Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 716, 130. Yarman

'If I complete this mission, I should be promoted to minister, right? Then I can finally escape these days of personally leading the charge and dump all the tedious and exhausting dirty work on my subordinates.'

Yarman raised his hand, signaling his teammates behind him to stop and rest on the spot.

He leaned against the mottled concrete wall, pulled a high-calorie chocolate from the pocket of his tactical vest, tore open the wrapper, and popped it into his mouth.

A sweet and bitter taste spread across his tongue, reminding him of the army rations, although the two tasted completely different.

During this brief respite, the thought of being able to relax after finishing this job once again surfaced in his mind, just like before—like a tiny thorn, painless and itch-free, yet always stuck there, which could be removed soon.

Yarman, a name that carries the meaning of 'soldier, soldier-like courage and light', and his life trajectory is indeed as the name foreshadows, always intertwined with his military career.

When he was eighteen, he scribbled his name at the conscription office and felt that he had made the first independent choice in his life.

During his six years of military service in the new United States, from crawling and rolling on the muddy training grounds to the carnage of bullets on overseas battlefields, he never backed down—it was less about bravery and more about numbness. On the day he retired, he tore up all his military-related documents, thinking he could finally get rid of this terrible experience.

Until a mountain of bills and payment reminders filled my inbox.

The recruitment letter from the military technology company came at just the right time. The offer was just enough to pay off the medical debts his parents had in the hospital and his sister's tuition fees. So he returned to his familiar routine: tactical briefings, armed operations, and pulling the trigger. Only this time, the rank on his shoulder insignia changed from 'sergeant major' to 'captain'.

After entering the field of military technology at the age of 24, Yarman worked for another six years and is now 30 years old, but he is no longer willing to fight on the front lines.

It's not that he's lost his former sharpness. He's in his prime, and the experience he's accumulated from long wars and battles makes him capable of dealing with anyone. He even had the experience of suddenly encountering a cyber-psychopath on the street and taking him down single-handedly. He's fully capable and qualified to continue fighting on the front lines. The only reason he doesn't want to think that way is because he's tired.

The man whose name carries the connotations of a soldier was truly exhausted; he was currently being consumed by a deep-seated weariness.

What suffocated him was never the hail of bullets on the battlefield, nor the bloody close combat, but the 'chain of obedience' that he could never break free from.

From the time he could remember, his life was like a pre-programmed program: during his childhood, he had to follow his rigid father's strict rules, even the angle at which the knife and fork were placed when eating was strictly regulated;

As an adult, he joined the army to rebel, only to find that the ironclad rule of 'obeying orders' in the army was even more unquestionable than his father's family rules.

When he retired, he thought he could finally breathe the air of freedom, but he had to be humble to the doctor for his parents' medical expenses and bend over and smile in the teacher's office to get his sister's tuition reduced.

In military technology today, the situation remains unchanged.

Every mission briefing, every operational deployment, reminded him of the monotonous operational meetings in the new U.S. military. The orders from his superiors and the shouts of his former officers gradually overlapped in his mind, and even the format of tactical instructions was exactly the same.

Yarman, whose name should have conveyed not only the meaning of a soldier but also the meaning of light and courage, has now become the most complete puppet on a string.

When the thread in his father's hand broke, the army took over; when the army's thread broke, life continued; now, the thread of military technology has firmly bound his limbs once again.

He could still clearly remember the look in the eyes of the wanderer he had shot down during his last mission with the new U.S. Army—a look that reflected the freedom he had longed for for so many years.

'Freedom, huh? After I get promoted, I should have more freedom, right?'

He knew in his heart that this was nothing but wishful thinking, but Yarman still indulged in it. Yarman belonged to, or rather, was loyal to, a person named Blanca in the military technology field. She was a very shrewd woman who had climbed to a high position in the military technology field in a very short time.

Some say it's because of her family background, while others speculate it's because Blanca has connections with the famous KK Squad. But in Yarman's opinion, the reason she rose to a high position might be her clear system of rewards and punishments.

If a person can truly be fair in rewarding and punishing, it's hard for others not to trust them.

Trust is often the ladder to promotion and loyalty.

In his eyes, Blanca was a very fair boss: if a task was completed beyond expectations, the bonus would be doubled and deposited directly into his account; if it was messed up, the punishment would be swift and decisive; more importantly, she never interfered with the details of execution, as long as the result met expectations.

Just like this mission, Blanca promised that each of them would be promoted with her authority if they completed it, and in addition, there would be a personal reward from the president.

Clearly, Blanca trusted them greatly in the mission, entrusting them with the task of contacting the president, but this was no easy task.
After resting for a while, Yarman waved.

"keep going."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the line, pausing subtly for a moment, but before anyone noticed, he had already looked away.

Yarman sensed something was wrong.

Although he didn't see any strange signs or anyone, his premonitions from years of military service and combat missions vaguely reminded him that something was definitely wrong.

During his break, he seemed to sense that someone was watching him.

It was a feeling that came out of nowhere, without even being noticed, yet it made him absolutely certain.

Someone has their eye on their team.

Was it a camera set up by the haunted dog?

No, his team's hacking skills were pretty good; they were able to find things like webcams, which are easy to spot. The feeling was less like being spied on through a webcam and more like someone hiding in a blind spot watching him, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

Yarman silently raised the alert level in the channel without making a sound.

This feeling is becoming more and more familiar.

A word had already popped into Yarman's mind.

A word that belongs to the enemy.

'Arasaka'

In terms of acumen, military technology and Arasaka are mutually compatible.

(End of this chapter)