Chapter 144

"There are two on the platform. Three in the passageway. Two mobile sentries. One on the second-floor balcony."

Leaning against the wall, the man skillfully marked the location, slightly raising his left hand to accurately transmit instructions using the tactical terminal nested and fixed to the inside of his forearm and the dynamic shared map displayed on the small screen.

"Joker, three of you in the aisle."

"Rivers, that one on the second-floor balcony is yours."

"Two mobile sentries, mine."

"Mitchell, those two on the platform are yours."

"Everyone to your positions, keep quiet, set up Silent Field."

After setting everything up, the man in the knitted hat removed a basketball-sized disc from the weighted slot on the back of the exoskeleton, stomped it on the ground, then gripped the handle and rotated it 90 degrees counterclockwise, making a buzzing sound...

Silent Field generator.

In short, noise-canceling headphones work on a similar principle to sound pickup and noise reduction technology, achieving silence by playing waves that are opposite to ambient sounds.

Imperceptible particles of pale blue light lit up.

Within the Silent Field, the entire world seemed to become hazy for a moment. Just like being surrounded by mosquitoes, the transmission of external sounds became low and slow.

"Kill them."

He said.

Not long after, under the cover of thunder, which seemed to be working in the right place at the right time, chirping sounds began to emanate from all around the not-so-large vacation villa.

With a muffled groan, the man who had been shot fell backward, clusters of blood blooming on his chest and back.

Thump, thump.

"Don't rush."

Silent Field faded, the man gently laid the guard, who had been restrained with a bloody hole in his chest and was now motionless, on the ground. He then climbed the steps and emphasized, "Approach the bedroom slowly."

"Receive."

×N.

"Hey, Gideon, Mitchell, things are going much easier than we expected. Wasn't this supposed to be twice as difficult? This shouldn't be happening."

Holding a gun and crouching at the villa entrance, a man with thick blond hair, slicked back, and wearing a large, matte, dark red AR tactical goggles on his forehead, jokingly lowered his voice and said.

"Shut up, clown. We're on a mission. Stop grinning."

The man in the knitted hat, called Gideon, grinned and clenched his fist in a threatening gesture towards the clown. "Keep yelling, or I'll punch you."

He didn't need the clown to remind him; he also sensed something was amiss, but he didn't have time to think about it further.

Ultimately, he was just a lowly special operations soldier with a bit of reputation in the Atlas Rapid Reaction Force. When a mission was assigned, as long as it was reasonable, he had to carry it out without hesitation. That was his job.

Hopefully, that female director won't go too far...

At that moment, on their radio communication channel, a beeping sound rang out.

[Oracle (codename): Atlas 0-2, surveillance network has been disrupted, we are tracking the hostages. Reconnaissance indicates you only have half a minute, the possibility of an earlier handover cannot be ruled out. Found, the hostages are in the media room, south wing.]

"Roger that. We've cleared out the enemies on the perimeter and are heading to the media room. Rivers, you're in charge of guarding."

Gideon pressed his earpiece and said in a low voice.

The group jogged quickly across the carpeted floor and soon arrived at the media room.

"Mitchell, place the Resonance Device."

Gideon took out an object resembling a cylindrical grenade from his tactical bag. To be precise, it was four irregularly shaped round crystals secured by clips. He broke off the clips and threw two of them at Mitchell, who was standing against the wall.

"Learn."

The young, dark-haired man, referred to as Mitchell, took it and nodded solemnly.

Although he also had a full beard, even more so than the veteran Gideon next to him, he looked much younger.

Snap, snap.

The two quickly placed the four Resonance Device horizontally in a rectangular shape on the wall of the media room.

Sizzle—

A slight electrical hum was heard, followed by a flash of white light. The mosaic effect created by the four resonant generators merged into a single image, resembling a distorted television screen.

The Resonance Device emits resonant waves that can detect living organisms through most obstacles.

"Okay, the show's about to begin. Done in fifteen seconds."

Gideon aimed his gun and began marking the enemy. "Five hostages, four in low positions, sitting on the ground, one... being beaten, the armed men are all standing, sitting, note the outline of their guns, marked, five armed men, their heart rate is 90 BPM, normal level, quiet and relaxed."

Within the long rectangular perspective frame created by the Resonance Device, five armed militants with gun-wielding silhouettes were marked in red with mosaic dots, however—

"Gideon, what are they fiddling with?"

The clown looked puzzled.

"That is..."

Just as Gideon was carefully examining the situation to be on the safe side, bang! The perspective frame showed that the bathroom door in the media room opened, and an armed man with a gun came out. He seemed to have just finished relieving himself. Instead of staying inside, he walked towards the media room door.

"He's coming out."

Mitchell moved to the wooden door, raised his gun, and spoke.

"Damn it, kill them."

Gideon made a quick decision.

He aimed the sight at the head, which was marked as a red outline in the perspective frame, and pulled the trigger.

Tap, tap...

The moment the door opened, the armed man was shot dead by Mitchell.

The five armed men marked in red on the X-ray screen inside the room also fell to the ground, and the red markings disappeared.

Beep beep.

The alarm bells suddenly went off inside the vacation villa.

"All targets in the room have been eliminated. No booby traps confirmed. Mitchell, prioritize rescuing the hostages."

Gideon said.

Bang! Wearing the expert-grade EXO exoskeleton with a built-in shield, Mitchell took the lead, smashing open the half-open wooden door. Stepping inside, he saw five hostages curled up on the ground, completely unharmed, and across the table, three humanoid mechanical creations suspended from a thick steel cable resembling a horizontal bar.

Beneath the gray-green upper and gray-black lower paint, lies a steel body with a cold, gleaming sheen.

The moment Mitchell stepped into the media room, the latches popped open, and three armed robots were activated.

As the red indicator light on the square head flashed, click! Accompanied by the scraping and colliding sound of the robot's metal limbs, rat-a-tat-tat-tat—! The violent gunshots came without warning, and before a breath was out, five hostages lay in pools of blood.

[Oracle: The rescue operation has failed; the hostages are dead.]

"What the hell is this? An armed robot... Fuck!"

The Joker, who had just followed Mitchell into the media room, hadn't even had a chance to take a few more glances when, bang, a series of grenades rained down on him.

Boom, boom.

A loud bang. The clown went dazed, and in the instant he leaned forward in pain, a burst of bullets struck him, knocking him down.

"The Joker is dead."

While dodging bullets and incoming homing grenades, Gideon operated his assault-type EXO exoskeleton, performing a kick and leaping back. The thrusters propelled him to the end of the corridor, several meters away.

"Mitchell, operation failed, retreat!"

Sparks flew from the gun muzzle as bullets struck the unfolded exoskeleton's built-in folding blast shield, sending sparks flying.

Mitchell retreated while attacking.

Because he was on a rescue mission, he did not carry any large-caliber firearms, and the bullets bounced off the armored shells of the armed robots.

"Gideon, cover me..."

Before he could finish speaking, one of the three armed robots moved with lightning speed, rushing forward and knocking the gun out of Mitchell's right hand.

Immediately afterwards, the robot grabbed Mitchell's left prosthetic arm, which was unfolding a blast shield. It pulled and yanked so hard that even Mitchell couldn't break free for a while due to the high torque drive and hydraulic system of the robot's two arms.

In battle, it ends in an instant.

The gun was brought close to his face and chest; a shot rang out, and blood gushed out.

A few seconds later, ring ring—

The sound of bells echoed throughout the villa.

The thunder, rain, and wind outside had stopped. Through the window, one could clearly see that the once dark sky had transformed into a massive, segmented holographic simulation screen, much like a formatted interface.

The training virtual battlefield control console broadcasts: [Exercise Ended]

"Restart".

At the same time, a clear and cheerful female voice was broadcast over the loudspeaker.

"Thank you for your hard work in the exercise, everyone."

As the woman's voice faded, the murdered hostages who had been lying dead on the ground got up, brushing the dust off their bodies. Then, the six armed men who had been 'killed' also got up.

"Next time you'll play a terrorist."

Someone patted their helmet and said this to the 'hostage'.

Someone stepped forward and helped up the fallen attacker, 'The Joker,' who was also lying dead at the door. 'You got what you deserved, Joker.'

"You're cheating."

He stood up, tidied his slightly messy hair, and shook his head.

"Increasing the difficulty? I thought it meant adding more people and traps, but they're using robots instead. Is this also a product of Atlas? Their combat reaction and intelligence are impressive..."

As he spoke, he looked at the three robots that had stopped attacking, and one of them even reached out and pulled Mitchell up.

The light strip with the 'Λ' arrow logo on their left shoulder armor also lit up at this time.

"Of course, this is the masterpiece of Director Vera Russell."

"The Atlas employee, who was playing the kidnapper, said with great enthusiasm."

"Mitchell, how are you feeling?"

In accordance with the operational regulations, Gideon, who had just chosen the most correct course of action after the failed mission, walked over with a smile and patted Mitchell on the shoulder.

"I didn't expect the increased difficulty to be from a robot, especially one with such a high level of completion. This is the first time I've ever fought against a robot..."

With a sigh, Mitchell looked at the three armed robots that were watching him with cameras and recorders.

"So, how about you write a reflection and hand it in to me?"

A woman's voice suddenly interrupts the conversation.

Thump, thump.

The sound of footsteps, chaotic due to the large group of people, could be heard.

Mitchell and Gideon looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall, beautiful woman with light blonde hair walking in, surrounded by a group of Atlas employees.

The mid-heeled ankle boots tapped gently on the carpet, making a rhythmic 'tap-tap' sound. Vera walked up to the three armed robots whose upper body paint was slightly scratched, and gently stroked the bumps on the armor shell with her slender fingers. She looked at the two bearded men with yellow and black beards in front of her.

The man with the yellow beard and rough features is Gideon.

With his dark beard, Mitchell's features appeared more delicate.

"Director Russell."

Mitchell followed Gideon's lead, bowing slightly as a sign of respect.

Regardless, Vera's promotion and efforts to make bionic prosthetics and artificial organ implantation surgery more affordable have saved countless lives and she deserves respect.

After nodding, Vera raised her perfectly arched eyebrows slightly and said to Gideon, "The same goes for you. Write me a long reflection on the exercise."

"Oh, please spare me this chore."

Gideon shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands in surrender.