Eh? You want to try the humanoid girl's iron fist too?

"This won't work, come with me!"

When Raphael and Jacob stood side by side once again, Raphael smiled slightly, not taking the seriousness of the situation to heart. Jacob noticed her smile and blinked like a child.

The gunfire stopped abruptly, just as it had at the beginning.

After discovering their attack was stalled, SHD agents decisively chose to retreat. With the surviving troops turning on their searchlights, the covert infiltration plan naturally failed.

Only a few people sustained minor injuries in the two nighttime attacks.

"Order the technical troops to speed up the process; the installation of monitoring and automatic turrets must not be delayed!" Billis's voice trembled through the radio, accompanied by severe crackling noise.

Jacob, holding the phone, replied, "Yes, I'll tell them to speed things up."

After dealing with Billis, he looked at Raphael for a long time with the eyes of someone who had just discovered a treasure, his face full of joy.

"You're such a lucky star! The last time we fought the ELID infected, and thank you again for what happened earlier."

"Well... it's no big deal?"

“Mike? Mike!” Jacob yelled into the phone again after a while, “This is Carl…”

How's it going over there, Mike? All packed up? I'm coming right now.

It seems the radio report isn't good news.

Raphael sat in his chair, holding a warm cup of coffee, calculating the time in his mind. Now, only the map kept by Lieutenant Colonel Billis remained.

No, and it's not necessarily necessary to have the Rangers' map; there's also a survey map in the hands of the "Purifiers" in New York.

In the data storage space, she found the data sent by DARPA, which were the original mission briefings and various maps of the "Griffin" team.

From this perspective, we need to prepare a backup plan.

Book 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 90: Alternative Options

The area held by the Hundred-Eyed Giants became relatively quiet.

If Doug Sutton didn't know that the silence wasn't because the survivor army was exhausted and had ceased operations, but solely because they were currently redeploying their forces and adjusting their course for the next phase of operations...

He opened the map and compared it with the message Raphael had sent—Bryant Park, the survivor army was planning to open a passage, trying to cut the city center in two.

Rumbling sounds of bombardment could be heard intermittently from the south on the left, but here it was silent—or rather, silent according to the city's understanding of the word "sleepless city."

Explosions occur intermittently outside the dark zone.

It's unclear how the Second Wave agents and their commander handled things; they were constantly on the move, here one minute and there the next. It was impossible for things to truly quiet down. There was always a small group of them, like wild, spawning monsters, trying to take over parts of the city through gunfights.

But all of this was less of a battle and more of a disturbance, preventing them from getting a good night's sleep.

What SHD agents are doing now is to settle the survivor army down and bring back every single soldier they've deployed.

The pain of having nothing to do was probably more intense in Doug Sutton's mind than the simple human joy that came from being alive and having a lower chance of dying than before.

During the days of waiting, a special way of life developed in the temporary hideout, surrounded by both optimism and pessimism. This life, with its unique calmness, perseverance, and madness, and sometimes its dark humor, would surprise them unexpectedly.

After four days of silence, the bright sunshine of early spring was broken by a sudden order.

"Order: Infiltrate the napalm production plant in Tandron, hunt down Joe Ferro, and recover all documents, files, and electronic equipment from the Purifier headquarters and factory..."

"Raphael has sent orders?"

The voice came from behind him. Doug turned around and saw Alki staring at him expressionlessly.

"Yes, raid the napalm production plant, kill the leader of the 'Purifiers,' and recover all data and electronic equipment."

"It seems that negotiations with the survivor army have stalled."

“It seems so,” Doug replied.

"What is the address?"

“A construction site in Tandron.”

"That's a bit troublesome."

Alki crossed his arms, lost in thought, and then answered in a low voice:

“Even if we can use offline ISAC, it can only tell us the general map of the construction site…it can’t do anything else.”

"What's the address?" Doug asked.

"The intersection of Sixth Avenue and West 23rd Street."

Cecilia came out of the bedroom, and after listening to Doug's brief explanation, she frowned as she faced the map.

As ordered, the four of them were tasked with infiltrating a heavily guarded construction site riddled with petrol bombs, without any backup, to kill the leader of the "Purifiers" and recover all relevant data and information from the surrounding area.

Is this even possible? Experience tells her it's impossible, but—

"Did the order mention any reason?" she asked.

"I think the most important thing is to collect the data, and the key is what data to collect."

"and many more,"

Cecilia took a deep breath, her astonished gaze slowly hardening. She looked at Tony, who was silently packing his things behind her, and said, word by word:

"Think about the conditions under which we leave? The reason why the lieutenant went to make contact with the survivor army."

"The core objective is always to recover the collapsed fluid containers, but what stands in our way is that this city is too big..."

Cecilia nodded; that was the crux of the matter.

Since it is known that two forces have conducted on-site investigations into the area affected by the widespread collapse, and one of them has already sent someone to negotiate, the core of the task facing them is self-evident.

Hunting down Joe Filo? It doesn't matter whether he's killed or not; he's not everyone's focus.

It would be best to kill him, as that would severely damage the "Purifiers" organization, but there's no need to be sad if we fail to kill him.

Everyone—except Raphael—from the "SHD-Nobles" squad transformed into the "DARPA-Hundred-Eyed Giants Squad (Unofficial)" to the survivor army (Ranger Force) that still maintains a size of nearly eight hundred, shares the same goal:

Leaving New York allowed them to get their daily lives back on track.

This order goes beyond that; it also illustrates Raphael's awkward predicament of being unable to move freely, and that he was forced to issue such instructions due to the control over his communication lines.

Obtaining the radiation map from the Purifiers was the so-called backup plan. For some reason unknown to them, the surviving army's credibility and reliability in Raphael's eyes declined.

They made the wrong bet in this gamble.

Although Raphael achieved some of their objectives, some members of the organization are now feeling the pressure. Charles Billis and his supporters have promised them that they will leave, so this pressure is largely psychological.

This pressure was so real to the soldiers of the survivor army, as it was to anyone with keen insight.

"But where can we begin?"

Alki studied the map, which projected the construction site's condition onto ISAC in front of him. It was tricky; just looking at the 3D model made him sweat.

"Go in through the main entrance?"

"So, are you going to knock on their doors and brazenly tell them that we've requisitioned this place?" Alki said sarcastically.

"No, shouldn't it be shouting 'FBI, open the door'?"

“Alright,” Doug said.

After stopping the pointless self-deprecation, he got everyone into the zone. The day flew by as they repeatedly dissected the design drawings, conducted simulations, and overturned plans.

At night, Doug looked dejectedly at the map drawn in his little notebook and decided to arrange a field reconnaissance.

Thinking about it carefully, this is only the second time they've operated independently since leaving SHD. Last time, at Dr. Gordon Amherst's apartment, Tony made a huge mistake by picking up a dismantled container of collapse fluid; they really need to make sure nothing goes wrong this time…

The value of the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" must be proven.

Otherwise, he would be abandoned by that seemingly harmless girl without a doubt.

The thought of the mountain of problems to be solved made Doug's mood sink.

"Captain, do you have an idea?"

Tony's voice snapped Doug out of his daze, and he looked up. The long hand of the clock was pointing exactly to 12 o'clock.

"not yet."

"How's the on-site reconnaissance going?" Tony asked.

"Yes, that's what I think too."

Doug spread out a map on the table. "Let's study this together. Where can we see the inside of the construction site without being detected by the Purifier's sentinels?"

"Looks like it'll take some effort; this kind of location isn't easy to find."

Volume 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 91 The Prelude to the Counterattack

Survivor Army, Bryant Park Camp.

The attacks from the SHD agent team were increasing in frequency; they were like annoying mosquitoes, always coming to bite for no reason.

That afternoon, Raphael and Jacob went to the platoon on rest to find out what was going on and to learn about the soldiers' thoughts and health from the sergeants.

When there were no battle alarms, the Rangers would gather under the camouflage netting of the Humvees, talking as they wiped all their weapons clean and carefully loaded machine gun bullets into the feed belts.

They sat together in small groups, passing around weapons and tools, and doing very complex and meticulous work.

Raphael suddenly remembered that they looked like women huddled together embroidering.

No one said much about the cleanup operation that was about to begin in a few hours. If there was anything to say as the operation was about to commence, it was only a more concentrated stream of humor and nonsense than usual.

The most flamboyant member of the second rank was Reyes Hesel, a strange man who always said that joining the Rangers was a romantic idealism.

That afternoon, he sat under his squad's camouflage netting, wiping down his Barrett MRAD sniper rifle. He was covered in camouflage that was unsettling to look at; his comrades called it a "garbage heap."

Because his hands and shoulders were covered with bundles of colorful plastic bags, tarpaulins, and bits of broken plastic bottles, when he curled up, he looked like a pile of trash on the street.

Reyes' helmet was similarly flashy. A pair of bright orange goggles added to its distinctive yet fitting style.

This guy has a muscular physique like a Hollywood star. Before joining the army, he lived in the world of judo and participated in national kung fu and tai chi championships.

He was recognized as a top fighter in the entire battalion and the strongest man in the battalion, but he looked a bit "gay".

Thus, Reyes naturally became an example among his peers of "attracting the opposite sex through fitness, and attracting the same sex through excessive fitness."

Of course, he was not a gender abnormality—after all, he was married—but he was at least a masculine man with a strong feminine charm.

Reyes was a burly, dark-skinned man with typical Mexican features, but his skin was as smooth as porcelain, making him an unforgettable figure.

When he got to this point, Jacob couldn't help but laugh out loud. He said in a trembling voice:

"They think Reyes is sexy, but note that doesn't mean they're all from Nantong, you know. But he is indeed very good-looking."