Seed of Titan-Chapter 220: Wait for Me

"Do the high-ups know about this?" Gramps asked as he retracted his device, wondering why they didn’t send a whole company if that was the case.

Frost went silent for a moment before he replied, "I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter now."

The two then waited for Drai to finish before instructing the squad on how to proceed. They’d still use the vents, but the next room was a considerable distance away, necessitating a lot more vigilance.

Soon, they were crawling in a single file right above the ceiling. Amid their silence, Danny couldn’t help but ask in a whisper, "Should we really have left them out in the open like that? Couldn’t we at least hide the bodies?"

Drai’s ears perked upon hearing Danny’s questions since he secretly wondered the same.

"It doesn’t really matter whether we hide them," Gramps replied from the rear. "I’ve tampered with their surveillance camera. Unless someone checks inside, they’ll only be seeing a looped video feed of those people working, though we’d still get found out if they have something like a periodic status check. I’ve locked the doors just in case, but I doubt they’re sturdy enough to buy us much time if anyone does their best to break in."

"I’ve also filled both rooms with sleeping gas for good measure," Mandy added.

Following the brief exchange, the squad went silent again. It took around fifteen minutes before Frost finally cued them to stop. But before the sergeant could give them any orders, Beachball suddenly let out a squeaking gasp that he hurriedly muffled.

"What’s wrong, Beachball?" Danny whispered urgently upon sensing his best friend’s agitation.

Beachball didn’t answer, for he knew Gramps must have known about the scene ahead, and perhaps their leader too. And just like he expected, Frost proceeded to address it before instructing them.

"The room in front of us isn’t really a production facility, but we must take it down nonetheless. You better mentally prepare yourself, since you’ll be seeing a lot of children in appalling conditions."

The mention of children stunned the squad, who clearly hadn’t expected that such "merchandise" were among the smugglers’ goods. Even Drai who mostly pictured kids as noisy small humans was taken aback.

"There are fewer people here compared to the previous rooms," Frost continued, "but we’ll still proceed exactly as before. But this time, make sure to take down your targets swiftly in case they try to take the children hostage."

Hearing the last part, Danny’s face reddened slightly before he muttered at Cubes, cautioning her not to be slow with his weapons. In response, Cubes annoyedly asked whether Danny really wanted to carry his dozen or so pairs of weapons on his own, which caused Danny to argue with her.

"Enough," Frost sternly commanded, instantly silencing the bickering duo. "Anyway, even though I don’t want to see any child get hurt, in the worst case, you are to prioritize the mission and our covertness."

Although no one spoke a word, Frost could sense that some of his subordinates found his order difficult to swallow. If they weren’t pressed for time, he could follow up with a detailed reasoning behind his seemingly cold words. Alas, he could only ignore their concerns and move on while praying that it wouldn’t come to that.

Shortly after, upon Frost’s cue, the Seventh Squad poured out into the room. They were instantly hit by a nauseating stench of human sweat and waste. Yet, none of them minded this, as the countless children in metal cages before their eyes were overwhelming their senses.

The sight only fueled their sense of urgency as the squad carried on with their massacre with unprecedented pace. The only one who stumbled into a slight problem was Drai, who unfortunately had a target who was in the middle of dragging a little girl when the squad came in.

As predicted, upon seeing the ambush, the man quickly held up the little girl and gripped her neck in an attempt to take her hostage while he inched backward toward the exit. In response, Drai sped toward the man and unleashed an enhanced finger strike that obliterated the man’s wrist in a split second. And before the man could even scream, Drai struck with his finger again but this time into the man’s forehead. The result was a hole that opened up to the back of the man’s head, big enough for Drai’s hand to fit through.

Drai carefully picked up the little girl who was in a daze and carried her as he slowly walked to his squadmates, who seemed to be done painting the floor red. Along his way, he couldn’t help but gaze around at the caged children. He saw that they were mostly sickly and malnourished, and there were even ones that lay completely motionless with ghastly complexions, whom Drai presumed had breathed their last already.

As Drai took in the miserable sight, an unfamiliar emotion surged within him, one that completely extinguished the last bit of pity he had toward the people he downed.

Throughout his life, Drai had never been a justice warrior, preferring to indulge in his own interests while mostly ignoring the rest of the world. Yet, as he pictured himself being in the poor children’s shoes, he had an urge to rid this whole smuggling circle with his own hands right to the last person. And unlike his fiery anger when his close ones were threatened, his current rage was icy, as reflected in his increasingly cold expression.

Suddenly, a soft voice startled him.

"Mister... Please don’t hurt me..." the little girl weakly pleaded in his embrace.

Drai’s expression softened as he turned to the child who looked no older than six. Mustering his friendliest smile, he gently said, "I won’t. Don’t worry, you’re all safe now—my friends and I came to rescue you."

The little girl didn’t seem to know what to say about this as she simply nodded while looking apprehensively yet curiously at the man carrying her.

Upon Drai’s arrival, Frost said, "Good job, everyone. Now, I know you’re probably itching to bring all these children away from here, but we still have a mission to finish, so we have no choice but to leave them here until we’re done."

"I don’t think we have enough people to carry them all either way," Mandy mentioned as she glanced around, estimating the number of children.

Frost quickly reassured, "Don’t worry, I’ve informed the base about our finding. I expect them to send a few more squads or even a platoon here after they receive my report."

"Honestly, they should’ve just done that in the first place. The fucking high-ups probably wanted to cut their spending by just sending us," Danny grumbled.

"It’s not like that, Daniel," Frost replied with a slightly tired look. "Our goal is to maim the smuggling operation, not capture or exterminate all their personnel, which is reasonably achievable with just our squad. I’m sure nobody expected there would be live ’goods’ here, or else the priority of this operation would have shifted drastically along with the resources allocated."

Danny wanted to argue more, but Beachball quickly shut him up with a hearty slap on the butt. Although the fat scout was still shaken by what they had just stumbled into, he was composed enough not to let it distract him from their goal, unlike his unsettled best friend. Even now, Beachball’s scattered flesh marbles constantly fed him horrific visions that he had to forcefully ignore.

While the others were regaining their composure, Frost turned to Drai and signaled him to leave the girl behind.

Drai silently nodded back before bending into a crouch as he gently put the little girl down. However, to his surprise, the girl’s tiny hands clung tightly onto his sleeve, unwilling to let go.

"What’s your name?" Drai asked.

The little girl looked a bit startled by the sudden question, but she mumbled shortly, "Alice..."

"What a pretty name. I’m sorry, Alice, but my friends and I have to go now to finish what we came for. Can you be a good girl and wait here with the others? I promise we’ll return soon and bring you and your friends away from this horrible place," Drai smilingly reassured while patting the girl’s head.

Alice paused briefly before nodding, finally letting go of Drai’s sleeve.

Drai stood up and signaled to Frost that he was ready to depart. However, before he could even take a single step, he felt a gentle tug on his trousers. He looked down and saw Alice tugging his pants with one hand while holding something in the other.

After Drai crouched again, Alice pushed her palm onto Drai’s chest.

"A ribbon?" Drai remarked as he saw the dirty pink ribbon Alice had just attached onto his uniform. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Present—prettiest ribbon I have..." Alice said, smiling faintly for the first time.

Drai touched the ribbon and felt that it was sticking rather firmly, presumably due to some kind of velcro-like material or adhesive.

"Thank you, Alice. Wait for me, okay?" Drai said before returning to the squad.

Gramps was done planning their next route for some time, so the whole squad left the grim room shortly after, with Drai waving goodbye at the little girl whose tiny, bright eyes were glued to his gallant figure.