Delta: Who are you saying has suffered a loss of strength?

boom! !

Gunshots rang out in the cramped room, making ears ring.

Shimada knelt on the ground. The bullet grazed his ear, and the heat from it made him feel as if his earlobe had been scraped, a burning pain.

He stood frozen in place, mouth agape, with only one thought in his mind: if the bullet had been just two centimeters off, his head would have been gone.

A heavy thud came from outside the door.

Shimada's eyes slowly turned to follow the sound, and his head followed suit, looking towards the doorway.

Park Ji-hoon's body was falling downwards; the part above his neck was gone. Blood gushed upwards from the severed wound, spraying half a meter high, and then fell like rain.

Shimada's throat moved; he heard himself swallow.

He slowly turned his head, his neck stiff as if it were rusted.

The warden stood beside him, gun at his shoulder, wearing a white mask.

……

This footage was simultaneously displayed in the player's viewpoint live stream, and the chat instantly erupted.

"Holy crap! Wearing the highest durability level 5 GN heavy bulletproof helmet, the warden still managed to blow my head off with two shots."

"Two shots from the ASh-12 can shatter a level 5 helmet? What's the damage of that gun?"

"My God! This scene is terrifying."

"I watched Shimada's first-person replay; those two shots—one to the forehead, one to the neck! His entire head exploded!"

"Don't go into the details, I'm still eating."

"You're really something, looking at this while eating."

……

"Run!!!" Lee Junho's voice came from outside the door, a desperate scream.

Ta-da!

The two footsteps ran quickly, getting farther and farther away, and were no longer audible after a few seconds.

Shimada abruptly turned to look at the door, but Lee Junho and Kim Soo-min had already disappeared. He then turned back sharply to look at the warden.

"Warrior...Warrior," Shimada's voice trembled, "those two escaped...aren't you going to chase them?"

The warden's spear was still resting on his shoulder, his eyes coldly fixed on him, and the room fell silent for a moment.

Shimada's forehead began to sweat, and beads of sweat trickled down his temples.

After a moment, the warden slowly spoke. "Chase? Why should I chase?"

Shimada opened his mouth, his mind a complete mess, unable to form a coherent sentence. "But...but..." he stammered, his tongue tied in knots.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to speak. "I was the one who accepted the Raven Hunter mission. Those guys were enemies. Shouldn't we have killed them?"

The warden let out a snort of sneer from behind his mask.

Are you ordering me around?

The warden's voice was flat, but he saw the mask.

Shimada's hair stood on end, starting from the back of his neck and running down his spine.

He instinctively shrank his shoulders, pulled his neck into his collar, and became half a head shorter.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant..." He shook his head desperately.

The warden looked at him for two seconds, then lowered the gun from his shoulder. "Take a close look at your mission objective." The warden paused for a moment. "This is Operation Raven Hunter; your task is to eliminate the ravens."

"If you could silence that noisy raven forever before you get my hands dirty."

The warden patted Shimada on the shoulder.

The force wasn't great, but Shimada shuddered violently, causing half of his body to stiffen.

The warden lowered his head, bringing it close to his ear, the edge of his mask almost touching it.

"I will reward you handsomely."

Shimada was much shorter than the warden, and he looked up at the warden.

He held up one finger and pointed to his face.

"Me...me?"

The warden stood up straight without saying a word and removed his hand from his shoulder.

No! Nine out of ten parts are wrong!

The intelligence provided by the United Nations is not like that!

The intelligence clearly states that the warden will personally lead the team to eliminate the ravens, and the player team only needs to follow and provide fire support.

How did he end up here, with his team going to kill the ravens?

.........

The screen was filled with "Me? Me?" emojis in the comments.

"Me? Me? Look at Shimada pointing at himself at those words, that expression on his face is hilarious."

"The way he groveled before the warden was disgusting."

"If you stood in front of the warden, you would be more bent than him."

"Hilarious! He thought he could command the warden, but the warden ordered him to be a lowly soldier sent to his death!"

"I took a screenshot of the sentence, 'Are you ordering me around?' I'll send it to anyone who dares to raise their voice at me in the future."

"Wait, the warden ordered them to kill the ravens?"

"Is the objective of Operation Raven Hunters to kill ravens?"

"Yes, that's how the mission statement is written."

"What happened to the warden?"

"Personally in command."

"Hahaha, personally directing you means just standing by and watching you die."

"Sacrifice is inevitable in order to create a new order"—this translates to "Go to your deaths, and I'll cheer you on."

"Hafk will remember your contributions—he'll erect a monument for you when you die."

……

Shimada looked around the room and then at his two teammates.

Sato leaned against the wall on the right, his face as white as paper, blood still seeping from his shoulder.

Takahashi lay near the doorway, his legs wrapped in bandages that were soaked in blood, turning a dark red.

Does this look like someone capable of killing a raven? There are two people, one is about to faint from blood loss, and the other has a broken leg and can't even stand up.

They were willing to go to any lengths to get this mission, braving a hail of bullets to rush in, without armor, equipment, or medicine.

Now tell them to go and kill the ravens?

"Your Excellency, Warden," Shimada finally couldn't hold back any longer and mustered his courage to speak again, "wasn't it you who personally directed the extermination of the ravens?"

"Yes, isn't that what I'm personally directing?" The warden's tone was natural, as if it were something he took for granted.

Shimada opened his mouth, his face pale, and said, "But..."

Before Shimada could continue, the warden waved his hand to interrupt, "Sacrifices are inevitable in order to create a new order."

"Go, Hafk will remember your contribution."

As the hand swung down, the guards in the room moved. Two shields were raised, and they took a step forward.

The three riflemen raised their guns, aimed them at the doorway, and simultaneously chambered their rifles.

A series of metallic clanging sounds echoed from inside the room.

Shimada stared at the gun barrels and the wall of shields, sweat dripping from his forehead. He crouched down and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes..." afraid that the warden would turn on him.

...The comments section remained buzzing.

"The warden really didn't fire at Shimada and the others! Is it really possible for the warden to communicate?"

"The people from the Dragon Club weren't lying; the warden really wouldn't attack someone who had accepted a mission."

"It's not that I won't fight proactively, it's that fighting will drop a quest, right? It's set up by the system."

"Whatever the rules are, just being able to stand alive in front of the warden is already a victory."

"Look at Shimada's expression, it's like he's seen a ghost."

"You would have done the same if you were in my shoes."