Terror Infinity

The surviving expedition army had returned from Klendathu. Less than five thousand made it back in this hundred thousand army. The survivors were all under Zheng’s lead. Data had shown the army created a miracle big enough to save the higher ups from their crisis. The decision to change the general was brought up again. This general who emphasized offense might continue his position.

The media showed two extremes in their reporting. They mocked the inability of the military and federation on the one hand and praised the bravery of the five thousand trooper army with exaggeration on the other. How did people protect their pride in a defeat? They had to emphasize the strength and bravery their people displayed in the battle. Thus, every one of the five thousand trooper army was awarded medals and other awards. Hundreds were promoted to sergeants to lead the next army. And Zheng’s group of four were mentioned the most and given the name Miracle 4.

"Good, very good." Neos smiled coldly as he read the newspaper. There were only three people next to him. The middle age man, a girl, and Snow.

He murmured. "They took the right step in some sense. The higher their exposure is, the lower our chance of doing anything to them. This is a fight of influence. When their influence in this world surpa.s.ses our position in the military, the only choice we will have left is to come to an agreement with them to exchange information."

The middle age man paused for a moment then said. "I don’t understand why do you want to annihilate team China so much? Judging from the current situation, we are not enemies where only one team can live. We can attempt to contact them before the mission is revealed. I think they have some hesitation too. They definitely know more secrets about the movie worlds than us since they are the strongest team. Secrets like the two books the last team we came in contact mentioned. Perhaps we can find out more info of this type from team China."

Neos sighed. "Don’t be naive. One reason is they are the strongest team, and the second reason is how do you think of our team?"

The man paused. Neos continued calmly. "You don’t need me to say it right? I joined the team late. I have no combat ability other than my wit. The Sanjiyan bloodline only enhances calculation in the beginning stage. Telekinetic force surfaces after rank A and my combat effectiveness is extremely low before that. The other five people are split into two groups. Marnie and Rose are a couple. They are used to acting on their own. Hawfor leads the other group. They stick together merely because they are all scared of dying. So since we have the influence advantage in this battle, we have to gain more points and rewards. At the same time, I hope to obtain the position I should have in the team. We must find out team China’s members before they found out the incongruence in our team."

The girl asked. "But how are we going to find them? Going through all five thousand people? It’s near impossible if you don’t allow Snow to use scan."

Neos picked up a chocolate bar from the table. "Yes. Every event needs a turning point to continue. Judging from the hints, we will first a.s.sume this movie is a seven to nine people difficulty movie. Then we have to find the three to five people hiding. Although we can find some traces through the survivors, that alone won’t be enough. Furthermore, it requires at least a colonel rank officer to access the complete name and squad list. They can easily find out someone is investigating them if I do this. So I need a turning point."

"Turning point?" The man and girl asked.

Neos gave a cold smile. "Correct. Do you know why I kept stressing we have to annihilate team China? The last reason is I need Hawfor to underestimate them. I need them to start trouble. I have been repeatedly warning them not to attack team China while reminding them that we have to annihilate team China. This will cause them probe. And that is my goal. Let them be the p.a.w.ns to initiate the turning point. Make team China expose their weakness, or at least let us find out their strength. If they aren’t much more powerful than us, we won’t have to hesitate so much. If they are indeed so powerful, don’t you think Hawfor’s group is a hindrance? Our team should be more powerful without them. Haha."

"Zheng."

Zheng turned around and saw Xuan eating a red apple. He smiled and said. "You won’t have energy without meat. You eat too little. It’s always fruits and veggies. That’s not enough nutrients."

They were inside the cafeteria of the stars.h.i.+p. It was lunch time. Zheng hadn’t come in touch with Lan, Zero, and Gando since boarding the stars.h.i.+p two days ago.

Xuan frowned as he looked at the steak and veggies on Zheng’s plate. "The color is too ugly. Anyway, I have

Zheng’s expression gradually turned more serious. He thought for a bit then pulled Xuan out of the cafeteria. He frowned as his eyes defocused. A minute later, he said with a low voice. "Two questions. Is someone from the other team really going to provoke or probe us? They should know that each death is negative 2000 points and this couldn't be their first team battle right? And two, aren’t you worried about getting found out by the government if we fight in the stars.h.i.+p?"

Xuan threw Zheng’s hand off and replied. "We will talk about whether they know about the rules later. It’s easy to deal with being discovered by the federation. This is the map of the stars.h.i.+p I found through the computer. The only places with cameras are officer’s lounge, the training room, and the weapon storage rooms. Which means if you get ambushed in these areas, run toward where people are with regular speed. You can also fire back with your gun. If you get ambushed in an area without cameras, they would have also chosen a time where no other people is around, then do your best to finish the fight in as little time as possible. We have to give them a shock!"

Zheng asked. "Give them a shock? Why? That would only make them act extra cautious against us. Then they won’t expose anymore traces and finding them would be more difficult."

Xuan said calmly. "Because of the influence G.o.d gave us. They obtained a higher military rank as influence. Our compensation in influence is the ranking by G.o.d as the stronger team. We are the strongest of the three teams. Though it’s not known how much stronger. There’s also the possibility that they have members with special abilities like controlling your heartbeat through telekinesis, but have low stats. Or they can be strong as a team. Though basing on typical situations, your power should surpa.s.s them by a large margin. We know about this, but do they?"

"You look the weakest out of us four, that’s why they will choose to test you. What if you suddenly show overwhelming power that can completely outmatches their whole team combined? What will be their reaction? They will think they are going against a super team multiple times stronger than them. G.o.d only mentioned we are stronger, but never said by how much. It can be a little bit or ten times. Even if they consider you as the leader of the team and the strongest person, will they think the other team members are way weaker? Once we established ourselves as a super team in their minds, their actions will naturally expose their weakness. We will have initiative at that point. The negative point will instill fear in them. The failure will also trigger the in congruence within their team. Which is why kill. Kill everyone that attempts to test you."

Zheng accepted Xuan’s a.n.a.lysis. The whole team would gain a point from killing a person after all. If they make a mistake and someone dies, the rest of the team won’t have to worry about getting wiped by negative points. Furthermore, they were in a life and death situation.

He sighed to himself. He tried to simulate Xuan’s mind but his level of simulation couldn’t replicate Xuan’s thought process. So he had to switch to Honglu before understanding Xuan’s a.n.a.lysis and discovered things that Xuan didn’t notice, human nature.

When the other team falls into despair or destined failure, will they not make a final desperate move? Like programming the stars.h.i.+p to self destruct or control another stars.h.i.+p to attack this one. Secondly, Xuan forgot about the human nature of team China.

w.a.n.gXia and Kampa were both determined soldiers and were familiar with living in the army. They were natural in this stars.h.i.+p but what about Lan, Zero, and Gando? The three of them weren’t a part of the army. It would be easy for the other team to discover them if they pay more attention. But at the same time, they could find the other team through this.

Zheng twisted his hair as he continued thinking with Honglu’s mind. Suddenly he thought of a possibility. Xuan a.n.a.lyzed the scheme of the other team’s brain to get rid of the inharmony of the team. Could they bear the negative point for this or were they confident in annihilating team China?

He remembered Xuan’s killing intent when the bear robot pointed the gun at them. As such a decisive person, he would take the next step to get rid of this problem without any hesitation, just like back in Alien.

Zheng was sweating when he came to this. He wouldn’t have been able to understand everything if he wasn’t in the third stage and simulated Xuan. Although this was still only a possibility, Xuan might have really decided to do this. He wouldn’t have to bear any responsibility afterward when Gando was found dead. If Gando survives, he will have baited out several members from the other team. The rest of team China would come to him as saviors. That might or might not solve the problem with Gando but could certainly ease the tension within the team while killing the other team.

Zheng smiled bitterly. He didn’t feel angry but just couldn’t do anything about this. He would want to kill Xuan if he doesn’t know about his past. But knowing Xuan’s lack of feelings, he understood Xuan was doing it for the team’s interest, to stay as the victor. Yet, he also saw Gando’s past! Gando wasn’t born as a selfish person nor someone who would do everything necessary to survive. He could become a comrade, someone that could be trusted!

Zheng stopped in the hallway. He didn’t know what he should do next. Should he go argue with Xuan or go warn Gando at the risk of revealing him? Or should he not do anything and use his team member as a bait for the team’s interest? That would dirty his hand and soul&h.e.l.lip;

As he was thinking, his eyes suddenly came in focus and he jumped up. It was still a little late. A sharp pain registered on his shank as a piece of flesh got pulled off. He kicked on the wall and ran deeper into the hallway.