While David was talking with Myron, part of his attention was on controlling the Shadow Servant. At the same time, he began walking toward the passage entrance as if without thinking.
The Shadow Servant could only move ten meters away from him, so he had to get closer before he could do what he wanted.
Sergeant Emery watched David and Myron talk as they looked around, standing off to the side without saying a word.
As long as David and Myron did nothing out of line, he wouldn't stop them. He might be stern, but he knew these two weren't ordinary students.
David stopped moving. Meanwhile, inside the passage, the Shadow Servant had entered an operations room whose door had been left open.
Sergeant Harold hadn't shut anything down when he left, so David didn't need to do much searching.
The Shadow Servant grabbed the Control Instrument with one hand and made some adjustments. The target appeared on the screen in the middle of the room.
The Shadow Servant quickly entered the coordinates David had prepared in advance. Then a Long-Range Sniper Cannon on the city wall let out a harsh mechanical grinding sound. Its massive barrel swung around toward the city.
At the same time, the Identity Bracelet on Sergeant Harold's wrist sounded an alarm as he sat on the toilet. The Long-Range Sniper Cannon under his supervision was aiming into a protected area.
Sergeant Harold rushed out of the bathroom with his pants half on, not even wiping himself, and ran toward the operations room.
He wasn't an Armored Warrior, but years of training had given him a strength of seven hundred kilograms, and he was fast. Even so, it would take him five seconds to reach the operations room at top speed.
On the screen, Steer Hotel now filled the display. As the Shadow Servant worked the controls with both hands, the image steadily zoomed in, locking onto the executive office at the top of the building.
However, the office windows were made of reflective material, so the Long-Range Sniper Cannon couldn't accurately lock onto Mr. Steer inside.
A program in the Security Optical Computer on the first floor of Steer Hotel started up automatically, activating the Security Surveillance Scanners in the executive office.
Under normal circumstances, these Security Surveillance Scanners were activated only after Mr. Steer left his office.
But under the Security Optical Computer's control, several Security Surveillance Scanners in the executive office began operating. Using Steer Hotel's floor plans, the Security Optical Computer calculated Mr. Steer's exact location within the vast office.
The data was transmitted to David's Identity Bracelet. While chatting with Myron, David glanced at it.
Meanwhile, in the operations room, the Shadow Servant quickly adjusted the Long-Range Sniper Cannon's aim and pressed the firing control.
At that very moment, Sergeant Harold burst into the operations room under Sergeant Emery's furious gaze.
Sergeant Emery was furious because Sergeant Harold had come running with his pants half on. Both visiting students had seen the whole thing, bringing shame on the entire City Defense Brigade.
As for the Long-Range Sniper Cannon's strange behavior, Sergeant Emery paid it little attention. Snipers often did inexplicable things; one more incident was nothing unusual.
In the executive office at Steer Hotel, Mr. Steer was reading some documents. He picked up the glass beside him, but just as he was about to drink, he suddenly felt a chill of foreboding.
If he'd been a combat professional, he would have known that the God of Death had him in his sights.
But despite his formidable business skills, he was still an ordinary man. Perhaps he was mentally different from most people; otherwise, how could he have sensed the danger?
He looked out the window and saw a flash of fire in the distance, toward the city walls.
On the wall, Sergeant Emery, David, and Myron were knocked off balance by the sudden, deafening blast. Almost on instinct, Sergeant Emery pressed the other two to the ground, holding them in place.
David had experienced the recoil of a Sniper Armored Warrior's professional Sniper Rifle in an Illusion, but the Long-Range Sniper Cannon used for city defense had far more recoil.
He clearly felt the steel city wall tremble beneath him. Though he'd been prepared, he didn't dare show any reaction—and the blast had genuinely startled him—so he reacted much like Myron.
"Has Sergeant Harold gone crazy?" Sergeant Emery roared. He tapped his Identity Bracelet several times, and an alarm began to sound.
As David and Myron got to their feet, two Armored Warriors in white military-issue Exoskeleton Armor appeared on the wall. One of them entered the operations room and brought Sergeant Harold out.
David watched Sergeant Harold with guilt. It looked like the sergeant was going to take the blame for this.
David had looked into the military before and knew that soldiers in white uniforms were Military Police. They maintained order within the military and investigated misconduct, with the authority to detain soldiers who broke regulations, conduct searches, and seal off areas. During wartime, they were responsible for maintaining discipline and order on the battlefield.
Panshi Planet had been under wartime conditions for as long as anyone could remember. These two Military Police Armored Warriors had the authority to arrest any soldier. Of course, arresting an officer required appropriate evidence.
Sergeant Harold was also bewildered. He couldn't understand why the Long-Range Sniper Cannon had fired on its own.
But he knew he was in serious trouble. When he'd left the operations room, he hadn't revoked the operating permissions as regulations required.
That meant anyone who entered the operations room could operate the Long-Range Sniper Cannon and fire it at will.
"It was them! They did it! I was in the bathroom just now, and they were the only ones here!" Sergeant Harold exclaimed when he saw Sergeant Emery, David, and Myron.
"Sergeant Emery, who are they? Why are they here?" one of the Military Police Armored Warriors asked in a stern voice, turning to face him.
"Reporting in: These two are students visiting at the city government's request. They have a written application and Lieutenant Eaton's approval. Please check." Sergeant Emery saluted, then pulled up a document on his Identity Bracelet and sent it to the Military Police Armored Warrior.
The Military Police Armored Warrior opened the document on his own Identity Bracelet and examined it carefully, then used his access privileges to check the relevant records.
"Their credentials are in order." The Military Police Armored Warrior nodded. He didn't ask whether the three had entered the operations room. There were surveillance systems everywhere, and the two Military Police Armored Warriors had arrived so quickly partly because of Sergeant Emery's alarm and partly because of those systems.
"Officers, they were the only ones here when I left. It had to be them!" Sergeant Harold continued to protest.
David heard Sergeant Harold insist that they were responsible. It was true, but the sergeant's attitude eased some of David's guilt.
He'd originally planned to use his connections to reduce Sergeant Harold's punishment. After all, David had dragged him into this. But now he'd changed his mind.
Perhaps this accident would help the City Defense Brigade tighten its discipline. Sergeant Harold was at fault. With such a lax attitude, a serious incident was bound to happen someday, even if it hadn't happened today.
The two Military Police Armored Warriors ignored Sergeant Harold's shouts. They took out a pair of handcuffs, cuffed him, and led him away from the wall.
"Gentlemen, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about what happened today. It was just an accident." Sergeant Emery asked David and Myron somewhat awkwardly.
"Of course. We didn't see a thing," Myron replied at once.
It was best to stay as far away from military affairs as possible, especially since he had so many questions about what had happened.
"Thank you. That's the end of today's visit. I'll escort you out." Sergeant Emery gestured for them to follow him.
They knew there was no way they could stay on the wall after an incident like this, so they followed Sergeant Emery toward the elevator they'd used to come up.
In fact, Sergeant Emery's hope of keeping the accident quiet was bound to fail. Its impact was far greater than that of an ordinary mishap.
In the mysterious attack, Mr. Steer, the owner of Steer Hotel, was struck by a large Level One Warhead fired from a Long-Range Sniper Cannon. His body was blown to pieces on the spot, leaving nothing intact.
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