Don't Come Back!

A soldier stared at the screen and cried out in disbelief, "Brigadier General Kagel, the missile silos have opened automatically."

"What did you say?"

A chill ran through Brigadier General Kagel's heart, freezing his limbs. The lofty ambition he had felt after issuing his orders, the spark in his heart that had wanted to compete with Slade, was extinguished in an instant.

There were seventeen missiles in the silos, five of which were kept ready for launch at all times. In other words, five missile warheads with yields of thirty tons, seventy tons, three hundred tons, six thousand tons, and ten thousand tons were now beyond their control.

To put it simply, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, had a yield of roughly thirteen thousand tons of TNT.

Five missiles loaded with conventional explosives totaling roughly sixteen thousand tons of TNT equivalent could create an even more horrifying disaster than Hiroshima. They could utterly destroy this military base of over ten thousand people—destroy it completely.

"The Underground Research Institute's surveillance feed has been cut off."

"The missile silo control program isn't responding..."

"Multiple BGM-109G Tomahawk ground-launched cruise missiles, MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles, short-range missiles, medium-range missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, and surface-to-air missiles—their control programs aren't responding."

"Some vehicle-mounted network-controlled missiles aren't responding either..."

Brigadier General Kagel's pupils dilated. At this moment, no amount of intelligence was of use. A cold surge shot up his spine into his head, and his entire body stiffened.

The missiles in the silos, combined with the vehicle-mounted missiles—every missile that could be controlled through an electronic network had been completely stripped from their control. If the missiles here exploded, they could level the entire military base.

"Brigadier General Kagel, someone hacked into our control system from inside."

A soldier shouted, already beginning to scream in panic. They hammered at their keyboards, yet could not control anything.

Even the soles of Brigadier General Kagel's feet were sweating inside his boots. He cried out in horror, "Can we take back control?"

"There's no way. They left no trace at all. We can't even find any evidence of them. Their computer skills are beyond anyone alive today—we can't do a thing!"

A computer specialist shouted in disbelief. This was less like a crushing defeat in computing and more like a supernatural event. He could not find a single trace.

Brigadier General Kagel's expression was ugly. His hands clenched tightly into fists, his palms drenched in sweat.

This was despair. Utter helplessness.

He suddenly thought of Slade's death. Had Slade also faced this kind of despair? This crushing despair?

Could any egg remain intact beneath an overturned nest? At this moment, every plan to lure Ba Di out, sweep the area with firepower, and remain as steady as a rock was useless. Once the missiles launched, it would all be over.

"Cut off all electricity! Shut down the generators! Stop the missile silos from launching!"

Brigadier General Kagel's eyes bulged in terror, blood vessels surfacing in the whites. On the verge of a breakdown, he roared as though doing so could give him even a shred of courage.

After all, computers only ran on electricity. Without power, they were rootless duckweed.

His shattered mind trembled with the thought.

Soon, the machines in the command room gave a humming, mournful whine, and the lights gradually dimmed. The soldiers and Brigadier General Kagel felt a burst of relief, mixed inexplicably with panic.

In the darkness, every soldier looked at one another, deeply uneasy.

The power of missiles with a sixteen-thousand-ton yield had already been demonstrated during World War II, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No one could look upon such world-destroying weapons without fear.

Despite the power outage, Brigadier General Kagel did not relax in the slightest. His heart remained tightly clenched, and breathing became difficult. He had to suck in great lungfuls of air.

Would this method really work? No.

Suddenly.

The lights overhead began clicking on one after another. The mechanical hum of the computers started up again, while loading programs appeared on the screens.

Every critical location had backup power: the missile silos did, the Underground Research Institute did, and the surface military base did as well. To prevent one location from being damaged or attacked, each could also be powered by either of the other two.

This restoration came from Ba Di using the Underground Research Institute's power supply.

The returning light did not brighten anyone's heart. Instead, it illuminated the bewildered, helpless faces of every soldier staring at one another.

Brigadier General Kagel's face turned deathly pale, and his body began trembling uncontrollably.

Suddenly.

A rumbling tremor came from beneath their feet. Fine dust shook loose from the ground, bouncing in the air.

Everyone sensed that something was wrong with the ground, as though some primordial beast were about to burst from beneath the earth.

"What's happening?"

"An earthquake?"

"It's... it's..."

"The missile has launched!"

A soldier stammered so badly he could barely speak.

At the missile silos.

A thirty-ton-yield missile roared as it blasted out scorching tail flames, shaking the air as it surged skyward from the silo.

The soldiers surrounding the Laboratory Building on the ground all looked toward the missile shooting into the sky, their eyes somewhat dazed.

The thunderous noise ringing in their ears left each of them unable to help wondering.

What kind of enemy required a missile to be launched from a silo?

Had an enemy army arrived? Brigadier General Kagel's face went white, dense beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead before streaming down again.

His legs went weak as he staggered out through the command room's door, just in time to see the ten-meter-long, thirty-ton-yield Patriot IV Ballistic Missile rising with a thunderous roar and blazing tail flames.

Those scorching flames seemed to burn him through the sun itself, drenching his face in sweat.

A crowd of soldiers poured out behind Brigadier General Kagel. There was no point staying inside. Ba Di had cut off their communications and computer controls. Now, there was nothing they could do.

"That's a Patriot IV Ballistic Missile."

A soldier named the missile.

"So it's a ballistic missile!"

Some soldiers were relieved that it was a ballistic missile. The soldiers, including Brigadier General Kagel, all let out a slight breath of relief. At least it was not immediately exploding above their heads.

A ballistic missile was a missile that flew according to a predetermined program under rocket-engine thrust, then continued along a free parabolic trajectory after the engine shut down.

In other words, the missile would keep flying in one direction.

As for where it would fly before falling and exploding, they could tell from its direction, but there was nothing they could do.

Though relieved that their own lives were not in immediate danger, they fell silent again. They did not know where the missile would land and explode, but wherever it was, they were probably finished.

"Amen..." A religious soldier made the sign of the cross over his chest, praying for the lives about to be lost.

A silent, mournful atmosphere of grief for those lives settled over them.

Quietly and wordlessly, they could do nothing even as lives were about to be lost. Tears welled in the eyes of some of the hardened men.

The atmosphere did not last long before it was shattered.

"What's wrong with that missile?!"

A soldier suddenly cried out.

The ballistic missile made an enormous turn in the clear blue sky, gradually altering its forward trajectory. It left a great white circle in the pristine sky as it headed back toward the military base.

The soldiers were terrified. The tears in their eyes flew away, and all mourning vanished, leaving only dumbfounded panic.

How was this possible?!

That missile was not flying according to common sense! Why was it turning?

Why would it make such a huge turn? Why was it coming back? "What's going on?!"

"Ballistic missiles don't have any programmed flight path like this."

"How could it turn?"

"This is impossible!!"

The soldiers were terrified out of their minds. They did not want the missile to fly somewhere else, but they wanted it to fly back even less!

Better for others to die than themselves.

They had only just mourned so sorrowfully for others. Don't fly back!

"It's over." Sweat truly poured down Brigadier General Kagel like rain.

Under the terrified, frozen gazes of more than ten thousand people looking up with mouths agape, the Patriot IV Ballistic Missile came hurtling back and plunged straight into a seven-story soldiers' dormitory building.

It pierced through the rooftop and embedded itself in the walls.

For an instant, heaven and earth seemed to fall silent and freeze.