Infinity, progress from Arasaka

Lower middle floor of the hotel.

A basic multi-bed room that also arrived in Cape Town and checked in today.

A pile of strange documents and equipment were placed on the small long table. An agent dressed in casual clothes and disguised as a passenger was operating a laptop. The screen replayed the whole process of Vera from getting off the plane to checking into the hotel. Several devices for monitoring communication signals and instruments for checking the frequency of the communication network had started working.

"Reporting, this is 'Hotel One'. It's early morning South African time. The target has arrived in Cape Town successfully, checked into the hotel, and is currently sleeping. Everything is normal. There is no abnormality in the frequency, and the network security team has not captured any abnormal communication beams."

"Huh? Report, the latest intelligence, the target contacted the Cape Town branch security department and called in two rapid response teams..."

"Putting someone in? Yes! I understand."

On the other side, on the other side of the ocean, in Arasaka Manor in Chiyoda District, Tokyo, Arasaka Yoriki equipped a voice changer and picked up the network terminal with a hidden IP address in his private room with a gloomy face.

"Has the news leaked out? She has already arrived in Africa. After looking at her information and past achievements, do they still think it is impossible?"

"Just ask them, once the new drug is successfully developed, there will be no need to worry about drug resistance for the time being. Saburo will once again successfully extend his life! Is this what they want to see? I don't have time anymore. Any possibility needs to be strangled!"

...

10am the next day.

Take a bite of the hot dog, chew it, and feel the simple breakfast mixed with the fragrance of wheat bread, the aroma of animal fat and the spicy stimulation. Vera, dressed in travel clothes, carrying a suitcase in one hand, wearing sunglasses and a sand-proof scarf, walks like an innocent lady of a wealthy family and takes a hovercraft to leave the hotel, cross Table Mountain, and fly to the northernmost part of Cape Town.

hum...bum...

AI: [Director Russell, has arrived at the border checkpoint in the northern suburbs of Cape Town.]

Click.

The car door opened, hot and dry, this was Vera's biggest feeling after she stepped out of the car.

The oncoming gust of wind was the wind from the African desert, carrying the roughness and dryness of sand, blowing across her cheeks.

"The environment is really bad."

Outside the border checkpoint, Vera saw almost no signs of life except for the occasional cactus and a few tenacious shrubs. There was not a single grinning African animal. The former forests and wetlands had disappeared, leaving only dead silence and endless emptiness and desolation.

It's all man-made.

Here, without the obstruction of bustling urban buildings and the Table Mountain that cuts across the city, she can see the huge industrial park at the end of the city's suburban horizon, close to the Atlantic Ocean.

Rampant resource exploitation, shocking pollution, endless factory workshops, and black smoke constantly billowing out of the chimneys are like black tornadoes, twisting and struggling, dyeing the sky over there into chaos.

"Director Russell."

After waiting for a long time, the commander of the Arasaka Quick Reaction Team, which was composed of Chevrolet Emperor 620 and Military Science Behemoth armored transport vehicles, stepped forward and bowed.

Vera nodded, without any sentimentality, and just glanced at it briefly.

"Let's go!" she waved.

It is more important to realize her Arasaka version of the Stairway to the Sun plan.

------

Chapter 051 Vera and her Sun Stairs Flower (5K)

The desolate African wilderness...

"Pooh!"

The hot wind whistled past, and on the bare hillside with sparse vegetation, several stealthy figures wearing one-piece heat-blocking lining and desert camouflage combat uniforms shook off the sand and gravel on their ear caps and anti-sand scarves, and poked their heads out from their hiding places.

"Which relic is this?"

One of them put down the multifunctional tactical telescope in his hand that was connected to the visual prosthesis and could analyze target intelligence and magnify scene images, and orange light flashed in his pupils.

"The sixth one. She went north from Cape Town, crossed the Northern Cape Province, and stopped in Johannesburg and Pretoria (a city in the interior of South Africa) only to rest. What was she trying to do? Was she really on a study trip? Was she practicing so seriously?"

The other one spat, bringing out a mouthful of sand.

"Nguni, Sotho, Tsonga and Venda (a sub-branch of the ancient Sotho Bantu language in South Africa)... I never thought that one day when we were on a field surveillance mission, we would learn some useless things... Bah!"

Using a support frame made of sand and gravel, the sniper, who was lying on the ground and using the scope of the Asura sniper rifle as a telescope to observe and protect the target, opened his mouth and found that his mouth became astringent. He could still feel the squeaking sound of the steel teeth reinforced by the friction of sand.

Five days. Do you know how they spent these five days? !

The other party did not fly directly from Cape Town to Gauteng Province in a hovercraft. Instead, they traveled by land convoy across the barren land between South African cities, visiting all kinds of ruins to take pictures, compare, and look for something.

The target convoy can set up camp in those broken ruins, but they have to sleep in the open air. After hanging on the convoy, they cannot get too close and must pay attention to concealment.

At the same time, the other party is a reserve big shot of the company. Even if he is really traveling, the plan will be judged as immature, and these little Karamis must ensure his safety.

"Boss, what value do the ruins of the ancient country of those uncivilized barbarians have? Even if they are antiques and collectibles, I have only heard that antiques from the South Asian subcontinent and the Far East are sought after and can make more money. In Africa, aren't the ancient ruins of Egypt and Carthage that have some value in North Africa and in the hands of European ghosts?"

The Arasaka agent, who was called the chief, ignored the small complaints of his subordinates. With his broad and strong figure, his eyes flashed with data streams. He operated the tactical terminal in his hand, calling up the surveillance chart of the communication frequency band, while holding up the precise infrared rangefinder to calculate.

Suddenly, "Sixteen o'clock."

He squinted his eyes and looked at the small information summary screen of the tactical terminal. Through the integration of information from multiple directions, he saw a dark shadow, more sneaky than them, lying on the ground a thousand meters away from the ancient ruins of the flat-topped hill.

The communication signal is quite active, and it is moving backwards to the west.

There was no need to decipher the whole thing. He could just pick out words like "fat," "juicy," "big fish," and "grab" from the English voices mixed with various incomprehensible words and a rap-like intonation in the communication channel intercepted by the network security specialist.

"Shit. Scouting? Some roaming band of native vagrants?"

Beep! He connected to the internal communication, "West 3 Group, have you seen that black man? Follow him. If I'm not mistaken, there is a group of idiots who want to tear some meat from the company without knowing their own limitations. Deal with them quietly."

His eyes suddenly turned cruel.

As the leader of the security team, he naturally knew the importance attached to the target plan by his superiors, and he could not let the scum in the African badlands disturb the research of the target. That kind of genius flash of inspiration was crucial.

After giving the order, he didn't pay too much attention to the black uncle, and the Arasaka agent continued to measure the distance.

"After visiting the 'Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape', she should leave South Africa and enter Zimbabwe..." After roughly comparing the plan submitted by the target, which clearly stated that there was a high probability that she would go to Congo in Central Africa, Agent Arasaka sighed softly.

"Notify all teams and prepare to move again."

......

"it's a pity."

Vera also felt that she was quite capable.

She was calm and composed, not feeling the least bit awkward being watched. She half-crouched on the ground and picked up a handful of sticky, slightly fluorescent soil with her gloved hands.

Pollution in South Africa is terrible.

She couldn't help shaking her head as she looked at the liquid that was being pumped up from the underground sewer with difficulty, which was filled with unknown chemicals and emitted a foul smell like oil.

When she explored the first ruins and first came into contact with the stagnant water in the underground ruins of South Africa, the smell and the sourness almost made her fall over.

Having too keen senses is not always a good thing.

Predatory industrial exploitation, pollution, and various chemical toxins are silently eroding this land and the creatures living here.

She searched the ground thoroughly, but she didn't see any small animals living in dark places or any living flowers or plants. But there were some weathered and dried remains of dead animals, some rotten leaves and fungal spores piled up under the soil and stone slabs.

After collecting some samples, Vera relied on rough screening with a portable analytical instrument produced by biotechnology to obtain a series of lethal levels of the periodic table elements and various synthetic chemicals.

Da da.

Surrounded by Arasaka quick-reaction soldiers, holding a data tablet in one hand, Vera groped the rock wall with the other hand, walked up the stairs from the bottom to the top, and returned to the ground from the violently broken basement.

The captain of the quick response team of the Cape Town Security Department's guard force, who was transferred here, saw Vera return to the ground safely, and then signaled the outer soldiers to remain on guard, and he stepped forward.

"Director Russell, have you found anything?"

"The groundwater is seriously depleted and polluted. There is no vegetation left. Based on the dead plants we picked, they do not match the characteristics of the special flower plants I know. There is no point in continuing to wander around in South Africa. Let's go to Zimbabwe." Vera turned around and said, "Thank you for your help."

"Yes!"

Without asking any reasons, only the needs, the team leader nodded, then turned around and began to gather people for the transfer.

During the process, Vera took one last look at the ruins of the so-called Mapungubwe Palace.

It was nothing more than a complex of earth and stone buildings resembling sheds, with the ground covered in dust and dotted with pits caused by the wind and sand.

Because it had been neglected for a long time, it had already collapsed. There were dried excrement from homeless people inside, and bullet holes and traces of explosions on the collapsed walls, both old and new, indicating that there had been more than one gunfight.

hum...

Amid the engine's blast, the convoy set out on the road again.

After running on the endless wasteland for nearly 10 minutes.

"Director Russell, we have left the South African border and entered Zimbabwe. According to the map of ancient Bantu tribal ruins you provided, we will arrive at the next tribal ruins in about 35 minutes."

Inside the Behemoth armored transport vehicle, Vera shook off the dust on her sleeves, placed some mutant mushroom samples, and then began to calm down and write her diary.

Well, at least he seems to have calmed down.

How can you not write a diary when doing serious research?

2075/5/31

Mapungubwe Ruins |×

No flowers matching the criteria were found.

It is speculated that due to half a century of natural changes and environmental degradation, the special and precious flower strains discovered by the mining and transportation company may have become extinct. Lowering expectations, the feasibility of the project has been reduced...

"Be on high alert!"

"Hmm?" Vera raised her head.

The soldiers of the security force outside the cabin where she was immediately stood up, synchronized the weapons on the vehicles, opened the shooting holes at the same time and stood guard on both sides. After a while, the voice of the team commander sounded in Vera's ears through the internal communication channel.

"Director Russell, there is something going on. It seems to be a vendetta in the evil land."

Swish. On the detachable display wall, the images synchronized with the drone recorder were projected in front of Vera.

Behind a small hill a hundred meters away from the road, there was a devastated campsite. Several broken-down cars that had been modified countless times were covered in blood and brain matter, as well as broken bodies that would have been blurred out on any official television station.

"Oh..."

Vera showed a thoughtful expression, then the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and she controlled the external camera of the car and looked towards the Stone Ridge Mountain in the distance.

Arasaka's agent?

When she was in the ruins, she could roughly determine the location of the peeper.

The peepers who followed along the way.

"Apply to the Cape Town branch to send another team. Also adjust the route, expand the drone reconnaissance range, increase vigilance, and continue moving forward." I'll make it a little more difficult for you.

"...yes!"

After feeling the convoy speed up, Vera put down the data tablet and began to close her eyes to rest.

"almost."

She murmured silently in her heart.

After leaving South Africa, she needed to find an opportunity to bring out the Sun Stairs flowers in a reasonable and logical form.

Leaving South Africa means leaving the area dominated by Arasaka. North Africa and West Africa are the territory of the European Community. Central Africa is a buffer zone where there is no dominant force for the time being, and it is also a world of warlords in Africa.

She has to keep herself in top condition.

Although she was sure that the strength of the Arasaka Quick Reaction Team was not comparable to that of the black uncle wanderers in Africa, and there were Arasaka security agents following and monitoring her, as long as she did not contact the people from Military Technology and the European Space Agency to discuss job changes, protecting her life was also one of their top priorities.

But until everything is done smoothly, we still need to remain vigilant.

Vera knew very well that they could not be trusted.

She didn't know how Arasaka Yorinobu, the landmine hidden inside Arasaka, would deal with her, the 'Tadayoshi' of Arasaka. Would he place his own people among the personnel, or would he leak the news to divert the trouble?

And if Lai Xuan got scared and backed down, Vera would not want to see that, because she needed Lai Xuan to be targeted to "act miserable".

If things were obtained too easily, without going through some hardships, how could she demonstrate her dedication and importance, as well as her "loyalty" to Arasaka and the great Lord Saburo?