"So?"
Mu Ssang was indifferent. He already knew well enough about the Socrates Project and Green Flow.
McKinley, startled by his indifference, babbled on, "Doctor Samuel and Ian, Herman, Hathaway, the heads of Green Project, should be responsible for Hae Young's death. If you spare me, I will tell you their real identities."
"A betrayer!" said Mu Ssang in his mind.
Mu Ssang's eyes looked cold. He despised him for betraying his colleagues just to save himself. He hated three kinds of people. A thug that wielded his fist without restraint. A rapist who used his penis without restraint. A betrayer who ran his tongue without restraint. The man was all three.
"I don't wanna know. Stop talking and die."
The kukri revealed its blade with a blue sheen.
"Oh shit!"
McKinley frowned deeply. That was the very sword that beheaded countless heads of his men. He only needed to stall for a little while until his backup got there. He needed these precious minutes.
"Wait, I will give you information regarding the Freemasonry and MLRS."
McKinley used his last card.
"Do you know where Lamartin is?"
Black Mamba's eyes glinted. Super Grendels and Lamartin was the unresolved matter that continued to bother him. Matilda burned on her own when she tried to divulge the location of Lamartin. The MLRS cannons deployed in Kalonge were also something that bothered him.
"I will tell you if you spare me."
"I will."
Black Mamba accepted his offer right away. He could spare the man's life in many ways. If he burnt up on his own, that couldn't be helped.
"Lamartin hasn't shown up in the camp for a week already. Flying Grendels Verriere and Oeilet and ground Grendel Rosiere will soon be here. There are two Bradley armored vehicles mounted with the MLRS. The ATACMS was deployed on Lake Albert's shore. A low-altitude recon unit Black Eye and two fixed orbit satellites and two high-altitude recon units are informing us in real-time. Destroyers and cruisers docked in Dar es Salaam are..."
He continued to divulge much confidential information. McKinley tried his best. The man before him was almost as strong as a Grandmaster. If he tried to deceive with false information, that could be the end of him.
Black Mamba listened with an expressionless face. It was useful information but each word the man uttered disturbed him as if they were a waste matter. Agent Jaitun and Shadow agent Major MecPee faced their death resolutely. This "general" was willingly divulging all the confidential information. He didn't deserve to belong in the elite class of the United States.
McKinley was fine after telling Mu Ssang the whereabouts of Lamartin. That meant the spontaneous combustion was caused by something implanted in Matilda or something in the Rwenzori mountains. He had to investigate it further.
"Thank you for telling me. Burning alive would have been better for you though."
He stepped firmly down on McKinley's crotch. His testicles were ruptured.
"Aargh! You agreed to spare me."
A flock of birds took flight, startled by his scream.
"You are still alive."
The texture he felt through the boot disturbed him. It was a high-quality military boot made with a young goat's hide and lined with Goretex. He didn't feel like throwing it away just yet just because it touched McKinley's wretched balls.
"Since it is already dirty, I better double down on it."
He smashed McKinley's knees with powerful kicks and landed a kick on his anus.
"Aargh!"
McKinley collapsed, sprawling on the ground. He couldn't even scream. Mu Ssang's palm touched his stomach. Resonance Wave disintegrated his stomach's autonomic nerves.
Modern medicine would be able to save his life but he wouldn't be able to lead a normal life. Only his head would be intact. He wouldn't be able to eat or drink or even use a wheelchair. Death was a better fate than a life like this.
"Live like that, then die. If you are born again as a human with the most of luck next life, live cleanly that time."
He tossed a chilling remark and disappeared without looking back. McKinley's blood-covered body squirmed like a caterpillar amongst the corpses of the Ciafus that covered the ground.
Before five minutes could pass after Mu Ssang disappeared, a deafening sound of a helicopter filled the skies above Kidumb. Dozens of Humvees and armored vehicles arrived and armed soldiers wearing gas masks swarmed out of them.
The Marine Search Squadron and Combat Engineer Battalion didn't have time to be shocked at the gruesome scene. They immediately proceeded to do their jobs. The marines didn't pay any attention to the abandoned equipment and combat scene. They gathered McKinley who was barely alive along with the other 80 bodies and left Kidumb as if they were being chased.
* * *
Sun Woo-hyun checked the concentration of the residual VX and crawled out of the hatch. The jungle was dead quiet. Even the monkeys that howled ceaselessly were gone. The entire area had been fumigated with the poisonous gas, eliminating all lifeforms.
"Follow me. We should prepare a taxi for Wakil who worked so hard."
Sun Woo-hyun and Zulu sprinted across the destroyed jungle. Sun Woo-hyun's features bloomed in a wide smile. He spotted the Humvees landing in line on the road in the jungle.
"Zulu, we are three and there are so many taxis."
"I'm on it, sir."
Zulu loaded one Humvee with emergency fuel, grouped the rest together, poured gasoline on them, and attached an explosive to the fuel tank of one of the Humvees.
"Five minutes should suffice, eh?"
"Dubaiburupa said..."
"Don't object. Wakil is a ghost."
"Yeah, a ghost is here."
"What?"
Sun Woo-hyun jumped in surprise.
"You did a great job."
Sun Woo-hyun mumbled with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Hurry. Steel debris will rain down. Bolt 5 kilometers away from the blast."
Black Mamba was hurried, not like his usual self. Zulu set the timer and jumped on the pilot's seat. The Humvee sprinted, trailing a cloud of dust.
* * *
The explosive exploded. The nine Humvees soaked in gasoline were set aflame. The Black Eye and Dragon Lady detected the strong radiation of energy. The information was immediately relayed to the artillerymen deployed in Karungo. Four M270 MLRS containers aimed for their targets.
Two Bradley armored vehicles were suddenly engulfed in flame and smoke. Fireballs were launched from the containers at a two-second interval and shot across the southeastern sky. The armored vehicles retracted their containers and left the spot.
The artillerymen could just aim for their target and press the launch button, but the situation wasn't as simple as where their target was. There was a scene of total destruction. That's why the artillery commanders of the North Korean military referred to the MLRS as "Your Mom's Ass".
The warhead exploded 300 meters above the ground. Five hundred and twenty DPICM explosives hailed down. A firestorm scoured 200 meters around. The 24 warheads continuously spat the explosives. A two-kilometer wide area in the jungle bombed with 12,000 explosives was obliterated in 40 seconds.
The Humvees that Sun Woo-hyun burned to throw off the trackers brought forth a rain of steel debris, and thanks to that, most Gazelle pilots who fell below the canopy survived. It was dumb luck like the one that saved someone who dropped in the crack between tetrapods.
"Whoa!"
Sun Woo-hyun shook his head in awe. The MLRS was as powerful as the stories that followed them. The dark red smoke covered the sky and the ground vibrated as if a volcano had erupted. If they tarried, they were going to be buried in lava.
"I knew it."
Black Mamba looked back. McKinley said the Predators were going to be deployed first. But had he been as naive to believe that lie, he couldn't have survived until now. He slyly hid one lie among ten truths.
"The American imperialists are indeed insane."
Sun Woo-hyun indicated the mushroom cloud looming against the sky with a perplexed expression.
"A thug is bound to wield his fists. A rich thug is the real scary one."
Black Mamba giggled. One MLRS warhead cost 50 million won. The US army poured 1.2 billion won to kill Ciafu ants.
"Wakil, what should we do if they keep attacking us?"
"Hmm!"
That question troubled him. The outer perimeter of the Ituri jungle had some patches where the canopy hadn't properly developed yet. To avoid getting detected from the sky, they needed to steal the enemy's helicopters or armored vehicles. They would not trigger the detection of the enemy.
"Lackey, can you pilot a helicopter?"
"No."
"What about an armored vehicle?"
"No."
"What can you do?"
"I am driving this Humvee."
"I annoyed him."
Black Mamba giggled.
"Sorry for being stupid."
Sun Woo-hyun was feeling gloomy. When Ombuti said he should focus on serving Wakil, he scoffed. What he faced overwhelmed him. The enemy was tremendously strong. Black Mamba's combat power surpassed any imagination. He couldn't keep up with it.
He burdened him rather than serve. He had to
hide underground when his master and his only family in the world sprinted laboriously above.
"He has matured," said Black Mamba in his mind.
Black Mamba understood what Sun Woo-hyun felt. It is said that pain hardens one into greatness. Sun Woo-hyun was still petty but now he was family whom he could trust.
He fumbled in a bag and took out a taffy. The taffy had been melted and disfigured in the equatorial heat. His mother had put it there when he left Eungsim-je. He had forgotten all about it.
"Eat this, Lackey."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"My mother put it here for me to eat when I feel tired. Is this some taffy or the embodiment of her love?"
Sun Woo-hyun stared at the darkened taffy covered with lint and grime. He had a complex expression on his face.
"Lackey, the love of one's family is one's fuel. You are my family who, I believe, will guard my back."
"Sob, Mother!"
Sun Woo-hyun took the taffy and jammed it into his mouth. The sweet taste warmed his heart. He was shedding tears before he knew it.
"Lackey, I am thinking of severing ties with France. Let's live in the Palace of Water together. Let's eat rice with soybean stew and samgyeopsal. My mother is an even better cook than Jin Soon."
"Samgyeopsal and soybean stew made by your mother sounds great."
Sun Woo-hyun was deeply moved that he felt as if something was lodged in his chest. Mu Ssang really deserved his throne.
* * *
Cruiser Bunker CIC.
Executor Davis glared at the intelligence officer with a deeply bitter expression. Despite the barrage of the MLRS, he escaped. He had no idea how they could ever capture him now.
"Where is he now?"
"He was spotted 15 kilometers north of Lubuto 10 minutes ago, but now he is gone again."
"How so?"
"Due to the heated air that started to rise."
"The Black Eyes must be able to track him."
"They can only fly for two hours at a time."
"Fuck! What kind of design is that?"
Davis glared.
The silence lingered in the air.
Lieutenant Colonel Robinson felt mortified. All he did was report the situation on the battlefield factually. He didn't know what idiot designed the Black Eye at Lockheed Martin.
"Call Dyson."
"Aye!"
Davis was sick of it. Because of Black Mamba who was but one man, they suffered tremendous losses. The MLRS and equipment were disposable but the loss of Shadows and Haunters was decisive.
To train Shadows and Haunters, the astronomical costs compounded with the prolonged period of time proved to be the main obstacle. To recover the 20 Shadow squads and the squad of Haunters, they needed more than a decade. He wished for the Grandmaster to act himself but he remained silent.
"Semper Fi! Dyson here."
"How is McKinley?"
"It is hard to say. He is exhibiting traumatic response to battlefields and people," Dyson said simply, understanding what Davis wanted to know.
"Can he speak?"
"He can utter words but cannot form coherent sentences. It's called dysarthria. His stomach is not functional, either."
"What do you mean?"
"The food he ingested stays in his stomach and goes bad."
"What a chilling bastard."
"Death would be a better fate than this. He is bedridden now and depends on IV drips for sustenance."
"He was disposable but it's still a pity."
Davis clicked his tongue. He rescued McKinley to gain intel from him but he was a useless vegetable now. It would have been better if he was ground alive in an explosion. He was grateful that Singleton wasn't as stupid as McKinley.
"General, get Singleton for me."
"Singleton here. I apologize that we couldn't fulfill the mission."
"No. You withdrew at the right moment. Assess this Black Mamba for me."
"He is capable of teleportation and invisibility. Despite the offensives over a wide area involving the Black Eye, we couldn't touch a strand of his hair."
"Is he on par with Grandmaster?"
"No. He relied on firearms for ranged attacks. He is just a very good assassin and doesn't really possess any power of mass destruction. With the combined power of middle-grade Super Grendels and Ramasu, we can surely catch him."
"What do you think, General Dyson?"
"I agree with Singleton. Black Mamba has repeatedly defied our expectations. We do not need to deploy any more soldiers. We must immobilize him from above and employ Predators."
"Robinson, how many helicopters are available right now on Curt Wilber and Ingersoll?"
"They each have one Little Bird."
"One?"
"Unless it's a DDH, a destroyer specifically designed to house helicopters. There is space left for only one after loading anti-submarine helicopters."
"Can we use the Seahawk for land operations?"
"Not in the jungle. It lacks mobility and is too expensive. He is a phenomenal sniper that uses an RPG7 as if it is PSG1."
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