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 into

and Thomas led their teams back toward Percival's last known location. However, before they could get close, a helicopter buzzed overhead, raining down bullets like a hailstorm. Leopold and Thomas fought back while retreating to HQ. But unfamiliar with the terrain, the front squad often stumbled into collapsing

boosted their firepower and rescued

shouted into the mic, "Wolf, unidentified forces are attacking from above. Evacuate

headset, shouting to Soren, "Comms are jammed. There's a signal blocker

the battle above, Soren knew staying meant certain death for

chance was to escape and return

Soren vowed, "Captain, wait for

mine, though not without

outside, his headset crackled back to life

down. Send me the coordinates

to consider the consequences. They had to down the helicopters to cut off

and relayed the

swiftly ended the fight, downing two

point, with casualties among

Percival's location to Leopold, insisting they had

a mix of anger and resolve. "First squad, anyone who

to follow, dizziness from blood loss nearly

back to report and heal. Or the captain will have

with a cane, stormed over, nearly collapsing. "Everyone, back to base

there!" Leopold roared, defiance written across

only his captain but his dear friend who grew up with him. There was no way he would let

your men. They're heavily wounded, and their lives matter, too. Back to base, that's an

Thomas. "Get him treated, then document everything about the

news. "Deputy director, it's the

grabbed the handset. "This

I told you to wait for satellite confirmation before proceeding. Do

HQ to enter the mine.

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

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