Leave The Monster Alone

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What's the update on the rebellion? The soldiers are telling me that the problem with the lower base is increasing day by day. Is everything OK?

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It had been a few days since Mark had officially joined the rebellion and began his mission in pursuing them to delay the takeover. 

He had not thought it would work but so far, things had been alright. People seemed to listen to him and respect him enough to consider his words.

Or maybe it was due to Kuro who glared at anyone who breathed in his direction. The most obvious target for her displeasure was the white-haired female who had guided them on their first day.

Kuro definitely had some beef with her as she did not even allow Mark to meet her gaze, her body always acting as a barrier in-between them. Luckily, it had not caused a problem yet.

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Everything is alright and they have agreed to postpone everything till after you get the food supply. Even they are worried about the dwindling ration and incoming winter. 

How is the attempt to connect to the second base going? Any success?

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Mark knew these things took time but he was already worried.

Kuro was sitting on his lap, arched her back and jumped down. Mark averted his eyes and now there stood a girl instead of a kitten, her cat eyes looking at him expectantly. He patted her head which caused an inhuman purr to escape her.

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It is taking a lot of time to make a connection even with the closest base and I'm worried. I think we will need to set up a manual communication first.

Think you are up to the task?

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Honestly, Mark was not sure. Already there were problems in the rebellion he was faced with which could only be handled when he was there.

And with this new assignment, he just did not have enough time. Also, he was not sure how long it would take this time around so he was afraid to commit to such a decision.

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System mission: Finding the other rays of hope.

Perimeter: Find and fix the communication to other bases (Mim 2) to have a better chance of human survival. The location is pinned on the map.

Reward: Condition for the hidden mission met. Context key available (current number: 2/3)

Failure: Failure of survival of base Eterna and Mispret

(Recommendation: Take a party of 4 with you. Rebellion will not start till the player returns to the base since he has a key part in the event)

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The more he was faced with this situation, the more it felt as if the system gave him missions off of the present conditions. While the missions earlier were predetermined, now they appeared when certain actions were taken which was weird.

It was like his every moment was being observed.

This still did not sit right with him but at least it solves one problem.

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I'll take this task since the rebellion isn't likely to happen for some time now and even if it does, I think this one is still the more important of these tasks. I'll take Alan with me and one other person if it's alright with you?

I'll inform the rebellion and this information will hold them off for some time. It's a big factor after all and I'm sure they will want one of their own in this case too.

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Keito had a feeling the others would not be happy with this decision but this was what he wanted so this was what he would be doing. 

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Don't tell them everything.

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This was as good a go ahead as he would be getting and Mark knew that too.

The rebellion took the information as well as he had expected them to - with curious glances and hushed talks among themselves. He waited for them to finish the decision and it was as he had expected.

But the person they had elected was a surprise because it was the boss himself.

Zeno, or the chosen one as he liked to be called, made his intentions known and no one could stop him.

In the end, the squad would come down to him, Kuro, Alan and Zeno. he was not sure how well they would perform.

The plan was to leave the next day but before he could go back to his room, he was ambushed by a very familiar figure he had not expected to.

"Let me accompany you outside. I need more samples and I can't trust anyone else to get them for me" Rika had come a long way from the shy and scared girl.

She was still small and slim but now she had determination and a will of steel. Rumour had that she had been training her fighting skill and was on par with some of the best fighters in the base.

While she would never be best due to insufficient practise on her part, she could very well hold her own now. She would be a good asset if only he had not chosen his team.

He could only take 3 of them and Kuro was a fixed part. Still, this put him in a bind and he was not sure what the solution to this would be.

Maybe Alan would not mind staying behind?

"I'll have a talk with the others and see if Alan will be willing to stay back. Or Zeno, you know the kid in the back base who's a little out of it." maybe he should not have said that because something entered her eyes and they went from dull to mischievous in a few seconds. 

Suddenly, he pities the poor teens a lot. He was not sure who her target would be but he knew it would not be pretty.

"You just make sure to expect me. I'll see to everything else" and his feeling proved to be right when Zeno made a hasty excuse, not to accompany. Really, he could not underestimate Rika at all if she was able to do something to that person.

In the morning, he made his way to the garage after a long wait in between and his HMMWV was still in the same condition he had left it off. It took precious resources to fix it in time for the others to appear.

Rika was finally dressed in a military-style combat suit that fit her perfectly. He had no doubt it was built for her but it was even more surprising that Liam had allowed her out.

But maybe he did not know and Mark would not be the one to tell. 

Alan stood even taller than before, if possible. He had finally put on muscle and looked far too old to be still a teen. At least his face did not scream old yet which was a plus in Mark's book.

"Do you have everything?" he asked as a final check and the party nodded in agreement. 

No-one stopped them and they were finally out. This was the forest time Mark did not make a stop in the local town, everything of significance must have already been looted.

The road felt familiar and he could not help but be reminded of the past missions he had been faced with.

Every time he had passed through these parts, it had felt like such a tense moment that he had never taken time to enjoy it all. While they still have to be vigilant, the urgency was not there any longer which made this ride the best he had in a while.

It lasted all till the edge of the map and ended on top of the cliff. It was a heart-stopping experience to drive through the narrow part but once they emerged on the other part, it was a whole new situation.

And this was also their biggest obstacle too.

The next base was located far away on the other side of the riverine which meant that they had a huge water body in between them. It was not deep but still, help questionable dangers.

"What should we do now? We can't cross it in the HMMWV. The map is not showing anything yet" Alan was right. All they could see was the checkpoint a little distance away and nothing else.

So they needed to get to the checkpoint in order to open the map but that was not going to be easy because the checkpoint was located on a small patch of land a little distance inside the river.

"Let's look around. I'm sure there must be at least one boat or vehicle in the surroundings" that was sound logic. Since it had still not been long, thighs like vehicles should not be broken or in poor condition yet.

Besides, this was a mission and there must be a means to complete it. And so they started looking around for something that could help them cross the water body fast.

The water looked to be silent but the most silnet palces proved to be most dnagerous, this was a fact Mark had faced more than once since the world had changed and he would not be the one to underestimate the ocean in any way.