With a creased map in hand, Percival trekked alongside Soren to a nearby abandoned mine.

At the mine's entrance, they stumbled upon a covert mark of White Tiger etched into the rock face, its meaning unclear yet undeniably significant. And there, scattered nearby, lay a cache of critical documents belonging to CK.

"Base, this is Soren. We've found the mark," Soren hollered into his headset.

A different voice crackled back, not Micah's as expected, but that of the HQ commander. "Copy that. Proceed underground."

Exchanging a glance, Percival and Soren strapped on their oxygen masks and descended into the bowels of the earth.

Markers bearing White Tiger's emblem appeared sporadically along the mine's tunnels-faded, but a trail they could follow nonetheless.

As they ventured deeper, the air grew thin, and a faint, metallic scent of blood wafted from the depths.

Suddenly, a clod of earth tumbled from directly above Percival.

"Run!" Percival barked, his eyes dark with urgency.

With lightning reflexes, Soren signaled to the team behind them, and the third squad retreated in a disciplined dash toward the exit.

Then, a thunderous collapse echoed from behind Soren.

"Captain!" He yelled.

"Get out of here. That's an order!" Percival's voice crackled through the headset as Soren could only glimpse his silhouette through the narrowing gaps in the debris.

"Captain, I'll get you out!" Soren halted along with a few others.

Percival's voice was icy. "Get lost. After you're out, find Vivienne!"

Leopold and Thomas, sensing the gravity of the situation, called out, "Captain, report your status!"

"Mine... Collapse... Get out..."

faded

a hailstorm. Leopold and Thomas fought back while retreating to HQ. But

their firepower and rescued the

into the mic, "Wolf, unidentified forces are attacking from

shouting to Soren, "Comms are jammed.

Soren knew staying

only chance was to escape

Soren vowed, "Captain, wait

though not without injuries-broken limbs

headset crackled back to life with Micah's voice urging Wolf to

"HQ, Wolf's comms are down. Send me

to consider the consequences. They had to

and relayed the

squads swiftly ended the fight, downing two

with casualties among them, they awaited further

Percival's location to Leopold, insisting they had

the other members and strapped them on, his voice a mix of anger and resolve. "First squad, anyone

follow, dizziness

caught him. "Go back to report and heal. Or the captain will have your

limping with a cane, stormed over, nearly collapsing.

in there!" Leopold

with him. There was no way

knew the stakes but stood firm. "Look at your men. They're heavily wounded, and

Soren from Thomas. "Get him treated, then document everything about the mine. Hand it to

news. "Deputy director, it's the

grabbed the handset.

I told you to wait for satellite confirmation before proceeding. Do you not

from HQ to enter the mine. When were we told to stand

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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