I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 202 Afterwards
When Sarutobi opened his eyes again, his body was mechanically organizing his equipment. The tactics panel displayed "Mission Complete," and the team members were muttering things like, "It felt even better than a bubble bath."

"What's going on... Ouch, that hurts..."

Sarutobi lost his balance and pressed hard on his lower back, only then belatedly realizing that his lower back and knees were sore, his shoulders ached, and his legs were numb. This feeling was not unfamiliar to him; he usually felt like this the day after having too much fun.

But the problem is, he didn't play today?
"Captain, what should we do with this thing?" Just as he was wondering if he had been knocked unconscious, his brother-in-law's voice came from behind. He turned his head and saw several team members standing in front of a graffiti wall, and in the spot they were pointing, there was a huge oregano!

This oregano looks very realistic, but what's really special is that it's different from other graffiti, which is either very old and covered by other graffiti, or brightly colored and looks freshly painted.

The oregano base isn't new, but surprisingly there are no other graffiti covering it. However, the most unique thing is the "umbrella" area, which has a dark, slippery area that looks like it's been touched a lot.

Upon seeing the oregano, Sarutobi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, and some memories came flooding back.

"By the way, I came here looking for that special reaction thing, and then, I got caught in an illusion, and we started killing each other. It even got to the point of injecting Awakening Pills. Luckily, the exoskeleton has a friend-or-foe recognition function, so in the end no one died. It's just that the side effects of the Awakening Pills were a bit severe. Not only was my whole body sore, but I even blacked out!"

and so……

"Is this oregano the culprit?" Sarutobi looked at the graffiti warily, restarted the detection device, and nodded as he watched the readings spike instantly.

This incident has caused quite a stir, so we can't just destroy it. Otherwise, even if there are records of the operation, their authenticity will be questioned, and aliens might even suspect that we've actually hidden the real thing.

After thinking for a long time, he finally dialed the captain's number again...

"What is it now? Didn't I entrust this entirely to you?" The captain's impatient, even somewhat irritated voice came through the receiver. Sarutobi wasn't surprised; it was already past midnight. Even if the captain wasn't asleep, he was probably collecting overtime pay with his secretary. But he still rubbed his lower back hard, forcing himself to stay awake, and said:
"Captain, we found a huge object, which is very likely the one the aliens were looking for. But it's a wall, and I don't dare to dismantle it. Besides, this thing has hallucinogenic effects. A dozen of us just spent hours playing a live-action survival game (a game similar to PUBG or CS) in a small alley. If it weren't for the friend-or-foe identification system, we'd all be dead!"

"Found it? You wait here, don't move, and turn on your GPS!" The captain ignored what was said next and immediately started calling professionals.

……

Twenty minutes later, special tactical personnel dressed in what looked like hazmat suits got off the vehicle and rushed toward the graffiti wall with its patina of oregano. Sarutobi wanted to go to the logistics department immediately to get two injections of Awakening Pills to relieve his frustration, but the captain who was dawdling as he got off the special car made him grit his teeth in anger.

The gleaming military boots crunched on the dry alleyway floor. The battalion commander glanced at the craters and scorch marks scattered across the ground, a mocking snort escaping his nostrils: "Didn't the AI-uploaded combat logs report that waterproofing mode was activated? How did this place become so dry?"

Sarutobi was furious, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "We've been hit by a group illusion. Our nerve signals were read by the exoskeleton, which generated incorrect commands. Also, sir, my team and I just used Awakening Pills and need treatment."

"Heh...you'd better actually use it." The captain took two steps forward, his tone mocking, "Twenty-seven Zhoubo knives worn out? And they were all from hacking each other while the machines were off! Do you believe that? You'd be better off believing you're playing a role-playing game!" "Then why don't you take off your hazmat suits before you speak?" Sarutobi, having been put on such a show, didn't bother pretending anymore and retorted directly, which surprised the captain.

Ultimately, it's common practice to underreport combat losses during missions and then sell them in Sakaar. He thought this time would be similar, but...

Could it be that it's really been depleted?

He was a cautious man after all, and wouldn't actually take off his hazmat suit to test for illusions just because of a verbal conflict. He simply lowered his voice and said:

"I'll assume you used the Zhoubo Blade and the Material Magazine, but as for the Awakening Ingot..."

"Would you like to see my physical parameters?" Sarutobi looked at the captain's three-seven split hand gesture, sent over his current physical readings, then picked up the spirit detector and handed it to the captain, pointing to the oregano next to him.

"???" The captain was startled when he saw Sarutobi's disordered physical parameters, but then he realized something was wrong. If he had really taken the Awakening Pill, how could this guy still speak so logically?
Ultimately, the reason he didn't believe it was because he had seen the effects of Awakening Pills before, and since they were quite expensive on the black market, he naturally assumed that Sarutobi had secretly switched the injection chambers to resell them.

He's done this kind of work before, as long as the price is right...

"Buzzing..."

The spirit detector that he had casually pressed suddenly started buzzing. The crazy shaking and wildly fluctuating readings almost made the captain throw it away. After confirming that this kind of thing, which was specially distributed by aliens, could not be fake, he quickly retreated more than ten meters. Judging from his face, he seemed to have begun to regret coming to the front line!

Watching the captain check his fake protective suit like a monkey to make sure it was properly worn, Sarutobi felt a surge of pleasure, but his increasingly aching back urged him to see a doctor as soon as possible.

The captain didn't want to waste any more words with Sarutobi. Who knew if the things these aliens were looking for had any radiation? He immediately waved his hand and ordered the professionals to take them for further examination.

"Damn it, this interrupted my midnight live stream with Bell!" the captain cursed inwardly, but it wasn't convenient to just pull out his phone and continue "drinking chicken soup" right now. So he simply connected to his work number and started checking the work records uploaded by Sarutobi and the others.

Now that we've actually found something, who knows, aliens might come down and ask us questions. It's better to take a look now than to be completely clueless later.

However, he was clearly unaware that while Sarutobi was reporting the news, the Kakusei's special monitoring team was also reviewing all the data related to the operation...

(End of this chapter)