On the night of March 23, at the UHC joint military base on the Front Line of the Black Flag Nation.
Soldiers from various countries gathered in groups of three or five inside the base barracks, chatting and laughing.
A surveillance matrix formed by drones densely covered the area around the base, remaining constantly vigilant.
Normally, front-line commanders would not have been so cautious. However, after several research experiments on Scarlet Terra, the UHC had discovered that parasites, whose brain neurons had been altered by spores, were extremely insensitive to fear.
This meant the parasites might use the power of the Rules to strike back against humanity. For that reason, the front-line commander had remained on the highest alert, deploying a large number of reconnaissance and defensive facilities around the joint military base.
"Next week, I can finally rotate back. Honestly, I can't believe it myself. I've been stuck in this godforsaken wilderness every day, and I'm actually starting to miss life in the shelter."
"Yeah. The shelter has food, drinks, and entertainment. It's way better than this shithole."
"I'm jealous. I still have another month before I can rotate back."
"Blame those fucking parasites. They keep burrowing into the deep mountains like rats and refusing to come out. Otherwise, with humanity's firepower, we'd have wiped them all out already!"
"I heard Suoloma has some terrifying war machines, something called 'Annihilators'... Why don't they send a few of those over?"
"I've heard those giant robots are incredibly destructive too, but they probably wouldn't be very useful in this kind of mountain terrain."
The soldiers chatted idly when a young soldier approached them with a grin. "Let me show you something interesting."
The soldiers did not recognize him and exchanged glances. One of them asked, "What is it?"
The young soldier