Chapter 7.2 - Weak
Su silently closed the display screen. He walked up to the unmanned plane and placed the properly packaged computer chips into the cargo hold. After receiving new orders, the unmanned plane rumbled and slowly rose. It made a few circles in the air before flying towards Dragon City.
“Leader! There was something for you inside of the stuff we got.” Kane walked over and handed a delicate looking small aluminum alloy case to Su. When Su opened it, bullets that looked extremely unique rested on velvet padding. The bullets were labeled with ‘electromagnetic’ and ‘danger’ markings. There was also a slip of paper inside.
Su removed the slip of paper. When he opened it, he saw a handwriting that seemed to be the same as printed font. “Special bullets for the intelligent model machines, prototype models. Helen.”
Su gently moved his finger to touch the bullets. Before his fingers even made contact with the bullets, a vague numb and stinging sensation could be felt. This was a sign of the great power contained within.
He closed the case and and kept it close to him. Towards this Helen, Su already didn’t know what he should say.
He turned towards Li and instructed, “Li, use all of tomorrow to clean out Pendulum City, and then bring out everything that can be brought out. We need to withdraw from this place. You only have 48 hours.”
Li was quite shocked. “What? Most of the factories are still in good condition, and there are many installations that we cannot carry out! We have enough firepower now. If those scorpions dare to come again, we can definitely teach them quite a lesson.”
“This is headquarters’ proposal.” In front of Li, Su didn’t say that it was Helen’s proposal, or else he feared that he might have to waste his time with another explanation. He was starting to learn how to be a bit smarter now too.
Li still seemed rather unwilling and still wanted to argue about something, but she was forcefully pulled away by Li Gaolei.
As of this point, there already wasn’t much for Su to deal with himself. All of the specific work was dealt with by the three subordinates. When he returned to his own military tent, he closed his eyes and sat there for ten whole minutes before feeling his mood gradually stabilizing.
His scouting mission to Blue Scorpion’s forward operating base couldn’t be considered to have left him empty-handed. Travelling undercover and passing through the sensing devices for an extended period of time had left Su with another evolutionary point. However, his current fifteen evolutionary points was far from enough from continuing another level in the Perception Domain. Su already felt that a new sixth level ability would form in the Perception Domain. However, the sixth level ability needed at least thirty two evolutionary points, so it he might have to experience several more life and death struggles before he could obtain it.
Evolution was for the sake of becoming more powerful, and becoming more powerful meant more authority and more security. To risk one’s life in order to pursuit evolution sounded rather illogical, but this was how Su did things. He didn’t know what he was always scared of deep inside, but only by evolving further, obtaining more powerful abilities, and developing deeper wisdom in fighting could he feel peace. However, every time he obtained a new ability, Su only felt as if there were even more things unknown to him, and so he would correspondingly feel even greater fear. This seemed to be a vicious cycle that was impossible to settle. Su had to control his urge to obtain more evolutionary points, just like a moth who struggled to keep itself away from a flame in the darkness.
After hesitating for a while, Su sent some information to Persephone. This was the first time he took the initiative to send her information.
Almost at the same time he released the information, Persephone’s image appeared on the screen. Her gray hair was scattered across her shoulders, and there were traces of smoke on her face. Bullets rained down all around her, and there were flames and explosions everywhere. Persephone hurriedly said, “Darling, wait a bit!” Then, the screen trembled violently, and it was hard to see what was going on clearly.
After a few seconds, the scene became clear once again. Persephone had on a beautiful smile, and the messy hair as well as the traces of ashes on her face only contributed to her appeal. However, he could see from the image that a new era styled tank was burning as it fell from the air. When it landed on the ground, it erupted with a world-shaking explosion and blasted open a large hole.
“What a rare occasion it is for you to find me. Could it be that you encountered trouble on your side?” Persephone didn’t hide her concern at all.
As Su watched Persephone who was busy fighting in one place after another, Su’s mood finally calmed down. Compared to what she had invested, his own bit of grievance was completely insignificant. Su himself didn’t think of this as a small matter, and instead thought of this as a conflict in some fundamental philosophies. However, he knew that apart from himself, there was no one else in the Black Dragonriders who would think this way.
“It’s not a big deal. You don’t have to worry about me. Helen already said that she would pay a bit more attention to my side.” Su said with a smile.
“Is that so? Then that’s great! If Helen is willing to do that, then there’s no problems anymore. You just have to listen to her.” Persephone seemed to be truly happy, and her eyes were shining.
Seeing Persephone’s unconditional confidence in Helen, Su was first shocked, and then he re-examined Helen’s proposal. Even though she didn’t look like she possessed any abilities, but in this world, ability was not the only thing that needed to be taken into consideration. Su himself had countless targets that possessed abilities greater than himself, so he understood that most of the time, wisdom might be much more useful.
“Also, I heard about your actions in Blue Scorpion’s forward operating base. You cannot show any mercy or pity on the battlefield. When dealing with enemies, the most effective way is to directly destroy them. You cannot be kindhearted during these times! Alright, let’s just leave it at that for now!”
The communications were immediately cut off. It seemed like things on Persephone’s side were extremely tense.
Su silently put away the tactical tablet and sat there peacefully. Helen and Persephone’s style of speaking were different. Helen’s was a relentless criticizing, while Persephone used a much more tactful approach. However, their viewpoint remained the same: they both thought that Su made the wrong choice.
However, even though he knew that destroying all known and unknown enemies was the Black Dragonriders’ objective, Su still found it difficult to understand why an irreconcilable war must break out between the two organizations immediately after they meet. Why didn’t they sit down first to see if there was any way of maintaining peaceful contact?
Su brought out Pandora’s diary, and after rubbing his fingers along the seemingly old fashioned cover, he slowly opened it.
Town of Trials.
Peperus silently and swiftly walked into the central chapel of the little town. She arrived before Madeline and delivered a electronic tablet before saying, “Your distinguished self, these are all the records regarding Lieutenant Su’s recent battles and actions, as well as a summary of his recent communications with headquarters.”
Madeline received the electronic tablet and quickly skimmed it over once. Then, she raised her head. Layers of chilliness seeped out from the cracks between her armor as she said, “Pepe, what do you think?”
Peperus said, “I agree with Helen and Persephone’s opinion. Lieutenant Su’s performance on the battlefield this time was extremely weak. If he does not change his behavior from here on out, he will encounter much more danger.”
Madeline returned the electronic tablet to Peperus. She released a faintly discernible sigh and then said softly, “Perhaps everyone will think that this is weakness. However, if he didn’t have that type of weakness back then, I would have long become one with the wilderness’ earth.”
Peperus was left somewhat stupefied. She wanted to say something, but she saw Madeline’s hand make a gesture. She could only express her response and withdraw, leaving Madeline to sit alone in the dark and cold chapel.