Zheng was connected to Lan's scan the whole time monitoring the bugs' movement, the hoppers, the other team's location, and the rescue ships. The boarding finally came to order after Xuan ordered to kill almost a hundred people. Everyone walked calmly. There were a hundred troopers that came with each ship. They had never been in any actual combat so they were totally shocked when they saw the bloody suppression by Xuan's group. The new troopers soon began following Xuan's orders and helped defend against the cliffs.
The hoppers showing up were much more dangerous than the frontline. Humans needed more than ten times the numbers to fight the bugs in close combat. Many troopers fell back in defeat. They weren't in the bronze age anymore. Combat without firearms was near impossible. Furthermore, Zero was the leader of the group. He wasn't as familiar with military tactics. Once the troopers backed off, about a hundred hoppers climbed onto the top.
The lieutenants stood up in this dangerous situation and led small groups in the attack. They still followed Xuan's orders though since they knew the difference between Zheng's team and them in arranging the defenses and executing the orders. Military ranks were pointless at this point. Those with power should take the responsibilities.
With more and more hoppers coming from the cliffs, the bugs also broke through the frontline. The tanker bug waved its claws and Zheng yelled. "Retreat! Everyone retreat to the rescue ships in the center!"
The troopers felt as though they were pardoned and started running back. Zheng said to WangXia. "Fire the last two tactical nukes at the bugs behind the tanker bug. We have to stop the bugs from getting close with large numbers!"
WangXia nodded and triggered the launcher on his shoulder. After a brilliant flash of light, he dropped the launcher then picked up the other one on the ground. The bugs hiding right behind the tanker bug charged at him at the same time. They were only fifty meters apart. The tanker bug moved slow but the rest of the bugs not so much. A dozen bugs reached WangXia in the blink of an eye. However, another person also stood in front of him.
Zheng shouted. "Hurry up and fire the nuke! I can't hold them off for long!"
Being a determined soldier in the special forces, WangXia relaxed his body as soon as he heard these words. He focused his attention on the nuke launcher then pulled the trigger. This last nuke flew over the burning fire. WangXia threw away the launcher and yelled. "Run! Zheng! Run!"
Zheng stabbed a spider leg into a bug's mouth then pulled his arm out before the bug could bite him. He dodged another attack, jumped up and kicked at this bug's head. His kick was powerful enough to smash through the exoskeleton. Thick green liquid splashed from its head.
Zheng heard WangXia's voice but he didn't have the time to escape from these dozen bugs. He shouted back. "You run first, you will die if you get into close combat. Believe in me... This is an order!"
WangXia hesitated for only a moment then ran toward the ships. The first rescue ship had lifted off. Many troopers were cheering. Zheng was the only one still fighting these bugs while he moved toward the ships. The bugs weren't easy preys as they tore off pieces of flesh from his body on the way.
Tatata!
Two bugs behind Zheng got knocked to the ground with these shots. Zheng turned his head around in panic to see that these bugs were killed by shots through the eyes. Zero was aiming with a normal federation weapon by a rescue ship. He said to Zheng through soul link. "Keep running! Don't stop. I will take care of the bugs for you!"
Zheng took a deep breath and stopped dodging the attacks. He ran toward the ship next to Zero with the movement technique, leaving his back open to the bugs. The sound of wind coming from behind indicated the claws approaching him, yet he didn't turn around or dodge. He had completely entrusted his safety to Zero.
Zero didn't disappoint his trust. A bullet penetrated the bug's eye before the claws reached Zheng. Zheng pulled the gap between him and the bugs to five meters with these two seconds of sprinting. His speed was higher to begin with. The buffer allowed him to escape from the zone of danger. The troopers next to Zero then focused fire at the bugs behind him and shot them down.
Zheng quickly ran over to Zero and asked. "Where is everyone? Why haven't you boarded? Lan, label everyone's location!"
Lan was paying attention at Zheng's safety. She sent the location of the team members to Zheng as soon as she heard the words. Kampa already boarded the ship. Lan and Gando were standing in a line not far from Zheng. They should board the second ship in about a minute at this rate. This was following Xuan's plan to stay low key so the other team couldn't find them.
Zheng let out a sigh of relief as he saw the two boarded the ship. Then he turned to where Xuan was standing. Xuan and WangXia were already on the third ship giving orders to the troopers. Zero and him were the last ones. Zero handed the rifle to one of the rescue troopers then stepped into the line for the second ship.
The tanker bug was still several hundred meters away and its movement speed was slow. The bugs near the bottom of the mountain were fast but the nukes broke off the road coming up temporarily. They only had to wait for the ships to take off then they could go back into space in safety.
A trooper ran over to Zheng and saluted. "Sir, Lt. Razak wants you to board the second rescue ship immediately. You are in urgent need of treatments."
Zheng finally took a look over the wounds on his body. Solidified blood nearly painted him in red. Any normal person would have died at this point. He gave himself a mocking smile then turned around and headed toward the rescue ship. This was perhaps the privilege of a sergeant. He walked past the line and boarded from the side. None of the troopers said anything because they recognized this sergeant with a broken arm. The person that saved the army from despair.
The inside of the ship was spacious. It wouldn't be able to accommodate a thousand people otherwise. There were four floors. The officers were in the third floor. Zheng followed the trooper into an elevator. The ship began trembling as the elevator stopped at the third floor. The trooper said. "It's finally taking off."
Zheng walked over to the window. This ship was taking off. Through the psyche scan, he could see all seven team members were in the ships. One person in the first ship, four in the second, and two in the third. The weight on his heart was finally taken off. As he was about to turn away, he noticed the tanker bug had moved very close to the fourth ship. Its exoskeleton opened up while the ship was preparing to take off. The blue barrier enclosed a fourth of the ship.
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.
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.”
Chapter 12-3
Zheng and Xuan’s conversation stopped five minutes before arriving at the fleet. Even though five minutes of flight in space was a long distance and the other team might not have such a powerful psyche force user, they would rather be extra cautious. The worst was if the other team discovered Lan.
Psyche force users were basically defenseless unless they reach an extremely high level. They might even be weaker than a normal person. If Lan was found out, the other team could put her under surveillance in order to threaten the team. Psyche force users were the most valuable talents after all.
(To be honest, they may not even have a psyche force user. If that’s true, wouldn’t we be able to find them out easily with our advantage?) Zheng thought to himself but he knew he was being optimistic. One of the criteria to joining team battles was becoming strong enough. A team that couldn’t even survive regular movies wouldn’t be given such a chance. Psyche force users were a measure for this standard in addition to the number of unlocked members. The team with the psyche force advantage had the initiative advantage.
Zheng slowly closed his eyes as he lay in the liquid. A set of hieroglyphs floated in his mind. These hieroglyphs were the ones they found in the Mayan ruins. Xuan learned them from Imhotep then continued to study them back in God’s dimension. He sent some common words to everyone, such as hide, psyche force, battle, run, mask.
“Keep in mind, you can write these hieroglyphs down at any time. In the cafeteria, on the wall. Write them down randomly to bait out the other team. If they are looking for us at the same time, they will care about what these character mean. We can use the opportunity to find out where they are. The second purpose is to muddle up their thoughts so that they couldn’t figure out what we will do. A large quantity of information will drive them to think we have big plans or already discovered them. Anxiousness can open them up to mistakes. End the sentences with give, take, or no when you don’t mean anything. Repeat the words twice if they are real messages.”
Zheng said. “Are you sure the others can memorize these complex hieroglyphs in such a short amount of time? That seems unlikely.”
Xuan replied. “Right. It’s not possible. The ones I am teaching are you, Lan, and Gando. Entering the unlocked mode will raise your learning ability to another level. The other three just have to know we are the ones who wrote these hieroglyphs. We will take care of the rest and find the other team.”
(Find the other team? What a difficult task. But there shouldn’t be any worries with Xuan in our team.) Zheng fell asleep as he thought.
This world’s civilian technology had reached what it should be in the future. Several hours in the container along with Zheng’s recovery rate had healed his body completely. The wound on the bone in his right arm was also healed. The expedition troopers entered the fleet from the rescue ships. Many cried at once. The medical troopers brought the wounded to the infirmary. These several thousands who survived were treated as heroes.
“Yes! They are heroes! When the fleet abandoned their comrades, when the rescue ships were far away, when nearly a hundred thousand were killed in an hour, this squad crossed tens of miles then held their ground on top of a mountain for seven hours. Initial estimates from the military have that they killed over three hundred thousand bugs. Everyone, you have heard it. They are all heroes! They revenged for their comrades, they didn’t dishonor our species as human, they are the true heroes among us!”
This fleet was composed of 82 level one warships, 17 special warships and countless supportive starships. The number surpassed the first invasion and could be said as the final force of the federation.
Aside from the military and federation officials, numerous reporters came along to interview the survivors. The military released a large amount of data, some embarrassing, such as the death toll and the fleet that ran away, but some they couldn’t wait to tell everyone, such as killing over three hundred thousand bugs. That was the reason the military loose on the control on news and allowed the reporters to interview.
A lot of what the troopers said were condemning the intelligence of the military but the majority were about the sergeant major Zheng and the three leaders he chose. Everyone agreed that the army would have been annihilated without these four people. They were saved by the four of them rather than the government.
“We can see that human is a species that is never short of heroes. We humans have noble spirits and wills that the barbaric bugs lack. You can’t imagine a person who had his arm pierced through the bone stood in the frontline commanding the army for six hours. This is the hero who saved our army, Zheng! Unfortunately, the military told us his injuries were too heavy and his mind exhausted. He fell unconscious as soon as the army escaped danger. Such a noble soldier is protecting us and the federation. A moment of silence everyone to pay them the honor!”
A blonde young man watched the news on the TV quietly in the officer’s lounge. A little hand suddenly turned the TV off. He looked over fiercely. That was a girl about eleven or twelve, grabbing his sleeves with a pair of pitiful eyes.
“Neos, Snow is not used to not using psyche scan. It feels like I can’t see. I am bored. Come play poker with me instead of watching TV.” The little girl said.
Neos frowned as he shook her hand away. She laughed then jumped over and grabbed his sleeve again. “Come play with me, play with me.”
Neos scratched his head, threw the chocolate in his mouth then said. “Snow, I told you so many times not to bother me when I am eating chocolate! If you do that again, I will slap your ass! Aya, bring her out and get me a newspaper. I need to read the report carefully.”
A long hair girl walked over and took Snow away. A slender man in black clothes said in a cold tone. “What’s wrong, Neos?”
He picked up another chocolate bar, his eyes gave off a violent sense. “Don’t you feel that they look too bright? As players, we try not to make ourselves notifiable in movies because that can lead to unnecessary troubles. However, the brilliance surrounding them is too bright, even though part of it is unavoidable, but I think they are intentionally raising their influence. Hoho, looks like things are getting interesting.”