Vol 14: Chapter 14-2.
“You are right. I knew Gando is the easiest one to expose himself out of the three of them. It can’t be helped since he was just a normal person and he hasn’t been through many battles. His fight on Klendathu was merely a display of his struggle. Do you really think a normal person can become a real soldier through just one disaster?”
Xuan poured himself a cup of water. He replied without moving his eyes away from the computer.
Zheng said in a cold tone from behind. “Then why didn’t you think of a way to offset this? Why did you allow your own teammate to get discovered and killed? Do you still remember what you promised me?”
Xuan replied, still not turning around. “Of course. Then do you trust me? Do you absolutely, completely trust my wit?”
Zheng was surprised for a moment then nodded. “Yes. Of course I trust your wit. You said they will come attack us and it happened. All your analysis and prediction from the past were basically on point. “
Xuan glanced at him and continued. “Then you should trust that after they found out Gando and exposed their traces, I will be able to find them out before they can harm Gando!”
Zheng could say no more words of blame. He understood Xuan’s capacity more than anyone else. Intelligence way beyond normal people and in a lot of cases, flawless. He trusts in Xuan’s wit more than his own strength. Xuan’s wit was also a critical factor to team China’s grow in addition to Zheng’s strength.
Now that Xuan had said this, it would be unreasonable for Zheng to assume anymore blaming on him. Thought that was a life they were discussing, especially when it was a life on a team member. Could one really so easily use a life as a chess piece? He couldn’t do it. Furthermore, what Zheng worried about wasn’t that Xuan’s plan was lacking but rather that Xuan planned too much and integrated a kind of trial against Gando without anyone noticing. So that Gando would live if he passes and die if he doesn’t, just like back in Alien.
Zheng took a deep breath. “Give me the truth. Do you honestly want to let Gando live? Did you set any kind of trap to test him? If there are no such traps, I will trust you and follow your plan. If you did then I will stop you right here!”
Xuan replied calmly. “There are no traps to harm him nor any trial that he must pass. I need you to see this person, captain Rose. She wrote a report two days ago that they discovered a bug corpse on the moon of Pluto. That corpse was found in a human soldier’s brain. She said there might be a kind of bug that can enter the human brain then control that person’s actions. If my inferences are correct, She’s part of the other team. I need you to see her. No need for a conversation, just see her. It will create some interesting reactions from the other team.”
Zheng took details of this captain from Xuan. The army was on a rest these days since the reinforcements from Earth hadn’t arrived yet and the higher ups were also on their way. The troopers could move within the starships freely so Zheng could find this officer on another starship.
“Ok, I will go see him. You sure you don’t have any traps for Gando?” Zheng asked seriously.
Xuan nodded. His expression as emotionless as always. Zheng stared at him for a while before leaving. After he left the room, Xuan turned back to the monitor and murmured. “I lied. They took action as expected. A bug that can take control over the brain? It will be easy to kill off some people.”
—–
“Correct. Team China is really strong.” Neos watched the video of the fight as he ate a piece of chocolate. The whole fight took less than three seconds. Zheng’s decisiveness, his strength and speed, and the words he said as he pointed at his eyes. Neos watched it over a dozen times carefully paying attention to every movement. When he finished the whole box of chocolate, he snapped his fingers and the girl brought out another box from the drawer.
Neos said. “The circumstance is team China is really stronger. There’s no doubt to this. However, their power is probably not as high as you imagine. The strength this man showed might be a kind of explosive power, which is something that can only be used occasionally in fights. If he can keep this strength on at all times, he could totally survive by himself in Klendathu.”
“Secondly, about their members. They might also be strong but the gap between them and this man is definitely large. You can see it from how it finished the fight with such rush. Let me give you an example, when you enter into a fight, will you show all your strength including your trump card? I wouldn’t. I would hide my strength and probe the enemy’s strength and abilities before killing him. However, this man attacked his biggest power without any hesitation. One possibility might be that he can only fight for a short period of time. The more probable reason is he plans to establish dominance and make us feel threatened. Make us think that team China is extremely strong and thus expose ourselves. During this time, we won’t attack any of their members because of worries. In conclusion, even if team China’s other members are strong, they won’t be much stronger than us.”
The Caucasian man and a black man let out a sigh of relief. The Caucasian said. “Unfortunately they failed their goal. You are strong, Neos. Revealing their tricks just like this. We would have sacrificed a member for nothing and let the prey get away otherwise.”
Neos sneered and threw the chocolate in his mouth. “No, team China is actually strong, not some prey. The person who came up with this plan is equally impressive. He knew that our team isn’t working together and made use of this. He almost found us.”
Everyone’s expression changed suddenly. Neos said. “Simple reasoning. He just needs you to think team China is strong for a short time. That will take away your courage to probe anyone else in their team and the most probable thing you will do is come for me. I don’t know how he estimated my movements and thinking process but he definitely knows our team is split into multiple parts, one part ambushes them, and another part searching for them. He just has to check who moved between starships and the people in the starship of the fight. Even though there’s still a way to finding every one of us, he has located the starship we are in.”
These words sent goosebumps to everyone. They glanced around the room as if a pair of eyes were peeping at them from the darkness. Neos chunked several pieces of chocolate and said. “Don’t worry so much. There are around 3200 people in this starship. It won’t be so easy for him. Furthermore, we are not the only ones who exposed our traces, they also did!”
He opened up the laptop and showed the screen to the others. A teenager was looking around in a lost. That was Gando!