Chapter 202: Aftermath

When Yuan Fei opened his eyes again, his body was mechanically organizing equipment. The tactical panel displayed "Mission Completed," and the team members were muttering about how it was better than a bubble bath.

"What's going on… damn, it hurts…"

Yuan Fei stumbled a step, gripping his lower back tightly—only now did he realize his waist and knees were weak, his shoulders ached, his legs went numb. He was familiar with this feeling; after a wild night out, he always woke up like this.

But the problem was—he hadn't gone out tonight?

"Captain, how do we handle this thing?" Just as he wondered if he'd been knocked out, his brother-in-law's voice came from behind. He turned his head and saw several team members standing before a graffiti wall, pointing at a massive oregano.

The oregano looked hyper-realistic, but what made it truly strange was that unlike other graffiti—either faded and covered by newer layers, or vivid and obviously fresh—it had a middle-ground appearance.

Its base color wasn't new, yet no other graffiti overlapped it. But the most peculiar part was the "cap" region: a dark, slick patch, as if constantly touched by countless hands.

Seeing the oregano, Yuan Fei's head suddenly throbbed, and memories surged back.

"Right—I came here to find that special reaction, then… then I was hit by a hallucination spell, we started killing each other, even resorted to injecting Awakening Tablets. Luckily, the exoskeletons had friendly-fire detection, so despite all the shooting, no one died. But the side effects were brutal—my whole body ached, and I even blacked out!"

So…

"The culprit is this oregano?" Yuan Fei eyed the graffiti warily, reactivating his detection device. Watching the readings spike instantly, he nodded.

This incident was too big to destroy outright—even with mission logs, they'd be suspected of falsifying reports, possibly even accused of hiding the real artifact.

After thinking for a long while, he redialed the battalion commander's comm…

"What now? Didn't I give you full authority?" The battalion commander's irritated, barely suppressed voice crackled from the speaker. Yuan Fei wasn't surprised—it was past midnight; even if the commander wasn't asleep, he was probably collecting overtime pay with his secretary. Still, Yuan Fei squeezed his lower back hard, forcing himself to stay alert:

"Battalion Commander, we found a major item—likely what the aliens are after. But it's a whole wall. I dare not dismantle it. And this damn thing induces hallucinations. Our more than ten squads just spent hours in a narrow alley playing real-life survival games ('Survival Game'), shooting each other. If not for the friendly-fire detection, we'd all be dead!"

"Found it? Stay put. Don't move. Turn on your locator!" The battalion commander ignored everything else and immediately dialed specialists.

…

Twenty minutes later, specialized tactical personnel clad in chemical-protection suits poured out of vehicles and surged toward the oregano-covered wall. Yuan Fei desperately wanted to head to logistics for two Awakening Tablet antidote injections, but the battalion commander's slow, deliberate exit from the official vehicle made him grind his teeth.

The battalion commander's polished military boots crunched on the dry alley pavement. He glanced at the ground littered with bullet craters and scorch marks, his nostrils flaring with a sarcastic snort: "Didn't the AI upload a report stating the waterproof mode was activated? How's the ground so dry?"

Yuan Fei's stomach churned, but he gritted his teeth: "We were hit by a mass hallucination. The exoskeletons misread neural signals and issued false commands. Also, Commander, my team and I just used Awakening Tablets—we need medical treatment."

"Hah… you'd better have actually used them." The battalion commander took two steps forward, sneering: "Twenty-seven Zhenbo Knives damaged? All while powered off? You expect me to believe you hacked each other while switched off? Believe hallucinations more than you believe you were roleplaying here!"

"Then why don't you take off your chemical suit and talk?" Yuan Fei, pushed past his limit, snapped back. The battalion commander was taken aback.

After all, falsifying combat losses and selling them off in Sakka City was routine. He assumed this was the same—until…

Could it really have been consumed?

He was too cautious to remove his suit just because of verbal sparring. Instead, he lowered his voice:

"I'll assume you used the Zhenbo Knives and ammo clips. But those Awakening Tablets—you…"

"Want to see my vitals?" Yuan Fei watched the commander's three-sevenths hand gesture and immediately sent his current physiological readings. Then he handed over the spirit-detection device, pointing at the oregano beside them.

"????" The battalion commander flinched at Yuan Fei's chaotic vitals—but then he frowned. If he'd really injected Awakening Tablets, how was he still speaking coherently?

After all, he didn't believe it because he'd seen the effects firsthand—and the tablets were expensive on the black market. Naturally, he suspected Yuan Fei had swapped injection chambers to resell them.

He'd done it himself—when the price was right…

"Hummm… hummm… hummm…"

The spirit-detection device, casually activated, suddenly emitted a loud hum. Its violent shaking and erratic readings nearly made the battalion commander throw it away. After confirming this was an alien-issued device that couldn't be fake, he scrambled back over ten meters—his face suggested he already regretted coming to the front line!

Watching the battalion commander frantically check if his protective suit was sealed properly, Yuan Fei felt a flicker of satisfaction—but his increasingly aching lower back urged him to see a doctor immediately.

The battalion commander no longer wanted to waste words with Yuan Fei. Who knew if this alien artifact emitted radiation? He waved his hand and ordered the specialists to take them for further testing.

"Damn it, missed Lingdang's midnight livestream!" the battalion commander cursed inwardly. But he couldn't pull out his phone to keep "drinking chicken soup." Instead, he connected to his work terminal and began reviewing the uploaded mission logs.

Since they'd actually found something, aliens might come asking questions. Better to review it now than be clueless later.

Yet he clearly didn't know that, as Yuan Fei reported, the Helix-specific monitoring team assigned to this operation was also reviewing all mission data…

(End of Chapter)