Chapter 787.1: Huh? How? Door? Open? Itself?

“Damn it! They found us!” Inside the underground facility’s monitoring room, one of the staff members sitting at the terminal cried out when human figures appeared on the finally restored surveillance feed.

A trace of panic flashed across Arzu’s face as well.

Before the Chosen One entrusted him with an important role, Arzu had often operated alongside the Executioners of the Judgment Panel and had seen his fair share of battlefields. But he was not, in the end, a professional combatant. And even professional combatants might not be able to handle this many regular troops.

Most Torch Church research facilities had been built around shelters. In that respect, they were somewhat similar to the Enlightenment Society and even the New Alliance.

The underground facility was no exception. Originally known as Shelter 182, it had opened during the early Wasteland Era. It was later converted by the Torch Church into Biological Research Institute 182, where research was conducted on Project Complete Human and their subsidiary projects.

The entrance to the facility was located at the center of the ruins of Fortress Town.

At that very moment, the New Alliance had dispatched two platoons to search in their direction.

Every staff member’s heart leapt into their throat, panic written across every face.

“The Mutant Humans on the surface probably exposed our position...” An older researcher swallowed and cursed furiously. “Those useless pigs! They can’t accomplish anything and only ruin everything!”

The researcher standing beside him nervously asked, “Mutant Humans... Why would the Mutant Humans come here?!”

Another researcher wearing glasses replied with a grave expression, “Who the hell knows?! Probably because their communications equipment broke and they came here to ask what happened. Fucking idiots. Don’t they know how to adapt to the situation?!”

Judging from the surveillance footage, there weren’t merely a handful of Mutant Humans hiding around the area. There was an entire company of them!

He even started wondering whether those idiots might be deserters retreating from the frontlines.

Some of the researchers argued in complete panic, while others secretly rejoiced. The latter were mostly researchers who had come from North Island.

If Chalas hadn’t held them at gunpoint, and if the people here hadn’t threatened to install some kind of brainwashing chip in them, who the hell would willingly come to this godforsaken place to design equipment for Mutant Humans? They didn’t dare show it on their faces, but right now they were the happiest people in the room.

If the New Alliance had landed on the Death Coast, then Chalas was definitely finished.

They themselves were not yet out of danger, but at least their families were safe.

Ignoring the endless arguing among the staff, Arzu focused only on urging the communications engineer to repair the equipment. He yelled, “How much longer?!”

“Almost! Almost done! Give me another 10 minutes!” The engineer stared at a tablet, rapidly tapping the touchscreen with his index finger while sweat poured from his forehead.

Displayed on the tablet was a thumb-sized insect-like robot. It was currently crouched among a dense tangle of exposed wires, manipulating needle-thin mechanical arms and occasionally discharging sparks from their tips.

Finally, after what must have been the drop of sweat that filled a bucket falling from his forehead onto the floor, the insect-like circuit-repair robot completed the last of its welding operations and restored the section of circuitry burned out by the electromagnetic pulse.

The engineer let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair, wiping the sweat covering his forehead as he said joyfully, “It’s done...”

Before he could finish, Arzu shoved him aside.

The latter snatched up the tablet in a panic, tapped several times across the screen, and connected to the Judgment Panel in the rear.

The instant the [CONNECTED] icon appeared on the display, wild joy flashed across his face.

He grabbed a headset, put it on, and shouted desperately, “Calling the Judgment Panel! This is Biological Research Institute 182! The New Alliance is advancing on our position! We need support!”

Biological Research Institute 182 stored enormous quantities of data related to Project Complete Human. The Judgment Panel would never abandon them!

Compared with those mutant cannon fodder, the combat elites armed with prewar equipment produced by black boxes were the true trump card of the Torch Church!

After a brief silence, a calm and dependable voice came from the other end of the channel. “This is the Punishment Squad. We have already received orders and are moving toward your vicinity. Seal the doors and wait patiently!”

Hearing that heavenly voice, Arzu clenched both fists in excitement.

We’re saved!

Elsewhere, in the mountains just two kilometers from the underground facility, roughly 40 soldiers wearing exoskeletons lay silently hidden along the edge of the forest. Their almost completely transparent silhouettes blended seamlessly into the surrounding environment.

Under the effect of their optical camouflage systems, as long as they remained still, no one could detect them with the naked eye.

Standing in the middle of the formation, a cold-faced man who appeared to be the captain stared toward Fortress Town and lightly tapped his helmet with an index finger and spoke “This is Hunter. We’ve reached the target area. It is confirmed. The target lost contact after the EMP strike.”

The Chosen One’s voice came through the communications channel. “How is the battle progressing?”

The man called Hunter replied in a low voice, “The New Alliance has already landed. The local garrison was completely defeated.”

The channel fell silent for a moment. Roughly half a minute later, the voice continued, “Bring Arzu and the research institute’s data back. Take the others with you if possible. If you can’t, dispose of them.”

A cold gleam flashed through Hunter’s eyes. “Yes.”

...

At the same time Arzu was calling the Judgment Panel for reinforcements, two platoons from Burning Corps’ first unit had already reached the outskirts of Fortress Town, hidden deep inside the forest.

The settlement resembled a fortress. Rows of connected houses formed towering walls around the perimeter. The first-floor windows only began 6 meters above the ground, and without exception were fitted with burglar bars wrapped in steel wire. The highest windows were more than 20 meters up, while the rooftops had even been designed as firing platforms with built-in cover.

Only a few paces separated one rowhouse from another, with crooked covered bridges spanning between them.

From a distance, they looked like gate towers built into a city wall.

Coincidence could imagine how the survivors who once lived here had to have defended their homes against attacks from marauders.

They would pile obstacles onto those bridges and fire at invaders from the rooftops. Once the attackers passed underneath the bridges, they would throw the barricades down behind them, cutting the invading force into separate front and rear sections.

Unfortunately, those brave people had long since vanished. Only a few oily-green heads could now be seen peeking around suspiciously.

Heaven Stepping opened his VM and pulled up information he had previously downloaded from the official website.

“I heard that more than ten years ago there was a survivor mutual-aid alliance around here called the Iron Tower. They used signal towers from the Federation of Human as their symbol, organized militias, and patrolled between the various settlements... Kind of similar to us, actually.”

“There’s information about this settlement on the official site too. Apparently, it began as a surface outpost established by Shelter 182. Later, for some reason, both Shelter 182 and the surface outpost were abandoned. It wasn’t until around the hundredth year of the Wasteland Era that a group of wastelanders began reusing the facilities and expanded and reinforced the surrounding buildings.”

“Then the Iron Tower organization emerged and took over the settlement. Its population slowly grew from a few hundred people to around 20,000, until the Torch Church arrived and reset that number to 0.”

Even if the ruins of this settlement had not fallen within the scope of the New Alliance’s phase-three offensive, they would have returned to search it after completing the landing operation.

However, just a moment ago, their drones had detected signs of mutant activity in the area, so Peepo had sent them over early to see whether any big fish were hiding here.

The two players walking alongside Heaven Stepping couldn’t resist commenting after hearing him.

“‘Reset to zero,’ huh...”

“What kind of hell joke is that?”

“That’s literally how it’s written in the game description. I’m just reading it. If you have a problem, go ask the developers.”

Heaven Stepping held No Family’s camera and took several pictures of the settlement’s exterior. The camera was the only relic his good brother had left behind in this world, well, the bastard would be alive again in a few days anyway.

“The settlements on this wasteland really do come in every possible shape and size,” Half Wasted remarked. “There’s Port Gallon, a million-person slum, Ring Island with all its stacked blocks, and now this dirt fortress.”

“Well, it is the wasteland,” Half Wasted teased.

“There are three Mutant Humans moving around near the entrance... Can’t see what’s inside.” Lowering the camera, Heaven Stepping looked toward Coincidence and signalled with his eyes before asking, “Do we attack directly, or sneak in first and see what’s going on?”

“Too much trouble.” Coincidence raised his right hand into a fist and gave the attack signal to the teammates behind him. “Kill every beast in there first. Then we can take our time figuring out what’s hidden inside. If everyone’s dead, that’s the perfect infiltration. There won’t be anyone left to alert anyone.”

Half Wasted excitedly grabbed the rifle hanging across his chest and chambered a round with a click before grinning. “Time to work!”

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.