After securing the supplies, Kim Seojun’s group used explosives to collapse the entrance leading to Hongyuan Mine.
After that, they waited at a location quite far from the entrance to Hongyuan Mine.
They were really far away.
Booooom!
At a distance from which it would have been impossible to make out who had arrived at the entrance even with binoculars.
“Sergeant Kim, are your eyes those of a hawk? Can you really see from here?”
However, no one asked a question like that.
After all, wasn’t Kim Seojun someone who had already shown them countless miracles?
‘I only need to check how many are coming.’
He had no intention of entering combat.
Furthermore, Kim Seojun had said as much.
The fact that he was currently aiming Hawk Eye’s Gauss sniper rifle didn’t mean that he intended to attack either.
It was simply a basic precaution against any eventuality.
He simply needed to check their number.
It was then.
Something began moving rapidly across the silent wasteland of planet Amotia.
Wooooong!
It was a hover bike.
As soon as he saw it, Private First Class Park Boseop said.
“Isn’t it going absurdly fast?”
“Huh?”
Even he, who had spent his entire life riding hover bikes, could tell that it wasn’t an ordinary machine.
Major Jan Zabłocki thought the same thing.
“That’s not a normal hover bike.”
Kim Seojun answered their doubts.
“It looks like a Wulong.”
“A Wulong? R-Really?”
As soon as they heard that answer, the gazes of the two vehicle fanatics changed completely.
“No way!”
It was only natural that they would react that way.
The Wulong was China’s secret weapon, said to rank among the five best hover bikes in terms of performance.
For vehicle enthusiasts, it was an extraordinary machine, comparable to an extremely expensive supercar.
Major Lee Hyena, who didn’t share that hobby, was surprised by Kim Seojun’s ability to identify a Wulong while it was moving.
‘He could identify it from here?’
And Kim Seojun himself was also surprised.
Of course, the reason for his surprise wasn’t how extraordinary the machine was, but what its appearance there implied.
‘Just as I expected.’
In other words, the appearance of that Wulong meant that Kim Seojun’s predictions had been correct.
‘If it’s a Wulong, then it’s for VIP evacuation.’
And at the same time, it meant that the time had come to leave.
Kim Seojun had planned to fire immediately if an opportunity presented itself, but now the situation had changed.
‘I can’t kill him.’
Even for Kim Seojun, it would be impossible to deal with a Psyker who had arrived riding a Wulong.
Above all, as soon as the Psyker saw that the entrance to Hongyuan Mine was blocked, it was obvious that he would turn around without even looking back.
Any Psyker with even the slightest amount of common sense on the battlefield would act that way.
‘He’ll return to headquarters at full speed without looking back. We have to move before he does.’
Precisely because of that.
Kim Seojun’s gaze changed.
‘Hmm?’
Then he said.
“Major.”
“Please get on top of me.”
In the space age, the value of Psykers was incalculable.
However, nothing possessed only advantages.
The process of using Psykers presented far more problems than most people imagined.
It was inevitable.
And a large portion of those problems arose precisely from the Psykers’ own lack of competence.
It would be different if a soldier who had spent his entire life training became a Psyker, but most Psykers had been people who lived completely ordinary lives.
It would have been strange to expect that, after suddenly training them and sending them to the battlefields of space, they would immediately demonstrate adequate capabilities.
Even that training was rarely carried out properly.
After all, what instructor could take a Psyker and say things like,
“Can’t you do it properly?”
“Is that all you can do?”
“Are you not going to take this seriously?”
It wasn’t that there were no Psykers who were sent from one hellish place to another, but most avoided going through hardships.
The same was true of field experience.
Major Zhang Wei was one of them.
From the moment he became a Psyker, he had only one objective.
“Make as much money as I can!”
He only pursued money.
He had never trained or made an effort to improve his capabilities.
Nor had he ever experienced a truly dangerous situation.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that, since becoming a Psyker and beginning to be deployed on battlefields, Major Zhang Wei could count on the fingers of both hands the number of times he had fired a weapon at the Mog.
Nothing else.
Despite that, he had more than enough confidence.
He possessed a characteristic that was extremely rare even among Psykers, and the ability derived from it was especially lethal to ordinary soldiers.
Normal soldiers simply had no way to deal with him.
That was why he didn’t know something.
When a problem arose that deviated from the plan, the first thing to do was leave the area as quickly as possible.
Because Major Zhang Wei didn’t know that, as soon as he saw that the entrance to Hongyuan Mine was blocked, he stopped the Wulong.
‘What the hell?’
Then he got off it.
‘Why is it blocked?’
Even after dismounting, he continued lingering in front of the blocked entrance.
And it wasn’t simply because he was confused.
‘The Psyker supplies are in there!’
His attachment to money.
That greed prevented him from retreating easily.
In reality, that idea made no sense.
Finally, Major Zhang Wei vented his fury.
“Fucking bastards!”
“How dare they! How dare they!”
In other words, Zhang Wei believed that his subordinates had collected the items that had been there and fled with them.
This wasn’t Earth, but planet Amotia, and even if someone took the items, the places they could escape to were extremely limited.
Weren’t they also in a situation where even the Gate wasn’t functioning?
However, Zhang Wei’s common sense was different.
From the perspective of someone whose logic was that all you had to do was seize other people’s things first and run away with them, it was perfectly natural to flee after obtaining something extremely valuable.
Furthermore, from Zhang Wei’s point of view, betraying his own country was also a perfectly valid option that he could choose at any moment.
‘They moved to another headquarters. I’m sure of it. And they took the items with them!’
In any case, for those reasons, Zhang Wei remained motionless in front of the entrance to Hongyuan Mine.
“Damn it.”
Colonel Wang Lei would fly into a rage and throw a hysterical fit over the failure of that mission.
‘I’m going to get a serious reprimand.’
And just as he vented his anger.
Crack!
Zhang Wei’s helmet was destroyed, causing everything inside it to scatter in all directions.
Until he finally realized something.
Seeing a Psyker die was extremely difficult.
In the war against the Mog, it was extremely common to see soldiers die, including Space Marines.
But Psykers were different.
There were two reasons.
The first was that the durability of the Agent Suit used by Psykers was on a completely different level from that of a normal battle suit.
The second was that, if the battlefield was terrible enough to kill a Psyker, ordinary soldiers would normally have already been completely annihilated.
Precisely because of that.
Fsssssh!
When a flash burst from Kim Seojun’s barrel and the distinctive shot of the Gauss sniper rifle rang out, everyone froze.
But Kim Seojun wasn’t shaken.
Because he had already seen it many times.
He had seen Psykers die on the battlefield.
“S-Sergeant Kim. D-Did you just attack a Psyker?”
“That’s right. I aimed at his helmet and, fortunately, I hit it.”
“What?”
“The leading cause of death among Psykers on the battlefield is asphyxiation. It’s more common for them to die because their helmet is destroyed than because their Agent Suit is penetrated. After all, there’s a limit to how much a helmet can be reinforced, especially the visor, because it has to allow them to see.”
That was precisely why he had deliberately aimed at the visor.
That hadn’t been an accident.
He really had aimed there intentionally.
After hearing Kim Seojun’s explanation, everyone understood something.
That also meant there was no longer any possibility of maintaining friendly relations with China on planet Amotia.
Of course, neither Park Boseop nor Lee Hyena was surprised by that fact.
They had never intended to get along with China before arriving on Amotia, nor would they in the future.
The problem was that Major Jan Zabłocki’s circumstances were inevitably different.
As soon as he understood the situation, he was horrified.
“A Chinese Psyker? My God!”
“Did you just attack China?”
“You really did something that insane!”
And then he exclaimed intensely.
“I respect you!”
Upon hearing that, everyone in Kim Seojun’s group understood at least one thing.
Major Jan Zabłocki wasn’t going to cause them any immediate problems over the matter.
“I’ve wanted to properly get revenge on China for a long time! I never imagined I’d get an opportunity like this!”
He openly expressed his intense anger toward China.
Meanwhile, Jan Zabłocki continued speaking enthusiastically.
“It seems China has caused you a lot of problems.”
“Is there any country they haven’t caused problems for?”
Of course, that wasn’t particularly strange in the current space age either.
“This won’t cause you any problems! The Polish headquarters will repay its debt to those who saved it until the very end!”
“Thank you.”
The conversation ended there.
“Then, since we’ve accomplished our objective, we’ll leave.”
Kim Seojun immediately nodded at Major Jan Zabłocki’s words.
They no longer had any reason to remain there.
Then he said.
“It’s a shame to leave all that here, but we have no alternative.”
Jan Zabłocki nodded.
And for good reason.
As he spoke, Jan Zabłocki’s eyes were fixed on the corpse of the Chinese Psyker and the Wulong.
The value of everything there was incalculable.
For starters, the equipment worn by the Chinese Psyker, including his Agent Suit, was something that couldn’t even be obtained simply by paying money.
And above all, every Psyker without exception possessed a Prophet’s artifact.
Without one, a Psyker would be no different from an ordinary person.
And what about the Wulong?
Not only did it possess enormous value in itself, but it could also provide clues about China’s secret technology.
However, naturally, it was impossible to take those things with them.
Both the Wulong and the Agent Suit were packed with devices that allowed their location to be tracked in emergency situations.
‘As soon as we take them, they’ll be able to track our location.’
It would be different if they could move them into a space where the signals were completely blocked, remove the tracking devices there, and then move them afterward.
But taking those things across an open wasteland was practically the same as telling the Chinese headquarters,
“Please come kill us.”
Jan Zabłocki deeply regretted that.
‘I wanted to try that Wulong at least once.’
Park Boseop, who was about to go start the military truck, also expressed his regret.
“I wanted to try that Wulong at least once…… Tsk.”
At that moment, the two looked at each other.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
And shortly afterward, they nodded.
As if they had just realized that they would have plenty to talk about and wouldn’t be bored for quite some time.
Kim Seojun asked him.
“Major Jan.”
“Yes?”
“Is there somewhere at the Polish headquarters where we can safely remove tracking devices?”
“Yes.”
“It won’t be difficult.”
As soon as he heard the answer, Kim Seojun immediately looked at Park Boseop.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Yes!”
“We’ll depart for the Polish headquarters immediately.”
“What?”
“Wait a moment.”
Leaving the surprised Park Boseop behind, Kim Seojun ran toward the place where the Chinese Psyker’s corpse was located.
Everyone simply watched him from a distance.
And shortly afterward, they saw it.
Kim Seojun placed the Chinese Psyker’s corpse on top of the Wulong.
Wiiiiiing!
Then he started the Wulong, made it rise slightly, and landed again.
“Huh?”
And then the Wulong gradually began to disappear.
Kim Seojun had stored the Wulong and the Chinese Psyker’s corpse inside Inventory.
“Whaaaaaat?!”
Major Jan Zabłocki’s eyes widened like saucers at the sight.
Then Kim Seojun returned to the group.
He climbed into the military truck, whose engine was already running, and looked at Jan Zabłocki, who was standing in front of him.
“Major Jan.”
“Everything you saw here is classified information. I ask that you keep it secret.”
“……Of course.”
After hearing the answer, Kim Seojun’s thoughts weren’t particularly complicated.
No.
As always, any problems his abilities might cause him were something to worry about after leaving planet Amotia.
Furthermore, Kim Seojun was fairly certain of something.
Jan Zabłocki wasn’t the kind of person who would make a decision capable of causing serious harm to him or his companions.
Otherwise, Jan Zabłocki would never have risked his life leading his subordinates to serve as bait.
Nor would he have become the final bait to save the subordinates who were still alive once the mission had been accomplished.
Before that, he was the kind of person who would risk his life for someone, not the kind of person who would try to harm them.
And as a result, he would never have encountered Kim Seojun’s group.
Taking all that into account, giving up the Wulong and the other items simply to keep Inventory secret would have been far too wasteful.
Above all, Kim Seojun had a much more important concern.
‘Please, let the Polish headquarters still be safe.’
Vroooom!
After that conversation, the military truck departed for its destination, the Polish headquarters.
The journey wasn’t difficult.
Thanks to that, they were able to reach the vicinity of the Polish headquarters within the expected time.
Upon seeing the gigantic eagle-head-shaped rock located near the headquarters, Major Jan Zabłocki’s face lit up.
“I can see Eagle Rock!”
He had departed prepared to die, and yet not only was he returning alive, but he was also bringing good news.
It was only natural that he was happy.
When they were still about five kilometers from the Polish headquarters, Park Boseop stopped the military truck.
“We’ll stop here.”
If they headed directly toward the headquarters in a military truck without first establishing proper communication, naturally the Polish headquarters would respond to them with shells and bullets.
Of course, there was nothing to worry about.
After all, none other than Major Jan Zabłocki was with them, someone who would soon be regarded as a hero of the Polish headquarters.
What could go wrong?
“I’ll send a transmission.”
Enthusiastically, he picked up the radio and transmitted toward headquarters.
“This is Major Jan Zabłocki. I repeat, Major Jan Zabłocki.”
There was no response.
No one was particularly surprised.
Planet Amotia was a place where radio communications worked poorly.
So they waited about ten minutes and transmitted again.
“This is Major Jan Zabłocki.”
They waited another ten minutes.
There was still no response.
From that moment onward, their expressions began to change.
Even if communications were poor, receiving no response after several attempts while only about five kilometers away was clearly a sign that something wasn’t right.
And planet Amotia was now in a situation where anything could happen.
By that point, Major Jan Zabłocki’s expression had also hardened.
“No way. No way……”
Kim Seojun spoke.
“Private First Class Park Boseop, turn the vehicle around.”
“What?”
“Face the opposite direction.”
“Ah, yes, sir.”
The military truck, which had been facing the Polish headquarters, turned until it was pointed in the opposite direction.
Just as everyone began to fear the worst.
Krrrrsh!
Another radio signal managed to connect.
— T-This is…… this is h-headquarters……
As soon as he heard that voice, Jan Zabłocki smiled and replied.
“It seems the interference is severe! This is Major Jan Zabłocki! I’ve returned!”
In response to that smile, the man on the other end of the radio said.
— ……M-Major, d-don’t come!
Jan Zabłocki’s expression changed.
— T-This place is…… i-infected!