pitiful wretches who were exploited... so we'll probably keep them alive, resources permitting." Wu Kai'an nodded. "May I take a picture?" Bai Gei Dai Ju agreed readily. "Sure, go right ahead." The camera drone hovered over the hollow, snapped several photos of the gathered clones, and returned to Wu Kai'an's side. For the remainder of the walk, Wu Kai'an didn't utter another word, sinking into deep contemplation. Beside him, Bai Gei Dai Ju kept silent as well, for his quest had officially registered as complete moments ago... *** Inside the pitch-black barracks. Hearing footsteps approaching the doorway and seeing a beam of light filter through the crack of the door, Soft slowly raised his head. A strange man stood at the entrance. He seemed strange because nothing about his attire or demeanor carried the slightest hint of a military background. A flicker of confusion surfaced in Soft's eyes, and he knitted his brows. "What do you want?" "Hello, my name is Wu Kai'an. I'm a reporter with the *Zhiyuan Post*." Wu Kai'an delivered his practiced introduction smoothly and took a seat on the chair across from Soft with a smile. Soft glanced at the drone hovering behind him. "*Zhiyuan Post*... what is that?" Wu Kai'an smiled and said, "It's a media outlet from Ideal City with two hundred years of history behind it. In addition to our physical print editions, we operate our own client network and virtual spaces on Endpoint Cloud. We serve as one of the windows through which the residents of Ideal City learn about the world beyond our borders..." "Oh." Sounded similar to the *Triumph Gazette*. Something seemed to occur to Soft, and his lips curved into a cold sneer. "Did you come here to mock me?" Wu Kai'an chuckled and waved his hand. "Not at all. As a party involved in this war, we simply wish to understand your perspective as the enemy—your thoughts on the conflict and on your opponents." Soft leaned back against his chair and stated coldly, "I have no thoughts." As a professional journalist who had traveled nearly ten thousand kilometers to get here, Wu Kai'an was hardly going to give up on account of a single dismissive line. Spotting a trace of lingering resentment lurking behind those eyes, he coaxed in an understanding tone, "Do you really not feel a shred of indignation?" Perhaps because it struck a nerve, the question proved far more effective than anticipated. Leaning back in his seat, Soft snorted through his nose and crossed his arms over his chest. "Indignation... Heh. Of course I'm indignant. I shouldn't have listened to a single word of that skunk Griffin's nonsensical drivel." "So you believe your defeat was caused by operational errors in command?" Wu Kai'an locked eyes with him, his gaze sharp and inquisitive. Soft answered flatly, "That's part of it." "And the other part? Was it because of the weapons Enterprise provided to the Alliance?" Wu Kai'an pressed on eagerly, making no effort to disguise his true objective. Yet upon hearing those words, Soft didn't fly into a rage like Maclen had. Instead, a self-deprecating smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Those weapons you're talking about? Heh, maybe they helped a bit... But it wasn't weapons that defeated me." The answer caught Wu Kai'an entirely off guard. Stunned for several seconds, he asked, "Then... what do you think it was?" "What was it? It was infantry who dared to abandon their supplies, force-march for twelve straight hours, cross a hundred and fifty kilometers of mountainous terrain off-road, and assault a fortified hill without artillery support. It was paratroopers who dared to drop into the dark without air superiority, without reinforcements, and without even knowing our troop deployment on the ground... Those lunatics threw away their lives without hesitation. If I'd known how terrifying they were to fight, I would have deployed my forces completely differently." Soft spat out a low curse. Yet behind the wariness in his gaze, an involuntary glimmer of respect shone through. Those people were truly ruthless. Not merely ruthless in terms of capability, but from the lowest private to the highest commander, nearly every single one of them had pushed their personal potential to its absolute limits. Their fighting spirit had reached a state of single-minded unity. They stopped at nothing to achieve victory, pulling off tactical and strategic miracles that ought to have been nearly impossible for ordinary mortals. Soft knew perfectly well that he hadn't lost on commanding acumen, nor had he lost to some Awakened individuals or power armor. Those assets were certainly formidable, but they weren't invulnerable—just like the Conqueror tanks his own forces were so proud of. Both he and Griffin had made the most rational decisions possible given the intelligence available at the time, and they had even factored in contingencies for when the plan fell short of expectations. Even if granted a second chance, he might not have performed any better. His true anger toward Griffin and the deceased Maclen stemmed from the web of lies they had spun in the *Triumph Gazette*. There were no endless battlefield honors or mountains of plunder waiting out here. Their adversaries were no docile natives lining up for the slaughter; they were a born warrior race. His men had shed their blood for nothing in an endless war that offered no resolution in sight. So many promising young soldiers had died—including Simond, whom he had personally promoted, and Yote from the antiaircraft squad... He should never have brought them here in the first place! A hint of disappointment flitted across Wu Kai'an's eyes. He hadn't gotten the sound bite he wanted to hear. Still, it didn't matter much. Before coming to this room, he had already secured sufficiently striking photographs and collected far more compelling material for his story. Rather than hearing about their allies' courage, prowess, and independent might, the citizens of Ideal City preferred stories of tragedy, sacrifice, and sympathetic suffering—followed by quirky, harmless cultural oddities emerging from the ruins. As for the mantle of the beacon of civilization, the big brother, or the patriarch of the wasteland, that glory belonged exclusively to the Supreme Council. Having worked in media for so many years, he understood his audience better than anyone else. Most people consuming news weren't actually seeking raw information; they were seeking the emotional satisfaction that the information delivered. As an accomplished journalist, it was his duty to deliver precisely what his audience wanted to see. Wu Kai'an reached an internal decision to trim Soft's screen time down to a bare minimum... "Thank you for your cooperation... Is there anything else you'd like to add?" Having lost interest in the captive general, Wu Kai'an brought the interview to a swift close. Soft let out a cold laugh. "I wasn't cooperating with you... By the way, if you hear any news regarding ceasefire negotiations, do you mind letting me know if it's convenient?" Wu Kai'an thought for a moment before answering, "There hasn't been any news on that front yet... However, Alliance diplomats seemed to have promised on other Ideal City media platforms that they will conclude this war before the end of the year." *Before the end of the year?* Soft was slightly taken aback. Though he scoffed inwardly, he nodded slowly to acknowledge the remark. It sounded like hollow bluster... Yet the possibility couldn't be ruled out that the Alliance was just as eager to end the war. Regardless, it was good news for him. If things moved swiftly, he might return to his estate on the banks of the Sorat River before next spring... *** In the northern reaches of Sunset Province, on the desolate wasteland north of the mountain range. A few vultures tore at the carcass of a mutant hyena. Catching the low rumble traveling through the earth, they beat their wings warily and took flight into the overcast sky. Before long, a heavy tracked vehicle wide enough to occupy two full traffic lanes emerged from behind the mist draping the wilderness. The swamp mud caked along its treads told of where it had come from. The man in the front passenger seat kept his eyes glued to the tablet in his hands. He wore a jacket of yellowish-gray camouflage, sported a buzz cut, and had a scruffy, stubble-covered jaw, with an index-finger-length scar etched across his right cheek. If not for the badge pinned to his chest reading [Class-D Prospector], hardly anyone would have identified him as Academy personnel. Most would have mistaken him for one of the mercenaries active in the region. In truth, that wouldn't have been entirely inaccurate. Though officially on the Academy's roster, he spent very little time at the facility each year. Like other unfortunate Class-D prospectors, he and his "Beacon" squad were almost constantly either exploring ruins or on the road toward them. His name was Zheng Hao, attached to the Containment Project Team under the Academy's Investigation Department. His position was as stated on his badge: a prospector, and a combat operative at that. His squad of twenty-some personnel occupied the vehicle—half of them androids, and the other half cyborgs with over fifty percent prosthetic augmentation. "Boss, how much longer?" A young-looking man seated in the row behind him gazed out the window, asking out of sheer boredom. His name was Zhao Xiao, a Class-E prospector with the Containment Project Team. They had originally been exploring a pre-war Human Alliance biological research facility seventy kilometers away when orders suddenly arrived from high command, directing them to proceed to the wasteland beyond the marsh to recover a specific research specimen from a set of map coordinates. The photograph provided by command showed a propeller aircraft: a Hawk-type fighter in service with the Falcon Kingdom. Frankly, he had zero interest in such relics. If not for explicit orders from above, he wouldn't have set foot out here. "Just ahead," Zheng Hao answered tersely from the front seat, not particularly inclined to humor the energetic kid. Compared to Class-E personnel, he was privy to a bit more inside information. According to colleagues from the Foreign Affairs Department, while en route to Sunset Province, they had discovered the fruiting body of a mutant slime mold inside the cockpit of a downed Hawk fighter. It was common knowledge that a slime mold fruiting body could not exist in isolation; a mobile mother entity or broodmother had to be nearby. Retrieving the propeller plane was only one part of the mission. Their true objective was tracking down that peculiar mother entity. According to the researcher who had filed the report, it might represent a life form they had never encountered before, and in-depth study could yield major breakthroughs. Right then, a faint streak of pale-blue light flared in the distant sky. Zheng Hao snapped his head up, his eyes narrowing slightly as he peered ahead. The driver, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke up. "It's the plume of a plasma engine." "Yeah," Zheng Hao acknowledged, his expression turning wary. "Eighty percent chance it's Enterprise." Though he rarely crossed paths with the crowd from the East Coast, his instincts warned him that trouble always followed in their wake. The captain wasn't the only one on edge. The moment the word "Enterprise" was uttered, everyone in the cabin grew solemn. The restless young man in back even wore an eager, itching-for-a-fight expression. Turning off his screen, Zheng Hao tucked the tablet into an overhead compartment, picked up the tactical helmet resting beside him, strapped it on, and pulled up his combat pack from next to his seat. He turned back toward the squad assembled behind him. "Xiao Jiang, deploy the drones. Sweep a ten-kilometer forward cone... mark all exposed and suspected hostile targets." "Understood." The short-haired woman in the rear row nodded gently. She raised her right index finger to touch her temple and closed her eyes. Delicate, pale-golden circuits flickered and merged beneath the ends of her dark hair. Simultaneously, three compact triangular drones mounted on the roof of the tracked vehicle vented brief bursts of flame from their swallowtail thrusters, catapulting into the air one after another with sharp hisses before vanishing as blurred streaks toward the south. Her name was Jiang Xuezhou, a Class-E operative like young Zhao Xiao. However, her classification wasn't prospector but researcher—half a rank higher. She served as the squad's embedded technical consultant and drone operator, making her the highest-ranking member on the team after the captain and vice-captain. Everyone waited quietly for her report. Suddenly, Jiang Xuezhou's brows twitched beneath her closed lids. She snapped her head upward and reported rapidly in a flat, emotionless tone. "Suspected mother entity slime-mold life form detected! Target is three point seven kilometers due north of us, approximately humanoid in shape. Traveling alongside it is a... human?" A look of disbelief crossed her face, though she kept her eyes shut. Beside her, Zhao Xiao's jaw dropped. "A human?! Are you sure?" The predatory instinct toward other organic life was practically hard-coded into mutant slime mold DNA. They had originally been engineered as weapons specifically to wipe out organic life. A fragile mother entity, in particular, would never permit a living organism to exist anywhere near itself. Zheng Hao frowned. "Are you positive it's human? Not a slime-mold fruiting body disguised as one?" "Eighty percent certain... He is wearing clothes with no obvious tears or wounds, and no visible signs of slime mold corrosion can be seen on exposed skin." At this point, Jiang Xuezhou paused slightly. "The individual has ignited a flare." "What is he doing?" Zhao Xiao demanded instantly. Jiang Xuezhou spoke at a rapid clip. "He's waving it in his hand, seemingly trying to draw something's attention... Wait. An Enterprise transport is closing in on their position! That man is Enterprise personnel! They're working together!" Zheng Hao's expression hardened. He had no idea why Enterprise had set their sights on that mother entity, just as he couldn't fathom why a mutant slime mold mother entity had surfaced near the Wandering Marsh. He only knew one thing. That was his quarry. He would never allow those thieves from the East Coast to snatch it away! "Shoot it down!" Zheng Hao ordered decisively. "Ah..." Jiang Xuezhou hesitated, looking troubled. "B-but... I'm operating reconnaissance drones." "Fly straight at it! Ram the engine exhaust nozzle!" Her delicate brows twitched in distress, and Jiang Xuezhou felt a pang of heartache over the wasted hardware. Knowing this was no time to fret over equipment, however, she executed the captain's command. A few moments later, she drew a deep breath and parted her lips. "Target struck... The aircraft's port engine is on fire. It is making an emergency descent." Hearing that, the squad let out collective sighs of relief, the tension easing from their chests. Zheng Hao stared at her and continued issuing commands. "Keep tracking the mother entity's location! Also, mark the crash site coordinates and any nearby survivors." Jiang Xuezhou nodded with her eyes closed to show she understood, her furrowed brow still mourning the incinerated operational budget, so she didn't speak. Zheng Hao paid it no mind and turned toward the driver. "Old Song, maintain our current heading and hold at the waypoint! Xiao Zhao, take your spotter and secure a suitable sniper nest near the mission coordinates." "Roger!" Old Song gripped the steering wheel and nodded, while Zhao Xiao in the back gave an eager shout. He wasted no time pulling out a sniper rifle measuring a full one and a half meters long from a carrying case, deftly snapping on attachments he might need in a moment. Zheng Hao then addressed the rest of the squad. "All units, heads up: we're facing Enterprise. No need to show those bandits any courtesy. Check your gear and prepare for contact... Group C stays with the vehicle on standby under Old Song's command. Groups A and B follow me!" A chorus of uniform responses echoed through the cabin. "Yes, Captain!" Glancing across his squad, Zheng Hao nodded with satisfaction, shoved open the vehicle door, and swept his arm outward. "Move out!" *** At the same time. Inside the spiraling, plunging Orca transport, total chaos reigned. Piercing alarms shrieked as red emergency lights pulsed through the cabin. Ye Shi, who hadn't buckled his harness properly, was flung against the ceiling. Fortunately, Kuang Feng was quick on his feet and grabbed his collar, using his exoskeleton's strength to yank him back down before he could batter his head bloody against the bulkhead. Strapping himself frantically back into his seat, a disheveled Ye Shi swore up a storm. "Holy crap! I knew it! The damn devs are definitely—mph, mph!" Seated beside him, Kuang Feng shot a hand out and clamped it firmly over the guy's mouth. "Would shutting your mouth kill you for five seconds?!" A panicked yell came from the pilot in the cockpit. "Port engine on fire! Damn it! Something slammed into us!" Lao Bai couldn't resist barking, "Hell, doesn't your plane have radar?!" Sweat poured down the pilot's face as he wrestled frantically with the controls, fighting to maintain balance on the lone operational engine. "I don't know! The radar was clearly active! In theory, not even a sparrow could slip past my sensors... Dammit! What the hell just happened?!" *He doesn't even know.* Lao Bai gained a fresh appreciation for just how unreliable Enterprise non-combat personnel could be. Watching the flustered pilot, Lao Bai gritted his teeth and abandoned every last ounce of faith in the man. Turning toward his battered teammates bouncing around inside the vibrating cabin, he roared at the top of his lungs, "We took an antiaircraft missile ambush! Enemy numbers and types unconfirmed! Check your gear and brace for a hard landing! The second we hit the ground, disperse outside the cabin and find hard cover immediately!" The groaning, screeching metal of the airframe mirrored the tight gritting of everyone's teeth. Through the shuddering cabin, a roar brimming with battle lust answered back. "Understood!" Whoever it was, they would make the bastards pay dearly for this dishonorable sneak attack! *** Out on the open flatlands nearby. Still holding his flare, Luo Yu stared dumbfoundedly at the spinning, descending Orca transport, the joyful grin on his face instantly freezing over. These past two days had been nothing short of pure misery. Surrounded by barren wilderness crawling with dangerous mutant beasts—not to mention having a clingy, restless little critter constantly trailing at his heels. He had barely shut his eyes for forty-eight hours, only managing brief catnaps whenever Little Yu wasn't paying attention. He had thought he could finally return to the shelter, gorge himself on a decent meal, and get a solid night of sleep. Why on earth was the perfectly fine plane suddenly crashing down from the sky?! "Fuck!" Slamming the flare onto the ground in sheer fury, Luo Yu spat a vicious curse and drew the 9mm pistol holstered at his waist. Though he didn't know the exact details, the aircraft's spiraling posture clearly wasn't an ordinary flight malfunction. A missile or some other projectile had definitely struck its engine. If the Legion was responsible for shooting it down, he had most likely been used as bait to ambush incoming relief forces. The immediate priority was to evacuate this area before those big-nosed bastards tightened their net. "Little Yu, we have to go!" Her arm dragged along as he sprinted, Little Yu tilted her head in confusion. Clueless as to what was happening, she merely imitated his shout to signal understanding. "Fuck!"