Chapter 246 I Am Black Phantom! (1/2)
Dark clouds covered the sky, and the moon and the stars were nowhere to be seen.
The ground base was brightly lit, and columns of light tore through the surrounding darkness. The guards were searching everywhere for something, and armored vehicles rolled past one after another with their loud engines blaring through the still night. Helicopters lit up their searchlights and were searching as well, causing circles of light to cut through swaths of empty ground.
The large-scale search gave Han Xiao and Hila quite the headache. Thankfully, Hila was well acquainted with the local terrain, and they were able to avoid all the pursuing soldiers. Eventually, they hid themselves in the shadow of a metal building situated at the edge of the base as they observed the distant Germinal army formations toward the south.
The troops toward the south and the base were separated by an inclined area. Based on the duo's observation, heading straight out would just make them easy targets for the search parties. At this moment, there seemed to be some commotion toward the south, as countless lights were suddenly turned on. It was as if a miniature sun had appeared in the dark scenery.
”This is bad. They have drastically increased the personnel on the ground, and it's impossible to pass without drawing their attention. Once we're found, they will kill us all,” Hila said with a heavy voice.
The organization's forces seemed to be endless. Although they were being defeated at every turn by the Six Nations' combined army, it was still a force to be reckoned with. On the other hand, they were but two people, and trying to force their way out would be possible. They should consider some other ways to stealthily sneak away.
Han Xiao gave the massive number of troops a few glances before speaking calmly. ”Tanks, artilleries… Heh. They're basically prepared to fight a war. It's quite a feat they have pulled just to deal with us.”
”More like to deal with you. We're just addons.” Hila was expressionless, and she asked, ”Do you not have any reinforcements?”
She felt like Han Xiao definitely had some help when infiltrating the Germinal headquarters. Since that was the case, he must have arranged the extraction.
Yet Han Xiao shook his head immediately, making her feel like her heart just dropped.
”No help…” Hila could not hold it in and asked, ”Then what's your plan now? Germinal won't stop looking for us. Even if we somehow break out of this encirclement, there will still be countless pursuers after us.”
”I'll just see.” Han Xiao did not really care about it and went back to preparing his equipment.
Hila frowned. If help was not coming, then what was the point of following Han Xiao?
The one Germinal wanted was him, and her sister would be safer if they were to split up. She thought that since she had already helped him leave the headquarters, she had already returned the favor. So, it would not be immoral to suggest to split up.
For Aurora, Hila was willing to do anything.
Let's just try to get out of here first…
Hila calmed herself down, stopped paying attention to what Han Xiao was doing, and just focused on observing the troops ahead.
…
At the same time, toward the south, the large searchlights all shone on the inclined ground, and nothing could have escaped their observations. There were heavy turrets set up every fifty meters, ready to send out a wave of metal bullets on command.
Different scenes of the encirclement were all sent back to the control room back in headquarters so that the leader could control the situation in real time.
Among the troops stationed toward the south were the group of players who had been recruited by Germinal and formed into their own Inhuman squad. They were grouped up in their own camp, ready for orders. The mission to intercept Zero had not failed, and the players were astounded when they saw the large formations of Germinal troops deployed to catch Zero.
”We won't be able to help much. Isn't this basically just a free mission?”
”You're right. Maybe this is sort of like a cutscene, where we can only watch,” said Electrolux, who had also been recently recruited. Foreign players were not uncommon on Planet Aquamarine, and none thought his presence was odd. No one knew that he was actually a European spy.
”Hey. Do any of you know anything about Zero's origins?”
A player with the ID White Hunt said, ”I do.”
The moment he spoke, the crowd was interested and started to throw in more questions.
White Hunt, a top player from Temple of God, had obtained information from the Guild of Gods, which was why he came to Germinal to trigger the Intercept Zero mission. As he described the process of how Zero single handedly manipulated events to hinder Germinal's activities on the planet, the other players could not help but be shocked.
”Sounds like an amazing person.”
”Doesn't he sound like a character from the main storyline? He escaped from the original Germinal base by himself and has now sent the organization to the brink of collapse. He must at least be a Legend on this planet to be able to manipulate massive wars like this!”
”Maybe he's Planet Aquamarine's protagonist… Oh no! My reputation with him is -30,” someone screamed in distress.
White hunt laughed at that. ”Although he may be a character in the main storyline, he shouldn't be someone we will have to interact with in the future, or else we wouldn't have lost so many reputation points just from being his enemy.”
The crowd nodded at that. Strong but unimportant NPCs were not unheard of in the game. Since they would not be interacting, having reputation points with him would not do much for them.
…