Vol 14: Chapter 12-2.

“What is that?” Zheng and Xuan both murmured to themselves.

They focused their attention to the fourth rescue ship. The blue barrier enclosed a quarter of the ship for half a second then the ship fell to the ground in a loud thump. The section enclosed in the barrier was cut off from the rest of the ship. The barrier had such an ability aside from defense. This ship couldn’t fly anymore. People in the other rescue ships saw through the windows that numerous bugs swarmed into the mountain top as they flew higher and higher. The ship on the ground soon disappeared in this sea of bugs.

Zheng’s heart beat rapidly as he watched. It was lucky that everyone in the team boarded the first three ships. Otherwise, there wasn’t even any chance to save anyone with this distance. He felt relived and sighed. Just then, darkness covered his eyes as he collapsed.

Time passed by. Zheng quietly opened his eyes. First thing that came in his view was water. He also felt a slight pain in the eyes as he opened them. Several blinks later, he became accustomed to this environment. He was actually submerged in a liquid. Two tubes were connected to his nose. A pain came from his right arm. He looked over to see a strange device repairing his right arm.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

He recognized this scene from the movie. When the main character’s leg got punctured, he also received treatment in the same containers. He had to admit that although the military was garbage, their civilian technology was mature. This was on the level of high tier sci-fi worlds.

The container beeped soon after he opened his eyes. Two nurses ran over. They observed the data on the container and gave him a friendly smile before leaving.

Xuan’s voice came in his mind before he took any action. “Don’t do anything. Listen to me. We are still in the rescue ships. It will take another twenty minutes to reach the starship fleet. Lan had confirmed that there are no psyche force users in these three ships. However, we don’t know if there are psyche force users in the fleet. If there are, soul link and psyche scan might expose us. So we can’t use any psyche force abilities upon arriving at the fleet.”

“Secondly, four people in our team have been revealed. You, me, Kampa, and WangXia. Maybe also Zero. Gando and Lan haven’t been exposed yet. Gando is special in that he’s weak without the robot. Lan has no combat ability on her own. The other team doesn’t know this. The two hidden members are the only guarantee we have to avoid getting attacked or treated unfairly. We have to maintain this guarantee.”

“Thirdly, we have no information on the other team despite revealing four members already. This is our disadvantage but being the strongest team acknowledge by God is our ‘influence’. No matter how they think of this ranking, they will subconsciously avoid going against us face to face. This is our advantage. Thus, we can act without fear as long as we don’t get the federation involved, such as using weapons beyond this world’s technology. We can openly search for them without fear while they must hide themselves.”

“These are the three points in this battle of wits. The rest depends on how we react. We need to find another way to communicate due to the lack of soul link. A way that only we know. Lan, send the information in my mind to everyone’s. You have to memorize them. We have twenty minutes, memorize as much as you can. The following words are the most important.”

At the same time, in an officer room within the fleet. A blonde hair young man muttered as he took a bite off a chocolate bar. “A direct battle is our disadvantage. I don’t care about what you think but don’t fight team China face to face, especially before we expose ourselves. Don’t try to win them with force because that can likely put us in a dangerous situation. We need to rely on our advantage. It will be best if we can wipe them out. The other team isn’t worth worrying, that weakest team.”

A blonde hair girl said timidly. “But why can’t we get along with team China peacefully? They are the strongest team so they will know a lot of secrets about the movie worlds that we don’t. Can we use our ‘influence’ to exchange for their information? Then we will cooperate to wipe out team South America.”

The young man snapped the chocolate bar then licked his fingers. “Don’t be naïve. Do you think the strongest team is a merciful weakling? Remember. Only the weak are merciful because they don’t have to powerful to be evil. They can’t become the strong. Who are we going to send in for contact if we want to exchange information? How will we get in contact? Can you be certain that team China won’t kill that person? We can’t engage them directly but they don’t have such worry. They can beat us at any place as soon as they find the chance. What can we do without obtaining their numbers and information?”

A middle age bulky man breathed out. “I don’t get it, Neos. Why don’t we take care of these four people first? Team China will be weaker than us at that point.”

Neos smiled coldly. “Are you an idiot? We don’t know how many people they have nor the powers of those still hidden. Killing these four people will leave traces. An officer’s commands will get recorded in the military. What if their remaining members are still stronger than us? They will be in the shadows at that point while we, as the weaker party, are exposed. Get it? We won’t be far from getting wiped.”

The middle age man wasn’t angry. He smiled and said. “So what do you think we should do?”

Neos brought out a piece of chocolate from his pocket. “Do as we planned and use our advantage to find those still hiding. Once we find all the members of team China, it will be time to draw in our net. Haha. Kill every one of them!”

Zheng didn’t know what was happening in the other team. He was still discussing with Xuan. Xuan said calmly. “Aside from searching for them from the traces, the other key point is developing influence. Since we don’t have as much influence, we will have to raise it! Understand? Hero.”

“Hero?” Zheng asked.

“Correct. Hero!”

Xuan said with certainty. “What is the most difficult problem for commanders in a drawn out war? It’s not supplies nor support but the will of the soldiers and people to continue fighting. The saying that soldiers in grief will win battles is because grief can draw out their desire to fight. That was why the federation reported the news on the meteorites and the first invasion followed. However, that was met with total defeat. So how are they going to light up this will again? They can only use heroes.”

“The military higher ups, or perhaps the federation higher ups will create one or a group of heroes. Based on our situation, these heroes can only be chosen among those of us who survived or the starships that ran away. However, they ran away! While we held our ground for seven hours! The choice is obvious. Furthermore, we are the heroes acknowledged by the surviving veterans and officers. Thus.”

“We are heroes. The federation will definitely do this. When the brilliance surrounding us surpass the influence of the other team, that will be the turning point in finding them and fighting them.”