"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Get to your designated combat positions! Everyone, move it!"
As the sirens blared throughout the camp, the troops, who had been idle for so long, didn't even react at first.
Li Long, the leader of these two companies and the head of the security company, Troy, which served as their public front, shot up from his seat the moment the alarm rang.
As he abruptly stood up, he knocked over a swath of uncleaned, empty wine bottles on the table.
As the supreme commander, Li Long was fond of drinking, and under his influence, most of his troops had also picked up the habit.
Fortunately, they mostly drank in moderation, never getting so drunk as to be completely unconscious.
The sound of footsteps outside was chaotic, yet an instinct etched into their very bones had them running in an orderly fashion toward their designated positions.
The common soldiers didn't panic at the sound of an alarm that hadn't rung in five years. Instead, as they readied their equipment, their auras gradually sharpened.
"What's going on?! Weren't we told this was all wrapping up?! Why is the alarm suddenly going off?!!"
His second-in-command also rose from the drinking table, immediately grabbing the combat tablet that had been carelessly tossed in a corner.
The type of alert displayed on it made his pupils shrink.
"Wesker! Something's happened to Wesker!"
"What?!"
Li Long slammed his fist on the table in fury. As the unit stationed here, their primary mission was to guarantee Wesker's safety.
But that man didn't trust him at all, completely forbidding him from interfering with the research institute's internal affairs, let alone dispatching soldiers inside.
Though he did have some thoughts of using this as an excuse to snag some equipment, that didn't conflict with protecting the man's safety.
In the end, Li Long could only dispatch a single soldier to the monitoring room each day to keep watch.
Although Li Long desperately wanted to celebrate the arrogant man reaping what he sowed, now was not the time.
He quickly grabbed the tablet to check. Only when he saw that Wesker's life signs were still present did he let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. He's still alive. As long as he's alive, we're fine."
Before accepting amnesty five years ago, Troy was a rebel army that had deserted during the fall of the old capital.
But because they weren't a large force, Li Long, Troy's leader, had practically no say among the rebel factions.
So, when he received an offer of amnesty from the military two years later, Li Long didn't hesitate for a second and immediately agreed.
Immediately after, the Troy forces, having just arrived at the military base, were dragged out here.
Here, he received a new order from the high command: to station his troops and act as guards in this godforsaken place.
According to the agreement, once the research here was complete, he would not only have his military rank restored for finishing the guard duty, but he would also get promoted a level or two.
Li Long, who had accepted the amnesty in the first place to secure a better position, investigated and found the place to be completely devoid of threats, aside from being a bit desolate. Thus, he agreed to the deal with immense satisfaction.
And so he stayed here for five years.
Five years! Five years!! Do you have any idea how I've spent these last five years?!! Do you?!!!
Every day, I did nothing but drink and play cards! I could even pop into the city for a stroll now and then. Getting paid at the end of the month for doing absolutely nothing—you have no idea how great it was.
But on the very day he finally received news that this mission was about to end, something had to happen at the research institute.
One second, Li Long was joyfully popping open a bottle; the next, he was yanked back to reality by the cold wail of the alarm.
"My fine vintage, saved for twenty years!"
With no time to mourn his loss, Li Long immediately ran for the command room. After all, if the mission was a success, wouldn't he be able to drink all the fine wine he wanted?
But if the mission failed and Wesker died, Troy would be abandoned by the military and become a bunch of worthless nobodies that no one wanted.
Arriving at the command post, he found it was in a similar state of disarray. Troy's strategist was even awkwardly pulling up his half-worn trousers.
Since his own appearance wasn't much better, Li Long decisively ignored their mutual dishevelment and got straight to the point.
"Have you figured out the cause? Even if the researchers are clueless and kept quiet, didn't our guard in the monitoring room report in?"
The strategist, still busy sending messages, replied:
"No response at all. The inside of the institute has gone completely silent. Same when we try to contact the guard."
A drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
"The sentries didn't spot any infiltrators either. Could it be... that Silver Squad of theirs has mutinied?"
"Damn it! I knew it! With the way those bastards mistreat their own soldiers, I said they'd get what's coming to them sooner or later. See? Karma's a bitch, isn't it?"
Li Long slammed the table, figuring there was a ninety percent chance the strategist's guess about a mutiny was correct.
He fell silent for a moment before issuing the combat orders for this operation.
"All units, listen up. The absolute priority is guaranteeing the life of the primary target, Wesker! If you're outmatched, you know what to do."
The strategist, Wei Yong, immediately chimed in:
"I get it, I get it! We charge in and go out with a bang!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Li Long smacked him upside the head.
"A bang my ass! Why would you risk your life for this chump change?! We're rebels, you hear me? Rebels!"
The strategist rubbed his head where he'd been hit, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth, but couldn't help but retort:
"But... didn't we accept amnesty? We've been on the government's payroll for five years now."
The moment he finished speaking, another smack landed on his forehead.
"Cut the crap! We are what I say we are! Don't you talk back to me!"
Seeing the strategist clutching his head and pouting silently to the side, Li Long continued:
"In short, prioritize subduing anyone who comes charging out. If you can't subdue them, let them go! As long as that son of a bitch Wesker isn't dead, everything's fine!"
The tense atmosphere remained, but that do-or-die feeling had completely vanished.
The soldiers, who had long felt a bit of sympathy for the young girls who always returned from their missions covered in wounds, nodded in agreement. Their commander was right. Why make things so hard on people for so little money?
But as the entrance to the laboratory opened, the person who emerged was not at all who they expected.
The person at the exit now was not the anticipated Silver Squad, but a single, towering man clad in white heavy armor. And only him.
The pure white heavy armor had a unique design, making one mistake him for a wild beast at first glance.
A majestic power, visible to the naked eye, emanated from his body, striking a chord of fear in the hearts of all the soldiers who saw him.
The completely archaic armor had no power systems for assisted output. In this technological age, such unassisted armor had become a rarity.
Yet, just by standing there, this man exuded an oppressive aura countless times more powerful than even the most prized Guardian Mech in their warehouse.
Staring at this man who was clearly bad news, Li Long couldn't help but curse.
"Fuck my life, we're in deep shit."
-
Hello! Walnut here! Or... Miku Dayo in this case heheh...
Unfortunately, I had 2 stories deleted from my main account, "Walnut-chan," and I decided to post them here on this other account... I'm counting on your support to recover what we've lost!
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