An unexpected haul

Counting the two high-explosive rounds he had used earlier to adjust his aim.

Amber had hammered this squad of fewer than twenty Empire infantrymen creeping through the woods with eight rounds in one go.

That amount of firepower was complete overkill for an infantry unit of fewer than twenty men.

But honestly, Amber had even less confidence in the Mobile Infantry under his command.

He would rather fire a few extra shells than see his unit suffer more wounded or even dead.

And those eight 120 mm high-explosive rounds had certainly delivered.

With the fire-control terminal doing the calculations and Amber correcting their aim from the front.

Aside from Team B missing with its first ranging shot.

The remaining seven mortar shells had all landed precisely on their designated targets.

The blast radii of the high-explosive shells had perfectly covered the Empire infantry squad's combat search formation.

With all those digital terminals supporting them, even these ordinary soldiers Amber had "picked up" along the way.

Could fire their mortars as accurately as veterans.

Of course, veterans still completely outclassed them in combat awareness.

It was just that, with this equipment helping them, ordinary soldiers could narrow that gap considerably.

But everything had two sides.

Digital terminals and squad- and platoon-level data links had indeed dramatically improved the combat effectiveness of ordinary infantry.

Exoskeleton equipment and smart weapons had also raised the baseline combat capability of every soldier.

Yet those very information-support systems had also become a vulnerability to exploit.

Electronic warfare was gradually filtering down from the strategic and tactical levels of large formations to the most basic level of infantry combat.

Clashes between squads now involved not only "enthusiastic exchanges of gunfire," but also this bloodless form of combat.

Whoever gained the advantage in electronic warfare could seize the initiative in battle.

Just like the Empire squad in front of Amber.

They had been unlucky enough to run into Amber, an old hand at electronic warfare.

More unfortunately still, Amber also had a VHF reconnaissance and jamming vehicle under his command.

Obviously, vehicle-mounted equipment offered far greater jamming power and much stronger electronic-warfare viruses than individual equipment.

After the last two shells landed and exploded.

The Mobile Infantry on the "line of departure" charged to the sound of a "simulated assault whistle" in their headsets.

The eighteen soldiers in those two squads were all the dedicated Mobile Infantry this convoy had.

But the indirect-fire team's bombardment might have worked a little too well.

When the Mobile Infantry advanced in combat formation and pushed through the smoke near the shell impacts.

All they saw were Empire soldiers lying scattered across the ground.

Even so, the Mobile Infantry had taken Amber's words to heart.

After all, Amber was not only a Psychic Agent, but also the man who had saved them from a "hopeless situation."

They did not bother checking whether the Empire soldiers on the ground were completely dead. Whenever they spotted one, they fired a burst into him first.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

After the Mobile Infantry finished putting extra rounds into the last Empire soldier on the ground.

Amber heard their reports over the comms channel.

He lowered the Ghost sniper rifle he had braced for firing and disengaged his Optical Cloaking.

Amber jumped down from the tree, then walked toward the battlefield.

"Sir, Amber, come take a look! These Empire soldiers seem different from the ones we ran into before!"

The slightly astonished calls from the Mobile Infantry over the comms channel made Amber purse his lips.

Garrison troops on frontier agricultural planets really did get worked up over nothing.

They were just some Empire Orbital Paratroopers. What could be so different about them?

But when he drew closer and saw the Empire soldiers whose chests had been shot full of holes.

He discovered that they really were different from ordinary Empire soldiers.

"Is this exoskeleton the Recurve Blade Type 4?"

"Going by the timeline, shouldn't this thing still be awaiting deployment?"

Amber circled one of the bodies. Its exoskeleton carried a dedicated command antenna.

He was most likely the commander of this Empire infantry squad.

After carefully examining the equipment on the body.

He discovered that these Empire soldiers not only had more advanced exoskeletons than ordinary Orbital Paratroopers.

Their weapons also belonged to a new-generation weapon family that the Empire had yet to officially deploy and that should still have been on the testing grounds.

Sensing something was off, Amber sent the Mobile Infantry around him away.

Once he saw them clearing the battlefield and assigning men to stand guard.

Amber crouched beside the body and felt around its neck for a while.

Then he sharply pulled off a "dog tag."

A "dog tag" was simply the military identification tag soldiers wore around their necks.

The one in Amber's hand was a standard New Dragon Empire military identification tag.

He turned it over to the side bearing the printed information and saw the owner's name on the first line:

Herbert Lawrence.

"Wait, that name?!"

Amber's eyelid twitched involuntarily when he saw the name.

But he continued reading the information line by line.

The second line was the service number, while the third listed the Empire social security number and blood type.

The fourth line held what Amber was looking for: the branch of service.

"Empire Army."

By this point, Amber was essentially certain of the body's identity.

Unless this was someone with the same name, this Empire soldier was a very important figure.

Herbert Lawrence.

Commander of the Mongoose special operations platoon, under the Special Operations Center of the Star Dragon Empire's Central Intelligence Directorate.

In Amber's memories, this man was closely connected to something capable of overturning the world order.

"How did I end up killing this guy...?"

Of course, strictly speaking, Captain Lawrence had not been killed by Amber.

He had lost consciousness after a 120 mm mortar shell exploded nearby.

Then an ordinary Federation Mobile Infantry soldier had killed him while clearing the battlefield.

Amber frowned as he thought it over carefully.

Mongoose showing up on Robert IV at this point... could it have something to do with that "thing"?

The timing seems to line up, too!

At that thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He immediately ordered the Mobile Infantry to stop clearing the battlefield and return to the convoy at once.

The soldiers of the Mongoose platoon carried no supplies, and the Federation and Empire did not use compatible ammunition or battery packs.

As the Mobile Infantry put away their weapons and began withdrawing toward the convoy's hiding place.

Amber also removed Lawrence's Tactical Visor and the individual terminal on his arm.

After all, the thoughts that had just flashed through his mind were only conjecture.

But if he could access the information in the Tactical Visor's built-in storage module and the individual terminal.

He might be able to confirm his theory.

After stowing those two "spoils," Amber immediately broke into a run toward the convoy.

He was so fast that he overtook the jogging Mobile Infantry outright and soon left them far behind.

Leaving the bewildered soldiers with only a dashing view of his retreating back.

"Why's Amber running so fast?"

"No idea. Maybe he needs to pee after crouching in that tree for so long?"

"Probably."