From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 768 "Save Me." "Pain"

Not long after, in Eastern Europe, on the outskirts of a city that was highlighted, there was a withered forest.

The once lush forest is now reduced to twisted, charred trunks, like the earth's desperate arms reaching towards the gray sky.

At that moment, a raiding boat, its magnetic levitation engine emitting an almost imperceptible low-frequency hum, landed precisely and smoothly on a small, relatively flat clearing in the forest.

Immediately afterwards, the light on the surface of the hull rippled slightly, like water rippling, and the optical camouflage effect was removed, revealing the streamlined black hull amidst the withered branches and fallen leaves.

The side hatch slid open almost silently.

Wearing a worn-out work jacket and carrying a backpack full of supplies and camouflage props, Leon stepped out first, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings to assess potential threats.

Following closely behind was Mike, also dressed casually, who pulled up his gray hood. Finally came Maggie, whose movements were light and agile.

"Wish ya'll good luck."

The pilot sent a brief blessing over the intercom, his voice kept low.

The hatch closed quickly.

The pilot then skillfully operated the control panel, preparing to restart stealth mode and take off to evacuate.

However, just as the optical camouflage was about to cover the hull again and the raiding boat was slightly off the ground—

Buzz. Click. Click!

Suddenly, an abnormal and brief tremor came from the hull, accompanied by an extremely faint mechanical friction noise that was enough to make an experienced pilot's heart stop.

? !
Inside the cockpit, a fine layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on the pilot's forehead.

His right hand flew across the control panel, his pupils were fixed, and his eyes were fixed on the several non-lethal warning indicator lights that suddenly lit up.

Damn it.
Abnormal feedback from magnetic levitation balance regulator
"Slight decrease in primary nozzle efficiency"

He muttered a curse under his breath and quickly pulled up the diagnostic report.

After a few tense seconds of investigation, he breathed a long sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and muttered to himself, "Phew, what a scare. It's just that the inertial damper of the main magnetic levitation engine needs calibration and maintenance. Thank goodness that the damn sandstorm wasn't a structural problem."

Meanwhile, Leon and his team, who had landed on the ground, quickly got into action.

"Safety."

Leon spoke in a low voice, while taking a device the size of a cigarette box from the side pocket of his backpack.

Mike understood, took the device, and pressed the button.

A faint buzzing sound, like the flapping of insect wings, was heard, and several miniature disposable drones disguised as fruit flies were released from the device, quickly dispersing and flying away, disappearing into the dead trees and some dilapidated building ruins.

Although they were aware that the Empire's stealth drones were constantly scanning the skies above, and that the Blazing Lizards' ships provided strong support in near-Earth orbit, close-range, real-time situational awareness was crucial for carrying out infiltration missions in enemy-occupied territory.

These "electronic flying insects" will become their closest eyes and ears.

Almost simultaneously with the release of the drone, a pale blue, semi-transparent user interface began to appear on the lenses of the thin, invisible holographic glasses worn by the three individuals.

Surrounding environmental data —

Temperature, humidity, radiation index, and air composition scroll across the edge of your field of vision in concise text and numbers.

Real-time environmental modeling, achieved through the fusion of micro-drone and orbital reconnaissance data, is directly overlaid onto their real vision using highlighted outlines and dynamic markers.

Through the contact lens, the blue outline of the internal steel frame is revealed in the abandoned wall, and triangular spaces that can be passed through are marked below the collapsed beams and columns.

As Maggie's gaze swept across the ground, the network of pipes beneath the shallow soil appeared in her field of vision like glowing veins.

These translucent structural lines float slightly on the real scene, as if the whole world has been given an "X-ray"-like ability to see through.

The mobile heat source appeared as an orange dot at the edge of the field of vision.

Three mutated rats, foraging for food among the ruins, are wandering about 200 meters away.

Further away, the energy signals of some aliens were marked, and the tactical system automatically calculated their movement trajectories and predicted their paths within the next thirty seconds using dotted lines.

"Path generation complete."

Mike's voice came through the encrypted channel.

The virtual route in his vision resembled a glowing stream, winding through ruins and forests:
First, head west through the suburban woods, then to a half-collapsed apartment building, then use the ruins as cover to cross the square, and finally sneak into the entrance of the underground passage.

Each turning point on the route is marked with its estimated travel time and threat level.

This path, marked as "lowest risk" by the system, is still terrifying.

The area representing the abandoned town is displayed in an ominous crimson on the tactical map, with dense heat source signals surging like boiling bubbles.

According to thermal imaging analysis, the biological signals around the abandoned town mostly exhibit arthropod characteristics, but their sizes are generally beyond the normal range, and some signals are accompanied by abnormal energy readings.

Even more disturbing is the diagram of the underground water system.

Due to the interference of the thick concrete structure with the detection signal, large areas of gray unknown regions appeared on the map.

The system's predicted route traverses these blind spots, with "signal attenuation zone" warning signs appearing from time to time.

Several key nodes were marked with question marks, with a small note next to them saying "Structural integrity unknown".

"It seems our 'little bug friends' have prepared a rather challenging welcome route for us."

Mike tried to lighten his tone, but subconsciously adjusted the position of his holster under his arm. This subtle movement was recorded by Maggie's invisible holographic glasses as "stress response: mild".

As Lyon looked up, his glasses automatically magnified the target in the sky.

Above, there were patrol boats that were a mix of biological and mechanical elements, and they presented unsettling details.

The mucus seeping from the seams of the carapace is clearly visible in the magnified image, and the exhaust plumes from the thrusters have an unusual spectrum.

When a patrol boat turns, the system immediately identifies the pulse weapon suspended on its belly, and the threat level is raised from "low" to "medium".

"They clean very frequently."

Maggie's voice was calm.

The tactical interface in her field of vision was generating an analysis of the patrol boat's activity patterns, its trajectory lines intertwining into a dense network in the sky.

Statistics show that seven aircraft have been spotted in the airspace in the past forty minutes, exceeding the frequency required for regular alerts.

"Is it a sustained pressure campaign to eliminate remaining resistance, or is it a manhunt for someone?"

Her question prompted the system to immediately initiate a pattern matching process, comparing known differences in characteristics between repression operations and search operations.

The purge of the alien rulers is clearly still ongoing, as evidenced by the unusually active patrol boats.

For infiltration teams, this means a significantly increased risk of sudden firefights, but it also suggests that there may be noteworthy targets in the area.

Whether it's the remaining resistance organizations or other valuable intelligence sources.

"Regardless, proceed according to plan, remain covert, and prioritize intelligence gathering."

Lyon's instructions were concise and powerful.

Immediately afterwards, the three men switched their optical camouflage capes to dynamic environment simulation mode, and the data collection priority of all insect-type reconnaissance drones was raised to the highest level.

The three of them blended into the shadows like a dance rehearsed a thousand times. Leon was the first to disappear into the darkness of the dead woods, followed closely by Mike at a distance of five meters, while Maggie chose a parallel route to provide flank cover.

The dry branches made an extremely faint sound on the soles of the boots, a sound that was perfectly masked by the roar of the patrol boat's engine in the distance.

Following the glowing path in the holographic glasses, three figures moved silently through the woods and ruins.

Drones scout ahead at every turn, and optical camouflage provides cover in every open area.

The outline of the city gradually became clear on the horizon, while the eerie light emanating from the strange, gigantic buildings guided their way like a lighthouse in the twilight.

Leaving the relatively secluded edge of the dead forest, the three faced a wide-open, dangerous area—

A dry beach exposed by the retreat of the coastline, covered with cracks.

The view here is expansive, with almost nowhere to hide.

"Activate optical camouflage," Leon ordered in a low voice, his voice clearly transmitted through the bone conduction headphones.

Fortunately, the optical camouflage cloaks blurred and distorted their figures, allowing them to blend perfectly into the dark background of the withered forest behind them and the desolate scenery of the gray-brown beach in front of them, like three moving shadows.

Donning this "invisible" cloak, they began to move quickly and cautiously on the beach, their target the distant, indistinct outline of an abandoned town.

However, this seemingly desolate beach is not empty.

Through the augmented reality display of holographic glasses, they can see a large number of strange alien creatures lurking on the beach and in the cracked mud.

These creatures exhibit certain characteristics of insectoid creatures in appearance—

It has a chitinous carapace, arthropods, and compound eyes, but its specific form is incomparable to any known insectoid race that Lyon and his companions have encountered before, whether it be the Arach insectoids or other insectoid races.

Some are beetles with sickle-shaped forelimbs, while others resemble multi-legged, eyeless diggers, burrowing underground in the sand.

"Avoid contact and take precautions."

Leon warned, slowing his pace and guiding the team around the area where the aliens were gathered.

As Mike moved, he marked the behavior patterns of these aliens in his field of vision and whispered, "If these guys were an aggressive insectoid like Arachnid, there wouldn't be any relatively intact cities left on this earth; it would have been reduced to scorched earth long ago."

It's even less likely to be an infected entity like the Flood that devours everything.
These insects seem more like they were 'contaminated' by an alien force, which then used them for specific environmental control and eradication purposes.

Mike's assessment of the Zerg is based on:
A planet truly invaded by a massive Zerg army would not be like the one before us, where some cities are under control, some areas have become nests, yet a strange "order" is still maintained.

Soon, thanks to optical camouflage and precise route planning, the three of them crossed the treacherous, dry beach without incident and finally arrived at the outskirts of the abandoned town.

"Roar!"

As soon as they approached, a series of extremely eerie, intermittent howls came from the depths of the town.

Those howls were filled with pain, fear, and a kind of inhuman twistedness that sent chills down the spines of ordinary people.

“Analyze the sound source.”

Maggie calmly issued the command, and her holographic glasses interface immediately began to capture and analyze the frequency of the howling sound waves.

Soon, the analysis results appeared in text form in the three people's field of vision.

After audio noise reduction, playback reversal, and pattern recognition, the system identified that these distorted howls were actually mixed with fragments of English words:

"Help me."

"don't want.!",

"No!",

"pain"

Upon seeing these words, the three of them felt their spirits sink instantly.

"English is a human language."

Mike's voice carried a hint of suppressed anger, "This means that those howling are likely humans who have suffered some kind of terrible mutation or transformation. They may still retain some consciousness and memories and are enduring unimaginable pain."

This discovery casts a deeper shadow over the nature of the mission.

They are facing not only alien invaders, but also their fellow humans who may be modified and enslaved by them.

"Conduct in-depth investigations and prioritize confirming the source of the sound and the condition of the mutant."

Lyon issued new instructions, his tone grave.

Using the ruins as cover, the three of them sneaked into the town.

Abandoned vehicles and household items were scattered on the streets, and the walls were covered with bullet holes and traces of unknown slime, indicating that the area had experienced fierce resistance and subsequent cleanup.

At this time, the previously released flying insect drones transmitted new reconnaissance data, detecting highly concentrated activity signals and abnormal energy readings in the eastern area of ​​the town.

"Let's go take a look to the east," Lyon gestured.

They moved quietly along the broken walls and ruins, eventually arriving at the outside of a rather large abandoned timber processing plant.

The howling was coming from inside the factory, becoming clearer and more intense, and they found a broken window and looked inside.

!

The sight before me was chilling.

Inside the spacious but dilapidated factory building, dozens of ragged "people" were gathered.

They vaguely retain human outlines, but their condition is extremely bizarre.

Most disturbingly, each of their heads was completely covered by a living tissue, flesh-colored or dark red biomass, obscuring all facial features, as if they were wearing a terrifying mask growing on flesh and blood.

Moreover, many of these "people" had huge, irregularly torn openings in their abdomens, from which grew rings of pale, sharp, tooth-like tissue that were unconsciously opening and closing and wriggling.

Their movements were slow and bizarre, wandering around the factory like marionettes, while emitting chilling howls of pain from their covered heads.

"Oh my god"

Mike gasped, instinctively gripping the weapon hidden under his cloak.

Lyon's expression was grim as he quickly made a preliminary assessment: "The visual characteristics match the definition of a zombie-like creature, it has active attack organs, and its behavioral patterns suggest it may be aggressive. Whether it retains basic intelligence or the ability to cooperate in groups is unknown."

As for whether these 'people' can still be treated...
Based on our current on-site conditions and knowledge, we are unable to determine this.

Maggie chimed in, "But judging from their ability to utter distress words with clear meaning, their brains or core of consciousness may not have been completely destroyed or assimilated, and may still retain a few fragments of self-awareness."

Lyon nodded and whispered his observations through the encrypted channel, transmitting the report in a low voice:
"Record: A highly suspected human-transformed individual was discovered."

Characteristics: Head covered in biomass, abdomen and arms with derived aggressive organs, capable of emitting howls containing human language.

Recommendation: The Department of Biology should attempt to capture live samples for in-depth physiological and consciousness analysis to assess the possibility of reversal and to study its transformation mechanism.

Note that the target is exhibiting signs of distress and may have residual consciousness; any research must be conducted in a regulated manner.

Although the twisted bodies of these zombies seem extremely difficult to save, as long as there is even a slight possibility of residual consciousness, they are of great research value to the Imperial Biological Department, not only for humanitarian rescue attempts, but also for understanding the characteristics and habits of these alien creatures.

The three then remained hidden in the shadows, continuing to observe and record more details about the miserable beings inside the lumber mill, attempting to find out the specific connection between them and the alien forces that ruled the area.

Every single data point could become the key to liberating this universe in the future.
(End of this chapter)