Kong Sei Refugee Camp.
Rows of temporary tin shacks filled the space in front of the border wall of Yin Country. From a distance, the blue aluminum rooftops fused together, resembling a construction site for so housing developnt.
A simple projection wall encircled the area. In Yin Country, such three-dinsional imaging devices were considered basic equipnt, but in Kong Sei, they seed like a sci-fi fantasy.
Within this labyrinth of shacks was a hospital for treating refugees, dispatched by the International Snake Staff Red Cross Association and under the dual managent of the United Council and the Red Cross Association.
Lin Yanqing stepped out of the makeshift sterile surgery room as dusk fell. Refugees kept pouring in; conservative armies relentlessly hunted and attacked them en route, leaving many wounded by gunfire, so even teetering on the edge of death.
Of course, there were even more who were captured along the way or died on the journey.
Backed by Yin Country, dical supplies were not an issue at all, but the manpower sent by the Red Cross Association was severely insufficient. Lin Yanqing had perford several bullet removal surgeries in a row, pushing her physical limits to the brink.
Yet, she did not head back to her dorm. Instead, she hastened to the only sterile room in the entire refugee camp.
This sterile room was primitive, lacking a proper disinfection process but it had thick isolation cotton doors, dispatched urgently from the Yunzhou City Hospital in Yin Country. It also had an air exchange system installed, which was much better than anything Kong Sei’s small clinics could offer.
It housed the only patient in the camp, a girl brought in by a young man the previous afternoon.
Lin Yanqing looked through the plastic window, then used her phone to remotely control the room’s equipnt and pulled up the relevant data.
The small life within was covered in tubes and bandages, lying silently in a box-like bed with a feeding tube inserted down her throat, and blood draining out of her body through a tube on the side of her waist.
She had seen far worse, but she couldn’t help her eyes reddening with distress. Chicken Snake Country had truly beco Hell on Earth.
However, the peacekeeping forces didn’t have the authority or the will to intervene in this civil war, where hundreds of thousands were fighting on less than 800,000 square kiloters of land, forcing more than fifty million people to bear the brunt of the war’s toll—rivers of blood, with countless lives devastated.
She took a deep breath and imdiately felt her heartbeat irregular, her spine throbbing and her skin breaking out in goosebumps.
Lin Yanqing forced calm upon herself and quickly walked into a dim corner next to the sterile hospital room, pulling out a small iron box from the pocket of her white lab coat.
The iron box was the size of wireless earbuds, silver in color, with handwriting that said "26 petals" in neat, elegant script on a sticker.
Upon opening the box, she found it empty.
Lin Yanqing clutched her heart, turned around, and was heading towards her dorm when she bumped into a tall man.
The man handed her a small iron box. She opened it eagerly, took out a small pink plum blossom petal, and started plucking its petals, one by one, while she closed her eyes and began to count in silence.
"Black dicine syndro acting up again?" the man said.
She nodded and replied, "Guo Kaichen, coming back so late..."
"I was on a long trip," Guo Kaichen said.
Lin Yanqing looked up at her colleague; he was of the sa age as she was, tall and sturdy, with sharp eyes, clad in a jacket and sport pants, his hair short and brisk, a reliable man.
"Did the conservatives on the road give you any trouble?" Lin Yanqing asked.
"I encountered them a few tis, but I burnt them all," Guo Kaichen said.
"Be sparing with the neutralizer; save it for encounters with our peers. Including us, seven Superpower Special Departnts have entered Chicken Snake Country," Lin Yanqing said.
Guo Kaichen nodded and answered, "There’s a ssage from MSF; Mud Man and Rain Man are here. Their missions shouldn’t conflict with ours. There’s also an Ishmael, whom I don’t recognize."
"There are still two hiding in the shadows, probably here for the ’Heavenly Falling Objects’ like us," Lin Yanqing said.
"One is dead, I saw her body being taken away by the people from Red Pharmaceutical," Guo Kaichen said.
"Who?!" Lin Yanqing was startled.
"I don’t know her, a woman from Churi Country," Guo Kaichen said.
"Are you sure you saw right?" Lin Yanqing said.
"I recognize that katana. I’ve worked with their people before during objective reality clean-up operations; they always carry identical swords," Guo Kaichen said.
"Did you go to the ’Tower’ of Tiantai in Qiayang City?" Lin Yanqing’s voice softened.
"I did, but it’s been dismantled. Lots of ground forces were surrounding the area, I could only wrap myself in optical camouflage and use a telescope to look from a mountaintop. The sphere was gone, I suspect it was taken by the Red’s people," Guo Kaichen said.
"In that case, I saw Red Pharmaceutical’s Moby Dick," Lin Yanqing said.
"Which one?" Guo Kaichen asked.
Lin Yanqing pulled out his phone, searched for a news article, and handed it to him.
Guo Kaichen took the phone and saw the screen displayed:
"News from July 12, 2097: The head of the acquisition departnt of Red Pharmaceutical, Moby Dick, is accused of sexual harassnt by employees..."
"Who is this guy?" Guo Kaichen was still confused.
"You clearly didn’t read the mission briefing closely... Red Pharmaceutical’s acquisition departnt is just the term used for public relations. In truth, it’s used to control the ’Heavenly Falling Objects’ and manage Black dicine research. Their main goal is to control ’Heavenly Falling Objects’ from all over," Lin Yanqing explained.
Guo Kaichen’s expression grew stern.
"Before they transport the ’Heavenly Falling Objects’, figuring out what their abilities are, that’s our mission," Lin Yanqing reminded.
"I know, I know... I’ll go out again tonight, to that suburb of Kong Sei... Tiantai seems to be up to sothing," Guo Kaichen said.
"We’ve arrived too late," Lin Yanqing shook his head.
"Without proper identities for a cover, it’s tough to start operations. But with the civil war, it’s easier to do many things; they’re all burnt to death," Guo Kaichen said, and to his own surprise, started laughing.
Lin Yanqing’s gaze turned sharp, and he quickly slapped Guo Kaichen’s cheek.
Guo Kaichen was taken aback, realizing sothing, and quickly pulled a small vial from his pocket, shook out five pills, and swallowed them.
As he screwed the cap back on, he muttered, "Amitabha... Amitabha..."
"Keep it restrained; we’re here to scout, not to behead. There are others to fight the proxy war; we don’t need to get our hands dirty," Lin Yanqing said.
"That’s easy to say, but you know what, I’ve seen refugees being surrounded and shot by military vehicles several tis on the road. Shouldn’t I intervene?" Guo Kaichen said.
Lin Yanqing thought it over and finally said only, "Don’t expose yourself."
"Right... my neutralizers are almost used up... if you didn’t use much at the refugee camp, could you lend a few..." Guo Kaichen stamred.
Lin Yanqing knew what Guo Kaichen wanted to do and said, "Are you thinking of going to that hotel behind the artificial forest?"
"There’s sothing fishy going on there," Guo Kaichen said.
"Sobody ordered that it’s off-limits, no entry," Lin Yanqing said.
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