Chapter 128: Snake

The sun went down. I took a nap, then walked some more.

On the third night after leaving town, Rabbit Unit was the first to enter communication range with Rooster Unit. Apparently, there had been a minor problem. No need to run, but they wanted me to hurry as much as I reasonably could.

Report: halp

A message from Snake Unit.

“…”

Where, exactly, do you learn things like that?

—Hold on. I’m coming as fast as I can.

—On foot.

I went along with it and sent that back.

Two hours.

We slowed our pace and advanced cautiously. Before long, the scenery changed.

The ground beneath my feet went from dirt to paved road.

Concrete. Of the materials I knew, that was probably the closest. But it was subtly different. It felt closer to the sandbags Monoz made by mixing sand into construction material.

“…”

I crouched down and struck a raised edge at the side of the road with the butt of my pistol, cracking it. The upper layer of the fragment I picked up was made of an unfamiliar substance, but underneath was asphalt.

Like soil piling up in layers and carving history into the earth, this road had history carved into it too.

After the age of asphalt, someone had paved over it.

Forcefully, at that.

If any proper administration had still been alive, they would not have done roadwork like this. With this kind of height difference, the raised edges would crumble away.

Did they not care if it crumbled?

Or had there been a need to hurry?

I thought about things like that.

“Well, both, probably.”

By the time that mutter slipped out, what looked like our destination had come into view.

I raised the binoculars.

They must have wanted to avoid showing up in aerial photographs. The rocky mountain ahead had been given a wide tunnel entrance. Beyond the broken shutter, among the wreckage, I could see what looked like a tank.

Up above, something showed through where the camouflage had peeled away.

A radome, maybe.

Not a town.

A military base.

That was probably what this was.

But the place, like a checkpoint we had passed a long way back, had carried the mark of a mining site.

“Rat Unit.”

Response: No matching military facility exists in this unit’s database.

“I see. Thank you.”

A base disguised as a mine, then.

The power around us was dead.

But beyond here, it was not.

In other words, this disguised military facility had kept its ruined face on while coming back to life underneath.

—A hit, then.

As I walked with that thought in mind, the advance team, A0, came out to meet me.

What left the strongest impression was Rudo’s ears, folding down happily at the reunion with packmates he had not seen in a while.

***

I suppose it was necessary to conceal the hidden military base.

Between us and the tunnel base that was our destination, there were several things like checkpoints. We used them—

No.

We did not use them. We slipped into the shadow of a rock a little ways off the road and hid.

As a result, I was able to become certain this was the right place.

Several trucks came down the road.

Then several trucks went back.

“So, what was the trouble?”

With the main target right in front of me, I focused on grasping the present situation.

Rooster Unit had reported that there was trouble.

Informing: Snake Unit attempted to act independently. This unit requests a warning from Friend.

Objection: This unit merely proposed a tactic.

Correction: If this unit had not stopped you, you would have carried it out. Furthermore, as this unit is the team leader, decision-making authority rests with this unit.

Complaint: But this unit did not carry it out. A world where free exchange of opinions is not allowed is poison.

Dog Unit and Snake Unit started fighting.

This? I asked Rooster Unit with my eyes.

Affirmative, it nodded.

Apparently, this was it.

I see.

Until now, aside from Team Momotaro, whose compatibility was good, I had not had units operate alone for long periods. But depending on the combination, this sort of problem could arise.

Dog Unit’s sense of responsibility as leader, or Snake Unit’s initiative, had collided in a bad direction.

Interesting.

I could have thought of it that way, but I really wished they would not do it now.

“Snake Unit, we decide on a team leader precisely for cases where opinions split like this. I put Dog Unit in charge because I believed I could trust him… Can you not trust Dog Unit?”

Response: …This unit does trust him.

“I see. Then obey him. I would appreciate it if you did not fight among yourselves in the middle of a battlefield.”

Response: …Understood.

Dog Unit listened to that exchange and puffed himself up a little. Snake Unit, on the other hand, dipped slightly.

“Next, Dog Unit. I did indeed place you in command of the team, but that does not make you some sort of privileged class. Do not mistake that. I thought you would be able to make that distinction. Was I wrong about you?”

Response: …This unit understands.

“Then please be careful from now on.”

Response: Understood.

This time Snake Unit puffed up, and Dog Unit dipped.

“…”

These two were both capable of leading alone, and both had strong egos. For long-term missions like this, I should avoid putting them in the same squad.

“So, Snake Unit. What was your tactic?”

Proposal: Solo infiltration by this unit. Given our current lack of information, an internal survey is important.

I see.

That was certainly important.

But—

Could it do it?

This was not a game. The enemy had not conveniently prepared blind spots just so someone could clear the stage.

Perhaps reading that look from me with precision, Snake Unit rolled into the shadows. A few seconds later, wearing armor made from rubble—apparently prepared in advance—it came rolling back.

I see.

Well made.

If it stayed still, it would be difficult to tell apart from the rubble lying around.

“But no.”

That could fool human eyes, but not mechanical ones.

Mechanical eyes, capable of simply watching and watching without blinking, were fundamentally different from living eyes. A legendary mercenary getting by with nothing but a cardboard box was the sort of thing that only happened in games.

“So we’ll do this instead.”

I added changes to Snake Unit’s plan.

Know your enemy and know yourself, et cetera.

Caster had been an idiot for collecting information like an addict, but that did not change the fact that information mattered.

***

We waited for night.

In the meantime, we traced the flow of the power lines and confirmed the positions of the security cameras. We could not tell what lay deep inside, but we could map the ones on the surface and in the shallower areas.

My eyes could not see through the shutter. So Rat Unit, closer to the target, projected the camera positions onto my headset as translucent blue markers.

I did not wear the head armor.

At this distance, this was my battlefield.

I readied the Type Five and looked through the scope.

Deep breath.

Slowly, through the circle of the scope, I traced the three security cameras assigned to me, starting from the farthest one in.

“Final confirmation.”

“A1 is the assault team: Dog Unit, Monkey Unit, Tiger Unit, Boar Unit, Snake Unit, and Rudo. Supporting them is our top priority.

“S1 is me and Rabbit Unit. We attack with sniper fire from here, on top of the checkpoint.

“A2 is Rat Unit, Ox Unit, Dragon Unit, Horse Unit, Sheep Unit, and Rooster Unit. Spread out and focus on diversion. You don’t need to push in. Draw them out.

“Once Snake Unit, our infiltration unit, withdraws, A1 will join A2 and form A3. From there, we make as much noise as possible, draw them in, and kill them.

“Command goes to me, Dog Unit, and Rat Unit. After the merge, Dog Unit takes command of A3.

“That is all. Questions?

“None? Then—three seconds after my first shot, the operation begins.

“Three, two, one. Begin. Enter.”

I pulled the trigger.

First shot.

At the same time, the count appeared in my headset.

One.

Then two.

Last, three.

The Type Five breathed fire in time with the numbers, and the three rounds crushed the three security cameras cleanly. At the same time, they concealed the true number of A1 as it began to move.

“—Now then.”

How would they come?

What would come?

From where?

A heat signature appeared in A1’s path.

That one was mine.

So I shot.

Machines did not need light. Against an enemy inside the base, where even moonlight did not reach, I fired using the information Rat Unit and Rabbit Unit gathered, with a little seasoning called instinct.

Did it hit?

It hit.

I see.

So that was the feel of it.

Friendly fire was frightening. Better not shoot too much at places I could barely see.

So let us make them visible.

“Dog Unit.”

At the very edge of communication range, I gave the order to Dog Unit on the front line.

Pei.

It must have spat it out. Phosphorescence, the kind we had used on some battlefield before, lit up. White light, burning slowly by chemical reaction, filled the base with a faint glow and made the inside visible even to my eyes.

Drum cans.

Slow-footed mechanized soldiers mixed with fast-footed drum tanks.

I could see them.

And my bullets could reach.

Then I could hit.

That was the performance I had been given.

I pulled the trigger, worked the lever, changed rounds.

I shot where Dog Unit shone the light. Naturally, the enemy began to skew toward it. Toward the light. If they were illuminated, they were shot. That area weakened, so A1 attacked. To prevent a breakthrough, the enemy gathered there.

…No.

That was not it.

To create a blind spot, we tilted the enemy toward one side and made them gather.

Yes.

If there were no blind spots, make one.

Break things. Tilt things. Prepare a place that could not be seen.

The security cameras were crushed.

The drum cans shifted to one side.

So no one noticed the single snake slipping inside as if melting into the dark.

That was what this meant.