Chapter 204: Chapter 203: Stealth? × Stealth! √
?!
The moment the loud explosion echoed, it was as if someone pressed a pause button on the entire beach.
People stood up and looked toward the northern side, staring blankly at the slowly rising smoke.
Boom—!
Another low-intensity explosion completely snapped everyone out of their confusion.
"Could it be the rebels?!"
"Run!!"
Several tourists from Earth immediately ran toward the streets.
The word "rebels" triggered panic, and people began frantically fleeing the beach.
Lifeguards and security personnel were the first to take responsibility for maintaining order, followed by police officers who rushed over after hearing the commotion.
"Norri! Norri! Where did you run off to, kid?!"
Among the crowd, Mike pushed his way through, shouting at the top of his lungs, calling out Fulgrim's alias.
When he spotted two police officers not far away, his eyes lit up. Dodging the panicked people, he hurried over to them, deliberately panting and anxiously saying, "Officer! Help me find my cousin! His name is Norri Trevlas! He's about four and a half feet tall, not too skinny, not too fat, and he looks—"
"Officer!!" While Mike was gesturing to describe his cousin's height and build, a plump middle-aged woman rushed over and interrupted, shouting, "I'll pay you! Quick! Quick, protect me and get me out of here! I need to go back to Earth! Now!"
"Calm down," one of the officers tried to soothe the middle-aged woman. "The Arcadia police will ensure your safety. Please follow the others and evacuate to the nearest shelter. Thank you for your cooperation."
Vrrrm—!
At that moment, a peculiar engine noise echoed from above.
Looking up, Mike and the others saw three olive-green, medium-sized transport craft, each marked with "UNSC/Marine Corps," skimming low over the city toward the source of the explosion at the civilian communication tower.
Mike immediately recognized the iconic vehicle manufactured by human forces—Pelican dropships.
According to the intel provided by Arp, the UNSC had deployed at least 300,000 Pelicans of various models and uses over the past century.
The manufacturer, based on Mars, had even introduced police and civilian versions of the Pelican in 2450 and 2500, respectively.
In short, Pelicans played an indispensable role in the history of human interstellar colonization.
Through his connections in the investigation division, Mike also learned that his company had plans to equip this "century-old machine" as a mainstream transport vehicle for the future.
However, he only glanced at the three departing UNSC Pelicans before refocusing on the police officers. "Officer, help me—"
"Norri Trevlas, an 11-year-old boy from Harvest, right?" One of the officers interrupted Mike, pulling up the false identity provided by Arp on his holo-glasses. "Sir, the current situation is too chaotic for us to conduct a search right away, but I believe your cousin should be safe. For your own safety, please head to the nearest shelter."
After saying this, the officers quickly moved on, not giving Mike or the middle-aged woman another chance to speak as they rushed to evacuate the beach.
"Sigh!" Staying in character, Mike sighed heavily before turning and running toward the city.
Meanwhile, Fulgrim had already swum away from the open beach and surfaced several kilometers away. With inhuman speed, he darted into the dense jungle.
Although he didn't have specialized navigation equipment, Fulgrim had memorized all the intel, data, and maps in his mind.
Using his psyker abilities, he headed toward the ONI secret facility deep in the rainforest.
As he sprinted, Fulgrim encountered a variety of "strange" and "colorful" native creatures, including venomous reptiles and insects.
However, Fulgrim, moving like a blur, terrified the local wildlife.
A century ago, when humans first arrived, especially those carrying "fire-spitting sticks," these creatures and their ancestors developed a deep fear of humans, avoiding them at all costs.
Who would've thought another "monster" would show up now?
As a result, Fulgrim faced almost no obstacles. The only close call came when a sentient plant nearly tripped him with its tentacle-like vines, but he quickly arrived at the perimeter of the ONI facility.
On his way there, he had already noticed some dilapidated, heavily weathered man-made walls and buildings.
Slowing his pace, he crouched as he approached a high vantage point, stopping just before he exposed himself in the open. He lay low to observe the area.
Ahead of him was a wide expanse containing large pyramid-like ruins and a modern, small military base and research center.
At first glance, if Fulgrim hadn't known he was in Arcadia, he could have easily mistaken the scene for being in a South American jungle.
The Forerunner ruins looked almost identical to the temples and pyramids of the Mayan civilization, differing only in minor details.
This made sense. After hearing his father explain the relationship between the Precursors, Forerunners, and humans as if it were a story, Fulgrim could now understand the Mayan architectural style before him.
He shifted his gaze to the ONI secret facility to his right.
The facility wasn't large, and it employed modular construction techniques.
A black Pelican was parked on the vertical landing platform. Inside and outside the facility were fixed turrets and detection devices, and ONI special forces were patrolling the perimeter.
The equipment and weapons used by the ONI special forces were more advanced than those of the UNSC Marines but still not on par with his company's ARS, AECS, or the ODST's standard gear.
After patiently observing for a moment and noting the patrol patterns of the special forces, Fulgrim rose, crouching as he moved toward the dense forest surrounding the facility.
At the same time, he used psyker energy to try blending into his surroundings.
While he couldn't achieve complete invisibility, he could confuse the detection systems to a certain degree.
Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Fulgrim crouched in the grass, watching two special forces soldiers about ten meters away.
The moment they turned their backs, exposing themselves to him, Fulgrim struck.
Thud! Thud!
With two muffled sounds, the special forces soldiers collapsed to the ground, unconscious, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
However, as Fulgrim prepared to continue his infiltration...
Beep—Beep!
A piercing alarm echoed through the rainforest.
...
Even though Fulgrim had anticipated complications, he hadn't expected ONI to react so quickly.
It seemed his original stealth strategy had failed, and now he would have to resort to a more "direct" form of stealth—knocking everyone out and destroying all surveillance equipment.
With that, Fulgrim "boldly" entered the research facility through the front door.
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