The leader's voice laughed in the communication channel within Li's helmet.
"Thought y'all would be doing better. Don't worry, no one's dead. I need two people per wounded. Bring them back up to the surface, we have a retracing system in your helmets. Y'all will be back down here on the second flight."
Sweat pooled in the crevice of Li's helmet. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. Naryssa collapsed.
Li ran over, but she managed to prop herself up.
Around them, only the higher ranks stayed composed. The rest—C-tiers, B-tiers, a handful of A-tiers—were rattled.
Some Guardians lay motionless, their teammates scrambling to pull them back to the surface.
"Alright, move! Let's go!"
They ran faster this time, eyes sharp, weapons ready. The underground corridors pressed in, the air thick and suffocating. The walls pulsed—not just alive, but familiar.
Li couldn't place it, yet the ache in his chest told him he had been here before.
Naryssa ran steadily beside him now, even though she was just on the ground in pain. What the hell has this girl gone through? He decided to connect;
"Naryssa… damn… we weren't prepared for that…"
"It's always like this. Before I transferred to this squad, I was stationed on Empire Dawn… The only human, surrounded by warriors far stronger than me. We spent our days training or stuck on boring, easy patrols.
Then came the ambush. Mercenaries hit us hard. Despite all that training, we nearly died.
Training is never like the real thing. The A-tiers, the S-tiers—they're the best because they adapt.
It's all about adapting."
"Adapting, huh. When'd you join the Covenant?"
"I was bound to join. You remember my parents? First squadron ever—probably the best, HY17. L98 is mostly a handful of ineffective ones… not saying you're one of them—"
"No, I understand." Li glanced over. "You seem to know a lot about the squads. Is there a database or something?"
"Not really. Once you've served long enough, you become familiar with the squads in your region. There's too much to memorize all at once." A brief pause. "When did you join the COG, again?"
"Oh… I joined just last year."
"And you're already a C+?"
"Yes, I suppose so. Why?"
"With that kind of progression, you would typically be placed in a stronger squad. How did you end up here?"
Li hesitated, then let out a short laugh. "I'm not sure… I suppose I failed my last mission."
A moment of silence.
"Are you certain? Where was it?"
"…The Orange Flatlands."
The group had taken another sharp turn, now running down a set of wide stairs. Li started to wonder just how large the Tyrians were.
"What planet are you from, Li?"
"Oh… me… I'm from… well. Back where I'm from- I don't know how to say it in English."
This wasn't exactly a lie. Li really didn't know how to say "Yubei" in English.
"What region is it in? I could probably guess!"
"Yeah, I don't know the region either, I just got better at English so…"
"Well, you speak well enough for someone who just learned English!"
"Hey, thanks!"
The conversation left Li uneasy. He couldn't risk anyone uncovering his secret—not that they'd believe him—but you never knew who was listening.
Bright lights flared in the distance, drawing everyone's attention.
"It's the Spear and Shield crew!"
A weary voice crackled over comms.
"Joint-team leader here. We've got 16 injured on the Spears, 47 on the Shields. Waves were normal, but they're coming back. Get us out—now."
The Extraction lead cut in.
"You heard him! Medics on the wounded first. Resupply and defense, stand by!"
Li's grip tightened around his gun. Was he in defense? No one had told him.
"Li! Move! You're medical—drop the pack and start treating!"
The weight on his back suddenly made sense. He sprinted to a soldier sprawled on the ground, a crude bandage around his leg. Only now did it hit him that getting wounded here was an extremely big deal. Even a small cut would be letting the harmful vapors and gasses in the city enter. It was impressive that the survival rates weren't abysmal.
"Hey buddy! We will help you, wait, stay still!"
Li let the large pack slide off his back, fumbling around inside. The equipment was surprisingly simple and all of the instructions were listed. It was almost like a manga with different scenarios for different species!
The wounded soldier looked human at first glance, but Li hesitated upon noticing an unusual frame—and a tail.
"Naryssa! How… how do I even use this?"
"Like a normal bandage! Didn't you finish medical training before graduation?"
"Uh… kinda failed that part."
"Great." Naryssa sighed. " Follow Olreice's Rule—if it's humanoid, use the human instructions!"
Li nodded. His facade was crumbling in front of him. It wouldn't be long before she found out or at least got suspicious of him. The thing was now shaking violently and Li had to use all his force to hold it down while trying to be calm.
"Li! He doesn't speak English! Use your translator system!"
Li didn't want to cause another issue so he pressed a few buttons on his helmets, hoping that one of them would work. A small sensor beeped and when Li said,
"Hey, do you understand?", his voice was automatically translated to the language the wounded soldier spoke, presumably. The soldier's voice groaned in the speaker.
"Yeah man. Get me out of here, please."
Li exhaled in relief, quickly wrapping the wound and lifting the injured soldier onto his shoulders. He tossed the remaining supplies to Naryssa and another medic.
"Hey man, get me some juice. It's been rough down here."
Li rifled through his pack, but Naryssa beat him to it. She popped open the soldier's helmet port, and he drained the pack in seconds—until a soft hiss escaped. She froze.
"Turn him—now! The suit's compromised! Li, your gas tank!"
The soldier jerked upright.
"Wait! What gas is that?"
"Oxygen!"
"No! That'll kill me! I need plumon! Orange tanks! Ask your leader!"
Li turned to the team leader who ran over, a large orange tank in his hands.
"Naryssa! Get the sealant!"
The soldier grimaced, his body reacting worse than the others to the toxic air. Naryssa yanked out a roll of thick tape, oozing yellow fluid, and slapped it over the breach. It sealed instantly.
No time to waste—the team leader spun him around while Li steadied his shoulders. The soldier clawed at his helmet. One sharp hiss later, the gas was gone, sucked out with a wet, mechanical sigh and the plumon tank was attached.
…
There was no "dinner" that night the way it had been on the ship. The squads had now combined and only during certain breaks was food given out. Li found it pretty uncomfortable to use the mouth hole and couldn't help but spill a small amount within his helmet. It tasted faintly of stir-fried tomato and eggs, at least he thought it did.
The subgroup took shelter in one of the taller, abandoned buildings. To Li's surprise, command seemed unusually relaxed; giving them more freedom than he'd expected.
With no electricity, the room was bathed only in the faint glow from helmet lights, casting long shadows across the dusty walls.
The air grew colder at this height, and through the cracked, ornately carved window, bursts of purplish gas shimmered in the distance, pulsing like veins in the dying city. This tower was populated by three subgroups, two of which were in the depth.
The only other subgroup was "sleeping" but were apparently all unihemispheric; lying in a vegetative state in the darkness. The idea freaked Li out but this was just one of the many realities of this universe.
Naryssa broke the silence first.
"So, how's it been here before we came?"
The team leader looked up wearily.
"Pretty much the same. It's all just a game now. We go in, make progress, and then the infestation adapts a few days later, we lose a large bunch, then we repeat."
"But has much progress been made?"
"You could say that, girlfriend. Check the Tab—A0 froze about a third of the planet not too long ago. He's on the far side now. We're lucky he's on the planet with us."
"Why can't he just do it again? Isn't he S-tier?"
"Girl, if he pushes it, we're looking at total destabilization. And whatever system gave him that kind of power? It clearly needs time to recharge. We're here to wipe out the infestation—not vaporize the planet."
Li's ears perked up. Systems?Someone froze a third of the planet…by hand? Before he could ask, Naryssa cut in again:
"What's happening in the frozen zone?"
"Exactly the problem. The infestation should've been neutralized, and yeah, parts of it were. But there are two other S-tier entities in that zone. They've got systems of their own; and the other two-thirds of the infestation? It's still evolving. Cultivating power as we speak. I don't know what System Command is waiting for."
"Leader, how many S-tiers are on this planet, again?"
"Just three. A0, Blur and the Drill team! It's not enough, I keep telling everyone. Someone there's gotta start a petition to System Command. I just don't understand their problem."
To be fair, Li didn't understand any of it either.