Chapter 732.1: The New Alliance's Original Job Scope

Survivor's Daily.

[Last night, the First Battalion of the Army's 310,000th Army of Glory, together with the "Purge" unit launched an assault on Black Cloud Peak, the second mountain of the Ten Peaks Mountain, and successfully secured control of the entire peak at 22:10...]

...

The facts proved one thing. The Eastern Army's main troops really did have some skill.

After suffering 112 casualties, those Wislander elites equipped with automatic weapons finally planted the Army's banner atop the summit before midnight.

The remaining green-skinned brutes and goblins either retreated into their man-made tunnels and bunkers or withdrew to the third peak of the Ten Peaks Mountain, Broken Blade Peak.

Compared to Black Cloud Peak, the natural fortress known as Broken Blade Peak was somewhat shorter, though nature's handiwork there was no less impressive.

The entire mountain resembled a giant sword standing upright, cut cleanly in half at its midpoint, leaving only the lower half remaining. Sheer cliffs lined both sides of the mountain. Even trees struggled to grow there, let alone people. A slanted path spiraled toward the summit from south to north.

It was also the most treacherous section of the White Bone Road. Heavy vehicles could not traverse it, and even Deathclaws, capable of climbing rocky terrain, would find ascending it difficult.

Even so, compared to the other remote natural strongholds nearby, building roads and bridges was actually easier.

According to the coalition command's operational plan, the assault on this peak would be led by the Enterprise's 100th Mechanized Mountain Division, with the New Alliance and Army providing support from the rear.

The offensive would begin three days later.

However, Sideline Slacking was less interested in the plans for three days later than he was in the Army's performance during the battle.

According to previous forum discussions, the Army's true strength had never been individual combat capability, nor even any specific unit. Their real weapon was their enormous logistical system and ability to sustain prolonged warfare.

Their entire society was built around war. Every institution existed either to produce weapons of war, train officers and soldiers, or reward the military aristocrats who distinguished themselves in battle. As a result, discussing the combat strength of any single unit was largely meaningless.

The Enterprise relied on unit designations to sound intimidating, but the Army actually had 100 divisions.

They weren’t reserve troops either. They were standing armies that could be deployed at any time without mobilization.

Had the Great Desert not separated them, and had the eastern provinces not been so distant from Triumphant City, forcing much of the logistical burden onto client states, the Eastern Army’s performance would not have been so sad, nor would it have struggled to receive support from a homeland filled with war hawks.

What surprised Sideline Slacking, however, was that setting aside the disastrous performance of the Army of Glory, they had actually performed rather well during the battle the night before.

Even more surprising was the special unit known as the Purge squad.

They consisted of only 100 soldiers, but every one of them stood nearly three meters tall, built like iron towers. Their bodies were covered in black ballistic plating and powered exoskeletons.

Their role was theoretically similar to a special operations company attached to a divisional formation. In reality, however, they fought more like human infantry fighting vehicles advancing alongside regular infantry.

These massive soldiers used shotguns and heavy machine guns as their primary weapons. When using the latter, they could advance while firing without even setting up the weapon.

In addition, they carried large numbers of heavy grenades like incendiary, fragmentation, and various other types.

Hanging from their waists were battle axes, war hammers, and other melee weapons that served as close range firepower supplements.

Their fighting style was exceptionally fierce, rivaling even the Jungle Corps.

They always appeared in the most dangerous sections of the battlefield, eliminating enemies through the simplest and most brutal methods possible. Even the most savage Mutant Humans struggled to withstand their assaults.

Had Sideline Slacking not occasionally glimpsed their undeniably human faces, he might have suspected they were Mutant Humans wearing exoskeletons.

...

Military base cafeteria. While eating lunch, Sideline Slacking brought up the subject with Su Ming. The latter shoveled fried rice into his mouth while casually responding. "Those guys? Of course they're Wislanders... They’re just the kind that failed the drug treatment."

"What do you mean?" Sideline Slacking asked.

Su Ming explained, "Forcing non-coding genes to express themselves through serums doesn't guarantee awakening 100% of the time. Depending on the technical approach, there's always a chance of side effects of varying severity. In serious cases, people die. In mild cases, they suffer disabilities or hereditary diseases. You've heard of that before, right?"

Sideline Slacking nodded. "Yeah."

Ample Time's girlfriend seemed to be one of the victims of it that came from the Boulder Town Arms Industry. If he remembered correctly, it was called Dragonblood.

Because it was free, many people in Boulder Town who wanted to become mercenaries but lacked strength had taken it.

Boulder Town Arms Industry had even offered special loans specifically for people crippled by Dragonblood.

After the inner city collapsed, the new government had classified Dragonblood as a prohibited drug.

Shelter 404 possessed a similar product, though its safety record was far superior. Although the success rate was still something of a mystery and required multiple injections, the worst outcome so far was simply failing to Awaken. It did not cause physical disabilities. Of course, if infertility counted as a disability, that was another matter entirely.

That was a problem suffered by most awakeners.

Sideline Slacking suspected it might be a biological self-protection mechanism, a way to prevent randomly expressed non-coding genes from being inherited by future generations. Of course, that was merely speculation based on the game's lore. Awakeners and mutated creatures did not exist in reality.

"... The Wislanders in the Purge squad are a similar case. You know about them, right? During the Post-War Reconstruction Committee era, the Wislander Laboratory under the Technological Department used genetic engineering to create naturally born soldiers." Glancing toward a nearby table where soldiers of Alpha Task Force were eating, Su Ming slowly continued while absentmindedly twirling his spoon. "If ordinary people's non-coding genes are naturally formed spaghetti code, then theirs are artificially designed."

"One theory says the Technological Department's designers inserted unfinished code from Project Complete Human into their genome and then somehow commented it out to complete all 23 chromosome pairs."

"The Post-War Reconstruction Committee originally intended to use these human tools to fight the Mutant Slime Mold while collecting experimental data to complete the Singularity Technology that remained unfinished during the Prosperity Era. Once the Wasteland Era ended, they planned to eliminate these unstable individuals through sterilization or some other civilized method to prevent genetic contamination..."

"That's information I found on Endpoint Cloud. Maybe it'll answer some of your questions. Whether it's true or not is something you'll have to determine yourself. Anyone can post on Endpoint Cloud. A lot of people just make stuff up."

Thanks to the VM translator, Sideline Slacking barely managed to understand the jargon-filled explanation. After processing it for a moment, his eyes widened.

Holy crap. So... There were Mutant Humans living inside Wislander DNA?!

No, that wasn't quite accurate. A more precise description would be that they contained some mutated components.

Mutant Humans were incomplete versions of a Complete Human, and Wislanders were also incomplete versions. The difference was that Mutant Humans expressed all unstable genes and became an entirely new species.

Wislanders merely contained certain genetic fragments sharing the same origin as mutated DNA. As a result, when Wislanders awakened, some became stronger humans while others became humans with traits of Mutant Humans.

After all, awakening was essentially the unique expression of non-coding genes within an individual. Nobody could predict which portions would express themselves.

"Then why are the latter considered failures?" Sideline Slacking asked.

Su Ming shrugged helplessly. "You'd have to ask Wislander experts. I told you, I heard this from Endpoint Cloud too."

Sideline Slacking could only sigh softly in confusion. "..."

While the two were eating, the Alpha Mobile Task Force soldiers at the neighboring table finished their meals and marched in perfect synchronization toward the serving counter. The squad leader at the front pulled out his meal card. "Potato with braised pork over rice. Three portions with extra rice."

The cafeteria worker froze as he counted the people standing in line. No matter how many times he counted, there were only four of them! Still, he decided not to ask questions.

Anyone wearing gas masks while eating clearly wasn't normal.

"Three additional portions for you..." As he placed the trays on the counter, he could not help offering a suggestion. "If the three of you are eating together, you could just order a few stir-fried dishes and some rice instead."

"No need, thank you." The squad leader nodded and turned. Carrying three trays in both hands, he returned to his table.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.