by <unknown>
He gradually understood more about the base after exploring it for a while. The base was hidden at the hill side, and it was about five to six times larger than the laboratory that he used to stay in. The base had two exits: one was the entrance that he took; the other was a side gate for the individual personnel to access the outside world conveniently.
Not knowing why, Han Xiao felt that some places in the base were unusual. However, he could not pinpoint the exact reasons.
Most of the personnel had a serious face, as if they were expecting an incoming storm. They were loading up important supplies hurriedly.
“Have you heard? The higher ups want us to evacuate the base. It seems like Hesla’s agents have found us.”
“They mentioned that the spy stationed at Crow Forest Town lost contact. I think a battle is going to happen soon.”
Han Xiao heard some voices as he turned a corner. A few armed guards were gathered together and having a discussion. They looked worried. As they saw Han Xiao, one of the guards shouted, “Hey Mandela, did you guys find anything from the search inside?”
Mandela was H223’s real name. He was a Caucasian. Han Xiao covered his skins fully with his uniform so that the rest would not get suspicious.
These few guards seemed to be acquainted with Mandela. “The sentry guards outside were all shot in the head by a sniper. We still haven’t uncovered the enemy. I bet it was done by the Hesla agents,” lied Han Xiao while innocently blinking.
The guards looked troubled. They were all armed personnel, so if the enemy were to strike, they had to be at the frontline to defend the base.
“I am so jealous of the non-military personnel. They get to evacuate the base first.” One of the guards was disgruntled with his circumstances.
Light flashed in Han Xiao’s eyes. Since they were up against an army from Hesla, it was predicted that the enemy was going to evacuate the base. Furthermore, this was only a supplemental base, not a main one; it was impossible for everyone to stay back and fight to their death.
However, evacuation was not an easy feat; too many people leaving at the same time risked leaving trails in the forest for the Hesla army to track. So, it was essential to leave some military personnel to stay behind and cover their tracks, while the officers and non-military personnel leave first with important supplies, which were more valuable than those armed guards. They would only get to leave after the more important personnel had evacuated safely.
The final Camp-Destroyer mission was to destroy the entire base, which included their personnel. If they only took hold of an empty base, the completion rating of the mission would be really low.
A thought suddenly occurred in Han Xiao’s mind. They already know Hesla is going to attack the base; they should have evacuated by now. Ye Fan’s team infiltrated the base last night, which was twenty-four hours ago. They should have had enough time to leave. This is strange.
A muscular-looking guy walked over and shouted, “What are you idling here for‽ Don’t you have things to carry‽”
The guards apologized in great trepidation. It was the captain of the base’s security team, Dormund, a buff Sharnuk.
A core member like him would definitely know the secrets about this base.
Dormund left after some reprimanding, and Han Xiao followed from a distance behind. After turning a few corners, Han Xiao was dumbfounded. He barely looked away for two seconds, and Dormund was already missing from his sight.
There was no one on the walkway, only a storage room.
Han Xiao walked over to the room and turned the knob. It was not locked.
He pushed the door open and walked inside. The room was about a hundred square meters, and it was filled with miscellaneous items, with no one else inside. The lamp was not switched on, and the light from the walkway shined through gap beneath the door.
Han Xiao knitted his brows as he suddenly realized something unusual.
The room was spotless, and the floor was clear of any footprints.
Normally, very few individuals would go into the storage room. Even five-star hotels would not send people to clean their storage unit like this, so it was impossible for the Germinal Organization to keep an ordinary storage room as immaculate as this.
There must be a secret door somewhere here. Otherwise, Dormund would not have disappeared so quickly. But Han Xiao could not locate the door.
What would be behind the secret door?
All of a sudden, Han Xiao pretended to cough while bending his back. He took this chance to take out the Spider from his pocket. He then threw it into the corner silently before leaving the room immediately. He took out his tablet in a spot that was hidden from the surveillance cameras, switched the Spider on, and stared at the storage room.
It took Han Xiao two hours of high intensity monitoring, during which he started to become quite weary, before that was some movement in the storage room.
One of the walls creaked open, and a secret metal door was shown. Two people, unarmed, walked out. They seemed to be technical staff.
There is my secret door.
As the two personnel left the room hurriedly, Han Xiao followed behind quietly. He suddenly sped up to bump onto the staff from the back. Three of them almost fell.
“Sorry. Sorry. I am really sorry about this,” Han Xiao apologized as he stabilized the two staff with his hands.
They did not make a fuss over it and left.
Han Xiao turned around to continue following them. However, this time round, he had gotten a white card. It was an access card from the pocket of one of the two staff.
His stealing skill had come in really handy.
This card had no noticeable difference from the ordinary identity card from the base. However, Han Xiao believed that the chip inside should be different; it should have access to the secret door.
He followed the two staff for a while and arrived at the side gate of the base. The two greeted the door guard and left through the gate.
All of a sudden, Han Xiao realized what was wrong with the base.
Atmosphere!
Although most people were worried sick over the incoming Hesla attack, a small group of personnel still held on to their posts without any anxiety. They seemed to have some backup plans and were as calm as the sea—greatly contrasting the first group of personnel.
Han Xiao squinted and soon arrived at a reasonable deduction. However, he still needed some evidence to confirm his thought. He went forth toward the side gate before the door guard stopped him.
“You are not allowed to enter or leave the base without a mission.”
Han Xiao took out the access card he had stolen and said, “I bumped into those two people just now, and they dropped this card. I want to return it to them before they walk away.”
The door guard nodded his head before allowing Han Xiao to go.
Han Xiao walked out of the gate and saw a forested valley; it was already past midnight. The two staff were few hundred meters away, so one could only see their tiny back view. He chased them up quickly.
The staff turned around as they heard footsteps coming from behind and looked guarded.
“You dropped your access card.”
As Han Xiao walked near, they realized that he was the colleague that they bumped into in the base beforehand. They let down their guard. One of the duo searched his pockets and exclaim, “Where did I drop the card‽ Thank you very much.”
“You don’t have to thank me. We are all comrades of the Germinal Organization, working hard to build a new tomorrow. This is just a part of my job.”
Han Xiao smiled as he walked closer to them.
“You are quite an interesting guy.”
The person laughed while he moved his hand over to grab the card. Han Xiao’s face instantly turned serious, and he launched his attack all of a sudden. His fist punched hard onto the person’s stomach, injuring the internal organs with its shear force. The person stared with astonishment, as his vomited. The o
ther person almost screamed before Han Xiao quickly grabbed his neck to choke him. He them slammed his head onto the floor and slapped them as hard as could, knocking them out.
Han Xiao took off his belt to tie the two personnel. He dragged them behind him while taking a big detour to avoid all the sentry posts. As soon as he had moved far enough away from the base, he slapped the two awake.
They woke up with faces full of horror. “You…you are not from the base!”
Han Xiao took out his foldable machete and rubbed its blade. He was clearly threatening them. He said in an ice-cold voice, “I know the two of you know something that the ordinary members are kept in the dark about. You’d better tell me honestly now.”
They gulped in fear and stuttered, “We are just low-ranking members who do not know anything.”
“Low-ranking?” Han Xiao laughed before he moved his knife swiftly toward one man’s crotch.
“Ahhhh…”
The person screamed as if his soul was tearing apart, like a pig that was being butchered. But he suddenly realized he was not in pain. He looked down and saw the shiny blade had grazed past his inner thigh and cut into the soil beneath. It was only three centimeters from his genitalia. His crouch could feel the chill from the cold metal blade.
“I know that is a secret door in the storage room. Tell me everything you know, or I will make you the first eunuch in the Germinal Organization,” Han Xiao said in a murderous tone.
Although they did not know what a eunuch was, Han Xiao’s action was quite telling. They were badly shaken up immediately.
“How… how did you learn about the secret door‽”
“I am the one asking questions.” Han Xiao lifted his machete to brush his genitalia gently, as if he would just lop it off at any moment. He was so frightened that he almost peed his pants and… He really peed his pants? Damn… my machete!
The two staff looked crestfallen. Since the secret was out, there was no point in hiding. They spilled the intel as they trembled in fear.
After ten minutes…
Han Xiao’s brows were knitted tightly together.
“No wonder…”
[Reconnaissance 2 completed. You gained 8,000 EXP]
Chapter 79. Suspicion |
Dawn, at the secret base…
All the agents were busy packing their equipment as it was time for them to evacuate.
“Brother Xiao, Brother Xiao! Where are you?” Lin Yao slapped on the door of the truck’s container. He looked frustrated. He had been trying to find Han Xiao for the past fifteen minutes, but his efforts had been futile. The rest of the agents from Division 13 were running out of patience.
“He is not in the truck. Where could he possibly have gone?” Li Ya Lin was puzzled.
Everyone looked at one another and did not have a single clue.
Last night, Han Xiao had mentioned that he wanted to stay on the truck, but now, he was not there. What exactly did he do last night?
“What is your team’s plan?” Qi Bai Jia said to Zhang Wei’s team.
“We are going to stay back to wait for his return,” Zhang Wei replied.
“Is there a need to do so?” Di Su Su was rather surprised.
“Because the truck key is with him!” Zhang Wei was gnashing his teeth in great anger, and the vein on his forehead was about to pop at any moment.
Everyone was rendered speechless, not sure whether they were lucky or unlucky to have such a member on their team.
Qi Bai Jia was very displeased as he hated any unexpected changes during a mission. Just when he thought Han Xiao had a clear understanding of the big picture, he caused trouble like this.
I must be blind! Any team member who acts on their own accord without following any order is a rascal!
If something went haywire, Qi Bai Jia would have to assume the responsibility!
Han Xiao was such a jackass!
…
The Hesla agents stationed on the other side discovered Division 13’s unusual behavior, and they started discussing secretly.
“Some of the Division 13’s agents are intending to stay behind.”
“I thought we agreed to move together?” Ye Fan frowned. He went to find Qi Bai Jia to get an answer on this. After which, he came back and explained the reason to the Hesla agents.
“Who is the agent missing?”
“It was the agent that was wearing the mask; his name is Han Xiao.”
“It’s him.” Winna’s face suddenly tensed up, and said, “Last night, when we received the intel, Han Xiao rejected it without any supporting evidence, and then he was gone for the whole night without leaving a message. This seems quite suspicious. Is it possible that he is a… spy?”
All the Hesla agents startled.
“Be careful of your words.” Ye Fan frowned. He did not buy that deduction, but Han Xiao’s actions definitely aroused his suspicion. “We will report all the facts to the commanding officer when we get back to the army camp.”
….
After all the other agents left, Zhang Wei and the other three teammates stayed back at the base.
Lin Yao could not help asking, “Where did Han Xiao go and what is he going to do exactly?”
“How would I know? He did not say anything to me last night.” Li Ya Lin rolled her eyes.
Zhang Wei shook his head as he felt irritated; that guy had zero respect for his team leader!
…
The other agents arrived at the border several hours later.
Winna and Ye Fan went to report to Colonel Carl immediately.
“A Division 13 agent was missing for the entire night?” Colonel Carl walked back and forth, and his brows furrowed.
“Is this 100% true?” he asked.
Winna nodded. “He left last night without telling anyone, and it was right after we uncovered the intel about the Dark Crow Valley base.”
“Although it seems suspicious, this does not mean that he is a spy,” Ye Fan added.
Colonel Carl nodded slowly. “I will go and clarify this with Stardragon a while later. Now, tell me more about the intel.”
“The captive that we brought in passed our lie detector test, which means that everything he said was true. Furthermore, Ye Fan personally hacked their network to gather all this intel. We can guarantee its authenticity!” said Winna.
Colonel Carl’s eyes turned sharp as he said decisively, “Then let’s attack immediately before anything changes!”
Ye Fan was hesitant. “The Division 13 agents left at the secret base will be in danger if the army attacks now.”
“To achieve our strategic objective, it is reasonable to sacrifice one or two people from Stardragon. Since they are not from our country, we need not care so much.” Colonel Carl did not give it a second thought.
At the same time, after taking a long, indirect route, Han Xiao finally brought the two captives to where he had hidden his toolbox, bypassing all the detectors and sentry posts. The whole journey had been arduous and onerous; he was so tired by then that he almost wanted to puke blood. The captives were not wearing camouflage suits, so he’d had to spend hours to bypass the alert areas.
Fortunately, they were the technical staff in charge of the testing detectors and landmines, so they provided much valuable information. Otherwise, he would not have left without alerting anyone.
However, the captives had tried to lure him into a high-alert area to expose him once, but he’d realized immediately. He had punished them harshly before they cooperated fully with him.
The Sun was shining brightly above the sky. Han Xiao calculated the time and sighed. “Crap, I went beyond the stipulated time. I guess all the other agents have already left.”
He dug out his toolbox and took out his radio equipment to contact Zhang Wei.
“Hello. Hello. Yangtze River. Yangtze River. This is Yellow River. Please reply if you can hear me.”
“Yellow your head!” Zhang Wei’s fury could be heard through the earpiece. �
��Where exactly did you go? You were missing for the whole night, and all the other agents left. We could only stay at the base and wait for you!”
“That’s right. You’d better make up for this. I want new equipment!” Li Ya Lin chimed in on the radio channel. One could hear the annoyance in her voice and imagine her pouting; it was actually a little cute.
Han Xiao shook his head and started acting more seriously. “I infiltrated the Dark Crow Valley base and discovered top-classified intel!”
“Let me get Officer Qi for you,” Zhang Wei said with a look of solemnity.
…
Qi Bai Jia received the radio message at the border army camp.
“Zhang Wei, what are you calling me for? Is Han Xiao back?” he asked.
“He wants to speak with you.”
“He’d better cook up a good explanation for his actions.” Qi Bai Jia was clearly displeased.
After Han Xiao was connected to the channel, he said, “I just received the intel saying that the Dark Crow Valley base has two sectors: the outer sector and the inner sector. The outer sector is where all the low-ranking personnel work, while the inner sector is where the core members stationed themselves. The inner sector is hidden deeper in the mountainous valley, and the low-ranking personnel outside are not even aware of its existence. The information about the inner sector is classified for all the low-ranking personnel, and the path connecting the two sectors is always blocked…”
The two captives had told him that the base was divided into two sectors. The inner sector was hidden deeper in the mountains, where all the important supplies were stored. It was the real core of the base. The higher ups in the base did not tell the periphery personnel anything about the inner base. So, it was a secret to many of the Germinal Organization personnel. In their previous lives, the ‘real’ players did not even know the existence of the inner base.
The inner base had many evacuation routes. The core members could leave without leaving a trace. They were very cunning in the sense that each of these roads was classified. Nobody knew which path they would take before the actual evacuation was decided by the top leadership of the base.
