After sending the message, the man known as Cobra ordered his team to press on, but they failed to find any trace of the Three Major Mercenary Corps.
After all, the Zombie horde outbreak had completely erased their tracks. The other side only needed to change direction once, and trying to track them again would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Alright, letâs fall back!" Cobra ordered decisively after a fruitless search.
"But... if we go back this hastily, itâll be hard to answer for our performance!" his second-in-command couldnât help but point out.
Their entire operation was being recorded. If they performed poorly and angered the Morgan Conglomerate, no one would be able to protect them.
"I donât tolerate dissent in my squad, even a temporary one. Understand?" As he spoke, Cobraâs eyes suddenly narrowed into vertical slits. The skin on his body seemed to shimmer with faint, snake-like scales, and a powerful, sinister aura emanated from him.
Large beads of sweat began to trickle down the forehead of his second-in-command. He quickly stammered, "Under... understood."
"Good." Cobra nodded. "Go and give the order. And returning doesnât mean weâre abandoning the mission. Those Mercenary Corps have to return to a Shelter eventually. We just need to wait patiently for our prey to walk right into our hands."
...
Star Shield Shelter. The atmosphere here had grown increasingly tense. Although it seemed as if nothing had happened, everyone knew this was merely the calm before the storm.
At the Morgan Conglomerateâs base of operations, the ordinary office workers were gone, replaced by heavily armed Mercenaries. They guarded every important corridor, especially the one leading to Gibsonâs office. Not even a fly could have gotten in.
The number of people permitted to enter that office was minuscule, and Winter, in his capacity as butler, was one of them.
He walked in now, carrying the latest intelligence report, and handed it to Gibson.
"Worthless trash. They lost them, just like that," Gibson said, his expression grim.
Of all the Mercenary Corps sent out by Star Shield Shelter, the only one he cared about was the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps. The reason was simple: he couldnât stomach the humiliation theyâd dealt him.
"Take three elite squads from the interception force and send them over," Gibson ordered Winter, his face dark after his outburst.
"Young Master, if you transfer them, the main front..." Winter said, his expression troubled.
"I donât care if this plan succeeds or not, but the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps must be wiped out," Gibson said, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.
After a brief silence, Winter spoke. "Very well. But Young Master, once the fighting starts, you must listen to me and be the first to evacuate."
"Fine. You arrange it." Gibson didnât argue. He wasnât truly fearless, and as a direct member of the Morgan family, he would have plenty of opportunities to recover even if this operation failed. There was no need to take such a personal risk.
...
Lin Xinghai and the others, of course, had no idea that a single piece of intelligence had just upgraded their missionâs difficulty from Hard to Nightmare.
But for the time being, having shaken off their pursuers, the rest of their journey was relatively safe.
Ordinary Zombies posed no threat to them whatsoever. After leaving Changping City, they headed straight for East Ring City.
They encountered no difficulties along the way and smoothly entered the outskirts of East Ring City.
"Thank goodness we made it in time." Song Yao heaved a sigh of relief.
The mission timeline had been tight from the start, and the Zombie horde had cost them a significant amount of time. Fortunately, the rest of the journey to East Ring City was uneventful; otherwise, they might have actually failed the mission.
He wasnât the only one; the others felt the same way.
After entering East Ring City, the group followed the address from their mission briefing toward the tallest building on the north side of the city.
Donghua Mansion was the tallest and only intact building in this part of the city. The Zombies in the area had already been cleared out, and hundreds of heavily armed soldiers were hidden in positions around the building, waiting quietly.
Only when their convoy was seen approaching in the distance did a military officer in a jeep drive out to meet them.
"Are you the team from Star Shield Shelter?" the officer inquired.
"We are!" Song Yaoâs Mecha stepped forward, and he answered on behalf of the Three Major Mercenary Corps.
At the same time, he observed the insignia on their equipment. If he wasnât mistaken, they were from the East Sea Shelter.
"Enter the passkey, then," the officer continued.
Everything was quickly completed. Once their identities were confirmed, the officer waved over an Armored Vehicle that had been waiting in the rear. Soldiers disembarked and began unloading a series of metal cases.
"The handover is complete. I wish you a safe journey back." After speaking, the officer left with his team without any delay.
"Something about this feels off," Qin Wenbo couldnât help but say, piloting his Mecha over after the other team had departed.
"I agree. I thought we were just decoys and that weâd be transporting something unimportant. But why would the East Sea Shelter dispatch so many soldiers to guard it?" Song Yao said with a frown.
They had their counter-surveillance systems active, making it impossible to get an exact count, but a visual estimate put their numbers at no less than 500.
If this was all just for show, why go to such lengths?
"Letâs open one and see for ourselves," Lin Xinghai said.
"Is... is that a good idea?" Both Song Yao and Qin Wenbo were hesitant.
"Whatâs the harm? Elder Wei even told us to just ditch this stuff if we ran into danger," Lin Xinghai said.
Song Yao and Qin Wenbo exchanged a look and stopped objecting. Instead, they had the maintenance crew bring over tools to open the sealed metal cases.
If they hadnât seen the sheer number of soldiers from the East Sea Shelter, they never would have considered doing this.
But now that they had, the uncertainty of the situation was making them uneasy.
Soon, the sealed metal cases were pried open one by one, revealing their contents.
Song Yao and the others only needed a single glance inside for their expressions to change.
Even to their untrained eyes, they could tell the cases were filled with high-end, precision instruments.
After an inspection, the maintenance crew came to a conclusion: the instruments were real and fully functional.
"Donât tell me these are... actual, critical components for the Geothermal Energy Extractor," Song Yao managed to say, swallowing hard.
The gravity of the situation instantly dawned on everyone else.