WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 287: Sacramento (2)

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The conversation ended after a little over ten minutes. Once they reached regional command, there would be a briefing anyway.

The task force, having moved north, entered Woodland, another city west of Sacramento. Fighting was still going on here too, but it was not especially intense. As a result, the main roads crossing the city center were already under U.S. military control.

The external observation screen Gyeoul was watching showed the scenery of an old residential district. Since it was a residential city adjoining the wider metropolitan area, even its downtown consisted of neighborhoods. Fortified houses and fluttering Stars and Stripes could be seen here and there. Reports said they were steadily expanding the occupied zone in Sacramento as well, the main battlefield, by securing intermediate strongholds in the same way.

One notable feature was the earth-colored cast over the city. It was the result of a harsh summer beneath a dry sky. At times, a stinging sand wind even blew. For the Department of Agriculture, recovery costs must have been a mountain of worry, but for the Department of Defense, it was welcome news.

Lieutenant Evans asked,

"Sir. May I get some air for a moment?"

Gyeoul told him he could.

"If everyone else is all right with it."

It was not a combat situation, so there was no need to stay shut inside the vehicle, but the problem was the hot air that would pour in through the open hatch. The other staff officers, however, nodded readily.

"I don't mind. We will be there soon anyway."

Captain Singh's approval, speaking for the others, was Lieutenant Evans's salvation.

The command armored vehicle had several upper hatches. Two in the rear, one on the central turret, and one over the driver's seat. Since they were opening them anyway, Gyeoul opened a hatch too and sat on the warm armor plate.

The heat did not bother him much. That was thanks to his steady strengthening of 「Environmental Adaptation」. A correction that reduced penalties caused by the environment. This, too, had a realm of genius. In this case, it meant innate temperature resistance. A person born once in a thousand, or once in ten thousand, who did not feel heat or cold very strongly.

'My combat ability has reached its limit anyway. If I really wanted to raise it, it wouldn't be impossible, but...'

The control personality evaluated all of Gyeoul's interactions. That included unit command. In other words, by now he had accumulated enough system-level experience, enough to break into unexplored territory in combat techniques.

But when it came to 「Firearms Mastery」, that meant only a single stage. The higher a skill grade rose, the more exponentially demanding the cost became. That was true of corrections in general. All the more so when it was no longer the realm of genius, but the realm of the superhuman.

The opportunity cost he would have to give up to strengthen superhuman shooting by one stage was the combined sum of dozens of enhancement corrections, including genius-level 「Map Navigation」, genius-level 「Memorization」, and others that could be improved up to the limits of humanity.

The degree varied, but by now all his other combat skills had reached practical limits. In most cases, that meant the limit of humanity, or a level just barely beyond it.

So Gyeoul made a realistic choice. If this were still a world where order had collapsed, that would be one thing. Now, however, it was time for a different kind of strength.

The small city soon fell behind them. They passed through the northern part of the city, where fields, big-box stores, and factories mixed together, then raced down a road stretching straight toward the horizon. The fields and farmland, slowly turning into desert, looked as if the frontier era were reclaiming them. Overhead, the noise of jet engines passed without pause. That was because regional command was located at none other than Sacramento International Airport.

Lieutenant Evans squinted up at the sunlit sky.

"Seeing them circle like that, I guess they don't have enough runways."

Gyeoul also looked high into the sky. There were many large aircraft that looked, no matter how he looked at them, like civilian planes. But the U.S. Air Force insignia could be identified on their fuselages.

"They probably had no time to expand. It has only been fifteen days since the 75th Regiment secured the airport."

The original role of the 75th Regiment, the Rangers, was to seize and defend key facilities like airports first. It would only have become a proper base after that, so no matter how hard they worked, there had to be limits to expansion. To begin with, there had not even been enough time for concrete to cure.

Before long, once they crossed the bridge over the Sacramento River, the full shape of the airport came into view. Countless flags fluttered in the wind on both sides of the road leading in. They looked tidy, so they were not things that had originally been there. Beside the Stars and Stripes, the United Nations flag could also be seen.

At the checkpoint, the military police signaled for them to halt. The officer of the guard saluted Gyeoul.

"David Task Force, confirmed. Once you pass the blocking position, a lead vehicle will join you."

But the officer's expression as they looked at Gyeoul felt a little strange. It was not dislike. Rather, an odd fear and wariness seemed to have settled beneath tense goodwill.

Gyeoul had felt the same thing at the FOB in Davis, which he had just left. That, too, had come from the military police.

'Has word already spread this far...?'

The trigger was the measure taken regarding Major Ju Wei.

From the military police's perspective, it must have been bewildering. Gyeoul had warned the military police Ensign. Then, the very next day, a request for cooperation, or something beyond that, had come in from the Central Intelligence Agency.

Or they might only have learned about the incident after receiving the request for cooperation. That was actually more likely. There was no rule saying the military police Ensign had to report the matter.

Either way, it was only natural to think there was some connection between Gyeoul's request and the Intelligence Agency's request. Whether Gyeoul had made the request himself, or the Intelligence Agency had been watching Gyeoul, the military police could not help feeling uneasy about it. Even if they came away with the impression that Gyeoul had tried to resolve an internal military problem through outside power, he had no excuse. To some degree, it was true.

'Still... that was the best option. The military police couldn't do anything about property matters.'

For her sake, when she had seemed so unstable, a clear change was better.

The armored vehicle followed the lead vehicle through the middle of an unfamiliar language. It was the camp of an allied force using equipment identical to the U.S. military's. Soldiers standing by the roadside pointed at Gyeoul and made a loud fuss.

A little later, they passed another allied force's camp. This time, though, there was a clear difference in equipment. The stink of unwashed bodies hung in the air as well. The entire encampment was stained with poverty. The soldiers on this side were plainly exhausted. Not physically, but mentally.

"I feel sorry for them when I see people like that."

Lieutenant Foster had climbed up opposite Evans at some point.

"How much money does the government-in-exile have...? Or how much of it are they spending? The people allocating the budget would say they are preparing for the future, but what about those people, who might not even have a tomorrow? Sacrifice always falls to the soldiers who obey orders."

Governments-in-exile did not spend money even when they had it. They felt no gratitude for the soldiers' sacrifices. That controversy was still ongoing. For media outlets hostile to refugees, it was perfect material.

Leaving governments aside, people like that really did exist. People who asked whether that was not simply what soldiers were supposed to do. People who said no one had forced them to become soldiers, and since they had chosen to become soldiers themselves, why were they acting proud about fulfilling their duty?

One might think countries with conscription would be an exception, but they were not.

With no one adding much else, the gloomy scene passed by as well. After the hangars, their destination, about five minutes farther on, was the airport's main building. A military police officer got out of the stopped lead vehicle. In front of Gyeoul, who jumped down from the top plate of the armored vehicle, and the staff officers who came out after him, the officer indicated the direction with an open hand.

"I will guide you. This way."

Gyeoul and the staff officers were supposed to go to the briefing room prepared on the first floor. The interior was crowded with people. Reinforcements who had just arrived by air could be seen sitting in rows on the floor.

The briefing room had originally been the sort of space some travel agency might have used as an office and reception counter.

Gyeoul saluted Major General Rogers. He was sitting in the seat of honor, angled toward the semicircular arrangement of chairs. Everyone who had arrived before them, including the Major General, returned Gyeoul's salute.

"It has been a while since I saw you in person."

"Yes, sir."

"Sit here."

A voice without emotion. The Major General, who was offering him a nearby seat in the front row, showed no pleasure at seeing him. It was not that he particularly disliked Gyeoul. He treated everyone the same. Gyeoul was actually relieved that nothing had changed. If Rogers had changed, Gyeoul would have been left wondering why.

They had arrived a little early, so light small talk flowed among the attendees. Some glanced at Gyeoul, but there was a gap between him and the others. Seats for people who had not arrived yet.

Major General Rogers, who had been looking at the map like a still life, suddenly asked a question.

"Major Han. Are you personally acquainted with Major General Strickland?"

"...Sir?"

"He asked after you."

Major General Strickland? As Gyeoul searched his memory for a moment, his improved 「Memorization」 correction helped him.

"Would that be the same person as Brigadier General Strickland, who commanded Vandenberg Air Force Base?"

"Yes. He has now been promoted to deputy commander of Mobility Command."

"..."

Gyeoul could not answer readily. Understandably so. It was hard to say he knew him. The Brigadier General, who had looked like a dry tree branch, had come to see the face of the youngest war hero, had truly done nothing but look at him quietly, and then had gotten an autograph for his daughter. "Autograph." The image of the taciturn general demanding it with that single word came to mind.

'Similar... no, maybe not.'

He had really only met Strickland briefly, but Strickland's silence was very different in nature from Rogers's taciturnity.

"Why no answer?"

Rogers's voice, asking again, was so flat it almost sounded calm. Gyeoul apologized.

"I am sorry. The question was difficult to answer."

"Difficult?"

"Yes. I did meet him briefly before, but it was truly brief. Timewise, I remember it being less than fifteen minutes. So it falls far short of calling us acquainted."

"Hm. Exactly when was that?"

"When I was assigned to San Francisco."

"For Operation Fair Strike?"

"Yes."

"Was Major General Strickland meeting you also part of the operation?"

At this point, it began to feel strange. Major General Rogers was someone who did even things that seemed unnecessary because they were necessary. Why was he prying like this? The other task force commanders who were seated had also stopped their own conversations and were looking puzzled.

For now, with no way to know what Rogers was thinking, Gyeoul answered honestly.

"No. He only came to get an autograph."

"...An autograph?"

"He said it was for his daughter."

Kheh. A small laugh burst from outside his field of view. Then came the sense of it being hurriedly suppressed. Rogers did not even glance that way. He slowly studied Gyeoul, then spoke as if confirming.

"Judging by your reaction, it seems you also did not know Alamo 1 was his daughter."

"...Yes. I did not know."

Who would have thought she was a soldier? If it was Alamo 1, she was the flight lead of Alamo 3, Captain Pelletier.

"I see."

Major General Rogers turned it over in his mind and nodded once more.

"I see. A coincidence, then. It means this was not another part of your backing."

"..."

Only now did Gyeoul finally understand Rogers's intent. Major General Rogers had somehow learned about what happened with the military police and was concerned about it. Major General Strickland had probably only passed on greetings after hearing about him from Alamo's flight lead, but from Major General Rogers's perspective, it must have felt like too much of a coincidence.

The room seemed confused. Apparently they still did not know the circumstances.

If Rogers was going to talk about something like this, would it not have been better to arrange a private meeting?

Gyeoul thought that, but then reached the conclusion that if the rumor was going to spread anyway, it might be better to remove room for controversy in advance. Rogers was competent enough for that.

He said,

"It must be hard for you too."

"I don't understand what you mean, sir."

"...We will talk about this later. If the opportunity comes."

Ending the conversation, the Major General looked at his watch and muttered, "They are late." The scheduled meeting time had not arrived yet, but to a strict commander, arriving a little early was only proper.

========== Author's Note ==========

#Q&A

Q. dhsde: @ Since clearing the Days after Apocalypse world only requires lowering the probability of humanity going extinct, is an ending possible where intelligent mutants coexist with humans by raising them as livestock, or by not bothering to wipe out the extremely few humans left and simply leaving them alone? Or would it be possible for a paid DLC user to control the mutants with something like a super-science package and see an ending where humans and mutants coexist?

A. The only reason mutants would raise humans would be to secure hosts, but since mutants already have better reproductive ability than humans, there is no need for them to do that. They also have no reason to stop attacking humans. Mutant domination using DLC is partially possible.

Q. 14C2A58H2: @ Just as bacteria or fungi generally need some degree of moisture to be preserved, the infection complex cannot last long under normal conditions either. And I suppose it seeps in without a wound, like dyeing fingernails with balsam flowers. @ More importantly, when will our hero, the Star Child, rescue heroine Gyeoul-gun? Rescue Gaeul and Gyeoul from the clutches of the evil villains.

A. No. Infection is possible only if there is a wound. / Assuming that does happen, how far would the Star Child judge someone to be a villain?

Q. Strawberry Munch Munch: @ Why an automatic shotgun? We have the historic double-barrel shotgun.

A. You would need unusually high skill to deal with fast, small targets using that. Many firearms experts say shotguns are unsuitable for self-defense.

Q. KTH: @ Which happens first, humanity eradicating the plague, or the plague evolving and eradicating humanity... It feels like that game Plague Inc... / @ The mutants seem extremely mutable. If individuals with wings that can launch Infection Protrusions appear later, humanity is basically done. They would cause bird strikes on helicopters and planes, and against unarmored ground troops, they would hit and run like a wolfpack... If their bodily fluids also turn acidic, armored forces would melt too.

A. As I answered someone else before, armored vehicles that have undergone acid-resistant coating do not take damage from a Deadler's explosion. However, it would take a great deal of time for every vehicle to receive coating.

In the case of flying individuals, their opponents would be fighter jets and helicopters. When they first appear as special mutants, their flight performance(?) would inevitably be poor, so proving effective against a full-scale air force would be close to impossible. Even one anti-aircraft gun would be enough. Also, the bird strike you mentioned is close to impossible. They would need acceleration and turning ability on the same level as a surface-to-air missile.

Footnotes:

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