Eh? Do you also want to try the iron fist of the humanoid girl?

According to the order, the four of them had to infiltrate a heavily guarded construction site littered with petrol bombs without any backup, kill the leader of the "Purifiers" and recover the surrounding materials and information.

Is it possible to accomplish this? Experience tells her that it can't be done, but -

“Were the reasons mentioned in the order?” she asked.

"I think recycling data is the most important thing. The key is what data to recycle."

"and many more,"

Cecilia took a deep breath, and her surprised eyes gradually became firm. She looked at Tony who was standing behind her and packing his luggage silently, and said word by word:

"Think about the conditions for us to leave. The reason why the lieutenant went to contact the survivors' army."

"The core goal is always to recover the collapse fluid container, but what stands in our way is that the city is too big..."

Cecilia nodded. This was the crux of the matter.

Since it is known that two forces have conducted on-site inspections of the area affected by the wide-area collapse radiation, and one of the parties has already sent people to negotiate, the core of the task before them is self-evident.

Hunting Joe Ferro? It doesn't matter whether he is killed or not. He is not the focus of everyone.

It would be best to kill him, as this would severely damage the Purifiers organization, but there is no need to feel sad about not being able to kill him.

Everyone except Raphael, from the "SHD-Noble" team that became the "DARPA-Hundred-eyed Giant Team (non-staff)" to the survivor army (Ranger Force) that has maintained a size of nearly 800 people to date, has the same goal:

Leaving New York and getting their daily lives back on track.

The meaning of this order is more than that. It also shows that Raphael is in an awkward situation where he cannot move freely, and he has no choice but to convey such instructions when the communication lines are controlled by others.

Obtaining the radiation map from the Purifiers was the so-called backup plan. For some unknown reason, the credibility and reliability of the survivor army declined in Raphael's mind.

They made the wrong bet on this one.

Although using Raphael achieved some of their goals, some people in the organization were already feeling the pressure. Charles Bliss and his supporters had promised them that they would definitely let everyone leave, so the pressure was mostly psychological.

This pressure is as real in the hearts of the soldiers of the survivor army as it is in any perceptive person.

"But where do we start?"

Alki studied the map, which allowed ISAC to project the conditions of the construction site in front of him. It was very tricky, and just looking at the three-dimensional model made sweat break out on his forehead.

"From the front door?"

"Then are you going to knock on the door and tell them openly that we have requisitioned this place?" Archie said sarcastically.

"No, isn't it yelling 'FBI, open the door'?"

“That’s it,” Doug said.

After he stopped his meaningless self-deprecation, he asked everyone to get into the groove. In the process of repeatedly disassembling the design drawings, simulating deductions, and overturning the plans... the day passed in the blink of an eye.

At night, Doug looked dejectedly at the map drawn on his small notebook and decided to arrange a field reconnaissance.

If you think about it, this is the second time they have carried out an independent operation since they left SHD. Last time in Dr. Gordon Amost's apartment, Tony was so desperate that he picked up the disassembled collapse fluid container. Don't let it go wrong this time...

We have to prove the value of the existence of the "Hundred-eyed Giant".

Otherwise, he would be abandoned by that seemingly harmless girl without a doubt.

Doug's mood sank as he thought about the pile of problems that needed to be solved.

"Captain, any ideas?"

Doug looked up at Tony's voice. The long hand of the clock pointed to 12 o'clock.

"not yet."

"How about a field reconnaissance?" Tony said.

"Yeah, I think so too."

Doug spread out a map on the table. "Let's study it together. Where can we see the inside of the construction site clearly without being discovered by the Purifier sentinels?"

"It looks like it's going to take some effort. This kind of location is not easy to find."

Chapter 91 Prelude to Counterattack

Army of Survivors, Camp Bryant Park.

The attacks from the SHD special agents are becoming more and more frequent. They are like annoying mosquitoes that come to bite you whenever they want.

That afternoon, Raphael and Jacob went to the platoon that was on rest to understand the situation and learn about the soldiers' thoughts and health conditions from the non-commissioned officers.

When there was no combat alert, the Rangers gathered under the camouflage net of the Humvee, talking while wiping all their weapons again and inserting machine gun bullets into the feed belts one by one.

Everyone sat together in groups of three or five, passing weapons and tools around, doing very complex and delicate work.

Raphael inexplicably recalled that they were like women gathered together to embroider.

None of them said much about the cleanup operation that was to begin in a few hours. If anything was said at the moment of the operation, it was only a greater concentration of humor and nonsense than usual.

The most flamboyant member of the second platoon is Reyes Hessel, a strange person who always says that joining the Rangers is a romantic idealist.

That afternoon, he sat under his squad's camouflage netting, cleaning the Barrett MRAD sniper rifle, wearing an unpleasant camouflage that his companions called "a pile of garbage."

Because his hands and shoulders were covered with bundles of colorful plastic bags, waterproof cloth, and cut plastic bottles, when he curled up, he looked like a pile of garbage on the street.

Reyes's helmet is no different, with a pair of bright orange goggles adding a unique but sensible touch.

This guy has a Hollywood-star-like muscular body. Before joining the Army, he lived in the world of Judo and competed in national championships in Kung Fu and Tai Chi.

He is recognized as a martial arts master in the entire battalion and the strongest man in the battalion, but he looks a bit "gay".

Therefore, Reyes naturally became an example of "fitness attracts the opposite sex, excessive fitness attracts the same sex" in the mouths of his peers.

Of course he was not a sexual deviant—he was married, after all—but he was at least a masculine man with a strong feminine aura.

Reyes was a tall, dark-skinned man with Mexican features, but his skin was as smooth as porcelain, an image that was unforgettable.

When Jacob introduced this, he couldn't help laughing. He said in a trembling voice:

"They think Reyes is hot, mind you that doesn't mean they're all Nantong, you know. But he's certainly good looking."

Jacob explained: "You probably understand, it's sexy."

"Ahem, Captain, what bad things are you saying behind my back?" Reyes appeared behind Jacob silently.

Jacob glared at Raphael, who pursed his lips, shrugged slightly, and a pleasant smile appeared on his face.

"And you... Miss Lieutenant of the Navy, please do not enjoy immoral pleasures at this time."

"Okay, sorry." Raphael scratched his cheek embarrassedly.

"I accept the apology." Reyes was very generous to her, then turned to look at Jacob, "Carl, as our leader, you should be more professional and reliable, not like this now. I know that the interactions between officers are different from those between us soldiers, but can you be more restrained, okay?"

"Ah... I understand. I will pay attention to it next time."

It was hard to imagine that the sergeant lectured Jacob, who had been in the army longer, in a lecture-like tone. After a long struggle, Reyes finally let Jacob go.

Raphael stood not far away and took in this subtle moment. If she had the chance in the future, she would take a photo of the situation and send it to the two of them.

Jacob later said that Reyes' father was a Marine, but when he was 3 years old, his family broke up due to drug problems.

Reyes said a close relative of his family was a drug-addicted police officer who frequently visited prostitutes and brought them home to look after him and his brother.

Reyes ended up in a Kansas child orphanage, where he suffered a lot. His desire to keep fit, practice martial arts, and learn fighting probably developed during that period.

"That place is not a good place to go. Every two or three years, there is a child molestation news break out," Jacob explained.

Rafael looked back under the shade of the tree and found that Reyes was already helping his teammates install the machine gun belt.

"I'm going to hell from here," he said, folding a new belt of ammunition and putting it into the ammunition bag of the M249 machine gun. "I will definitely survive."

"Well, we all have to survive." The team member next to him agreed.

"I think someday, Celine and I are going to move to San Francisco," Reyes said, referring to his wife of five years.

“What’s so good about San Francisco?”

“There are no fat people there,” Reyes replied. “Martial arts and fighting culture are very popular there.”

"If there are fat people where you live, why don't you see them?"

Some people burst into laughter.

“People are different.”

“I want to live in a place where everyone cares about themselves,” he said.

"That's selfish, Reyes." A smaller soldier ducked under the camouflage netting. "When are you going to realize that you're a fucking jerk who's spreading homosexuality around you? When we land."

He was referring to the time when the Rangers stepped onto Manhattan soil via the bridge.

"I bet the old boy was wearing star-spangled underwear! And now he's going to war in a garbage suit with horse-flea yellow goggles. You look like a pimp queen now."

"Man, I wear body-conscious clothing, but I don't dress like a fucking pimp queen. I respect myself, and I love my wife more."

Reyes laughed as he spoke. After a series of words of suppression, the two men bumped fists.

A little further away, Raphael said to Jacob, "Are your men so...interesting every day?"

"Asshole is a better word, isn't it?"

"Yes."

About two hours before sunrise, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bliss, who was at the top of the battalion's chain of command, assembled the troops for a final mobilization.

As far as officers are concerned, those like platoon leaders are at the bottom.

The platoon leaders reported to their company commanders, and the captains of A, B, and C companies reported to Charles. For a variety of reasons, Charles Bliss was now God.

Especially in war, his authority is absolute and unquestionable.

The lieutenant colonel moved his command post out of the original building and set it up on the rooftop of an apartment building south of the park. It was a small black tent that looked like the deck of a ship washed up in the desert and hung with rigging ropes.

Gathered around the command post were more than 100 of his officers, veterans and squad leaders.

Chapter 92 On the verge of breaking out

Charles Bilis was a thin man with a narrow head and eyes that were set neither too far nor too close together, perhaps because of his glasses. What was noticeable was his voice—dry, soft, and a little hoarse.

Raphael noticed this was true for people who stayed in the Dark Zone for too long, but his voice was drier.

Even standing in the middle of the park, more than twenty meters away from him, with the wind whistling in his ears, he could still hear Bilis's hoarse, dry voice as he spoke at the top of his lungs.

The sound sounded a little creepy, like someone put their lips close to your ear and spoke directly into it, as clear as the devil Satan whispering in Eve's ear.

"Good news," Bilis told them in a hoarse voice.

His eyebrows were arched, and although he wasn't smiling, his face looked happier.

"The Special Operations Command admitted that we were still holding on, which was a huge shock to them. Money flu was seen as a fig leaf for the problem, and our resurrection activated a deeply buried time bomb..."

Raphael looked at the lieutenant colonel who was speaking at a high position, and then turned his attention to the people around him.

"...If you encounter someone who wants to stop you and fight you, no matter who he is, you should kill him mercilessly..."

Everyone was excited. Rangers always liked to hear such impressive words from their commander.

Smiles appeared on their faces and they nodded excitedly.

Colonel Bliss turned the conversation from his excitement about the upcoming battle to a subject that seemed to be troubling him: the issue of personal grooming for Rangers.

"I don't know when we'll actually leave Manhattan Island," he said, "but we will leave, and when we cross the Hudson River, we have to shave off all our beards. That's the rule. Make sure your men shave off all their beards when the time comes."

There is no point in insisting, Raphael commented, turned and walked into the tent to exchange information with the "Hundred-eyed Giant" team.

Half a minute later, a string of data came from outside the camp. She received it, and the communications officer at the camp also found this unique encrypted data from the complex data stream.

He pointed it out to Bilis, who glanced toward a tent in the park and stopped his men from snooping.

At present, the interests of both parties completely overlap, so there is no sufficient need to do something that will directly lead to a breakup.

However, Bilis hinted that the data could be kept intact but copied at the same time. When necessary, the communications officer and his technical soldiers could decrypt the encrypted data.

In other words, now they can do research.

If there is a disagreement between the two parties, it is necessary to ensure that they have enough information so that they can take the next step smoothly.

Raphael was prepared for their actions, or rather, these little actions were expected.

Cracking, this kind of technical work really tests one's talent.