From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 769 Infiltration Log Discovery
After confirming that there was no more valuable intelligence in the abandoned town, and having encrypted the observation reports of the zombies emitting mournful howls, their biosignal characteristics, and the map of the surrounding threat distribution back to the front-line base, Lyon sent an additional request via a dedicated communication link:
"Calling base, this is the Kennedy Group."

New high-priority biological samples were discovered in the target area, including a certain type of 'zombie' and 'head parasite'.

The request is for the Biological Department to dispatch a highly skilled technical recovery team, equipped with standard bio-containment gear, to secretly infiltrate the area and attempt to capture all zombies and their parasites alive, as well as collect environmental biological tissue samples.

Note that the target may retain residual consciousness, and there are a large number of unknown alien creatures active in the surrounding area. It is recommended to act with extreme stealth.

complete. "

After submitting the application, the three did not wait for a reply.

They continued along the path planned by the invisible holographic glasses, heading deeper into the town, towards the city's underground sewers.

The three moved quickly through dilapidated houses and rubble-strewn alleys, their optical camouflage cloaks making them almost blend into the ruined environment.

However, just as they passed a half-collapsed house, something unexpected happened.

Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Several alien parasites, resembling ticks magnified dozens of times and with dark red bodies, their "skin" or shells smooth, suddenly darted out from the holes in the roof and the shadows in the corners of the walls.

Their target was clear: the seemingly empty "air," which was the location of Leon and his two companions.

These "alien ticks" have no obvious visual organs, but they seem to possess a detection ability that transcends conventional senses, enabling them to accurately detect the three Leon members who are in optical camouflage.

"Left side."

Lyon gave a low shout, his reaction was surprisingly fast.

He dodged a tick that swarmed toward his face, and almost simultaneously drew his right hand from a holster on his leg—a custom-made pistol equipped with a high-efficiency suppressor and firing subsonic bullets.

With two extremely faint "puff! puff!" sounds, like the sound of air being expelled.

Pfft! Pfft!

Thick, sticky fluid burst from the exoskeletons of two ticks, causing them to twitch and fall into the dust.

On the other side, facing another tick that swooped down from mid-air, Mike didn't choose to shoot. Instead, he delivered a precise side kick, sending the tick flying like a boulder, crashing into a distant brick wall with a thud, and then it stopped moving.

Maggie's approach was more direct. Faced with ticks attacking from two directions simultaneously, she reached out with lightning speed, precisely grabbing their path of attack, and then forcefully slammed the two pairs of ugly ticks together.

With a crisp "snap," the two ticks drooped limply to the ground.

"These things...cannot be seen with the eyes."

Mike shook off the small amount of sticky liquid on his boots and frowned.

“Hmm, they have some kind of biosensing ability. Optical camouflage has limited effect on them.” After confirming that there were no more threats around, Leon put away his pistol. “Continue forward, and remain vigilant.”

Although this little incident ended without serious harm, it once again confirmed the eerie nature of these biological threats.

After traversing a perilous abandoned town, the three finally arrived at their destination—

A large sewer outlet located on the edge of a dry seabed, partially blocked by a rusted iron fence.

The fence had been violently destroyed, leaving a gap large enough for a person to pass through. Inside, it was pitch black and emitted a damp, moldy, and indescribable stench of decay.

"Ah, a standard 'welcome passage'."

Mike looked at the deep entrance and, as usual, made a joke, trying to dispel some of the somber atmosphere.

Without much hesitation, Leon made a gesture, and the three of them bent down one by one and crawled into the entrance of the city's underground network.

The interior was pitch black, with only a faint moonlight filtering in from the entrance, barely outlining the shape of the huge circular pipe.

The air was murky, and the ground was covered in slippery mud and puddles.

Fortunately, there were flying insect-shaped drones scouting ahead.

The pulse detection emitted by these miniature drones displays the structure of the pipeline ahead, intersections, and potential obstacles in real time on the three people's holographic glasses, effectively preventing them from entering dead ends or triggering unknown traps.

After navigating for some time through the intricate, labyrinthine network of sewers, they arrived at a relatively open area.

This appears to be a huge circular reservoir.

The pool water was dark and smelled foul, with some unidentifiable flocculent matter and garbage floating on the surface.

A rusty metal passageway spans the reservoir, leading to the opposite bank.

The three of them carefully stepped onto the passage, the metal mesh pavement making a slight "creaking" sound under their feet.

Just then, Leon, who was walking in front, suddenly raised his hand, signaling to stop.

He pointed to the dark space above the passage.

With the help of the night vision and enhanced mode of the holographic glasses, they saw several large, slightly pulsating, tumor-like biological tissues hanging upside down on the dome-like ceiling of the reservoir.

These sarcomas have an unhealthy red color and are covered with bulging blood vessels.

From beneath these tumors, slender, vine-like tendrils droop down, swaying silently and slowly in the air, almost reaching the height of the passage.

"A new biological form."

Maggie calmly stated her position while beginning to scan the records.

“It doesn’t look like anything intelligent.” Mike observed the slowly swaying tentacles. “It looks like a trap.”

To verify its habits and provide information for any potential follow-up investigations by the biology department team, Lyon quickly made arrangements:
“Maggie and I keep watch around, Mike, test its reaction.”

"clear."

Mike picked up a small, discarded metal bucket that was half-buried in the mud, weighed it in his hand, and then, aiming at the nearest tentacle that was swaying in the wind, threw the metal bucket at it with all his might.

The instant the metal barrel touched that tentacle—

call out--!
The tentacles, like activated bear traps, suddenly contracted and tightly wrapped around the metal barrel.

Then, it quickly retracted upwards, heading straight for the largest tumor.

The tumor above seemed to sense the arrival of its "prey," and its base quickly split open into a mouth-like hole filled with fine, sharp teeth, ready to swallow the "prey."

However, when the metal barrel was shoved into the mouthpart by the tentacle, the tumor seemed to sense something was wrong.
This is not living flesh and blood.

The next second, as if disgusted, it quickly shook the metal barrel off its tentacles.

With a loud crash, the metal bucket fell into the water tank below, splashing up a cloud of black water.

"Log: Target creature, tentatively named 'Hanging Predator'." Mike reported in a low voice while observing:
"Reaction mechanism: The tentacles are sensitive to physical contact, and upon triggering, they quickly capture and reclaim the object. It is suspected that digestion or absorption is carried out through the mouthparts."

Preliminary assessment indicates intellectual disability, an inability to distinguish between living and non-living things, and reliance on static tactile triggers for predation.

Potential threat: Fatal to individuals who inadvertently touch its tentacles, including non-intelligent animals or careless humans.

Maggie added, "Lacking visual or advanced perception, hunting efficiency relies on environmental camouflage and prey negligence."

“That’s right,” Leon concluded. “It seems that Earth’s ecosystem has been completely disrupted by these alien creatures.”

Okay, now that we've collected the data, let's move on. Once we cross this area, we should be getting close to the city's residential areas.

Ignoring the slowly wriggling "hanging predators" on the ceiling, the three remained vigilant and continued their stealthy advance along the rusted metal passageways deeper into the sewer network, closer to the grotesque megastructure.
In the dark, damp, and putrid sewer network, the three continued their stealthy descent along rusty pipes and slippery paths.

On the holographic glasses, a real-time map drawn by an insect-like drone continuously expands, marking safe paths and potential threat points.

Suddenly, on the slightly shrunken radar interface at the edge of the field of vision, a signal point from a flying drone ahead abruptly turned into a glaring red and kept flashing, issuing a silent warning.

? !
The three of them immediately stopped, their bodies instinctively pressed against the cold, damp pipe walls, their breathing slowing down.

Lyon gestured for absolute silence, then cautiously moved slowly toward the location where the drone had issued the warning—the corner of a T-shaped pipe.

They hid in the shadows around the corner, slowly peeking out.

In the middle of a relatively wide drainage main channel ahead, a small, uniquely shaped drone was hovering and patrolling at low altitude.

The drone is about the size of a basketball to a football, and its dark gray color blends in with the sewer environment.

Most notably, it lacks traditional rotors; instead, it features four high-speed rotating, sharp metal wings with gleaming edges, emitting a faint, teeth-grinding hum.

Its head appears to be equipped with multi-spectral sensors, which scan its surroundings like compound eyes, clearly indicating that it is a patrol drone belonging to an alien force.

"Enemy reconnaissance unit."

Mike transmits information through bone conduction headphones.

Lyon quickly assessed the situation.

Destroying or jamming the drone would not be difficult for them, but they could not be sure whether the drone was connected in real time to a central monitoring network.

If it loses contact, the aliens or human traitors controlling this area may immediately become alert, thus increasing vigilance or launching a search, which will pose unpredictable risks to their infiltration mission.

"Avoid it," Lyon decisively ordered. "Find an alternative route."

They then used the real-time map provided by the flying insect drone to find a parallel but relatively narrow maintenance passage, avoiding the patrol area of ​​the rotating blade drone.

However, as they got closer to the city center, they encountered increasingly dense enemy patrol drones in the sewer network.

Some are the same bladed wing model, while others are smaller, like metal spiders crawling on the pipe walls.

They form a surveillance network with interwoven patrols.

Each time they encountered such an encounter, they had to choose a more circuitous route, sometimes even requiring climbing or wading, to avoid it.

It wasn't that they lacked the ability to quietly deal with these drones, but rather that the principle of "avoiding alerting the enemy" was paramount.

They cannot risk gambling on whether the other party will overlook a drone that has suddenly malfunctioned.

During one of the detours, another insect-shaped drone responsible for flank reconnaissance reported a new discovery.

It detected a stable heat source and signs of life activity in an abandoned warehouse, converted from an old-fashioned underground air-raid shelter, not far away.

The three men quietly approached a ventilation opening in the warehouse and, through real-time video footage transmitted by a flying drone, saw the situation inside the warehouse.

Inside, there was a group of about a dozen humanoid creatures.

They hunched over, huddled together for warmth by a small fire lit from discarded wood and trash.

These creatures have rough, grayish-brown skin and are undeniably ugly by human standards, with flat and bizarre facial features.

Most peculiarly, they have short, limb-like structures growing on their chests, which sometimes wiggle.

Their dwellings are dilapidated, makeshift shelters pieced together from various fabrics and metal sheets, giving an overall impression of destitution and a struggle for survival.

“A new type of alien,” Maggie noted the features she observed.

"Judging from their condition, hiding in places like this and relying on the most primitive campfires for warmth," Mike analyzed, "they don't seem like members of an alien force that rules this area. They're more like...escaping? Or being oppressed?"

Lyon agreed with this assessment: "Mark this location. These creatures may not be on the same side as the Xenomorphs that are leading the invasion, and may even be hostile. They may possess valuable intelligence."

He quickly "packaged" the coordinates of the abandoned warehouse, the appearance characteristics and behavioral patterns of the creatures inside, and sent them back to the front-line base via an encrypted link.

Recommendation: If a window of opportunity arises for further action, the Biological Department or a professional contact team could be responsible for 'contacting' and 'inquiring' with the target.

Initial assessment indicates the target poses a low threat level. If they demonstrate a cooperative attitude, it is recommended to engage in communication and information gathering using non-hostile methods.

Lyon added further details to the report.

The Empire's policy is not to exterminate all non-human intelligent beings. A cautious approach to engaging with potential, communicable, or even oppressed races is standard procedure.

After marking this unexpected discovery, the team continued their main task: infiltrating the city's core.

After a winding underground journey, dodging countless patrol drones and lurking strange creatures, they finally saw a glimmer of light ahead.

Climbing up a maintenance well, they pushed aside a heavy, partially rusted grille and returned to the ground.

Compared to the sewers, a "fresh" sea breeze blew in, even though it still carried the smell of gunpowder and decay.

They were on the edge of an abandoned harbor, surrounded by overturned cranes, the wreckage of stranded and dilapidated cargo ships, and mountains of broken containers.

From here, they have a relatively secluded but wide-view observation point.

Looking up, one can clearly see the heavily fortified defensive nodes established on the outskirts of the city—

Tall metal walls, automatic turrets flashing red lights, and "soldiers" in full-body armor patrolling back and forth.
Whether those "soldiers" are aliens, traitors, or brainwashed humans.

What infuriated them even more was that they could see groups of ragged, emaciated human survivors being driven like livestock under the whipping and shouting of soldiers, performing some kind of arduous labor, or being escorted to unknown directions.

This scene reveals the brutality of the city's rulers and the tragic fate of the people living here.

Lyon and his two companions quickly found the best observation positions and began to record in detail the layout of the fortifications, troop deployment, patrol patterns, and areas of human activity, continuously transmitting this crucial intelligence back to the front-line base.
(End of this chapter)