Chapter 23: Temporary Mission

Being misunderstood was something Jiyu never took to heart. In his mind, as long as the objective was achieved, nothing else was worth worrying about.

However, Xu Yan was different. He felt the greatest discrepancy between humans and the creatures Jiyu spoke of was that Jiyu labeled all life as "biological entities," whereas the concept of a human on Blue Star was defined as an animal with higher-order intelligence. Just like Jiyu, Xu Yan considered him a person—an extraterrestrial in the parlance of Blue Star's population. Perhaps their physical appearances differed from the people of Blue Star, but they were equally higher-order animals; they were simply more advanced in the field of technology.

What Xu Yan did not know, however, was that the command center of the Jinjiang Special Operations Force had just received a special notification.

The Jinjiang Special Operations Force was ordered to dispatch a 500-man team to an island to carry out a mission. Another force on Blue Star, calling itself "Redeem," was secretly gathering at this location, known as Relic Island, with the intent to destroy the outer space monitoring station stationed there. Because "Redeem" believed their operation was highly classified, they had not sent a large number of personnel to ensure the success of their mission. They intended to approach Relic Island via the seabed and attempt to interface their own equipment with the island's aerial remote sensing monitoring devices, thereby implementing covert signal monitoring to obtain classified information from the "Interstellar Alliance."

The island was surrounded by sea on all sides, and it was currently impossible to determine from which direction the enemy would arrive. Consequently, the Interstellar Alliance issued an order for the Jinjiang Special Operations Force to execute this interception mission.

Jing Zhimin, upon receiving the order, was deeply conflicted. According to previous operational plans, the protocol was to have veteran members lead new recruits in a three-to-one ratio, allowing the recruits to experience what real combat was like. Selecting from the hundred-plus new recruits was a difficult task for Jing Zhimin. If not for the new training program currently in place, he would simply have taken the first five squads as per standard unit protocols. But now, with 50 individuals selected for the Interstellar Warrior training program, he was left with a headache over whether to include them.

"Commander, I think we should skip them this time," said Zhang Xudong, who understood the stakes better than anyone and was the first to object.

"Commander, if they don't go up there and face the real deal, they’ll just be soft-footed cowards in the future," another squad leader argued in opposition.

Jing Zhimin’s dilemma was not just about those 50 recruits, but also whether to let Xu Yan and Duan Peng participate. These two were his prized assets; he wouldn't trade them for an entire battalion.

Suspending the meeting, Jing Zhimin sought out Duan Peng and Xu Yan to ask if they had any desire to participate in the Relic Island operation.

"Of course I’m willing!" Duan Peng agreed immediately.

Xu Yan did not speak. For his part, he was very keen to participate, but Jiyu opposed it, deeming it entirely unnecessary. Such an operation would provide him with no practical assistance, nor would it offer any shortcut into the Interstellar Force; if he were to be accidentally injured, it would be difficult to say whether he could even meet the standards for the Interstellar Force. Just like Commander Jing Zhimin, who had been forced to step down due to injury.

Seeing Xu Yan remain silent, Duan Peng nudged him. "Brother, why the hesitation?"

Watching Duan Peng’s excitement, Xu Yan nodded. "What you said is exactly what I meant. Why bother with more empty talk?"

Duan Peng was naturally delighted; this gave him a sense of satisfaction far greater than beating Xu Yan in a spar.

Jing Zhimin hung up his communicator and said, "All 52 of these individuals must go. For the rest, select those with strong combat awareness and obedience. We depart in one hour."

The Third Squad of the Jinjiang Special Operations Force was originally scheduled to lead the mission. With the 152 new recruits plus the three squad leaders, the total force of 155, led by Zhang Xudong, gathered and boarded vehicles for the Jinjiang Special Operations Force’s main base.

Upon stepping off the vehicles, they saw the 500-man team on the base airfield, all looking solemn and heavily armed. Compared to the new recruits, there was a palpable murderous intent in their eyes. This was something forged in blood and fire. Standing near them, one could feel an oppressive, murderous atmosphere.

Over 600 people boarded a "Yun-80" super-heavy transport aircraft, a plane so large that even with over 600 people inside, there was still plenty of room. The commander for this combat and search mission was the Third Squad leader, code-named "Fat Cat." He looked exactly like a fat cat—round and plump. If he took off his tactical gear, one would likely mistake him for an oily middle-aged man. However, there was a shocking scar on the left side of this "oily" man's face, said to have been caused by dodging high-speed shrapnel.

After the transport plane took off, Fat Cat read out the names of the new recruits one by one. The new recruits did not yet have their own code names and had to be assigned according to their names. A code name wasn't something you could just choose for yourself; it had to be recognized by your teammates. Much like Fat Cat, "fat" was the hallmark of his physique, but the "cat" attribute belonged to his operational ability—the scar on his face was the best evidence. There was no one else who could hear the whistle of high-speed shrapnel and dodge it to survive.

Xu Yan and Duan Peng were assigned to two different groups, but since these groups were carrying out the mission together, they were effectively in the same unit. It was likely that Zhang Xudong had negotiated this.

Due to the urgency of the situation, they arrived near Relic Island in the "Yun-80" and deployed via airdrop. Every two groups of eight members formed a squad. Along with the airdrop, they carried self-inflating rubber boats. The garrison on Relic Island had already released 40 deep-diving detection mini-subs. The teams used trackers to enter the subs and, following instructions from the command center, dispersed to dive in different directions.

If "Redeem" did not employ large-scale underwater equipment or submersibles, the 40 deep-diving mini-subs would launch an attack directly. If the enemy used large vessels that could not be directly engaged, the command center would launch underwater strikes once coordinates were detected. For the members of the Jinjiang Special Operations Force, they hoped most that "Redeem" would use small underwater equipment, as that was their primary mode of operation for this mission—small targets were harder to detect.

Flying at a low altitude of 100 meters, the "Yun-80" continuously directed the squads' airdrops based on the coordinates provided by Relic Island. Two squads were airdropped simultaneously: one squad would enter the deep-diving mini-sub, while the other would be responsible for surface support.

Sixteen members were dropped at each designated point. Xu Yan and his group were the third team, positioned exactly due west of Relic Island—the direction where "Redeem" was least likely to appear. From this, one could tell that Jing Zhimin still harbored a desire to protect them, arranging for them to avoid the east and northeast sectors where the most trouble was expected.

Once inside the mini-sub, they didn't need to handle the controls. Xu Yan and Duan Peng were treated as trainees and had nothing to say, as they had not yet been exposed to the training for this equipment.

Duan Peng noticed that Xu Yan’s eyes never left the operator and nudged him gently. "What? Trying to learn on the fly?"

Xu Yan did not answer, merely nodding as his gaze continued to track the operator's hands.

Closing the hatch, checking equipment signals, checking escape devices, starting negative pressure, initiating operation, starting the dive, monitoring dive depth, activating underwater detectors, observing and analyzing detector data, comparing it with sea charts, adjusting dive direction, adjusting dive speed, checking negative pressure status...

Duan Peng felt dizzy after watching for only a short while. The deep-diving mini-sub was essentially a miniature submarine, only much more intelligent. Thus, the operator was mostly performing checks and comparisons; unless the operator released audio updates, no one else could see the purpose or sequence of his actions.

Yet, Xu Yan watched with intense concentration, drawing strange looks from the other members of the squad.

Duan Peng felt the surrounding gazes and quickly explained, "He’s just a weirdo, don't mind him!"