Chapter 218 - Mark

Huo Jinghua came out alone from the starship. 

"Where's Mary?" Lewis Johnson asked. 

The corners of Huo Jinghua's lips fell. "Resting." He answered. 

Lewis Johnson didn't ask any further while Gerard Jackson's face looked haggard. There are bags under his eyes and they are swollen and bloodshot. His skin became coarse and his face was unshaven. He didn't even have a time to comb his hair and just charged to the planet XTV1 with a sullen look on his face. 

Even if there were no feelings invested in the arranged marriage of him and Mary Jackson, but their love for their son is real. Thus, he's very brokenhearted as Mary Jackson when Huo Ling died.. 

"Where's Harry and Jiang Ce?" Huo Jinghua asked when he didn't see the two along with the group of researchers Jiang Ce brought. 

"Harry led them to the residence of this planet's Zerg queen." Lewis Johnson answered as Gerard Jackson was still calming down his emotions after it surged up when he saw the place where his son died. 

Huo Jinghua nodded. Just as he was about to leave to search on his own, they heard the sound of the footsteps rushing. 

"Colonel Johnson! Colonel Jackson!" a soldier who's in the lead of his group called with his voice speaking out of his mech. 

Lewis Johnson, Gerard Jackson and Huo Jinghua turned. "Speak." Lewis Johnson said as the soldiers came out of their mech.

"Sir!" the soldiers placed their fist on their chest and bowed to the three before their leader spoke. 

"We've found a suspicious place in the southwest of the planet." The lead soldier spoke. 

Earlier, Harry Walter, Lewis Johnson, Gerard Jackson, and Huo Jinghua, who instructed his subordinates earlier while still on the starship to follow the marshal and two colonels since he has to comfort Mary Jackson, their subordinates all divided themselves into eight groups to go travel in eight direction and look for anything that might be a clue. 

Hearing what the soldier said, Gerard Jackson started and he sharply turned to the soldier. The soldier was taken aback when Gerard Jackson pulled him by his collar, but immediately calmed down since they can understand how their superior feels after losing a son – his only child. They have seen how promising Howee Jackson is. He didn't fail to live up to their expectations, as someone who was raised by a marshal, a general and two colonels. 

They both admired him and pitied him. Howee Jackson is outstanding, and he would have had a bright future ahead of him had he not died. But, they also pitied him since it must be really hard to satisfy everyone's expectations; living with not only one, but three high-ranking military officials; and also he died before he could start his glorious life in the military and leave his mark in the empire's history. 

"Where is it?!" Gerard Jackson's sharp voice woke everyone up from their reminiscing of Huo Ling. 

The two other soldiers behind were frightened from Gerard Jackson's reaction, but their leader is their leader. He was calm. "We left some of our comrades to preserve the area. Let us lead you there." He told them. 

"Go!" Gerard Jackson answered as he took out a button from his sleeve and threw it in the air. Lewis Johnson and Huo Jinghua followed. 

Suddenly, the three buttons turned into three mechs in mid-air! The ground slightly shook as there was a sound of a thunder when the three cold and imposing mechs that have fought countless battles, both defeating and glorious, landed on the ground with their feet. 

Gerard Jackson, Lewis Johnson and Huo Jinghua boarded their respective mechs, as well as the three soldiers who came to report and fetch their three superiors before they lead to take them to the suspicious area they found in the southwest of the planet. 

…

When they arrived, Gerard Jackson almost exploded on the spot when he saw an almost imperceptible mark on the ground where the soldiers surrounded to preserve the area and keep the mark from fading. 

"Southwest… isn't this – " Lewis Johnson's eyes widened when he remembered and realized something. 

"When the empire sent the first scout to this planet, they returned with a report that this planet is the closest planet to the empire that was inhabited by the Zergs." Huo Jinghua said. "And the densest area where the Zergs are, where they almost lost their life there because they didn't know that the Zergs have a large number in this area, is the southwest." He explained as they all looked at the suspicious mark on the ground. 

It was imperceptible, thus when they first inspected the planet when they went to save Huo Ling, only to regrettably arrive too late, they didn't notice the suspicious mark that was later neglected had they didn't come back here. 

It was as if something heavy was placed on the ground for the ground to have a small pit, which makes the mark. If not for the soil is softer in this area, probably because of the liquids coming from the Zergs body as they inhabited the area, they wouldn't notice the mark that was almost faded by the time. 

"What do you think this is?" Huo Jinghua asked. 

Gerard Jackson gritted his teeth as he seethed in anger, barely holding his anger. With a dark expression, he ordered. "Search for other areas, relay a message to the other groups about what we have found, and capture an image of this mark before sending it to them!" he said. 

"Immediately send a message to Marshal Walter, too." Lewis Johnson reminded them. 

"Yes!" the soldiers saluted with their fist on their chest and a bow, before they took action. 

Huo Jinghua squatted as they all leaned closer to inspect the mark. "Judging by the size, it is the size of an adult male's shoe." He said.

"However, for the pit to appear like this, even if the soil is softer here, and that a while has passed since this mark might have been made, which makes the pit should be deeper than now, the person who made this mark, they might or might not have noticed they left a trace, must be very heavy." Lewis Johnson said. 

Something flashed in Gerard Jackson's brain. "Since the humans have evolved, there was not one that is overweight." He pointed out. 

"… have it crossed in your mind that this might be not the work of a human, at all?" Huo Jinghua silently asked.