Chapter 720.2: Plans Can Never Keep Up With Changes

The chaotic gunfire drowned out his scream.

As more sailors armed themselves and surrounded the mutineers, the rebels gradually lost the advantage they initially held. Although Captain Surrey had seized the broadcast room early on, the announcement the mutineers had hoped to make never came.

Instead, the sailors loyal to Captain Dongwen fought harder and harder under the executive officer’s leadership, gradually retaking the occupied corridors one by one.

Clearly, the captain had anticipated the possibility. The instant the mutiny began, he had already cut power to the broadcast room to prevent Surrey from inciting more sailors into joining their madness.

The battle soon neared its conclusion.

After two mutineers guarding the hostages surrendered, the seven captured logistics personnel were rescued. The rebels’ territory shrank from the entire rear half of the ship down to a single narrow corridor and the broadcast room.

Including Surrey himself, only three rebels remained.

Watching another mutineer collapse after being shot, the executive officer pressed against his bleeding arm wound and shouted toward the barricades ahead.

“Surrender now, you have no chance left! Accepting judgment is your only way out. If you confess your crimes, you might still survive!”

“Then where’s our Federation’s hope?” Pressing his bleeding thigh wound with one hand while leaning against the iron doorway, Surrey roared back. “Are we supposed to believe in weaklings like you?!”

The executive officer stared at him with wide eyes. “What hope?! What the hell are you talking about?!”

“What am I talking about?!” Surrey cursed furiously. “Look at what you people are doing! You’re taking mutant corpses back to North Island! You want the survivors there to believe a bunch of spear-wielding animals destroyed our power station?!”

The executive officer roared back, “I never investigated it thoroughly enough to say for certain, but there were people inside our ranks who turned blind at the exact moment they shouldn’t have. That person is very likely Chalas and his accomplices!”

“I trusted that bastard too! But the truth is he lied to all of us, and now intends to fabricate even more lies to satisfy his own ambitions! Wake the hell up! How long do you plan to keep deceiving the survivors who trusted us?!”

“Deceiving them? Hahahahaha! They only lost the truth! Do you even realize what they gained?! For the first time in a century, we’re united like never before...” Before Surrey could finish speaking, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted beneath everyone’s feet.

Whether standing or sitting, everyone was violently thrown off balance.

CRRRRRRK...

The horrifying screech of tearing steel echoed through the walls, followed immediately by the roar of seawater violently rushing through ruptures in the hull.

The executive officer barely managed to climb back up before his face instantly changed. Feeling the tremors spreading through the walls, terror filled his eyes. The sailors behind him reacted the same way, clutching the violently shaking hull as they stumbled backward in panic.

A torpedo!

Someone had launched a torpedo while they were distracted by the mutiny! They had been hit!

“Retreat!” the executive officer roared, shoving the sailors behind him toward the stairwell.

Meanwhile, driven into complete desperation, Surrey finally released the hand pressing against his wound and slowly stood up while leaning against the wall with a savage grin. “No one gets to judge me!”

Fanatical madness twisted across his blood-drained face. Facing the cowards retreating before him, he limped out of the broadcast room and jammed the pistol beneath his blood-covered chin.

Though regrettable that he failed to seize control of the Glory, this ending did not dishonor his mission. The mission in his heart.

“For the Federation!” Veins bulged across his neck as he roared and pulled the trigger.

Amid soaring firelight and exploding blood mist, he vanished beneath the surging seawater...

...

On the bridge, watching the ship gradually capsizing amid smoke and flames, Dongwen slowly stood while gripping the control console, astonishment written across his hardened face.

He had expected there might be Chalas’s spies aboard his ship. After all, even he himself had once supported that man. He had even anticipated that the madman’s followers might attempt mutiny to prevent him from returning to North Island with evidence, betraying the very oath they swore beneath the Federation flag.

But what he never imagined was that the madman would actually order Federation ships to slaughter one another for the sake of victory.

There was no doubt about it. That torpedo that struck them came from friendly forces.

Flames consumed steel while boiling waves dragged the enormous destroyer toward the abyss below.

When systemic failure occurs, it is rarely because one or two individuals made one or two mistakes.

Rather, it happens because the overwhelming majority of people, acting from their own perspectives, instinctively choose the worst possible option every single time.

And for the exact same reason, once systemic failure becomes reality, isolated attempts at correction become just as insignificant as the original mistakes themselves.

That was what happened to the power station too. Also, it was the same with the Golden Coast sinking beneath the sea. So too had the other cargo ships, survey vessels, and crews that came infinitely close to uncovering the truth.

Now... He was included in that list.

“... Looks like Mr. Chalas has already made up his mind.” Removing the cap from his head, Dongwen placed it gently atop the bridge control console.

This road ahead was perhaps even more twisted than he had imagined.

Just as he was preparing to spend what little time remained in his life, a communication signal suddenly came through the channel. In fact, the source appeared to be very close to them.

Momentarily stunned, Dongwen pressed the connection switch on the control panel and put on the headset.

At almost the exact same moment, a burst of static-filled noise came through the earpiece.

“This is the Dolphin... please respond if you receive this...”

...

10 kilometers away, a submarine slowly surfaced, revealing its steep command tower above the sea.

Glancing at the smoke rising in the distance and the steel hull gradually sinking beneath the waves, the captain standing inside the tower calmly reported, “This is the Cold Night. The Glory has sunk. Requesting further instructions.”

A voice replied through the communications channel. “Command acknowledges. Return to North Island and await orders after completing your mission.”

The captain frowned and continued to ask, “We’re not rendezvousing at Peace Harbor?”

After a brief silence, the response came through. “Plans have changed... there’s been a slight incident there.”

“Understood.”

After the communication ended, the captain standing before the control panel turned toward the solemn-faced officers behind him and ordered the submarine to return. The exposed command tower slowly sank back beneath the sea.

However, just then, the captain’s eyes flicked toward the sonar display and his brows subtly furrowed.

Was that... an illusion?

The active sonar echoes near the area where the Glory had sunk seemed to flicker briefly, but it only lasted only an instant.

Frowning, the captain stared at the display for a while longer. When no further anomalies appeared, he finally looked away.

Probably just interference reflecting off the wreckage.

...

Back on the Wasteland Online’s official website, things were noisy as usual during peak login and logout hours.

That day, things were especially lively coming from the brothers from the Jungle Corps.

The moment they logged off, they rushed straight onto the forums and started yelling all over the place.

- This is fucking bullshit! Those NPCs are such assholes, they even stole our kill!

- Stealing kills is one thing, but they even honked at us afterward to mock us!

- Exactly! Fucking infuriating!

- Be satisfied already. At least you guys actually saw monsters. We didn’t even see a damn shadow of one. Just took a lap around the harbor and went home. (¬_¬")

- At least you guys showed up in the new map promotional video! We only showed a crab’s ass. Couldn’t see anything except the final explosion scene.

- Nope, we didn’t show our faces either. We had our helmets and goggles on

- Hahahaha holy shit!

- Looks like Brother Mosquito stole all the spotlight again. ꉂ૮(°□°'˶)ა

- By the way, am I the only one curious whether the Laken tastes good? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

- Uh... the NPC’s torpedo blasted it apart in one hit, so I didn’t loot the corpse. Want the coordinates? You can go check it out yourself.

- I could go there... but by the time I arrive there probably won’t even be bones left. But seriously, you didn’t even want to try a bite? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

- How the hell am I supposed to taste-test something in a place like that?!

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