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

Lingyin cautiously glanced around the corner. The three of them ignored their surroundings and deliberately headed towards an entrance they had chosen.

"This is troublesome," she thought as she stepped back, shaking her head slightly in response to the expectant gazes of Raphael and Asuka.

—What are the countermeasures?

The thoughts hidden in the bird's gaze as it looked at Raphael can be interpreted in this way.

Raphael simply shook his head, rejecting all radical countermeasures.

They were unfamiliar with the area, had no guides or aerial surveillance resources, and their radio communication was terrible; they called for more than ten minutes without receiving any response from the two CIA ladies.

Asuka joked that Raphael must have misremembered the communication code, otherwise there would be no reason for him to refuse to respond.

But they all understood that it was impossible for them to have misremembered. Important information was stored in their mental space, and could be retrieved and reproduced when needed.

If an error occurs, it proves that Raphael's mental core is malfunctioning.

If direct combat is not the best option, then continuous observation of the three is essential. Understanding their behavioral patterns will allow for the development of a quiet and rational attack plan.

She didn't want this residential area to turn into a bustling battlefield.

Raphael activated shared vision, observing the trio's actions from Lingyin's perspective. They entered the building and then separated.

One of them walked straight into the entrance, while the other two hid around the grassy area in front of the entrance, keeping watch.

A few minutes passed, and the man who had gone in returned. He sat down on the entrance steps, and one of the two watchmen opened what is now the front door.

So, they're doing reconnaissance work?

Undoubtedly, the person who went to open the door glanced up the stairs, went up and down, and then tried the door again.

Unable to find anyone, he returned to report.

This could mean that the person who just went in was the team leader?

From a purely observational perspective, the guesses cannot be blamed as arbitrary and aimless. The scene as seen from Lingyin's point of view is indeed as described: he did enter the building alone and then leave.

However, these three were also a bit foolish. They seemed unaware that such buildings have dedicated emergency fire escape routes, which are always open.

foreigner?

The image of those Russian agents flashed through Raphael's mind. If it were them... they might not be very familiar with the architectural design of the Japanese.

No matter how I think about it, it doesn't make sense. To act rashly without prior knowledge is just walking into a trap.

Laziness is not a good habit; it can kill you.

Raphael slung the HK416 over his shoulder and drew his pistol. In this situation, its main advantage—relatively quiet firing—could be crucial.

Deep down, she really didn't want to fight.

Successfully receive the high-value target or package, avoid all trouble, and easily board the evacuation plane or boat.

She tilted her head, avoiding the two men on guard downstairs, and successfully infiltrated the building through the other evacuation route. These were the exact coordinates provided by the intelligence officer.

It wasn't a lush park, nor a dense residential area with numerous passageways and corridors, but rather a low-rise office and commercial building.

A strange meeting point. Raphael couldn't understand the intelligence officer's thought process; perhaps there were other high-value items waiting to be recovered.

Perhaps it's some kind of treasure that can prolong life, which is why he's willing to pay any price...

But how could such a thing exist? Raphael did not follow their prior agreement to lag behind at the end of the group.

Ultimately, she was still worried; in her opinion, Suzune and Asuka hadn't experienced enough.

I carefully made my way through the evacuation route. As expected, the indoor fire escape was open, but there was too much clutter and garbage piled on the floor.

It's obvious that someone has already been loitering around this commercial office building.

Everything was upside down and in disarray.

Seeing the devastation, it's easy to imagine that the robbers were especially careful during their final search—smashing all the doors to pieces and ransacking every office.

Raphael stopped in front of the agreed-upon floor. He immediately played a not-so-small, mischievous joke on her: a thin gray thread was tied to the storage room near the door frame.

"It's a tripwire," she crouched down, carefully observing the corner.

It's definitely not a trap that ordinary people could set. It's either special operations personnel from outside or the important figures they're supposed to be meeting—the two young ladies, right?

Besides them, the only other people who could get their hands on grenades were the Self-Defense Forces who had previously carried out security maintenance missions in Fukuoka City.

However, providing hand grenades to Self-Defense Force soldiers who are maintaining order is a bit too extreme.

She looked closely and saw that the thin thread was connected to a metal fork pressed against the door frame.

Well, it seems that her Raphael thinking is too extreme, imagining the simplest warning measures as tripwires and booby traps with endless hidden dangers.

If anyone moves even slightly roughly, the metal fork will fall to the floor from a height of more than a meter after the thin wire snaps.

The sound of the impact must have been very clear; only a completely deaf person would not have heard it.

That's a rather interesting little trick, which means there's a rather clever guy in the building.

There might be other surprises as we go down, which is why she's leading the way.

Suzune and Asuka inherited a lot of combat experience from her, but that experience actually belonged to Raphael. Without firsthand experience, this experience and knowledge would always remain shrouded in mystery, neither clearly understood nor readily applicable.

She had long wanted to find a place to set up some mechanisms and then let Asuka and Rin put them into practice.

Unfortunately, in the United States, all I did was conduct puppet tests. After coming to Japan, the social environment didn't allow for such practices, so I could only look for opportunities later.

"The guy who set up the alarm system is really clever," Raphael thought to herself. She took out her tactical flashlight, illuminating the tripwire with a low-visibility red beam before letting the two unsuspecting people cross the building door.

She hadn't gone two steps when she discovered a new trap: a trigger-activated explosive trap disguised as a pile of junk.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a hand grenade hidden under a pile of furniture that takes up about half the space to the right front. Someone might accidentally bump into the protruding chair leg.

Then his lower body would disappear.

Book 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 148 The Power of Word

There were quite a few small items scattered along the way. The sound of the soles of the shoes crushing the debris was not loud, but it could still echo in the deathly quiet building.

The corridor was in a mess, with all sorts of odds and ends scattered all over the floor.

Bloody handprints and scratches left by fingernails can be seen on the walls from time to time. Some of these were caused by people breaking in and looting, while others were caused by ELID infected people attacking the building unconsciously.

Walking in this environment feels like playing a zombie game; every detail silently proclaims the fact that this city is dead, and a sense of desolation pervades the air.

Add to that the headphones' sound pickup and amplification function, and it sounds incredibly loud, with a subtle thrill of "I've been exposed."

Fortunately, there were clearer footsteps lingering ahead, the heavy, sticky sound coming from the thick AA-03D protective suit.

Tactical headsets have truly excellent sound pickup capabilities, which explains why they have consistently held a place in the revolution of individual soldier equipment.

Raphael turned on the infrared light, then quickly turned it off. She hated this semi-enclosed indoor space with a bit of moonlight but not much actual light, which made her night vision appear patchy and dark, causing her great discomfort.

So she could only frequently turn on the IR fill light to explore those corners covered in darkness.

Turning the corner again, two men wearing heavy protective suits and carrying "Type 20 SCAR" automatic rifles—a Ground Self-Defense Force weapon that looks very similar to the FN SCAR and whose design is heavily influenced by it—appeared before Rafael.

They seemed to be searching for something as well. The two appeared to work in perfect harmony, covering for each other as they advanced, and they did the same when checking the rooms inside.

However, when someone is prepared but not prepared, even the best teamwork and combat skills are useless.

Raphael raised his pistol and, with the suppressor activated, fired a burst of shots, knocking both men down in the corridor.

Regardless of whether they are members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces or not, their presence here means that the rendezvous point is not safe. In other words, everyone except for the two young ladies, "Lily" and "Rose," who were agreed upon, is an enemy.

After the gunshots stopped, she appeared in front of the two unlucky men.

These two are still twisting and struggling.

A quick glance was enough for Raphael to understand why they were still alive after each taking seven or eight pistol bullets. How to put it... the protective suits designed and manufactured by that western country were simply of extremely high quality...

Several pistol bullets got stuck on it, preventing them from going in and killing anyone.

The reason for their incapacitation is simple: they were stunned by a series of bullets fired in a short period of time, and the severe physical pain affected their ability to think.

After they had gotten used to the excruciating pain in their bodies, they began to struggle to sit up and saw a girl emerging from the darkness, shimmering in the moon's radiant light, and a silenced pistol glowing with a moon-white aura.

Tap, tap—

The bullet cleanly shattered the helmet's face shield, plunging the man into an eternal slumber with a terrified look in his eyes.

The interference had temporarily disappeared. Raphael turned on the radio and called the two young ladies on the agreed-upon communication channel.

There was no response. Was he dead?

Lingyin walked out, past Raphael, and stood in front of the pile of debris, kneeling down and raising her gun for cover.

Time was running out for them, and the same was true for the two young ladies.

The gunfight wasn't actually over yet. The search team had lost contact for unknown reasons, which inevitably led to the conclusion that the person or thing they wanted was hidden in this commercial office building, which wasn't particularly large or small.

As long as they value what's here enough, reinforcements are already on their way.

The sound of heels hitting the floor echoed from a nearby room.

High heels, with at least a certain heel, must belong to a woman; the rhythm of her footsteps doesn't sound like something a single person could produce.

Although I don't know how those two young ladies managed to escape, being alive is a victory in itself.

Raphael opened her squinting eyes and saw a man in a fur coat and hat with a well-worn M16A4 slung across his chest.

With his right hand on the receiver and his left hand resting on the bare leather rail handguard, he was ready to fire at any moment.

“What a coincidence,” the tall, white-haired woman spoke first. Her gaze swept over Raphael and her puppet before finally settling on the assault rifle slung over his back. “It seems you stole my weapon.”

Raphael did not answer this question, but instead proceeded with the verification process according to standard procedures, with identity verification being the most important step.

“Confirmed,” she replied. “Enough with the nonsense. I don’t care who you are or what level of combat training you’ve received, but in the upcoming retreat, you two must follow my orders. Any questions?”

"This is your squad, you're in charge."

“I received it,” Raphael nodded, patted Lingyin’s vest and said, “Lingyin, you are the last one.”

"learn."

Three girls who look exactly alike? Their voices and figures don't seem much different from ordinary 16 or 17-year-old Japanese girls.

Could it also be a product of some genetic laboratory?

There was no indication that they sought shelter with protective clothing or took any anti-radiation medication.

Lily glanced at Rose and noticed the same confusion in Rose's eyes.

It seems they all thought of the same thing.