A loud, bloodcurdling scream suddenly resounded throughout the training ground. It was the second scream Laton had let out after two-thirds of his body became trapped within the strange ice. If Cillin wanted to, he could’ve told Czedow to muffle the noise perfectly and keep it from alerting the rest of the uninvited guests on the ship. Instead, he instructed the opposite. Be it the Navigators damaging the door into the training ground or the Vanguard members standing in position and waiting for the enemy to break through, they all heard Laton loud and clear and stopped what they were doing at the same time.
Phoebe felt as if every hair on her body was standing on end. A man beside Stanley swallowed audibly before asking in a trembling voice, “Whose… whose scream is that?”
A person’s voice was a wonderful conveyor of emotions. Assuming that the person wasn’t trying to disguise their voice, it was also possible to deduce a part of a person’s strength through it. There was a characteristic vibration in the sound waves that identified the person like a marker.
A sheen of cold sweat emerged from Stanley’s forehead. His crew might not recognize the voice, but he was a vice admiral of Vanguard. Of course he knew who the screamer was. Despite this, he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that he was hearing who he thought he was hearing. It was the literal definition of a death throe, and he almost couldn’t believe that Laton, that cold-blooded murderer, was capable of making such a noise.
As a professional killer, Laton was invisible in more ways than one. The idea that he would make such a noise on purpose was unthinkable, not to mention that it didn’t sound like he was faking it at all. There was so much emotion behind the scream that he could not help but wonder what the hell had happened to the killer. Even he could not help but feel goosebumps crawling over his skin.
Who was the one who drove Laton into letting such an undignified scream?
Who could push Laton to this extent?
Only one answer came to mind. Stanley, the A Squad members, the Navigators, and even the other Mist killers on the ship all arrived at the same conclusion at the same time: ”Merciless.”
It was the only logical answer.
“Sir?” An A Squad member spoke up while shooting Stanley an uncertain look. Mist alone had managed to back them into a corner. If Merciless were to join in on the “fun” as well, he could not imagine many of them making it out alive at all.
The fact that their Admiral shared a bad relationship with Merciless was an open secret within the A Squad. Yin Wushe, the head of Merciless, had even threatened Ji Feng openly in the past. Assuming that the mysterious person or group who cornered Laton did belong to Merciless, there was no chance in hell that they would lend them a helping hand. In fact, there was a good chance they might even kick them when they were down.
Stanley shot Pango a look. There was a high chance they were going to fail their mission. He wondered what the young man was thinking right now.
Hey Phoebe. Can you guess what I’m thinking right now?” Mogas suddenly asked while purposely elbowing the young woman in the breast, causing her to slap his arm hard enough to leave a bruise. At the same time, she shot Mogas an exasperated look. He was the only one capable of maintaining his happy-go-lucky attitude in a situation like this.
“Do I look like I care about what you think?” Phoebe replied scathingly while rolling her eyes at him.
Mogas swept a glance across the A Squad members before covering his mouth with his palm and “whispered”, “I think the commander has come to help us.”
The young man acted like he was trying to tell Phoebe a secret, but his voice wasn’t low at all. At the very least, the men standing guard at the farthest edges of the training ground could hear him loud and clear.
Commander? He couldn’t be referring to the Eleventh Squad commander, could he?
A few A Squad members immediately shot him a disdainful look. “Now isn’t the time for jokes, boy.”
Mogas could barely stop himself from snorting. I’m not joking though.
“Sigh!” The young man tapped his knees rhythmically while talking seemingly to himself, “If you guys hadn’t ordered Little Eleven to surrender control of the ship, the Navigators would not have been able to lock it out completely. And if Little Eleven hadn’t been locked up, it could’ve shown us what is happening inside the ship, thrown up some obstacles and traps in the Navigators’ path to slow them down, and even brought us reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements?” Someone snorted out loud. “Who do you think that the Navigators are? Not only did they succeed in locking out a super AI completely, they also jammed the entire ship. How is the AI supposed to bring in any reinforcements when the ship’s been turned into a dead zone? I’ll grant you that the Navigator has exceeded expectations though. I’ve never heard of them possessing such a technology.”
A couple other A Squad members immediately echoed in agreement. While they couldn’t claim to know the Navigators inside out, they were certain that they did not possess such a powerful jamming technology prior to today. So, the question was, who was the bastard who gave it to them? Was it Mist, Merciless, or some other third party they were unaware of?
The Navigators had temporarily ceased their attack against the door after the scream, so they were safe for a couple more minutes at least. The A Squad members began discussing who was the mastermind behind the Navigators to relieve some of the tension.
Mogas fell completely silent, however. Phoebe, Kong Lujia and Pango were perfectly quiet as well. They were the only ones who knew that Mogas wasn’t just referring to the commander and their fellow crew when he said “reinforcements”. He was also referring to the robots hibernating inside a secret corner of the ship.
They could all die, and the robots still wouldn’t lift a finger unless they received a direct order from Little Eleven, Xi Kai or Cillin. The four of them did not possess the authority to command them into action either.
As the saying went, you reaped what you sowed!
The temporary peace did not last long. Just a minute later, the Navigators began working on the door once more.
“All units, prepare for battle!” Stanley immediately ordered.
The glowing, bright red lines cutting through the door were incredibly conspicuous in the darkness. It also meant that the door were seconds away from being breached.
That wasn’t all. The Navigators were also working on the multi-layered, reinforced walls with their plasma cutters as well. In fact, they were already at the final layer.
Everyone had entered their optimal state when the plasma cutter had cut through the door completely. They were all in position and ready to respond to anything.
Kuang!
Someone kicked the door inside before three hand grenades were tossed in.
“Shields up!”
Several people activated their large-sized portable shields immediately. It shielded them from the explosions of the three grenades.
The hand grenades the Navigators used weren’t particularly powerful not because their equipment was lacking, but because they didn’t want the explosions to blow through the floor. That would allow their prey to make an escape and delay the end of this cat-and-mouse game further. In this sense, the Navigators’ tactic was as sound as it was well-executed.
The energy shields were almost gone after enduring three explosions at the same time. Someone immediately yelled, “Take them out!”
“Maintain formation!”
Everyone was using a kinetic weapon because the environment was pitch black. A laser weapon would only expose their position to the enemy.
It was at this moment both parties noticed something odd. Just a few seconds after the gunfight began, they noticed ripples of light appearing at the center of the gunfight. It was almost as if there was an invisible shield blocking their shots…
Before either side could make sense of the strange phenomenon, the lights of the training ground abruptly turned on in full force.
Goro goro—
No one knew where the object had come from. One second there was nothing, and the next they saw something rolling to the center of the battlefield and stopping just short of the energy shield that had blocked their shots earlier. As it was the first moving object they saw after the lights turned on all of a sudden, of course it drew everyone’s attention.
At first glance, it looked like a large chunk of ice. However, trapped within the ice was Laton’s disbelieving, bloodthirsty eyes and pain-warped expression. It was… a frozen head.
As if on cue, the speakers all around the training ground came to life. “You guys sure did a number to my ship. What should I do with you people?”