Translator: Legge
No one knew why the Wang Consortium’s special forces had suddenly appeared in the occupied territory. The surface of the lake was pristine as a mirror.
The pattern on the computer screen fluctuated between intense and calm.
Silently, the dozens of Wang Consortium soldiers in their diving gear put on their diving goggles and prepared to jump into the water from the side of the lake.
But at this moment, a patrol car suddenly approached them quickly. The spotlight on the vehicle lit up.
At almost the same time, the special forces all stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at the oncoming vehicle. Their reactions were so orderly it was terrifying.
It was like they were all wired together like machines.
But they were real people.
When the patrol car came to a stop next to the lake, two Wang Consortium soldiers jumped out of the vehicle and shone their flashlights at the special forces. “Tell us who you are!”
As he spoke, the other patrol soldier at the back cocked his automatic rifle.
Stronghold 73 had become occupied territory of the Wang Consortium. While it was occupied, wartime regulations were implemented. These patrol guards were the new garrison troops of this stronghold.
The commander of the special forces raised his hands and walked over slowly. “Military ID 1471, don’t shoot. We’re friendlies carrying out a mission.”
The commander of the special forces spoke to the point and revealed his identity.
A soldier from the patrol squad was surprised. “I know you all. You were included in the list of the troops that entered Stronghold 73 to carry out the reorganization work, but there was no mention you would be conducting a mission here.”
“Since you know which unit we belong to, you should know the confidentiality level of our mission,” the special forces’ commander calmly replied. “Please put down your guns and don’t point at your comrades.”
However, this explanation did not convince the patrolling guards. The two of them looked at each other before one guard suddenly said, “Show me your clearance documents again. I’ll report this matter to the higher-ups. Please calm down and wait for confirmation from the command center at the front line.”
“OK.” The special forces’ commander nodded and said, “I’ll get someone to hand you the documents.”
He waved to the rear and a hardy-looking soldier trotted over. His sturdy combat boots rattled the ground as he moved.
The special forces operator handed a folder to his superior. The commander untied the string around it and walked towards the patrolling guards. “Here, these are our documents.”
But when he was just a step away from them, he quickly took out a short and sharp black combat knife from inside the folder.
Blood started gushing through the special forces’ commander’s face as silvery patterns appeared on it. Some kind of power was quickly gathering before being unleashed.
In the blink of an eye, the commander of the special forces slashed his dagger across the patrolling soldiers’ necks and severed their tracheas and arteries. The patrolling guards did not even have a chance to fire a warning shot.
As the patrolling guards fell to the ground, a few special forces operators nearby split off to handle the scene. Meanwhile, their commander returned right to the lakeside.
A soldier took out a brand new set of diving gear and put it on for him. Then he tied a sealed, black steel bottle around the commander’s outer thigh.
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All of this was still being carried out without a sound as though someone had silently given them the order. In an instant, 40 soldiers in diving gear jumped into the water with spearguns slung over their backs.
Spearguns were pneumatic weapons, and such lethal weapons were extremely effective even when hunting large sea creatures underwater.
In the dark, the spotlights on their propulsion thrusters were switched on. 40 white fluorescent lights glowed in the water like large silvery fish as they swam quickly towards the center of the lake.
Everyone had a calm expression on their face, and some bubbles would only occasionally appear from their oxygen masks.
A second later, the special forces’ commander turned off the power of his thruster and started to slowly sink to the bottom of the lake. With aid from the lights, he could even see the ruins of the East Lake Tunnel.
Suddenly, he drew a dagger from his belt and slashed himself on the forearm.
The blood started blending into the lake water. If this were a river, the blood would have attracted schools of omnivorous fish.
But not here in the waters of East Lake. The special forces’ commander quietly used the propulsion thruster’s light to scan the vicinity. All of East Lake was like a pool of standing water, and not a single fish could be seen swimming around.
The East Lake was not a stagnant body of water but a lake formed by overflowing rivers congested with silt.
Moreover, before the cave-in at East Lake, this was a hot spot for anglers. It was only after the cave-in that this place gradually became strange.
A moment later, the commander of the special forces spun around and looked to his left. At the same time, he swept his propulsion thruster’s light over.
The water in the lake was oppressive, and a huge shadow was rapidly approaching. This was the true apex predator of the freshwater ecosystem in this era of the wastelands.
The special forces’ commander did not panic. As danger approached, he just stood on the bottom of the lake quietly and waited for it to arrive.
In the instant before the predator was about to reach him, the soldiers hiding in the lake pulled the triggers of their spearguns simultaneously on both sides.
Sharp spears shot out from the barrels with a rope attached to their tails that acted like an anchor.
The 40 spearguns hit their target at the same time, and the predator in the water suddenly started struggling violently.
The special forces commander who was standing in the water kicked his feet forward. His skin lit up with silvery patterns as he flew towards the predator like a spear.
While gliding, he removed the black steel bottle tied to the outer part of his right thigh with his right hand and pressed down on the side of the bottle with his thumb. Immediately, a needle appeared at the top of the bottle.
At the same time, the special forces’ commander arrived at the creature’s stomach and stabbed the needle into it.
A silvery liquid metal quickly entered the predator’s body and rapidly made its way to the creature’s brain through its bloodstream.
These were the nanomachines, while the special forces responsible for transporting them were all nanosoldiers.
Gradually, the predator stopped struggling and calmed down. In fact, if the nanosoldiers were even a little late in their execution, they would probably have gotten buried at the bottom of the lake. That was because this predator was even more terrifying than expected.
The special forces’ commander propelled himself forward with his swim fins and came to the head of the creature to observe it carefully.
It was a catfish with six barbels that had mutated for unknown reasons. It was a carnivorous and ferocious freshwater fish.
After getting enough intel, all of the nanosoldiers in the water started swimming towards the surface of the lake.. Meanwhile, a silvery glow suddenly appeared in the eyes of the six-barbeled catfish.