Chapter 426: with translation of the chapter title

In Halo, although the Sparta II soldiers are inferior in setting to the Astate of Warhammer 40k, they are not lacking in performance, especially Sparta 117, the "Master Chief".

And this "Master Chief" prototype is exactly the OriginalBody of Umbrella's Sparta Corps.

Furthermore, the procedures and steps of Sparta II are extremely complex and time-consuming; the candidates selected from the entire human domain need to receive quasi-military training around the age of seven, and upon reaching developmental age undergo full-scale modification surgery.

However, the most crucial point is that the success rate of the modification surgery is under fifty percent; if the surgery fails, either they die a painful death or they suffer permanent disability.

Judging solely by this success rate, Sui Bian would not simply copy the procedures and steps of Sparta II.

Sparta III can be "mass-produced", with "cost" relatively lower than that of II, reducing the requirements for candidates' age, genes, etc., making the surgery more stable.

However, Sparta III is an over-"product", a "suicide squad" used by the military to carry out suicide missions; therefore many technical issues have not been perfected.

Compared to the surgical modification of II, the Sparta III warriors, whose transformation is entirely based on chemical drugs, possess strong "aggressiveness"…

Put simply, it is much less stable compared to II.

In contrast, Sparta IV is the most stable and safest, with surgical conditions lowered to the minimum—adulthood.

Veteran soldiers with rich combat experience, as long as they pass a physical examination, can undergo the surgical modification to become a Sparta warrior.

After completing the modification surgery, the IV's heart, containing artificial textile, can easily outrun a sweat-blood horse; the lung modification enables them to sustain combat for one hour in a methane-dominated atmosphere.

And once injured, requiring ample calories to heal, even chewing a small twig or piece of wood can provide the corresponding nutrients and calories.

It sounds like Sparta IV is practically a perfect super-soldier, yet when placed before III and II it is at an absolute disadvantage.

Under equal equipment and weapons, in one-on-one combat, IV can only be utterly crushed.

Using the Greek pantheon as an analogy, IV is a demigod, III are the Olympian gods, and II are the ancient Titans.

To make up for the gap, the human military in Halo enhanced and perfected equipment, adopting tailor-made powered armor, allowing IV to barely match II's strength in all aspects.

However…

In Sui Bian's eyes, Sparta IV seems to be the best stepping stone for humanity as a whole to reach the next stage.

Thus, Sui Bian, using his profound knowledge combined with Umbrella's substantial "capital", took the essence from the Sparta II, III, and IV plans, discarded the dross, and refined it.

Thereafter, on May 15, 2183, Sui Bian, using the official name of the Halo Sparta plan, launched the so-called "Orion" plan.

With ready-made technology obtained through exchange, plus knowledge and "capital", the Orion plan, just two months after its launch, began recruiting elite veterans from the Glory Iron Fist auxiliary forces as the first candidates.

On the third day after surgery, the veteran soldiers had already relearned how to walk, eliminating the severe negative impact of lacking security; know that Sparta II required at least three weeks, even several months, of recovery training.

After completing recovery training, the test results across all aspects showed outstanding performance.

In terms of endurance, as long as they continuously intake sufficient water and calories, the veteran soldiers can sustain a running speed of 45 km/h.

In terms of strength, the veterans can manually lift a 1.5-ton weight and throw it ten meters away.

Regarding reaction speed, although the veterans cannot match the Astate in observing and tracking ejected projectile trajectories, in relying on martial arts combat they face no pressure dodging and countering either the Astate or the hunter units crafted at great expense by the Supervision Bureau.

In friendly matches against the Sangheili and the Iron Blood clans, the veterans who have undergone surgery are also able to secure victory.

Of course, if they encounter Sangheili and Iron Blood with a century of combat experience and seasoned strikes, the veterans, if they do not exert all their energy and focus, still have a high chance of making a mistake and losing.

Regardless, the Orion plan is absolutely successful.

Thus, after obtaining and refining data from the elite veterans of Glory Iron Fist, Sui Bian formally issued orders on August 1, 2183 to the Red Queen and White Queen, first implementing the Orion plan in the five corps responsible for guarding the various frontiers: the Extreme Warriors, Dark Angels, Space Wild Wolves, Iron Hand, and Thutmose.

As of today, September 1, 2195, the five corps have a total of 240 million auxiliary personnel who have undergone the Orion surgery; of these, the auxiliary forces of the Extreme Warriors alone account for half, about 130 million.

Worth mentioning is that over these twelve years, backed by the main universe forces of the 02 universe, sufficient quantities of vaccines have been produced, granting humanity in the 03 universe immunity from interdimensional whispers, corruption, and harassment.

The efficiency-focused main universe engineering corps also, over these twelve years, transformed about sixty percent of the colonies and colony systems of the 03 universe into environments truly suitable for human habitation.

Meanwhile, the Supervision Bureau, acting alongside the engineering corps, when the engineers carry out transformation, also subjects the colonies and colony planets to a complete and thorough purification process using the Round Moon Water and agents of Spiritual Users adept at wielding pure Spiritual Energy.

As for the solar system where Shensheng Tala resides, due to the excessive degree of corruption, the expeditionary forces nearly eradicated the entire population, thus choosing to supplement with corresponding migrants drawn from the main universe.

To ensure that the 03 universe need never worry again, Sui Bian prepares to remain stationed at Shensheng Tala, while the main forces of Sparta, Glory Iron Fist, and Holy Blood Angels also temporarily stay in the 03 universe, and the Dark Crow Guard and the Clearers return to the main universe.

However, the Midnight Lord, retaining its full organization, after all personnel have been vaccinated and undergone low-intensity modification surgery, is to continue being entrusted to the OriginalBody Conrad Koz, who has had a G-gland implanted and achieved secondary growth.

And Conrad, who has regained power and whose mental state has been stabilized through Sui Bian's treatment, without needing reminders or admonitions, proactively hands over full jurisdiction of the Dark Star Region to the Holy Blood Angels.

Immediately thereafter, this Midnight Wraith again proactively proposes to Sui Bian to split his Midnight Lord, dispersing it across the human domain, while he personally leads a battalion-sized Astate force.

Sui Bian naturally knows that this son, who has just acknowledged kinship, harbors worries, fearing that the Midnight Lord, which nominally chose betrayal, would suffer suspicion and repression; therefore Conrad simply takes the initiative to split it.

Sui Bian will not accept Conrad's proposal, but to put this son at ease, he lets the Midnight Lord gradually shift the regiment's foundation and center toward the main universe.

Next, Conrad, following Sui Bian's indication, carried out a small-scale expedition in the main universe. After five years, Conrad opened up in the main universe a region bordering the Oslo Star Region (Governor Rus) and the Temple Star Region (Governor Leon), named it the Whole Star Region, to be overseen by Conrad and the Midnight Lord, thereby not only expanding the main universe's human domain further but also thoroughly connecting it.

Given that the ten reborn OriginalBodies are each only twelve years old, currently receiving instruction and training at Sui Bian's side, they are unable to undertake legion formation; thus Umbrella altogether possesses twelve legions.

Aside from the original ten, the two additional legions are: one is the Midnight Lord, and the other is Chahatai Khan, who likewise completed G-gland implantation, spent nearly a year recuperating, and only at the beginning of 2184 began rebuilding the "White Scar".

But…

The White Scar, unlike the Midnight Lord which retains its full organization, suffered utter annihilation of the entire force.

Moreover, since establishing a legion in Umbrella fundamentally requires a G-gland, the White Scar's reconstruction has been slow in the early stages; even now, after setting aside the legion's auxiliary forces, its total numbers amount to only six thousand.

Six thousand…

Compared to the Extreme Warriors, this is simply "too horrible to behold".

Initially, netizens and society even liked to call it the "Eleventh Legion", always excluding the White Scar.

But as the White Scar achieved notable results in dealing with the invisible, destruction-loving Veerlin and Kirahani (Ghost Beast) ethnic pirates, this legion adept at rapid assault and offense has increasingly attracted social attention and favor.

It can be said that since the Space Gate linking the main universe and the 03 universe opened, and the expeditionary forces defeated the New Human Empire, humanity, whose various developments had previously slowed, has once again surged forward like a speeding train.

After all, in another six or seven years, when the new generation of ten OriginalBodies comes of age, Umbrella will then possess twenty legions.

However, no matter how swiftly time flies, it is impossible for the OriginalBodies to reach adulthood in the blink of an eye.

And at this very moment.

In the passenger cabin numbered 06, the young officers who have undergone modification surgery, along with a group of Umbrella "civilian" staff in suits, can, through the row of small portholes installed on the right side, directly see that the vessel they are aboard is entering the atmosphere of the Gustafwa colony.

Soon, the vessel arrives above the sea level of the atmosphere.

Overlooking the sparkling sea, not long after, the vessel carries them high-speed over beaches and resort areas crowded with tourists, then low-speed over a patch of dense forest, finally arriving at the highly modern colonial urban area replete with massive constructions.

Leaving the cabin.

Looking down from the sky, one can see that this ship is a passenger vessel about three kilometers long, painted dark gray, bearing a red-and-white umbrella emblem, belonging to Umbrella.

Just then, she continued sailing for a moment, and a starport with three docked cruise ships came into view.

Next, as the bridge had broadcast, as soon as fifteen minutes had passed, all passengers disembarked from the ship and arrived at the Umbrella-exclusive reception hall on the third level inside the starport.

Inside the hall.

The local Umbrella staff in charge of meeting the ship, or officers of the legion's auxiliary forces, came to guide and help future colleagues transport their luggage, preparing to head to their respective destinations.

Among them, the most eye-catching were the group that had just graduated, completed augmentation surgery, and were about to take up posts responsible for local security and the security of the star system where Gusitewa is located, the battalion headquarters' auxiliary forces.

Although the augmented auxiliary forces number 240 million, if spread across all human territories, this number doesn't even reach a fraction.

For example, in some redeemed remote, backward, barren colonies of the 03 universe, the locals still consider the Astate to be a 'heavenly god', a god sent to save them.

Fortunately, there are those with unwavering loyalty and faith to Sui Bian and Human Truth; the Battle Sisters belonging to Umbrella, under the arrangement and operation of the red-and-white queens, have already taken initial shape.

Furthermore, the Battle Sisters are specifically responsible for spreading atheism and Human Truth on planets in the 03 universe where quantum communications and networks are not yet widespread, in order to eliminate erroneous ideas such as 'god's descent' and 'god's incarnation' as soon as possible.

At this moment, looking again at that group of people in suits, who seemed to be civil staff about to take office, they 'only' received a female receptionist wearing vintage pilot sunglasses, a fitted suit, with a red-and-white umbrella button on the collar, and shoulder-length blond hair.

Compared to the auxiliary forces, it's literally a heaven-and-earth difference.

However, when the civil staff followed the female supervisor out of the reception hall, took the elevator to the underground parking lot, then transferred to a company bus using hover technology, and although all the civil staff placed their luggage on the overhead racks, they all stood beside their seats, hesitating to sit, seemingly waiting for the female supervisor's 'lecture'.

Seeing the female supervisor raise her hand to remove her sunglasses, scan the crowd, and say: 'Welcome to Gusitewa. I don't want to say more unnecessary words, but from the moment you left Minos, you have been covertly working for humanity, immediately facing all kinds of abnormal and alien intelligence personnel.'

At this point, the female supervisor's voice sharpened, she raised her volume and continued: 'Those who work under me must not desert in battle; I won't keep cowards here! Remember that?!'

"'Sir! Yes, sir!' All the civil staff, or rather all the new intelligence recruits, shouted in agreement."

As for that female supervisor, she is the apprentice of the company's legendary employee Leon S. Kennedy, whose parents are the company's top researchers Shirley BoKen.

The reason Shirley is so respected by newcomers is that she herself is also a legend of the Intelligence Department, having resolved dozens of tough abnormal phenomena and biological cases.

Hearing the youths' loud response, Shirley finally showed some satisfaction, saying: 'That's the spirit. Alright, what you need to do first is to meet the Tutmose 45th Battalion, which bears the name 'Blood Raven' and is responsible for Gusitewa's defense.'

You should know that if you encounter extremely troublesome abnormal phenomena, organisms, and hostile aliens, the ones who can rescue you from difficulty and are also the most reliable reinforcements are the Astate and the auxiliary forces.

So, cheer up, the commander of the 45th Battalion, Gabriel Angelos, despises nothing more than laziness!

"'Yes, sir!'"

"(End of chapter)"