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..."

voice faded

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 tunnels, with

with Thomas, Leopold boosted their firepower and

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

Soren, "Comms are jammed. There's a signal blocker somewhere. Go

Soren knew staying meant certain death

chance was to escape and

Soren vowed, "Captain, wait for

mine, though not without injuries-broken limbs and, for Soren, a

his headset crackled back to life with Micah's voice

Wolf's comms are down.

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

and

swiftly ended the fight, downing two

the rendezvous point, with casualties among them,

head hastily bandaged, relayed Percival's location to Leopold,

rifles from the other members and strapped them on, his voice a mix of anger and resolve. "First squad, anyone who can still move, on

turned to follow, dizziness from blood loss nearly overcame

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

over,

our captain is still in there!"

dear friend who grew up with him. There was no way he would let Percival be buried down there

firm. "Look at your men. They're heavily wounded, and their lives matter, too. Back to

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

with urgent news.

grabbed the handset.

authorized this operation? I told you to wait for satellite confirmation before proceeding. Do you not understand 'stand by"?"

mine. When were we told to stand by?"

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

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