WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 265: Valley of Death (11)
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About half a day later, Gyeoul received a summons. He was to join the response headquarters at Calpine 6. He was not being called to sit at the negotiation table, only to attend as a witness and advisor. He was fluent in Chinese, and he was the only person who had ever seen Yang Yongbin Shangjiang, even if only from a distance.
The mutants had not attacked, but moving dozens of kilometers through mountain terrain by land was still dangerous. A transport helicopter sent by command landed in front of the Aidlin Geothermal Plant.
“I’m here to pick you up, Major!”
The pilot who went out of his way to climb down and salute was a familiar face.
“What a shame! It would have been nice to meet again when things were quieter! Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant!”
With the engine still roaring, they both had to raise their voices. The lieutenant laughed at Gyeoul’s words. Malcolm Krueger. He was an Army Aviation officer who had escaped with him from Fort Baker in San Francisco. It seemed everyone who had played a major role in the escape had been promoted by one rank. He gestured toward the open passenger compartment.
“Please get in quickly! I don’t know the details, but I heard the situation is urgent!”
“Just a moment!”
After asking the urging pilot for a little time, Gyeoul turned to his executive officer.
“Captain! Are you sure you’ll be all right? If it’s too much, leave it to Lieutenant Foster!”
Captain Singh had a bandage wrapped around one arm. The sweat on the captain’s forehead was probably from the sting of the burn. After the battle last night, Captain Singh had taken stimulants to stay awake with a clear head, and painkillers could not be used at the same time. Gyeoul had originally planned to let the captain rest as soon as battlefield cleanup was over.
“No problem! You saw the aerial reconnaissance results! Please go without worrying!”
The bearded face was stern and firm. Gyeoul watched for a moment, then nodded and boarded the helicopter.
The passengers already inside saluted while seated. They were Rangers he had never seen before. Were they escorts, or an infiltration unit prepared for emergencies? Maybe both. After fastening his belt, Gyeoul put on the headset hanging behind the seat, following the Ranger officer’s silent shout and hand gesture. It was for onboard communication.
[Sir. Kaplin, Ranger Regiment reconnaissance Company Team 3.]
Gyeoul held out his hand.
“Then you must know Lieutenant Palmer.”
Lieutenant Kaplin shook his hand lightly and gave a broad nod.
[I heard Lieutenant Palmer met you in the Russian River basin, and I was jealous. Looks like I don’t need to be anymore.]
Lieutenant Palmer had been one of the hunters deployed in Operation Preventive Scalping alongside Gyeoul. Palmer was the Ranger Gyeoul had met at the civilian stronghold in the Russian River basin with Captain Long of Green Beret Alpha Team. Gyeoul remembered the girl who had hugged a teddy bear and made the Green Berets uncomfortable.
[Did you happen to see that video?]
“I saw it.”
[Do you also know it’s been deleted now?]
At Lieutenant Kaplin’s words, Gyeoul took out his Net Warrior terminal. The signal came in clean and strong. From this distance, one or two sources of jamming would not have been strange. Even during the defensive battle that continued until dawn, radio communication had not been difficult. Back then, he had thought it was simply because of the folds in the terrain, but the cunning special mutants seemed to be keeping an excessive distance.
‘There’s no guarantee they always understand human weapons and strategy accurately.’
It was only his own guess, but their rapidly shrinking numbers would have been more than enough to make the Tricksters overestimate human tracking and attack methods. Homing Missiles that had been used again and again, for instance, or triangulation of transmission points. Now that they had practically given up on attacking, preserving their numbers was probably their most important task.
Gyeoul put aside his thoughts, searched the intranet, and soon tilted his head.
“Lieutenant, it’s still up.”
[That can’t be...]
Kaplin operated the terminal, looking flustered. Maybe Kaplin had been deployed on another mission until just before being called in, because the combat uniform and old terminal were covered in dirt and dust. Along with a faint smell of oil, the sharp smell of sweat stung Gyeoul’s nose. It was worse in the cramped cabin.
[Huh, you’re right. Strange. It wasn’t on the list earlier.]
Kaplin looked confused. The intranet page the lieutenant was checking had a different address from the one Gyeoul had checked.
Seeing this, another team member operated their own terminal. Even after Operation Manifest Liberation failed, the U.S. Army still had more than ten million personnel, and it was expanding even at this moment, so the entire Army could not be issued military smartphones. But the Rangers had been the first beneficiaries of the Net Warrior program, so there was nothing strange about it.
On top of that, the Ranger Regiment reconnaissance Company was also a main force, Tier 1, of Special Operations Command.
Soon, the team member reached the same page and pointed something out.
[Team leader. Look at the upload time. It was reuploaded just four seconds ago.]
[What? Four seconds?]
The lieutenant asked again, and the team member seemed to realize how strange that sounded. The member’s expression grew serious.
Gyeoul hit refresh. A warning appeared, saying the address did not exist. But when he returned to the list, a file with the same name was at the very top. The upload time was two seconds ago.
‘No way...’
When he hit refresh again, this time a message appeared saying access itself had been blocked. The other pages registered in favorites followed the same pattern one after another. The only addresses still working were pages without an upload function, such as the Welfare Support Group’s online store.
[What the hell is this? Did the Chinese bastards pull something?]
Another team member challenged the lieutenant’s muttered words.
[Would those bastards, who were basically maritime refugees, even have the ability?]
[Then what is this? The whole network’s paralyzed.]
[The top must’ve cut it off. To block people from viewing the video. As for the upload time... maybe it glitched because too many people watched it? You know how game servers crash when the number of users explodes.]
It was an inadequate theory. Yang Yongbin Shangjiang would have wanted as many people as possible to see the video, so there was no reason to block page access. That meant access had probably been cut off by decision of the U.S. military authorities.
[What do you think, sir?]
Gyeoul answered Kaplin’s question by confirming the concern.
“Access being blocked is probably command’s decision, but I think there’s a high chance the video continuing to upload is a cyberattack. There was also a Chinese military intelligence support ship in San Francisco.”
[Ha.]
The Ranger lieutenant sighed, dumbfounded.
[Come to think of it, Major, you were in the same sea as those terrorists.]
It was the team member who had been watching Gyeoul with curiosity for a while.
[Did you ever see that motherfucker in person?]
The wording was rough in front of a superior. So were the expression and tone. But it was not because of disrespect toward Gyeoul. It was an expression of rage and hostility that could not be suppressed. The details of Operation Fair Strike, the pursuit of Changcheng 9, might not have been known, but no American was unaware of who had carried out the nuclear attack that killed 1.6 million service members. Until now, though, only the name had been known.
To Gyeoul, the Ranger scout’s boiling emotion felt endlessly ominous.
“...I had one chance to see the general during a mission.”
[You should’ve just killed the bastard.]
“It wasn’t that kind of situation.”
A long explanation was unnecessary. The team member pressed their lips shut with a furious face. They, too, would know well the nature of secret operations, where there were many things that could not be spoken of. They were a member of the Ranger Regiment reconnaissance Company, sometimes called Baby D because of its similarity to Delta Force, the Special Operations Command Delta detachment.
Gyeoul wondered whether to point out the team member’s anger, but in the end he did not open his mouth.
‘This isn’t something I can fix by persuading a few people.’
If his guess was right, that anger itself was Yang Yongbin Shangjiang’s goal. How many service members, NCOs, and officers were boiling over at this very moment?
Command was blocking access, but it did not seem likely to have much effect. Even among the units managing the network, there would be people trembling with public fury. There would also be more than a few who had downloaded it after seeing it keep getting deleted. In the end, that short, crude video, that deadly poison, would spread one way or another.
[We are landing. Passengers, please hold the handgrips tightly.]
Lieutenant Krueger’s announcement, still laced with wit at a time like this, felt out of place.
Thump. It was a rough landing meant to save time. When the door opened, a liaison officer was waiting.
“Major Han, please come this way!”
Gyeoul was guided in a different direction from the Rangers. In the direction they were heading, he saw the emblems of all kinds of special forces. There were also many helicopters waiting in the sky because there was not enough room at the landing site. It looked as if every unit under Special Operations Command was being called in at once. Too much of anything was bad, and this was proof that the higher-ups were also shaken by the situation.
A group waiting on supply crates near the landing site was dressed rather freely. Their camouflage colors did not match, and neither did their gear. But Gyeoul detected a 「Threat Level」 sharp enough to feel cutting.
The people who spotted Gyeoul, DEVGRU, saluted him first from a distance. The mood was not friendly. After receiving his return salute, one of them looked at Gyeoul and blew out cigar smoke.
Like Aidlin, where Gyeoul’s mission unit was stationed, Calpine 6 was a geothermal plant. It was also the closest stronghold to Calpine 5, which Yang Yongbin Shangjiang had seized. When Gyeoul entered the facility where response headquarters had been set up, he felt a chill as if the season had changed. Part of it was the air-conditioning, but more than that, it was the atmosphere.
The room was full of people senior to Gyeoul. There were also many who did not look like soldiers. All of them stopped what they were doing and paid their respects. It was the treatment given to a Medal of Honor recipient.
Gyeoul saluted the monitor with proper posture. The video conference system was connected to the White House.
[At ease, Major. I’d like to speak with you, but I’m sorry the situation isn’t good.]
Maybe because of the distance from D.C., there was a slight gap between President MacMillan’s voice and the shape of his mouth.
On another monitor, he could also see the four-star general, Blockade Commander General Terrence Schroeder. Besides them, there were screens connected to the Department of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Army Intelligence and Security Command, the CIA, the FBI, and more. The members of response headquarters seemed confused too, because they had stuck labels on them. It was as if response headquarters existed both here and in Washington, D.C. at the same time.
‘It’s good that they’re responding quickly, but...’
Gyeoul worried there might be too many hands on the wheel.
One person in a suit assigned Gyeoul a seat.
“I’m Brock Hunt from the Department of Homeland Security. From now on, Major, you’ll help me.”
There was no detailed introduction. Everyone was busy with their own work. The noise of calls connected through every kind of channel was as loud as a crowded marketplace. Gyeoul raised his voice a little and spoke.
“I’m not sure what I can do. Unless I’m being deployed for a sweep operation.”
“That, of all things, would be impossible, wouldn’t it?”
As if Hunt had heard something absurd, the Department of Homeland Security official gave a stiff smile.
“We are dealing with madmen right now. The facility may be covered in explosives, so how could we send someone like you in? Combat ability isn’t everything, Major.”
“That was what I meant.”
“...Hmm.”
Hunt looked at him with curiosity, goodwill, and a quiet coldness, then opened a laptop in front of Gyeoul and handed him a headset.
“Plug this in first.”
After putting on the headset, Gyeoul realized the screens on the laptop were being transmitted in real time. The low-resolution footage cut in little jerks. It came from a camera mounted at someone’s chest height, and the conversations between the people in the video were impossible to understand after joining midway through.
Gyeoul pointed at the screen.
“What is this showing?”
“That’s the negotiation team that will be dispatched first. And this tab...”
Click, click. With two clicks, Hunt switched screens to footage of the DEVGRU members Gyeoul had passed earlier checking their uniforms and equipment. On the briefing panel behind them were interior diagrams and photos of the Calpine 5 plant, the enemy’s expected deployment, infiltration routes, and other information. The sound flowing through the headset receiver also changed to the DEVGRU members’ conversation.
“Major Han’s job is to advise.”
“Advise?”
“Whatever it is, just say whatever comes to mind in the moment. Anything you think might help. If there’s nothing, you can just watch until the end.”
“...Is that really fine?”
“I’ve read the Fair Strike mission report too. Neither I nor the higher-ups are expecting some great help. We called Major Han in just in case, because you seem like the one who knows the most about those people.”
“...”
“First, the negotiation team will be dispatched, and if things don’t go well, the strike team will infiltrate. If the records I read are accurate, I believe you’re more than capable of advising on either negotiations or tactics. So don’t feel too burdened. Watch with a calm mind. If your head freezes from tension, even thoughts that would have come to you won’t.”
Gyeoul let out a short sigh. It was not because of the pressure, but because of the murderous faces of the DEVGRU members on the screen. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.” It was one of the team members speaking.
========== Author’s Note ==========
#Medicine_Wearing_Off
So the effect of the kiss scene has finally worn off... sob sob.
I was happy for a while watching the view count. Thank you for your support.
#Q&A
Q. Eeiko: @Author, you got hit by a Chinese ship once while passing through the South China Sea, right?
A. Not that, but I have been caught in a Chinese fishing boat’s net before.
Q. Ryujianne: @In a parallel world full of childlike innocence, I feel like this would end with Gyeoul personally stabbing that ampoule into his own arm...
A. No, why won’t you believe me when I say happy ending... Some people say they get even more nervous because I keep saying happy ending... I never knew the author’s credibility was this low... sob.
Q. NeungnyeokSkyey: @So it really was China behind it, huh, shudder shudder shudder. Phew, every single chapter is so immersive. Thank you.
A. We still don’t know whether that is true or not. I think the prophet readers have already guessed what Yang Yongbin Shangjiang is thinking.
Q. Qvex: @It’s obviously a bluff no matter who sees it, but I’m bothered by the citizens and next presidential candidates who might take this seriously or knowingly use it. I hope the current president makes a bold decision late in his second term...
A. There was also a part about how people believe what they want to believe with regard to the prophecies of Catholic saints. As for what that has to do with this... um, hehe...
Q. LewdDemonF: @Like the cruise ship bastard said last time, because Gyeoul exists, he himself is the monster on the stage. Since Gyeoul already heard that in the meeting, this time Yang Yongbin will fall as the monster.
A. Well, I wonder...
Q. Sigyun: @Author, I love you!
A. You love me? Get in line.
Q. Calpis: @The reaction to this chapter: Finaaaally, it’s here.
A. “People are scarier than zombies” is a classic development in zombie apocalypse novels. But I promise it will be very different from how it is commonly portrayed! Please read without worry!
Q. spadeace: @But the general is the person who fired the nukes, and still got all the way there after breaking through coastal defense, the blockade line, and the heat wave?!
A. Related details will come up in the next chapter, but to put it simply... it would be strange to do something like that without expecting retaliation, wouldn’t it?
Q. rumen: Discharge due to duty injury -> medical discharge
A. Fixed. Thank you.
Q. Strawberry Munch Munch: @Is it just me, or does it feel like the moment the author’s Steam ID is revealed, game gifts will start flying everywhere? haha
A. That won’t happen. My ID is already public. Haha.
Q. qgegegqe: @A character I thought was just an extra came back and dropped a huge clue. First, let’s check whether it’s real.
A. Yes, you’ll have to.
Q. AntiChrist: @If the author wants a summer vacation, I have no choice but to block that vacation like Gandalf blocking the Balrog. This is all the karma of the author who trained my brain with childlike innocence.
A. Yes... anyway, the beginning of autumn has already passed, so it’s autumn now. A summer vacation can’t exist for me... no, wait, does that mean I can go on an autumn vacation...
Q. Dipeulleon: @Chills... If that ampoule the general is holding is real... the refugee zone is going to become a complete mess. Gyeoul is going to suffer.
A. Whether it’s real or not doesn’t matter when it comes to making a mess.
Q. Dapiryoeopda: @(Omitted) Did the opening change by any chance? I don’t remember if it was another novel or Ossuary, but I remember an opening roughly like, human civilization had practically collapsed because of nuclear war, people were only surviving through air-raid shelters and such that each had prepared in advance, and the protagonist survived as a streamer by receiving electricity like star balloons. I keep wondering, really keep wondering, whether I confused this novel with another novel or whether you changed it, so I’m asking, sob sob. (Omitted)
A. kimtw9742: Dapiryoeopda, that’s a novel called I Am an Item.
Footnotes:
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