WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 266: Valley of Death (12)

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The number of strike teams preparing for the attack grew with every passing moment. There were three Majors alone, each armed to the same level as the operators. With maps and monitors spread out before them and comm devices on, they traded opinions and raised voices. Though they held the same rank as Gyeoul, they were field commanders who would each infiltrate by a different route, and in practice, they were treated as his superiors.

A colonel from the same unit supervised the operation from the rear. A question came over the comm network. The voice was unfamiliar to Gyeoul, but judging by the colonel’s reaction, it belonged to someone far above him.

[Is the footage from inside the power plant still not ready? I believe we’re past the scheduled time.]

[Please wait a little longer. The work is taking more time because they’re keeping the noise down.]

The view on the main screen changed. A reconnaissance aircraft passing over the power plant showed the work the colonel had mentioned. Black, the DEVGRU team responsible for search and reconnaissance, was attached to seven points on the power plant’s outer wall, drilling holes. According to the blueprints, these were places where no one was likely to be on the other side of the wall. The screen zoomed in and out again and again. At maximum zoom, the resolution was high enough to show the pores on one operator’s face.

No Chinese soldiers disguised as U.S. troops were visible nearby. Since U.S. forces had surrounded the site, they seemed to be wary of snipers. The lure beacon was off. Even if it had been on, there would have been no threat.

The drill fixed to the wall slowly ate deeper. Beads of sweat formed on the forehead of the operator handling it. To conceal the work, other units forming the perimeter created as much natural noise as possible. Building positions was noisy by nature anyway.

At last, the operator who had drilled through immediately covered the hole with a hand. It was to prevent even the slightest chance of light leaking through and giving them away. At that operator’s hand signal, another brought over a bag. When the case opened, it revealed a coiled inspection camera cable, a monitor, a controller, and a repeater. It was basically similar to an endoscope, but its functions were quite different. A microphone was attached to the tip as well.

[Point 1. Camera going in.]

The operator connected the cable to the controller, then slowly pushed the opposite end, the one with the lens, into the hole. In the situation room, they could watch the satellite feed, aerial reconnaissance, the insertion process, and the feed from the camera entering the interior all at once.

At first, the camera cable’s video looked as if it were passing through a dark tunnel. Then, at last, it showed the dim interior.

The operator holding the controller pressed the directional buttons. Then the camera-mounted cable, surprisingly, began moving on its own like a living thing.

Gyeoul thought it looked like a large, thick horsehair worm.

‘Artificial muscle?’

It looked as if artificial muscle had been embedded in the cable coating. It contracted when electricity ran through it.

Each time the angle changed, carefully installed booby traps came into view. Tripwire-linked grenades, Claymores, plastic explosive, and more. The discovered traps were added to the operational map in real time, with a slight delay. But the most shocking device was something else.

[Damn. What the hell is that!]

Whoever had sworn, the words spoke for everyone there. Gyeoul also let out a sigh.

It was the remains of a Trickster, with electrodes stabbed into its shoulder blades.

As if arranged by some twisted taste, its limbs had been spread and fixed in place like the crucified Jesus.

Then again, there was no rule saying only mutants could go around collecting mutant corpses. They were not that hard to find either. All one had to do was search the places where U.S. bombs had fallen. Or perhaps they had carried out their own hunt.

The Chinese soldiers who appeared now and then were wearing gas masks. Not because there was toxic gas indoors, but probably as a precaution in case America prioritized securing the pathogen over hostage rescue. Of course, now that the video had spread, that possibility was vanishingly low, but to Shangjiang Yang Yongbin, this was the final gambit of his life. He would not ignore even the smallest chance.

“This is going to turn into one hell of an ugly fight.”

Hunt muttered beside him. Gyeoul agreed. How many remains like that, how many traps like that, were there? Even without Trickster remains, there were other ways to create a localized EMP. Run a powerful current through a coil, or blow up a live coil. Either way, that place was a power plant. The moment a firefight broke out indoors, every piece of electronic equipment and every communication line would obviously be paralyzed.

‘Securing the pathogen or rescuing the hostages will be out the window, of course...’

Once again, Gyeoul worried about the anger of the DEVGRU operators, and of the U.S. military. It would become a place where uncontrollable hatred collided, friend and foe alike. Nothing but tragedy would remain.

If his guess was right, that was exactly what Shangjiang Yang Yongbin intended. It was probably only a secondary objective, but still. This was the grave he had chosen for himself.

“Can’t we reconsider deploying the strike teams?”

At Gyeoul’s question, Hunt answered quietly.

“If the negotiation succeeds, this will end without deploying them.”

“As you know, there’s no chance of success.”

“...”

Hunt fell silent, then suddenly gave a faint laugh. Naturally, Gyeoul was not the only one who thought Shangjiang Yang Yongbin’s sample was fake. But.

“I’m sorry, Major. The video has already leaked.”

This time, Gyeoul shut his mouth. It was too fast. Far too fast.

Maybe the higher-ups’ efforts to keep the secret had caused it to leak even faster.

“They say ten thousand people are gathered in front of the White House right now. These are just the people who saw it, got pissed off on the spot, and rushed out. This is only the beginning. The disaster we’re looking at, I mean.”

An executive from the Department of Homeland Security added one cynical line. “We're fucked.”

“In the middle of this, the President has ordered the National Guard deployed to protect citizens of Chinese descent. Of course, it’s the right decision. They’re citizens too. They’re America too. But the larger America, the one that’s gone mad with rage, will never accept it. No, it may be fair to say this has simply moved the beginning of the frenzy a little earlier.”

The final analysis was accurate. Even so, the President likely had no other choice. It was a poisoned cup they had to drink to fulfill their duty.

“What if I make a statement?”

At Gyeoul’s suggestion, Hunt snorted.

“Trust me, Major. I’m absolutely not trying to dismiss you, and I know very well how much the citizens love you, but at this point, your testimony would do more harm than good.”

He continued with an easy sigh.

“What are you going to say? That the pathogen that bastard has is probably fake? That this exact chain of events is what that lunatic wants?”

“I took part in Operation Fair Strike, so I think it would carry some weight.”

At a decisive moment like this, that “some” would matter. Ordinary citizens did not know the details of the classified operation to track a nuclear submarine. They only knew that Gyeoul had been there.

But Hunt answered with a muffled sneer.

“Hahaha. Look, who do you think leaked the video?”

“Well...”

Of course, it had to be someone inside the military, or someone with clearance. One person, or several. There were countless suspects. At worst, hundreds or thousands of people who did not even know each other could be accomplices. Gyeoul realized what Hunt meant. Hunt leaned closer and lowered his voice.

“That’s right. Right now, we can’t trust the military or the government. The whole country is going mad with rage! Who knows what’s inside the heads of even those polite-looking superiors? Me? You?”

He laughed at his own words.

“The Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA, the White House, the Defense Intelligence Agency... If even one person among those who know the deepest secrets of Operation Fair Strike has a loose tongue, we’re in trouble. And it would be surprising if it were only one. Ha. I’m saying it’ll come out in no time that your testimony has no basis.”

“...”

“Well, the Major is incredibly popular, so plenty of people would agree with you based on your personal opinion alone... But let’s see. What if citizens think the government is using you? What if they think the government is exploiting your weakness as a former refugee with people to protect, forcing you to act as its spokesperson? And what if certain forces, groups, and politicians starved for popularity and power jump on that public opinion? Or what if some citizens, especially people in the South, feel betrayed by you? What if that greatly reduces your usefulness? What if, in the middle of all that, it gets exposed that the Miracle of Hawthorne was actually a staged story with some editing?”

The Miracle of Hawthorne. The citizens of the city attached to the largest ammunition depot on the mainland believed that, thanks to Gyeoul hijacking a satellite, they had been saved from a direct nuclear warhead strike and survived. But Shangjiang Yang Yongbin had never wanted a direct hit in the first place.

Of course, without the satellite’s interference, the nuclear warhead would have fallen more accurately, and countless soldiers and civilians would have been swept up in nuclear fire. That much was true, regardless of the attacker’s intent.

For the citizens now, though, the mere fact that it had been edited for political reasons would have explosive force.

“Those predictions are too pessimistic.”

“But can you say they’re wrong?”

Gyeoul could not answer right away. Hunt held the public in contempt.

“Major, we know this field better. The madness of a crowd overwhelms the madness of an individual. A public that has lost its mind is chaos itself. People who believe because they want to believe, and get angry because they want to get angry. I think you’ve seen that several times already.”

His expression wiped clean, Hunt nodded with a tired motion.

“This is just my personal guess, but... in the end, they’ll use you. They’ll just choose the most effective moment. After the man-eating carnival ends, after the madness and heat of the festival die down, when people’s heads have cooled a little... In my view, the best timing is after the mainland has been retaken. That should also reduce the risk of damaging your image.”

They needed something that could bind the country together. That was the role of war heroes, Gyeoul included.

“More than anything, we can’t ignore the possibility that what he has is real. Even if it’s a one-in-a-million chance. The fate of humanity is at stake.”

The conversation ended there.

While the negotiation team and strike teams were both ready and waiting for instructions from the White House, Gyeoul looked over the newly updated information. There was also a report that vehicles abandoned by the Chinese army had been found not far away. When he brought up the photo, it showed armored vehicles covered in camouflage nets.

A little text was attached. It estimated that they had moved only at night, and that in the process, they had seized U.S. military equipment abandoned all over the area.

The basis was the difference between satellite images by date and time.

‘Before launching the nuclear missiles, he must have expected retaliation.’

Looking back, there was no way Shangjiang Yang Yongbin’s plan had ended with the nuclear attack. As far as Gyeoul knew, retaliatory capability was the core of nuclear war doctrine. If I kill you, I die. If I die, you die too.

He would also have predicted that even if America retaliated with nuclear weapons, it would not actively attack urban areas where citizens remained. Not only because of the moral burden, but because of the political burden as well. To some extent, it would have had to be left to luck, but for Shangjiang Yang Yongbin, that must have been the best option.

So what if, somewhere in the city, at a safe stronghold, he had hidden troops and equipment in advance, then Shangjiang Yang Yongbin joined them right after the nuclear attack, waited in silence for a long time, and only now, believing surveillance had loosened, escaped by land? What if the other generals he had drawn to his side were nothing but bait?

There were some gaps, but it was a hypothesis that somehow connected to the current situation. Escaping would never have been easy, but...

Had the extreme chaos caused by the failure of Operation Manifest Liberation also been within his calculations?

He could have acquired as much abandoned U.S. equipment and clothing as he wanted, scattered everywhere.

In the end, the President and the current administration would be criticized in all sorts of ways. That was inevitable.

But how could they have detected a surprise attack by a small, prepared unit, especially one that began moving covertly after waiting more than a month following the end of the crisis? They had barely had enough capacity to rescue scattered defeated soldiers and survivors. Back then, every command system and every part of the government had been saturated.

‘And people like Kramer won’t care about any of that.’

Edgar Kramer. The Republican Party’s presidential candidate. One of the possible apocalypses Gyeoul was wary of.

Gyeoul remembered the radio broadcasts he had listened to in San Francisco. Shangjiang Yang Yongbin must have listened to them as well. All the various circumstances of America. Even if they had passed through censorship, enough of the outline would have remained for him to guess.

Using information from an enemy country, Shangjiang Yang Yongbin had devised the best attack strategy he could as a soldier.

The option that maximized the possibility of America’s destruction.

War was not fought with weapons alone.

========== Author’s Note ==========

#SerialDelay

This chapter was originally sent to the editor around 4 PM yesterday, but for some reason the manuscript was not uploaded to Naver, so I could not upload it to Joara either.

What you are seeing now is a scheduled upload.

#Tomorrowland

Tunguska: I watched a movie called Tomorrowland, and there wasn’t anything especially bad about it, but there wasn’t anything good either.

Programmer friend: Hmm, how about watching a romance? People always need change.

Tunguska: Beat that bastard up.

Programmer friend: ?!

#Q&A

Q. UnlimitedOne: @A surprising number of people escaped from San Francisco. If even an intelligence support ship escaped... But the move Shangjiang Yang pulled out doesn’t look like it’s for his own sake. It looks more like he’s trying to make everyone die together.

A. Gyeoul’s intention was basically that since there was an intelligence support ship, there must have been related specialists too... I think the explanation was a little lacking.

Q. Eeiko: @Author, if a zombie outbreak happened in real life, do you think America could hold out like in the novel?

A. If it’s at the level described in ordinary zombie novels, movies, or dramas, America would hold out and then some.

If it were at Morgellons level... even then, I think there’s still a chance.

Q. 2E2: @Is the happy ending an ending where the author is happy? The readers are unhappy?

A. It’s a real happy ending where the author is happy and the readers are happy too. Please start believing me. My credibility is still higher than former President Syngman Rhee’s, isn’t it? T_T

Q. Ryujianne: @The parallel world in your head, Author. I feel like you must have imagined it at least once. Anyway, I guess we can see anti-Chinese sentiment on the viewers’ side too.

A. I swear on my fingers that I have never once imagined a parallel world where Gyeoul becomes unhappy!

Even in the ending before I revised the route, nothing bad happened to Gyeoul. When I said there was half a sadness, that was the Control AI’s share. Since everyone keeps refusing to believe me, I’ll say it: originally, there was going to be a chapter called #A Star Falls.

Q. chesspain: @Is I Am an Item fun?

A. Even if you ask me that...

Q. Calpis: @Long ago in Seal Breaker, Author wrote a scene where the protagonist picked his nose and somehow made it look cool. Please show us Gyeoul powergaming. If you don’t, I’ll curse you to dream of eating sweet-and-sour pork with no sauce.

A. I’ll just eat sweet-and-sour pork with no sauce. Hmm, that’s not bad.

Q. NothingSpecial: @I read Seal Breaker. Heil Skarlochen!

A. The forces of evil grew stronger again today...

Q. PleasePickUpSoap: @Inside this box is the sheep you want. In the next chapter is the romance you want. At the ending is the happy ending you want. I can’t tell the difference between these three sentences.

A. True, false, true! Inside the box is a heart, there is no romance in the next chapter, and at the ending there is the happy ending “all of you readers want.” That should make it clear enough, right? :(

Q. TigerOldMan: @Author, if the stupid presidential candidate gets elected, is there a chance the current President would declare martial law instead?

A. I can’t answer questions about future developments...

Q. qgegegqe: @Seeing all these special mutants made me think, if an isolated continent is left alone for a long time, could something like Evangelion or an Angel be born?

A. No way. I’ll describe the development pattern of mutants one more time later.

Q. La Cucaracha: @O great old one, in the past, during one of Gyeoul’s brief recollections, there was mention that an eta ghoul had reached the level of using short words, and that the ability to use language was intelligence. Seeing a ghoul use a gun recently, could a mutant more developed than an eta ghoul use human civilization and become stronger rapidly? Like quietly evolving on another continent that’s still peaceful, though Gyeoul wrecked North America? In the end, the key is Heil Skarlochen!!!

A. Special mutants and enhanced mutants appear according to necessity during the spread of infection.

In other words, in regions where human resistance has disappeared entirely, there is no room for additional enhanced mutants or special mutants to appear unless they spread in from another region.

Conversely, in a situation where America supports several countries, the possibility of special species specialized for those regions increases.

From a game design perspective, this is naturally occurring level scaling.

That said, even so, they absolutely cannot reach the level of seriously using civilization.

Footnotes:

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