Chapter 383 - 351: Infiltration and Rendezvous

Chapter 383: Chapter 351: Infiltration and Rendezvous

"Load them up."

At the coalition army’s frontline base, an officer gave the order, and soldiers began loading the captured Parasites into transport vehicles.

Once a vehicle was full, an operator would press a button, activating the jet system installed inside the cargo bay. A specialized anesthetic spray would then slowly hiss from the nozzles.

The purpose was to put the Parasites inside into a deep sleep. When the vehicles reached the transit station, an additional failsafe would be implemented: each Parasite would be injected with a powerful sedative to ensure they wouldn’t awaken at the Landing Site.

The reason for all this, naturally, was to prevent conscious Parasites from resisting upon arrival at the Landing Site.

Even if they were powerless to truly fight back, just their loud shouting would cause significant trouble.

It was like the previous questioning session, with the nearly thirty thousand Parasites devoured by the Alien Intelligence... If they had been conscious at the time, all screaming and shouting, it’s hard to imagine how chaotic the scene would have become.

And if many among them had started yelling that they were actually human, forcibly rounded up as Parasites, it would have impacted the soldiers’ morale on site.

No matter how you looked at it, having the Parasites devoured as food while unconscious was the best possible outcome.

"Hurry it up! High command keeps pushing us!"

"Is the deficit on Sisiya’s side that bad?"

"They’re asking a lot of questions, so of course they’re short on food."

"Sisiya proper must have plenty of Parasites, right? Why don’t they just catch some to fill the gap instead of just waiting for our shipments?"

"Because they can’t tell them apart. You go to arrest someone, they say they’re human. What do you do? Just insist they’re a Parasite and drag them away?"

The allied soldiers discussed this amongst themselves as they worked.

"But it’s the same here, isn’t it? Of all the ones we’ve loaded onto the trucks, which one of them *hasn’t* claimed to be human?"

"It’s completely different. After the Parasites here in the Black Banner Country declared their own nation, the Human Federation held a meeting and made a determination. They classified the vast majority of people here as Parasites—at least, the ordinary citizens."

"So what happens if an actual human gets wrongly arrested?"

"They can just count themselves unlucky. What else can be done? It’s their tough luck that the Black Banner Country was the first to fall, and not some other Human Federation member state." The veteran soldier speaking snorted heavily.

"You’re so naive. Haven’t you been online these past few days? People have already analyzed this to death. Everyone knows that once the Human Federation figured out the Alien Intelligence’s Q&A function, they would inevitably need a ’source’ that could provide a stable supply of food while avoiding a humanitarian crisis.

"Then, right on cue, the Parasites in the Black Banner Country announced their occupation and established the so-called ’Seri Divine Kingdom.’ It was like a godsend, a pillow for a sleepy head. Of course the Human Federation would use this place as their source... Didn’t our own allied forces suddenly intensify their offensive right after that live broadcast?"

"Whoa, I think you’re right!"

The young soldier’s eyes widened in realization.

"So you see, you..."

"Save the chatter for after you’re done working!"

The officer’s voice boomed from behind them, and the soldiers immediately shut their mouths.

Just then, the officer’s communicator buzzed. He answered it and received a new order.

"Add a drug resistance test to the procedure before loading the Parasites?" the officer asked, confused. "Commander, what’s the reason for this?"

"It’s a new order from the Human Federation. They’re worried some Parasites might feign unconsciousness and wait for an opportunity to cause trouble at the Landing Site."

"But don’t they get another shot of sedative midway? How could they fake being unconscious through a dose that powerful? Besides, adding another step to the process will consume a huge amount of manpower and resources."

"That’s not for us to consider. Just follow the order."

"Yes, sir!"

In another containment area within the frontline base, the Ascenders who had been fighting the Parasites in the Black Banner Country were being held.

Although they were resistance fighters, it was impossible to be certain that no Parasites were mixed in among them. How to handle these people was a difficult problem for the base’s commander.

Leaving them locked up indefinitely was not an option. There were many of them, all Ascenders, and they would surely revolt if detained for too long.

But integrating them into the allied forces’ Ascender combat teams wasn’t appropriate either, as it posed a potential risk.

The commander finally decided to select them based on evidence of their resistance.

Ascenders who had authentic video recordings of themselves fighting heroically against Parasites would be selected, as they were deemed relatively trustworthy resistance fighters.

After the order was given, Ascenders who had been filmed genuinely fighting Parasites on footage from the allied soldiers’ body-worn combat recorders were chosen.

These individuals would be formed into a separate combat team, distinct from the allied forces’ own Ascender corps.

When Lu City learned he had been assigned to the resistance fighter combat team, he took a deep breath, his expression grim.

’The Prophet’s plan was brilliant. The feigned-injury gambit worked perfectly. He arranged for some cannon-fodder Parasites in advance, and I used the combat footage of me killing them to gain the trust of the allied officers... or at least, some of it.’

Failing to be integrated into the allied forces’ main Ascender combat team and operate alongside people like Adam and Bai Xuewu meant the commander still didn’t fully trust them.

’But now that I’ve passed this test, I shouldn’t be under suspicion for the time being. I need to get my hands on some valuable intelligence as soon as possible. That’s the only way to win the Prophet’s favor...’

Lu City secretly clenched his fist. This was the mission the Prophet had given him, and it was the pledge of allegiance he had to deliver.

He didn’t want to end up like the other humans who had turned into Parasites, existing purely as cannon fodder and tools.

He had to ensure that even after he became a Parasite, he would be among the top ranks, just like the Prophet... He even had a faint suspicion that before his own transformation, the Prophet must have been an incredibly powerful Ascender.

That would explain why he became so much stronger after being modified by the spores, strong enough to become the Prophet. In their previous conversation, the Prophet even seemed to subtly imply that his own consciousness hadn’t been replaced by the spores...

That was the greatest temptation of all!

Lu City knew he was severely addicted to the spores. He had killed many people along the way and could no longer turn back. His fate, it seemed, was to keep absorbing more and more spores until he crossed the critical threshold for transformation, at which point his consciousness would be replaced and he would become a Parasite.

He had originally accepted this fate, but the Prophet’s appearance had shown him a glimmer of hope—if he could become a being like that, could he still retain his own consciousness after the transformation?

This glimmer of hope drove him, steeling his resolve to complete the mission the Prophet had given him: infiltrate the allied base and gather intelligence.

Now that he had used the video footage to pass the test, he was allowed to move around the non-classified areas of the frontline base, which would be very helpful for his mission.

He soon discovered that the Parasites originally scheduled to be loaded and shipped to Sisiya were now lining up to enter a building, though he didn’t know for what.

When he walked over, he was immediately stopped by the soldiers on guard, who were not allowing any unauthorized personnel to enter.

’Can’t get myself suspected because of recklessness...’

Lu City immediately left, planning to bide his time and find another opportunity to investigate.

...

「The Landing Site.」

Troop transport vehicles arrived one after another, and more elite soldiers joined the defensive line.

This deployment, just like the extra drug resistance test for the Parasites, was related to Guan Tong.

After communicating with Shangyuan Zi, Guan Tong had concluded that the Fire Worship Cult members’ earlier actions were just a feint, designed to divert the attention of the Human Federation and Sisiya.

He believed the enemy’s true objective was not a frontal assault on the defensive line, but rather to do something with the Parasites being transported to the Landing Site.

It was a classic case of feigning one attack to hide the real one.

After he explained his theory to Sikokun and Yelena, both of them agreed wholeheartedly and immediately took action.

Yelena informed the Human Federation that the Parasites transported from the front lines needed further inspection. Then she called in more soldiers to reinforce the defenses on site.

Just then, one of the troop transports stopped, and Sikokun turned her head, gesturing to Guan Tong beside her.

"Your companion is in this vehicle."

"Mm."

Guan Tong walked over. Soon, a fully armed soldier disembarked and walked up to him.

She slightly lifted her visor, revealing the familiar vertical pupils of Shangyuan Zi beneath it.

Guan Tong had originally wanted her to wait for him in the nearest city, but he changed his mind after they talked. With Yelena’s permission, he had her come to the Landing Site.

From all the current signs, it seemed the Fire Worship Cult was secretly colluding with the Parasites. The two sides had likely hatched some conspiracy to use the Alien Intelligence to harm humanity.

Just in case, Guan Tong had called Shangyuan Zi to stay with him. If any unexpected situation arose on-site, having her there would give them a better chance.

"Alright, come with me."

"Okay."

Shangyuan Zi lowered her visor and went with Guan Tong over to Sikokun.

"So this is your companion." Sikokun glanced at Shangyuan Zi. "If you had immediately reported what you heard those cultists discussing last night to the Sisiya authorities, perhaps we could have dealt with it in advance. Then those people wouldn’t have been incited to throw their lives away today."

Shangyuan Zi said nothing, but Guan Tong spoke up. "There’s no need to say that. No one can predict the future. Besides, if your soldiers on the outer perimeter had been calm enough, they wouldn’t have fallen into disarray and started firing wildly over a few cultists with a couple of guns, causing even more casualties."

Sikokun was taken aback for a moment, not expecting Guan Tong to rebuke her like that.

"...Fine. I hope your companion is as disciplined as you are and doesn’t wander around."

With that, Sikokun stormed off. Guan Tong shrugged at Shangyuan Zi. "Don’t take what she said to heart."

"I didn’t." Shangyuan Zi looked toward the center of the site. "So, that’s it."

Having arrived on site, this was the first time she had seen the Alien Intelligence with her own eyes.

"What do you think of it, seeing it in person?"

"It’s kind of disgusting."

"Disgusting is the right word. This thing doesn’t exactly conform to human aesthetic standards."

Shangyuan Zi averted her gaze and asked, "Besides asking it questions, doesn’t humanity plan to conduct more research on it?"

"I think a lot of people are trying to crack its language, but I don’t see much point in that. However, Sikokun—the woman from before—told me the Human Federation has decided that for the next questioning, they’re going to place a camera-type Psychic Power Lens inside the food."

"Psychic Power Lens? What’s that?"

"I’m not sure either. It seems they want to film the Alien Intelligence’s devouring process from the inside to try and analyze its physical structure. They’ve tried placing micro-cameras on the food before, but couldn’t transmit any images. Apparently, the Alien Intelligence’s body has some kind of internal jamming function."

"I see. Psychic Power items are special; they aren’t restricted by things like electromagnetic interference."

"Right. It probably wasn’t easy for the Human Federation to get their hands on an item like that."

"When is the next questioning session?"

"I’d guess in the next two or three days, once the next large enough batch of Parasites arrives." Guan Tong paused. "After the Human Federation asks its next question, it should be about time for me to ask mine."