Chapter 279 - 205: Sudden Exchange of Fire 1
The evening of April 25th, 2020.
Harrison Clark was lying calmly in his soft and cozy bed, his expression serene as e continuously adjusted his breathing to control his emotions.
Perhaps because he had prepared too much and had too many expectations for the future, he was a tad overexcited.
Despite being up for nearly twenty hours due to jet lag, he was still energetic and glowing.
Fortunately, he was more experienced now.
He was worried last month that insomnia would cause him to miss the monthly traversal, but now he wasn’t too panicked.
He had become accustomed to it.
“Lights off.”
He was told earlier that the five-star hotel had advanced to the point of voice-activated controls. Missing the convenience of having his Al assistant Lucia by his side, he decided to give the voice command a shot.
However, there was no response.
“Turn off the light!”
The lights went off.
The future!
Lion!
Clark!
Owen!
Mother of the child!
I’m back!
“Harrison Clark, what are you doing? Keep up!”
Before Harrison could even open his eyes, someone roughly grabbed his shoulder, causing him to stumble.
If it were not for the somewhat familiar single soldier armor structure that helped him brace the force, he would have fallen flat on his face.
Harrison Clark rubbed his eyes and quickly regained his vision, “Lion?” “Harrison Clark, have you gone stupid? Get moving! Don’t fall behind!” Daniel Thompson, furious because he was lost in thought, gave him another yank and then turned and ran ahead.
A confused Harrison followed, looking around to gather information about his surroundings.
This was not the familiar Black Bear Training Base; instead, a dense jungle and muddy road with no playground or buildings in sight.
It was a winding valley sandwiched between two mountain ranges.
Looking around, densely packed towering trees covered the sides of the valley. The trees were lush and flourishing with thick branches and leaves.
If it weren’t for the occasional tree that had been broken in half by an unidentified attack or forcibly split in two and sprouted new branches, it could have been a primeval forest.
NOW it looked more like an ecological relic left behind after a Great War.
He was currently in the middle of a group of about a thousand people, running forward with the flow.
The group was moving fast but keeping their steps light and quiet. Even when Daniel Thompson scolded him earlier, while his tone was firm, his voice was deliberately kept low.
Nobody was whispering, all of them were rushing and looked extremely tense. The only sounds were the soft pitter-patter of feet on the mud and the slightly heavy breathing.
Harrison had no idea what was going on.
Where did these people come from and where were they going?
This situation was so different from previous ones that he was not accustomed to it.
All the people were wearing gear, but none of them had activated their equipment’s assistive power. They were merely running by foot. Was this a training exercise?
An 8oo-kilometer cross-country weighted run?
But it didn’t seem like it.
Given the intensity of this exercise, these people shouldn’t be breathing so heavily.
Their heavy breathing was not due to exhaustion.
It was nervousness.
Indescribable nervousness.
More nervous than when he was young and naive, readying cheat sheets during an exam and attempting to peek at the answers when the teacher turned away.
This was just too abnormal.
Even with his advanced Galactic Human brain, he couldn’t immediately comprehend his current situation.
He looked ahead and saw the slim and fit figure of Nora Camp at the front of the group.
Harrison let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Never mind, he’ll figure it out later. As long as she was here, it was okay.
Daniel Thompson, who had noticed that Harrison had slowed down due to his pondering, angrily turned around, grabbed Harrison by the collar, and hissed “What on earth are you doing today? Are you trying to drive me mad? Dammit!’ Saying that, Daniel didn’t just run on his own this time, he grabbed Harrison’s shoulder with one hand and dragged him forward, forcing him to run faster.
As Daniel ran forward, he grumbled under his breath.
He had always said that new recruits shouldn’t be allowed to participate in operations. Even if they passed the comprehensive quality test, their level leaves a lot to be desired. Risking their lives on the battlefield was one thing, but to drag him down was another. It was very irritating.
Harrison quickly analyzed the information.
New recruit?
Well, it seemed that he was still a new recruit this time, only the setting was not in a training field but during an external operation.
This mission involved a thousand people, including commander Nora Camp, so the task level must be quite high.
Taking new recruits along indicated there might be a shortage of manpower.
But that didn’t quite add up.
Since Nora Camp had been the commander of the Giant Wave Vertical Team last time, she should have more than just a few men under her.
Another important point was that even new recruits like him had single soldier equipment, which was similar in appearance to Daniel’s, indicating that human production capacity seemed to have increased, leading to overcapacity.
And Lion was still his mysterious self, grumbling and impatient, but still dragged him along in his actions.
He wasn’t really unhappy about being slowed down, just a hard-mouthed and softhearted guy.
Having analyzed a lot of information, Harrison felt a bit more at ease and began to explore his equipment..