Book 1 Chapter 14.3

- N958

Behind the old man was an office that was over 200 square meters in size and completely adorned in Victorian style. In front of the spacious and cozy leather chair was an old style work table stretching several meters in width. At this moment, the surface of the work table continuously flickered with a red light.

The old man’s long and straight eyebrows moved. He closed the window and walked over to the office table. Once closed, all of the radiation and harmful substances were blocked by these two seemingly ordinary and old-fashioned windows.

The office’s ceiling released a low mechanical hum, and a few extremely small holes were revealed, sending pure air into the room. The extra air was sucked away through the air vents hidden within the bookshelf and behind flower pots. In under a minute, all of the air in the room was completely exchanged. The fresh air’s anti-radiation properties would counteract all of the room’s radiation particles in just a few minutes.

The old man reached out and pressed down on the table. Immediately afterwards, a thin sheet of glass immediately rose in front of his face. Under the movements of extremely fine metal components, this piece of glass continuously enlarged until it ultimately formed a large screen over a square meter in size. The screen lit up, and the icon of a base on the corner of the map continuously flickered. The annotation below the icon said: entertainment and leisure.

He reached out with his right hand and pressed down again on the blinking icon. On his middle finger rested an extremely prominent ring embedded with a black gemstone full of dark golden patterns.

The icon immediately sprung to the center of the screen, quickly enlarging to reveal the image of a multi-layered refuge base door.

At the center of the door, the orange N958 continuously jumped about.

The old man was clearly distracted for a moment. He tapped on the screen, and N958 separated into ten small pictures, covering the large screen. Roughly half of the screens were dark, while the other half was the information recorded by cameras found throughout N958. This was exactly what Su saw in the central control room. However, what was different from what Su saw were the few screens Su could not see from the central control room.

The cameras faithfully recorded Su’s exploration process in N958. Towards Su’s strange yet skillful movements, he intuitively avoided all of the hidden mechanism and weapon platforms’ trajectory. Towards the ways to exploit various terrain, the old man remained indifferent. However, his eyes focused more on the Barrett resting on Su’s back.

The old man watched the entire process of Su exploring N958. He saw him open the menu, select the option to self-destruct the base, hesitate for a minute, and then close the menu again. If a few different screens were watched together, one would find that Su’s eye was always on the control platform’s water circulatory system.

After Su closed down each system, Su left the base.

The old man sat down on the leather chair and stared at the image that had frozen on Su’s back. It was unknown what he was thinking. After a few minutes had passed, a hawk-like smile appeared on the old man’s face. He lightly tapped on the office table, and a drawer silently slid out. The old man extracted a metal ring that was exactly the same as the one on Su’s finger. He looked at the N958 engraved on the inside of the ring and seemed to sigh with regret.

With a bang sound, the ring was once again thrown into the drawer. The old man stood up once again and switched to an image that had Su’s front view. He then drew a square on Su’s lower half, and it separated before enlarging. The finger with the dark golden-patterned gemstone ring selected a few options on the screen, and then the system began to search through all the information it had relating to Su. Countless data populated like rain, and in the end, it settled into several file icons.

The old man was somewhat shocked. He was just casually searching about, thinking that this individual was some hunter or mercenary seeking survival in the wilderness. He was hoping to find some record including a name at best, yet he never expected that this individual would leave behind several pages of records. He opened the files and quickly skimmed through them. These documents included a summary of Su, an assessment of his abilities, the corresponding information regarding the intruder cells, Laiknar’s death report, the complete record of the two battles, as well as the follow up application request.

After quickly skimming the documents, the old man spent most of his time looking at Su’s summary and ability assessment. The documents revealed a thorough analysis and assessment of the abilities Su displayed, giving him a danger level of C+, which meant that a lieutenant commander equipped with fighting related capabilities or a small troop lead by a captain was needed to deal with him. As for Su’s background, it was completely blank.

The old man leaned back into his seat and contemplated for a moment. The frozen image of Su’s green eye seemed to contain life, as if it was looking at the old man.

He chuckled and opened the follow-up application file. The document made a simple recount of the most recent pursuit operation’s defeat. There was an analysis of Su’s abilities, as well as several reasons for the operation. Attached to it was first lieutenant Luthor’s report regarding the pursuit operation, as well as the reports of Justin and five other dragonriders. Inside the document, commander Julio had captain Xie Liufu replace Luthor and take charge of the hunt and arrest operation. From commander Julio’s perspective, Luthor’s small troop’s military force was already sufficient and could easily suppress Su; however, their team’s searching capabilities were too poor, and as such, Su was able to escape. As for the subordinate’s death, it was a complete accident. With captain ‘eagle eye’ Xie Liufu’s troop, it would be enough to capture Su.

Pressing down on the table, the room to the door noiselessly opened. A tall and sexy young woman walked in, her Black Dragonrider uniform perfectly outlining her extraordinary figure. Her blonde hair was coiled up at the top of her head, and moral integrity was frozen on her face. A bit of murderous spirit could be seen in her eyes.

She arrived in front of the office table and slightly bowed. “What is your esteemed self’s instructions?” This slight movement made her chest move significantly. It seemed like the Black Dragonriders uniform emphasized close-fitting and neglected her practical needs.

At this moment, the old man’s screen was already blank. Only a thick follow-up operation application remained.

“Tell them to reconsider this plan.”

The female assistant was startled for a moment. To confirm what he said, she looked at the grade of the plan again. She was a bit confused as to why the old man would pay attention to this type of document. However, she gave a concise reply and walked out from the old man’s office. It had to be mentioned that her rear view was absolutely captivating as well.

That day, O’Brien’s day was extremely busy. Early in the morning, he participated in Laiknar’s burial. The sky didn’t even seem to have brightened yet at that time. The prickling fine rain descended incessantly on his umbrella, creating splashes of water. Over a hundred men and women in black clothes attended the funeral, their eyes watching the young man who had great prospects be forever buried in granite. The rain that contained high levels of radiation scattered down, not stopping even when the funeral ended.

After completing the funeral, O’Brien did not return to camp and instead arrived in front of an ancient and imposing chapel. He entered from a small door on the side and let himself into a confession room. Behind a smooth, shining wooden table sat an aged, peaceful looking black-robed priest.

O’Brien walked over and sat down in front of the table. The priest looked at O’Brien and smiled. He closed the thick black covered religious text and quietly waited for O’Brien to speak.

O’Brien’s two hands locked together, and his eyes stared at the table in front of him. He momentarily didn’t know what to say. Only after a period of time had passed did he slowly speak. “Father, during the operation this time, I lost a very good brother, and a few more doubts appeared in my heart. I hope that you could provide me with some answers.”

The black-robed priest smiled and extended his hand, indicating for O’Brien to continue.

O’Brien selected his words with difficulty and said, “Father, are those who grew up in the wilderness and have lived there all their lives truly not our brothers and sisters? When I left this time, I saw many people struggle to survive. Among them, not everyone had mutated tissues, or they might only have a little bit. The most important part was that they had their own thoughts, and among them, some even have ideals. Even though those ideals are laughable in our eyes and completely unrealistic, they are still ideals. The bishop has instructed us that all those who have ideals have souls.”

The priest straightened his posture and placed his hand on top of the ‘Revelation’ in front of him. In a benevolent voice, he said, “O’Brien, what separates us from them is not mutation, because all flesh will rot. What separates us from them is also not the soul, because all living creatures have souls. The true difference is faith. Because we have faith, the way we look at the world is different, and the way we think will be different as well. You can think of those that survive in the wilderness as people, because they have similar flesh bodies, ideals, and souls. However, they are not our brothers and sisters, because they lack faith. Meanwhile, you are the lord’s blade, and towards those without faith, you can arbitrarily eliminate.”

O’Brien was still hesitant. “But…”

The priest cut him off, and his voice became a bit more solemn and dignified. “O’Brien, do not doubt. Your power originates from your faith. Having doubts towards the lord’s instructions will hinder your path. Remember, faith is the most important thing.”

O’Brien raised his head, and his gaze once again became resolute. He thanked the priest and walked out from the chapel.

Outside of the chapel was a black old-fashioned car that was currently waiting for O’Brien. Only after sitting in the car and thinking for a bit did he instruct the subordinates to head for their next destination. The car was started, and it followed the smooth and perfectly undamaged road outwards.

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