Chapter 53
7,
Everyone says it.
"When humans are pushed into a corner, their true nature is revealed."
And the expanse of Space was the perfect place to push humans into a corner.
Thanks to that, Kim Seojun had seen it many times.
How humans pushed to the brink revealed their true nature.
Among them, the one he saw most often was the true nature shown by the Nation of China.
It wasn't strange.
Because half of the Space Marines operating in Space were either Indian or Chinese.
Anyway, thanks to that, Kim Seojun could say with confidence to anyone he met.
"Now that the Chinese Headquarters is cornered, they will do anything. Whatever you imagine, they will do worse."
On Planet Amotia, the Chinese Headquarters had now become a greater threat to Humanity than the Mogs.
Of course, while everyone agreed with Kim Seojun's words, they still raised a question.
"Would they really go that far?"
"Private First Class Park, how long has it been since you became a Space Marine?"
"Pardon?"
"I'm asking how long it's been since you enlisted."
Noah Winston threw that question at Private First Class Park Boseop, and Private First Class Park Boseop answered.
"It's been six months, ma'am."
"You're lucky."
"Pardon?"
"Usually, it takes about half a year to see China pull some bullshit. Ah, it's exactly your half-year mark right now. For reference, I've been running in this field for ten years now. So I can say with confidence. Staff Sergeant Kim Seojun is right."
At those words, everyone, including Private First Class Park Boseop, no longer questioned it.
They merely asked a different question.
"What do you want to do?"
"Giving them time is dangerous. We need to enter the Chinese Headquarters right now and stop whatever they're doing."
Kim Seojun answered the question without the slightest hesitation.
"I agree."
Noah Winston also nodded.
However, her arms were crossed in an X.
"But we need to rest first. I absolutely won't allow going straight from here. When you go to defuse a bomb, you have to be fully prepared."
Kim Seojun didn't argue with that.
If they didn't know what would happen next, the very first thing they needed to do right now was rest while they could.
*Above all, Kim Seojun wasn't the only one who was exhausted right now.*
Everyone was in a state of exhaustion.
"We will rest for the next 12 hours and then move out."
Therefore, Kim Seojun made the decision.
"Do your best to get some rest."
12 hours later, Kim Seojun's Group headed to the Chinese Headquarters, and upon arriving, they could see it.
8.
When discussing the Space Age, the topic of China always came up.
"The Space Age is the era of China!"
China showed strong confidence regarding Space.
And as proof of that confidence, they showcased the Headquarters Bases located all over Space Planets.
Naturally, China built Bases that were larger, grander, and more majestic than those of any other Nation.
The Chinese Base on Planet Amotia was no different.
It was the largest artificial structure on Planet Amotia.
"Clear."
*At the same time, it was the place where the most people resided.*
"I've checked everything. There are no Survivors here."
And now, that Chinese Headquarters Base on Planet Amotia had become the most massive tomb.
"Nowhere."
Even after looking everywhere using Clairvoyance, not a single living being could be seen anywhere.
After finishing all the checks, everyone gathered in the Command Room.
Corpses were scattered across that Command Room.
All of them with gunshot wounds to the head.
It went without saying, but anyone could see this wasn't the result of an external Attack.
"Staff Sergeant Kim, is this perhaps Destruction of Evidence?"
Even Private First Class Park Boseop, who was seeing such a case for the first time, immediately knew that the Commander of the Chinese Headquarters had eliminated everyone here for the Destruction of Evidence.
"Oh my god...!"
And Private First Class Park Boseop was greatly shocked by that fact.
He knew that China would throw away its own citizens like consumables if things went wrong, but to think they would eliminate all the personnel in the Headquarters Base without a shred of hesitation just for the Destruction of Evidence?
Kim Seojun's expression was also stiff.
"This is the worst."
Kim Seojun spat out those words, and the rest of them made surprised expressions at that fact.
"Pardon? Why is it the worst? Isn't it over?"
The Chinese Headquarters was now in a position where they couldn't do anything.
So why was this the worst?
"Private First Class Park Boseop, as you said, this is Destruction of Evidence. Then what exactly do you think they killed everyone to hide?"
"Pardon?"
At that question, Private First Class Park Boseop answered after some thought.
"Well, Monster Control, attacking other Nations, smuggling nuclear weapons..."
Everything he blurted out were certainly things that would cause headaches for China if revealed.
But Kim Seojun knew.
"Those things aren't hidden just by killing all the personnel of the Chinese Headquarters."
"Pardon?"
"Jo I-Hyeon also knew about the Monster Control. There is also clear Radio Information regarding the Declaration of War against other Nations. In the case of the nuclear weapons, another entity possesses the evidence. Us, to be exact."
The things Private First Class Park Boseop just mentioned were not things that could be destroyed by eliminating the personnel of the Chinese Headquarters.
"Only one thing is hidden."
There was only one thing that Kim Seojun and the others here didn't know.
"Who the Commander here is, where they are right now, and what they are going to do."
Who would do such a thing?
"What's clear is that it won't end like this."
What was certain was that they wouldn't do nothing after hiding their existence to this extent.
That raised one question.
"Does the Chinese Headquarters have another hidden Secret Base?"
Kim Seojun answered Major Lee Hyena's question.
"I hope so."
With those words, Kim Seojun looked up at the sky.
"Because if not, it's even worse."
9.
Even in the Space Age, traveling back and forth between a Planet and Space on a spaceship was a very difficult task.
*At the same time, it was a dangerous task.*
In particular, a Space Battleship designed to move in Space had many restrictions when operating within a Planet.
For that reason, the most frequently used method for providing support from Space to a Planet was the Diving Capsule.
Designed solely with landing in mind, the Diving Capsule had many advantages in various aspects.
There was only one disadvantage.
Once it dropped onto a Planet, there was no way back.
Such Diving Capsules were currently falling from the sky.
Soon, the capsules landed on the Wasteland.
BOOM!
It was called a landing, but it was closer to a crash, and naturally, the sound of those Diving Capsules striking the Wasteland was loud, and the shockwave was not small either.
That was why, before boarding the Diving Capsule, everyone without exception heard the warning.
To pray.
Pray that the Mogs wouldn't hear this sound.
Kiiieeeek!
But unfortunately, a pack of Mogdogs was present around this Diving Capsule.
Kiiieeeek!
They numbered around a hundred, and naturally, the moment those Mogdogs sensed the sound, they charged at full speed.
Psssssh!
By the time the Diving Capsule opened with various noises, the Mogdogs had already reached striking distance.
Kiiieeeek!
The moment the Mogdogs let out bizarre shrieks and threw their bodies toward the Diving Capsule—that was the moment.
Squelch!
The sound of something sharp and pointed effortlessly piercing through something hard began to ring out.
Squelch!
Repeatedly.
Squelch!
Before even a second had passed, the sound rang out three times, and with that sound, three Mogdogs crumpled straight to the ground.
Bleeding from their heads.
And that was just the beginning.
Suddenly, something moved rapidly, and every time it did, the Mogdogs' heads were pierced as they sprawled across the floor.
It took less than a minute for the nearly one hundred Mogdogs to be cleared out.
As silence fell, one person who had been waiting revealed herself.
"I am Major Lin Jia'ai."
Major Lin Jia'ai assumed a saluting posture.
Swish!
Then, immediately from behind her, someone wearing a white Agent Suit appeared.
The person who appeared looked about the same age as Major Lin Jia'ai, or perhaps a little younger.
"You look a lot older than I heard?"
She spat out words that were undeniably provocative, words that would inevitably make Major Lin Jia'ai bristle.
However, Major Lin Jia'ai didn't show the slightest hint of anger at that provocation.
She couldn't show it.
"It is an honor to meet you, Mad Horse."
In China, there were several Special Forces composed of Psycher Agents.
Among them, there were three Units centered around martial prowess, and among those Units, there were two that operated as an Elite Few.
They were Baek-U and Heuk-Ju.
These two groups were where the absolute elites gathered.
Even so, the reason for distinguishing them was simple.
Baek-U was the light of the universe, and Heuk-Ju was the darkness of the universe.
In other words, Heuk-Ju was where the experts who cleaned up China's dark corners were—experts in dealing with Humans rather than dealing with Mogs.
The newly arrived Mad Horse Lin Zhihan was a powerhouse ranked within the top ten of that Heuk-Ju.
Furthermore, the secret to her strength was speed, just as her alias implied—a horse as fast as light.
If you gathered all the Psycher Agents of Humanity and made them run a short-distance race, she was fast enough to place in the top ten.
Of course, the reason people feared her wasn't because of that strength.
“Mad Horse.”
Those who knew her called her a crazy horse.
A being you dared not associate with, whose temper was only satisfied when she crushed and trampled everything in sight.
Naturally, she didn't properly listen to orders from above.
That was why China didn't deploy her on needlessly complex operations.
They only deployed her on ignorant and merciless operations, where she simply had to brutally crush something.
"Now then, where should we clean up first?"
Mad Horse Lin Zhihan knew that too, which was why she immediately asked for the target.
Major Lin Jia'ai answered that question.
"I've mapped out the route here."
Along with her words, she showed a map, and the moment Mad Horse Lin Zhihan saw the number 1 on the map, she smiled brightly and spoke.
"The first is France."
10.
"Space? You mean Reinforcements are coming from Space?"
The moment Kim Seojun stated his prediction, everyone was astonished.
It wasn't simply on the level of “support is coming”.
"Aren't we completely unable to communicate with Space right now?"
Currently, all the Survivors on Planet Amotia were endlessly sending Rescue Signals to Space.
However, not a single reply had come back, and naturally, everyone now knew.
That something had happened in Space as well.
But in the midst of all that, China was providing support from Space?
What that meant was that China might currently be in control of the Space outside Planet Amotia!
"They probably haven't taken control. If China had taken control of Space, they wouldn't need to go through such a headache-inducing process. The situation would have been easily resolved if a Space Battleship just came down and dropped a nuclear weapon. What they can move isn't battleship-class, but probably around the level of a Small Transport Ship."
Fortunately, Kim Seojun didn't have the worst-case scenario that everyone was thinking of in mind.
Of course, it was true that the situation was still bad.
One way or another, didn't it mean the Chinese side had the capability?
"Then what should we do?"
Noah Winston asked a question here, and Kim Seojun answered that question without hesitation.
"They definitely sent a powerful Psycher Agent."
"Yeah? Then we just have to kill them."
Noah Winston spoke more confidently than ever.
And she had good reason to.
"With us, I don't think it'll even be difficult."
Considering Kim Seojun's abilities, most Psychers wouldn't be a problem.
"China knows our combat power. They definitely wouldn't have sent a sloppy opponent."
Of course, the Chinese Headquarters weren't fools either, and having grasped the situation, they would have sent the best card they could play.
"Also, their goal is the Destruction of Evidence. They will absolutely try to avoid clashing with us. They will move in a way that destroys other Headquarters Bases."
Furthermore, it was obvious they would use hit-and-run tactics, and catching them on this vast Planet would be incredibly difficult.
"Still, we could probably catch them if we tried."
"Yes, if it's just catching them, it's worth a try. The problem is something else."
"Problem? There's another problem?"
Kim Seojun answered the follow-up question.
"There is a possibility that the Chinese side has a spaceship to return on after the operation is over."
The moment they heard those words, everyone understood.
"We have to secure it."
What Kim Seojun's true goal was.
At Kim Seojun's words, everyone went beyond surprise and felt admiration.
To think he would come up with an answer this far ahead in this situation?
Of course, Kim Seojun knew.
That securing the spaceship wasn't the end.
That even after going to Space on the spaceship, if they ultimately couldn't reach a Space Battleship or a Space Station, they would become lost in space.
“0 percent and 1 percent are completely different.”
Even so, it was well worth risking their lives for.
“We have to leave Planet Amotia for any kind of method to appear.”
Because the only thing they could get by staying here was a terminal fate.
Anyway, Kim Seojun pondered.
The rest of his Comrades did the same.
"Then what should we do from now on?"
What should they do in this situation?
"Honestly, there's nothing we can do. We can only respond after the Chinese Headquarters makes a move."
But unfortunately, in a situation where the Chinese Headquarters had abandoned their Headquarters Base and hidden themselves, finding them first was an impossible task.
Ultimately, it meant they had to wait for an incident to occur.
Naturally, no one knew when that would happen.
"The only way to make things go the way we want is to throw out bait."
"Bait?"
At Kim Seojun's words, everyone tilted their heads.
Was there any bait that would work against that thoroughly enraged China?
"I don't know if it will work or not, but I think it's better than doing nothing."
"No, never mind that, what's the bait?"
At the follow-up question, Kim Seojun looked at Major Lee Hyena, and at that gaze, Major Lee Hyena tilted her head.
"Are you telling me to play the Decoy Role?"
"That's not it. What I'm talking about is the reason you came here, Major Lee Hyena."
"The reason I came? Ah!"
Only then did Major Lee Hyena remember.
"The Prophet's Relic!"
Why she had come here.
"Yes, there is Prophet's Relic Ore here. And I can guarantee it with a high probability."
Furthermore, Kim Seojun knew.
"Those Chinese guys are crazy for the Prophet's Relic."