Perched at the edge of a tall building, Jake stared down at a bandit base below. It was the very last secondary base belonging to Los Demonios that was still standing. All the others now lay in ruins, completely destroyed and reduced to rubble.

The person in charge of the final base was a man named Rex. It was clear that while Jake was busy annihilating the other bases, Rex had been working on beefing up the defenses of his base. In addition to the four guard towers, each topped with a turret, Jake could see several auto-turrets positioned within the perimeter walls.

Since those inner turrets weren't placed atop guard towers, they couldn't detect what was happening outside the base. Their purpose was clearly different: to deal with him and his monster army when they showed up inside. The inner turrets were strategically placed to cover the entire area of the base.

Still, Jake was sure that a few additional turrets wouldn't make much of a difference. Sure, more of his monsters would die during the siege of this base than usual, but that was acceptable. He could replenish his ranks without much trouble.

So the reason he held back from attacking this base wasn't the extra defense systems but something entirely different.

A helipad was situated on the eastern side of the base, and it was occupied by a helicopter. This wasn't a combat helicopter, but a civilian one, which wasn't surprising. Combat helicopters were always sent out from the main base, while secondary bases only had civilian models available.

However, all the previous secondary bases he attacked had no helicopters stationed at them. Jake made sure to always use Mind Reader on any high-ranking bandits within the organization to learn anything useful. Thanks to that, he discovered that some time ago, Skullface had ordered all the helicopters at the secondary bases to return to the main one.

So the fact that Base Rex had a helicopter still stationed there was intriguing. Why hadn't it returned to the main base when Skullface had issued such an order? Was there a specific reason for this? Was this helicopter permitted to remain at Base Rex? Or maybe Rex had disobeyed Skullface's direct orders and kept the helicopter for himself in case he needed a quick escape?

Jake wasn't sure which scenario was true, but one thing was for certain: he was going to need that helicopter. He knew the main base was located hundreds of miles from the city. The landscape beyond the city boundaries was barren and marked by enormous chasms. Traversing such a ravaged landscape for hundreds of miles on foot would take ages.

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Therefore, using the helicopter to reach the main base was the best choice. The only drawback was that Jake didn't know how to operate a helicopter. Fortunately, this was a problem he could easily solve. He just needed to locate its pilot.

Jake knew that after using Mind Reader on a person, he could see their memories and utilize their skills by taking on their identity through Morph Disguise. Therefore, if he read the pilot's mind using the first ability and then disguised himself as the pilot with the second, he could operate the helicopter and fly it to the main base.

Wherever the pilot was posed an entirely different question. Jake had been watching the base for about an hour, using Mind Reader on every human he saw, but none of the memories he accessed indicated that any of those people had piloting skills. The only explanation was that the pilot had stayed inside HQ the entire time.

Again, what he or she had been doing there all this time was a mystery. Why hadn't they returned to the main base when Skullface issued such an order?

Jake didn't dwell on the matter for long, though.

His main objective was to locate the pilot. After using Mind Reader on them, he would be able to assume their identity wherever needed. His first priority was to get the helicopter out of the base before launching an attack, as he didn't want it to be damaged during the assault.

After waiting a little longer without finding the pilot, Jake concluded that he would need to sneak into the base. The pilot was likely in HQ, so he had to find a way inside without triggering any early alarms. Once he located the pilot and accessed their mind, he would come back outside.

After that, all he had to do was find a secluded spot where no one could see him, probably one of the empty tents where the captured survivors spent their nights, and take on the pilot's identity. Once that was done, he could leave the tent undetected and head to the helicopter.

By the time anyone figured out what was happening, he would be lifting off and flying away. As he piloted the helicopter to land it on the roof of one of the high-rises, he would instruct his monster army to attack the base. Once he parked the helicopter in a safe spot, he would return and handle what remained of the base by that point.

After that, all he had to do was head back to the helicopter and fly it to the main base. It was a simple plan, and Jake couldn't see what could go wrong with it. The hardest part would be finding the pilot inside HQ, but after that, everything should proceed without a hitch.

Jake redirected his focus to the base beneath him. He swiftly scanned the people inside, but none of them were new. The pilot had to be in HQ. Jake's army of monsters was nearby but out of sight: wingclaws were positioned on the roofs of nearby buildings while crawlers stuck to the walls that faced away from the base.

None of his creatures could be seen from the base below. They would stay in position, ready for further commands. For now, Jake left them where they were and got ready to jump to the ground. It was time to set his plan into motion.

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