Confederacy Resistance Army

At first, only sparse gunfire could be heard in the restaurant. The people of Taradorn did not have the custom of setting off fireworks at this time of year; it sounded like police officers from the New Canaan settlement were arresting a vicious criminal, or two local nobles were exchanging gunshots in an attempt to emulate ancient chivalry.

The gunshots sounded quite far away, so faint that they were almost inaudible amidst the powerful melodies of the restaurant band's cello and the sounds of people talking.

Even if someone noticed the gunshots, they didn't pay much attention. Since New Canaan became the most prosperous metropolitan city on Tyrador IX, shootings have been a constant occurrence.

Some desperate or hopeless contract workers have resorted to desperate measures, attempting to rob a spaceship at gunpoint to escape this miserable world. Gang warfare between local criminal organizations and dockworkers is also a reason for the high crime rate and number of shootings in New Canaan.

Everything continued as usual. As Augustus and the others listened intently, the restaurant staff served them local Taradorn dishes as usual, including some golden-brown, crispy Taradorn free-range chicken, narwhal skin, and a vegetable salad.

"It was gunshots," Sarah Kerrigan the first to point out the crux of the problem.

"This is probably the last thing I want to hear right now." Raynor casually placed his hand on the Colt military revolver under his black windproof military coat, while the other Revolutionary Army guards did the same.

Their years of experience fighting on the battlefield have instilled in them a habit of always being highly vigilant. Even in the most comfortable environment, Confederacy assassins could potentially assassinate the Revolutionary Army's supreme leader.

"I didn't authorize any raids against the local militias. Have our men been discovered?" Augustus, frowning. By then, he could hear car horns and women screaming. The gunfire quickly intensified, even drowning out the music.

"They shouldn't be one of ours." Faraday stood up and walked to Augustus's side, blocking the marshal from the glass display case next to them.

"They might be pirates," Augustus speculated.

"Incredible. Not only is this located in the heart of New Canaan, but..." He looked out the window at the headquarters of the Tyrador Knights.

"Have they forgotten that this is also the territory of the Tyrador Knights?"

"How pathetic," Raynor uttered a phrase Tychus Finley often used.

The people in the restaurant tensed up, and the band's performance abruptly stopped after a pause. The patrons were mostly upper-middle-class residents of New Canaan and tourists from other planets; their composure lasted only a short time, especially after they couldn't get through to the New Canaan Police Department's communication channel.

At that moment, everyone could clearly hear the screams and gunshots outside getting closer and closer.

When the first person in the restaurant started screaming and rushed out the door, the urge to flee was already inevitable.

"Sarah, your telepathic abilities can sense who fired the shots? They should have already entered the detection range of your Psionics abilities to their limit." Even when almost everyone in the restaurant had run away, Augustus remained as calm as a rock.

"My intuition tells me that it's probably the same group of people who fired the shots." Kerrigan pressed a hand to her temple, seemingly throbbing with a headache because of the surface-level fear and panic among the people on the street outside.

"I can only sense their superficial thinking. There are probably four or five of them, their minds filled with hatred for the Old Families of the Terran Confederacy." She rested her left elbow on the table, her expression pained. "These people come from a resistance organization outside the department."

Kerrigan will need at least a few more years to control her overly powerful Psionics abilities. As she reads the minds of so many people, the surface thoughts of humanity inevitably seep into her brain. And these surface thoughts usually stem from humanity's most primal and sordid emotions and their most intense outbursts in a fleeting moment.

For a long time, high-level Psionics were troubled by this powerful telepathic ability.

Younger, higher-level Psionics often hear "non-existent voices" because they cannot control this ability, exhibiting mysterious and unpredictable "divinity." This is also a contributing factor to the prevalence of voodoo sects and religious fanaticism in the Confederacy Alliance's colonized world.

Generally, joining a Psionics program is the best choice for advanced Psionics, because such people are destined to be extraordinary.

"They are assassinating a descendant of the Old Families who had been hiding in a space station in geosynchronous orbit around Taradorn."

"He's one of the Sons of Korhal," Raynor said in disbelief.

"No, that's impossible," Augustus said firmly. "The Sons of Korhal would never slaughter civilians without cause."

"They're not one of ours; they're most likely from another Confederacy resistance organization," Kerrigan said, rubbing her forehead. "Their organization is called the Confederacy Resistance Army, and their leader is a man named Cliff Nadal. Beyond that, I don't know anything else for the time being."

In the vast territory of the Terran Confederacy, the Korhal have never been the only resistance forces daring to defy the Confederacy's tyranny. Some resistance forces have even earlier histories; for example, the Abran Rebels on Antiga Prime existed before 2480, and some resistance forces may have histories spanning a century.

These resistance forces varied widely in nature and organizational form. Some were even bandits or pirates who raised the banner of overthrowing the corrupt rule of the Confederacy and committed all sorts of evil deeds. The Freedom Revolutionary Army that Augustus encountered on the Turaxis II was a vivid example.

Other resistance groups were small, elite rebel organizations formed by some of the most cynical and righteous individuals in the Confederacy. Among the more famous were the mysterious Fist of Redemption and the Free Knights, which enjoyed a better reputation for taking in revolutionaries persecuted by the Confederacy.

As for the last type of the Confederacy Resistance Army, it is difficult to say whether they took up arms to rebel against the Confederacy or to vent their hatred of injustice and seek revenge on society. This type of resistance usually recruits a large number of poor people from the bottom of society and controls the thoughts of the organization members by spreading hatred or in a way that is close to religion.

This type of resistance forces would drive their members to assassinate members of the Old Families of the Confederacy and government officials through suicide attacks, achieving their goals through the most brutal means. After the end of the Guild Wars, more and more people who had lost their families joined these resistance forces, their sole aim being to witness the destruction of the Confederacy or to perish with it.

However, apart from the Korhal Revolutionary Army, which has already swept across multiple Confederacy star systems, the other Confederacy resistance forces all rose up on a single planet or even in a single city, and without exception, they were all swiftly and forcefully suppressed by the Confederacy army.

At this moment, compared to the calm and collected Revolutionary Army veterans, young Matt Horner Matt Horner was much more nervous. He had rarely experienced such a dangerous moment in his life: a group of armed terrorists who hated the Confederacy were committing a bloody massacre in the streets, and he was surrounded by rebels.

"Ah~ Little Ma~" Mira Han, who was sitting opposite Matt Horner, noticed his nervousness—in fact, her gaze had been fixed on the evasive Matt Horner ever since the beginning.

Even the gunshots outside couldn't make Mira take her eyes off Matt Horner's face. If Mira Han was a playful and elegant cat, the worst-case scenario was that she had probably just been given catnip.

"Don't worry, they can't hurt my beloved pony!" Mira said with an air of dominance. "I'll pry open every single one of their heads and hide behind me."

As this was the most bustling commercial district in New Canaan, the streets were still packed with people. The shooter was firing indiscriminately at the crowd, and screams and cries of agony filled the air.

"What are the local police and the Tyrador Knights doing?" Augustus had been staring intently at the headquarters of the Tyrador Knights across from the restaurant. He noticed that there had been no movement from across the street for several minutes since the shooting began. Not a single Knight of Taradorn had opened the castle gates to rescue the civilians who were being held at gunpoint.

It was as if all the knights were absent from the castle, with only servants guarding the vast fortress. In comparison, this group of rebels must have been insane to launch an attack in the vicinity, or perhaps they never intended to return alive.

Augustus had assumed the terrorist attack would be resolved quickly, but the inaction of local law enforcement and the military further diminished his understanding of the inadequacy of Confederacy agencies.

"Jimmy." Augustus expressionless and calmly pulled a C-30 electromagnetic pistol from under the hem of his long overcoat.

Raynor and Augustus have been partners for many years. Back on the Turaxis II, Raynor was Augustus's most trusted second-in-command, the undisputed second-in-command of the Heaven's Devils. In many battles fought side by side, their tacit understanding had long reached the point where they could understand each other's intentions with just a glance.

"Perhaps the city government of New Canaan should award me a Good Citizen Medal in recognition of my contributions to the city." Raynor stepped forward to the restaurant entrance, leaned against the glass door, and gripped the revolver engraved with the words given to him by Augustus Mengsk tightly in his hand.

On the street outside the restaurant, people were still running in the opposite direction from the shooting scene. Every now and then, well-dressed people would fall into pools of blood, including the elderly and children. The sound of gunfire grew closer, almost right in front of them.

Just then, a man wielding a Fermat-21 submachine gun and wearing a plaid casual shirt was chasing a young couple. He was wearing black goggles and walked silently and coldly past the restaurant's main entrance, unaware that Raynor was silently pulling the trigger on the plane beside him.

A bullet bearing the word "Justice" was fired from the chamber of the military Colt pistol. Raynor's marksmanship was excellent; he pierced the rebel's head with a single shot, and the rebel immediately collapsed to the ground like a stuffed sack of cotton.

Immediately afterward, another rebel carrying a submachine gun walked past the restaurant, Raynor swiftly and steadily decapitated him.

"Two more." At that moment, Sarah Kerrigan walked past Augustus and Matt Horner, tossing her long, fiery red hair tied in a ponytail as she spoke. She lifted her long skirt to reveal her fair, shapely thighs and drew a gleaming silver dagger from between her legs.

Just as Matt Horner Matt Horner, still reeling from his stare at Raynor, saw Sarah Kerrigan, with her striking red hair, walk out from the front of the restaurant.

Where Matt Horner couldn't see, Kerrigan weaved through the crowd like a fish in water, her steps precise and dance-like as she ran against the flow of traffic towards the two rebels who were firing wildly.

Kerrigan first used her mind control abilities to manipulate the body of a rebel, causing him to turn his gun and fire at his own thigh. Then, she used her telekinesis to deflect all the bullets aimed at her, and plunged a dagger into the rebel's chest amidst his terrified gaze.

In the past, Kerrigan was indeed Ghost operative who brought death, but now she rarely carries out assassination missions. Even so, Kerrigan remains the deadliest assassin in the entire Koprulu Sector.

By the time Kerrigan left, the police and the Tyrador Knights arrived late. They would certainly interrogate the surviving rebels thoroughly, but they would never believe that a red-haired woman had so easily taken down this group of terrorists.

"Where did you learn this skill?" Raynor teased her as Kerrigan walked back into the hall.

"Taldarim," Kerrigan replied simply and decisively.

"Well done," Augustus said to Kerrigan and Raynor.

"Jimmy, it seems your marksmanship has improved a lot while I haven't seen you."

"I'm already the Revolutionary Army's best marksman," Raynor laughed heartily. "Even snipers can't match my accuracy. I'm no longer the same Shiloh I was yesterday."

"I am Jim the sharpshooter, the savior of mankind."

"Let's go, we need to get out of here quickly," Augustus added. "Although we have the legal documents to possess these weapons, I don't want to be endlessly questioned by the Confederacy police."

"Come on, Matt Horner, we'll take you home first."

"I heard from you that they are also a rebels," Matt Horner asked Augustus, puzzled, as Augustus walked out of the restaurant and left.

Why did you do this?

"The reason is obvious," Raynor said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"They are firing at unarmed civilians."

"And we won't do that," Augustus said to Matt Horner.

"The Korhal Revolutionary Army is completely different from these so-called resistance forces. We uphold justice. We are the Preservers of the people, and our resistance is for all the people. We will never indiscriminately kill innocent people. This is the difference between us and the Confederacy and other resistance forces."

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