?
Another Heaven Ranking expert said, "Right, we need to pick up the pace. Word is that agents from the White Eagle Empire have already infiltrated the area. We can't let them beat us to the punch!"
Nakata blinked, startled. "People from the White Eagle Empire are here too?"
Sakura scoffed. "Obviously. Back when Lord Yamada of Japan held the number one spot on the Heaven Ranking, elites from the White Eagle Empire, the Bear Empire, the Divine Dragon Empire, and even that tiny A-Three Empire all had operatives crawling through our Little Sun Empire."
"Now that Liu Yang's sitting at number one on the Heaven Ranking, it's naturally his turn to draw the flies."
Truth be told, major nations had maintained vast espionage networks embedded in each other's territories long before peacetime ever ended.
Everyone knew the spies were there; they just preferred polite denial.
National rivalry was a staple of the old world.
Naturally, that cutthroat competition hadn't vanished with the apocalypse.
It simply evolved. On top of technological, economic, and traditional military dominance, the global chessboard now revolved around awakened supernatural users.
In this new world, ability users were the ultimate military deterrent.
Nobody wanted to guess what kind of monster the reigning number one on the Heaven Ranking might turn into if allowed to keep snowballing.
Genetics and ordinary biology shared the narrowest gap during infancy.
Even the most brilliant child alive couldn't do much at one year old.
Which meant targets like that had to be strangled in the cradle!
Otherwise, as time dragged on and their power scaled exponentially, the power gap would stretch beyond repair-until dealing with them became completely impossible.
Eliminating threats early was simply standard procedure.
Yamada of Japan had faced the exact same crosshairs from foreign intelligence agencies back when he held the top spot.
Liu Yang simply happened to inherit the bullseye.
Sakura flicked a subtle glance toward her subordinate. The operative stepped into the adjoining room, hauled out a bound body, and dumped it unceremoniously at Nakata's feet.
Nakata sucked in a breath at the sight.
Fair hair, striking blue eyes-classic White Eagle intelligence profile. It was a young woman, remarkably attractive. But her striking face was about the only intact feature left.
Her body was a mangled wreck. Her limbs had been shorn off entirely, replaced by exposed bundles of fiber-optic cables and hydraulic lines dangling limply from her torso.
Her chest plating had been torn wide open, exposing a hollow cavity devoid of organic organs. It was pure, humming cybernetics.
"What is this?" Nakata asked, jaw slack.
Sakura crossed her arms. "A White Eagle cybernetic super-soldier. Put an ordinary civilian through their mechanical conversion process, and bam-instant tier-two ability user equivalent."
"If they'd deployed these cyborgs during peacetime warfare, they could've rewritten military history and flipped the outcome of entire global conflicts overnight."
"To roll out tech this advanced just one month into the apocalypse means they were running human trials long before the world went to hell. They probably kept it under wraps just to dodge ethics boards and international condemnation. Now that civilization's dead, nobody gives a damn about war crimes."
"The sheer scale of these superpowers' hidden cards is genuinely terrifying."
Nakata stared in disbelief. "You've already crossed paths with a White Eagle strike team and engaged them in combat?"
Sakura nodded coolly. "That's right. Those arrogant bastards must think the Divine Dragon Empire is a complete joke. They sent a single Earth Ranking operator with a handful of these wind-up cyber dolls to run an infiltration squad. Their combat efficiency was garbage-absolute amateur hour."
"Once we wipe out Heaven Ranking number one Liu Yang, we're tracking down the White Eagle forward staging area. We'll liberate one of their F-35s and fly it home as a souvenir."
Even in an apocalyptic wasteland, high-performance stealth fighters remained priceless assets.
Another operative chimed in, "And what about our own air assets?"
Sakura shot him a deadpan look. "Can the rest of our pilots not fly, or are you just genuinely stupid?"
"Ah-right, right..." The operative rubbed the back of his head, offering a sheepish, awkward grin under her verbal lash.
Ignoring the lackey, Sakura turned her attention back to Nakata.
"Do you still have Liu Yang's coordinates locked down? I'm broadcasting a general assembly signal to all remaining search squads right now. You're going to guide our main force straight to his doorstep and box him in."
"Got it, crystal clear!" Nakata nodded frantically. This was the exact opening he needed!
All he had to do was lead these arrogant fools right to the commander-say a polite 'this way, honored lords'-and drop them straight into Liu Yang's trap.
Let Liu Yang slaughter the lot of them in one clean sweep.
Sakura gave a sharp nod, then barked an order to a nearby officer. "Broadcast the assembly order to the other thirteen squads immediately. Tell them they have until the end of tomorrow to rally at this sector!"
Nakata blinked, interrupting with a trace of confusion. "Thirteen squads? Wait, weren't there nineteen total? Even if you exclude our wiped unit, shouldn't there be eighteen left?"
Sakura let out a harsh, humorless laugh. "You actually think the Divine Dragon Empire's awakened forces are a bunch of soft targets? Over the last few days alone, five separate squads have been completely wiped off the board."
"Factor in your disaster of a team, and that makes six. Though frankly, it doesn't matter. Search squads are expendable trash anyway-just a bunch of Earth Ranking garbage meant to serve as cannon fodder."
Nineteen elite search squads dispatched into Divine Dragon territory, and within barely half a month, nearly a third had been obliterated. Nakata's team had lost Taozi, leaving only three survivors staggering back in disgrace.
Their operational status was effectively totaled.
It was a stark reminder of just how lethal the Divine Dragon Empire's awakened military forces truly were.
Run into a regular squad of their domestic security elements, and infiltration teams rarely walked away.
Worse still, the annihilated units had undoubtedly leaked sensitive operational intel regarding the Little Sun Empire's movements.
Their window of safety was shrinking by the hour. They had to neutralize Liu Yang posthaste and punch an escape route back across the sea.
Sakura pointed sharply at the table. "Give me his exact coordinates so we can draft the assault vectors. Tengyun, drop the regional grid map in front of him and make him mark the spot."
"Understood, Commander!" Tengyun snapped a salute, slamming a tactical grid map onto the table before Nakata.
Nakata leaned in, traced a finger across the contours, and jabbed a spot. "Right around here."
Sakura leaned over, tracing the distance with a red grease pencil and running quick mental math before addressing the room:
"Just over sixty kilometers out. The highway network is choked with gridlock-no vehicle transit. Foot travel will eat up a solid day. We march at dawn and lock down the perimeter before sunset..."
With the broad strokes of the offensive mapped out, Sakura waved a hand dismissively. "The rest is just waiting for the auxiliary squads to check in. You're dismissed. Go find somewhere to sleep."
Nakata had been hoping to catch a few more tactical details to feed back to Liu Yang for counter-planning, but the abrupt dismissal cut him off cold. Swallowing his frustration, he forced a cooperative smile.
"Understood, Commander."
With that, the ragged survivors turned and retreated from the command post, hiding their reluctance behind tight expressions.