Rotation

Song Zhi was forcibly enlisted into the organization they had mentioned.

No one said anything more about K, so Song Zhi could only gather scraps of information about it in secret.

Lu Yu was the first person responsible for her, keeping her under close watch twenty-four hours a day, including when she ate, went to the bathroom, and slept at night.

The two of them were squeezed together on a narrow camp bed.

"I can't get away. We don't have to be this close..." Song Zhi kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling of the dim tent as she spoke helplessly. She was also testing the waters.

"This is my bed. I'm only taking you in temporarily, so know your place."

"...You're the ones who invited me to join your organization! Didn't you teach them the fine traditions of our country's armed forces? Treat captives and talented people well?"

"If you don't want to sleep, get out. I'm the first person responsible for you. The second is Kelante, the one who captured you. If you have a problem with me, I can hand you over to him. He's a second lieutenant, so perhaps he can treat you well."

Song Zhi glanced at Kelante on the next bed and simply shut up.

"Third in line is Wilk, a Rasv bear of a man. He's your type... and can deliver both quality and quantity."

"Uh..." Song Zhi was speechless.

Wilk winked at Song Zhi to show his friendliness, but his overly muscular body weighed so heavily on the camp bed that it looked ready to collapse.

"After him are Lieutenant Lai'en and Hill, the technician. Until you reach the base, our Task Force A is responsible for keeping watch over you. Once you get there, the organization will decide what to do with you."

"You're poking me..." Song Zhi shifted outward on her side.

"Tsk! That's a dagger!" Lu Yu's impatient voice came from behind her.

"Uh-huh! It's yours, so whatever you say."

Lu Yu was speechless.

Song Zhi yawned and gave a perfunctory response. She knew she was safe for now. They had no intention of doing anything to her... and someone was keeping watch at night, so she could sleep soundly through the night.

She hadn't slept through the night in a long time. She was exhausted! Her eyelids grew heavy, and she fell asleep.

The person watching her the next day was Kelante, an elegant, gentle Italian. Song Zhi showed her friendliness too. When Kelante brought her food, she gave him a friendly smile and said, "Thank you."

"Don't try to act friendly. The harder you try to display something, the more you lack it. Song, you aren't friendly. Friendly women don't survive on their own." Kelante spoke softly, sounding more like an academic mentor.

"Hill will collect and analyze all your data, then calculate an assessment score. So don't get clever and try to hide anything, okay?" Kelante gave Song Zhi a well-meant warning.

"Then what's my current assessment score?"

"Minus twenty. Danger rating: S-class." Kelante held nothing back.

"Is that a terrible score?"

"Not exactly, but among female targets, your danger rating is too high. Who taught you self-defense? Lu said it was the grappling technique used by East Asian special forces. Why didn't you leave with them?"

"She was a SWAT officer. She was going to take us back to the central region, where it was more stable than the border, but she died along the way..." Song Zhi spoke of the past in an ordinary tone.

Hill, silent at her side, detected no fluctuations in the data on his screen.

"Didn't you ever think of going back on your own?" Kelante raised his deep, gentle eyes to look at Song Zhi.

"I tried. At first, crowds were safe, but later, all the danger came from the crowds... Some people kept going, some died along the way, and I chose to turn back the way I came."

"You're very clever, and very cunning. A cunning rabbit. Enjoy your meal." Kelante took an apple from his pocket and placed it in front of Song Zhi.

It was fresh fruit. Apparently, that K organization had considerable power and ample supplies, which also meant the base had relatively civilized or orderly management.

Lu Yu hadn't lied to her, and Song Zhi's guard eased a little.

Could the K organization be safe?

That night, Kelante gave her half of his camp bed. Song Zhi thanked him, then lay down and went straight to sleep.

Lu Yu was directly opposite her. Lu Yu pursed their lips and teased, "The second lieutenant doesn't usually hide a dagger on himself when he sleeps, so you can rest easy."

"..." Song Zhi rolled her eyes in response.

Song Zhi didn't care about that. What worried her was tomorrow night. Given Wilk's size, he could flatten her just by rolling over. That would be terrible.

Fortunately, they broke camp and withdrew on the afternoon of the third day. Song Zhi was blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and shoved into Task Force A's armored vehicle. Sitting beside her was Wilk, the third person in line to watch her.

"You're crowding me..." Unable to see, Song Zhi could only look in roughly the right direction.

"That's Hill. I'm on your left." Wilk's voice sounded beside Song Zhi's ear.

Song Zhi was speechless.

"Make room. There's equipment beside me."

Hill's mechanical, icy voice came from her right, as if reminding Song Zhi just who was responsible for the cramped conditions!

The armored vehicle jolted Song Zhi from side to side, and she knocked her head against Wilk, hissing at the pain. But she said nothing more. They had blindfolded her because they didn't want her to see the route clearly. That so-called base had to be outside the country.

She'd really made something of herself—she'd actually gone abroad! Even if it was in another world's apocalypse.

"Keep moving through the night. Stay alert."

Lai'en's deep voice came through the headset amid a crackle of static. Wedged between Wilk and Hill, Song Zhi heard it clearly.

Once the order had been relayed, silence fell inside the armored vehicle.

The humming engine made people drowsy in the quiet-well... it made Song Zhi drowsy. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until she finally slumped against Wilk.

Wilk didn't push Song Zhi away. Instead, he raised an arm and wrapped it around her to keep her from falling. The filthy Song Zhi reminded him of his sister's Barbie doll, the doll that had been destroyed by the fires of war, and its owner.

Hill watched the readings on his screen. Wilk's readings changed slightly. He glanced at Wilk through his goggles, then noted on his tablet: Guide index +5.

Song Zhi slept deeply against Wilk's chest. She had been like this for the past few days. In a relatively safe environment, her mind had issued her body a special command to "rest."

Sitting across from Song Zhi, Lu Yu snorted, looking down on "short-haired Lara" for being so pathetic.

Muscles? Who doesn't have them?

Lu Yu thrust out their chest, revealing a perfect, full curve beneath the combat uniform.

No one knew how much time had passed. Just as Song Zhi was slowly waking up, the armored vehicle rocked violently. A moment later, frantic calls came through Wilk's headset: "Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"

Song Zhi understood the English. She used to play CrossFire, and whenever someone threw a grenade, those were the words she heard: watch out for the grenade.

Watch out for the grenade?

Watch out for the grenade!!!

Fuck! An enemy attack!!

Before Song Zhi could come to her senses, the members of Task Force A had already raised their weapons. Their six-lens night vision goggles cast red beams inside the armored vehicle. Fully armed, they stood ready.

Wilk quickly opened the door, picked up the groggy Song Zhi, and threw her out of the vehicle.

Yes, that was right. He threw her out. Then, before Song Zhi could get up, he jumped out after her, picked her up, tucked her under an arm as hard as an iron clamp, and quickly searched for cover.

Seriously, couldn't we have jumped out together? Did he have to throw me?

Whoosh! Boom!

A grenade exploded more than ten meters away from Song Zhi. The tremendous shock wave left her ears ringing and deafened her. Wilk's mouth was opening and closing, but she couldn't hear a thing.

"This isn't a game. This is real combat. Stay by me and don't run around!" Wilk held Song Zhi under one arm and a submachine gun in the other, watching their surroundings warily.

He took off his tactical helmet and put it on Song Zhi's head.

Only then did Song Zhi find she could hear some sounds. She looked around and discovered that they were hiding in a rainforest, and the vegetation here was extremely dense.

It was a rainforest! Green, alive, an organic tropical rainforest showing signs of life!

Wasn't the rainforest supposed to have been destroyed in that nuclear explosion?

Where the fuck was this?