Darkstone Code

"Why don’t we...escape!"

In the exquisite house...let’s call it exquisite, at least it’s better than where ordinary people live. You can tell this is a nice villa.

Whether it’s the design or style, the designer doesn’t seem to be a local one, more like someone from the Federation, with a more modern style.

The Warlord is certainly not its first owner; its real owner may have long left this city, this country, or perhaps stayed behind forever.

In any case, now this villa is occupied by the ruler of this area.

The officers in the room expressed their thoughts one after another. When "Sanchez" indicated he was heading north, they realized this must be a Federal conspiracy.

The Warlord doesn’t think he’s a match for the Federals. Not long ago, when gathered in the capital for peace, he talked about the threat of Sanchez to him and the entire country.

But no one listened to him; everyone did what they wanted. He always felt that one day Sanchez would send troops to his territory.

And it didn’t take long before Sanchez arrived.

The officers were clearly reluctant to fight.

Mainly because they can’t win.

Previously, many Warlords collaborated to snipe at the Federals, but it was utterly meaningless. Instead, it let everyone experience what carpet bombing means.

The dense bombs falling from the sky like rain, no one could escape, and eventually, people left this world with regret and resentment.

The Warlord sat in his seat with a gloomy face. The fools spoke so easily about escape.

The problem is, where can they escape to?

All around are various Warlords; a character like him, if he moves closer with his men, it would be a battle, and there’s no other possibility.

No one would allow others to pass through their territory with armed forces or to stay temporarily, just as he wouldn’t do it.

He would only expel those attempting to approach him, who bring danger, rather than knowingly provide shelter or allow dangerous people to pass by.

Besides...

He looked at the officers in the room; not all of these people were entirely on his side.

Among them, some would seize the opportunity to take his life.

No one likes remaining forever subordinate, just given the chance!

"We’re not leaving, at least not for now!" he finally decided.

"The surroundings are other people’s territories. If we retreat into the wild, we’ll quickly disband, and no matter what, the resolution won’t be good."

"The Federals will certainly sweep through the whole area. Even if we escape this time, we can’t always hide from them."

"My idea is to fight once and then..." He glanced at everyone else, "surrender."

Some thought he might bet everything on a certain place, but unexpectedly, he outrightly admitted defeat. For a moment, the officers in the room didn’t know what to say to express their inner feelings!

This...damn!

Someone cursed inside, but after thinking carefully, perhaps this is the only option left.

Seeing no one objecting, the Warlord realized his idea had persuaded them, at least on the surface.

With such awareness, his mind became more active, "Sanchez could align with the Federals; why can’t we align with them?"

"If we align with the Federals, is there a possibility..." He licked his lips, looking at these officers, his subordinates, with a gleam of red in his eyes, greedy and sinister.

"...maybe we could be more valuable than Sanchez to the Federals?"

"We have more manpower, a larger territory, and our Soldiers are fiercer!"

"If the Federals could stand with us, providing us with advanced weapons and equipment, unifying the entire area wouldn’t be a problem!"

His speaking speed grew faster, people’s minds spun faster; they found the Warlord’s words seemed to be right.

Since they can’t resist or ultimately avoid facing the Federals, why not surrender?

Sanchez and his sister Isabella were the first to align with the Federals, and what happened?

They gained the Federals’ support, and occupying a larger territory is no longer a challenge but a matter of desire.

An officer nodded, "I think...there seems to be no issue."

Someone spoke first, and then those who were observing found a channel to express themselves, unanimously agreeing and praising the Warlord’s idea, thinking it to be a rare opportunity.

While everyone was fiercely discussing what they could gain from the Federals after aligning with them, suddenly their discussion stopped.

A slight buzzing sound came, startling each of them with cold sweat!

It’s an airplane!

Someone shouted, and others fled the building, having seen the terrifying sight of air raids. But when they rushed outside, there was no sound of bombs being dropped, no explosion sounds.

The humming gradually faded away and disappeared, as if it had all been just an illusion?!

They didn’t know that one hundred and fifty paratroopers were slowly descending from the sky.

The night was their best camouflage; even if someone looked up, they wouldn’t spot them high above!

The grey parachutes protected them well, merging them into the sky.

The warlord and his officers noticed nothing unusual and returned to the room, while in the nearby suburbs, clusters of "mushrooms" were slowly landing.

Ryan was lucky; he was one of the first soldiers to sign up.

The war made people numb, so seeking something new was his way to please himself now. When Darkstone Security recruited volunteers internally, he signed up immediately.

Increasing salary, rank, earning more income might be one of the shared wishes for every Darkstone Security employee.

At least with these, if something unexpected happened to him, his family could receive better benefits, alleviating any worries.

Skydiving was thrilling. During his first jump, he thought he might crash and die but fortunately pulled the cord on time, successfully landing on the sea—

Regardless of whether he landed on the sea or solid ground, the difference wasn’t significant, but it did slightly increase his survival odds. With some protective measures, apart from two accidental deaths, there were only minor injuries.

Thankfully, everyone quickly adapted to this thrilling process, and Ryan did too.

He discovered he loved airborne operations; he liked the feeling of jumping from a plane high in the sky, enjoying the perspective of looking down on the earth like the Lord.

He enjoyed the exhilaration of flying freely in the air like a bird—okay, freely falling.

No matter what, he liked that feeling.

Therefore, he devoted more effort than others, naturally achieving better results.

He could accurately jump from two thousand meters and land within a designated area no larger than twenty square meters.

This achievement made him the coach for this commissioned training. Maybe Ryan’s reputation in the Marine Corps was well-known, or for some other reason, the soldiers respected Ryan a great deal.

Smooth communication between the parties ensured everything proceeded very efficiently. Within a few days, the soldiers had mastered the parachute opening techniques.

Here, we must mention the alternative plan provided by the Flight Research Institute—the double-layer safety parachute structure.

If the main parachute failed, the secondary parachute could be opened.

Although the secondary parachute wasn’t as large as the main one, often resulting in injuries upon landing, it at least guaranteed most paratroopers wouldn’t die because the parachute wouldn’t open.

This was their first mission execution, their first nighttime deployment in actual warfare.

Everything was very dark; the difficulty of deployment was high. Fortunately, small design aspects could address some of the issues.

For example, the fluorescent block on top of the canopy allowed soldiers above to see the parachutes below in the darkness, preventing accidents.

Ryan was the first to jump, and immediately after landing, he moved out of the canopy range and took out a flashlight to start gathering the team.

There were some minor errors this time in the parachute drop, along with some unexpected incidents.

A total of one hundred and fifty soldiers parachuted, but only one hundred twenty-seven eventually gathered together. Twenty-three were... missing, either drifting somewhere or landing elsewhere.

After leaving some personnel behind to search for the remaining paratroopers at dawn, Ryan, along with other instructors, led the remaining paratroopers toward the city.

Once these paratroopers returned to the team, they would become the leaders of the most basic teams, becoming the backbone and soul of the paratroopers.

As dawn broke, Ryan and his team had already entered the city’s outskirts and settled down.

According to plan, as the main force engaged with the locals, Ryan and his team would strike directly at the city’s central area from the side, conducting a decapitation operation.

After the success of the previous decapitation operation, the Ministry of Defense was fervently enthusiastic about this tactic.

At seven twenty-five in the morning, the first gunshot rang out, shortly followed by the first artillery blast.

The self-propelled artillery, with reduced caliber for destructive purposes, demolished a makeshift bunker after a shell blast.

The soldiers cheered and advanced alternately with the self-propelled artillery.

In the past, when encountering bunkers, it could only be dealt with by sacrificing lives.

Finding a way through the firing line, and then either blowing up the bunker with explosives or killing the people inside.

But now, it seemed like a thing of the past.

The gunfire and artillery shook the tranquil sky, and the battle quickly intensified.

Large numbers of combat units converged on the battlefield, creating a defense vacuum on the sides and rear.

Ryan acted swiftly, leading the paratroopers to attack from the side.

During the attack, a soldier looked grimly at a recently killed middle-aged woman. He gritted his teeth and sped up, catching up with Ryan.

"Why did you kill her? She was just an innocent civilian..."