Cut Off from Supplies (Part 1)

The sunlight had already gone out.

One-Ear blinked, adjusting his vision, and advanced cautiously.

The bunker stretched underground, its central corridor running downward for over two hundred meters. Branches connected to smaller chambers, each sealed by a brand-new locked door.

"Boss, found anything?"

His foul-smelling adjutant had been muttering nonstop behind him.

Twenty Snotlings agents followed the two of them, clad in black clothes and black caps, their skin black as well. Even their weapons had been painted black, leaving only their cunning eyes flickering in the shadows.

"Less talk. Not yet."

One-Ear continued forward.

The team slowly made its way down the central corridor. One-Ear could hear only the faint sounds of battle outside.

The bosses had done well, drawing Shrimp's attention away, but they had only a short window to act.

"Third room on the right."

He suddenly spoke softly, pointing at a pair of sliding doors thirty meters ahead.

Two Snotlings from his team remained at the bunker entrance, hidden in the shadows and ready to deal with anyone who got in the way. One-Ear, his adjutant, and the other eighteen Snotlings entered the corridor.

One-Ear moved forward cautiously when he heard a faint hissing sound, like static from a machine.

He stopped and turned to ask:

"Did you hear that?"

His adjutant stared at him like an idiot.

"Hear what?"

"Nothing. I reckon I'm an idiot for even asking you."

One-Ear spat and kept moving.

Two minutes later, they reached the chamber, but it was locked and bolted, just like all the others.

"Stand back."

One-Ear ordered, pulling out a new weapon from his belt—a canister of some kind of sealed strong acid, capable of silently eating through solid metal doors.

But as he moved, he heard a dull thump, followed by a rush of stale