The Hidden Basement

Chapter 15: The Hidden Basement

Drip.

Thick blood dripped down the slightly curved blade of the Nepalese Kukri, pooling on the ground. Six German Soldiers lay dead, their bodies forming a gruesome tableau from the rear of the truck to the surrounding area.

"Hoo~" Kyle exhaled, his heart still pounding with adrenaline. Blood surged through his veins, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

To prevent even a single German Soldier from sounding an alarm and alerting the enemy forces within the base.

During the five-second kill window, Kyle had pushed his robust physique and the Ability Cards for his combat skills to their absolute limit.

Kyle didn't dare to slack off. He quickly scanned his surroundings, ensuring no other German Soldiers had been alerted.

He wiped the Nepalese Kukri clean on a corpse's clothing, clearing the blood from the blade before sheathing it in the leather scabbard at his waist.

Next, Kyle moved the three soldier corpses that had fallen outside the truck into the rear cargo area. As he was moving them, the rescued girl peeked her head out from a wooden crate.

The blonde girl looked at the six corpses piled before her. The fear she had felt moments ago had vanished. Her gaze shifted to the unharmed Kyle, her large eyes filled with shock.

German Soldiers. Brave, well-equipped, and disciplined to a fault, they were regarded as killing machines by civilians.

Yet, these six formidable soldiers had all fallen to the young man's kukri in such a short time, without even a chance to call for help. If she hadn't witnessed it herself, who would have believed such an incredible feat?

"Um..." the girl mustered her courage and spoke softly to Kyle, "Thank you."

Kyle shrugged, panting, "It's too early to thank me. We're inside a large German Army base."

"Ah?" The girl blinked in surprise, clearly not grasping their current situation.

"No time to explain. Hide here, stay quiet, and I'll come back to get you out."

With that, Kyle swiftly left the cargo area and closed the rear metal door.

While it wasn't ideal to leave a delicate young woman with six corpses, he couldn't afford to worry about that now.

He had wasted some time infiltrating the base, and only about twenty minutes remained until the planned assault time.

Once that time arrived, even if their unit hadn't initiated their action, the other four units would attack four other enemy camps. At that point, this large base would be alerted, rendering the so-called surprise attack meaningless.

"Stealth activated."

Kyle, holding his kukri, entered Stealth and activated his Nightcrawler state, then crept towards the buildings within the base.

Thump-thump-thump—

He sprinted past in the shadows, about five meters away from a patrol team, yet not a single soldier noticed him.

The base had lighting and patrol teams at regular intervals. However, as long as it wasn't brightly lit and completely overrun with soldiers, leaving room for the darkness of night, Kyle could move through the base silently and unimpeded.

In the darkness, by accurately judging the distances of his surroundings, Stealth could achieve an effect far superior to invisibility.

Kyle continued his stealthy approach, soon stopping at a corner in front of a wooden building.

What set this building apart from the others was that the patrol teams in the vicinity were more than twice as numerous, and a soldier stood guard at the entrance.

"Is this an officer's quarters? Or the command center?" Kyle wondered, noticing the door wasn't locked but slightly ajar.

If he could neutralize the base commander first, his solo infiltration plan would be half successful.

The problem was how to infiltrate the building ahead.

Kyle frowned, then suddenly remembered something, a smile appearing on his lips.

In front of the large building.

The guard stood like a tall poplar tree beside the entrance, motionless, holding his rifle with high vigilance, scanning his surroundings.

Even within their own base, he maintained this posture. This was because the items stored inside the building were things the officers had repeatedly emphasized must not be neglected.

"Just one more hour on guard duty, and someone will relieve me," the guard thought. Suddenly, a dark creature descended from the sky, flapping its wings and crashing into his face.

"A bat?"

The guard was stunned and reached out to grab it. To his surprise, the bat was extremely aggressive, biting down on the corner of his eye and refusing to let go.

"Get off!" The guard, in pain, closed his eyes and stumbled backward against the door, angrily trying to swat the bat away with both hands.

During this brief lapse in security, a blurred figure had already swiftly passed him and crossed the threshold of the building.

"What's going on?!"

A patrol squad quickly arrived and asked what was happening. The guard, angrily flicking the crushed bat onto the ground, spat, "Bah, nothing. Just a bat."

Seeing this comical scene, the patrol squad exchanged confused glances.

The guard closed the building's door. In the darkness within, a clear human silhouette gradually emerged – it was Kyle, still in Stealth mode.

"Creature Cards are far more practical than I imagined," Kyle murmured to himself. It was just a white Creature Card, yet it had produced a remarkable effect in this situation.

This was also thanks to the Creature Card's inherent trait: obedience.

Creatures summoned from Creature Cards would obediently follow their master's commands, preventing many accidents and making them true 'creature' weapons.

"Alright, let me see what this place is used for."

Kyle's gaze fell upon the building's main hall. The moment he entered, he knew it wasn't a command center or quarters.

The layout resembled a supply warehouse. Inside the spacious building, rows upon rows of shelves were densely packed, with boxes of all shapes and sizes piled together.

Without opening the crates to check, as Kyle's focus intensified, a series of extractable Item Card messages appeared on each one.

[German Rifle], [Rifle Ammunition], [Anti-Infantry Mine], [Dynamite Grenade]...

An armory?

Kyle's eyes lit up. This was much higher priority than the command center.

After all, finding the command center only threatened the commander's life, but finding this meant holding the lifeline of this large base in his hands.

Kyle walked further into the building, extracting some munitions into cards at a rate of once every three seconds.

He continued until he reached the very back of the building, suddenly stopping and crouching down. He tapped the floor with his finger, and a subtle hollow sound of 'thump, thump, thump' echoed.

Wow, there's a hidden basement beneath this armory?

Kyle smiled slightly. Such a small trick couldn't fool him. He quickly found the floor panel that opened to the basement and went down the stairs. However, the basement, which he expected to be completely dark, was faintly illuminated by a mysterious blue light.

Upon fully entering the basement, the first thing that met Kyle's eyes was an entire crate of block-shaped Blue Light Energy Cubes. Exposed to the air, one could clearly feel the immense energy contained within them.