I Became A Mech Soldier After Waking Up in The Future. - Chapter 80

“What makes you think that the traitor is still nearby?” Keiko asked.

“The sonar device’s area of coverage is very limited, so this person couldn’t be that far away from us. She must be with the team that was stranded outside the city. I have already confirmed that Elisa Ford killed two soldiers and escaped. I doubt that she could escape that far in such a period of time. Also, I’ve checked using the life detector and got no response. It means that she should be dead by now,” Jeanne elaborated her guess to Keiko.

Keiko wasn’t that surprised by Jeanne’s explanation.

At first, she thought what happened to them was an accident, but after thinking it through, she could feel something was wrong. She had always trusted her intuition, and this time was no exception.

She realized that there was indeed a traitor in the team and that the traitor was someone who was very familiar with the third squadron’s convoy arrangement.

The traitor could accurately grasp the position and movement of the medical car where Bailey and Jeanne’s car were and thus was able to activate the sonar device at the very right time to guide the monster to attack the cars behind.

So, this person should’ve been someone really close to them.

The most convincing proof was that the drivers of several cars died at the same time.

Only when the vehicles lost their mobility could the people in the rear compartment fall into an extremely passive state.

Most predators have low IQs, and the mantis type is no exception. With their own hunting and fighting instincts, they would not understand such a complex principle.

“How do you know about this sonar device? It doesn’t sound like it’s a publicly known technology,” Keiko inquired again.

“It was when I attended a scientific research exhibition around two or three years ago. I heard a colleague talk about this device. My friend said it was a tool with similar functions to a voice recorder that could record and then convert the human language to a particular sound wavelength that the predator could understand. So, it’s possible to give a command to manipulate predator action.

“But, this device only works on predators, not zergs, because of the peculiarity of the predator being a combination of human and zerg. And there are also limitations to where it can be used—only underwater can it be properly operated. So, although it indeed has a high potential application and was a first step for humanity to domesticate predators, because of its impracticality and high uncertainty, it had never been made public.”

So, it could only be used underwater… No wonder the traitor didn’t make a move until the convoy reached the drawbridge. No wonder it would be a Devil Mantis that was used for the ambush.

According to the information bank, Devil Mantis was a highly capable swimmer and could stay inside bodies of water unnoticed. This was especially true when the city guards who were supposed to be monitoring the presence of a dangerous monster near the city wall were also on the enemy side. Their execution was pretty much flawless.

Thinking about it at this moment, Keiko understood the complete picture regarding their accident.

“Since you already know the origin of the sonar device used by the traitor, then you should already know who is the mastermind that wants to harm us?” Keiko asked.

“I indeed have a guess,” Jeanne admitted easily, paused for a while, and then continued. “Second Lieutenant Lee, I wouldn’t tell you about my discovery if it were someone else’s. You should have known my attitude since I sent you the information on the traitor, Elisa Ford. I can tell you who the other party is, but I think knowing this matter won’t bring you any benefit and instead could cause you harm.”

“It doesn’t matter; I just want to know who wants to harm us,” Keiko replied with a determined voice.

Jeanne took a deep breath and said slowly, “Then come here. I will write it for you.”

Keiko hesitated for a moment before walking to Jeanne’s side. Jeanne avoided the scars on Keiko’s body and slowly wrote a name on her back.

Keiko’s body froze, and she muttered solemnly, “I see.”

Jeanne’s index finger was still lingering on Keiko’s back, fidgeting, as if hesitating to say something.

In the end, Jeanne drew back her slender finger and decided not to tell Keiko about the mysterious death of the fifth Devil Mantis.

This incident wasn’t as simple as the confrontation between the two parties.

Aside from Jeanne, who wanted to protect Bailey, and the enemy who wanted to kill Bailey, there was an unknown third party whose identity and purpose she wasn’t clear about yet.

So, she had to hide this from Keiko before she figured out everything.

“Major, I think I’ve found Elisa,” Keiko said, leaning against the guardrail of the drawbridge.

“What? Where?” Jeanne asked while rushing towards Keiko’s side.

“It’s below,” Keiko pointed to the bottom of the drawbridge. “Her body is floating on the moat.”

Jeanne directed her gaze in the direction Keiko pointed to and saw a body wearing an army uniform floating face down in the water, looking pretty much dead.

Jeanne’s face under the mask was very gloomy. Although she had expected the traitor to be dead, she was still very annoyed knowing that her leads were gone this time.

Is it suicide?

This wasn’t a surprise to her; she was an abandoned child, and she should’ve been aware of the fate awaiting her when her existence was exposed and certainly wasn’t afraid of death since the first time she infiltrated the third squadron.

“It looks like we’re going to have a hard time recovering the body and the sonar device should be still on her. At least with the body around, it can be regarded as a form of evidence,” Jeanne said, sighing.

“Major, I have a few questions,” Keiko asked.

“Continue.”

“If the matter of the female scientist’s leaving the city this time is itself a trap, then the four adventurers who followed her out should’ve been more than simple adventurers, right?”

“Yes, they are all from the military and police,” Jeanne replied.

“Then, the accident that time with Scorpii wasn’t a coincidence, but a premeditated one, wasn’t it?”

Jeanne nodded and said, “But, I think they didn’t use a sonar device that time, as the Scorpii isn’t an aquatic animal nor an amphib, and there wasn’t any presence of a water body at that time. I guess that they lured the monster directly. We also didn’t find any sonar device on the surviving adventurer or on the three other corpses.”

“I’m just wondering, since they wanted her dead, why did they do it in such a roundabout manner, risking their lives by luring a ferocious predator? Why didn’t they just do it directly to make sure she was dead?” Keiko asked.

“Because that mastermind didn’t just want Bailey to die outside the city, but he also wanted Bailey’s body back into the city to prove that she was indeed killed by a monster so that they could completely erase the trace of involvement in this matter,” a cold glint flashed in Jeanne’s eyes as she explained.

“The mastermind wanted to kill Bailey with a borrowed knife. Those four militaries polices, posing as adventurers, who were also destined to die, should have been mentally prepared when they received this mission.”

” Damn it! So many people have been sacrificed just to kill one person!!” Keiko gritted her teeth, clenching her fists hard.

“No. This attack in front of the city gate is more vicious than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“This was a deadly chess game set up to provoke the relationship between the two generals. If this game could be successful, then he would be killing two birds with one stone.”

“Two generals…” Keiko took a deep breath and immediately understood that the two generals hinted at by Jeanne were General Armstrong and General Heisenberg.

Major General Frode was the eldest son of General Heisenberg and his heir. On the other hand, Jeanne was the Armstrong family’s jewel.

Jeanne was attacked outside Trudheim city gate, which was under the control of Frode, but Frode didn’t rescue her and instead closed the city gate, so Jeanne ended up killed.

What would happen if the two generals learned of this matter?

Keiko felt her heart turning cold.

While Keiko was pondering the truth, Jeanne turned on the auxiliary camera on the helmet mask, aimed at Elisa’s body, zoomed in as close as possible, and wanted to take a photo first as evidence. But, just after she zoomed in on the camera, she suddenly made a new discovery.

There seemed to be a silver-colored thing stuck in the back of Elisa’s neck, which Jeanne couldn’t immediately identify. But what she was sure of was that it was these small things that killed Elisa.

Could it be that this traitor, Elisa, did not commit suicide, but was instead murdered by someone?! Who is it?

Jeanne suddenly turned around and began to carefully investigate the scene.

The position of Elisa’s floating corpse, the scratch marks on the guardrail, and the blind spot where the fifth monster died were all fitted the puzzle.

Except for the third-party character who killed the fifth monster, Jeanne couldn’t think of anyone else. It must be this mysterious figure who killed Elisa, and the motive is very simple: Elisa witnessed the scene where the mysterious figure killed the fifth monster!

Is that silver thing a special weapon that the mysterious person wants to conceal?

Jeanne re-created the scene of the incident in her mind. The mysterious figure killed the fifth monster. Elisa, who was fleeing, happened to witness it. Elisa was in a hurry and was about to jump off the bridge to escape when suddenly she was noticed by the mysterious person and was killed by them.

The mysterious person should not have time to deal with the weapon in such a short time. Since no weapon was found on the drawbridge, the weapon must have been on Elisa’s body.

“Major? What’s the matter?” Keiko couldn’t help asking when she saw Jeanne’s strange behavior.

Before Jeanne could answer, suddenly, numerous red dots appeared on the radar and the alarm blared.

Keiko’s complexion changed greatly.

She turned to look and saw countless monsters appearing in the forest not far away. So much so that monsters began to appear in the moat.

Jeanne’s face turned pale. She suddenly grabbed Keiko’s arm and yelled in fright, “Damn it! It’s a Zerg swarm’s tide!!!”