Chapter 174: Coordinated Light and Dark |
You could hear a pin drop in Dr. Lucretia's office.
The commander of the Alpha-10 "Apothecary" Mobile Task Force and the combat squad leader, Kyle, sat face-to-face at the desk, staring at the thick stack of pre-mission briefing documents.
After more than five minutes of silence, Lucretia delivered her conclusion. "We are doomed."
Kyle corrected her. "It is me and the others who are doomed."
"We are all doomed together."
"But you... sigh." Kyle closed the operation plan covered in his messy handwriting. "I suspect Commander Dump Truck has disagreements with the other Council Members, which is why he assigned us such a highly difficult mission. This was supposed to be a cooperative effort with other Mobile Task Forces, yet the hardest part somehow fell to us.
"Perhaps we still have time to apply for a meme, or a cognitohazardous anomaly? At least it could help you cover your tracks or something..."
As she spoke, Dr. Lucretia opened her computer and began browsing through the Anomaly Files she had the authority to view.
Kyle also took out his Communication Device and started looking through it.
"No, that would make the aftermath even harder to clean up."
The situation was extremely grim.
The Alpha-10 "Apothecary" Mobile Task Force had long since completed its member selection. Kyle had personally spoken with each member individually to confirm their willingness to serve The Bureau.
Their current training had been highly effective. He had thought the most difficult phase was already behind them—after all, trying to build cohesion in a squad gathered from all corners of the world was no easy feat.
However, when the Mobile Task Force's assessment mission was issued, he realized they were in deep trouble.
The enemy for this operation was a hostile organization in the Ninth District that had recently exposed its whereabouts, the heretical cult known as the Black Assembly.
Because the confidentiality level was so high, Kyle did not yet know the exact scale of the operation. However, he roughly understood that while most of the other Mobile Task Forces were responsible for clearing the Combat Zone and establishing a quarantine perimeter, Alpha-10 was tasked with handling an entirely separate front on their own—they had to raid a secret stronghold the Black Assembly had hidden right in the city center.
Based on the estimated number of enemies, this assignment was reasonably fair.
But the problem was that their superiors had also issued a strict requirement—
"Due to the special nature of the Mobile Task Force, under no circumstances may The Bureau's identity be exposed during the operation."
Thinking about the literal anomalous oddities in his squad, Kyle could only feel a bleak sense of despair about the future.
But a soldier's bounden duty was to obey orders. No matter how frustrated he felt, he still had to bite the bullet and come up with a plan that would successfully complete the mission without getting his team members locked back inside a Containment Room.
The commander and the squad leader racked their brains for a long time, but they still couldn't find any suitable utility anomaly that could cover their tracks.
The Bureau had always maintained strict control over applications for utility anomalies. Moreover, since the operation was taking place within the city, there were numerous restrictions...
Click.
A faint, strange noise came from outside the office door.
It wasn't a sound worth paying much attention to. After all, Dr. Lucretia's new office was located within the designated area assigned to the "Apothecary" Mobile Task Force, and just across the corridors were the living quarters for the team members. The office's soundproofing wasn't great, so there was always some noise from people coming and going.
But it had been quiet outside for quite a while now.
Kyle stood up. The moment he pulled the door open a crack, he saw several heads that had been pressed against the gap hurriedly scrambling away.
His brow twitched, and he yanked the door wide open with a swoosh.
"Halt! Fall in!"
A few of them tried to run, but they froze in their tracks under Kyle's death glare. The group obediently stood up straight and formed a line.
Every single anomalous member of the Mobile Task Force had actually been crowded outside the door—and when he broke his gaze, he realized that even CVA-B-5031 was there.
"Were you eavesdropping?" Kyle narrowed his eyes at the group of team members. "Who started this?"
A hand shot up from the ranks with a snap. "Whether we were eavesdropping or not isn't important. What's important is that we have a solution!"
Kyle looked over and, sure enough, spotted the biggest thorn in the Mobile Task Force's side who showed zero respect for authority—CVA-D-9013, the Queue Effect, Lei.
With him taking the lead, the others also emboldened up, arguing their cases all at once.
"That's right, we're trying to win an opportunity for the team!"
"I have a logical deduction."
"They did it all, it has nothing to do with me."
"Eavesdropping."
The group spouted all sorts of nonsense.
Kyle forcefully pounded his fist against the wall.
"Silence! Button up your shirts and don't even think about sneaking off—and 5031, stop mimicking that word."
Only then did he look back at Lei.
"This had better be a good solution that won't make me throw you all in solitary confinement."
Thus, with his hands behind his back and his chin held high, Lei explained his plan.
Kyle's brow instantly knitted into a tight knot. A pained expression washed over his face, his features scrunching up as if he had just bitten into a fresh lemon.
Behind him, Dr. Lucretia, who had followed him out to hear what was going on, also wore a bizarre expression.
A few seconds later, their faces relaxed. They looked somewhat perplexed, but more than that, they were amazed.
The commander and the squad leader exchanged a glance.
"This is a bit like deceiving oneself, but..."
"It does seem like there's no rule saying that..."
The Alpha-10 Mobile Task Force was saved.
On the other end of the Communication Device, Shi Rang was deep in thought.
He was quite interested in this team composed of Containment Objects. Aside from 5031, all the other members were humans possessing Anomalous Effects, which gave him a very favorable impression of them.
They represented more than just The Bureau's attempt to utilize anomalies; standing behind these Containment Objects were The Bureau's baseline personnel.
Shi Rang had been targeting and dealing with the scum inside The Bureau lately, but the normal, loyal employees made up the vast majority.
Many of them abided by the requirements of the ethics commissioners, conducting their work humanely. Even more of them clashed daily with high-threat anomalies to maintain containment.
Just as the news only ever reported extreme joy or profound tragedy—often leaning toward the latter to create a sense of social chaos—those who worked diligently and kept their heads down were constantly overlooked.
Shi Rang's grudge was forged with the First Council Member. He had no intention of letting that hatred spill over onto the middle and lower-level personnel of The Bureau.
He planned to do the "Apothecary" Mobile Task Force a favor.
If there was one organization in the world guaranteed to crash the party wherever The Bureau showed up, it was the Pan-Continent Alliance.
As long as Shi Rang used multiple informants to corroborate this operation in the Ninth District and divert the Alliance's troops to support the Mobile Task Force, letting the Alliance and the "Apothecary" team tackle the Black Assembly together, the pressure on the "Apothecary" Mobile Task Force would be drastically reduced.
If that happened, the Star Child Order far away in the Second District would likely feel threatened by the encirclement campaign their ally was facing, or they might seize the opportunity of insufficient forces to make a move on the Second District.
Of course, it could also backfire. For instance, they might sense the danger and go completely into hiding.
But Shi Rang felt that these cultists—the same ones who had blindly charged straight at the blockade in Green Island City—were crazy enough to take the bait.
The only variable was whether the Black Assembly was truly important enough to warrant the Alliance deploying troops into the city...
In Shi Rang's eyes, even though multiple sources corroborated the terror of these believers of the Blood Red God, he had never really felt it himself.
Unable to find the cause of this operation on the Terminal Station, he was just debating whether to dig through the highly concealed logs viewed by the council members' alt accounts when he received a mass broadcast announcement.
[S1: A Plenary Session is about to convene. All Council Members must be present.]
A Plenary Session?
What had happened to warrant mandating all council members to attend?
Even though he desperately needed to complete the codenames and profiles of the remaining mysterious councillors, Shi Rang couldn't click into this link.
He could not appear at the same time as Council Member 10, otherwise the lie that Dump Truck was an alt account for S10 - "The Typhoon" would instantly be exposed.
They must be discussing something major. The Bureau hadn't launched any large-scale operations recently. Could the reason for requiring full attendance be... the motive behind The Bureau's impending strike against the Black Assembly?
'Please don't delete the meeting minutes afterward,' he thought. He still wanted to see what was going on!
Shi Rang lost all interest in writing his intelligence report. He waited anxiously outside for several minutes until he finally saw the notification that the meeting minutes had been generated. Confirming it was safe, he immediately slipped into the record.
[Communication Established]
[Attendees: 11. Meeting permitted to begin.]
S12 - The Piper: Our operation against the Black Assembly was a step too late. Our undercover agent was confirmed lost 5 minutes ago. I believe it is necessary for everyone to review this intelligence. Previous tips have been verified as true. The Divine Entity they faithfully believe in, the "Day of Arrival", has arrived early.