– Lies

The armored car scattered in all directions. Lucius had no idea where he was being transported to, and neither did all the Black Watch soldiers. After all, this place was a top-secret in the New Federation. They wouldn’t want anyone to know.

The base was made of steel. Lucius wasn’t sure where exactly it was. Underground..or in the sky? In short, the Black Watch soldier’s memory had no idea where the base was located. But now, he was there anyway.

Around a dozen of civilians were being taken off the armored vehicles one by one. They must’ve been puzzled by their future, what would happen to them? A few of them might have thought of running away or screaming, but upon hearing the sound of reloaded guns in the hands of the Black Watch soldiers, they all chose to remain silent. Lucius stole a glance at Dana and Xia Ying among the crowd, who were silently observing everything around them and didn’t resist.

Lucius was curious about the purpose of this base. Raising monsters? Making monsters? Feeding these humans as food to those monsters? That’s probably the general function.

But Lucius received a new message from his radio. But it wasn’t Lucius executing the new order. Two soldiers approached Dana, who was in the middle of the crowd and grabbed her by the arm.

“What are you guys doing?” Dana rightfully struggled but was nowhere near as strong as the two soldiers.

As if the owner of this base needed the living genes of someone with the surname Mercer. In other words, Dana’s survival wasn’t just out of sheer luck, but an intentional act by the commander of the Black Watch.

Lucius looked at the scene, should he save her?

No, it would be all for naught if he went to save her now. Plus, there was no reason for Lucius to save her at all. Her brother had come back to save her, and Lucius had no reason to worry.

The next step was to take these civilians deeper into the base as ordered. Lucius thought about what the higher-up of this base would do to these civilians. There were a lot of possible reasons, but the base was holding a lot of unspeakable monsters. Would they really use these people as the food for those monsters? But it looked like Lucius had guessed wrong.

The group was brought to a location that was like a comfortable hotel room. If it wasn’t for the fact that the floor and walls were cast in steel, they would have thought that this was some kind of luxury hotel.

What..is this?

Everyone’s inner worry gradually disappeared.

What was this for? Let them take a field trip to the base?

However, upon feeling certain hot blood creeping closer to this base, Lucius instantly understood what this base owner meant. After bringing the civilians to this room, not only did they provide them with a place to rest, they also provided them with food. The good treatments gave them hope. They thought maybe they could get out of here somehow? Having not eaten all night long, they let down their guard and started eating.

Enjoying their last meal.

Lucius didn’t believe that the owner of this base made them come here for a field trip.

“Attention all Blapersonnelersonnels! Gather at the entrance!”

But the sudden announcement on Lucius’ radio made Lucius leave the room and ran toward the entrance from which he had come.

That back..

What Lucius failed to notice was a pair of eyes watching Lucius from among the crowd.

Was it him? Xia Ying was a little unsure.

.......

At the entrance to the base, about thirty Black Watch personnel confronted a man in an azure New Federation uniform.

“Where did you take those men?” Su Lei’s hands burned with searing flames, he had melted down the steel gates behind.

“Trespasser!” The Black Watch didn’t care who their opponent was, it was their duty to guard this base.

“..”

Su Lei really didn’t want to harm his own people unless he had to. Just when the battle was on the verge of happening..

“My, my, this is a rare visitor.”

A figure in a lab coat slowly stepped out amidst the jet-black Black Watch soldiers.

“Hakein?!” So Lei knew this guy. He was his own colleague.

” It’s really you?”

“Please don’t confuse me with that violent fellow Mordell, Major Su Lei.” Hakein pushed up his glasses, “I’m saving lives, though.”

“You expect me to believe that?” The flame in Su Lei’s hand had been extinguished, “There’s no way this underground base is as simple as saving lives, right?”

“......”

After a moment of silence, Hakein waved his hand and pointed to the Black Watch’s two members.

“You. Follow me. The others go to their respective posts.”

One of the pointed ones included Lucius, but of course, Lucius was now in a state of ‘I’ll just observe and not talk’.

“Major Su Lei, want to come along?” Heikin pointed deep into the base, “I think it’s better to see what’s going on with your own eyes.”

Not hiding?

Su Lei silently followed behind Hakein. And Lucius followed behind the pair, and to be honest, Lucius was also interested in what Hakein was planning to do.

This base wasn’t as big as the previous one, and at the side of this corridor were windows, through which they could see the views inside the rooms.

“Major Su Lei, I assume that you, as the first commander in the fight against the spread of viruses in Wenham, are well aware of the virus’s horrors.”

Hakein led the way.

“Can the infected person be resurrected again even after they’ve died and become monsters that only know how to prey on humans?”

Su Lei recalled the view of the infected cities. Once humans, now become monsters who hunted down humans. His memory was still vivid in his mind.

“It’s probably just as you said, Major Su Lei.” Hakein came to a halt in front of a room and pointed to the view in it.

It was a pure white room, in which various medical equipment was placed. A young girl with long blonde hair aged no more than seven or eight years laid in it, breathing with a respirator and a pained expression on her face.

“That’s..”

“Brigadier Mordell’s daughter.”

Hakein’s gray-white pupils stared silently at the view of the room, and the girl’s arm had turned a vibrant, dark color within the veins.

“That’s the effect of the virus. The infected person becomes a monster that gnaws on human flesh in a matter of seconds. Such a tragic fate should not fall on a small child by any means.”

“The virus spread to dozens of cities over a few days. And this child was unfortunately infected yesterday. She had survived until now, thanks to our vaccine. Still, it’s only temporary, as the virus has been more destructive than we expected. And soon.. she’ll be one of those monsters.”

Hakein pushed his glasses up again.

“Mordell, as a father, was supposed to be with the child, but he couldn’t.. Because Brigadier Mordell knew the devastation this virus would cause, and that if it wasn’t suppressed, more people would become like this. As a soldier of the New Federation, he has the duty to suppress the virus and not allow it to spread further.”

Hakein turned to look at Su Lei.

“You have that duty too, Major Su Lei. As a member of the New Federation, we are all working towards one thing: destroying the viruses and protecting the entire New Federation, but each in a different way. Your flames are the fastest way to destroy those viruses. As you said, Major Su Lei, protecting civilians, is indeed the duty of the military. And perhaps that was something I, as a scientist, couldn’t understand. But Major Su Lei..”

“But.. Do you think it was right to shoot those civilians?” Su Lei stared straight at Hakein.

“Perhaps Brigadier Murdell went a little too far, but Su Lei! So what if you protect thousands of people? The entire New Federation..hundreds of millions of people are in a panic because of the virus. Everywhere around the country, this tragedy is happening all the time! The only thing to do now is to find the source of the virus and destroy it!”

Was I wrong?

His arm started to ache again, a reminder that Su Lei didn’t have much time left.

“We got those civilians safe and sound. Do you want to meet them?”

“Where are they?”

“Please follow me.”

Lucius stood behind the two men, looking at their backs. What an impressive speech, Hakein Mustaine! Lucius simply wanted to applaud his incredible act. There’s no such thing as salvation in this base. Lucius looked at his side, at the child in the room.

Poor thing.. It must have hurt when the virus got into your arm.

This base was solely for breeding and creating monsters.