Umbrella Corporation Headquarters, Cybersecurity Department.
"The ability to manipulate one's own blood for attack."
Riley stared at the monitor, watching the footage of a man being shot down, then unexpectedly counter-killing with blood. This footage was captured by miniature surveillance devices installed on the bodyguards.
Meanwhile, in Vitatrilio City, at the Mayor's residence.
"What!?"
"Trent Treto was kidnapped, and all his bodyguards are dead!?"
"Yes."
"Sejjghan!" Gudmund couldn't help but blurt out a local expletive upon hearing this. He hung up the phone, leaned back on the sofa, his face grim. "Investigate! Find out everything!"
"Yes, Mr. Mayor."
Gudmund hung up the phone, rose from the sofa, and paced back and forth in the hall, anxiety clearly written all over his face. This was bad news. If Trent were just an ordinary foreign investor, Gudmund wouldn't worry about what happened to him,
whether he was kidnapped or missing. But Trent was the regional head of the Umbrella Corporation's branch. If someone sent by Umbrella Corporation Headquarters went missing here, it was unthinkable to continue any thoughts of cooperation or investment.
Damn it, who in the world would cause trouble at a time like this!?
While Mayor Gudmund was racking his brains, in the Clencia Rainforest of Pegrus.
It was ten o'clock at night. The night sky enveloped the entire land, including the vast emerald sea before them.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
Within the pitch-black rainforest, the continuous whirring of helicopter rotors awakened the animals slumbering in the forest.
"Whoosh!"
As three helicopters flew over the training base in the forest, three dark silhouettes were flung from the helicopters. The three dark figures arced through the air, and with a "thwap," parachutes unfurled above them.
"Thud, thud, thud..."
The three dark figures landed successively on the ground. Ahmed, who had been waiting for a long time, stepped forward with his guards towards these objects. Flashlights shone upon them, revealing three rectangular black boxes, each four meters long.
"Move them back." Ahmed commanded. Behind him, guards operated pre-prepared forklifts to transport the three rectangular black boxes into the base.
Only after the items were moved into the base's warehouse did Ahmed begin his inspection. He circled the three rectangular black boxes. The surface of the boxes displayed a row of letters, with the largest letter being a prone "A."
"Stand them up."
"Yes, sir." Ahmed ordered, and the guards immediately stepped forward to erect the three black boxes one by one.
Ahmed stepped forward and patted the surface of the black boxes. He didn't know what material they were made of, but it certainly wasn't iron.
"Beep!"
Just as he patted the central "A" on the black box's surface, the "A" split open in a triangular shape with a "clack," revealing a palm-sized fluorescent screen. Ahmed's expression was solemn. He slowly opened his right palm and covered the screen.
"Warning: unauthorized!"
As his right hand was about to cover the screen, a red light flashed, accompanied by a warning message.
"Permission passed!"
But when Ahmed's palm completely covered the screen, the warning vanished, replaced by a peculiar sensation sweeping across his hand.
"Click~"
Immediately after, a vertical line appeared in the middle, and fluorescent blue light emanated from it as the black box slowly opened. Three skeletal frames, reflecting a faint fluorescent blue light, stood quietly and silently within the black boxes.
"Instructor, this is..." A guard involuntarily took a step forward. He stared at the mechanical skeleton standing in the box, secretly swallowing. The other guards were likewise, their breaths hitching as they gazed at the equipment standing quietly.
"Don't rush. There's plenty more good stuff coming later."
Once the authentication was complete, Ahmed patted Nathan's shoulder, then continued to open the other two black boxes. The second also contained a mechanical skeleton, while the third box held various other equipment.
"Four Peregrine Drones, two Hunter Drones, ten Composite Bulletproof Vests, ten Ranger Neuro-Mechanical Helmets, and ten Sparrow Micro-Integrated Missiles." Ahmed took a tablet from a guard's hand and read out each item from the manifest.
The guards listened, their expressions excited, to equipment they had never heard of or used before. Compared to the others, Ahmed was much calmer. After seeing the actual items inside, he responded to headquarters via his wireless earpiece.
These pieces of equipment were all funded by the company's hefty investment. Unlike the Biotechnology Laboratory and the Antibiotics Laboratory, the Weaponry Research Institute was a bottomless pit, the kind that took in resources with no apparent output.
Dozens of weaponry researchers had studied Ahmed for an entire year, yet still couldn't replicate the exoskeleton armor he wore. The root cause lay in the energy problem. They could create exoskeleton armor similar to Ahmed's,
even adding many powerful functions, but all of this depended on the armor being able to move. Therefore, Kipsiler and his team settled for the next best thing, developing these human-assisted prosthetics.
"Nathan, Rory." After inventorying the equipment, Ahmed singled out two men from the guards behind him. The two fully armed black-clad guards immediately stepped forward. "You two, go try them out."
Nathan and Rory's eyes sharpened at the instruction, a faint excitement stirring within them. "Yes, Instructor!" Both were from Meteor City, and were among the first batch of guards Ahmed had trained. Only this first batch of guards and soldiers still referred to him as "Instructor." Other guards or soldiers could only call him "Sir."
"Move quickly. We only have ten hours to familiarize ourselves with the equipment. After ten hours, we must depart for the Kakin Empire to carry out our mission."
Ahmed's tone was serious. This batch of equipment wasn't routinely scheduled; it had been sent early due to an urgent mission. Otherwise, they would have had to wait at least another year to access this equipment.
Half an hour ago, Jin Bradley, located at the V5 Organization Headquarters, received an unknown call from the Kakin Empire. They claimed to have captured Trent, the general manager of Umbrella Corporation's branch in the Kakin Empire,
and wanted to discuss some matters with him, also hoping to meet. The unknown caller gave an address, asking him to go there at the appointed time, where they would bring the hostage. After speaking, the person on the other end hung up.
"Ignorant fools." Jin Bradley looked at the phone in his hand, commenting calmly.
"The location has been found. The call came from Vitatrilio, Kakin Empire, but it's actually in the Kakin Empire's capital." Eksampe's slightly deep voice sounded, a hint of disdain in his heart for these people's petty tricks.
"Is that so? Arrange it as you wish. I need to go home for a bit." Jin Bradley notified Ilumi, who was currently on a flying ship heading to the Padokea Republic. The New Year was approaching, and he couldn't stay outside indefinitely. In this world, he still had a home. At the very least, he needed to go back and reunite with his family for the New Year.
"Notify Ahmed to arrange a team for the rescue. Oh, and use the latest research results from the Weaponry Research Institute. Consider it a weapon test." Jin Bradley instructed after the call ended.
Eksampe relayed his words, and so headquarters brought out the latest equipment from the Weaponry Research Institute, transporting it by helicopter to the Clencia Rainforest training base. The kidnappers in the Kakin Empire made a mistake.
They thought that someone of Trent's level, who could serve as a branch general manager, must be a high-ranking executive in Umbrella Corporation, and that the company would pay a price to save his life. Of course, if it were an ordinary company, they would surely have succeeded.
But in reality, individuals of the branch general manager level were merely superficial executives; the true high-ranking officials of the company remained hidden beneath the surface. No one could see them, no one could discern them.
Therefore, Trent's life was completely unimportant to Jin Bradley and Ilumi. However, for the reputation of Umbrella Corporation, and as a price for daring to lay hands on Umbrella Corporation personnel, they decided to conduct a weapon test.
Clencia Rainforest training base.
Nathan and Rory painstakingly donned the human-assisted prosthetics and put on the Ranger Neuro-Mechanical Helmets.
"Clack, clack, clack..."
A series of clicking sounds suddenly came from their backs. The Neuro-Spine CPU, resembling a metal centipede on their backs, automatically clicked into place with their bulletproof vests, simultaneously connecting to the human-assisted prosthetics and the neuro-mechanical helmets.
The Ranger Neuro-Mechanical Helmet could provide computing power independently, but when connected to the Neuro-Spine CPU, its data processing capability was greatly enhanced.
This human-assisted prosthetic was still in the experimental stage and had never been used before. Therefore, they had to figure out how to use it themselves, aiming to familiarize themselves with it within ten hours.
"Beep, beep..."
In Nathan and Rory's perception, a strange symbol suddenly appeared in their vision after putting on the Ranger Neuro-Mechanical Helmets. The symbol had three protruding circles on the outside, and inside was a circular icon containing three arrows.
The three symbols combined to form a unique VLOG. The VLOG slowly rotated, and a line of letters appeared in their vision: [SCP Foundation].
Both were puzzled. What was the SCP Foundation? Was it the Weaponry Research Institute that developed this equipment? But the two didn't think much of it. It was issued by the company, so it was better not to ask too many questions.
But then, their field of vision gradually compressed, and their sight expanded. When they came back to their senses.
"Rory, did you see that?" Nathan asked in an incredulous tone.
"Yeah, it's incredible." Rory replied in the same tone. At this moment, they could see a 270-degree field of vision, an expansion of several tens of degrees. Blind spots that normal people couldn't observe were all laid out before their eyes.
Even more incredibly, as his gaze moved, real-time, constantly changing data information appeared in the upper right corner of his vision, semi-transparently. Time, temperature, wind conditions,
air quality readings, and many other data points were clearly presented in his vision. Moreover, no matter which direction he looked, as long as he focused his gaze, the neuro-mechanical helmet could automatically zoom in on distant scenes.
"It's incredible." The two exclaimed, making the other guards around them envious.
Immediately, two human-assisted prosthetics, one for each brother, were worn. They took slow, difficult steps within the base.
"Stop dilly-dallying. Here are the manuals. Familiarize yourselves with them within ten hours." Ahmed threw two manuals about the human-assisted prosthetics and neuro-mechanical helmets to the two men.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The two men wearing the human-assisted prosthetics caught them instantly with their arms. The moment they made contact, they froze again. They had only thought of catching them in their minds, but before they could even move, the auxiliary prosthetics had already caught them.
"I'll be back in ten hours. Make sure you're all familiar with how to use the new equipment." Ahmed turned and left. The other remaining guards rushed to the black boxes, fiddling with the drones and new equipment inside according to the instructions in the manuals.
Ten neuro-mechanical helmets, plus the new composite bulletproof vests, plus himself, just enough to form an eleven-person special squad.
With this set of equipment, the guards' appearance immediately changed dramatically, giving them the feeling of a mysterious unit straight out of a sci-fi movie. Just standing there motionless gave off an oppressive feeling that sent shivers down one's spine.
A black-haired woman in a white T-shirt and black button-up shirt with jeans pushed open a car door and stood on the ground, looking around.
"Let us through!" A crowd gathered at the border line, someone shouted loudly.
As far as her eyes could see, there were residents of the Aztec Republic wanting to cross the border, but soldiers from the Aidimei United States had erected barbed wire fences along the border, preventing them from passing.
"Whir, whir, whir..." A helicopter hovered above the crowd, its roaring engine forcing people to cover their ears.
"Return to your homes! Do not cross the border without permission!"
"This is illegal border crossing!"
The helicopter's searchlight continuously swept across the massive crowd below, and soldiers used loudspeakers to dissuade the people. The DCM-1 Superbacteria was spreading rapidly in the Aztec Republic like a common cold, unstoppable. There was no cure, no vaccine. It claimed tens of thousands of lives in its first week alone.
"This is the end of the world!"
"The apocalypse is near!"
Someone climbed onto a car roof, holding up a sign with the words "The end of the world is here" written on it.
"I'll be back in ten hours. Make sure you're all familiar with how to use the new equipment." Ahmed turned and left. The other remaining guards rushed to the black boxes, fiddling with the drones and new equipment inside according to the instructions in the manuals.
Ten neuro-mechanical helmets, plus the new composite bulletproof vests, plus himself, just enough to form an eleven-person special squad.
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