"The Scorpii's lair is narrow and filled with many twists and turns, which gives them a great home advantage compared to us, because we can't use our mecha when we go inside, so we can only try to smoke and lure them out before killing them."
"However, it won't be easy," Jeanne's eyes turned grave, and a hint of severity could be heard from her voice as she continued, "The Scorpii is the type of predators with a high IQ and very cunning. They will never come out easily if they've found a suitable body to be a seedbed and quickly proceed to lay their eggs, more so if they feel a threat around them. The most important thing is that we don't know what's going on inside. If you act rashly, it is very likely that Sister Bailey will be killed inside."
Jeanne didn't explain this thing to Keiko alone. In fact, they were currently in a virtual meeting with Captain Amanda. Although Captain Amanda was not at the scene, she immediately responded.
"I understand what your point is. We just waited a little bit more, as we had already made preparations. We could use a diversion tactic: we deploy our main force to lay a siege to enclose the nest from outside, while a detached small group will infiltrate inside the nest to rescue the targets. If we could secretly rescue Bailey, it would be best. If not, we will rescue them by force. After the monster inside chase them outside, we will finish them in one swoop."
Jeanne nodded in agreement.
"Captain, please send some people to search for the traces of the four adventurers in the vicinity. If we can't find their corpses, it means that they may all be in the cave now. The worst-case scenario is that we might be ready to rescue five people later," said Jeanne.
"Affirmative, Major Jeanne," Captain Amanda replied.
While speaking, Amanda had already brought a team to the entrance of the cave based on Keiko and Jeanne's GPS positioning. A total of five mecha came, four of which were Sieg MK-2, and the other one was a conspicuous customized mecha of Captain Amanda. In the night, the majestic appearance changed, and it appeared murderous and frightening.
Lieutenant Valentine, her two adjutants, Lieutenant Lilian and Lieutenant Leoz, Seol-Hyun Ae, and the seven officers of the third squadron, except for Lieutenant Lu Diyun, who organized the search, all came together.
And there were also fifteen elite non-commissioned officers of the infantry division who were fully armed with exosuits, exuding a battle-hardened and seasoned soldier aura, and the five mecha that completed the encirclement position silently.
When confronted with this type of predator with terrifying individual battle prowess, a large number of people may actually have a negative effect. In fact, ten people were almost just right, and the current number of people was a little surplus.
"What's the plan, Major?" As soon as Amanda came, she immediately asked for Jeanne's instructions. Clearly, she had great confidence in Jeanne's ingenuity.
"My plan is no different from the captain's, but I want to wait another three minutes first. If there is no news about the four adventurers, I will confirm the number of people who entered the cave to be the infiltration team," Jeanne replied.
"Well, it's a suitable strategy. Then, I'll name Keiko as the leader of the infiltration team. Does the major have any opinions?"
Jeanne paused for two seconds before replying, "She is the most suitable candidate, I have no opinion."
"Major, please go to the rear safety zone, and the battle will affect you later."
Jeanne replied affirmatively, but did not immediately move and instead turned on her bacelet ID to make a private call with Keiko.
At that time, Keiko was talking to Seol-Hyun Ae alone, and Seol-Hyun Ae knew that Keiko was going to lead the team inside, so she was a little worried and insisted on reminding her to be careful and not reckless.
Jeanne had much higher authority than Seol-Hyun Ae, so when her call came in, Seol-Hyun's call was immediately turned off, being replaced by Jeanne's.
Keiko had no right to refuse the call, so she immediately picked it up.
"You don't need to force yourself, okay? If it doesn't work, you should immediately withdraw, understand?"
Keiko was stunned for a moment before answering, "Oh...Roger that."
Wait, wasn't she here to save people? If she aborted the mission just because of the danger, wouldn't this mission end up a failure?
Keiko wasn't the type of person who gave up halfway. Since she was already tasked with saving people, she would do her best to save them. Of course, in doing so, she wouldn't neglect her own safety and proceed with reckless abandon. After all, she wasn't a fearless and mindless suicidal madman.
But still, after hearing these words, Keiko was a little baffled by Jeanne.
Looking back at Jeanne's appearance before, she seemed very nervous about Miss Bailey's condition. Why did she say something like, "if it doesn't work, then withdraw" to her? Keiko shook her head and sighed. The mind of the eldest miss was getting harder and harder to understand.
Three minutes had passed, and during this period, news came that the bodies of three adventurers were found in the surrounding area, leaving one body missing.
It meant that, besides Bailey, there was probably another person in the cave, so Keiko and the others may have to rescue two people.
"Second Lieutenant Lee, you bring ten people in, and the other five would respond outside and be responsible for support. Remember, save people first. Try not to disturb the monster if you could. If it was inevitable, grab the target immediately and don't fight the monster recklessly, understand?" Captain Amanda ordered.
"Yes Ma'am!" A uniform answer came from the intercom headset.
Keiko put away the gun, pulled out the saber and held it in her hand, and, with ten extraordinary non-commissioned officers, quietly sneaked into the cave under the watchful eyes of the crowd outside.
It was extremely dark inside the cave, and it was extremely hard to navigate. There was a damp smell all around, and everyone's breath was eroded by the anti-virus and oxygen supply masks.
Keiko and the team quietly entered the cave. Everyone turned on their night vision goggles, and they could see the road under their feet more clearly. They could feel that there was a downhill path after going in. After walking for ten meters, they still couldn't feel the end.
Keiko carefully observed the surroundings.
In the green light of the night vision, she found that the cave was overgrown with vines and rotten leaves, which seemed to be a natural cave, but Keiko felt that the surroundings of the cave looked a little too flat, which made her couldn't help but feel suspicious.
She first made a hand gesture to make everyone stop and wait, and then she touched the wall, gently pushed away the vine moss covering it, and pushed in a few layers. She actually saw the concrete wall.
Sure enough, the cave was formed after the collapse of a man-made building.
After leading the team to go another ten meters, Keiko suddenly halted her steps as she saw a bottomless ravine in front of their path. There was no road ahead, and their only option was to climb down into the ravine. That monster had very strong climbing abilities and could go down casually, but they couldn't.
Keiko's intuition suddenly tingled. They'd be helpless if they really startled the monsters during the climb, like a fish on a chopping board. This vertical cliff is a kind of natural death trap for Keiko and her team.
Keiko opened the intercom to inform the outside team of the situation. Ten seconds later, Jeanne and Amanda finished their discussion and gave Keiko the order.
"Change your first priority: annihilate monsters as soon as possible, then rescue the targets!"