Vol 14: Chapter 16-3
“Proceed as planned.”
Xuan looked at them expressionlessly. He described the plan so simply that they were shocked. Not because of its complexity but rather that it was too simple. So simple that they were confused.
“WangXia’s mission is to lead the troopers to watch TV at a place. There will be an obvious signal. When it appears, bring the troopers to take over the starship. You can fire at any starship that doesn’t identify themselves.”
“Kampa’s mission is the same. You can attack any starship that doesn’t identify themselves. I will go rescue Gando with Zero and Lan, that’s if he’s still alive. Zheng’s mission is head over to the flagship and block off the team Africa members in that ship. It will depend on the situation as to whether you should kill them. However, if they lose their ability to fight, it’s best not killing them. We can distribute the points and rewards among the team. It isn’t beneficial to the team’s development if you alone get too strong.”
His tone sounded apathetic, as if he didn’t care a bit. The other three people were still in a daze. Zheng asked. “Is the solution just this after such a big set up? That’s unbelievable. I thought it would be more complex.”
“What’s complex is within here.” Xuan pointed at his head. “The real action is easy to complete. It’s just like a war. The complex part lies on the strategist while the soldiers just need to fight the war. If the strategy gets so complex that everyone needs to be constantly thinking, it isn’t a good one. I will take care of the planning. What we have to do now is wait. The military higher ups will arrive in ten hours. My plan will have a result at that time!”
The waiting finally came to an end. The military higher ups arrived at this expedition army along with eighty ships. Aside from the significance of the higher ups coming to the front line, what was more important was a hundred thousand troopers and supplies replenishment. The morale of this army recovered a little bit with the backup. The surviving veterans all became sergeants and even lieutenants. Zheng’s group of four were also given new arrangements.
The military originally wanted them to join the intelligence department and as training officers. However, part of the military wanted them to continue leading the expedition army because these thousands of sergeants and lieutenants had been accustomed to their leadership, plus their abilities surpassed over 90% of officers in this generation. After a discussion, the higher ups decided to honor them with lots of medals and promoted Zheng’s rank to colonel, Kampa, Xuan, and WangXia’s ranks to lieutenant colonel. The medal and promotion ceremony takes place the next day in front of reporters broadcasting the event live to Earth.
“Tomorrow is the outset of breaking apart their scheme!” This was the answer Xuan gave everyone.
They were rather confused at what he meant. However, due to their trust in Xuan’s ability and that there was nothing they could do, they could only believe in his decision.
Time slowly passed during this wait. Gando who was still locked up in another starship was overtaken by worries. He had revealed Zheng, Xuan, Kampa, and WangXia’s strength, abilities, weapons, and whether they were locked after the military higher ups arrived. That was all just for surviving. He also held back because of surviving. He knew the rule that interest stands above everything in this world. Killing him would give anyone points and ranked rewards. Once he said everything about every person, he would definitely get killed!
Neos also gave him a firm reply. If he doesn’t give them the names and locations of everyone else in team China, they are going to kill him and search his soul.
Neos watched the TV quietly. There were a Caucasian and a black man in this room. They were resting with their eyes closed. However, if he was to make any movement, they would instantly open their eyes. This demonstrated that these two people were way stronger than him. He couldn’t compete physically without the bear robot.
Gando was talking to himself internally. He kept going over the possibilities of dying. Suddenly, his eyes came into focus for an instant. He saw a series of characters and symbols move across the TV. These characters were not so obvious. They appeared on a bar on the bottom of the screen just like the usual ads.
The TV was showing a midnight shows, replay of dramas and movies that had been recorded, all automated by the starship’s computer system. These characters appeared rather suddenly, these hieroglyphs that he familiarized himself with when they came back from Klendathu. As one of the members who had unlocked the genetic constraint, he was able to memorize these hieroglyphs and their meanings.
“Reveal everyone other than Lan to the other team. Say that you want to save the psyche force user as your amulet, but let them know that the psyche force user doesn’t have any offensive abilities. Tell them you will only reveal this person when you get to safety.”
Gando read over the message carefully. This message was broadcasted repeatedly like ads so he wouldn’t miss anything. Once he understood the message completely, he felt relieved but also became anxious. It was different from waiting without any hope. Once this hope came into existence, he started becoming suspicious and thinking of various thoughts. This was going to be a sleepless night for him.
The next day. Zheng and the others woke up and cleaned themselves early. It wasn’t for the ceremony since this world was not important to them. What was important was today’s battle. Xuan made it sound simple but Zheng who knew the details of both teams’ plans was quite nervous. He didn’t receive the notification of Gando’s death last night, so he was also worried about Gando.
“One hour left. Xuan, don’t disappoint me!”
On the other starship. Neos and several other people were interrogating Gando. Neos frowned as he ate his chocolate. “This is your last chance. I am only going to ask once more. If what you say are lies or you keep your mouth shut, I will kill you then search your soul. First question. How many members are in team China?”
Gando stood there unperturbed. “There are two more people, a psyche force user and a sniper. The sniper uses a Gauss sniper rifle, which is extremely powerful and can pierce through starships like this one. His name is Zero. You can find him by searching through the trooper database.”
Neos turned his head to the little girl. She nodded her head with her eyes closed. “Yes, what he said is the truth.”
Neos continued. “Good, what about the psyche force user? Tell us his name and you are free. We can even give you a rune word stone so you won’t get killed by negative points.”
Gando shook his head. “I don’t trust you. So I am going to keep her name. however, her abilities are only Soul Whip, Psyche Scan, and Soul Link. She’s a girl and doesn’t have any combat abilities herself. Her physical stats are several times stronger than normal people but I don’t think she can take on you alone. Once you get me to safety, I will tell you her name. I won’t reveal her otherwise. She’s also unlocked. I don’t think you will let the points and rewards get away.”
The little girl nodded. “Right, he’s still saying the truth.”
Neos bit off half a bar of chocolate. He raised his head and frowned as he pondered. After quite a while, he said. “Ok, I will allow you to withhold her name. I will let you live. But I am going to ask you some other question. I will kill you if you don’t answer. I will kill you if you lie. First, why did you suddenly thought it through to tell us these today? Did anyone notify you? Who is this person? When? Tell me all of these!”
