Chapter 87: RTB – III

Johannes and Evelyn—the two SAS agents alongside their third member, Marcus.

They moved like people used to scanning their environment before entering, shoulders loosened but ready to act.

A cluster of civilians huddled near the vehicles, never leaving them for a while now.

They weren’t armed like soldiers. Some carried small bags, looking like packed in a hurry. A few had bandaged hands.

One middle-aged man leaned on a makeshift cane. A woman held her child by the wrist a little tighter than usual, eyes darting at the walls, the soldiers, and the guns.

“Mama, where are we?”

The child looked at her mother. Those clear, innocent eyes made the mother felt weakness in her throat.

“We’re safe now, baby,” she ran her finger through the child’s cheeks. “We’re safe now, don’t worry.”

The woman said it like a prayer, but her eyes kept moving.

Who wouldn’t be scared being surrounded by walls and guns?

The child’s gaze drifted past her shoulder.

People were watching from the street. Workers with dust on their clothes, their fabrics tore on some places. Teenagers who stopped pretending they were busy and started putting effort into it, afraid that the guards would notice.

Even a few children from the colony had gathered at a distance, whispering as they stared at the unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar cars.

Some of the colony folk looked excited. At least now, the people were expanding and soon, their area of influence would expand as well.

Living together with new people would enrich their lives. It wouldn’t be as lonely as before.

Others looked uneasy. The fortress, Hans, and his soldiers always brought safety, but strangers always brought questions.

A small boy from the colony stepped forward first, brave in the stupid way children were.

He held a cup with both hands.

“Water,” he said, then shoved it towards the child before running back behind his own mother.

The woman froze for a second, then accepted it with a shaky nod.

“Thank you…”

Behind the civilians, Johannes watched the crowd the same way he watched corridors. Faces, hands, movement.

His subconscious mind moved without him interfering. The nature of an agent seemed to have seeped deeply into his mind.

Evelyn stayed half a step closer to the group. Though Dmitri had indeed let them tread along, she remained cautious and watchful of anyone.

Marcus didn’t speak, but his eyes kept sweeping.

A guard approached with his rifle lowered.

“Screening first,” the guard said, pointing to a side path. “Guest block. Follow the line and don’t wander around.”

The civilians hesitated.

Johannes spoke without raising his voice.

“You heard him, everyone,” then faced the soldier. “These people are very cautious. They have been on the edge for a while. Please be careful of handling them.”

The guard was confused, wondering why this average-looking man talked to him like that.

Before he could move, a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Squad Leader Adrian…”

“Do as he say,” Adrian winked. “Leave these three alone. Dmitri has some business with them.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The group finally moved with slow, careful steps.

From the yard, Hans watched the line form. Then he turned to Dmitri.

“It seems that your adventures have been bountiful,” he teased.

“It was the Commander’s orders that brought them here,” Dmitri didn’t try to take credit. “Meeting them on the way was their destiny.”

“Heh, still praising me all this time?”

“I would not be a soldier of yours if I stopped, Commander.”

“Alright, stop with the flattering words,” Hans waved his hands. “How about those two, no, three of them?”

He hinted at the small crew of Johannes, Evelyn, and Marcus.

“SAS Agents,” Dmitri said. “Their team was stationed in the southern area of Grefort City before the apocalypse. They were tracking a suspicious financier.”

SAS Agents?

Hans recalled.

Ashington Country’s Special Agency Service. Deemed to be Ashington’s finest agents specialized in cleaning internal mess.

Talk about CIA on his past life, just that they were rather focused inward.

They weren’t the kind that marched in uniform, but rather, they were the kind that appeared before any incident would happen, leaving a clean trail behind.

A careful senator getting in a road accident.

A booming business that suddenly went bankrupt.

A lotto winner that lost all of his wealth in the blink of an eye.

Some people made conspiracy theories about such illogical downfalls, but Hans knew better than anyone there were no such thing as conspiracies.

He had lived two lives. The truth was no different than naked in front of him all this time.

And watching at these two, Hans felt an indescribably aura of bloodshed and strength.

Superhumans.

That was the first thing that ran on his mind.

He stared at the three again. The two, average in their faces, one even having a large scar on his face.

The woman was beautiful indeed, but Hans knew better otherwise.

Beauty was the sheath that hid the hidden weapon underneath. A classic definition of a femme fatale.

Heh, I should be careful around her, he thought.

Thankfully, the system doused his emotions now and then. To fall on someone’s beauty was something he would no longer have the privilege of.

“These people protected civilians?” Hans asked, his tone neutral.

“Yes,” Dmitri replied. “Held a neighborhood of them. Brought them here.”

Hans let out a low breath.

“So they’re competent.”

“Was, Commander,” Dmitri corrected.

“Oh, you know the story between?” Hans was intrigued.

“Started as a four-man team. One guy had a fall-out with the rest and has defected.”

Hans noticed the cold, harsh tone from Dmitri’s report.

“From your voice, he sounds very dangerous.”

“He is indeed, Commander. Every SAS agent was gifted by the government a supply of Project HELIX’s pills, the kind that turns someone into superhuman.”

Hans paused, his mind working to connect a few dots.

A defected SAS agent, and a superhuman at that, he clicked his tongue in wonder. Following orders all his life must have burdened him. Now that he found a way to get out of that chain, he would surely take the chance to do so, even if it costs him his life.

“I assume you tried looking for that defector?”

“He got away,” Dmitri sighed. “But we will find him in the future.”

“I will believe you will,” Hans chuckled, not doubting Dmitri’s words.

“Will you meet them today, Commander?”

“Not yet,” Hans shook his head. “Have these people screened. Subject them for orientation in the soonest. Surviving out there must have tired them, mentally and physically. I want every survivor in our colony to feel safe as if it was the era before the collapse.”

“Understood Commander,” Dmitri nodded.

“No, you will come with me,” Hans faced Alexei. “Alexei, you heard that, right?”

“Commander, I will follow your orders.”

Alexei saluted, then left.

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