Vol 14 Chapter 18-1
Sound didn’t travel in space. The explosion of a starship being hit by missile would otherwise be loud enough to damage everyone’s hearing. And so Zheng didn’t know everything happening outside. He walked off the shuttle.
Troopers were running around in panic outside the shuttle. Their eyes expressed an emotion of fear. Zheng noticed that most of the troopers present were the ones who came along with the military higher ups and never actually entered a battlefield, so they appeared inexperienced in an emergency situation in comparison to the veterans. They were only following orders from their superiors. These troopers he saw were commanded by some veteran sergeants and were in a standoff with another group. The other group had their own sergeants and even lieutenants. It seemed like these were the officers that came with the backup.
The veterans paused in surprise as they saw Zheng. They then saluted at him. One ran over to Zheng and said. “Sir. The majority of troopers in the flagship have been incited by parasitized humans. We currently reached contact with a quarter of the people in this starship but rest assure, we are negotiating with them. I believe there will be result soon.”
Zheng saluted back. “We can’t afford to negotiate slowly. We must stop them before they hurt the generals. If they parasitized the generals, a lot of our military secrets will be exposed to the bugs. Let’s do this. Give me command of the army and begin infiltration. Shoot to kill any troopers who attempt to prevent us from entering the core of the flagship. This is a cruel decision but do your best for the people on Earth, for us human’s victory in this war, troopers!”
“Yes!” This trooper shouted in reply. He saluted then ran back. He informed his squad and the other squads. They opened fire against the other group in the standoff.
A soldier who hadn’t experienced the massacre of a battlefield had a long way from becoming a veteran. A veteran’s hands wouldn’t shake when they kill. They wouldn’t act with mercy against organisms that threaten them or the targets of a command. The difference in their techniques were minute in comparison.
The other group in the standoff entered a chaos with this sudden attack. They never thought these troopers would suddenly open fire. Even as troopers, these people who came from the peaceful Earth never saw the terrors of war. The concept of war was merely commands from their superiors to them. The veterans gave them a lesson with blood, blood that was theirs.
As Zheng was heading toward the central conference room, veteran troopers near the shuttle led their groups to open fire and spread his command out. Any veteran who saw Zheng cheered and attacked more fiercely. It was usually several shouts for the other groups to put down their weapons before their fired decisively. Zheng saw several instances of this already.
“Is this really going to work, Xuan? I said the words like you told me. The whole flagship turned into a chaos. I am worried. We seemed to have the advantage but we can’t just kill the generals, right? That would take away our advantage of influence. If we don’t take care of this revolt and let it continue, we will lose control of the troopers once the federation come to their senses. Since the parasite bugs couldn’t control every official on Earth.” Zheng said to Xuan through Soul Link.
After he said those words, over 80% of veteran troopers followed his order and seized control of the army in the flagship. And Lan had started using her Psyche Scan and Soul Link. She also started attacking team Africa’s psyche force user with Psyche Whip. The other team had lost support from their Psyche Scan and Soul Link at this time. Team China stood on dominant position at this point. Zero and Lan headed to save Gando.
“Not an issue. This is merely an experiment. The result seems great. I already received 1000 points. What about you?” Xuan evaded the question and asked Zheng.
Zheng paused for a moment then said. “Now that you mentioned it, I seem to recall a notification of 1000 points. Eh? Killed one of them? What happened at somewhere else? Why did I suddenly receive 1000 points?”
Xuan said calmly. “Kampa sunk a small starship with missiles just then. A small starship gives 1000 points, the larger starships should be several times higher. Then this is it.”
Zheng was sweating. “Wait. Wait. What do you mean ‘then this is it’? Your tone scares me. Stop being busy sinking starships. You haven’t answered me what we should do when they came to their senses. If you killed too many people, delaying the next battle, and the military higher ups want to hold us responsible, what should we do in space? I don’t want to wipe ourselves after just winning against team Africa!”
Xuan’s smile transmitted over. “Don’t worry. I have already considered the aftermath or I wouldn’t have made such a big movement. Do you still remember the team on Klendathu? They can’t just stay there safely. God is fair to every team. Stronger teams encounter more danger but that doesn’t mean weaker teams are safe. You wouldn’t call this the world of horror movies instead of amusement parks otherwise. If the first battle happened on Klendathu, the second battle should be on Planet P. How are they going to go from one planet to another? I don’t think they have space vehicles. The only possibility is the appearance of bugs that can survive in space. And these bugs will attack us!”
Zheng was confused and asked. “Bugs that appear in space and they will attack us. But what does that have to do with our situation? You mean the bugs are coming to attack us now?”
“Not immediately but that won’t be far away. Count how many days have we been here. It’s fifteen days including today. There are less than five days left. Judging by the time, we will return to God’s dimension in safety if the bugs don’t come out soon. God will never consider living through a movie without actual dangers. It ever only increases the difficulty. Furthermore, if the bugs have intelligence, I am creating the best opportunity for them to attack. Let us see what kind of difficult mission it created for us!” Xuan said with a sense of enthusiasm.
Zheng sighed. He didn’t have such nearly insane intelligence nor the enthusiasm for new challenges. He wanted everyone in the team to survive and grow strong. But reality always pushed him on the forward of a wave.
Zheng was walking forward when they talked. He was going to say something then a squad of troopers blocked his front. These troopers were led by a veteran. There were sounds of gun fire coming from ahead.
A veteran ran over and saluted. “Colonel, the central conference room is ahead. However, the opposing force setup a fire zone. We will get attacked as soon as we show ourselves. Those people might have been controlled by bugs. Nothing we said had any use. Damn it. We can’t use tactical nukes here!”
The federation’s military forces and especially the infantry were too weak. The only notable weapon was the tactical nuke, but they couldn’t be used in all situation safely, such as inside a starship. A tactical nuke would kill everyone inside the ship.
Zheng observed the corner of the corridor and the similar corridor behind. He said to the veteran. “Can your armor defend against the assault rifles?”
The veteran nodded. “Yes. However, it isn’t effective against sniper rifles. Two to three shots in the same place will penetrate it.”
Zheng smiled. “Leave this corridor to me. Help me get two sets of armors.”