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Chapter 20: Return to Confinement
Planet 5, Geological Resource Exploration Base
In the command center, Wei Haitao stood grimly behind a row of electronic equipment, his usually composed face creased in frustration.
“Still no connection?” he asked.
The communications officer turned, nodding with a look of dejection. “No, there's interference.”
“That doesn’t make sense...” Wei Haitao murmured to himself. Normally cautious, he couldn’t shake off a sense of foreboding. By now, Baldy and his team should have completed their mission and contacted the base immediately. Yet, an hour had passed, and there was no word from them. Why?
Could something have gone wrong? Did Baldy’s team fail?
As Wei Haitao furrowed his brows in thought, the radar operator suddenly exclaimed, “Radar detects an aircraft approaching the base! It’s… it’s the NS-035!”
At the same time, the previously anxious communications officer shouted, “Commander! NS-035 is requesting permission to land!”
“Let them—” Wei Haitao ordered but stopped himself mid-sentence.
A chilling possibility crossed his mind. “Order secondary combat readiness for the base. All cannons, lock onto the NS-035 and request a communication link again.”
The room fell into stunned silence before erupting into a frenzy.
The personnel weren’t fools; a quick thought was enough for them to grasp Wei Haitao’s concerns.
One second, two seconds…
A static hiss filled the communication monitor before clearing to reveal Tang Fang’s face on the screen.
Didn’t Baldy say he was dead? Wei Haitao’s expression darkened, his gaze icy and piercing.
Others in the room relaxed slightly. After all, Tang Yan was one of their own at the base. If he was on the helicopter, perhaps the situation wasn’t as dire as it seemed.
Wei Haitao glared at the screen. “Where is Kovass? And the rest of the second platoon?”
Kovass, or Baldy, had been one of Wei Haitao’s trusted men. So were the rest of the second platoon, including Thomas and Conda, who had perished already.
“They’re dead,” Tang Fang replied flatly.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the room. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. The quick-witted female intelligence officer didn’t even finish her tasks, rushing out to report to the base commander.
Since humanity entered the era of interstellar civilization, the size of army units had been slightly reduced, with a typical platoon consisting of 24 to 30 members. Today, 27 people died. Adding the earlier deaths of Thomas and Conda, the entire second platoon had been wiped out, except for Tang Fang. Such a catastrophic loss required immediate escalation to the base commander.
Wei Haitao squinted, his demeanor shifting to that of a venomous predator eyeing its prey. He didn’t know how Kovass and the others had died, but this was the perfect opportunity to eliminate Tang Fang.
“Gunners,” Wei Haitao ordered coldly, “shoot down that helicopter.”
What? Could it be that he suspected Tang Yan was behind this? Everyone in the command room was shocked.
The gunners hesitated for a moment before locking the fire control system onto the aircraft.
---
Inside the armed Scorpion transport helicopter.
Eva stared at the base’s defensive cannons lining the high walls, her face pale with fear. Housen and Byron also looked grim, unable to fathom why having one of their own military personnel step forward had backfired so disastrously, landing them in such a dire situation.
With the base's firepower, a single volley would obliterate the helicopter, leaving nothing behind.
“Hold on. Look at this before making any rash decisions,” Tang Fang said from the comms terminal, quickly transmitting a video file.
The base command room's monitors displayed footage of alien creatures leaping and slicing through a group of marines, surrounding and slaughtering them. The creatures’ razor-sharp claws acted like miniature meat grinders, reducing the 25 marines to lifeless corpses in mere moments.
A chilling silence enveloped the room. The men frowned deeply, while several female soldiers turned pale, struggling to suppress their nausea.
Wei Haitao’s expression also shifted. He had assumed Tang Fang conspired with prisoners to kill Kovass’s men. Yet the footage revealed the true culprits: the alien creatures.
“Commander Wei,” Tang Fang’s voice cut in, his image reappearing in the corner of the screen. “Now do you see who the real enemy is?”
Even if Wei Haitao wanted to kill him, he knew now wasn’t the time. Gritting his teeth, he ordered, “Unlock the landing platform. Let them land.”
Relief washed over the helicopter's passengers. Byron glanced at Tang Fang, who had remained calm throughout. A shiver ran down his spine. This young man was far too shrewd; it seemed he had predicted everyone’s reactions from the start.
Killing the marines and seizing the armed transport was just the first step. Sneaking into the base was the second. But what was his third move? Was he planning to take over the base? And if so, then what? Without a spacecraft, wouldn’t they still be trapped and doomed?
Byron had been pondering over these questions along the way but still couldn’t fathom Tang Fang’s true intentions.
---
The base’s commanding officer was a tall, well-built man in his thirties. His name was Kraftmann Christian, a noble of the empire and a major in rank.
In recent years, the Empire had aggressively expanded its territories, sparking conflicts with neighboring nations. The ensuing wars claimed tens of thousands of lives, including many mid-level officers. Kraftmann, with his rank, should have been commanding a battalion. Yet he had willingly taken this post on the barren Planet 5, valuing survival above all else in these turbulent times.
As Tang Fang, Arroz, Zhou Ai, and others disembarked from the Scorpion transport, Kraftmann arrived with a squad of heavily armed marines.
“Commander,” As he approached, Tang Fang offered a salute, keeping his gaze straight ahead.
Kraftmann gave a curt nod. “Mission accomplished?”
Tang Fang handed over a PDA containing resource data. “Yes, all the data is here.”
Kraftmann took it and casually passed the device to a researcher behind him. As his gaze swept over Arroz, Zhou Ai, and the others, his expression darkened. “What’s the deal with those alien creatures?”
Before Tang Fang could respond, Wei Haitao stormed over with two soldiers, pointing at Eva. “Don’t say anything. Let her explain it.”
Kraftmann frowned but said nothing.
Eva glanced nervously between Tang Fang and Wei Haitao, who looked like he had just lost his father. Stammering, she said, “The… the creatures were hidden under the dunes. They killed everyone.”
“And how did you survive?” Wei Haitao pressed.
“Uh…” Eva avoided his piercing gaze. “We… we stayed far away.”
“You’re lying.” Wei Haitao sneered. “If you stayed far away, then what about Kovass’s earlier report to the base?”
Eva’s eyes flicked to Zhou Ai before inspiration struck. “We split up. We escaped the underground last, so we saw the aliens emerge from the sand and barely got away.”
Wei Haitao froze. He hadn’t been there to confirm who was with Kovass, so Eva’s explanation left him momentarily speechless.
“Commander, since the mission is complete, can my disciplinary action be lifted now?” Tang Fang interjected, steering the topic.
“Uh, regarding this….” Kraftmann wasn’t hostile toward Tang Fang and preferred not to escalate matters. Yet Byron and Zhou Ai’s presence complicated things. Kraftmann’s superior, General Lane, had once hinted that these prisoners weren’t meant to leave Planet 5 alive.
On one hand, as the base commander, going back on his word in front of everyone would damage his credibility; on the other hand, he was under pressure from his superior and had no choice but to comply. Kraftmann found himself in a difficult situation, unable to move forward or back.
Wei Haitao was not only cautious but also a man of meticulous thinking. Without waiting for Kraftmann to speak, he immediately issued an order to the soldier behind him, “Take them to the detention zone. We’ll deal with them after the Special Operations Unit investigates the battlefield.”
“Yes, sir,” one of his subordinates replied, prodding Tang Fang with a rifle.
Tang Fang shot a cold glance at Wei Haitao but said nothing as he marched toward the detention area.
Behind him, Kraftmann cast an annoyed look at Wei Haitao before turning and walking away with his men.
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