209 Yes sure... Han Han

Agial had never felt so aggrieved in her entire life. Well, apart from the time she was rejected by Zi Han after confessing to him. Despite her grievance, she clung to him as she was genuinely terrified. Her fear wasn’t without merit. That’s because just below the feet of her mech something was slowly drifting upwards looking for what had intruded in its territory.

The creature was as blind as a cavefish but felt the vibrations in the water thus it came searching. As it swam in between Agial’s feet she yelped silently with her eyes closed.

Zi Han looked down and saw a dark figure slithering up the lake. As it passed in front of his mech the force was so powerful that it pushed back his drifting mech.

With a swoosh, it emerged out of the water and scattered the swarm of despmtors hovering above the water surface.

With an explosive dive, it swam back to the bottom of the lake. Soon calm was restored but Zi Han’s expression sank when he checked the detector on his wrist. It was flashing in intervals and could only mean one thing. The other device was most definitely down there.

After ten minutes of no movement, the floating screen in front of Zi Han lit up. It seemed Evan was communicating with them through text.

Captain: Everyone float up_

Captain: Slowly_

Zi Han wasn’t certain if the despmtors were still waiting for them but it was worth taking a look. The mechs slowly swam up making sure to make as little movement as possible. One after the other, mech heads began to pop up on the surface of the lake.

.....

It seemed the lake creature had scared away the despmtors which was a great relief for everyone. The mechs slowly emerged out of the water and as soon as they approached the shore they deactivated their mechs in fear of suffering from mental exhaustion if they operated them for too long.

Crvena lay flat on the ground staring at the sky that seemed to be gathering clouds. He wasn’t the only one lying down. A majority of them desperately needed a break, after all that stimulation. During the debrief they actually thought this was going to be easy but Dark Star showed them flames in just a couple of hours.

“What the fuck was that thing down there?” asked one of the boys while panting heavily on the ground.

Everyone suddenly turned to Zi Han as though expecting answers. Zi Han, who was checking the magazine on his handgun tilted his head slightly staring back at them with an expression that seemed to say, ‘How the fuck would I know that?’

“There is another device down there. Mechs will alert the creature so it’s best to dive in straight,” he said while holstering his weapon his expression like he was ready to deep dive.

“What?” asked a girl with long black hair tied in a high ponytail.

“The fuck are you talking about? I didn’t pick up on anything,” said Crvena seeming a little perplexed.

“How are we supposed to get it with that thing down there? Ah, fuck! And here I thought the despmtors were bad.”

Zi Han took out a flat device and stuck it on his neck while walking toward the water. Evan immediately stopped him and asked, “What are you doing?”

Zi Han found this captain amusing. What did it look like he was doing? He was going down there. He was afraid of water ghosts but he was determined to go find Yi Chen first so he was more than willing to go down there.

“I will go with you,” said Evan holding his arm.

Zi Han pulled his arm off and said, “We run the risk of attracting the creature’s attention if the vibrations in the water increase. One person will suffice.... other than me does anyone want to attempt it?”

The latter question was directed at the rest of the group and as expected everyone was shaking their heads. No one wanted to risk going down there alone.

“I am the captain. I will go,” said Evan but Zi Han raised his finger and said,

“It’s exactly because you are the captain that you can’t risk it. I suggest you coordinate the rest to get that other device before the despmtors get back to their hive.”

Evan knew he was right but his heart felt extremely uncomfortable. If something happens to him down there he would be forced to press the extractor button which would affect the rest of the team. How terrible it would be if they didn’t even manage to retrieve a single one of those devices?

“Be careful down there. If anything goes wrong don’t hesitate to press that button..... half of you come with me and the rest stay here and look out for Han Han.”

Zi Han who was exhaling deeply while pumping himself up for the jump turned around sharply and glared at Evan.

He regretted letting Hela call him that. Now everyone was addressing him as such. Everyone else was fine but to those interested in him when they called him that it was so ambiguous and made him very uncomfortable.

“Cadet Han will do just fine,” he said only for Crvena to smile slyly while saying,

“Yes sure... Han Han.”

Zi Han raised his middle finger without any hesitation before jumping into the lake.

Crvena chuckled while saying, “I will take you up on that offer...,” when his gaze met Evan’s deadly glare he changed his tune, “.... I was, I was just kidding.”

Meanwhile on Cetus’ bridge images of the team members were displayed on a floating screen. Each time one presses the extractor device their picture would go grey.

The short lady from before walked over and checked the footage of Zi Han jumping into the water.

historical

With her arms resting on the control panel she said, “Replay his footage from before.”

“Yes commodore,” replied the girl as she tapped a few buttons rewinding the footage. The commodore rewatched his every action and her expression lit up with great interest.

“What is this cadet’s name?” she asked finding his way of thinking and behavior familiar.

“His name is Zi Han ma’am,” replied the young man to her left.

When she heard the surname Zi she suddenly recalled Zi Xingxi. An imperceptible smile crept up her face. Of course, this child could only belong to her former captain. She should have known just by looking at his face. What surprised her though was that Yi Chen didn’t pick him to be on his team since he had first dibs at picking three of his team members.

What she didn’t know was that chess pieces were being moved in the background affecting real-life events.

One of those chess pieces was in the bushes watching Yi Chen’s team. Hiding within the shadows and well concealed he followed them for a couple of hours waiting for the opportune moment to take action.

That opportune moment finally came when the team was confronted by a black splicer with razor-sharp teeth, claws, and spikes on its two tentacles sprouting on its two shoulders.