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

Jacob explained, "You probably understand, it's sexy."

"Ahem, Captain, what are you talking about behind my back?" Reyes appeared silently behind Jacob.

Jacob glared at Raphael, who pouted, shrugged slightly, and wore a pleased smile.

"And you... that female naval lieutenant, please don't indulge in immoral pleasures at a time like this."

“Okay, sorry.” Raphael scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed.

“I accept the apology.” Reyes was very magnanimous towards her, then turned to Jacob. “Carl, as our leader, you should be more professional and reliable, not like this. I know that interactions between officers are different from those of us common soldiers, but could you please tone it down a bit?”

"Ah... I understand, I'll be more careful next time."

It's hard to imagine that the sergeant lectured Jacob, who had been in the army longer. After a long struggle, Reyes finally let Jacob off the hook.

Raphael took in this delicate moment from a short distance away, and if she had the chance later, she would send the two of them a photograph of the scene.

Jacob later explained that Reyes' father was a Marine, but the family broke up when Reyes was 3 years old due to drug problems.

Reyes said that a close relative of his was a police officer who was addicted to drugs, frequently visited prostitutes, and brought them home to take care of him and his brother.

Reyes eventually ended up in a children's shelter in Kansas, where he endured great hardship. His aptitude for fitness, martial arts, and combat likely developed during that period.

“That place is not a good place; there’s a child molestation scandal every two or three years,” Jacob explained.

Raphael looked back from under the shade of a tree and saw that Reyes was already helping his teammates install machine gun ammunition belts.

“I’ll go to hell from here,” he said, folding a new bullet belt and putting it into the bullet pouch of the M249 machine gun. “I will survive.”

"Yes, we all have to survive," a teammate next to him agreed.

“I think one day, Cissy and I will move to San Francisco.” Reyes was referring to his wife of five years.

What's so great about San Francisco?

“There are no fat people there,” Reyes replied. “Martial arts and fighting culture are very popular there.”

"If there are fat people where you live, why don't you just ignore them?"

Someone burst out laughing.

"People are different."

He said, "I want to live in a place where everyone cares about themselves."

“That’s too selfish, Reyes.” A slightly smaller soldier crawled under the camouflage net. “When will you realize you’re a fucking bastard who’s spreading HOMO scents around everyone? When we land.”

He was referring to the time when the Rangers crossed the bridge and set foot on Manhattan soil.

“I bet this old bastard was wearing Stars and Stripes underwear! And now he’s going to war in his trash suit and those flea-yellow goggles. You’re like a pimp now.”

“Dude, I’m dressed in body-conscious clothing, but I’m not dressed like a fucking pimp. I respect myself, and I love my wife more.”

Reyes burst into laughter. After delivering a speech that aimed to intimidate his opponent, the two bumped fists.

From a distance, Raphael said to Jacob, "Are your men this...interesting every day?"

"Being a bastard is a more fitting description, isn't it?"

Yes, that's right.

About two hours before sunrise, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Billis assembled the troops for a final mobilization. Charles was at the top of the chain of command.

As for officers, those who served as platoon leaders were at the very bottom.

The platoon leader is responsible to the company commander, while the company commanders of Companies A, B, and C are responsible to Charles. For various reasons, Charles Billis is now God.

Especially during wartime, his authority was absolute and unquestionable.

The lieutenant colonel moved his command post from the original building to the rooftop of an apartment building south of the park. It was a small black tent, looking like it had been washed ashore in the desert.

The deck of the ship was covered with ropes.

Gathered near the command post were more than 100 of his officers, veterans, and squad leaders.

Book 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 92 The Battle is About to Begin

Charles Billis was rather thin, with a narrow head and eyes that were set neither too far apart nor too close together, perhaps due to the effect of his glasses. What was striking was his voice—dry, soft, and somewhat hoarse.

Raphael noticed that people who lingered in the dark zone for too long all sounded like this, but his voice was even drier.

Even standing in the middle of the park, more than 20 meters away from him, with the wind whistling in his ears, he could still hear Billis's hoarse, dry voice as he spoke at the top of his lungs.

The voice sounded a little creepy, like someone was putting their lips to your ear and speaking directly to it, as clear as the devil Satan whispering in Eve's ear.

“Good news,” Billis said to them in a hoarse voice.

His eyebrows arched, and although he wasn't all smiles, he looked rather happy.

"Special Operations Command acknowledged that we still stand by the unparalleled shock we inflicted on them. The money flu was seen as a fig leaf for the problems, while our resurrection detonated a deeply buried time bomb..."

Raphael glanced at the lieutenant colonel giving a speech from his high position, then turned his attention to the people around him.

"...If you encounter anyone who tries to stop you or oppose you, whoever they are, kill them without hesitation..."

Everyone got excited. Rangers often liked to hear their commanders say such impressive things.

Smiles appeared on their faces, and they nodded excitedly.

Lieutenant Colonel Billis shifted the conversation from his excitement about the impending battle to a topic that seemed to bother him: the Rangers' personal grooming.

“I don’t know when we’ll actually leave Manhattan,” he said, “but we will. After we cross the Hudson River, we have to shave all our beards; that’s the rule. Make sure your men shave all their beards by then.”

"It's pointless to persist," Raphael remarked, turning and entering the tent to exchange information with the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" team.

Half a minute later, a string of data arrived from outside the camp. She received it, and the communications officer at the camp headquarters also spotted this unusual encrypted data amidst the complex and chaotic data stream.

He pointed it out to Billis, who glanced at a tent in the park and deterred his men from peeping.

Currently, the interests of both parties are completely aligned, so there is no need to do something that would directly lead to a complete breakdown in relations.

However, Billis hinted that the data could be left uninterrupted, but copies should be made simultaneously. If necessary, the communications officer and his technical staff could decrypt the encrypted data.

In other words, they can now conduct research.

If disagreements arise between the two sides, it is essential to ensure they have sufficient information to smoothly move on to the next step.

Raphael was prepared for their actions; in fact, these little tricks were entirely expected.

Cracking it is a technical skill that really tests a person's talent.

She didn't take it to heart; by the time they figured it out, the encryption algorithm would be useless.

If it can be handled by a battalion-level communications officer, it only proves that the people in DARPA's Information Technology Department are just coasting along and are useless.

The roar of engines came from the highway outside, followed by a fierce surge, and then everything fell silent again in an instant.

The duty officer wiped the sweat from his brow, placed the earpiece that had been making noise in the silence on the table, and then said, "Everything is normal. The enemy who broke in from the side street has been eliminated by the patrol force."

A few minutes later, a Hummer drove around the tents and into the park, from which jumped the person she never expected to meet there.

The other party should act as the vanguard and participate in the cleanup operation first.

This is Sergeant Vic John, the captain who recently received investment; he's currently dressed in civilian clothes.

“Hey, what’s with this outfit?” Raphael asked.

"I just came back from outside."

"They went to conduct an on-site inspection."

“I can’t hide it from you,” Vic said with a grin, unscrewing the water bottle and wiping the sweat from his face with his free hand. “Judging from your understanding of us, you’re definitely not an ordinary ship’s officer.”

"Personal interest, is that something you can accept?" Raphael couldn't help but ask with a smile as he looked at Vic's dignified appearance.

"What is the more real reason?"

Raphael put his index finger to his lips. "You don't have enough authority to know why I'm here, so..."

"So, out of personal interest, I accepted it."

However, judging from his deliberate expression, he must have kept this matter in mind, fantasizing that one day he would find out the real reason why Raphael appeared here.

Curiosity always emerges when it's not needed, driving people to make choices that offend others.

"So, where are you going to be deployed next?" she asked.

"Judging from the lieutenant colonel's arrangements, he's asking us to rest now, and he'll probably be doing activities with you at the end?"

Vic figured Lieutenant Colonel Billis must have known about it, which was why he withdrew his squad from the front. However, that didn't make sense, since there was still no evidence of it.

Once the lieutenant colonel issues an order, their six-man squad has no choice but to obey.

This is what's known as the chain of command.

“Perhaps,” Raphael glanced at the gradually brightening sky, rubbing his nose with dissatisfaction, “If it really comes to that, I won’t let you participate…”

No matter what, any human flesh and blood that goes in will only turn into those withered bones outside.

Perhaps robots won't fare any better.

She clenched her fists, feeling that sometimes going too far with realism wasn't good.

At the very least, we need to confirm the condition of that batch of items—whether they're all broken or only a portion has been leaked. That's Harry's requirement.

However, after being active in New York for so long, she basically came to her own conclusion: apart from the one that Dr. Gordon had opened on his own initiative, there was another part that had encountered "accidents".

Although it is still unknown how the collapse fluid container was sent to New York, or how it was detonated or dismantled, the current situation is actually quite clear.

Both Raphael, who had received support from DARPA Research Agency, and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Billis, who had been involved from the beginning, knew that the final decision had to be made.

Raphael got up and left the tent, taking a step out from the shadows, where the sunlight immediately stung his skin.

The light reflecting off the windows of the buildings on both sides danced and darted about recklessly within the field of vision.

Nearly a hundred soldiers were gathered in the center of the park. When everyone is gathered in one place like this, one can clearly feel the immense pressure created by the sheer scale.

Volume 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 93 Ambush

At the crossroads, several soldiers of the survivor army, their heads covered by raincoats, dozed off beside the stacked blast walls of the checkpoint.

Everything in the city was silent; document checks were conducted without a sound, and directions were given without a sound.

Everywhere you look, there's a sense of order and harmony, which is very pleasing.

As the convoy of two Hummers drove through the checkpoint and headed south toward the city center, they were stopped by three patrol teams in succession.

"The quality of the staff has visibly declined." Perhaps tired of the desolate scenery of the city, Vic John started talking.