Chapter 580: You don’t have another choice
Translator: Min Editor: Caron_
The 21st Division that lost contact was wiped out by Moro guerrillas. Including the commander, all six thousand soldiers were captured.
The 15th Mountain Range Division under suppressive fire by ship cannons and fighter planes suffered heavy losses in their equipment and they chose to surrender to Celestial Trade. Therefore, the Celestial Trade Marines achieved an outstanding record of 1000 people capturing 7000 soldiers.
In this asymmetrical war, the disadvantaged side had no ability to fight back at all. Country F, who gathered all their forces, faced defeat just like Iraq in the Gulf War. Through satellites in synchronous orbit, the one-sided war was broadcasted to the aircraft carrier battle group hundreds of kilometers out.
The pilots who boarded the fighter jets were ordered to exit the plane, the bombers inspecting weapons and ammunition returned to the hanger, and the fully equipped marines unloaded their rifles and walked out of the helicopters.
At the control tower, Captain Huffman stared at the screen with a troubled look before squeezing out two words.
“What a bunch of trash.”
“Indeed, trash.” The second-in-command who stood beside him gulped and repeated his words in the same troubled voice.
Regarding Country F, their ally who couldn’t be helped no matter how hard they tried, the UA soldiers stationed in Asia despised them from the bottoms of their hearts. But now, they felt sympathy for the two divisions who were bulldozed through.
“Report to the Capital.”
“What about the battle readiness?”
“Deactivate it for now.”
Captain Huffman left the command room without turning his head, leaving the second-in-command staring at the communicator inside.
At the same time, in Xin, hundreds of kilometers out:
Inside the detention room of the military base on New Moon Island, a Slavic-looking man sat on the bench while looking gloomily at Jiang Chen sitting across from him.
He had been locked up there for the past few days, but Celestial Trade didn’t torture him. Not only did they give him two nutrient supply packs a day, but they also gave him a copy of the newspaper. They didn’t interrogate him at all.
“Looks like you’re not injured.” Ladisiv said with a gloomy expression.
“You should thank me for my kindness; at least my people still let you read the news.” Jiang Chen crossed his fingers in front of his kneecap. “But for your neighbor, we’re repeatedly testing the limits of his regeneration abilities.”
A drop of sweat rolled down from Ladisiv’s forehead, and his chin quivered. “You’re the devil.”
“You really think so?” Jiang Chen laughed, leaned into his chair, then pushed a document in front of the Slavic man.
He received the good news from the frontlines already, and now he had plenty of time to take care of miscellaneous things.
Ladisiv scanned the document before looking at Jiang Chen with questions in his eyes.
“Can you not read? This is the death count for City K. This number is updated every day. A total of 253,000 people died because of the virus – the virus you spread. Who is the devil? It’s you, Mr. Ladisiv.” Jiang Chen tapped his shadow reflected on the bulletproof glass.
Ladisiv looked at Jiang Chen, unbothered.
As a mercenary, he didn’t feel guilty for the actions he committed. The money he earned was all money stained with blood anyways. If he made a mistake during a mission, he would just become part of that casualty count.
Suddenly, he realized something odd.
“How do you know my name?”
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows and laughed.
“Not only do I know your name, but I know you have two daughters and one son who are at a welfare institution in Thrace, Republic of Macedonia. Your oldest daughter is in high school, and your youngest daughter is in the hospital. I also know your ex-wife is currently an assistant at a broadcasting channel at the Balkans. She’s still single and still interacts with you over the phone…”
“That’s enough!”
Ladisiv was breathing heavily while looking at the expressionless Jiang Chen with his pupils glowing red.
He looked like a monster trapped in a cage. His pupils were mixed with warning, threat, and powerless fear.
Upon seeing this, a smile appeared on Jiang Chen’s lips. Although it wasn’t moral to threaten people with their family, he didn’t have the luxury to be picky.
“Who told you this?!” Ladisiv squeezed out these words between his teeth.
“There were three people in total. Other than the already deceased Mr. Giles, my friends, the Moro guerillas, captured another one of your people. Obviously, not everyone could resist our truth-telling serum. Although he didn’t have too much information in his head, it contained some interesting facts surprisingly.”
Jiang Chen’s body leaned slightly forward and he put his crossed fingers onto the table.
“I’m really curious as to why would someone like you joined the Kurofune. You should know that their actions will destroy the world. Everyone, including your lover and children, won’t survive… and that also includes you.”
“Then let it be destroyed since this world is corrupt to the bone… especially since the Kurofune will arrive in one hundred years, I won’t live to see the apocalypse in my lifetime,” Ladisiv sneered.
Insignificant figures wouldn’t ever feel worried about the world after their deaths because they never made lasting marks on this planet.
Jiang Chen understood why he thought that way. If it wasn’t for his massive assets, he wouldn’t bother caring about the colonization ship either.
“This is quite an important piece of information. The Kurofune you described will arrive in one hundred years…” Jiang Chen wrote it down in his notebook then looked at him. “And then? I want to know your motive.”
“Money.” Ladisiv, who could be read like a book, no longer disguised any information. He spoke honestly.
“Then I’ll give you money to buy the information in your head?” Jiang Chen pleasantly offered.
To him, any problem that could be solved with money wasn’t a problem at all.
But Ladisiv scorned and mocked him.
“Do you think I need money for myself?”
“For your… little daughter?” Jiang Chen flipped through his information and speculated nonchalantly.
“For my family,” Ladisiv said emotionlessly. “If I reveal anything, they will kill my family. Trust me, their penetration in this world is far more terrifying than you can imagine.”
“Is that so?” Jiang Chen didn’t question that. He pressed the tablet a few times and opened a picture then he pushed it in front of Ladisiv. “But to me, they’re just a bunch of sewer rats.”
Ladisiv’s body leaned forward and he moved closer to the tablet with his eyebrows raised. “This is …”
The picture was an Italian-style red brick structure with a crowded scene. In front of a clothing shop, a blonde woman held onto the hand of a little girl to shop inside.
Suddenly, he realized the location was his hometown, a small town in Macedonia – Thrace.
The woman was his ex-wife and the girl she was holding onto was his older daughter. They were picking out clothes for the little daughter.
“You haven’t been back for a while, right?” Jiang Chen asked.
“Your people are following them?” Ladisiv lowered his voice.
“They are protecting them. You should notice that after you were captured, a few men with unknown origins appeared. If they find out you leak the information, they will…”
Jiang Chen made a shooting gesture with a smile.
“Don’t you want to save them?”
Ladisiv’s throat moved. His eyes were torn with hesitation. Jiang Chen acutely noticed this and covered the proud curvature on his mouth while staring straight into his pupils.
“You will save them?”
“Of course.”
“How can you guarantee that?” These continuous questions exposed the uncertainty in Ladisiv’s mind.
Now, to gain his cooperation, Jiang Chen just needed to be firm…
“You don’t have another choice. Watch them die, or join us and save them. The decision is in your hands, Mr. Ladisiv.”
Yes, aside from trusting Jiang Chen, he had no other choice.
Ladisiv zoomed onto the woman in the tablet. His gloomy voice muttered:
“If you break your promise, I’ll wait for you in hell…”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think I’ll go to hell after I die.” Jiang Chen started to spin his pen again with a smile.