Chapter 216: meeting other humans in the forest

The soldiers of Squad 06 gathered together in a circle, as they used a massive makeshift gas-powered cooker to roast the 3 leopards.

Though some of them hated this, as soldiers, it was inevitable that they had to bend to circumstances at times.

After a month of staying in this region, their stash of supplies was already dwindling which was dangerous since they have not found any directions indicating that they were close to leaving this forest yet.

Call it barbarism, they didn’t care as far as it brought them more chances of survival. That was the military way, take it or leave it.

2 male soldiers of the squad volunteered to be the chefs this time, directly relegating the few females to sit down and rest.

They stood before the 3-roasting meat from opposite ends, as they expertly dropped seasonings on the heating leopard to spice things up.

Though some were not used to this and felt a little strange, others among them felt anticipation instead. These were the no-limit eaters, they eat anything they see.

As they have not tasted leopard meat before, especially that of an exobeast, they were already salivating over the still cooking meat.

“Hey, rein yourselves in. Do you want to dip your big heads in our meat? Move back your heads a bit”. Clark suddenly spoke out to the impatient gluttons, earning laughter from the others.

After so much time together, the squad was also now more united and closer. They already knew each other’s names by heart, which acted as the main catalyst that drew them closer.

This was good, as it was what snowballed to their current better cohesiveness in battles. If they were siblings before, they were now husbands and wives. The comparison is a little weird but apt for their situation.

“Major, do you think continuing in this one direction is the best idea?” The originally silent Diana suddenly spoke out at this moment, making all the soldiers stop their idle talks.

Clark was surprised and a little stumped by this question, as he went deep into contemplation.

After over a month of non-stop traveling in a single direction but not seeing any signs of emerging out of the forest, his resolve in his planned blueprint was already shaking.

This did not make him take action immediately though as after thinking their situation through, this was still their best choice. He finally turned to face Diana.

“Diana, I’ve not changed my mind yet. I also already thought deeply about this, and I think moving forward in this one direction is still our best shot at emerging out of this forest in record time”.

“After over a month of moving at a single direction, choosing another direction to move towards now would only bring more unstable variables to the table”.

“I think concentration on this one route is better. My plan is not final though, if you have more viable reasons for us to change the route, you can say it out and I will consider it”.

“Do you have any?”

“No. The thought suddenly crossed my mind, that’s why I asked”.

“Ok, that’s nice of you”. He gave her a thump up before turning to his silent friend. “What of you?”

“Umm…, what? Me?” Benny was left clueless by how he suddenly attracted friendly fire.

“Don’t you have any suggestions? You’re my second in command for God’s sake”.

“Oh, that, Diana already said it all. I have nothing else to add”.

“As I expected, you’re just a bag of lazy bones. Let me tell you, as a man…”. As Clark started bickering with his friend, the 2 chefs finally spoke out with confidence in their tone.

“Sir, the food is ready”.

“Oh, let’s dig in then”.

With that, the whole squad started digging into the meat to satisfy their stomach. Their teeth getting stained was not a problem to them, as they all came with personal teeth cleaning and whitening devices.

Minutes later, after eating, they leaned on their mechanical chairs to rest for a few more minutes. Their rest was not long though, despite their current convenience, they still had the urgency of their mission at the back of their minds.

With that, they stood up and continued their journey.

…

A day later, the squad was still moving forward across the snow-laden floor of the forest without any signs of fatigue among them. Passion for completing their mission still blazed in them.

During the night, they couldn’t take cover the way they did before as the cedar tree where they first took shelter was an abnormality in the forest.

Instead of looking for trees, after getting confidence now, they opted to sleep under the open. Despite this, they still sleep under the protection of an exotic shield and a stealth coverage device.

Today, they finally crossed to another terrain of the forest. Unlike the originally smooth and conventional forest terrain where they passed before, this one had more hills and bumps.

They were still in the same forest, but it felt to them like they just crossed from a modern tiled road into a medieval bumpy muddy road.

Hills rambled across the new terrain like thrones of ancient kings, filling every corner of their sight. The rate of trees appearance here diminished a bit also, as the hills hoarded almost every ground for themselves.

The soldiers were unused to this new sight, but they quickly grew accustomed to it after traveling through it for a few hours.

This new terrain also made their journey more tedious, as they now had to climb enormous hills before they could continue in the direction that they were moving in.

After another 2 hours of non-stop movement, a reaction was finally stirred in the squad as Clark suddenly raised his hand for his soldiers to halt.

They obeyed immediately, as they all stopped while making swift adjustments in their stance. A minute later, they quickly formed a complete defense formation before looking at their Major.

Clark raised his hands before bringing it down at this moment, the soldiers understood immediately. They all bent before kneeling down to conceal themselves a bit.

After this, Clark finally waved his hand across the air, prompting a holographic screen to appear.

What made him stop the squad from moving was that he just received an emergency signal, from one of their long-range detection devices that they set up as vanguards.

After squatting down, he opened his bag slowly before letting dozens of the bean-sized drones out to scout the situation.

The drones were fast, as they shuttled across the forest like little hunters. Their video consoles were already on and were ready to transmit any sight back.

As they continued forward, Clark remained squatted with his soldiers, watching everything that was being transmitted back with rapt attention.

2 minutes later, a drone finally transmitted a video that was a little different from the others. The soldiers’ eyes immediately narrowed down on this specific video, as they watched keenly.

They were puzzled why, but the background of the video coverage was shaky like an earthquake was ravaging on the other side where the drone was.

They held their doubts to themselves though, as they watched in anticipation of what exactly was causing this. Imaginary sweat already started pouring down their necks, as they felt like punching the drone to move faster.

Bzzz!! Snap!!

As the tense atmosphere of the unknown grew within them, the video coverage suddenly shook fiercer before going off with a buzzing sound.

Seeing this, veins bulged across the face of the soldiers as they felt like cursing immediately. What a bastard drone, getting them all hyped and snapping at the last moment.

Despite this, they kept silent patiently as Clark started directing the other drones to go in the direction of the previous one that just got spoilt.

After getting close enough, all of them sent the same feedback of a shaking background. The soldiers were even more hyped this time, but they felt disappointed as all the drones started snapping one by one.

Seeing this, Clark quickly gave an order for the others to stop their advance. He did not know what was affecting the drones and destroying them despite the expensive and damage-resistant components in them.

He already had a lot of speculations, but he held all of them back as they could not be verified immediately.

The only way to know exactly what was causing this was to get closer, and that is exactly what he was about to do.

He suddenly turned to his soldiers, as they all also looked at him expectantly. He didn’t say anything to them, he just made different hand signs for them which they all understood.

After making sure that his instructions were sent across, he did not ask if the soldiers understood as he already had boundless confidence in their comprehension abilities.

Getting up, he finally started moving forward. He still squatted a little though to avoid attention as he did not want to get discovered by the enemy first if there was one.

His soldiers stood up orderly, before following behind him also in a slightly squatted position.

Their movements were very swift and efficient, making them seem like the ace special ops squad of an army. So much organization was only possible due to their familiarity with each other.

If looked at from the top of the forest, they would seem just like a group of black chess pieces that were moving tightly in tandem.

About 4 minutes later, Clark finally raised his hand again to send across another signal as they all smoothly slowed their movements down. They finally started feeling the tremors that were previously rocking their drones.

They all kneeled again, as Clark waited for the drones that survived to converge back to his location.

After keeping them back inside his bag, he finally motioned for his soldiers to follow him. This time, they moved forward at a far slower speed than before.

As they got closer, the tremors of whatever was happening grew fiercer as the sound accompanying it grew louder without restraint. Different thoughts went through their minds, as they tried to predict what exactly was on the other side.

They climbed another nearby hill to better protect themselves in the case of danger, and to get a better view of any situation that would present itself.

After getting to a specific distance, Clark commanded his soldiers to halt again. He communicated orders to his 2 seconds in command with his eyes, before moving closer alone to check what exactly this was.

He hid behind a tree that was at the edge of the hill’s cliff, took a deep breath, and activated the stealth function of his armor, immediately rendering himself invisible before he finally poked his head out to look.

“Are those…, humans?”

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