Chapter 137
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: #Test (2)
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At that moment, new people entered. Burly combatants. The man at the front scanned the room, then fixed his gaze on Winter and Joanna. His expression soured.
Chadwick gestured with his hand.
"Let's make introductions. This is Captain Colin Fowler of the Mobile Strike Team 'White Skull' and the rest of his crew, and over here we have the new arrival, Lieutenant Han Gyeowol, and FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joanna Gibson."
The man fired back in a gravelly tone.
"Thanks for the half-assed introduction, druggie team leader."
"No problem."
The captain pulled down his half-mask emblazoned with a skull. A twisted mouth and scar came into view. Winter and Joanna rose from their seats and saluted first. Returning the salute, the captain eyed them with a complicated look. First Winter, then Joanna. The latter lingered quite a bit. He spat out bluntly with a displeased expression.
"Of all things, the supervisor's a woman. What a headache."
Joanna replied quietly.
"You're quite rude right from the start, Captain."
"I'll apologize if you're offended. But this is sincere advice—maybe request someone else? This isn't a place for a woman."
Should I step in? Winter pondered. But Joanna herself stayed silent. In the meantime, the captain picked out his own seat. He plopped down with a long sigh, then rubbed his dry face like he was exhausted.
"Agent. Lieutenant. I might look like some macho dog to you, but I'm not one for gender discrimination, believe it or not. There are men better than women, and women better than men. Anyone except those Texas hicks would agree. But there's one undeniable fact. Once a month, women inevitably have a day when they weaken.... Do you know how your predecessor died?"
"Yes. I heard she got caught in a shootout."
"She took multiple rounds. This one was fatal."
The captain poked above his right eye.
"The bullet punched through her ballistic helmet, cracked her skull, and went into her brain. Chinese gangsters sold it to them—5.8mm. Would've been mercy if she'd died on the spot, but she lingered for three weeks."
"So?"
Joanna's indifferent reaction made the captain frown.
"You can't just sit around as supervisor here. We can't afford to lose one fighter's worth of combat power. Everyone's got to be ready at all times. Can't give anyone special treatment."
"I'll make sure you don't have to worry."
"Is that so? You're not menopausal already, I hope."
"Killing people on my period is a hobby. Helps relieve stress quite nicely."
"Huh."
Captain Fowler let out a low scoff.
"Looking forward to it. Let's see your skills after the briefing. Same goes for the lieutenant next to you. I and my men only trust what we see with our own eyes. You'll have to prove you're not just some Hollywood star."
"Understood."
The sharp exchange wrapped up with Winter's response. Joanna's complexion hadn't changed a bit, but the physical tension that had eased after Winter's arrival was creeping back.
There was still time before the real start. Plenty of empty seats remained. Winter pulled out his notepad. Scratch, scratch. It looked like he was reviewing documents and taking notes, but in truth, he was writing a message for Joanna.
He nudged her knee under the table. She turned her attention without a hint of reaction.
「Not offended?」
Joanna pulled out her notepad like Winter. Her inner thoughts flowed in steady, assured handwriting.
「I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me at all, but I get it. When lives are on the line, everyone's bound to get sensitive. I'm used to it anyway. Happens all the time in the field.」
「Glad you're okay, but... still, acting like that from the jump is a problem. Especially from a commander who's supposed to make rational calls. What's the odds of a critical situation blowing up exactly on that day when we're short one person?」
「True.」
「It's either fake non-discrimination, deliberate hazing, or just blowing off steam from long-term mission stress. Either way, it rubs me the wrong way.」
「Your writing's got some pressure behind it. Thanks for getting mad on my behalf. :-)」
Winter tilted his head and scanned what he'd written. He hadn't meant to infuse emotion, but diving in without distraction had deepened his feelings more than he'd realized. Hm. No need to explain away the misunderstanding.
The investigator, poking her lips with the pen tip, wrote again.
「If he were CIA, it'd be inter-agency rivalry and hazing. But the captain's just a collaborator pulled from the military like you, Winter. Force Recon background, so he probably looks down on women. Marine and all. But airing it out loud is another issue. Especially since I'm the supervisor. Accumulated mental fatigue's the biggest problem. Plenty of other factors too, though.」
「That's its own red flag.」
「Can't be helped in this environment. People have limits. Makes me think of that baby we saw on the way from Fort Baker to Angel Island. Assuming he's been through stuff like that nonstop, I'm not sure I could do better than him.」
「Dunno. Just your empathy here is impressive enough.」
「Learned it through trial and error. When I was thrown into long-term ops, I snapped at colleagues and subordinates for no reason plenty of times. Usually made up with apologies and getting plastered after returning, but sometimes it didn't work out. Even when we'd saved each other's lives. Said things I shouldn't have. The awkwardness every time our eyes met was a regret that was hard to bear.」
Deep. How could someone so good have so many regrets? In moments like this, Winter felt reality peel away. Like all sensation stripping from his skin—virtual reality after all. It could pass for the vividness of a bygone era. Hard for Winter, who'd lived a previous life, to swallow, though.
「That's official Joanna Gibson. Privately, I think that guy's an asshole.」
The sudden line nearly made Winter burst out laughing. With a parched heart where joy was rare, his resistance to laughter had weakened. Winter replied with his pen.
「What, suddenly embarrassed?」
「Felt like I was coming off too high and mighty.」
After drawing one more emoticon, she wrapped up the note conversation.
「We'll talk more later. Gonna get caught.」
Winter set down his pen in reply. Worried about getting spotted, Joanna flipped the page and pretended to take more notes for a while. In reality, she filled the sheet with pop song lyrics. Baby baby baby oh, like baby baby baby oh....
Her face stayed dead serious the whole time. Playfulness with consideration. Winter covered his laugh with a sigh.
The seats filled up gradually. The strike team seemed divided by color, their armed entrants wearing masks with skulls in various hues. But since it blended into the camo pattern, it was hard to notice unless you looked closely. Even more so from a distance.
Each time, Winter got introduced anew. Besides "White Skull," there were "Blue Skull," "Red Skull," "Black Skull," and other blandly named strike teams. Factoring in support units, the total force amounted to a reinforced company.
'Not a lot at all.'
The sea city's scale rivaled the San Francisco metro area. Population might be lower, but still bigger than your average big city. Long-term ops with under 200 troops meant serious accumulated fatigue. Even accounting for refugee recruits.
Chadwick snapped his fingers.
"Everyone's here, so let's get started."
The front screen lit up. A map marked the operational area appeared. For Winter, who hadn't finished reviewing the docs, it was new info from the jump. The op wasn't just here.
"Before the main briefing and meeting, two updates for you all. Good news and bad news—which first?"
One officer raised his hand.
"Bad news. Save the good for last; cleanses the palate."
Chadwick nodded.
"Good call. Then I'll start with the good news."
A fierce grin spread. The intel team leader shrugged and switched screens. A single photo projected: a massive artificial island in the middle of the ocean. Flat terrain, runway and base-sized, with coastlines showing zero natural features.
Dozens of vessels dotted the beaches. Mostly civilian ships packed with refugees, but one cluster was military vessels. Winter identified their types. Definitely not US Navy.
Chadwick continued.
"News from Hawaii. The ex-Chinese military group occupying Johnston Atoll, protesting, accepted conditional surrender yesterday—local time 1500 hours. Among the defecting ships: two Type 94 nuclear submarines. That's 24 nukes. Excellent. Anarchy's nuclear threat just dropped dramatically. Everyone, give it up."
Listless applause filled the room.
"Now the bad news."
The intel team leader cleared his throat with a hem-hem, then pulled an exaggeratedly gloomy face.
"The bastard we've been chasing—Changzheng 9 or Chingzong 9 or whatever—slipped the noose."
The room stirred. Disappointed sighs leaked out. Someone rubbed their brow and grumbled.
"Slippery son of a bitch."
One CIA agent shot back.
"Earning his name."
"Name? All those Ching-Chong-Changs sound the same."
"It's 'Long March' in their tongue. When Chinese reds fled the democratic government's crackdown, ran about 10,000 kilometers. On foot. WWII era."
"Walking 6,000 miles.... Impressive, but what's glorious about getting chased around that they named a sub after it?"
"They spin and glorify whatever they can."
Chadwick snapped his fingers again to refocus.
"Chit-chat over. Speaking of which, that damn Moby Dick's crew might actually believe their ship's name is their sacred mission. That this evasion will one day lead to their homeland's revival. At least the political officer aboard isn't right in the head. Heh."
Chinese ships each carried a Communist Party political officer for ideological indoctrination.
Winter thought.
'Could be tied to the mood among Chinese in these waters....'
Any other ship, maybe not. But a nuclear sub's pol officer would be ultra-loyal to the Party. Chinese military was the Party's army more than the nation's anyway.
If a real nutjob had seized control, America was just imperialist scum. No compromise, no surrender. Winter hadn't tangled much with Chinese forces in past rounds, but they had that unique fanaticism.
In an end-times era, anything could go off the rails.
============================ Author's Note ============================
#Webnovels and Webgames
Lately, I've been thinking webnovel serialization and webgame operations are getting awfully similar.
Everyone, rest easy.
I'll keep writing novels like Low Baduk.
#Q&A
Q. RGZ95: @ Ugh... Sudden Attack 2? That's scary / How ugly must Winter's face have gotten to say that ㄷㄷ
A. Hm... legs went from ten to two?
Q. Iron Mockingbird: @ It's all because space development didn't happen. If it did, people would sweep up everything valuable in uncharted lands, rediscover their innocence, etc.
A. Yup. Blast planets apart crust and all for mining, ancient artifacts pop out, corpses revive, all living things unite as one, brother moons awaken, and so on...