Chapter 295
Nana Nai didn't refute Ch'en Hui-chieh's obviously paraphrased statement, but... the flavor of the 'standard four-stage crisis response tactic' seemed even stronger in her words.
Where are we now?
Perhaps something is happening, but shouldn't we take action?
Don't be so Victoria...
With a sigh, Nana glanced at the equally worn-out gear of the Thunder Squad and sighed again.
"Provide support for the Starlight Team first... Typhon, I've scanned the entire area again. Have you spotted any enemies resembling 'Commander'? You know, the kind that's hiding somewhere neither too close nor too far, neither engaging in combat nor daring to leave?"
In response to Nana's question, the twin-tailed girl, who had set up the giant bow on the helicopter, glanced at the short-lived projection and then replied with slight difficulty.
[I don't know if those are... Anyway, just eliminate all of them, right?]
"Okay, let's do it."
PS: Waaaaaaah!
PSSS: I've actually accumulated a chapter of temporary work... I repent... I'm ignoring everyone else today, I'm determined to go all out on this.
9th Lungmen Seafood: 337 Minor Surgery
The black giant bow slowly tightened, the black bowstring constricting the space of reality... The violet-like girl gently pressed the trigger of the release mechanism with her fingers, the medium she used to connect the 'gun' and 'crossbow'.
Throughout the previous battles, Typhon had been keeping a close eye on everyone's fighting. Nana, marching upwards, was undoubtedly a sledgehammer that smashed everything in its path. The way that filthy, unnatural monsters were forced to leap out of windows or rooftops with nowhere to go was just like a doctor in the Medical Department cleaning and squeezing pus from a patient's wound.
He seemed extremely casual in choosing his targets, yet he found them after only a short search... Although others might not have investigated further, Typhon's thought that he could hit the bullseye simply by randomly searching suspicious locations was enough to send chills down his spine.
As the Starlight Team members descended to the top floor as 'anvils,' a simple pincer attack was inadvertently orchestrated. Typhon drew back the intangible bowstring, the bow arm and pulley, existing between the tangible and the intangible, making a deforming sound. Although the target was different from what he had fought in his dream, the battle in reality was ultimately more direct.
[Typhon, have you seen any enemies resembling a 'commander'? You mean those that lurk neither too close nor too far, neither engaging in combat nor venturing far away?]
As Medic's question came through the earpiece, the twin-tailed Sarkaz girl awkwardly puffed out her chest, which seemed to be undergoing a second growth spurt due to improved nutrition, and glanced at the spell scan image shared from the other party...
Because retinal projection displays the results directly in a three-dimensional form, Typhon knows that he, from the outside and looking down, is the one who sees things most clearly, unlike the Kitty Teacher who might be inside the building where most of the targets overlap.
His gaze swept across the group, pointing the massive bow and arrows at the suspected targets, Typhon said calmly:
"I don't know if those are... Anyway, should we just eliminate them all?"
[Okay, let's get started.]
No sooner had he finished speaking Typhon pulled the trigger of the release mechanism. Although he was holding a crossbow, the arrow emitted smoke as it left the bowstring, much like the muzzle flash of a city cannon.
Dark Thunder, carrying the Siegebreaker Lance, pierced the building from above, impaling and freezing the life forms highlighted in the field of vision, or annihilating them in the Warp along with the lightning attached by the girl... To guard against the possible superhuman resilience and adaptability, Typhon went all out with every attack, and the storm caused by the vibration of the bowstring even made the helicopter issue a turbulence warning.
"Miss Typhon?!"
"Sorry... I'll be more careful next time."
"There will be a next time?!"
Clearly, compared to the Rhodes Island pilots who were already used to their operators' outrageous maneuvers, the people from the Guard Bureau were more rigid. Fortunately, Typhon understood that using too much force was bad for the expensive vehicle beneath him, and the tremor of the next arrow leaving the bowstring was visibly less.
However, to the members of the reconnaissance team who were at a dangerous distance, Typhon's slight relaxation of force seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
The storm's giant arrow, carrying lightning, pierced through the building and reached the armor plating. The shattered cement and torn steel reminded people that the ground they were standing on was not the earth... but a man-made ship.
As it travels across the land, people should not only focus on the surface when cleaning it.
Fortunately, when talking about the lower levels, everyone will remember the order that Nana instructed at the beginning to block all links in the current block... Whether this order is necessary or not may not be clear now, but it was undoubtedly effective in the operation to discover and hunt down Seaborn.
Ch'en Hui-chieh, representing the Guard Bureau, watched from the outside as the monster's 'nest' was gradually cleared away. If at first it was just the blood staining their boots that made people lament the sheer number of monsters, then now that blood and chunks of flesh were mixed together like mud, bursting out of the windows from time to time, everyone finally understood the concept of the so-called war against Seaborn.
That seemed to make some self-proclaimed director cheer, saying that the audience would definitely love the mountain of corpses and sea of blood. Putting that aside, when Chen Huijie heard Nana say in the combat channel that the monster might be a civilian who had been transformed... Upon learning this, Ch'en Hui-chieh subconsciously connected the blood accumulating in the pit with Bai Xue, who had been sent to the hospital earlier.
[Lungmen must prepare for regional 'disinfection,' a piece of advice Aegir has given during his numerous wars with the Seaborn... and it's also based on experience.]
Recalling the warning from the tall woman on Rhodes Island, Ch'en Hui-chieh felt dizzy; she was still holding the resident list of the building in front of her.
Although its occupancy rate is not high due to the actions of certain gangs, the reason this place is called a slum has never been because it is home to many gangs who have to squat on the ground to eat.
The thought of the next order that had just been issued by the higher-ups at Lungmen made Ch'en Hui-chieh feel that it was simply asking the impossible...
His own uncle and his advisors, after confirming that the existence of Seaborn was not Rhodes Island's delusion, actually decided to relocate everyone in the slums... even drive them to the wilderness to facilitate subsequent extermination and even the use of the military.
The relocation was to prevent people from becoming food for the Seaborn; they were not settled in the city because the slums had countless unregistered the Infected from Lungmen.
Having witnessed Seaborn's appearance and his ability to transform the building before them into a nest, Ch'en Hui-chieh had no doubt about the correctness of the order. However, as a densely populated area and the Infected community, coupled with the instigation of gangs, the shantytown had always been unfriendly to the Guard Bureau.
Having failed several times in trying to establish a presence in the Guard Bureau Ch'en Hui-chieh knew better than anyone how weak Lungmen's control over the people in the shantytowns was. To violently impose coercive laws on a region already hostile to the authorities was itself a tearing apart of Lungmen. The damage caused by the wavering will of the area's population as part of Lungmen might already outweigh the damage caused by the current Seaborn disaster itself.
At that time, a large number of the Infected, undocumented workers, gang members, and countless ordinary people like Uncle Dong will die like garbage. What Ch'en Hui-chieh finds even more unacceptable is that, from her perspective, this order can even be considered 'correct'.
The word "earth" has become widespread because of its narrow scope.
Using this term to refer to the people in their own world is itself a narrow-minded perspective. Once people with different stances start to clash, there are few ways to resolve the issue quickly other than violent suppression.
Lungmen has long maintained a lenient attitude towards the slums... On the one hand, this is due to the official lenient management of the Ministry of Revenue, and on the other hand, it is because Lungmen has a large number of people like Ch'en Hui-chieh who, seeing their former compatriots become the Infected due to a mission or accident, are unwilling to be too harsh on them.
However... normally, it's one thing to avoid letting the Lungmen Guard Department manage the slums too deeply and allow them to remain in a state of near self-sufficiency, but if this area is infected with a poison called Seaborn, and there's a constant possibility of a cult instigating a conflict, then even if everyone knows that the people in this area won't die like that, being driven to the wilderness... at most, they'll be given a blanket, and several or even dozens of people will share a tent under the high walls, using the city's defensive cannons to avoid the threat of the wilderness. That's the best solution that can be thought of.
Will Lungmen allow them to return later?
What will happen to the homesick people whose buildings were damaged in the battle with Seaborn?
Ch'en Hui-chieh couldn't answer, but she knew that the simplest and most likely approach for Lungmen was to screen again based on the city's entry standards... At that time, neither the Ministry of Revenue nor the local residents would be able to find fault, and the city itself would usher in another wave of development because of the screening out of low-quality population.
But Ch'en Hui-chieh didn't want it to be like this... This wasn't the 'right' she wanted.
Her uncle had told her that what was right was indeed worth sticking to for a lifetime. But no one had ever told her how she should react if what was right wasn't right for everyone.
Was that a mistake? If not, why did it place different people's lives on opposite ends of the scale?
Looking at the ongoing war and thinking about the cleanup that has yet to begin... the helicopters were still circling overhead, but in the buildings where half of the supporting structure had been overturned and the buildings were already slightly tilted, the gunfire was no longer as dense and intense as it had been at the beginning.
Under the direction of Ch'en Hui-chieh and others, Fire Department and ambulance vehicles were parked in positions where they could rush in at any time. The lights of the work vehicles from the Guard Bureau, the Fire Department, and the Joint Medical Corps flashed red and blue across the entire street.
"Sir, someone's coming out!"
As a police officer called out, Ch'en Hui-chieh, perhaps distracted by exhaustion, gripped the hilt of her sword and looked into the distance. In the building, which was like a hellish abyss still churning out a sea of blood and pieces of flesh, appeared a figure whose original appearance was no longer recognizable.
After all, apart from Takina, the other two members of the Starlight Squad's uniforms are mainly white. Even their gear and bulletproof vests are made of urban snow camouflage... Don't ask why it's snow camouflage, because Mika said it matches her white dress better.
Okay, now there are no more white dresses. The pink-haired 'Sankta' with a miserable expression was greeted by the Fire Department brigade's water cannons as soon as she stepped out... Pale red blood dripped down the gold threads of her skirt in disinfectant solution prepared in advance and produced under the supervision of Rhodes Island.
Although everyone initially instinctively reached out to shield their faces from the bright light, the Starlight Team members quickly raised their hands, making it easier for the Fire Department to operate the water guns and wash off the Pollution meat scraps that were stuck to their bodies.
Compared to Starlight Team, whose bodies seemed to have turned pale red, Thunder Team, in their black uniforms, appeared to be in better shape...
But seeing Liskarm, its surface riddled with dents and slash marks from sharp weapons, and Franka's Thermite Sword, which could no longer be sheathed and hissed when touched with disinfectant... everyone finally gained a basic understanding of the intensity of the battle inside the room.
After all, many people saw that the team in black uniforms had brand new equipment when they went in... and now, the two of them were throwing their equipment into the uniform Pollution recycling bins in unison.
Last to pass through the disinfection channel were Nana and Jessica. The latter had now put away her bright red Halo and, wearing a skull-shaped bulletproof mask, she no longer needed to face the curious support staff.
As Nana's ears and short hair drooped down, sticking to her cheeks, even though the giant sword whose user was completely unaware of its workings had been returned to the Warp, all the Lungmen soldiers noticed the chilling aura hidden beneath the girl's fluffy exterior as the tiny Feline, who didn't even blink when disinfectant was sprayed on her.
The water dripping from the old Rhodes Island uniform with the armbands removed was spotless, as if she had simply taken a stroll around the battlefield after removing the Pollution from the soles of her shoes... But the black-haired girl was expressionless at this moment, with disinfectant dripping down her cheeks from her chin or simply running down her neck and into her collar.
The Fire Department responsible for disinfection were a little scared, but as Jessica next to Nana removed her bulletproof mask and helmet equipped with a recording device, letting the disinfectant spray all over her face, also wetting her cat ears and hair, she smiled and said to everyone:
"The officer is just thinking about something. You can continue with your mission... Nana- senpai, the disinfectant spray needs to be changed."
Hearing Jessica's reminder, Nana, who was still thinking about and summarizing the operation Jessica, glanced up at the side, nodded to the Fire Department from the Lungmen Fire Department, and then let Nana lead her forward.
"That green uniform... seems to be from the City Railway Corps. With them here, the area can be sealed off. I wonder how long the disinfection process will take..."
"I don't know, but it'll definitely be a lot of work to clean up..."
"Nana, you don't seem very happy. Didn't we wipe out the entire building's targets?"
"... But, until the very end, their pattern of behavior never changed again."
As Nana spoke, she nodded to Typhon and his two companions who were boarding the plane and leaving in the distance. Because the weapons might be Pollution, Typhon followed Nana's orders and did not use magic to retrieve the expensive siege arrows... The retrieval work would be handed over to Lungmen, and the arrows would be returned to Typhon after disinfection.
Before Lungmen clears this area, Typhon's only usable weapon will probably be the TAC50... Nana recalls the current price of that ammunition as she thinks about the sniper rifle... She feels a bit unsure whether ordering a new batch of siege crossbow bolts would be more cost-effective.
"Commander... members suspected to be from the church may still be alive. What we cleared this time was just a place that resembled a 'food warehouse'... The good news is that Seaborn's breeding methods are very scientific. Losing an entire building of biomass will definitely be a major blow to their expansion plans... But the problem is, we don't know how many similar buildings they have."
After rinsing and disinfecting, Nana tugged at her collar, waved to the staff assisting with the disinfection along with Jessica, and then walked over to Ch'en and Nana, Hoshiguma were talking to each other.
After the female police superintendents finished discussing work matters with their colleagues, Nana looked at the dimly lit sky and the bloodshot faces of everyone, including the idols and children who were yawning constantly, and sighed... She ran a hand through her soaked hair.
"... Alright, everyone, upload the combat recorder footage to command center... We need to rest now. Let's have a meeting after everyone has woken up and we've gathered the intelligence with Texas and the others."
PS: Waaaaaaah!
PSS: Side abdominal pain, heart pain, even breathing hurts... I looked in the mirror and realized I have severely malfunctioning double eyelids... So today is another day of ignoring it... Unbelievable... Should I just get it fixed in June...?
9th Lungmen Seafood: 338 Nana & Jessica's Break Time
It must be said that although the Emperor looked as weak as an ordinary penguin in front of Nana, which made him lose face, his taste in purchasing safe houses was truly impeccable.
The ground floor has a direct pedestrian passage connecting the maintenance floor and the subway. The first floor consists of ordinary-looking and indeed ordinary mixed-use commercial and residential storefronts. The second-floor residential doors, connected by the outer Fire Department escape, have signs that say "Rented," making it seem like the place is already occupied. However, behind those security doors is a facade of a dead wall.
The first and second floors are connected by a hidden staircase in the ceiling of the living space behind the facade. The space that truly serves as the Penguin Logistics safe house begins on the second floor, which uses a lot of pure wood.
With its disguised walls and hidden doors, the place seemed to have been specially decorated for some kind of spy game. The various mechanisms and disguises here made Nana feel like she had returned to the ICA's skill training ground.
Actually, in a way, this kind of room full of mechanisms is quite fun... If it were provided for Nana's private use, even though she's no longer young, Rhodes Island's black cat would still play here enthusiastically for several days.
However, if this place were to be used as an operational base for a full-strength action team, the one-meter-wide staircase extending down from the ceiling would be far too narrow for a dozen or so people.
After that, it seemed like the Thunder Squad and the Starlight Squad, now back home, were fighting over the bathroom and the kitchen... highlighting how they didn't consider themselves outsiders.
While there were instances like Penguin Squad's Kong and Rope, who returned to base bleary-eyed, flopped onto their beds, and immediately began snoring loudly, only to be patiently cared for by the speechless Croissant, who helped them undress and remove their shoes and socks... However, after expending most of Nana energy getting Jingzhe to take away that chattering white-haired Dragon Lady with the camera, Nana looked at the tablet in front of her with the battle log uploaded but the report blank. Killer Cat typed a few words on the wireless chocolate keyboard, then deleted them, repeating this process back and forth until finally clicking upload. Nana's report was just one sentence:
[While ensuring no area is overlooked in reconnaissance, we request Lungmen to release more advanced, lethal weaponry.]
"Senior... aren't you going to rest?"
The breaking news broadcast on the television in the distance, with the volume turned down, held little appeal for the people present. Compared to the various press releases and nonsensical news articles marked "Breaking News" and filled with headlines starting with "Shocking," the sweet hot chocolate drink in the hands of the black-haired Feline member with drooping ears was far more attractive.
"Even though it's a safe house, some precautions are still necessary... but Jessica's Thunder Team's rest time is long over..."
As she spoke, she glanced at the bathroom, where the chubby fox and the short Vouivre were still occasionally exchanging snippets of conversation as they fought over the bathtub, trying to get more space from each other... If possible, Nana hoped that the two of them would reduce the frequency of their teasing, and at least move to a place with better soundproofing and stop treating everyone like outsiders.
At least that way, the white-haired dragon girl over there, who was enthusiastically filming the 'daily life of same-sex Mercenaries partners' and making 'guhehe' sounds, will behave herself a bit.
Never mind, let's just pretend we didn't see it.
Thinking this, they accepted the hot drink Jessica offered. The two, equally soaking wet and Feline of disinfectant, wearing only close-fitting T-shirts, waited in the bathroom... Their clothes, a jumble of mess, awaited the washing machine's reminder to get them back to work after they had removed their gear.
From time to time, Mika and Typhon's groans could be heard from the kitchen cubicle as they struggled with the cans. Clearly, opening a non-open can intact with bare hands without destroying it was quite a challenge for the two of them.
Nana was very grateful for her foresight in giving Takina's team command, so that even if a pink-haired girl with the mentality of a fourteen-year-old wanted to rub against Nana and act cute, she would be dragged back to normal by the scruff of her neck by her long-haired black-haired owner... If only this mission could be carried out as normally as Takina's common sense.
"The bathroom's free now! Don't rush to blow-dry your hair, it's not that long anyway... Blow-dry the tail first..."
"How about just cutting it off? You're not some Syracuse Volper, and you don't seem to take much care of it... Besides, I got it first, so I should get it first."
"I can just use a dry towel to rub your hair, come on, help me with my tail first!"
"You can help me dry off, but covering my head completely makes it impossible for me to see your tail... Also, if you try to suffocate me with your chest fat again, I'm going to have to use force..."
"Hmm? Envious... Ah!?"
Seeing that even after the mission was over, some members of the reconnaissance team were so exhausted they collapsed and fell asleep, while these two still had the mood to flirt, Nana took a sip of her hot drink, stuck out her tongue slightly to cool off, and gestured towards the bathroom to the three members of the Starlight team who had finally opened their cans of food and were eating cat food rather than breakfast. The pink-haired girl was the first to grab a spoon and quickly shovel the food into her mouth, then rushed into the still steaming bathroom while taking off her clothes:
"I'm number one!"
"... Senior Mika, please rinse yourself off before getting into the bathtub!"
"Can I not go? I wasn't sprayed with disinfectant..."
"No way! Because I can't stop Mika- senpai from acting recklessly by myself!"
"Takina, you always talk like you could control her just by having me with you..."
Seemingly noticing the sighs of the two behind her, the pink-haired girl, who had already stripped naked, turned around, grabbed them, and darted into the bathroom with a bright smile:
"What are you talking about? Come on, let's take a bath!"
Even from several meters away, Nana could hear Takina's heavy sigh:
"Senior Mika, you should be more composed..."
"Hmm? Little Takina wants Mika- neechan to help you wash? No problem!"
"I have a problem... you'd better not touch me, it feels like I'll be skinned alive..."
"What's with calling someone a gorilla?"